The Big Book of ACT Metaphors

Based on that, how do you think Zorg would score you in the life domains weve
discussed? Lets say his scale goes from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning you arent acting at
all according to your values and 10 meaning that your actions are fully consistent
with your values. What score do you think Zorg would give you? (Go through each
valued domain individually and have the client assign a score to each one.)
Now think about the scores youd like Zorg to give you. Lets go through all the
domains again so you can say how youd like to score in each.
After the scores are assigned, engage clients in a discussion about whats standing
between where they are and where they want to be. Use other concepts, such as willingness and defusion, to explore how they can overcome these obstacles and facilitate
moving in valued directions.

The Bubble
(Nuno Ferreira, 2013)
The Bubble is a combination of metaphor and exercise inspired by the Bubble metaphor presented in Learning ACT (Luoma et al., 2007, pp. 167168). Its used after clients
have experimented with committed actions, and allows them to contrast their experiences of life-expanding actions versus life-constricting ones. For this exercise, you need
the graphics and worksheet provided in appendix I. The graphics illustrate the contrast
between an expanding life and a constricted life, and the worksheet can help clients
track the progression of therapy and the consequences of living a more mindful and
accepting life in the service of personal values.
Over the past few weeks, youve probably seen yourself doing things that you werent
doing before. You took actions that you had been avoiding, taking them on because
they have an important meaning for you. Youve probably realized that by committing
to those actions and following through on them, youve opened the door to more and
more actions that will lead you in the directions you value. So youve started having
more and more choices. The process of committed action is all about shifting from a
life constricted by avoidance and fusion to a life where forward movement in the
direction of your values and an expansion of your choices and actions are constant.
When youre acting and moving in ways that are consistent with your values, youll
probably experience a sense of expansion in your life. Lets do an exercise to help you
to get a feel for that.
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Committed Action

Imagine that your life is a bubble made of a special material that can absorb
everything around the bubble without ever breaking or bursting. Youre the one
controlling how much air is in the bubble, and therefore how much it expands or
contracts. (Use the graphics in appendix I to demonstrate this.) Outside the
bubble are these sharp objects; they are your difficult experiences. When you get
scared about these sharp objects because they look like theyre going to burst your
bubble, you stop inflating it and your life contracts, as in the top graphic. When you
accept these experiences into your life despite how sharp they look, willingly inflating
your bubble so it comes in contact with these difficulties and absorbs them, your
bubble expands, as in the bottom graphic.
Lets review the committed actions you undertook last week. Consider whether
you did any of these actions in the service of your values and fully embracing
everything you experienced in the process. If so, lets call those vital actions. Also
consider whether any were examples of what we might call nonvital actions. These
could be actions that you planned to do but ended up not doing in the service of
avoiding difficult experiences. Or perhaps there were actions you did, but you did
them in the service of avoiding difficult experiences; in the service of reasons; in the
service of proving something to yourself or others; or even just in the service of not
wanting to be unsuccessful in following through. Its okay if some of your actions felt
nonvital. After all, youre still taking your first steps toward your valued life.
Now use this worksheet (also in appendix I) to jot down the actions you
undertook. For each action, indicate whether you think it was vital or nonvital by
writing an X in the appropriate column. Next, indicate whether you felt that each
action created a sense of expansion in your life or a sense of contraction, again by
writing an X in the appropriate column. You can use this worksheet to keep track of
your actions throughout the week and identify whether they create a sense of vitality
and expansion.

Bold Move
(Martin Wilks, 2013)
While most clients can name values such as acting and living with love, freedom,
loyalty, and honor, some have difficulty defining what moving in the direction of these
values would look like in their lives. One strategy for helping clients envision how these
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