Ukeireru: The Japanese Art Of Acceptance & How To Practice It 

In Japan, numerous words mean "acceptance." Depending on who you are with and the situation in which you find yourself, finding the right words to express acceptance varies and presents challenges for the speaker and listener.

Yumi Obinata, an interpreter in Tokyo, sent me a highly detailed spreadsheet listing four words that mean acceptance: "Ukeireru, Uketomeru, Toriireru, and Ukenagasu." 

In the end, I fell in love with this definition of Ukeireru: "Used by a mother with a child to accept something gently, fun to imagine inside oneself, accepting reality."

Ukeireru means much more than self-acceptance. It means acceptance of our relationships in our families, in school, at work, and in our communities. It means accepting others. It means accepting reality and creating contexts that broaden the narrow, confining, and exhausting perspective of Self.

The plan is to accept yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues, and your community.

As you do this, you might be able to understand other points of view. If you're not self-aware, and you lack a state of calm self-awareness, you won't be able to change things—especially not the conditions that created or contributed to stress in the first place.

Practicing the habits and adopting the behaviors associated with Japanese culture have helped me to observe and read and write with more concentration and comprehension than ever. Time seems to slow down—I'm not always thinking ahead, and I'm not always thinking back.