Acceptance is an act of creative comprehension that holds what we love as carefully as what we feel we cannot tolerate. Accepting that which we suffer now and have suffered in the past requires great strength, courage, sanity, and generosity. However, these precious resources are not always felt to be in abundance. Therapeutic work aims to help cultivate these resources within ourselves in order to undertake the work of acceptance.

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But how can we learn to accept those painful things which we did not ask for? Or the pain that comes with those things which we have lost, or never had?

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Mindfulness—which can be described as the practice of non-violence towards one’s own experience—provides a path towards acceptance. Mindfulness shines the searchlight of awareness without judgement, whether we find ourselves at peace or in conflict with our experience. Through mindfulness we can learn to meet the best and worst in our experience with equal levels of curiosity and compassion.

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Core Process Psychotherapy uses the lens of mindfulness to cultivate a healing relationship between client and therapist. Relational therapy is focused on the healing power of the therapeutic relationship. What arises between client and therapist is a microcosm of the client’s own history and experience, and offers the opportunity to work with, and through, the joys, sorrows, and challenges of life with compassion and care.