Playing Ball on Running WaterDavid K. ReynoldsQuill, New York. 1984

The world about me responds to my behavior. It can’t feel my feelings.Reality doesn’t respond to my will or my wishes or my emotions. Tobelieve that positive thinking changes the world directly is childlikenaivete. To be sure, my thoughts and feelings influence what I do (mybehavior), and that action, in turn, may influence reality. But it is whatI do that affects my world.

It follows that if you want to make changes in your life, you must changewhat you are doing. Changes begin with action.

Morita therapy is overtly a teaching practice. It teaches a way to 1ive thatwill relieve unnecessary suffering.

We have no control over our feelings; yet knowledge about them can lead tochanges of attention and behaviorIt is reasonable to accept one’s feelings as they are and get to work onattention and behavior.Every act is an end in itself. The quality of our attention to action isCrucial. The doing is what is important, not the result

Behavior is what counts. Not emotion. Not even the results of behavior.What I do is the only thing in life that I can control No one can guaranteea life of good feelings. No one can guarantee that our efforts will bringthe results that we hope for. We must be clear on what is controllable.

In the Moritist context, every act provides the opportunity for purposefulaccomplishment and personal growth. Every act can involve moments ofdirected attention, be it washing dishes, pouring a cup of coffee; all wehave is that flow of attention.

It ought to be a relief to know that we have no responsibility for ourfeelings. They are uncontrollable; they are natural; they need only to beaccepted as they are. But, we must take responsibility for what we do.

The daily practice of Morita’s method is meditation in itself. The focus ofattention is brought back again and again to what reality has brought us ineach moment.

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The three fundamental principles of the 1Moritist method of personalmanagement are to: 1. Accept your feelings 2. Know your purpose3. Do what needs doing. The exercise of writing an obituary, epitaph, and eulogy helps us to examine our long term purposes, our life goals, What needs doing. (p26).

Now is the only time you will ever be given to begin changes that willresult in your being at the place where you want to be when you die. Whatneeds to be done? Do it (now).

It is the quality of the doing in which we take pride.

We ought never attempt to hide away or suppress our emotions. Theyshould never be ignored or denied. They provide important informationabout what needs to be done.

We do what we set out to do until there is something more important thatneeds to be done.

Do not misunderstand. There is room for reflection and planning withinthe Moritist method. But those who come for our training are prone toover planning and under acting; they feel and think a great deal and dovery little. What needs to be done often is to sit and map out a plan ofaction. Students often need to be prodded to find our about reality byacting on and in it.

Are we so distracted by worry and pain that we don’t notice what realityis bringing right now?

Acceptance of the way things are is always the first step in changingthings.

We evaluate our ability to do something on the basis of whether we have,in fact, done it in the past. The surest way of discovering the limits ofour abilities is to act. Reality will demonstrate to us what we can do andwhat we cannot.

Acting on reality gets us some response from reality. And it is thatresponse that tells us about ourselves in the world. We learn our truecapabilities, our true limitations, and, invariably, what needs to be done

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The most effective way to find out what is going to happen is to livethrough the event. Reality can be trusted to give feedback on furthercourses of action.

It is the doing that counts.

Whether we’ve arrived at our intended destination or not, reality signalsus something that needs to be done right now. It is the quality of notingwhat reality presents to us and acting forthrightly that is important.

In Morita therapy, all we work with is the flow of awareness that is in mein this moment. That is all we ever have to work with.I am sometimes this, sometimes that. I am a constantly changing flow ofawareness. I am only me-now.

Simply discard the notion that you have a single personality. Notice thevariety that is you.

Our Moritist tour (life?) is, on the whole, a most interesting (thoughsometimes exhausting) one. I don’t want to miss anything that is passingby.

One learns about attention in Morita therapy; relief is only a microsecondaway when our attention shifts from ourselves and our suffering. Afterthe relief, one can then begin to build life on consistent, reality-basedbehavior rather than on ever-shifting feelings.

A central Moritist principle: “doing what needs to be done”.

In Morita therapy, we are concerned with helping the client enter into thenatural flow, so he can act appropriately to meet the needs of the presentsituation.

Morita therapy is built upon the concept of a lifeway. The attitudecharacteristic of this Morita lifeway involves a feeling of participationwith the world... with this sidewalk, this geranium. It is me as part ofthis scene; me as observed observer.

We become one with our phenomenal environment; we fit ourselves intoreality. Yet the further we move away from this participation in theworld, the more we suffer unnecessarily.

