Re: New to ACT - How's it helped you?

[Guest guest]

Hi Chandler,

Welcome to the ACT community. Things can seem a bit confusing when it

comes to ACT. The more confused the better, it's part of the process.

Let it be OK to be confused.

Will this work for you? I will promise you this, when you start

feeling better you will feel better, When you don't feel better you

won't. Guaranteed.

Those who have had positive experiences have had positive

experiences, those who haven't, Haven't. Guaranteed.

Are you willing to do ACT and not have anything happen? Can you just

have the experience of ACT and be willing for it not to work?

Go into it with the Idea that it will help, but don't believe it.

When you start reading the book and it seems like it all just makes

great sense, can you realize that it really doesn't?

ACT is not really about reaching your goals. It is about living your

life according to your values. Whether it feels good or not. Goals

are great but they are short term things, this is about living life.

It's about holding all the good, the bad, the positive, the negative,

and moving in a direction that is in line with the values you have.

If you think this is the greatest thing since slice bread, don't

believe it. Don't believe a word your mind tells you.

Get into the book, do the work. If you have questions about the work

come and ask about it.

Greg

>

> How has ACT helped you? What does ACT involve? Any positive

> information is welcomed...Thanks in advance!

>

> From what my Dr. briefly told me, ACT is having the symptoms & not

> really paying attention or focusing on them, but rather paying

> attention to the goals I am trying to reach - the things I really

> want to do - the places I really want to get in life - to be who I

> am and want to be.

>

> I'm excited to try this; I thought I had tried every type of

> treatment to overcome panic disorder with agoraphobia.

>

> I have been avoiding life on and off (mostly off) for fifteen

years,

> so I am very excited about this therapy. For the past couple of

> years I've given up on thinking my dreams and goals are attainable,

> which I know has fed into developing depression. Now I have hope

> again. All along I have continually done CBT, exposure therapy,

> relaxation therapy, etc. but any gains I make are lost fairly

> quickly.

>

> I appreciate this site and hope to learn more about ACT and receive

> as well as eventually be helpful to others.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Chandler:

Welcome to the group! I have worked with an ACT

therapist for a couple years. How has it helped me?

This is such a simple question...yet the response

could be so complex! If I were to synthesize my

experience down to its elemental essence, I would say

that ACT has given me the tools to put my mind, my

history, and my patterning in the proper context. ACT

has also allowed me to see my values and move in that

direction bringing with me my mind, my history, and my

patterning along for the journey (it isn't going

anywhere). This level of acceptance - not ignoring or

trying to change - has really had a profound effect on

my life. Am I happy all the time? No. Do I always

move in the direction that I value? No. Am I human?

Yes. I feel I have more choice in my life now.

That's how ACT has helped me.

Good luck with your own journey.

--- chandler6of7 wrote:

> How has ACT helped you? What does ACT involve? Any

> positive

> information is welcomed...Thanks in advance!

>

> From what my Dr. briefly told me, ACT is having the

> symptoms & not

> really paying attention or focusing on them, but

> rather paying

> attention to the goals I am trying to reach - the

> things I really

> want to do - the places I really want to get in life

> - to be who I

> am and want to be.

>

> I'm excited to try this; I thought I had tried every

> type of

> treatment to overcome panic disorder with

> agoraphobia.

>

> I have been avoiding life on and off (mostly off)

> for fifteen years,

> so I am very excited about this therapy. For the

> past couple of

> years I've given up on thinking my dreams and goals

> are attainable,

> which I know has fed into developing depression.

> Now I have hope

> again. All along I have continually done CBT,

> exposure therapy,

> relaxation therapy, etc. but any gains I make are

> lost fairly

> quickly.

>

> I appreciate this site and hope to learn more about

> ACT and receive

> as well as eventually be helpful to others.

>

>

>

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

> From what my Dr. briefly told me, ACT is having the symptoms & not

> really paying attention or focusing on them, but rather paying

> attention to the goals I am trying to reach - the things I really

> want to do - the places I really want to get in life - to be who I

> am and want to be.

That sounds like it's getting close, but not quite precisely what it

is. I'll give you my take, and see if it resonates a little better:

I think it is precisely about paying attention to the " symptoms " (the

feelings and thoughts which keep your life imprisoned), seeing them as

what they are (just feelings and thoughts, some pleasant, some

unpleasant, definitely a part of life, and definitely *not* accurate

reflections of " yourself " , whoever that is), allowing them to exist

just as they are, while moving ahead with whatever you want to do.

Buddhists speak of the " second arrow syndrome " . The unpleasant

feeling/thought is the first arrow which strikes you. There's no

point in fighting these, because they will always happen, because

that's just part of life. You take the good, you take the bad, you

take the both, and there you have...

The trouble comes in when you forget this, and start to fight them.

The second arrow is shot into the same place. Something feels

*wrong*. And so what started as a simple unpleasant sensation

snowballs into a self-feeding destructive cycle of judgement and

anxiety and tension and misery and lots of other icky stuff.

If you cut the cycle right up front, and say, " Huh, yep, this sure is

an unpleasant sensation. Oh well, that's life, " then a tremendous

freedom results, as you avoid being wound up in the sensation

( " fused " , as the ACT book says) but merely carry it with you, kindly,

while you do your thing.

You're no longer fighting life, you're just living it.

That, and something about a yellow jeep.