The Radical Acceptance of Everything (Paperback)

~ Ann Weiser Cornell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ann Weiser Cornell is a powerful force in making the world better. -- Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing

Ann Weiser Cornell is a powerful force in making the world better. --Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing

From the very first page, The Radical Acceptance of Everything invokes the very state of Presence that it describes... -- Helene G. Brenner, author of I Know I'm in There Somewhere

From the very first page, The Radical Acceptance of Everything invokes the very state of Presence that it describes... --Helene G. Brenner, author of I Know I'm in There Somewhere

In this intriguing collection of articles, Ann Weiser Cornell describes in a very personal and readable way her groundbreaking journey... -- Richard Schwartz, author of Internal Family Systems Therapy

In this intriguing collection of articles, Ann Weiser Cornell describes in a very personal and readable way her groundbreaking journey... --Richard Schwartz, author of Internal Family Systems Therapy

Product Description

How can we bring peace to the inner wars that are in the way of having the life we want? For more than 30 years now, Ann Weiser Cornell has been exploring, teaching, and writing about the mysteries of emotional process, including the paradox of how we become more whole by acknowledging our parts, how the most despised places in us contain our greatest treasure, and how the body's felt sense, held in a compassionate state of Presence, is the key to change. Now her key writings have been brought together in one place, freshly edited for this volume, with four new articles offering Ann's leading-edge work. All are accessible both to the seeker of personal change and to the professional who wants to be more effective working with others.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Calluna Press (May 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972105832
• ISBN-13: 978-0972105835
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #497,133 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RAE adds much to Focusing--and to much more, October 29, 2005

By	E. C. Holloway (SACRAMENTO, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is far more than meets a reader's eye in this powerful sequel to Cornell's pioneering primer, The Power of Focusing. Along with co-creator Barbara McGavin, The Radical Acceptance of Everything ("RAE") expands and sharpens that widely read Focusing guide of ten years ago. With Ann's empathy and precision she has since substantially extended the original Focusing protocol from her mentor, Eugene Gendlin.

RAE comes as an anthology of articles, about one for each year since Ann became the first self-supporting Focusing practitioner. The articles include ones written specifically for the book, which integrate the articles into an organic whole. Radical Acceptance is the here-to-fore hidden nest of intertwining threads from which their Inner Relationship style of Focusing was woven.

RAE is also a history of her work, a reference guide for major Focusing concepts, and (to use the book title in its second sense) a radical concept of psychological change. Her material is drawn from her field work as a focusing teacher. But she is more than an excellent teacher--she's a training program developer, a linguist (more, a psycholinguist), a theory constructor, a healing facilitator, and, some would say, a contemplative scientist.

The book abounds with new technology about inner work: sensing the *living It* within ourselves, having Presence with It, acknowledging Inner Relationships, finding inner Treasure with maps to the Soul, Facilitative Listening, disidentifying with hidden parts, Standing It....

Take Standing It, a technique created with McGavin. It has a certain transcendental appeal along with its effectiveness. Standing It means giving space to two seemingly opposed parts, such as having both fear and excitement. Standing It "brings with it a special kind of grace." Yes. Yes. It was C.G. Jung who said, the transcendent functions come through when holding two contradictory feelings simultaneously.

But RAE is not a compendium of dry methodology. RAE is also a tender self disclosure of two people discovering and healing themselves through the very process they now share in their workshops. Ann shares her struggle with drinking and Barbara with suicidal bouts. There are some major transformative stories here, and yet, especially in the ever-evolving Focusing process itself.

Even without the benefit of any of the many different Focusing workshops out there, the reader can get a sense of what RAE contributes towards the meaning of healing, personal growth, and spirituality. They are clearly seen in RAE--especially in its discussion of Presence, Inner Relationship, and an otherwise unnamed philosophy of personal change, which to this reviewer is Evocative change ("Being/Allowing"), as opposed to PROvocative change ("Doing/Fixing"). Evocative change means that a change can come which is beyond our conceptualization. The underlying principle is that within our inner lives "change happens when something is fully heard."

