Acceptance Commitment Therapy for anxiety: More happiness by Empower Counseling
The findings of a well respected study from 2010, that sampled individual’s ongoing thoughts, feelings, and actions, are not surprising to this Acceptance Commitment Therapist. The study found that people are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is. The study also found that doing so, thinking about what is not happening, typically made people unhappy.
Acceptance Commitment Therapy for Anxiety: More Happiness by Empower Counseling
Why are these findings no surprise to this Acceptance Commitment Therapist? In a word, MINDFULNESS.
Acceptance Commitment therapy is a higher level cognitive-behavioral therapy. Simply put, an Acceptance Commitment therapist will examine your thoughts and your behaviors to get to the root of the issues an individual is experiencing. For example, if a client feels stuck, unsatisfied, or “not living his, her, their purpose” a therapist trained and experienced in ACT will uncover the self-limiting or unhelpful thoughts keeping the client from moving in the right direction for that particular client.
Once your ACT therapist uncovers your unhelpful thoughts, you will learn helpful mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness is awareness of one’s thoughts, internal states, and surroundings. Mindfulness helps us observe our own thoughts and decide what to do with them. This ability, once achieved, is like a HAPPINESS SUPER POWER.. Through mindfulness, we can recognize when our mind wants to get us tangled up in unhelpful thoughts of the past and/or unhelpful, worrisome thoughts about what could happen in the future. It is in those thoughts of the past or worries about the future, that anxiety, depression, and unhappiness tend to live. In those places, your thoughts control you. With mindfulness, it is the other way around. You get to determine if you are going to follow where your mind wants to take you, and has taken you so many times in the past, or whether you are going to direct yourself to more helpful thoughts.
Mindfulness: Awareness and Choice
Learning and practicing mindfulness, a place of awareness and choice, can lead to life changing positive differences. Our thoughts lead to our emotions and our actions. Think about that for a minute. If you achieve a mindfulness practice of being aware of your thoughts and deciding whether those thoughts are helpful to you, whether the thoughts can lead to the life you want, you will have removed huge obstacles standing between you and a much happier life. Our brains limit us all of the time. They tell us “you can’t do that”. They tell us, “You don’t have time to….exercise, eat well, or spend time on anything other that work. What could your life be like if you did not have to buy in to all of your thoughts?
At Empower Counseling, through Acceptance Commitment Therapy, we do not simply focus on thoughts alone. We also focus on behavior. The unhelpful thoughts of the past necessarily contribute to behaviors like procrastination, not wanting to get out of bed, etc. Once we have examined the thoughts that are unhelpful or keeping you from acting toward goals or even setting goals to begin with, we will use proven methods to determine the actions that will move you toward the life you want. We will break down these actions to steps that are small enough for you to actually get started.
Acceptance Commitment Therapy takes clients who are overwhelmed, anxious, and depressed, stuck in unhelpful thoughts of the past or the future and offers a happier way of being….in the present moment. When we are truly focused on the here and now, we enjoy life much more. There is a huge difference between worrying about the future and intentionally planning actions toward the goals you want to reach and the life you want to have. Through ACT, you can learn how to live a mindful and intentional life, that can bring a level of happiness, contentment, and satisfaction not possible before.
Empower Counseling is the Acceptance Commitment Therapy Practice In Birmingham, Alabama
Empower Counseling is the only Acceptance Commitment Therapy practice in Birmingham. Each of our three counselors, Kathryn, Adam, and Kristine are trained in ACT. We offer counseling for teens, counseling for college students, therapy for young adults, and counseling for professionals. ACT is a proven effective method for anxiety counseling and counseling for depression. Not only do we offer in person counseling Monday through Saturday, and some evenings. We also offer online therapy to anyone in the state of Alabama. This means you can experience ACT on your schedule, and in the comfort of your dorm room or apartment at the University of Alabama, Auburn University, Samford University, and Birmingham-Southern College.
If you are not living your best life, reach out to Empower Counseling today for Acceptance Commitment Therapy. 205-730-6570.