Facing the Demons of Inaction: Morita Therapy as a Resource for Moving Forward

by Gregg Krech

(An edited version of this article originally appeared in the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of Experience Life Magazine.)

When I was 22 years old I moved into a freshly painted one bedroom apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. It was my first “solo” experience — no roommates, no dog, no parents, no siblings. I could leave my dirty socks on the dining room table and stay up late playing my guitar. I reveled in the freedom of my solitude. About three weeks later, I was making myself dinner when I realized that I was completely out of dishes — all the plates and bowls were piled in the sink and had been waiting patiently, for quite some time, to be washed. So I did what any self-respecting young bachelor would do and raced over to the convenience store to buy paper plates.

Why those dishes hadn’t been washed is a bit mysterious given the well-functioning dishwasher that occupied a small space under the counter not far from the sink. I never did figure out how to get the dishwasher to reach over, grab the dishes, turn itself on and stack the plates neatly in the overhead cabinet. My role in the process, while essential, was limited. It didn’t require great strength or intelligence. The task was not particularly complex. The time required was minimal. So what kept me from taking action — from doing what needed to be done?

Ten years later I discovered the work of a Japanese psychiatrist that provided more than just insight into my struggles with procrastination. His work offered me a set of practical strategies for moving forward and taking action even when I didn’t feel like it.

Shoma Morita, M.D. (1874-193 developed a model of psychology no known as Morita Therapy. Rooted in Zen and borrowing from an Eastern world view it is a stark contrast to the European-based mental health models we have become familiar with — approaches developed by Freud, Jung or Carl Rogers.

Patient: “I can’t seem to get myself to wash my dirty dishes.”
(Long pause)
Therapist: “So what I hear you saying is that you have a lot of dirty dishes sitting in the sink.”
Patient: “Uhh… that’s right.”
Therapist (looking pensive): “I see. How does that make you feel?”

One of the main tenets of Morita Therapy is that our internal experience (feelings and thoughts) is basically uncontrollable by our will. If we feel anxious about going for a job interview we can’t necessarily make ourselves feel relaxed and confident. If we experience doing our income taxes as frustrating and tedious, we can’t just snap our fingers and suddenly find the task satisfying and exciting. Most of the reasons for procrastination have to do with “internal barriers,” like fear, anxiety, indecision, perfectionism, etc. I call these barriers the Demons of Inaction. Traditional therapies generally suggest that you must conquer such demons through various strategies such as insight, self-talk, motivation, or increased self-esteem. But Morita Therapy offers a set of tools that is less about conquering and more about co-existing with. Rather than vanquishing your anxiety about the job interview, you simply take your anxiety along for the ride. Western therapy suggests that we must exorcize these demons before we can take action. Morita therapy recommends that we accept their presence, as unpleasant as that may be, and move forward anyway. If you can learn to do this, the demons lose much of their power and many of the causes of our inaction naturally dissolve into constructive effort.

Don’t Fight with Fear

One of the most common obstacles to getting things done is fear. Strong feelings bubble up inside us. Our body tenses up. We begin to imagine the road up ahead — failure, embarrassment, rejection, discomfort, pain, even death. In the face of fear we may find ourselves “frozen” in an iceberg of inaction.

But fear is not necessarily our enemy, although it feels that way. Fear can make us think twice about risky behavior. It can warn us to tread cautiously. It can remind us there are consequences we’d rather avoid. A surge of fear may prompt us in a healthy direction, in spite of the fact that it is disruptive to our inner harmony. Several people I know have made dramatic and instantaneous changes in their diet and exercise regime after they had a heart attack. Fear can be an effective, if not gentle, personal coach.

But sometimes fear arises when we are not in imminent danger at all. We’re moving forward towards our dreams. We’re taking action that involves risk — yet all action involves some risk (even inaction involves risk). How do we stay on course when fear is making our hearts pound and our palms sweat? How do we keep fear from preventing us from doing what is important to do?

We learn the skill of coexisting with fear.

The best strategy for coping with fear is to accept it. Don’t try to fight it, work through it, understand it, or conquer it. Acceptance. The Japanese use the term arugamama to describe the state of “accepting things as they are.” Many forms of martial arts use a similar philosophy. Rather than taking on your opponent directly, you use the energy of your opponent against him. That’s why a 120-pound woman can throw a 200-pound man. We defeat fear by refusing to fight it — by refusing to give it our attention. Instead, the effort goes into the task at hand, whether it be changing careers or jumping into a new relationship.

