Over-riding your feelings
The Japanese art of taking action
I was fascinated when I chanced upon this gem (full credit as always to Shri Brian Johnson and his wonderful curation).
I saw the intro…
“Drawing on Eastern philosophy, Buddhism, Morita therapy, Naikan and Kaizen, Gregg Krech offers an approach to ACTION that guides you to doing what is important for you to do in the time you have left”
That got me hooked !
Greg Krech is one of the world’s leading teachers of Japanese psychology.
This book integrates three core facets of the work he has done for the last 25+ years: Morita Therapy + kaizen + Naikan.
The essence of Morita’s work is the fact that we have way more control over our behaviours than we do our thoughts and feelings; therefore, if we want to live effectively, that’s where we should focus our energy. Kaizen, of course, is the practice of small, consistent, incremental improvement. And, Naikan is all about cultivating our self-awareness.
It the integration of all three that creates the magic !
My takeouts :
- Naikan (Self awareness) : Know yourself. Know your priorities, values and Purpose. Will delve deep into this later. He has a separate book on this as well !
- Morita therapy insight : Rather than getting overwhelmed by the feelings that come in the way of taking action towards your priorities and Purpose, distinguish between circumstances that are in your control and those which are not. Accept those which are not and move on to those you can. Take action. Once you do, the power the feelings had over you would start diminishing !
- Kaizen. Continuous improvement. We have been talking about this. It could be a 5 % improvement or a 4 % challenge over your abilities. They key is to consistently take small steps of action, which when in the long run make a big difference.
If you want to dive deeper into his work, here is a youtube interview with Gregg and his website below.
His website
