Will & Luke Discuss

#11 The Happiness Trap (Russ Harris, 2007)

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This episode we talk about one of the first self-help books to come out of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a psychotherapy that aims to help us live a more meaningful life, by accepting discomfort and moving towards more valued action.  We dive into ways in which we can learn to accept our internal experiences, and how having a strong set of internal values can guide us to take actions by which both our experiencing-self and remembering-self can be satisfied. Alongside the benefits of mindfulness techniques, we also touch on aspects around indecision, procrastination and 'cognitive fusion'.  

Hope you enjoy. 

Will & Luke  

  • 00:15 Introductions 
  • 4:15 'The Happiness Trap' and The 4 Myths (1. Happiness is a natural human state, 2. If you're not happy you're defective, 3. To create a better life we must get rid of negative feelings, 4. You should be able to control what you think and feel) 
  • 8:15 Principles of ACT (Defusion, Expansion, Connection, The observing self, values and Committed action) 
  • 9:15 Cognitive Fusion, Defusion and Acceptance self talk 
  • 18:45 Urge surfing 
  • 21:45 Is this thought helpful or not? 
  • 24:15 Naming our feelings and expansion 
  • 27:55 Fight or Flight response vs Internal 'mental' threats (the meanings we attach - clean pain vs dirty pain) 
  • 34:30 The Observing Self - identify with the witness of the feelings 
  • 42:15 Impacts of technology 
  • 44:30 Indecision (assessing own values, wants and needs vs listening to feelings) 
  • 50:35 Excuses and procrastination 
  • 52:15 Values and choice points  (re-attuning our why to guide action) 
  • 1:00:35 Final reflections (Experiencing self vs remembering self)  

    • Purchase the book at: https://thehappinesstrap.com/

    This specific episode can also be seen on: https://youtu.be/UKiVTY2JT20

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