Feedback

An acceptance and commitment metaphor. 

You know that horrible feedback screech that a public address system

sometimes makes? It happens when a microphone is positioned too close to a speaker.

Then when a person on stage makes the least little noise, it goes into the microphone;

the sound comes out the speakers amplified and than back into the mike, a little bit

louder than it was the first time it went in, and at the speed of sound and electricity it

gets louder and louder until in split seconds itʼs unbearably loud. Your struggles with

your thoughts and emotions are like being caught in the middle of a feedback screech.

So what do you do? You do what anyone would. You try to live your life (whispering)

very quietly, always whispering, always tiptoeing around the stage, hoping that if you

are very, very quiet there wonʼt be any feedback. (Normal voice) You may keep the noise

down in a hundred ways:  for some people it’s drugs, alcohol, avoidance, withdrawal,

distraction and so on.

The problem is that this is a terrible way to live, tiptoeing

around. You canʼt really live without making noise. But notice that in this metaphor, it

isnʼt how much noise you make that is the problem. Itʼs the amplifier thatʼs the problem.

My job here is not to help you live your life quietly, free of all emotional discomfort and

disturbing thoughts. My job is to find the amplifier and take it out of the loop.