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To love is to lose ourselves in another. Genuine love causes us to becomepart of our surroundings.

Our Constitution grants us the right .to the pursuit of happiness, but itseems unwise to pursue that elusive state. Better to pursueappropriateness or flexibility to adapt ourselves to reality and to adaptreality to fit our purposes as we participate in it.

Acceptance, purpose, action.

Whatever our feelings (rage, despair, fear), they need not distract us frompurposeful behavior. And the behavior itself seems to pull us alongtowards our goals.

Moritist therapists emphasize that it is important to find suitableconstructive purposes and hold to them, thus guiding behavior in a positivedirection.

Difficulties in life generate the construction of purpose. Happiness, peace, and a life of ease would destroy us. Without anxiety and trouble, we could not survive. Without conflict and struggle, life would not chooseto continue. In the struggle lies life’s meaning. We are born fighters; wewill find something to oppose. If we cannot find a worthy foe, we createone, even if that foe is ourselves.

So don’t seek anxiety-free living; don’t strive for constant bliss. Chooserather to continue your struggle. Resolve to act forcefully to thechallenges of reality. Hold to your goals. Fight your fight. And live withpurpose.

Part of being neurotic is being irresponsible. Irresponsible meansself-centered. It means failing to notice or respond to what reality hasbrought that needs to be done. That reality includes other people. Neuroticpeople regularly inconvenience others by their actions.

Life must be lived moment by moment. Each moment brings possibilitiesfor purposeful activity. Each moment carries a message, a lesson for us.When our attention is alert to notice what reality has brought us in thismoment and to fit ourselves to it by doing what needs to be done, we areliving fully during each of those waking hours.

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Mistakes teach us what worked and what didn’t. They tell us when ourattention was misdirected. They help us adjust to the reality thatconfronts us in order to avoid future embarrassments and frustrations.

Morita therapy emphasizes that people learn about reality by acting on it.

Risk and struggle are essential to life.

Every moment is worthy of full attention and dedicated action.

Jumping into reality, acting as the moment requires, eliminates some ofthe unnecessary suffering that accompanies procrastination and wishingthat life were otherwise.

We alone create neurotic struggles in life. Reality merely presents issuesand problems for resolution. Although we require challenges to live at ourpeak, to define these experiences as struggles and regret their persistenceis unnecessary; it is our response to them that is vital.

To wait when action is necessary is a failure to respond to the needs ofthe situation.

When feelings merely provide interesting information instead of determiningour behavior, we are free to act as reality demands.

When we adapt ourselves to the needs of this moment, we become part ofthe moment itself.

If you are in pain, take the constructive step into the unknown anddiscover what reality has in store for you in the next moment.

Talk, talk, talk. How often it is used to back away from reality. Howdifficult it is to use it to approach reality. How important it is to trulylisten to the talk.

Morita therapists speak of accepting reality as it is and including ourselvesas part. Struggling with ourselves, chiding ourselves for not being theideal persons we’d like to be, merely distracts us from respondingeffectively to what reality has brought us in this moment.

Acceptance of reality as it is implies paying attention to it. Reality keepsurging that which needs to be done. Accept feelings as they are and get onwith doing what needs to be done in the current situation.

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The concern with the reality of the present moment pervades Zen Buddhismand Morita therapy. We have nothing but the now. This moment and thisreality are all that is presented to us for our action.

The reality of our experience is in constant flux; our actions contain thepossibilities for influencing the course of this change. The actions maynot control the change, but they certainly affect it.

Morita therapy proposes that in order to escape unnecessary suffering wemust learn what is controllable and what is not. When we accept thereality of what is and what is not possible, we stop pressuring ourselvesto achieve the unachievable.

Build your life on what is controllable; something that has more lastingresults. Build your life on what you do.

The Moritist holds that neurosis is nothing other than that sidetracking ofattention and misdirection of energy and action.

Morita therapy teaches students to pay attention to their surroundings.This attentiveness pulls them from their excessive self-centeredness andenriches their lives.

Training to fully focus one’s attention results in not as normal life but asuperior one.

Stanislavski said: “An actor should be observant not only on stage, but alsoin real life. He should concentrate with all his being on whatever attractshis attention. He should look at an object, not as any absent—mindedpasserby, but with penetration.”

He also said:” ...Your attention will slip and become dissipated in space.You must collect it again and redirect it as soon as possible to one singlepoint or object...”

