Acceptance is about accepting the truth of a negative moment, without resistance. This offers a foundation for transformation and a path to freedom.

Anxiety, pain and illness, unpleasant encounters with people, low self-esteem, conditions such as long Covid-19 - these are issues that can become part of our lives without consuming our whole lives. Unhappiness and resentment can eat away at us when we ruminate and overthink a moment however big or small, but acceptance can give us our lives back even if it cannot give back something we have lost. This isn't a book about dropping all negativity - it's about experiencing feelings such as anxiety, regret and anger and relating to them in a way that doesn't allow them to take over our lives.

We can each go through a process where we no longer fight against the burdening knowledge that something has happened.

As a psychotherapist, trained counsellor and mindfulness teacher with over 25 years' experience, Padraig O'Morain has created an 'acceptance toolbox' in his new book, including exercises and attitudes to help you with acceptance. These include mindfulness practices, thoughts from the stoics who were practitioners of acceptance, ideas from CBT and more.