acceptance is... a process.

it isn't that we make a monumental decision to accept and abandon bitterness and resentment etc once and for all...

it is more that at various points we become aware of feeling a little (or a lot) bittter or resentful about something in particular.

i think it is about noticing those times. noticing that that is how we are feeling. and... sometimes it is about accepting those feelings too.

not trying to deny them
not trying to push them away
not trying to cling to them (by trying to justify them)
just accepting that we are feeling them

and feelings... come and go like waves crashing to the shore. feeling that...

the most useful theraputic tool i have been given is the concept that there are two things you can do:

1) try and change the thought / feeling / behaviour / situation
2) accept the thought / feeling / behaviour / situation

and it is about balancing those two things...
and that...
is a process.