#11 The Happiness Trap (Russ Harris, 2007)

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 Check our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Y_SKLFpax13442jA3giaw/videos Listen to us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2R1BRcriKWcvOU1XMJQhyW Listen to us on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/will-luke-discuss/id1572512365 Listen to us on Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81Zjk2YTNmYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Also available on: Anchor, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public.