T
WELVE RATIONAL PRINCIPLES - Part IIby Wayne Froggatt
7.
Moderation
Sensible risk-taking recognises the innate human desire for safety and security.
The principle of moderation will help you avoid extremes in thinking, feeling,
and behaving.
Why moderation is important to stress management
Extreme expectations - too high or too low, will set you up for either constant
failure or a life of boredom.
Addictive or obsessional behaviour can take control of you, creating new
distress. Unrestrained eating, drinking or exercising will stress your body and
lead to long term health complications.
Obsessive habits in areas as diverse as your work or your sexual behaviour can
damage relationships as well as stress your body.
The principle of moderation
Taking a moderate approach to your life starts with your ultimate goals and
ranges through to your daily activities.
You need to develop long-term goals, short-term objectives, and tasks that will
challenge and move you on. But it is equally important they are potentially
achievable and do not set you up for failure and disillusionment.
If your goal, for example, is to maintain your weight at a certain level, ensure
you set that level appropriate for your age and other personal factors. Avoid
any tasks and activities that are extreme - like a diet that provides massive
weight loss in a short time. Otherwise, not only will you damage your health,
but eventually the weight is likely to go back on (probably worse than it was
before), leaving you with a feeling of hopelessness. The best way to keep to an
appropriate weight without stressing the body is not to go on a radical diet,
but rather to moderate eating and drinking in the long-term.
This applies in most areas of life. Throw yourself into your work, play,
exercise and sexual life - but avoid the stress of over-involvement. Moderate,
too, your self-help work - commit yourself to personal change, but without
obsessiveness.
Note that moderation does not exclude risk-taking. In fact, moderation will help
you avoid taking security too far. But you can take risks without being
foolhardy.
Developing a moderate approach to life
Identify any areas of your life where you tend to behave excessively - eating,
exercising, sexual activity, using your computer, and so on. Note when you are
demanding full satisfaction of your urges, or catastrophising about the
frustration involved in restraint. Keeping a log will help you do this.
Use the strategies of exposure and paradoxical behaviour to get into action. Set
up a list of tasks, sorted according to difficulty, which will give you practice
in behaving moderately. In advance, set limits in each of these areas, and
commit yourself to keeping within those limits.
Handle your frustration using rational self-analysis. The benefits calculation
will help you decide what areas of your life you are best to moderate. Finally,
if you are unable to change behaviour which has become addictive, seek
professional help.
Further reading
Kishline, Audrey. A Toast to Moderation. Psychology Today, 29:1, 53-56,
(Jan/Feb), 1996.
Birkedahl, Nonie. The Habit Control Workbook. New Harbinger Publications,
Oakland, CA, 1990.
8. Emotional and behavioural responsibility
As we saw in Part One, people who see their emotions and behaviours as under
their control are less prone to distress than people who see themselves as
controlled by external forces. The principle of responsibility can help you take
charge of your emotions, your actions, and in turn your life. It involves taking
responsibility for (1) what you feel, and (2) how you act.
To be emotionally responsible is to believe that you create your own feelings in
reaction to what life throws at you. You avoid blaming other people - your
parents, partner, boss, or anyone else - for how you feel.
Behavioural responsibility means accepting that you cause your own actions and
behaviours, and are not compelled to behave in any particular way.
The inner-controlled person
An inner-controlled person can be identified by characteristics like the
following:
· Uses language - I think that or I would like you to rather than Everyone knows that or You should.
· Tends to be assertive when relating to other people, rather than passive or aggressive.
· Gets on with life now - rather than dwelling in the past or dreaming about the future but doing nothing.
· Takes setbacks in their stride - rather than catastrophising or bemoaning fate.
· Has a problem-solving approach - when things go wrong, looks for possible solutions.
· Does not believe in luck- believes that action and the application of skill is what makes things happen, rather than luck or fate.
· Limits to emotional and behavioural responsibility
While
your emotions are mainly caused by what you believe, there are some exceptions.
Biochemical changes, for example, can lead to emotional changes. (How you react
to biochemical changes, though, will still depend on how you view what is
happening in your body).
While you can, largely, control your thoughts, it is unlikely that anyone could
do so perfectly. Expecting flawlessness will only lead to discouragement and
self-downing.
While you are largely responsible for the consequences of your actions, some
outcomes will be outside your control. If, for example, you say Noto a request,
the other person may be disappointed - an appropriate reaction. You would be
somewhat responsible, in that your Nowas the trigger. But what if they became
clinically depressed - an inappropriate over-reaction? That would be their
responsibility, not yours. You have no control over whether people choose to
view your actions in ways that are rational or self-defeating.
Finally, an important point. Dont fall into the trap of blaming yourself because
you are responsible for what you feel and do. Blame and responsibility are not
the same thing. Blameis moralistic. It seeks not only to identify who may be the
cause of a problem, but also to damn and condemn them.
Responsibility, on the other hand, is practical. It seeks either to identify a
cause so it can be dealt with; or to identify who needs to take action for the
problem to get solved - irrespective of who or what causedit. Responsibility is
concerned not with moralising, but with finding solutions.
Why responsibility is important to stress management
Suzanne Kobasa has conducted research on, as she calls them, hardypeople -
people who thrive on stress rather than become sick. A key characteristic of
such people is their belief that they are in control of their lives. Hardy
people generally have better physical and mental health - they are less affected
by the ageing process, recover faster from medical episodes such as a heart
attack or surgery, and are less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.
If you take responsibility for your feelings and behaviours, you will avoid
making yourself a victim or over-reacting to what other people say or do. You
will be able to change your own feelings even though the world does not change
to suit you. Finally, you will have confidence in your ability to handle your
feelings, whatever happens - freeing you to take risks and try new experiences.
