Have you ever done something and then immediately wondered, “Why the heck did I do that!?” (*cue sadness, shame, confusion, anxiety) when it did not align with your value system? Sometimes our minds boss us around and tell us stories that we quickly, and sometimes automatically, believe (“I’m a failure, I’m not good enough”). When is the last time you really took a look at the things that make life worth living in the here and now?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (pronounced “ACT”) is an evidence-based model that can help us identify what is important to us now as we face inevitable human challenges. It is as much about navigating pain and suffering as it is about finding sustainable ways to lean into our value system and make meaningful and purposeful behavioral change.

How would you want your loved ones to describe you at your 90th birthday? Make the commitment now to defining how you want to walk through your life.

ACT is not only a researched-backed therapeutic approach, it is also a lifestyle choice. If you have tried to “solve” or “fix” your emotions and thoughts in the past only to continue to feel stuck, keep reading. What if you could change the relationship with your internal experiences like thoughts, emotions, physical sensations even if you could not change them and their content?

If you are the slightest bit curious about this concept, you are already demonstrating openness and flexibility, two key components to this work. When we focus on the larger meaning of our lives and the things that deeply matter to us, for example, intimacy in relationships, empathy, and trust, just to name a few, we have the opportunity to enrich our lives even in the face of extraordinary pain.

Questions I invite you to consider:

Am I willing to feel some pain in service of things that are important to me?

Can I practice allowing difficult and pleasant emotions/thoughts to coexist?

Can I slow down and take the time to actually recognize my own responses to my emotions, thoughts, body sensations, and urges?

Am I willing to have a thought/feeling vs have a thought/feeling define me?