act-ion

a number of weeks back, screwed up and kitt introduced me to a kelly mongolical tedtalk on making stress your friend. someone makes stress their friend by accepting they are stressed, recognizing what is going on in their body and moving on. when done correctly, stress, the freight train that often times runs me over, woshes by. I talked about making stress your friend here and here.

within a week, I notice that same idea could be applied to bring-me-down emotions. the acceptance of those emotions can lead to the emotion passing by without me getting ran over.

then, lauren hayley mentioned about the similar process with panic attacks. by properly accepting the panic attack, it is more likely to pass without flooring someone.

you might recognize the common word between the three, acceptance. in all three instances there is a process of acceptance which helps to move past the happening.

with the common word, acceptance, i wondered if maybe there was something called acceptance therapy. a quick internet search let me to act-acceptance and commitment therapy.

below you will find some of the key points of act lifted from wikipedia.

people acting without act, act in fear. they:

fusion with their thoughts
evaluate their experience
avoid their experience
reason-give for their behavior

people choose a healthy alternative with act:

accept their reactions and be present
choose a valued direction
take action

 

act has six core principles:

1. Cognitive defusion: Learning methods to reduce the tendency to make thoughts, images, emotions, and memories so real.
2. Acceptance: letting thoughts be transient in nature and letting them come and go without struggle.
3. Contact with the present moment: being aware and receptive to the here and now.
4. Observing the self: being aware of and practice an unchanging sense of self.
5. Values: Discovering what is most important to your true self.
6. Committed action: Setting goals using your values and living them out responsibly.

so, if you aren’t practicing a therapy or your therapy isn’t working, consider acceptance therapy. better yet, find a therapist or ask your therapist to guild you through the process. that will likely speed up the recovery process. perhaps, this can become one of keys to recovery from depression.