Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Wayne Dyer
Present Moment. Mindfulness. Groundedness. These are all concepts present, indeed, foundational, in ACT.
I no longer notice that I am practicing Mindfulness. Or that I am working to be grounded, in the present. After becoming familiar with the concept of mindfulness in early 2011, a bit over 10 years ago, the ease in which I immersed myself in Mindfulness continues to amaze and comfort me. I started my journey toward Mindfulness at a Crisis House in Oceanside, where I took my clients, people very recently discharged from psychiatric hospitals for a vast array of reasons, on a Mindfulness Walk. Another clinician showed my WHAT Mindfulness was, and how to BE Mindful. I’ve been passionate about it ever since.
I don’t want to let my life pass me by by being UN-Mindful. I don’t want to arrive at a destination with no idea or concept of the “getting there.”
I don’t want to eat a delicious meal SO quickly, being so UN-Mindful, that I don’t remember what I ate and how it tasted and how I enjoyed it.
I try to be present, grounded, mindful EVERY SECOND OF EVERY CONSCIOUS MOMENT OF EVERY DAY. This has led me to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) because Mindfulness is the very foundation, the very root of ACT.
6 Core Psychological Flexibility Processes
Stage 3 – Present Moment, to be aware of the “here and the now.”
ACT is being in the NOW, being WITH your experiences, your past, your behavior, and your actions. This leads to more psychological flexibility…to more non-judgmental connections.
Stay tuned for the next Mental Health Musings, which will explore Stage 4 – Contextualized Self, to become intimate with the authentic self, the “real” self, as it is consistent and constant in life.