How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 315

capable of awareness and attention. And is sometimes described as
'observing self'’ or ‘pure awareness’.
We can talk about 'self' in many ways, but in common everyday
language we talk mainly about the 'physical self' - your body - and the
'thinking self' - your mind. The 'observing self' is the part of you that is
able to observe both your physical self and your thinking self. Being
mindful is 'pure awareness' in the sense that it refers to the part of us
that is aware of everything else: aware of every thought, every feeling,
everything you see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and do.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY & THE SIX CORE PROCESSES OF ACT
There are six core processes in ACT:
1. Contacting The Present Moment means being psychologically
present: consciously connecting with whatever is happening right
here, right now.
2. Defusion means learning to step back or detach from unhelpful
thoughts and worries and memories: instead of getting caught up in
your thoughts, or pushed around by them, or struggling to get rid of
them, you learn how to let them come and go - as if they were just
cars driving past outside your house. You learn how to step back
and watch your thinking, so you can respond effectively - instead of
getting tangled up or lost inside your thinking.
3. Acceptance means opening up and making room for painful feelings
and sensations. You learn how to drop the struggle with them, give
them some breathing space, and let them be there without getting
all caught up in them, or overwhelmed by them; the more you can
open up, and give them room to move, the easier it is for your
feelings to come and go without draining you or holding you back.
4. The Observing Self is the part of you that is responsible for
awareness and attention. We don't have a word for it in common
everyday language - we normally just talk about the "mind'. But
there are two parts to the mind: the thinking self - i.e. the part that
is always thinking; the part that is responsible for all your thoughts,
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