ACT is a form of applied evolution science. I’m not the only one making this point; leading evolutionary scientist David Sloan Wilson agrees, and he and I have been collaborating in exploring new ways to use ACT to facilitate intentional life change (we will revisit that work in a later chapter). Here, in a nutshell, are the conditions of evolution that the skills help us meet:

1. Variation.

As the saying goes, you’ll get what you’ve got if you do what you’ve done. Evolution requires alternatives to choose from. That is true with genes, it’s true with cultural practices, and it’s true with our emotions, thoughts, and actions. We can use this insight to deliberately try new approaches in life. Rigidity is the enemy to change.

2. Selection.

We must have a way to select the variants that are more successful in dealing with life’s challenges. While the rest of the animal kingdom can’t consciously choose which changes are the best, our capacity for higher-order thinking allows us to do just that. We have the ability to recognize and intentionally pick what works, according to criteria we specify.

3. Retention.

Evolution also requires that we keep doing what works. In genetic evolution, that information is stored in our genes and in the mechanisms in our bodies that regulate their activity. In culture, it is stored in our traditions, norms, media, and rituals. In our minds and behavior, we store helpful ways of thinking and acting in habits of responding to the world that get ingrained in our neural networks.

4. Fit.

The selection of what works has to be tailored to the situation. What works best in one circumstance may not be right in another. In other words, we must be sensitive to context. When we are, we gain the ability to recognize which approaches to problems work best in which situations and areas of life.

5. Balance.

My mother used to say, “Keep it in balance, dear. Keep it in balance.” She was right. Every being is a living system, with many intricately interconnected features or dimensions. You have aspects to you that are biological, cognitive, emotional, attentional, motivational, behavioral, and spiritual. Your overall health depends on you nurturing all of these dimensions and keeping them in balance. It will do you little good to be more emotionally healthy if you show no care for your physical health, for example.

6. Levels of scale.

All organisms live in ecosystems. In other words, all life forms depend on other organisms. A tree standing out in a field may appear to be living on its own, but it is actually supported by and is supporting a vast community of other creatures, from fungi in the ground to a teeming society of insects in its leaves. In the same way, we are all part of a social community constituting many levels of scale, from the trillions of microorganisms within us that keep our bodies functioning, to the individuals we interact with in our daily lives, continuing up to the communities and whole societies we’re part of.

Evolution selects for success at all levels, and success at one is insufficient for a thriving life. It will do you a lot less good to be highly evolved at the larger social scale—say, having developed a massive social network—if your close relationships keep falling apart. At the other end of the spectrum, if you killed off all the bacteria in your gut, you would soon die, unable to digest any food. So that’s it; the CliffsNotes version of evolutionary science. <<<