The aim of ACT is to create a rich, full meaningful life, while accepting the pain that inevitably goes with it.
ACT has developed as an empirically-supported behavioural intervention to help people learn strategies to live life more in the present, more focused on important values and goals, and less focused on painful thoughts, feelings and experiences.
ACT teaches people how to disengage from painful thoughts and feelings through acceptance and mindfulness techniques, to develop self-compassion and flexibility, and to build life-enhancing patterns of behaviour.
The ACT acronym stands for :
Accept what you are experiencing just as it is, and not as what your mind says it is (e.g., terrible, weak, out of control),
Choose what you want to be about and do, right where you are (e.g., what matters to you in this life, right here, right now?)
Take action in life directions that matter to you.
The ACT processes work towards:
- Helping us clarify what really matters
- Assisting us in taking action in the areas of your life that really matter.
- Overcoming our barriers to action by teaching psychological strategies that help us make room for the emotional discomfort and unhelpful thoughts which inevitably arise as we attempt to change stale old behaviour patterns and take on new challenges.These strategies are known as Mindfulness Skills.
