The Present-Moment Awareness Process
An ACT, RFT, and FC-Informed Approach to Building Psychological Flexibility
Mindfulness is not just a skillset—it is a process of cultivating a workable relationship with the present moment. In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the Present-Moment Awareness Process is foundational for developing psychological flexibility and sustaining meaningful change. Through this process, clients learn to shift from a reactive stance shaped by cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance to a deliberate, values-oriented engagement with experience.
Rooted in Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and guided by Functional Contextualism (FC), this process unfolds in five qualitatively distinct phases:
  1. Adopting an observer perspective
  1. Applying descriptive, nonevaluative labels to experience
  1. Detaching from provocative private content
  1. Practicing self-compassion in the face of flaws or past pain
  1. Transforming painful experience into values-based motivation
Each phase builds upon the last, cultivating increasingly flexible and effective behavior patterns. Rather than simply identifying where a client is along this continuum, the Present-Moment Awareness Process invites clients to experience these phases as learnable, repeatable movements within session and in daily life.
Why the Present Moment?
Verbal Behavior
The human mind readily pulls attention toward past regrets or future fears. In ACT terms, this tendency reflects a natural outcome of verbal behavior.
Temporal Relational Framing
Our minds are built to derive meaning by linking experiences across time—but when fused with language, this function can dominate awareness and disconnect us from direct experience.
Retraining Attention
The Present-Moment Awareness Process aims to retrain attention and relationship to private events, promoting a self-as-context perspective.
Functional Role
Each phase in the process plays a functional role—whether to orient, interrupt, or transform the influence of rigid relational networks on behavior.
Orienting, Counter-Inhibitory, and Generative Phases

Generative Functions
Support meaning-making and purposeful behavioral shifts
Counter-inhibitory Functions
Reduce the impact of fusion and experiential avoidance
Orienting Functions
Help clients bring awareness to what is happening now
These functions align with the six core processes of ACT, are explained through RFT's account of relational framing, and are evaluated through the workability lens of FC—how helpful a behavior is in moving a client toward their chosen values.
The Present-Moment Awareness Process: Five Phases
Clinical Use and Guiding Interventions
For Clients Stuck in Fusion
  • Noticing and Naming exercises like "Leaves on a Stream"
  • Externalizing inner dialogue
For Those Caught in Self-Criticism
  • Softening through compassion-focused exercises
  • Common humanity metaphors
For Clients Ready to Act
  • Expanding by exploring values clarification
  • Committed action plans
  • Self-as-story transformations
The Clinician's Role
  • Model flexibility
  • Evoke awareness
  • Reinforce willingness
  • Serve as both guide and co-participant in the unfolding moment
Understanding where a client is within the Present-Moment Awareness Process helps clinicians choose targeted interventions. The process is not linear. Clients may revisit earlier phases repeatedly, especially when engaging new challenges.
Final Thoughts
Individual Context
Honors each person's unique circumstances and background
Influence of Language
Recognizes how verbal behavior shapes our experience
Power of Perspective
Leverages perspective-taking to create transformation
Meaningful Change
Facilitates movement from avoidance to engagement
The Present-Moment Awareness Process is a functional sequence—not a fixed protocol. When integrated skillfully, it helps clients move from avoidance to engagement, from evaluation to description, and from suffering to purpose—embodying the essence of ACT, as grounded in RFT and Functional Contextualism.