The Wisdom to Know the Difference: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Workbook for Overcoming Substance Abuse (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)

by Kelly G. Wilson

In this very moment, will you accept the sad and the sweet, hold lightly stories about what is possible, and be the author of a life that has meaning and purpose for you, turning in kindness back to that life when you find yourself moving away from it?

It reminds you that how you see the world right now might not necessarily be how things actually are and certainly doesn’t determine how things might eventually become.

Stopping on your journey to look at a map, momentarily, is a fine idea. But there’s only so much the map can tell you. In order to get anywhere, you need to spend most of your trip traveling with your eyes on the road, watching for what will happen next. Ruminating is like spending all your time looking in the rearview mirror. Worrying about the future is like trying always to get a peek past the horizon while remaining oblivious to what’s happening to you right now, at ground level. Sure, glance back and look far ahead sometimes—but doing nothing else is a surefire way to put your life in a ditch.

focusing actively and flexibly on the present moment.

Remember that our purpose here is to help you start to practice pausing, to practice coming to stillness when hard things are in front of you.

Maybe you can’t have everything you can imagine. Maybe some things really aren’t possible for you. But if you’re willing to give yourself one small gift in any area of your life that matters to you, you start down a path that can lead to a richer, more fulfilling life.

Possibility and uncertainty always hang out together. Welcome.

What if uncertainty and possibility live in the same house?

What if the price of possibility is making friends with uncertainty?

Making friends with uncertainty means that you get to go places that are unknown to you.

Later we may say to ourselves: How did I miss that?! Here is how: you are human. It is simply part of the human condition to miss things. Missing things is not a bad thing, except when it is.

Our work on self is not about winning the war about whether you are a good or bad person. It is more about ceasing to fight that battle.