Japanese Psychology of Action
How to develop a more intimate connection with life
“If only I had no worries.”
“What if my anxiety would lessen?”
“My life would be different if I weren’t so nervous.”
”Once I get rid of my imposter syndrome, I can express my creative potential.”
One or more of these statements are a regular part of the inner dialogue of every person reading this. And they are some of the biggest obstacles to a fulfilling life.
The inner dialogue of this type falls under what Morita therapy calls “shiso no mujun,” meaning “conflict of thoughts” or “ideational contradictions.”
Morita therapy is a Japanese form of psychotherapy originally developed to treat anxiety-based disorders. It is also known as “Japanese psychology of action.”
Dr. Shoma Morita, its founder, was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. While psychoanalysis was being developed in the West and was laying the foundation for different types of talk therapy, Morita was building a more action-oriented therapy largely influenced by his training in Zen Buddhism.
What got me interested in this little-known school of thought, which has almost no representatives in the West, is its focus on re-engaging in life despite the symptoms rather than focusing on curing the symptoms.
One of the most impactful messages I got from Morita is that persistent fixation blocks our otherwise natural flow of psychic energy.
Allow me to explain.
Suppose I tend to experience anxiety more often than the average individual. In that case, the problem is not in my proneness to anxiety.
The problem lies in me being preoccupied with and fixated on my proneness to anxiety.
More specifically, the problem is the unrealistic idea of what the experience of my life should look like and then observing the distance between me and that idea.
“Why am I like this?”
“If only I wasn’t like this.”
“I’m broken.”
“Will I have to deal with this all my life?”
“Why can’t I be normal?”
I’m sure everyone reading this can remember a period of life when their psychological and emotional suffering was doubled by questioning what’s wrong with them. I can recall my most intense bout of depression turning into pure agony because of the repeated question, “Why am I not normal?”
Morita tells us that rejecting the gap between reality (how I currently experience myself) and ideality (how I think I should feel or be) forms a cognitive platform for neurotic fixations and critical and negative self-focus.
This is when we are most likely to fall prey to unfair self-criticism or self-pity.
We beat ourselves up and shame ourselves for feeling the way we do…
Or we feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in feeling helpless and hopeless.
This further leads to retreating from life, refusing to engage in important life tasks, and shying away from creating genuine human connections.
That’s why Morita's goal is to re-establish an intimate connection with daily life, not to “fix” emotional states before engaging in life.
The first step on that journey is…
To surrender to your current state.
To surrender, in this context, doesn’t mean to give up. It doesn’t mean to forfeit. It doesn’t mean thinking that you’ll never feel better. Rather, it’s an invitation to accept your emotions and internal struggles as part of your current subjective experience of life instead of looking at them as defects that must be removed before you can continue living your life.
Then, one should move into constructive action. Redirecting one’s energy to the real world by engaging in a personally relevant task, no matter how small. It doesn’t matter if it’s doing the laundry or replying to those messages you were letting pile up. The main purpose of the chosen action isn’t the external result that will come out of it. It’s to recognize that, although you can’t have full control over how you feel, your behavior can be a product of conscious choice.
That’s what I leave you with for now: surrender and action.
If you’re interested in Morita therapy and the idea of re-engaging in life now rather than waiting for the symptoms to go away, I'll be writing more about it soon.
“Begin taking action now while being ‘neurotic’ or ‘imperfect,’ or a ‘procrastinator,’ or ‘unhealthy,’ or ‘lazy,’ or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be, and get started on those things you want to accomplish.” - Dr. Shoma Morita
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Thank you; good article ( pls don't mind my remark; but you can't be sure that everyone reading this is so and so …. ; maybe some but not everyone 💯)🙏
Such a powerful idea.
Thanks for sharing. I've not come across Morita before but I'll definitely be looking into his work thanks to your great article.