ACT Stage 5 – Values

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

“We can select a valued action, never mind we’re feeling flat. Because a mood is only fleeting and there’s more to us than that.

Corinne Shields 

6 Core Psychological Flexibility Processes

Stage 1 – Acceptance, to allow unwanted states/events/experiences to come and go without fighting them.

Stage 2 – Defusion, to stop trying to make these states/events/experiences “concrete,” but, instead understanding that they are abstracts.

Stage 3 – Present Moment, to be aware of the “here and the now.”

Stage 4 – Contextualized Self, to become intimate with the authentic self, the “real” self, as it is consistent and constant in life.

Stage 5 – Values, to identify what is most important to you.

Stage 6 – Committed Action, to identify and set goals based on one’s own values, and carrying them out responsibly, to lead to a meaningful, fulfilled life.

Something I read, I don’t remember where and I don’t remember when, summarizes what ACT is all about. I love this conceptual view of it. Taking action, actual action, DOING something, even when we don’t want to, even when we don’t feel like it, ESPECIALLY when we don’t feel like it is the heart and soul of ACT. It’s the foundation of ACT.

It’s about acceptance, the act of acceptance, indeed, accepting what we can’t change AND committing to making a change. To take an action, one that is compatible, built upon what we value and what we believe, what we hold true and dear for ourselves and our lives.

Afterall, isn’t that what ACT actually stands for? Literally AND figuratively? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Truths about Values

Values are not goals.

Values are not feelings.

Values are not outcomes.

Values are not straight paths.

Values are not in the future.

Values are perfect. (YOUR values are perfect for YOU!)

Stay tuned for the next Mental Health Musings, which will explore Stage 6 – Committed Action, to identify and set goals based on one’s own values, and carrying them out responsibly, to lead to a meaningful, fulfilled life.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,

but that it is too low and we reach it.”

Michelangelo.

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