MC Jarratt's Key Ideas from The Happiness Trap
by Russ Harris

Acceptance and commitment therapy aims to create a rich, full and meaningful life while effectively handling the painful thoughts and feelings that go with it.

• Effectively handling painful thoughts and feelings is done through mindfulness, which can be divided in to defusion, expansion, connection, and the observing self.
• Creating a rich, full and meaningful life is done by setting goals, guided by your values, and taking committed and effective action to achieve them.

Your values are what is most important, deep in your heart; what sort of person you want to be; what is significant and meaningful to you; and what you want to stand for in this life.

There are ten domains of values:

• Family
• Intimate Relationships
• Friendships
• Employment
• Education and Personal Development
• Recreation, Fun and Leisure
• Spirituality
• Community Life
• Environment and Nature
• Health and Body

• Focus on one domain at a time.
• Write down your goals. This makes you more likely to take action.
• Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time -bound.
• Set a combination of immediate, short term (days to weeks), medium term (weeks to months) and long term (years) goals.
• Never set a dead person's goal, something a dead person could do better than you.

• Fusion with unhelpful thoughts. Solution: defuse the thoughts and recognise them as just words.
• Expectations that are unrealistic. Solution: break goals down to smaller pieces, extend their timeframes, and don't be afraid to make mistakes.
• Avoidance of uncomfortable feelings. Solution: recognise that working towards goals generates pleasant feelings too, of curiosity, excitement and satisfaction.
• Remoteness from your values. Solution: write down your values, read them through, and change as required.