The Real Health Podcast: Why practising acceptance can change your life

This week on Real Health I’m joined by psychotherapist Padraig O'Morain to chat about the power of acceptance and how it can change our lives for the better. Padraig, whose new book Acceptance: Create Change and Move Forward, is a guide on how to practice acceptance and find happiness in our lives.

One of the first things to understand about acceptance is that it doesn’t mean approval.

“If I was to accept that I had a drink problem, that does not mean that I approve of the fact that I have a drinking problem.

“It means I accept that fact. [This acceptance] eventually leads to change. Not straight away, because it's too hard to do straight away sometimes,” Padraig says.

“Then, there is self-acceptance which can be a difficult thing to achieve but if you can accept yourself you can live with a greater sense of peace.

"If you can accept yourself, you don't have to be in conflict with yourself for your whole life. You can accept your imperfections, but you can also accept what's good about you, you know, what you're good at.

“It's an Irish thing. I think that we're terrible at accepting that we're good at something.”

We also discuss how to stop yourself from dwelling on something that has upset or annoyed you, as well body image and accepting how you look.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:

And you can get in touch - I’m @KarlHenryPT on Instagram and realhealth@independent.ie.

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