EMPOWERING NEW MINDSETS – A trilogy
of hopeful constructs.
“Self should not be the harsh dictator within
but rather the gentle facilitator for controlling all the responses to the forces
without.” Dave Traxson
2016
We, humanistic psychologists,
look to harness the inner potentials that all human beings possess as we
are often all too aware that they are being under utilised. I feel there are three key
psychological constructs that help us to understand these fulfilling processes
better.
CHOICE
“When we are no longer able to change a
situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl, in ‘ Man's
Search for Meaning.’
No one should know better than Frankl the
importance of choice as a human construct as he witnessed many examples in the
darkest depths of man’s inhumanity to man, the concentration camps, where
individuals made small but very significant choices that helped to keep them
alive mentally and physically in some cases. The sense of personal power this
gave them helped them to deal to some degree with the overwhelming hostility
and to be better placed to show resilience and thus survive longer term.
Choosing when to eat a crust of stale bread, who to share it with and what to
maintain of some chosen relationships with those around you in any place. These all demonstrated the
essential resilience building power of choice and self-efficacy. Frankl again:
“Between
stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose
our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
So what of the here and now, we also are
empowered by exercising many choices personal, family, community and
democratic. We all must have sensed at some point the rush of energy that this
gives and the new mind-set that this facilitates which can last for extended
periods.
As Madiba said so wisely,
“Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
Who
am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,fabulous?
Who am I not to be?”
Control
“You have power over your mind - not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.” ― Marcus Aurelius, ‘Meditations.’
A metaphor, ‘A Car for Life,’ that we have successfully used with many
young people may give us a useful insight here. Their ‘engine’ is their wants,
needs of all types and their ambitions and when sitting in the ‘driving seat’
they can control their front wheels of ‘thoughts’ and ‘actions’ but it is
harder to control their fixed back wheels of ‘physiology’ ( including genes)
and ‘feelings.’ They have a real choice to ‘accelerate’ on various courses of
action or to ‘apply the brakes’ hence showing some early stages of Self-Control or indeed 'learning to drive more
carefully’ and find ‘safe roads’ and interesting ‘laybys’ or resting places.
What we have demonstrated conclusively is that when a young person learns to
use these metaphorical pedals judiciously then that gives them amazing personal
power that can be generalized to other key areas of their future life. So
learning to ‘put the brakes on’ in terms of using more acceptable language, for
example or more powerfully reducing their levels of physical aggression with
others in a range of settings then this can be generalized to controlling
drinking behaviour or a range of other self-harming behaviours etc. etc.
These methods are loosely classified as Cognitive Behavioural Techniques. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy’s efficacy has been endorsed on grounds of evidence based practice by the National Institute of health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the medical professionals regulating body for drugs and interventions.
These methods are loosely classified as Cognitive Behavioural Techniques. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy’s efficacy has been endorsed on grounds of evidence based practice by the National Institute of health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the medical professionals regulating body for drugs and interventions.
“He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered
himself is mightier still.” Lao
Tzu
“Ultimately, the
only power to which person should aspire is that which they exercise over
themself.” Elie Wiesel
Compassion
Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among
Humanistic Psychologists, it is defined as the feeling that wells up when
another’s suffering or difficulties are shared and one feels motivated to help
to resolve the situation.
Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are intertwined. While empathy refers more generally to our
ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when
those feelings and thoughts include the desire to directly help the other human
being. Altruism, in turn, is the kind, very selfless behaviour often prompted
by feelings of compassion, though one can feel compassion without acting on it.
We usually
think of the focus of compassion being to others, as above, and there is
another equally important form of compassion to oneself which we call developing
a 'Kind Mind,' to one's actions, thoughts and feelings. It is fundamentally
about being reasonable to oneself as well as to others both in terms of
expectations, deeds and 'positive self-talk.'
“Take positive care of your
mind, and it would surely take positive care of your life.”
While cynics may dismiss compassion as touchy-feely or
irrational, scientists have started to map the biological basis of compassion, suggesting
its deep evolutionary purpose. This
research has shown that when we feel compassion, our heart rate slows down and
we secrete the “bonding hormone” oxytocin.
So this important positive trilogy of humanistic constructs
are pivotal to assessing if interventions are likely to be effective for individuals young the people
specifically and all human beings generally. Basically will the proposed
strategy increase the client’s feelings of having more choice and
self-efficacy, increase their ability to use their internal locus of control
and also to behave in a compassionate way to the individual.
So a personalized blend of these three humanistic constructs
may indeed be able to maximize a sense of empowerment and increase the longer
term possibilities of personal growth and hopefully eventual transformation.