Present Moment

The mind's tendency to ruminate isn't a personal failing, it's a well-documented pattern with an identifiable neural signature, and it responds to specific, learnable practices.

At the core of experiential acceptance is learning the skill of sitting with our emotions. It is letting ourselves be with our feelings, without trying to change them. As discussed in the last post, this is not only different from distraction or avoidance which seeks to shut down feelings. It is also different from getting entangled with emotions through analysis or stuck on dwelling on your feelings. This is allowing emotion to come and go in its natural cycle, neither pushi

Perhaps it was providential that I met with so many of my clients who have chronic health illnesses this week when I was formulating this article. This has become a bit of a sub-specialty of mine, in part because having a trauma specialty means that your client group experiences more chronic health problems than the general population. It's also been a part of my own therapeutic work because of a couple of (now) well managed chronic health conditions which still pop up every

There are moments in our day when we sense that something within us is stirring. It could be an emotion, a memory, a sensation, or a desire. Sometimes it’s clear, while other times it’s just a flicker. In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, we learn to gently notice these inner movements without judgment. In Catholic spirituality, noticing has long been a practice in one particular form of prayer and contemplation: Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a way of praying with Scriptur

Faith for all defects supplying - where the feeble senses fail. - Pange Lingua Something I'll be talking a lot about is "internal experiences." In ACT, we differentiate between the internal and external experiences we have. But what does that mean? If something is an external experience, it is happening outside of ourselves. Someone else could see it, too. We would probably be able to take a picture of it happening or record it on our phone. Events such as a rainstorm, a con

“Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew.” St. Francis de Sales In my last post, I shared about the importance of the present moment. It is the place where God dwells, where relationship happens, and where ACT encourages us to return again and again as a basis of psychological well-being. But if you tried to actually stay in the present for any period of time, you probably quickly noted th

“Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” Matthew 6:34 (NABRE) In our fast-paced world, including in our spiritual lives, it’s easy to live anywhere but the present. We ruminate on the past. We worry about the future. Even our prayer time can become more about our thoughts and worries (or that horrible moment at work) than about a personal encounter with Jesus. But both modern psychology and Catholic spirituality a