Sublime

The inability to live in the present enormously reduces the information available to us.

it’s important to understand that the pull into the past and future comes not only from the impulse to avoid suffering but also from a positive yearning—the deep desire to know where we are in our life journey.

7. Applying Perspective-Taking to Acceptance

The thing to watch for, in my opinion, is what strategy a person employs first when distressed and, if that one fails, what strategy the person switches to next. These are the person’s primary and secondary patterns.

We are paying a psychological price because what is really wrong within is treating life as a problem to be solved rather than a process to be lived.

What CBT added to behavior therapy was helpful in leading people to see how thoughts can dominate our behavior.

This is the yearning for competence—to be able.

An example is provided by one of the best types of therapy for depression, Behavioral Activation (BA).14

Becoming aware of how our self-story changes according to different situations helps us stay better connected with our transcendent self, and therefore with our ability to choose among possibilities about how we will be.