The Choice Point ACT Framework: Making Your Moves
The Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” The space Frankl is referring to can feel fleeting and allusive, yet, if we practice slowing down, noticing our emotional experience in the moment, and intentionally consider how we want to respond, we can make decisions and engage in behaviors that are helpful to us and others, and, most importantly, aligned with our values.
Slowing Down & Cultivating Space for Honest Responses
A helpful tool for the practice of slowing down and cultivating the space between stimulus and response, is the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) framework of choice point. The choice point is the space you are in right before making a decision – a moment which you can choose to pause and connect with your why before deciding on how to respond.
Try to visualize a choice point as a fork in the road – one road represents your towards moves, and the other road your away moves. The towards moves are the actions and/or decisions that align with your personal values, the things that are important and meaningful to you and the way you lead your life; the away moves are actions and/or decisions that distance you from your values.
Recognizing the Benefits of Staying True to Your Values
Using the choice point framework is a useful way to remind yourself of the benefit of making towards moves, and how the small choices we make each day add up and get us closer to our main values. Here are three steps you can take to implement the choice point framework:
1. Pause before acting/making a decision
Ask yourself what you are thinking and feeling in the moment, and give yourself space to make an intentional decision that aligns with your values.
2. Connect with your why (i.e., your values)
What is important to you? What do you want to stand for in life? What qualities do you want to bring to your actions? Considering these types of questions can help you act in a way that aligns with your values.
One of my values, for example, is relationships, and two qualities I aim to bring to relationships are patience and caring. When I am tired and feeling irritable, and talk to my loved one in a sharp tone of voice, my actions don’t align with my larger value. If I can stop and remind myself of this in the moment, it helps me pause, take a breath, and speak in a more loving way.
3. Make your towards moves.
Once you are clear on how you are feeling in the moment and whether it aligns with your values, practice making your towards moves. Sometimes, these moves are pretty straightforward like in my example of speaking in a more loving tone of voice. At others times, when making a big/more complicated decision, it might not be that clear.
One way you can clarify your towards moves is by writing out various different ways you can move forward, and circling the towards moves while crossing out the away moves. As you do this, ask yourself what action/decision moves you in the direction of your values? If there are multiple choices, you can make a pros and cons list to determine what may be most helpful in the moment or what action you want to start with.
Harnessing the Power of Choice
The bottom line is this: we have the power to choose, and our choices have power. We just tend to get overwhelmed in the moment and forget to give ourselves the space to connect with our values and making conscious decisions.
Practicing mindfulness and generally slowing down will help you tap into your inner voice, and truly listening. If you are interested in learning more about the choice point framework and related skills, you may also consider Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), one of many treatments we offer at CBTDenver.
As a branch that has grown from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), choice point ACT focuses on teaching individuals how to accept their experience of negative emotions, while choosing to opt for toward moves – i.e. responses that are beneficial to their values.
For more information, please reach out to us here at CBTDenver.
-Jennifer Caspari, Ph.D.