“Know your purpose, know your feelings, do what needs to be done.”
An anti-anxiety therapy
In that formula, which I am going to call a “direction,” a Japanese psychiatrist, Dr. Shoma Morita, summed up his therapy a century ago. It’s a very simple direction, but many people have found it useful. His approach gives us a way to work with the inevitability of anxiety. It’s about being guided by your purposes without denying your feelings.
The steps
So, you work out what is your purpose for the next hour, for today, for this year or this week, and then acknowledge your feelings about that. Feelings need to be acknowledged, so acknowledge the feelings. See if they have anything useful to tell you. Maybe they have, maybe they haven’t. And having done that, then do what you need to do next, to bring about your purpose.
Perhaps you need to take a flight but you are nervous about flying; or you need to attend an interview but you are nervous of being judged; or you need to make a phone call but you are nervous about voice calls (this is very common nowadays especially in people who hardly ever make voice calls but use some form of texting). Acknowledge that nervousness without having it dictate to you. Then work out the steps you need to take, and begin. For example go onto the airline website; make a list of questions you might be asked at the interview; or look up the telephone number of whoever you need to ring.
Many people find it helpful to repeat the direction: “Know your purpose, know your feelings, do what needs to be done.”
It’s simple – try it
So that’s the direction that’s been used by millions of people over the past century. It’s very simple and I suggest you try it a few times today. “Know your purpose, know your feelings, do what needs to be done.”
My Easy Mindfulness course can help you to live in a more purposeful way through the practice of mindfulness. It’s an online course and payment is by donation so it’s affordable to all. Learn more
