Best Self Magazine

Tending Our Emotional Stew Through Mindful Acceptance

Tending Our Emotional Stew Through Mindful Acceptance by Scott Cooper. Photograph of person meditating on mountain top by Milan Popovic
Photograph by Milan Popovic

Unpleasant feelings are normal; why worsen your situation by fighting them? Through mindful acceptance we can find peace even in the discomfort.

What brings peace of mind is different for each of us. 

Yet, studies confirm that each of us can enhance our peace of mind by practicing greater acceptance of our natural, and sometimes difficult, emotions. Each of us carries around an inner pot of ‘emotional stew’ filled with flavors both pleasant and unpleasant — sweet, spicy, bitter, tart, and savory. 

Two recent

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Best Self Magazine

Best Self Magazine4 min read
Love and Heartache: An Unfathomable Separation of Mother and Child
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes — 1970 in pre-Choice America. The lonely only child of a high-ranking naval officer and a socially ambitious mother, after our eighth move in thirteen years, I longed for a normal adolescence — to have lasting frien
Best Self Magazine5 min read
Chasing Happy: 3 Steps to Life-Long Transformation
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes — It started with a simple question: “Mommy, can I give you a goal this year?” At the time I was working long stressful hours leading a large client relationship for an advertising agency while balancing having two
Best Self Magazine7 min read
How Cancer Helped Me Let Go of Fear and Make Deep Connections
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes — I am a two-time breast cancer survivor, but my story is not really about cancer and its trials. It’s about how cancer taught me that humor, nature, exercise and relationships with both family and “found family” h

Related Books & Audiobooks