The ACT Hexaflex

You can define Values in ACT as "desired qualities of universal behaviour". On first hearing that phrase, it probably sounds like nonsense, but let's try and break it down:

Universal behaviour is, simply put, the way you behave in any situation, regardless of the external circumstances. Therefore, desired qualities of universal behaviour are the underlying principles that you want to motivate how you behave in any situation. How you want to show up in any given situation. What you want to stand for in life.

You can think of values like a compass that's guiding your life, helping you to know with confidence how to move through the world. And the beauty of values is that there is no external resource, book, or authority that is able to tell you what your values are. They can only be derived from within yourself.

Below are some resources you mind find helpful if you have not yet established a clear picture of your own values yet:

• Exploring Your Values Worksheet
• The 'Life Compass' Worksheet
• Distinguishing Values from Needs, Wants, Morals, and Ethics

Having and knowing your values can be really significant on its own, but it's not enough on its own to create a meaningful life! There needs to be a conscious, active and always on-going process of committing to act in line with those values, and then actually taking those actions.

In my own understanding of committed action and how to , I like to divide it into 'Reactive' and 'Proactive' action, though to my knowledge there is nothing like this in the official ACT framework.

'Reactive' Committed Action as I define it, is making choices on how to respond to things as they occur, based on your values. For Example:

• If you have a value of Curiosity, this might look like putting off 'making your mind up' about a person or situation based on limited information, and waiting to learn more first.
• If you have a value of Love, this might look like trying to remain loving in your motivations and actions even when you are in conflict with those dear to you.
• If you have a value of Gratitude, this might look like making an effort to recognise, acknowledge and appreciate good things as they happen to you, even when life feels hard.

'Proactive' Committed Action, as I define it, is making choices about how you will structure your life and what things you will try to fit into it, based on your values. For Example:

• If you have a value of Curiosity, this might look like setting aside time every day/week/month/etc., to learn something new, or to look at something old with new eyes.
• If you have a value of Love, this might look like making sure you go out of your way to show your Love to the person/people you most love every day/week/month/etc.,
• If you have a value of Gratitude, this might look like intentionally keeping a practice of gratitude journalling on a daily/weekly/monthly/etc., basis

It is important to have proactive and reactive elements in embodying Committed Action, I personally think. Goal Setting is a good method of embodying Proactive Committed Action, and Reactive Committed Action ties itself closely with the parallel ACT process of Being Present.

While this process of the hexaflex is often called 'Being Present', it's probably more accurate to call it present moment 'awareness' or 'attention'. This may sound like a semantic thing, but I think it more accurately emphasises the fact that this is a conscious action, centred around focusing your attention/awareness.

At the end of the day, the present is all that exists, so you can't really 'be' anything other than present. But you CAN quite easily have you awareness/attention consumed by things other than the present moment.

As you can see in the subtitle, this can also be called 'flexible attention'. I like this because I think it encapsulates what I understand to be the purpose and utility of this ACT Process, particularly as it facilitates cognitive defusion and acceptance as outlined below on this page.

[citation needed] but, I think present moment awareness is synonymous with what many call 'mindfulness'.

The following exercises are some of my favourite for cultivating or practicing present moment awareness

The importance of acceptance in the ACT Hexaflex is defined by it's opposite, which is coined as 'Experiential Avoidance'.

Experiential Avoidance is defined by any behaviour that is designed to help avoid difficult or unpleasant thoughts and feelings.

The reason experiential avoidance is problematic is that not only is completely avoiding thoughts/feelings often impossible, but trying to do so can cause us to behave in ways contrary our values.

If we accept the premise that a rich and meaningful life is one that is congruent with our values, then experiential avoidance is a major barrier to that. Therefore, Acceptance, by nature of being the opposite of experiential avoidance, is the facilitator to a rich and meaningful life!

One point of nuance that is that Acceptance is very distinct from Toleration or 'gritting one's teeth and bearing it'. To accept something is to hold something lightly, or exist alongside it.

Another term for 'Acceptance' that I quite like is 'Willingness'. I prefer this because willingness feels more of an active choice than acceptance, which feels more passive or can be misconstrued as being 'resigned' to something.

The following thought exercises and metaphors are great ways to illustrate the importance of acceptance in the cultivation of psychological flexibility

• Creative Hopelessness
• Demons on the Boat
• XYZ
• PQR

My favourite experiential exercise for facilitating willingness/acceptance is called Dropping Anchor.

Self-as-context is essentially the logical basis for the process of cognitive de-fusion, outlined elsewhere on this page.

The basic idea is explained via a metaphor that separates the 'self' into various parts. Firstly, there is a part of you that has thoughts, and has feelings, etc. There is also a part of you that is able to notice the fact that you are having these thoughts and feelings. The idea of Self-as-context is the idea that this 'noticing self' is the true, essential 'you'. The Noticing Self is an unchanging foundation upon which the other layers of 'you' (i.e., your thoughts and feelings) sit atop, like the foundation of a house (or many other metaphors outlined below)

This process is called 'meta-cognition', or 'thinking about thinking' and it is an advanced cognitive function that distinguishes humans from all other non-human animals, as far as we know.

Aside from the 'Noticing Self', Self-as-context is also sometimes called 'Flexible Perspective-taking', which thematically fits with the framing of Being Present as 'Flexible Attention'.

The following metaphors are some cool ways of visualising the idea of Self-as-Context or the 'Noticing Self'.

• The Cloudy Sky
• The Stage Play
• The Chessboard
• The Sushi Belt
• The House By The Road

As mentioned above, the ability to flexibility take the perspective of the noticing self is fundamental to the process of Cognitive De-fusion, for reasons that are hopefully self-evident.