Re: Effective mindful acceptance ? undermining mindful acceptance

[Guest guest]

Hi Leo - Sounds like you are well on your way to being really successful with ACT. You've honed your skills in defusion and acceptance to intervene after anxiety appears. Now you need to hone the skills of "observing self" and "mindfulness" so you have the preventative skills. Try experimenting with new mindfulness skills throughout your day - eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, doing the laundry - all the little things you do each day. I've found that extending mindfulness to many aspects of my life has brought more calmness. Formal sitting is important but practicing mindfulness as often as possible is very helpful. Have a look at The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur. It talks about this. It teaches one how to apply awareness to our busy Western lives. Also, hone your observing self skills so you are pretty much continuously aware of your thoughts in the background. This is tricky as you do not want to become preoccupied with your thoughts but be able to invoke defusion and acceptance at "the moment of interpretation" (Brantley), rather than get stuck and have to defuse/accept your way out of a hole.

Disclaimer - I am not a therapist and have been seriously practicing ACT for about six months. Before that I was a world-class ACT intellectual and over thought it to a fault.

For what it's worth. Stick with it. I think you are on the verge of a breakthrough.

Bill

Effective mindful acceptance ? undermining mindful acceptance

Hi everyoneI have been experiencing a severe anxiety disorder for about 12 months now and working with an ACT therapist and the books for about 6 months. I believe I am now living all of my values except going back to work which will happen in January. I don't always feel great much of the time but hey that isn't a choice is it. I have a sticky problem to share to see if any others have insight:My mind tells me that I have developed some skill and experience with mindful acceptance and defusion to the point that I can often do so when unwanted stuff shows up to the point that the pain significantly diminishes or even goes away. The problem is that I then begin to use all my training whenever stuff shows up with the hidden goal of diminishing or banishing the pain, and want to hold on to the pleasant state of no pain. I then can get frustrated and resentful when I have severe pain that doesn't respond to mindful acceptance! I realise that this is a sneaky mindgame but I'm not sure that I see the fine difference between avoidance of pain and "interrupting the mindmachine, noticing and defusing from judgements and staying in the present", which often diminishes my pain! I can see that the goal is to soften and stay with the pain but I find when I really drop the struggle and adopt this stance the pain often diminishes. Man my mind is sneaky, what is the best approach here Russ or ? I think recently I have just started to enjoy it when it happens but try not to expect it (even though I know my mind desires otherwise).ThanksLeo