Coping Statements + Returning to the Practice

When you catch yourself fighting reality again, you can use these statements to return to radical acceptance.

Here are some short phrases to repeat when resistance arises:

• It is what it is.
• I can’t change what has already happened.
• I can accept this even though I do not like it.
• I don’t have to like it to stop arguing with it.
• Fighting this in my head doesn't change it. It is only costing me energy today.
• They are who they are, and I can plan around the real person.
• I can feel this and still be okay.
• I have survived this feeling before, and I can let it move through me again.
• My life can still be worth living, even with this pain in it.

These are some longer statements for the moment you catch yourself back in the fight and want to find your way back.

• “I’m choosing to turn back toward acceptance. Hands open, one more time.”
• “What do I actually know is true here, and what is the story I’m adding on top of it? Am I accepting a fact?”
• “I’m back in it again, and that’s okay. Returning to acceptance is the practice, not a sign I’ve failed. I can start over now.”
• “I don’t have to make this feeling disappear.”
• “I’m replaying this to try to make it come out differently, and it already happened. I can put it down for now and return to my own life.”