Is RAE for non-Focusers? Yes! The skill of awareness learned in Focusing sessions is helpful in understanding the meaning of much of Ann's discussion. Still, a reader can glean some answers to some historically profound questions, say, about the self and about the body:

Is it meaningful to ask if there is "in reality" a self?, to ask if there is a true self?, if this self can be known?, and, if we know that we know it?: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Ann parses these issues with strong philosophy and methodology. It is the real self if it is the one in Presence. It's what we think of as the observer 'I', but a particular one. It's one which turns acceptingly towards other ones--ones which are judging, resisting, and those struggling with and attempting to control. The true self turns towards these parts with the acceptance we know as Presence.

Or take the old body-mind issue. Does the body have a physical locus? No, it doesn't--at least if it's something within Focusing. Here again we see Ann's systematic precision: "We either have to say that Focusing can happen outside of the body, or we have to re-define 'body' as being something larger than a set of physio-logical processes bordered by the skin." Actually, body based solely in physiology doesn't work whether it's within Focusing or not. "In Western industrial society, the body is generally body as matter, as 'stuff,' devoid of meaning, at best a ... complex machine." Focusing would simply not be possible if that were so. As Gendlin showed with his powerful philosophy, "There is no body separate from process."

RAE will leave you in resonance about the meaning of change and the meaning of the self. The one thing that leaves me clearly dissonant is my sense of separation among so many, many users of the term, radical acceptance. It's bewildering to find in Google 707 URLs for "radical acceptance"! These are finds which -exclude- the two recent, outstanding authors on it. There seems to be no, um, acceptance of the convergent evolution of the two books--one from Buddhist tradition, and one from the tradition of Western science. Yes, it is *astounding* that the authors end up in the identical place, each from completely separate origins. But it would be so very healing for us the bewildered to see our authors embracing each other!

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegantly written, beautifully and powerfully honest, October 14, 2005

By	R. Parker - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a profound book, and a major addition to the literature of Focusing. It is filled with useful advice on all aspects of Focusing, but The Radical Acceptance of Everything is particularly helpful in getting us past various blockages to inner growth and outward action. With deep and inspiring honesty, the authors show us how Focusing works in their lives, and can work in ours. The sections on the "Critic," "Treasure Maps to the Soul," "Releasing Blocks to Action with Focusing," and "Radical Gentleness" are particularly important because they they summarize original work which expands the frontiers of Focusing, and which is either difficult to find or just not available anywhere else. In these sections especially, the authors show us how we can grow by working at the edge of our blockages, at the very places where fear normally shuts us down.

This book is filled with wise, clearheaded, and effective advice to get us through difficult places. It is elegantly written, beautifully and powerfully honest.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars seeing deeply whilst writing transparently, July 14, 2005

By	rob foxcroft (glasgow, scotland) - See all my reviews

Admirers of Ann Weiser Cornell have been waiting for many years for a collection of her shorter writings.

This pretty book is even more than we were hoping for.

It offers an abundance of the noble qualities which are so striking in her work - simple words, elegant thinking, deep feeling, personal candour and calm reflection.

She writes nothing, until she is ready - until she can speak transparently. But she is a traveller, too. Readers of other of her writings will find much that is new here.

There are two great themes here. One is language - what I might call "the language of the soul" - the art of speaking to yourself in ways which the growing and creative (and maybe hurting) parts of you are likely to respond to easily.

The other is acceptance - not some squishly sentimentality, but a calm and friendly looking at things as they are: actively un-knowing, where it is tempting to say "I already know about that"; and un-oughting, when the inner gremlins get to work to resist all kinds of change.

And naturally this accepting, this friendly curiosity, also extends to the gremlins themselves.

Ann is generous about her influences, but most of all about Barbara McGavin, her co-facilitator, and Gene Gendlin, her mentor. Their spirit is everywhere in these essays.

If you value clarity and kindness - and I hope you do - then you will get a great deal out of this wise and thoughtful collection.