The beach wave metaphor is a tool used in acceptance and commitment therapy (TCA). This current in psychology belongs to third generation therapies. In a clinical context, this tool is used to minimize negative thoughts and emotions.
In this article we will see exactly what the metaphor of the wave is, in addition, you will learn how to use it in your daily life in a quick and simple way, for this, however, we must first understand exactly what acceptance and engagement therapy is. Let’s go further.
- Acceptance and engagement therapy (also known as ACT) is a therapeutic approach developed in recent years and comes from the cognitive behavioral field of psychology.
- Therefore.
- He believes that thoughts have enormous power over how we feel.
However, unlike cognitive behavioral therapy, ACT does not try to change what is going through our minds, the main idea of this clinical practice is that what we think has no more power than what we give it.
Therefore, one of the assumptions of acceptance and commitment therapy is that negative thoughts and emotions cannot harm us; its creators think they just exist. Therefore, if we learn to accept them, our suffering will be greatly reduced.
To achieve this goal, this therapy often resorts to tools in which you have to use the imagination, one is precisely the metaphor of the waves on the beach.
This tool wants us to realize that our thoughts and feelings cannot hurt us, so it is ideal for people who suffer from anxiety.
The operation is as follows: imagine a large white sand beach, on board, waves of all sizes break constantly, some are small and make you want to get in the water to play with them, others instead are very large and threatening, however, when you reach the shore, they all disappear without causing any damage.
Now imagine someone decides to fight the waves, that wouldn’t make much sense, would it?After all, the water can’t damage the beach, all that person could do would be to feel tired and frustrated.
Well, in this metaphor, the beach is a representation of the person herself, like her, you can resist anything that happens to you, the waves, which represent your thoughts and emotions, can’t hurt you.
It is true that some waves that break on the beach are very scary and can make you feel bad momentarily, it may even seem that they will never leave, but in the end they all end up dissolving in the sand.
The purpose of the waves on the beach metaphor is to offer the possibility of considering acceptance as an alternative to the need for control.
According to acceptance and engagement therapy, our mind has two parts. One is responsible for thinking and feeling, and the content you create can seem very threatening. However, the other side, the “observer”, can never be harmed.
Your observer mind is like the beach of metaphor, thoughts and emotions come and go, but in the end they will disappear and only the sand will remain, so there is no point worrying about them, why fight our feelings or uncontrolled thoughts?
The metaphor of the waves on the beach can help us move away from our mental creations. On many occasions, our suffering does not come from what happens to us, on the contrary, it comes from what we say to ourselves. With a lot of emphasis on our stories and concerns, we end up going through some very difficult times.
It’s in your hands! Look what you’re saying, watch without judgment or getting involved. Your thoughts and emotions have no more power over you than you give them. In the end, the waves disappear and the sea calms down again. Think.