The Art and Science of "Spinning" Words

In some writings and presentations about working the matrix diagram you will see the word "Spinning," and you just might wonder what it means. In this post I'm going to give you a quick explanation of spinning words into the matrix.

The term "spinning" is in some way borrowed from the political spokespeople who "spin" topics to be favorable. In the case of working the matrix, you are spinning words to increase psychological flexibility (PF). In this regard, one could take the words of the political "spindoctors" and spin their words toward increased psychological flexibility. (They could probably use it :-))

The basic idea of spinning is that you hear words from another person, then you notice the stuckness of the words, and then (if necessary) you respond with increased PF. Let's say that again in bullet form:

1. You hear (and see) words coming at you from another person,
2. You notice the stuckness of the words, and
3. Then, if necessary, you respond with increased psychological flexibility.

Let's look at each of those in turn:

1. You hear (and see) words coming at you from another person,

Of course you hear words when other people utter them. However, do you really hear the words? Seeing the words refers to the body language and facial expresion during the uttered words. If you really see and hear all of the stuff of the words, there is tons of cool information there. However, from an ACT the Matrix point of view, we are interested in the stuckness of the words (and body language). 

2. You notice the stuckness of the words,

Obviously, these seven words are packed with a lot of meaning, especially that word Notice. In just a second or two you notice if the purpose of the words is to move away from unwanted mental experiencing, or to move toward some valued direction. In addition, you notice the flexibility of the words, because even valued life direction words can be sticky, e.g., "I'm going to move in that direction no matter what!" 

This is not an exact science, but you will quickly start to get a feel for noticing more and less flexible words uttered on context.

3. Then, if necessary, you respond with increased psychological flexibility.

If the words that just came at you were flexible, then there's no need for increasing the flexibility. Much of the time, however, the words could use a little flexing, and this is where the Matrix diagram shines. There are undoubtedly millions of words that you could say back to someone to increase psychological flexibility. Trying to come up with those words can be scary, and often almost impossible. You always are running the risk of responding to the content of the words instead of the purpose (toward or away) of the words. For example, someone might say, "I hate you more than I've ever hated anyone else, and I've hated some nasty people in my life." A therapist on one of those scripted TV shows might come back with the perfect words after a statement like that, but most of us would get hooked and flustered and say something sticky.

Instead we spin the words into the Matrix:

1. You hear (and see) the words, "I hate you more than I've ever hated anyone else, and I've hated some nasty people in my life," coming at you,

2. Then you notice the stuckness of the words. For this example, we are going to bet the words show a lot of stuckness.

3. Then, if necessary, you respond with increased psychological flexibility. Since we've already guessed that the "I hate you..." statement is pretty stuck, then it's time for some increased psychological flexibility. Here's how:

• Nod your head as you notice the function of the words.
• Slowly turn toward the matrix diagram you have up on your whiteboard (or wherever it is) and say something like, "Wow! Those are powerful words that really seem to be taking you in some direction. What do you think, were the words moving toward something important to you or moving you away from stuff on the inside of you?"

If you use the matrix diagram, that "Where do those words go on the matrix" response is always available to you, even when you are hooked and you can't think of another thing to say. 

Where's the spin? The words were heading in a certain direction right at you. You took then and turned them into a Toward and Away sorting task. The "spin" is inside the sorting as the person compares both toward and away to do the sort. 

There are other simple ways to spin words and phrases, for example, we could have some fun with the word "hate," but that's for another blog post.

With that said, simple having people sorts words and phrases into the matrix (like above) is my "goto" flexibility move when I feel myself getting a little stuck

Be well,

Kevin

Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D.

www.drkevinpolk.com