Many people face overwhelming emotions on a daily basis. The knob is dimed out on much of what they feel; the resulting feedback loop can upend their lives.

Emotions can take over your body - they can create a doppelganger, an out of control version of yourself. They can make you afraid to feel anything. Unfortunately, repressing those feelings can cause them to increase in pressure, making them even less manageable than before.

You already know life is hard. But you’re not helpless.

Radical acceptance: the concept of looking at a situation and seeing it as it really is, not as you wish it to be. You cannot change the past, you cannot avoid pain, but you can decide how much suffering you experience based on your pain.

It’s a dialectic between acceptance and change. You can accept yourself for who you are while also changing the behaviors that cause yourself and others greater suffering. It’s positive doublethink, an embrace of contradictory thoughts. You can radically accept your life.

When people harm themselves physically, it relieves some of their emotional pain. Self-harm can cause the body to release endorphins, a natural painkiller that also has some mood-lifting properties. For a short period of time, these endorphins can make someone feel better physically and emotionally. In spite of this seeming reward, however, these feelings of release can actually reinforce future self-harm. These behaviors may then lead to death, infection, or permanent physical injury. The pain relief is a temporary solve. The guilt, damage, and deeper emotional pain remain.

Eric now returned to a mindful focus on each breath, counting in and out, concentrating on his diaphragm. A few minutes later, he felt a sort of dark calm wash over him. Complex, not exactly nice, but ok.

Every person contains a rich inner life. You are as visionary as art and far more complex than any computer.

You already know life is hard. But you’re not helpless. All you have to do is choose to begin, and then keep going.