197 SelfWork: Explaining Radical Acceptance
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2020
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Radical acceptance is a termed that describes a way of being - acknowledging the reality of what is happening rather than fighting it emotionally and thus, causing yourself, and perhaps even others, more suffering. I very much like a Carl Rogers quote that Tara Brach, author of the 2003 best-seller, Radical Acceptance, used in her book; “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” Radical acceptance takes that idea even further – that accepting what happens in your life also brings a much greater ability to cope rationally with it.
The listener email is from a therapist who’s dating someone who sounds severely depressed. And she doesn’t know what to do. I’ll see if I can come up with a couple of ideas for her – and all you “helpers” (and I’m one of them) get helped yourself.
And this episode is once again sponsored by BetterHelp!
Important Links:
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Blog post about empty nest called Separate Houses
Article by Margarita Tartaskovsky in Psych Central.
Excerpt from Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
You can hear more about this and many other topics by listening to my podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to my website and receive my weekly newsletter including a blog post and podcast! If you’d like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome!
My new book entitled Perfectly Hidden Depression has been published and you can order here! Its message is specifically for those with a struggle with strong perfectionism which acts to mask underlying emotional pain. But the many self-help techniques described can be used by everyone who chooses to begin to address emotions long hidden away that are clouding and sabotaging your current life. And it's available in paperback, eBook or as an audiobook!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is self-work and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford. |
| 0:13.0 | At self-work we'll discuss psychological and emotional issues common in today's world and what to do about them. |
| 0:20.0 | I'm Dr. Margaret and self-work is a podcast dedicated to you taking just a few minutes today for your own self-work |
| 0:29.5 | Hello and welcome or welcome back to self-work. |
| 0:33.4 | This is Dr. Margaret Rutherford. |
| 0:34.7 | I'm so glad you're here. |
| 0:36.6 | When I began self-work about four years ago now, gosh, that seems impossible. |
| 0:41.4 | It's been four years. |
| 0:43.4 | I wanted to reach out to those of you who might already |
| 0:45.9 | be interested in psychological and emotional issues. |
| 0:48.2 | Maybe you're in therapy. |
| 0:49.5 | To those of you who might have been just diagnosed with depression or anxiety or having some |
| 0:54.9 | other kind of relationship problem or just problem that you'd like another |
| 0:58.5 | perspective for, but also to a third group. Those of you who might really believe in the stigma of mental illness and be struggling with it |
| 1:06.6 | might never even darken the door of a therapist but are just curious enough |
| 1:10.7 | to listen to a podcast like self-work. I actually have a little cold this morning |
| 1:15.2 | so I'm hoping that I can make this sound fairly decent. We're going to talk today |
| 1:19.6 | about what's turned radical acceptance. You know, actually someone who interviewed me |
| 1:25.3 | in the preface to our discussion said, |
| 1:27.3 | yes, and Dr Rutherford really believes in radical acceptance. |
| 1:30.4 | And so I looked it up. |
| 1:32.3 | And I realized, yeah, I I do I actually have the book by Tara Brock but I don't really think I've ever sat down and read it I've probably skimmed it |
... |
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