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Online Newsletter Committed to Excellence in the Fields of Mental Health, Addiction, Counseling, Social Work, and Nursing

Don’t Confuse Acceptance with Agreement

Nicole Hiltibran November 14, 2016 mental health

Don’t Confuse Acceptance with Agreement

Don't Confuse Acceptance with Agreement

Don’t Confuse Acceptance with Agreement: What do you think about this quote? What exactly is the difference between acceptance and agreement?

Acceptance is defined as,  “1 : an agreeing either expressly or by conduct to the act or offer of another so that a contract is concluded and the parties become legally bound. 2 : the quality or state of being accepted or acceptable. 3 : the act of accepting : the fact of being accepted.” and, Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now, etc.) defines acceptance as a “this is it” response to anything occurring in any moment of life.

There, strength, peace and serenity are available when one stops struggling to resist, or hang on tightly to what is so in any given moment. What do I have right now? Now what am I experiencing? The point is, can one be sad when one is sad, afraid when afraid, silly when silly, happy when happy, judgmental when judgmental, overthinking when overthinking, serene when serene, etc.” while agreement is defined as, “Harmony or accordance in opinion or feeling; a position or result of agreeing. The absence of incompatibility between two things; consistency.”

One can accept a result or concept while “agreeing to disagree”. This concept applies to successful relationships, organizational structures, goal attainment, and the list goes on. Many may need to the experience the grieving process prior to accepting a reality or a result.  As you may recall, “the Kübler-Ross model, or the five stages of grief, postulates a series of emotions experienced by terminally ill patients prior to death, wherein the five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.” Notice that acceptance often occurs at the end of the grieving process. Allow yourself to grieve before you accept. It may be necessary in order to fully agree to disagree while accepting an outcome.

For more information on this and other mental health issues/concepts, please visit Continuing Education for Social Workers  or join us on our Aspira Linkedin Page

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