Acceptance

How the term is used

Acceptance does not mean approval, resignation, liking the situation, or refusing to change it.

Why it matters

This distinction prevents mindfulness from being confused with passivity.

Where this comes up

• Blog post Why Mindfulness Doesn't Mean Being Calm All the Time

Related terms

• Nonjudgmental Awareness

  Noticing an experience without immediately sorting it into good, bad, success, failure, should, or should not.

• Mindfulness

  Awareness of present experience, including thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and surroundings, with less automatic judgment or reaction.

• Present-Moment Awareness

  Attention to what is happening now rather than being completely absorbed in past events, future scenarios, or automatic thought.

• Attention

  The selective direction of mental focus toward particular information, sensations, tasks, or experiences.

• Beginner's Mind

  A term commonly associated with Zen practice that refers to approaching experience with openness rather than assuming you already know ex…

• Grounding

  A broad, non-diagnostic term used in wellness and mental-health settings for practices that help orient attention to the body, senses, en…

• Mindful Eating

  Bringing deliberate awareness to the experience of eating, including hunger, taste, texture, pace, fullness, satisfaction, and distraction.

• Mindful Movement

  Physical movement practiced with deliberate attention to sensation, breath, effort, balance, coordination, and experience.