The Six Core Skills of ACT

A simple map of the six skills that build psychological flexibility (the hexaflex)

ACTInfo SheetFree ResourceLast reviewed April 2026

A simple map of the six skills that build psychological flexibility (the hexaflex)

The Six Core Skills of ACT

A simple map of the six skills that build psychological flexibility (the hexaflex)

ACT teaches six skills that work together to help you live well even when life is hard. They are most often drawn as the hexaflex, a six-pointed figure that shows how each skill supports the others. The six are defusion, acceptance, contact with the present moment, self-as-context, values, and committed action.

These are not steps to finish in order. They are six overlapping skills you can strengthen, and on any given day some will feel easier to reach than others. Their shared aim is psychological flexibility, which means being present, staying open to whatever thoughts and feelings show up, and acting on what matters to you. The aim is not to get rid of anxiety, sadness, or unwanted thoughts.

This sheet is the big-picture map of ACT; once the six skills make sense, you can go deeper with the self-check, the choice point, and the ACT matrix.

The six core ACT processes are interrelated, not a sequence. Together they build psychological flexibility: being present, staying open, and doing what matters. Open (green) loosens the grip of thoughts and feelings, Aware (blue) anchors you in the present and the observing self, and Engaged (amber) points you toward action that matters.

The Six Skills at a Glance

Defusion: Defusion means stepping back so a thought is just words passing through, not a command or a fact you have to obey. The thought stays. Its grip loosens.Example: Instead of obeying 'I'm a burden,' you notice 'I'm having the thought that I'm a burden' and keep doing the dishes anyway.

Acceptance: Acceptance means making room for painful feelings, sensations, and urges instead of struggling to suppress, fix, or escape them. You drop the rope in the tug-of-war rather than pulling harder.Example: Feeling the flutter of anxiety in your chest before a presentation and letting it be there, breathing around it, rather than canceling.

Contact with the present moment: Contact with the present moment means bringing curious attention to what is happening here and now, in your senses and your surroundings, rather than being lost in the past or the future.Example: Noticing the warmth of the coffee cup and your child's voice at breakfast instead of rehearsing yesterday's argument.

Self-as-context: Self-as-context means contacting the part of you that simply notices your thoughts and feelings, the steady 'you' present behind every experience. Thoughts and feelings come and go. The observing you holds them the way the sky holds weather.Example: Recognizing 'I am the one noticing this sadness,' rather than 'I am sad,' which gives the feeling room to move.

Values: Values means getting clear on what kind of person you want to be and what you want your life to stand for. Values are chosen directions you can move in, not goals to finish and tick off.Example: Choosing 'I want to be a patient, present parent' as a direction you can move toward in any moment, including hard ones.

Committed action: Committed action means taking concrete, values-guided steps and building patterns of effective behavior, again and again, even when difficult feelings show up alongside them.Example: Booking the doctor's appointment you have been dreading because you value taking care of your health.

How the Six Fit Together as the Hexaflex

The hexaflex is the six-pointed map of these skills. The six are interrelated rather than separate, so strengthening one tends to make the others easier to reach.
They are often grouped by two jobs. Defusion, acceptance, present-moment contact, and self-as-context build openness and awareness. Values and committed action build engaged, meaningful living.
The four mindfulness and acceptance skills help you stay open and present with discomfort so it stops dictating your behavior.
Values and committed action give that openness a direction, so you do more than sit with pain. You move toward a life that matters to you.
Together the six create psychological flexibility: being present, being open, and doing what matters, all at the same time.
Each skill has an opposite that fuels suffering: fusing with thoughts, experiential avoidance (trying to escape or get rid of your own thoughts and feelings), losing touch with the present, clinging to a rigid self-story, unclear values, and stuck or unworkable action.

What Each Skill Looks Like in Daily Life

When you are hooked (fused with a thought): Thoughts feel like facts and orders. You argue with your mind, believe its worst predictions, or do what it says without question. Defusion is the antidote.Example: Skipping a friend's party because your mind insisted 'No one wants you there.'

When you are avoiding (struggling with feelings): You spend energy trying not to feel: numbing, distracting, controlling, or escaping. The relief is brief and your life keeps shrinking. Acceptance is the antidote.Example: Pouring a third drink to switch off the loneliness, which is louder the next morning.

When you are disconnected (out of the present): You are physically here but mentally elsewhere, replaying the past or rehearsing the future, missing what is actually in front of you. Contact with the present moment is the antidote.Example: Driving home with no memory of the drive because you were stuck in a worry loop.

When you are stuck in a story (rigid self): You over-identify with a fixed label about who you are, and it boxes you in. Self-as-context is the antidote. You are the space that holds the story, and the story is one of many things you can notice.Example: Refusing to try counseling because 'I'm just a broken person and always will be.'

Practicing the Skills Together

When something difficult shows up, pause and contact the present moment with a slow breath and a quick scan of what you can see, hear, and feel.
Notice the thoughts pulling at you and defuse: name them as thoughts, for example 'There's the failure story again.'
Make room for the feelings rather than fighting them, letting the anxiety, sadness, or urge be present without acting on it.
Step into the observing you, the part that can notice all of this without being swept away by it.
Reconnect with your values by asking what kind of person you want to be in this moment and what direction matters here.
Take one small committed action in that direction, however the feelings happen to show up alongside it.

Key Insight

The aim of all six skills is psychological flexibility, being present, open, and able to act on what matters, and that is different from getting rid of pain. A flexible life still includes anxiety, grief, doubt, and fear. What changes is that those experiences no longer run the show. You can carry them and still move, in real time, toward what you care about. You do not have to feel ready, calm, or confident first. The six skills widen the space between what you feel and what you do.

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Common Questions

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