A popular post travelling the web is helping everyone focus on the choices we have
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s
attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
During these challenging times we have probably all experienced walking the line of the three different areas illustrated above. And our path is not linear, troubling internal and external circumstances can make us move from one area to the other quite frequently.
This diagram, translated from the Italian version, can help us navigate our experience through uncertainty, external demands, contradictory feelings and ongoing changes: something we will all go through during these times of lockdown and social distancing.
Asking ourselves, frequently, what kind of person do I want to be here and now is one of the guiding principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapies (ACT): it is the question that we can ask ourselves when, following an open connection with the emotions that are showing up in a certain moment, we intentionally recall our values and choose to act in the service of what matters most to us.
Below is a description of ACT for those who'd like to explore further.
Who do you want to be?
"Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has developed as a behavioral 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 engage with and overcome painful thoughts and feelings through acceptance and mindfulness techniques, to develop self-compassion and flexibility, and to build life-enhancing patterns of behavior.
ACT is not about overcoming pain or fighting emotions; it's about embracing life and feeling everything it has to offer.
It offers a way out of suffering by choosing to live a life based on what matters most. ACT has developed within a scientific tradition, and there continues to be a thriving research community that examines the basic science underlying ACT and the effectiveness of applying ACT techniques to numerous life problems such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, chronic pain, eating problems, and weight management, just to name a few".
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