What is the secret of mastering this strategy for coping with fear? Practice.

Working with fear is a skill. What are some of the skills you’ve acquired in your lifetime — typing, driving a car, yoga, music. Competence requires practice. When you first tried to drive a car with a manual transmission, how many times did you jolt the car forward as you let out the clutch too fast? But with practice, you learned to do it smoothly, naturally. Mental health skills require the same regimen. Skill development comes from practice and practice requires effort.

So you learn to cope with fear by the practice of coping with fear.

Each time you move forward and take constructive action while coexisting with fear you get better at it. And over time, the effort becomes more natural and a bit easier. So the next time you find fear standing in between you and your goal — don’t fight, don’t freeze, just walk around this demon and keep moving forward.

Taking on Perfectionism

Once you’ve succeeded in getting past fear, you’ll find a similar strategy works with related demons: shyness, anxiety, boredom, laziness. But here’s a slightly different demon that can either prevent you from starting something, or keep your wheels spinning indefinitely — perfectionism.

We’d like to write the perfect book, the perfect poem, create the perfect sculpture, or even plant the perfect garden. The realization that we may fall short of our ideal is mind-numbing. How do we handle this demon? Increase confidence? Heighten self-esteem? Or is that the problem?

It’s fine to aspire to perfection, but human beings are designed to make mistakes. Even those who are considered great masters of an art or sport make mistakes from time to time. If we think our talent is so great that we shouldn’t make a mistake, then we have a very grandiose attitude about ourselves. If you reflect on your past efforts you are likely to discover that the vast majority of your efforts were imperfect. So swallow healthy dose of humility — a wonderful antidote to perfectionism.

Bottom line: Accept both your perfectionism and the likelihood that you will make mistakes or fail — and take action.

Before you die!! Now there’s a thought that should get us moving on our priorities. We act (and don’t act) as if we were going to live forever. But our time on this planet is limited and if there are important things to do we better get started before the opportunity disappears. Art professor James Elkins, in his illuminating book, How to Use Your Eyes (Routledge, 2002), wants to take some time to just go outside and look at grass. He says, “Before I sat down to write the chapter on grass, I had never really paid attention to it. I guess I thought I could always do that sometime in the future, when I am retired and have time to spare.” Elkins goes on to calculate how many days might remain where there’s an opportunity to look at grass. He starts with 30,000 days, a normal lifetime for someone living in a developed country. By the time he’s factored out the days he’s used up (he’s just over forty) and bad weather days, and seasons where the grass is either dead or not visible, he finds that aren’t that many opportunities left.

Gregg Krech is a leading authority on Japanese Psychology and Director of the ToDo Institute in Middlebury, Vermont. He is the author of several books including the award-winning Naikan: Gratitude, Grace and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection (Stone Bridge Press, 2002) and A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness (ToDo Institute, 2000). He can be reached by email at todo@together.net

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GET GOING!
If you’re ready to end your habit of procrastination, here are the next four steps:
1. Is there an important project or task about which you have been procrastinating?
2. What’s the next step (just identify the next step, even if it’s just a small task like making a phone call)?
3. When are you going to do it? (Identify a specific day and time — this is an appointment).
AND NOW THE FUN PART
4. Accompanied by trepidation, fear, doubts, indecision, shyness, anxiety or any other demon who happens to show up� DO IT.
Taking action isn’t always pleasant. But look at the payoff — over the course of a lifetime — a lot more accomplished and a lot less suffering. As Joan Baez said, “Action is the antidote to despair.”
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“Give up on yourself. Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator or unhealthy or lazy or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die.”
- Shoma Morita, M.D.

“When I left my job after 13 years I initially felt as if I had lost my right arm. After I grieved my losses (loss of seeing friends every day, loss of routine, loss of steady income) I became very scared. I remembered the suggestion to feel the fear and do it anyway! This saying became my motto. When I was scared to make a networking call to someone I didn’t know I would be petrified, think of that saying, and make the call. Fear actually helped me — it energized me. My situation changed when I put the energy to good use instead of becoming anxious and fearful.”
- Carol Jennett