The ACT Matrix Academy

1. The original "ACT Matrix" is focused on an individual's Psychological Flexibility.
2. The ProSocial Matrix is focused on increasing Psychological Safety in two or more people who have a shared purpose.
3. To understand matrix, do the matrix. Draw it, label it and ask the questions. Otherwise it would be like trying to understand bicycle riding without having ever ridden a bicycle.
4. To understand psychological safety do the prosocial matrix with two or more people. I guess that's like understanding a bicycle built for two (or more).
5. The ACT Matrix is a tool to help you increase psychological flexibility and find behaviors that work for the life you want to remember.
6. The ProSocial Matrix is a tool to help two or more people increase psychological safety and find behaviors that work for their shared purposes.
7. The workability question is, "Is this working for the life I want to remember?"
8. "The life you want to remember" question is based on interviews with people who are dying. Over nine out of ten say they wished they had spent more time with loved ones.
9. The workability question applies to both the ACT and ProSocial Matrix.
10. The Matrix is a diagram of a point of view, or flexible perspective on being human. Your senses are at the top of a vertical line, with your mind at the bottom of that vertical line. Behaviors you do to get a sense of accomplishment are at the right of the horizontal line. Behaviors you do to get a sense of relief are at the left of the horizontal line.
11. When helping others with either matrix, you show them where things go in the matrix, and then you respectfully invite them to sort their experiences into those places.
12. You can't sort another person's experience. You can guess how to sort it, but it's only a guess.
13. Sorting gets at workability. The sorting does not need to be accurate. (This means letting go of right and wrong, and that's tough.)
14. The matrix is too simple. At least that's what your mind will tell you. Minds like complexity. Let your mind chatter and do the matrix anyway; it works!
15. "The Matrix" was originally called "The Grid," but a friend said "The Matrix had Keanu Reeves sexy attached to it." The name stuck.
16. The ACT Matrix (the Me Matrix) is for increasing psychological flexibility and analyzing your behaviors for workability. (Loop 1)
17. The ProSocial Matrix (the We Matrix) is for increasing psychological safety and analyzing two or more people's behaviors for workability. (Loop 2)

18. Workability surrounds the matrix. Anything you are doing, inside or out, either works or does not work for the life you want to remember.

19. Both Away and Toward behaviors can be workable.

20. Away behaviors decrease or get rid of uncomfortable feelings like fear and pain. They DO NOT move one away from values or shared purposes.

21. Toward behaviors move one toward who and what's important. They may, or may not work, for the life you want to remember.

22. Draw the matrix for yourself to learn the labels and the questions, then ask yourself the questions.

23. Start showing the matrix to others. Show them the labels and the questions. Explore with them how they would sort things that they are doing into the matrix.

24. The Matrix is collaborative, NOT authoritarian. That is, you don't tell other people where to sort, you respectfully invite them to sort.

25. The Matrix is about curiosity. What we humans do and experience is interesting. Ask, "Wow, that's cool! Where do you think that goes here on the matrix?"

26. If you are starting a "mindfulness" presentation, then start with the five senses.

27. If you are starting any other presentation, then start with the, "Who's important to you?" question.

28. If you are starting a ProSocial (We Matrix) presentation, then you can begin with Loop 2, "What's your shared purpose?" However, if you have time, do both Loops 1 and 2.

29. Ask others where they would place their answers on the matrix. You can remind them that senses go on top, mind stuff at the bottom, things you want to achieve to the right, and stuff you want relief from to the left. Do this sparingly, however.

30. You will catch yourself sorting people's answers to questions onto the matrix. When you do, apologize and ask them where they would like to sort their response onto the matrix.

31. DO NOT say stuff like, "What you are doing is an away move. You need to stop doing that." For starters, you just sorted for the person; sorting for others does not work. Second, you just told the person what to do. The matrix is about asking and collaborating with people where they think their experiences and behaviors might be sorted onto the matrix. Don't tell them where things go and that they need to do or not do something.

32. The Matrix started as a Trauma Memory Sorting Game.

33. The Matrix is two discrimination tasks. D1: Notice the difference between your sensory and mental experiencing. D2: Notice the difference between how it feels to achieve versus how it feels to get relief.

34. Doing the two discrimination tasks increases creativity. [It actually increases the probability of Derived Relational Responding by increasing Psychological Flexibility.] Let's just stick with creativity.

35. The four questions in the four quadrants help with the two discrimination tasks.

36. Have fun with the Matrix. "Life is WAY too serious to be taken that seriously." (Spoken by a 3-tour Vietnam Combat Vet.)

37. After you do lots of Toward and Away noticing, you will notice that balancing your Senses and Mental experiencing is more essential.
38. The Matrix gets us to an efficient way of being that works for the life we want to remember.
39. That Being is a healthy mix of sensory and mental experiencing.
40. Due to language, most humans tend to be stuck in their heads and not paying enough attention to sensory experiencing. 
41. For the most part, you need to pay more attention to your sensory experiencing and let your mind go. Your mind will just keep chattering along while you enjoy the scenery.

The "Matrix" is a 2 x 2 grid (or matrix) that is formed by crossing two lines.

You can see a picture of it on this page. The matrix is a diagram for engaging people in the ACT process. You look at the diagram and answer four very simple questions. Then you sort your answers onto the matrix.

What you need to do for who and what's important becomes clear to you.

The stuff that has been showing up and getting in the way has much less power over you. You quickly start learning how to add meaning to your life.

Engaging people in the ACT process with the matrix is very different that teaching them about ACT. After only a minute or two with the matrix people begin learning how see their lives from a flexible point of view. With this point of view people can quickly learn how to move in valued directions, even while they are having fear, pain or other unpleasant feelings.

Think of the ACT Matrix as shooting baskets by yourself. You focus on your senses for successful shooting.

You also focus on your mind and let go of the fear of missing and such.

You learn how to move toward making baskets.

You learn how to effectively move away from uncomfortable stuff that gets in the way of making baskets.

The couple or group answers four additional simple questions and sorts the answers onto the 2x2 matrix. They gain what is known as psychological safety. With increased psychological safety they can more easily move toward shared purposes while positively dealing with interpersonal obstacles. 

With the ProSocial Matrix you have progressed from shooting baskets alone to working as a team. 

Far beyond just winning the team focuses on camaraderie, sharing, building each other up and more. 

More than anything they focus on, in the words of Bobby Knight, "The willingness to prepare to win."