Re: I figured out something very simple

January 27, 2012

That's excellent Wanda : ) Sent from my iPhone

I figured out something very simple

I finally figured out something very simple in ACT. I am actually quite embarrassed to even print this, and am sending the embarrassment down the Leaf River.

I am anxious; I worry about a lot of things. Things that happened a long time ago, things that happened recently, things that are yet to come. [i am Scrooge from Dickens Christmas Carol!]

I am to meet a new psychiatrist next week, yesterday I was talking with my long time therapist about all the things I should remember to tell new doctor, anxiety and worry about things at the top of the list. For exmple, I had just come from a mock jury event and was certain I would never be called back to participate again, it was obvious everyone was more articulate than I, everything I shared was `silly', everyone else seem to understand the wording of a particular document, which I found very poorly written, difficult to understand because of double negatives, etc. etc.

On my way home I realized, with amazement, I actually saw the light bulb over my head!!. These are the exact thoughts to send down the Leaf River. I have thought the Leaf River exercise to be quite inspired and of great value, used in a quiet room, meditative state, etc. AND I was driving home, freaking out with these thoughts. DUH. As driving, I started putting them on the leaves, I broadened the stream and added more leaves, I was certainly paying attention to driving, AND quickly and messy filling and refilling leaves as they passed buy and left me, as they went down the stream, instead of driving myself further and further into an anxiety attack. Instead of arriving home in my quite familiar exahusted and overwhelmed state, I actually entered my home waith rare come.

thank for reading. Wanda in NM usa.

January 28, 2012

AwesomeJust don't measure it by the calm ... measure it by theconsciousness between moments. Measure it by " I'm here. " (not those words of course ... the sense of it).

Measure it by the little pause that undermines the automaticityof reaction; by a sense of liberation inside the distinction between you and thecontent.Measure it by the freedom to be you

- S C. Foundation ProfessorDepartment of Psychology /298University of NevadaReno, NV 89557-0062 " Love isn't everything, it's the only thing "

hayes@... or stevenchayes@...Fax: Psych Department: Contextual Change (you can use this number for messages if need be):

Blogs: Psychology Today http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-out-your-mindHuffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-c-hayes-phd

If you want my vita, publications, PowerPoint slides, try my training page: http://contextualpsychology.org/steve_hayesor you can try my website (it is semi-functional) stevenchayes.com

If you have any questions about ACT or RFT (articles, AAQ information etc), please first check the vast resources at website of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS): www.contextualpsychology.org. You have to register on the site to download things, but the cost is up to your own values.

If you are a professional or student and want to be part of the world wide ACT discussion or RFT discussions, join the ACT list: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy/join

or the RFT list:http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/relationalframetheory/joinIf you are a member of the public reading ACT self-help books (e.g., " Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life " etc) and want to be part of that conversation go to: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACT_for_the_Public/join

That's excellent Wanda : ) Sent from my iPhone

I figured out something very simple

I finally figured out something very simple in ACT. I am actually quite embarrassed to even print this, and am sending the embarrassment down the Leaf River.

I am anxious; I worry about a lot of things. Things that happened a long time ago, things that happened recently, things that are yet to come. [i am Scrooge from Dickens Christmas Carol!]

I am to meet a new psychiatrist next week, yesterday I was talking with my long time therapist about all the things I should remember to tell new doctor, anxiety and worry about things at the top of the list. For exmple, I had just come from a mock jury event and was certain I would never be called back to participate again, it was obvious everyone was more articulate than I, everything I shared was `silly', everyone else seem to understand the wording of a particular document, which I found very poorly written, difficult to understand because of double negatives, etc. etc.

On my way home I realized, with amazement, I actually saw the light bulb over my head!!. These are the exact thoughts to send down the Leaf River. I have thought the Leaf River exercise to be quite inspired and of great value, used in a quiet room, meditative state, etc. AND I was driving home, freaking out with these thoughts. DUH. As driving, I started putting them on the leaves, I broadened the stream and added more leaves, I was certainly paying attention to driving, AND quickly and messy filling and refilling leaves as they passed buy and left me, as they went down the stream, instead of driving myself further and further into an anxiety attack. Instead of arriving home in my quite familiar exahusted and overwhelmed state, I actually entered my home waith rare come.

thank for reading. Wanda in NM usa.

January 30, 2012

,

Thank you for saying so much in so little.

The best expression of what I think you're getting at I've encountered so far is

a rather clunky word: 'aliveness.'

'Aliveness' is the background hum of our neural engine, the difference between

being asleep and being awake, the difference between the container and what

contains it.

For example, I have a good and healthy thought. I'm alive and aware of it. I

have a worrying thought and I suffer because of it, I'm alive and aware of that

as well.

