We all have a tendency to be a bit rigid with how and where we focus our attention, and one of the times that we can be most rigid is in the midst of anger.
In this exercise we want you to help clients expand outwards – rather than have awareness be narrow and focused like a spotlight, we want to broaden it out, helping them to take in everything that is around and inside them.
Download expanding your awareness exercise
This exercise gently opens them up to the various different aspects of their experience as they are right now: everything going on around them that they can perceive with the five senses – see, hear, feel, smell, taste; everything that is going on inside – any thoughts that are appearing and then retreating in the mind; any feelings or sensations. You don’t need to focus in on any of them particularly – just let them be; allow them all to wash over the client and encourage them to just experience them.
This resource has been shared from ACTivate Your Life: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Workbook for Building a Life that is Rich, Fulfilling and Fun by Dr Joe Oliver, Jon Hill and Eric Morris. This book was designed to reconnect you with yourself by showing how the techniques of ACT can be used to set meaningful goals and give your life some direction. With a clear introduction to the ACT approach, life scenarios to make the examples come alive and workbook activities for clinicians and clients alike. Visit the ACTivate your life page for more free exercises, worksheets and links to purchase.
How to use the ‘expanding your awareness’ exercise
This is an exercise that can be done anywhere, at any time. If you give this page to the client then while they are reading the instructions their attention is probably going to be focused very closely on the words on the page. We recommend that when you/they have finished reading these instructions that they are put down if printed or the screen is closed if online. Then the participant can lift their head and slowly expand awareness outwards.
