Radical acceptance is a game changer! I spent YEARS toting around negative emotions over things that happened “to me,” and it wasn’t until I discovered radical acceptance did I find inner peace.
In a nutshell, radical acceptance is a lot like the serenity prayer, “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Radically accepting the present moment means you don’t fight it, you don’t get angry at it, and you don’t try to change it into something it’s not. You acknowledge your present situation, whatever it is, without judging the events or criticizing yourself. Don’t get it twisted radical acceptance doesn’t mean you condone or agree with bad behavior, it merely means you stop trying to change what’s happened by getting angry and blaming the situation. When you get mad and think a situation should never have occurred, you’re missing the point that it did, and you have to deal with it. Being overly critical, angry, and judgmental of a situation will only result in more pain and missed details, and it won't improve your situation.
The whole goal is to refocus your attention on what you can do in the present moment. This acceptance allows you to think more clearly and figure out a better way to cope with your emotions. Another part of acceptance is recognizing that your situation exists because of a long chain of events that began in the past.
Long story short, you can’t change what happens to you, so to find inner peace accept the situation for what it is and move past it. Doing this will save you years of frustration and turmoil.