Dr. Rivian Lewin shares insights for harnessing the power of the mind, using ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) Practices.
The mind is a powerful entity housed inside our heads. Our minds can bring us to our most painful moment while we’re experiencing a perfectly pleasant day. Even more remarkable, our minds can play out a possible future, an event that has not yet happened, with the detail of a tried and true factual experience. Have you ever found yourself in a moment when you’re swept up by your mind’s output? You can be sitting in the coziness of your living room, drinking a warm cup of coffee, when all of a sudden, your mind flashes an image or plays a video of something upsetting that occurred long ago. All of a sudden, you feel as though you are back in the moment of the memory. Minds are so powerful that the thoughts they produce can influence us tremendously.
“When we are able to see our thoughts from a distance, we have choice in which thoughts dictate our behavior and which thoughts do not. ”
Of course, there are many moments when the mind’s strength is helpful. For example, our minds allow us to execute complex plans, think through possible options/outcomes when weighing decisions, and store massive amounts of information retrievable with little to no effort.
Most of us have not had much training in working with this powerhouse machine we’ve been holding in our heads since the beginning of time! Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) creates a frame for learning how to notice your mind and work with it collaboratively. In ACT, defusion is the process of distancing ourselves from our thoughts. Through defusion, we are able to observe thoughts as mental events rather than facts about the world. When we are able to see our thoughts from a distance, we have choice in which thoughts dictate our behavior and which thoughts do not. We are able to notice thoughts with openness and curiosity and this stance makes the thoughts less threatening, demanding, and upsetting. Defusing from thoughts can be a liberating and life-changing practice.
Defusion allows us to change the way we experience our thoughts. For example, if you have a certain thought that comes up often and impacts you similarly each time (e.g., when the thought comes up you often find yourself in a rumination spiral, canceling plans, laying down, etc.), defusion can help interrupt this pattern. There are many ways to change the way we experience thoughts and look at them from an observer perspective.
Here are some foundational defusion techniques to try:
Label the thought as coming from the mind:
“My mind is telling me ________”
“I am noticing the thoughts ________”
“My mind is giving me the thought ________”
Physicalize your thoughts:
Take them out of your mind and put them to paper.
You may further create space by writing the same thoughts in different colors, fonts, and sizes on the piece of paper. You might notice you have a different reaction to the different versions.
Change the way the thought sounds:
say the thought in a foreign accent
try singing it to the tune of your favorite song
If you notice your thoughts are one of your greatest sources of discontent, you’ve been thinking the same thoughts over and over, or you put a lot of effort into trying to avoid certain thoughts, defusion could have a huge impact on your well-being.
