ACT physicalizing exercise - MP3 version

[Guest guest]

Recently I revisited the " physicalizing " exercise from Chap. 10

in the ACT workbook - I had a value I was working with that was

bringing up lots of painful thoughts, and I got some advice that

physicalizing would be a good way to work with them.

I thought it would be neat to tape-record it so I could play it

back to myself & follow the instructions. I've posted the MP3

file on my site, also - the URL is:

http://www.raburgess.com/wholesight/

Here is some of what I say on the blog about the exercise:

One technique in particular is borrowed from Gestalt psychology

- it's called " physicalizing, " and involves imagining that a scary

thought or feeling or sensation is an object that we're looking at -

an object complete with all kinds of imaginary attributes, such as

shape, color, weight, and so on. It's a way of defusing the scariness

of whatever it is by putting it into the same category as other

external objects, like chairs, trees, used Chinese food cartons,

and so on.

Once you learn this technique you can use it in combination

with other ACT work, such as values and commitments. Values

& commitments often raise scary barriers, and by having a tool

handy such as physicalizing, you can work on accepting these

barriers, then moving back to the values and commitment part

of it again. You can go back and forth as need be, in other

words.