Towards And Away: An ACT Tool For Difficult Moments

03:46

Towards And Away: An ACT Tool For Difficult Moments

Rated

4.9

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

67

When we’re struggling with anxiety, stress, difficult emotions or feeling stuck, it’s easy to get caught in reactions that take us away from the person we want to be. In this short introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Reuben explores psychologist Tobias Lundgren’s Towards and Away framework: a simple way of noticing whether our actions are moving us towards what matters or away from it. Rather than needing difficult thoughts and feelings to disappear, we can learn to make room for them while reconnecting with our values, choices and direction. A practical reflection on mindfulness, psychological flexibility, emotional wellbeing, self-awareness and living with greater meaning and intention.

Values Clarification Acceptance Meditation Anxiety Stress Emotional Wellbeing Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Mindfulness Intention

Meet your Teacher

Melbourne VIC, Australia

Meet your Teacher

Melbourne VIC, Australia

Transcript

So this is a micro video, Nice, Short and sweet. And I hope to give you something that can be really effective for you. There's a psychologist called Tobias Lundgren and. . . He's come up with this very simple way of thinking about the human mind and behavior, And how we can enhance meaningful connection for ourselves. That's what you were born for, More moments of meaningful connection. So, It's this notion of towards moves. Away moves. Towards moves and away moves, Meaning the things we do, The things we say. Whether they're a towards move or an away move. Let's make it super simple. And by the end of this, Maybe it can help you. Towards moves. Moving towards. My values. In other words, Moving towards things I care about. Towards moves. Life enhancing actions life-enhancing behaviors. Towards moves. Fulfilling, They're fulfilling, Fulfilling actions. And these could be simple things, Very simple and small things. It could be having a cup of tea, Contacting your friend. Are taking a nap. On the bed. Right? Towards moves. Are these enhancing your life? If so, It's a towards move. Now away moves. These are not life enhancing away moves, They are life diminishing. Life-diminishing actions. They move us away from our values. They move us away from the type of person that we want to be in that moment. Can you see the difference here moving towards the type of person I want to be in that moment or moving away from the type of person I want to be in that moment? Now here's the thing. We all do away moves. We all get hooked by thoughts in our head. Head, Feelings in our body and we get hooked to do away moves even when they don't serve us because in the short term they usually feel better but in the longer term they tend to feel a bit worse. It could be avoiding things or opting out of doing things that we really value. It could be Um, Taking substances or medication to alter our state of consciousness to escape something. It could be getting caught up in a drama or some kind of other distraction, Right? It could be mindlessly watching heaps and heaps of TV again and again and again, Right? Whereas towards moves, It's more like things that serve us, Right? Things that serve us, Things that enhance our lives. As part of the human condition to get caught up in away moves. We need to recognize this is what I'm noticing in this moment. This is an away move for me. What can I do? Can I make a towards move here? Even if it's a tiny little one, The more we do this, The more we can catch ourselves when we get pulled into away moves. And when you do notice that you get pulled into away moves and you do the away moves, We need to be okay with the fact that this is part of the human condition and it's ingrained in us to do some of these away moves. It's that mindset that helps us gently get back on track again and then there's that choice point of can I do a towards move now. So there we go. I hope that was helpful. Thank you so much. And I'll see you in the next video.