Welcome to the ninth episode of the Wisdom for Wellbeing Podcast. On this episode I interview Dr. Steven C. Hayes, co-founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT. ACT is a popular evidence-based psychotherapy that uses mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based methods that has been found to be helpful in a number of areas, ranging from anxiety and mood disorders to elite performance. As you will hear in this episode, Dr. Hayes offers heartfelt examples of how to live your life’s purpose using the 6 psychological flexibility skills, which can be grouped into three processes: 1) Become more Open (Acceptance + Defusion); 2) Become ore aware and in the moment (Presence/ Mindfulness + Self Awareness); and, 3) Become more actively engaged in life (Values + Committed Action).
This episode is a real honour for me as ACT was the first type of psychotherapy I felt really drawn to. In fact, it was actually reading one of Dr. Hayes’ research papers when I was at university that assured me I was moving in the right direction with my studies. I ended up emailing him to thank him for his wonderful work, and to my surprise, he wrote back. I think this speaks to the type of person Dr. Hayes is, and the very real way he lives his values on a day-to-day basis.
What is covered in this episode:
>> Exploring the smallest number of things that do the largest amount of good (think: the 80/20 rule), and how this formed what we now know as ACT
>> Psychological flexibility and the 3 processes + why this is important at this moment in history (stress, anxiety and depression are being increasingly reported, even though ‘quality of living’ is improving)
>> Acceptance as showing up (using mindfulness) and moving forward taking committed action
>> Seeds of wisdom as a gift, and how your own history can be just this
>> How language and your problem solving mind are connected
>> How you can ‘flip’ your pain into your purpose #wehurtwherewecare
>> Using yoga as a perspective taking skill and integrating it with ACT
Links Discussed
- Dr. Steven C. Hayes’ webpage and books
- A Liberated Mind Website + Bonuses (including the Cartoon Book Version illustrated by Dr. Hayes’ daughter Esther M. Hayes)
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Dr. Steven C. Hayes
Steven C. Hayes is a Nevada Foundation Professor in the Behavior Analysis program at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of 46 books and nearly 650 scientific articles, he is the developer of Relational Frame Theory, an account of human higher cognition, and has guided its extension to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or “ACT” a popular evidence-based form of psychotherapy that uses mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based methods and has been shown to be helpful in a wide range of areas.
His popular book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life was featured in Time Magazine among several other major media outlets and for a time was the best-selling self-help book in the United States, and his new book, A Liberated Mind, has been recently released to wide acclaim.
Dr. Hayes has been President of several scientific societies and has received several national awards, such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Google Scholar ranks him as among the most cited scholars in all areas of study in the world.
