Foundational Attitudes of Mindfulness Acceptance (6 of 9)

Jon Kabat-Zinn talks about the attitude of mindfulness "acceptance" what it means and why it is important.

In the previous videos, Jon Kabat-Zinn introduced us to the first five attitudes of mindfulness: non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust and non-striving.  In this video, Jon Kabat-Zinn talks about the sixth attitude of mindfulness, that of acceptance.

Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994) defined mindfulness as, “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” (p. 4).  The non-judgmental part within this definition is considered to be essential when it comes to mindfulness practice, which we referred to in a previous post with a video of Shauna Sapiro sharing her experience of this.

However, being non-judgmental is not the only attitude that Kabat-Zinn (2013) mentions that brings this “acceptance” towards what we are experiencing, and in fact, acceptance is considered to be one of the fundamental attitudes of mindfulness.

This could be seen in the analysis of Bishop et al. (2004), who looked at how mindfulness has been broadly defined across the field.  They concluded that mindfulness is usually defined as a,   

“Nonelaborative, non-judgmental, present-centred awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is.” (Bishop et al., 2004, p. 232)

This definition puts into focus the attitude of acceptance together with non-judgment.  Research has also indicated that the attitude of acceptance might be key for mindfulness practice to be effective at bringing about change (Rahl et al., 2017).  This is seen in the dismantling trials done where it was noticed that from all the groups in the interventions, only those within the attentional component combined with the acceptance component demonstrated the most significant change (Lindsay et al., 2018; Lindsay et al., 2018).

However, acceptance in mindfulness does not mean resignation or being passive. Neither acceptance within mindfulness means that we abandon our will for change and becoming better as a person. 

On the contrary, acceptance within mindfulness is an active process of acknowledging things as they are, as a matter of fact, whatever they may be.  As Kabat-Zinn (2013) boils it down, acceptance “simply means that you have come around to a willingness to see things as they are” (p. 39).

In their study on the role of acceptance plays in mindfulness, Lindsay et al. (2018) defined acceptance,

“As a permission to fully experience what’s happening as it happens without getting caught up in or attached to the content of what’s happening.” (ibid. p. 946)

This kind of acceptance that is at the heart of mindfulness is far from passive as it brings with it a sense of clarity of what is happening right now, including our judgments and automatic reactions to the situation and how these are affecting us.  Usually, we turn away from things that might feel hard or uncomfortable as it seems that this is the natural thing to do.  On the contrary, acceptance requires that we actively turn towards these feelings, as that is what there is right now.

In the video, Jon Kabat-Zinn says how,

“There’s nothing passive about it.  It’s not passive resignation, but it’s an act of recognition that things are actually the way they are.  Sometimes.  They’re not the way we want them to be.  So acceptance doesn’t mean that we can’t work to change the world or to change circumstances of one kind or.”

Further acceptance as an attitude we adopt in mindfulness is not passive or resignation as it, “does not require that we like what we’re accepting, but it asks for the honesty to say, “Yes, I don’t like it, and this is the way it is right now” (Wolf & Serpa, 2015, p. 13)  

Until we are able to do so, we will continue to struggle with the situation we are in, either trying to force things to change into something that they are not, or running away or denying the way we might be feeling.  This, in turn, will perpetuate feelings of tension, stress, worry, anxiety and overall suffering in our lives.  

In the video, Jon Kabat-Zinn points out how,

“Unless we accept things as they are, we will try to force things to be as they are not, and that can create an enormous amount of difficulty if we recognise the actuality of things, then we have the potential to apply wisdom.”

Acceptance requires that we recognise what there is right now and drop the struggle of forcing things to be different.  This requires strength and is also an act of will, and that is why acceptance is not passive but departs from a place within us where we are no longer struggling with how a situation might be making us feel so that we can respond to the situation in a healthier and wiser manner.  

As Jon Kabat-Zinn points out in the video, acceptance can,

“Shift our own relationship to what is occurring in ways that might be profoundly healing and transformative, but without acceptance of the situation, then it’s very difficult to know where to stand.  And without knowing where to stand, it’s very difficult to take the first step.”

To explain this, Jon Kabat-Zinn uses the example of pain and how, in their work with mindfulness for chronic pain patients, they found out that acceptance was important in fostering the person’s ability to work with the pain.  Moreover, from my personal experience, I can relate to what Jon Kabat-Zinn is saying as I do experience chronic pain due to my health, and the mindfulness attitude of acceptance has helped me in learning how to work with the pain and not to get lost in it.    

Video produced by Mindfulnessgruppen, reproduced with permission.  Please visit their website @ www.mindfulnessgruppen.se and www.mindsunlimited.se to learn more about mindfulness and MBSR.

P.S. The upcoming post will introduce the seventh attitude of mindfulness, “letting go.”

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References

Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., . . . Devins, G. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11(3), 230-241. doi:10.1093/clipsy.bph077

Choden, & Regan-Addis, H. (2018). Mindfulness based living course. New Alresford: John Hunt Publishing.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are. New York, NY: Hyperion.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full catastrophe living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation (Revised and updated ed.). New York, NY: Random House USA Inc.

Lindsay, E. K., Chin, B., Greco, C. M., Young, S., Brown, K. W., Wright, A. G., . . . Creswell, J. D. (2018). How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115(8), 944-973. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000134

Lindsay, E. K., Young, S., Smyth, J. M., Brown, K. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Acceptance lowers stress reactivity: Dismantling mindfulness training in a randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 87, 63-73. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.015

Rahl, H. A., Lindsay, E. K., Pacilico, L. E., Brown, K. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Brief mindfulness meditation training reduces mind wandering: The critical role of acceptance. Emotion, 17(2), 224-230. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000250

Wolf, C., & Serpa, J. G. (2015). A clinician's guide to teaching mindfulness: The comprehensive session-by-session program for mental health professionals and healthcare providers. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.