How to Practice “Everyday Mindfulness”

“Nothing is worth more than this day.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Mindfulness is “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4).  When we begin to make contact with the present moment using the tool of mindfulness, the world gradually begins to look and feel…

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Acceptance in a Nutshell

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” – Carl Jung Mindfulness-based therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) infuse the concept of acceptance throughout treatment.  The idea behind acceptance is the notion of surrendering and opening yourself up to all aspects of your internal and external experience in their entirety.  This means…

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Identify Cognitive Fusion

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”  – Swedish Proverb Cognitive fusion takes hold when we become so attached to patterns of thinking or specific thoughts that they get in the way of leading a full, rich, and meaningful life.  In order words, we are fused to our thoughts when they cause significant…

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Cognitive Defusion in a Nutshell

“People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” – George Bernard Shaw Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages people to “defuse” themselves from maladaptive patterns of thinking through a process called cognitive defusion.  The idea is that we all have a tendency to over-identify with our thoughts, amplifying…

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Confront the Agenda of Emotional Control

“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.” – William James When we experience emotional suffering, it is natural to want it to “stop.”  There is often…

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What Stands Between You & the Life You Want?

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) enlists people to identify their most cherished values, set goals in accordance with those values, and then begin to direct their behavior towards reaching those goals.  One way of asking yourself a motivating question to…

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