A form of therapy where the primary goal is understanding that thoughts are just words in our heads.
So here is the happiness trap in a nutshell: to find happiness, we try to avoid or get rid of bad feelings, but the harder we try, the more bad feelings we create.
These can be typically looked at as âstoriesâ.
A - Accept your thoughts and feelings C - Connect with your values T - Take effective action
Fusion and Defusion
When we react to thoughts/stories as if they were true and give them our attention that is fusion. Defusion is acknowledging that these are stories and letting them be.
Anytime youâre feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed, ask yourself, âWhat story is my mind telling me now?â Then once youâve identified it, defuse it.
The Observing Self
ACT often refers to the observing self as the viewpoint (as opposed to the thinking self). By being cognizant of the observing self you can see how the thinking self is creating stories.
The thinking self is responsible for thinking, in the broadest sense of the word; it produces all our thoughts, judgments, images, fantasies, and memories, and it is commonly called âthe mind.â The observing self is responsible for awareness, attention, and focus. It can observe thoughts, images, memories, etc., but it cannot produce them.
Expansion
One technique to handle uncomfortable emotions.
The four basic steps of expansion are: observe your feelings, breathe into them, make room for them, and allow them to be there.
FEAR
The Happiness Trap offers the FEAR acronym as a way to understand what some of problems you can deal with.
youâve probably come up against one or more components of FEAR: Fusion. Excessive expectations. Avoidance of discomfort. Remoteness from values.