Solutions to many of life’s problems come not from struggling with them,but from merging with them, adapting to them, accepting them for whatthey are

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The goal of acting, on stage and in life, is not perfect control of onessurroundings, not direct control of one’s feelings, not inspiration ortranscendent experience. The goal is simply learning to do what one can,leaving “nature” to bring about some results from the action. One gives upone’s self in the doing and accepts the consequences as data for determiningthe next thing that needs doing.

Practice being alert from the moment consciousness returns in the morning.

Action, awareness, attention.

Practice being alert from the moment consciousness returns each morning.Let your mind and your eyes move with your actions, always withawareness, always paying attention.

It is our responsibility to practice listening carefully for the truthunderlying what we hear. It is a rare experience to be listened to bysomeone who remains totally attentive. Such listening changes what wesay and the way we say it.

Walking provides an ideal pace for observing the world. It brings theworld past my field of vision in a manner that keeps me interestedwithout flooding my senses with exhausting speed.

Shift your attention to what is going on about you. What has the worldbrought for you to see and think about?

Observing, observing, observing.

Remember, you must notice what reality is bringing you in order to knowwhat needs to be done.

Moritist thinking is an unusual but reasonable view that reminds us thatthe world doesn’t create problems; we invent them with our imaginations.The world only creates things that need to be done.

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Morita’s method produces a person who is able to live well in spite ofsymptoms of pain and suffering; the resulting character is strong, butcool.

Morita’s method offers a viable alternative to drifting on the currents ofchange. It points the way to a constructive lifestyle built on recognizedgoals, accepted feelings, and well-managed behavior.

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Even in Summer the Ice Doesn’t MeltDavid K. ReynoldsQuill, New York, 1986

Summer ice = despair, anxiety, self—doubt, self-centeredness.

Constructive living is a way of approaching life with attention to what iscontrollable and what is not.People who try to “go with their feelings” all the time run into a lot oftrouble. We can’t control what we feel; yet we can sometimes indirectlyinfluence how we feel by being careful about what we do.

The more you give yourself up to wild extremes of behavior ln order tomatch your extreme feelings, the more you perpetuate the strong emotions.

Go into the wilderness for a while and learn again how little we control ofthe world. It makes more sense to accept our feelings as they are, Just aswe have to accept the snow and lightning and the waterfall and the sunset.

Part of our unnecessary distress comes from a sort of self—centerednessor self—focus that turns our attention inward to notice all our negativefeelings. We freeze our actions and our self—image in this way.

One of the ways we learn to thaw ourselves from our Icy neurotic bonds isto discover (or rediscover) how we are “lived” by the world about us.

It is for those moments we give up ourselves that we transcend ourtroubles.

In this day and age it is quite radical to consider feelings to be naturalphenomena like temperature changes or falling leaves in autumn.

I am the way I am, naturally. This point of view allows a freedom andself—acceptance of great depth. My feelings are an aspect of me. 1 don’tneed to understand them fully or to “solve” or to ‘dlssolve” them somehowin order to get on with my life.

The reality of me is just me.

Constructive living is pragmatic and realistic, but there is no promise ofcontinuous joy, no hope of a constant high.p2/Even in Summer...

The heroic vision is the possibility of living responsively, respo~isibly inspite of inconveniences and tragedies. The heroic possibility is that wecan build character that takes life’s disasters and successes in stride.

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Taking charge of what I do frees me from being the puppet ofcircumstances or the pawn of my feelings. It offers a path totranscendence.

The notion of “many me’s” is that we are all changeable. No one is lockedinto a single personality. We are different from one situation to the next,from one moment to the next.

Always in constructive living, we begin with the area of life where wehave the most leverage, our own behavior.

This present moment reveals itself to me fresh and uncluttered by thepast. This moment called r~.w. simply presents itself and awaits what Ishall do before moving itself along into the past.I can begin building my life in some new direction at any time, merely bytaking advantage of this fresh new moment of the now.

What can do to stand you on my shoulders to see over the walls of yourvision?

It 15 in seeing the perfect you as you are, and still supportIng the greaterperfection of the you you want to become.

The distinction between who we are (being) and what we do (doing) is anartificial one. We are what we do.

Even the most unpleasant feelings are the natural result of our wanting tolive and to live fully.

If we grow beyond the petty human feelings and concerns then we loseempathy and sympathy for other suffering humans.

How do I know what needs to be done? Ask the situation.The more aware you become, the more you notice your lack of awareness.

