Traveling through Brazil you can encounter many venomous snakes whose bites can kill.
One of them is the Jararaca. If you’re ever bitten by this snake, you’ll need treatment immediately. Its venom contains several elements that make it lethal. One is a peptide that can cause your blood pressure to drop so low that it puts you into severe shock.
You wouldn’t think that such a dangerous venom could save lives, but it does every day.
Drug makers have used what they learned from this venom’s ability to lower blood pressure to create heart medications. In fact, one doctor, speaking about how snake venoms have been used to create medicines that treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and heart attack said,
“The source of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor class of medicines, the Jararaca pit viper snake, arguably has saved more human lives than any other animal in the history of mankind.”
The Jararaca’s venom kills, in part, by lowering blood pressure to lethal levels yet this fact was used by drug makers to save people from the life-threatening damage of high blood pressure.
This reminds me of how something can either help or hinder depending on the context in which it is used. Fortunately, when we get stuck, we can create a context that helps us get unstuck. One tool for creating a context to get unstuck is the ACT Matrix.
What is the ACT Matrix?
The ACT Matrix is a diagram formed by two intersecting lines that helps you see how your thoughts, feelings, behavior, and values relate to each other. It gives you a new perspective, like seeing a city from the top of a skyscraper. It can help you spot patterns you might not have noticed before that allows you to make useful choices.
How do you “do” the Matrix?
First, draw a horizontal line on a piece of paper. On each end draw an arrow.
On the far right end write the word “Towards” and on the left write the word “Away.”
You can see it in the image on the right.
This horizontal line symbolizes moving towards something or away from something.
You can think of a cute squirrel moving towards an acorn. Or if my dog She-Ra were to approach the squirrel you’d see it move away. Next, you draw a vertical line down the middle. Label the top “5 Senses” and the bottom “Mental/inner”. Five senses refers to anything we can notice with our five senses of sight, sound, hearing, taste, touch. Mental/inner refers to thoughts and feelings as well as bodily sensations.
When you look at the diagram, you will see that it forms four boxes.
In each box, on my completed diagram you will notice a question.
- Who is important to you?
- What inner stuff shows up and gets in the way?
- What do I do to move away from (or under control of) the unwanted inner stuff?
- What do I do (or could do) to move towards who and what is important to me?
To see how it works, answer each question on your piece of paper. Here’s how I answered the questions. As you read my answers, you may want to come up with your own and write yours down.
Who is important to you?
Dad, mom, Don, Austin (brother) Tatiana and Marlene (sisters), Wife (Anna), Rosie and Eloise (my kids)
What inner stuff shows up and gets in the way?
I tend to experience thoughts such as “I don’t want to” or “I’ll screw it up” that get in my way. I also experience fear as well as anger which gets in the way too.
What do I do to move away from the inner stuff?
I’ll avoid doing a task by doing an easier task. Avoid making a phone call by finding other tasks to do. Yell or speak with an edge in my voice when angry.
What do I do (or could do) to move towards who and what is important to me?
I call my parents, my siblings, my friends (but I’d like to do that more.) I write down plans to help me get more organized. I write articles. Below is my completed Matrix.
If you’ve drawn the Matrix as you read, then you may have noticed something. Maybe it feels like some things make sense. Maybe some choices became more clear. But it’s also possible you didn’t notice a lot yet. Whatever you notice is OK. Drawing the ACT Matrix the first time is just to get you to know the Matrix point of view.
Your next step is to actually apply it to an issue in your life.
One way to do that is to think of an action you are a bit hesitant about doing. It could be anything. Something huge such as writing a novel. Or something small such as sending an email.
Once you have an action in mind, draw a new Matrix diagram.
And in the upper right put the action you want to take. In the lower right put who is important in taking this action and what is important about taking this action. In the lower left write out what inner stuff shows up and gets in the way. And in the upper left write what actions you’ve taken to avoid that inner stuff.
To make this more clear, here’s an example from my own life.
The situation: Avoiding work on a major project. I started by writing in the lower left: “I don’t want to” “It’s too much” “I’ll fail” “I’ve screwed it up already” “It’s too late to fix” “I’d rather be somewhere else” “I’d rather be working on something else” These are the thoughts that I was getting hooked by.
The last two hooked me strongly enough that I had to use some ACT cognitive defusion tools to get myself unhooked.
If I stayed hooked, then I’d keep doing the behaviors I identified in the upper left which I recorded below.
Delay starting the work by …
… watching TV … reading unrelated material
In the upper right, I considered the question “What would the person I want to be, do in this situation?” and I wrote:
Start work on the project right after breakfast.
In the lower right, I considered the question “Who or what is important in being able to do that?” and I wrote:
Me, my clients, my students Being effective Keep my agreements Being trustworthy.
After writing this and looking at the Matrix as a whole, I noticed that I felt motivated to take on the project. It didn’t feel like an immense burden but as something I’m choosing to do to be the kind of person that I want to be. Below I show that completed Matrix.
You may recall that I did use some other ACT tools to help me as I did this.
The Matrix helps you see from a new perspective but sometimes, like me, you may need additional ACT tools such as cognitive defusion and acceptance of emotions to take the actions you want. So if you followed along and tried the Matrix without feeling like you are ready to take on the world yet, don’t lose heart. This is just a next step in a journey to greater effectiveness and fulfillment. For now, try drawing the Matrix daily and see what you notice.
And as for the other tools, I’ll write about each of them in the coming weeks.
Like the drug makers who figured out a way to turn an element of the Jararaca’s venom into a life-saving medicine, you can use the Matrix to transform your relationship to unwanted thoughts and feelings so that you can take action even when challenging feelings show up. It takes practice and some learning but it is possible. So my suggestion is to practice the Matrix by drawing it at least once a day. Focus on anything you wish to improve in your life. If you do, you’ll notice that your ability to make valuable changes in your life grows over time.
Summary
The Matrix is a tool that can help us get unstuck It helps you gain a useful perspective like a birds-eye view of a city that allows you to spot patterns and make useful choices You draw the Matrix as two intersecting lines and you add four questions Lower right: Who and what is important to you? Lower left: What inner stuff shows up and gets in the way? Upper left: What do I do to move away from the unwanted inner stuff? Upper right: What do I do (or could do) to move toward who and what is important to me?
Next step
Think of an issue that’s important to you, then draw the Matrix to help you gain some perspective on that issue.
