THE SELF AS CONTEXT

Differentiate between the observer and the mental content (thoughts).

"Self as context" is a process that encourages perspective taking. Often, athletes identify completely with their thoughts or emotions ("I am a loser", "I am anxious").

ACT teaches to differentiate between mental content (what is thought or felt) and the context where those events occur (the observing "I").

This "observing self" is the part of consciousness that realizes that it is thinking or feeling, but is not damaged or defined by those contents. To explain this, the analogy of the stadium can be used.

The athlete is the stadium (the structure, the context), and his thoughts and emotions are the audience and the players (the content).

The crowd may shout negative things, there may be a storm or a violent game, but the stadium remains intact, containing all that without being modified by it.

Learning to place oneself in the position of the stadium allows the athlete to notice a crisis of confidence without "being" the crisis, maintaining the stability necessary to continue competing.

Useful metaphors: the sky and the clouds

Metaphors are essential tools in ACT to facilitate this disidentification.

One of the most commonly used to illustrate the Self as context is the metaphor of the sky and the weather.

The "I" is the vast, blue sky; the thoughts and feelings are the weather (clouds, storms, hurricanes).

In practice, the athlete is asked to observe his anxious thoughts as black clouds passing by.

As scary as the storm may be, it cannot harm the sky; the sky simply makes room for it and eventually the weather changes.

A marathon runner at mile 35, suffering pain and self-doubt ("I can't take it anymore"), can use this metaphor to observe those sensations as temporary clouds crossing his consciousness, without needing to stop or fight them, knowing that he is the space where those sensations occur, not the sensations themselves.

Summary

This process encourages perspective taking, teaching to differentiate between the mental content and the observer. The "observer self" is the part of consciousness that notices thoughts and feelings, but is not defined or harmed by them.

The analogy of the stadium is used to explain this: the athlete is the structure and the thoughts are the audience. The stadium remains intact by containing the noise without being modified, allowing it to maintain the stability necessary to compete despite internal crises.

Another key metaphor compares the self to the sky and thoughts to the weather. The sky makes room for storms without being damaged, allowing the athlete to observe his or her sensations as passing clouds without needing to fight them.