The contents change, but my sense of being alive is and always has been, from

the moment of my birth to now, the same. Good and bad thoughts come, and good

and bad thoughts go, but here I am, alive and aware of it all.

It's the way, when I look back over my life, the way it's always been and the

way, when I look forward, the way it will always be until the day I die.

That I am here right now and able to write this is a miracle beyond imagining.

When my father made love with my mother way back in 1947 and one of his sperm

fought its way to her egg and burrowed its way in, I came into being.

As odds go, that is almost impossible. And miraculous. If that particular sperm

had failed and was beaten by one of the millions of others, I might not have

been here to write this.

And yet here I am as, miraculously, are you.

We're here, we're now!

Wow!

In spite of the ridiculously long odds against it, here we are, and we have that

wonderful thing called 'aliveness'.

Aliveness, in its deepest sense, is our observing self, the core of who and what

we are. The still centre of our turning world.

Cheers,

Stan

> >

> > I figured out something very simple

> >

> > I finally figured out something very simple in ACT. I am actually quite

> > embarrassed to even print this, and am sending the embarrassment down the

> > Leaf River.

> >

> > I am anxious; I worry about a lot of things. Things that happened a long

> > time ago, things that happened recently, things that are yet to come. [i am

> > Scrooge from Dickens Christmas Carol!]

> >

> > I am to meet a new psychiatrist next week, yesterday I was talking with my

> > long time therapist about all the things I should remember to tell new

> > doctor, anxiety and worry about things at the top of the list. For exmple,

> > I had just come from a mock jury event and was certain I would never be

> > called back to participate again, it was obvious everyone was more

> > articulate than I, everything I shared was `silly', everyone else seem to

> > understand the wording of a particular document, which I found very poorly

> > written, difficult to understand because of double negatives, etc. etc.

> >

> > On my way home I realized, with amazement, I actually saw the light bulb

> > over my head!!. These are the exact thoughts to send down the Leaf River. I

> > have thought the Leaf River exercise to be quite inspired and of great

> > value, used in a quiet room, meditative state, etc. AND I was driving home,

> > freaking out with these thoughts. DUH. As driving, I started putting them

> > on the leaves, I broadened the stream and added more leaves, I was

> > certainly paying attention to driving, AND quickly and messy filling and

> > refilling leaves as they passed buy and left me, as they went down the

> > stream, instead of driving myself further and further into an anxiety

> > attack. Instead of arriving home in my quite familiar exahusted and

> > overwhelmed state, I actually entered my home waith rare come.

> > thank for reading. Wanda in NM usa.

> >

>

January 30, 2012

Jazakallah khair Stan. LOVED ur post! being 'alive' truly means 'experiencing' ur life as it unfolds moment by moment, without choosing one moment over the other. The past few months, being in other groups, i have noticed the difference between myself & them in this aspect, where the attachment to a pleasant moment causes much self-inflicted suffering when the next moment that folllows is not as as pleasant. when we let go of any attachments, we let BE, which is truly liberating, and in my eyes gives me that sense of being 'alive' after reading this post of urs, i have now realized howmuch i have missed ur posts, Not to mention u always had great mindfulness books to recommend ;-)take care stanwasalaam:-)-K Designs."" Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.

That way, when you criticize them, you're already a mile away AND you have their

shoes." ~ a very pious intellectual To: ACT_for_the_Public From: stealthymangos@...Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:51:48 +0000Subject: Re: I figured out something very simple

,

Thank you for saying so much in so little.

The best expression of what I think you're getting at I've encountered so far is a rather clunky word: 'aliveness.'

'Aliveness' is the background hum of our neural engine, the difference between being asleep and being awake, the difference between the container and what contains it.

For example, I have a good and healthy thought. I'm alive and aware of it. I have a worrying thought and I suffer because of it, I'm alive and aware of that as well.

The contents change, but my sense of being alive is and always has been, from the moment of my birth to now, the same. Good and bad thoughts come, and good and bad thoughts go, but here I am, alive and aware of it all.

It's the way, when I look back over my life, the way it's always been and the way, when I look forward, the way it will always be until the day I die.

That I am here right now and able to write this is a miracle beyond imagining. When my father made love with my mother way back in 1947 and one of his sperm fought its way to her egg and burrowed its way in, I came into being.

As odds go, that is almost impossible. And miraculous. If that particular sperm had failed and was beaten by one of the millions of others, I might not have been here to write this.

And yet here I am as, miraculously, are you.

We're here, we're now!

Wow!

In spite of the ridiculously long odds against it, here we are, and we have that wonderful thing called 'aliveness'.

Aliveness, in its deepest sense, is our observing self, the core of who and what we are. The still centre of our turning world.