While feeling worthless keep on being useful. The feelings will change if~fln I, ann fka I.ab...., •4 ~ ~ ~ an~~a. .a4 4. .n~‘xep Lile UettdV IV: pu: pv~e:u: ~::u ~.v::~u U~LIVC.p3/Even in Summer...

Insecurity is fine. Confidence will come after you succeed at whatever,not before. While feeling insecure, while lacking in confidence, simply dowhat needs to be done.

It is our history that determines who we are now. I evaluate myself in

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terms of what has been my history. Fortunately, we have the ability tocreate a new past by means of changing what we are doing now. Thismoment becomes the past.

Feelings are no more than spice for the main course of our existence...what we do.

There is need for a careful balance between self—examination andforthright action. If either side of that balance is neglected, destructiveresults become likely.

Develop two hobbies: an outside physical pursuit like hiking and an insideone like painting.

We cannot shovel away our shadows, but we can build more robust bodiesso that our shadows are more robust than before.

Discipline behavlor/ accept feelings! hold to purpose.

Part of being a mature adult Is “taking care of business” even when we’renot in the mood.It is difficult to watch loved ones or friends cause unnecessary pain tothemselves and others by their behavior. We do our best to mitigate theunpleasant results of their behavior, but we cannot control them. It isfoolish and wasteful to try to do the impossible.

The ultimate advantage of the Moritist method is to prepare us to live andto die well, with full attention.Focused attention is a habit that is developed as any skill is developed.., bypractice and repetition,

Reality brings a variety of unexpected circumstances for our response,But, always, there remains the awareness ot what the current goal is andwhy we are playing the way we are in order to achieve it.p4/Even in Summer...

The quality of attention invested enriches our lives and guards a~ainst ourjust existing through moments, missing their contributions to our livesbecause, though awake, we were mentally asleep.

Neurosis is an educational problem, not a medical problem. Neuroticsymptoms are always the result of misguided thinking and behavior.Morita held that the most important factors in relieving neuroses are theproper views of human living, effort, and patience.

Morita said that not only do we fear death, but we fear the living death of

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failure, of not achieving our potential.

Those who are driven to achieve, to develop their potential, must reachsome balance between their desires and their fears. Behind everydistressing fear is a strong positive desire.

The issue of the paralyzing fear of failure drops from our minds as ourattention turns toward what needs to be done in this moment.

The emphasis In the constructive lifeway is on the quality of the doing andnot on the expected results. Results will come from our work, though notalways the results we want or expect. These results, whatever they mightbe, indicate to us what needs to be done next.

True failure comes from not doing what we know needs doing.People ask why and how as an excuse for not doing what they know theyshould do.

We live in this moment only. Now this moment. Now this. Our mindscreate images in the present — of moments past and moments future.Wisdom is dealing with situations as they are.

It is refreshing to consider the service I receive and the debt I owe tothose whose products ease and enrich my life.This attitude is part of the treasuring of all things because all things areborrowed. There is nothing that is truly mine. What I bought was paid forwith money received from others.I am but a relection of the efforts of others.p5/Even in Summer...

“Thank you”: the words symbolize alert recognition of others’ services andothers’ value in our lives. The warmth of these simple words gently meltssummer ice.

When will our ideas change in recognition of the moment-by-momentchangeableness of all people?

The way we discover ourselves, the way we create our identity, is to lookback on our past and see what kind of people we were. lf we did timidthings we see ourselves as timid; if we did adventurous things we seeourselves as adventurous. The way to change the way we see ourselves isto change our past. And right now we are in the process of creating a newpast.

We must risk in order to accomplish, in order to succeed, in order to grow.

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Morita—oriented people are persistent and self—sacrificing when they finda purposeful way to live.

The persistence of weeds is impressive, but more impressive is thepersistence of people who continue to battle the weeds in their livesknowing that there is no end to the task. There is only one weed thatneeds pulling at any one time.

finding the slightly dangerous world tempts me out of the safe darkness,because security just isn’t worth the boredom.

A commitment to observation alleviates some of the emotional coloring ofexperience. Attention doesn’t make us colorless robots; rather it allowsus to appreciate the range of our emotions without being unnecessarilyhobbled by our feelings.

The kitchen teaches me about pace and impatience without saying a word.

Dishwashing is a good place to begin the practice of attentive living. Thegoal is to discover the thoughtful aesthetic of every moment’s activity.

We don’t want to miss what is happening in our lives through inattention.There is richness even in routine when we have the eyes to see it.Properly directed attention melts summer ice.

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