3 Tips to Develop More Acceptance
May 20, 2016
Are you being too hard on yourself?
Acceptance according to Dictionary.com as it relates to human psychology, is defined as “a person’s assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition without attempting to change it or protest. The concept is close in meaning to ‘acquiescence’, derived from the Latin ‘acquiesce’ (to find rest in.)”
Is there a sport that creates greater expectations but delivers more stinging disappointments than Golf?
Tiger Woods schooled by his father Earl, taught him to expect the best and prepare for the worst. So, how is this done? One important ingredient is learning the discipline of acceptance. I share with you from the Heartmath Institute an excellent article on the benefits of developing acceptance in your daily life. I know these tips will positively impact you on and off the course.
3 Tips to Develop More Acceptance
May 2016 HeartMath Institute
Learning to practice acceptance with the small stuff can help build resilience and establish flexibility as a familiar attitude and approach towards life.
Be kinder with yourself.
One of the areas many people have difficulty with is self-acceptance. Whether it’s being judgmental about our body type, our weaknesses or our personality, we’re often our worst critic. One way to start easing up on our self is to be aware of our inner dialogue. Replace negative self-talk with new, positive inner messages, adding a compassionate attitude like you would use with someone you love.
Ask yourself this important question.
Ask yourself “is thinking about this over and over going to change anything?” Situations like leaving a laptop at the airport or dropping a cell phone into a water-filled sink can cause us to run a mental loop of unproductive review. How could I do this? Where was my head? It is normal to have some emotional upset, frustration or even self-blame, but after the initial shock, and once we realize what’s done is done, that’s when it’s time to let it go.
Moving into acceptance can help you regroup and start focusing your energy towards a creative, forward moving solution.
Building heart coherence can increase our ability to flex.
With life come inconveniences, like a scheduling mistake at the dentist that leaves us having to reschedule. It can be tempting to assign blame towards someone or something. While the encounter can be frustrating, the quicker we can move towards acceptance the sooner we can resolve the issue. Venting to the clerk usually doesn’t lead to a quick resolution. Instead ask yourself, what can I do to solve the problem or where can I focus my energy more productively?
Exercising acceptance with these kinds of mishaps includes having patience and latitude with others and ourselves and can help us increase our emotional flexibility and our ability to handle inconveniences more gracefully.
Use these simple tips to connect with your heart intelligence and gain a deeper understanding about acceptance and other qualities of resilience.
I will close with an excerpt from Jordan Spieth’s recent interview at the TPC after missing the cut:
Jordan Spieth’s TPC Interview April 2016
“… I’m beating myself up a little bit too much on the golf course and it’s affecting me and I realize that now,” Spieth said after 72-71 produced his second missed cut in 10 tournaments this season. “Just need to be a little bit more positive with myself on the course and maybe kind of lower my expectations a little bit and just kind of free myself up,” Spieth said. “It just seems I’m so tense and I just need to get back to the way I enjoy playing golf and I’m not far off. I just need to do a little bit better job of being positive with myself and smiling a bit more, having a bit more fun,” Spieth said.
Golf is not a game of perfect. Accept mistakes bad shots bad bounces.