Happiness, as one client shared, is like the carrot at the end of a stick, and you’re holding the stick. The more effort you take in trying to reach the carrot, the further it gets from you. In today’s episode, Tony discusses the article “Can Wanting to Be Happy Backfire?” by Emily C. Willroth Ph.D. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-happiness-health-connection/202104/can-wanting-be-happy-backfire?collection=1169468 and he then spends some time discussing the 6 Core Principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) from Dr. Russ Harris’ book “ACT Made Simple” https://www.amazon.com/ACT-Made-Simple-Easy-Read/dp/1684033012/ 

With the continuing "sheltering" rules spreading across the country, PLEASE do not think you can't continue or begin therapy now. http://betterhelp.com/virtualcouch can put you quickly in touch with licensed mental health professionals who can meet through text, email, or videoconference often as soon as 24-48 hours. And if you use the link http://betterhelp.com/virtualcouch, you will receive 10% off your first month of services. Please make your mental health a priority, http://betterhelp.com/virtualcouch offers affordable counseling, and they even have sliding scale options if your budget is tight.

You can learn more about Tony's pornography recovery program, The Path Back, by visiting http://pathbackrecovery.com And visit http://tonyoverbay.com and sign up to receive updates on upcoming programs and podcasts.

Tony mentioned a product that he used to take out all of the "uh's" and "um's" that, in his words, "must be created by wizards and magic!" because it's that good! To learn more about Descript, click here https://descript.com?lmref=v95myQ

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Speaker1: [00:00:05] The.

[00:00:15] Come on in, take a seat.

Speaker2: [00:00:22] Hey, everybody, welcome to episode two hundred and ninety eight of the virtual couch. I'm your host, Tony Overbay, and welcome aboard. We're going to get started right away. I was sent an article. It was probably two or three weeks ago,

Speaker3: [00:00:34] And it was one that I've had on my mind quite a bit and I have been wanting to get to this episode.

Speaker2: [00:00:39] It's an episode that we're going to talk a little bit more about happiness, and we're going to get to an acceptance and commitment therapy principle

Speaker3: [00:00:45] Called the choice point. And the choice point is something that I have wanted to

Speaker2: [00:00:50] Talk about for a very long time. And there have been so many times where I pulled up notes that I want to talk about with regard to ChoicePoint,

Speaker3: [00:00:57] And then I

Speaker2: [00:00:58] Just get distracted

Speaker3: [00:00:59] And I think

Speaker2: [00:01:00] I will do it later. I literally do the concept of experiential avoidance. I kick the can down the road, but

Speaker3: [00:01:05] Today they can is being kicked

Speaker2: [00:01:07] No longer because this is such an important principle, and I think it addresses this article that a listener had sent me. So the article is from Psychology

Speaker3: [00:01:15] Today, and the article says can wanting to be happy

Speaker2: [00:01:18] Backfire? And the article is from Psychology

Speaker3: [00:01:21] Today, and it's by Emily Will Roth, a PhD, and it was posted back in

Speaker2: [00:01:25] April of Twenty Twenty

Speaker3: [00:01:26] One, and I love the subheading. It says why wanting to

Speaker2: [00:01:29] Feel happy might paradoxically

Speaker3: [00:01:31] Lead you to feel less happy, which is something that I allude to in so many podcasts. And it really is a principle,

Speaker2: [00:01:38] A core principle underlying a lot of the things that I love about acceptance and commitment therapy. So if you haven't heard of acceptance and commitment therapy,