What It Means To Accept And How To Do It With ACT Expert Dr. Diana Hill

If there’s one skill we all need to be practicing right now, it is acceptance. Acceptance is central to maintaining healthy relationships, making a behavior change, pursuing meaningful goals, and being at peace with yourself. But how do you do it? What does it look like? In this solo episode, Diana sits down with you to explore what acceptance means and what gets in the way of accepting. Diana shares practices you can do with your mind, body, and behavior to cultivate a greater willingness to experience uncertainty and discomfort.

About Dr. Diana Hill

Diana Hill, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, speaker, and co-author of ACT Daily Journal: Get unstuck and live fully with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. A specialist in Acceptance and Commitment Training, Diana guides high achievers, leaders, and organizations to develop psychological flexibility so that they can take wise action toward more fulfilling and meaningful lives. Diana hosts the podcast Your Life in Process, blogs for Psychology Today, teaches on Insight Timer, is on the clinical advisory board of Lightfully Behavioral Health, and is a guest teacher at InsightLA, Blue Spirit Costa Rica, PESI, and PraxisCET. Go to drdianahill.com or her channels on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (@drdianahill) to learn more.

Key Takeaways

• Acceptance is a key process in psychological flexibility
• Acceptance is your ability to open up to, be present with, and allow for discomfort
• Acceptance is not approval or resignation
• There are two wings to acceptance: seeing clearly, and opening up to the present moment with kindness
• You can practice acceptance with your mind, body, and your behavior
• Practicing micro-acceptance daily can prepare you for macro-acceptance when it is needed

Related Resources

• Want to dive deeper into ACT? Take Diana’s course: Foundations of ACT
• The Yes Brain by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
• Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
• A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield
• The geroscience agenda: Toxic stress, hormetic stress, and the rate of aging by Elissa Epel
• Research Study: Let it be–mindful acceptance down regulates pain and negative emotion by Kober et al. (2020)
• Research Study: The impact of acceptance versus pain protocols on pain tolerance by Steven Hayes et al. (1999)
• Try it out: Wim Hof Breathing
• Music video: Water is Life by Lyla June

Diana’s Events

• Reserve your spot in Diana’s Reset and Restore Retreat in Costa Rica in 2024!
• Join us at Wise Effort Together, October 20-22, 2024
• See Diana at an upcoming event

Connecting With Diana

Thank you for listening to Your Life in Process! Subscribe to the podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If you have any questions or feedback you can contact Diana by email podcast@yourlifeinprocess.com or leave Diana an audio message at (805) 457-2776. Follow Diana at YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Diana’s website.

Thank you to the team Craig, Angela Stubbs, Ashley Hiatt, and Abby Diehl. Thank you to Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Remember when you become psychologically flexible, you become free.

Episode Segments

• [00:00] – Introduction
• [00:52] – Sponsor: Lightfully Behavior Health
• [01:51] – Learning to Swim with Acceptance
• [03:14] – The Biggest Mistake We Make About Acceptance
• [07:03] – What Acceptance Is And Is Not
• [13:45] – Diana’s Micro Acceptance
• [18:24] – Renunciation
• [16:56] – Identifying Your Experiential Avoidance Strategy
• [23:57] – Accepting With The Mind
• [24:51] – Wim Hof Breathing
• [29:29] – Accepting With The Body
• [32:56] – Accepting With Your Behavior
• [35:40] – Diana’s Macro Acceptance
• [38:21] – The 5 Remembrances
• [40:47] – Diana’s Summary
• [41:34] – Your Daily Practice
• [42:42] – Connect With The Podcast