Dear friends,
Are you focused on feeling GOOD, or are you focused on FEELING good? Modern psychology says that this distinction is a strong predictor of the quality of our lives.
I’ve been reading up on Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (or ACT) recently—a secular, science-based form of therapy that shares a surprising number of insights with Buddhism. One of these insights is that resisting or trying to “fix” difficult emotions only makes them worse. Countless studies have shown that the most reliable “technique” for facing suffering (or anxiety, desire, anger, etc.) is simply to allow ourselves to experience it. To feel it as it actually arises in the body-mind here and now. We don’t seek a way out of suffering; we feel our way through it and come out whole on the other side.