Developing responsibility
Use rational self-analysis to identify and dispute any irresponsible thinking.
Make a list of things you do that show irresponsibility - unassertiveness,
dwelling in the past, catastrophising, drifting with problems hoping something
will come along. Use the technique of paradoxical behaviour to act differently
in these areas, taking responsibility for how you feel and behave.
Further reading
Bernard, Michael E. Staying Rational In An Irrational World: Albert Ellis and
Rational-Emotive Therapy. Lyle Stuart, NY, 1986.
Ellis, Albert. How To Stubbornly Refuse To Make Yourself Miserable About
Anything. Lyle Stuart, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1988.
9. Self-direction and commitment
Emotional and behavioural responsibility lay the basis for taking control over
your life and committing yourself to action and involvement.
Self-direction
Taking responsibility for the direction of your life involves:
· Choosing your goals, making sure they are your own.
· Actively pursuing your goals, rather than waiting and dreaming.
· Making your own decisions, even though you may seek opinions from others.
· Choosing to work at managing stress, developing your potential, and changing things you dislike, rather than just drifting along or expecting a miracle to occur.
· Not condemning any person (including yourself) when things go wrong in your life, even though you or someone else may be responsible; but rather identifying any causes and looking for solutions.
Self-direction
does not mean open opposition and non-cooperation with others. You can keep your
self-direction on the right track by balancing it with other principles such as
enlightened self-interest, long-range enjoyment, moderation, and flexibility.
There are several prerequisites for self-direction. First, you need to see what
happens to you as influenced (though not totally controlled) by what you do. As
we saw earlier, inner-controlled people tend to be assertive, get on with life,
and do not see themselves as victims. Second, to direct your own life you need
to know what you want to do with it. Have you clarified your goals and values?
Chapter Nine will show you how to do this.
Commitment
Commitment follows on from self-direction. There are two elements:
Perseverance. The ability to bind yourself emotionally and intellectually to
courses of action. This involves a willingness to do the necessary work (and
tolerate the discomfort involved) in personal change and goal-achievement.
Deep involvement. The ability to enjoy and become absorbed in (but not addicted
to) other people, activities and interests as ends in themselves - where you get
pleasure from the doing, irrespective of the final result. This may include such
areas as work, sports, hobbies, creative activities, and the world of ideas.
Limits to self-direction and commitment
Some of what happens to you will be out of your control, and this will place
limits on how much you can influence them. Remember, though, that how you react
is your responsibility.
Further, while self-direction implies independence, it recognises some limits in
the interests of mutual support and cooperation with others.
If carried too far, commitment can become obsession. Dont get so involved with
one or a few things that other areas of your life suffer. Avoid, for example,
allowing work to stop you from any recreational activity, or recreation to leave
no time for relationships.
Why self-direction and commitment are important to stress management
Avoiding decisions or action creates tension and leaves problems unsolved.
Action and persistence are needed to break unwanted patterns of behaviour and
achieve personal change. A life of superficial involvements would lead to
boredom and dissatisfaction.
Commitment is required for confidence to develop. You dont, for example, develop
confidence in playing a musical instrument unless you commit yourself to
practicing with it.
Self-direction can affect your health. Salvatore Maddi, from the University of
Chicago, ran courses for men and women in management aimed at increasing their
sense of control. These led to lower anxiety, depression, obsessiveness,
headaches, insomnia, and blood pressure, as well as more job satisfaction -
results which lasted well beyond the end of the courses.
Aiming for your own goals rather than having others direct your life will affect
how you implement many of the strategies in Part Three of Good Stress. It will
determine how you manage your time. It will help you assert yourself. You will
also maintain more stimulation and variety in your life by doing the things you
want.
Developing self-direction and commitment
Make a list of things you do that indicate lack of self-direction. Watch for
behaviours like asking for permission, avoidance due to fear of disapproval,
unnecessarily seeking other peoples opinions, and the like. Select one item each
week and deliberately act differently, in line with what you would rather be
doing.
Use rational self-analysis and imagery to cope with the discomfort involved.
Make a decision now to develop one new interest in your life in which you will
get absorbed. Commit yourself to taking some steps toward it over the next week
or so.
Further reading
Ellis, Albert and Lange, Arthur. How to Keep People From Pushing Your Buttons.
Citadel Press, New York, 1994.
Hauck, Paul. How To Do What You Want To Do. Sheldon Press, London, 1976.
10. Flexibility
Flexible people can bend with the storm rather than be broken by it. They know
how to adapt and adjust to new circumstances that call for new ways of thinking
and behaving. They have resilience - the ability to bounce back from adversity.
The principle of flexibility
To be flexible is to be open to change in yourself and in the world. As
circumstances alter, you are able to modify your plans and behaviours. You are
able to adopt new ways of thinking that help you cope with a changing world. You
are able to let others hold their own beliefs and do things in ways appropriate
to them - while you do what is right for you.
Flexibility in thinking means:
· Your values are preferences rather than rigid, unvarying rules.
· You are open to changing ways of thinking in the light of new information and evidence.
· You view change as a challenge rather than a threat.
Flexibility in behaviour means:
· You are able to change direction when it is in your interests.
· You are willing to try new ways of dealing with problems and frustrations.
· You can let others do things their way.
· You avoid distressing yourself when others think or act in ways you dislike.
Why
flexibility is important to stress management
Flexibility aids survival in a changing world. The world, as it always has,
continues to change - but the pace of change is increasing. If there is not a
corresponding change in attitudes there will be distress. We see this in the
so-called generation gap. Parents who are inflexible find it harder to cope when
their children behave in ways unthinkable in their generation. We can cope
better when we see change as a challenge rather than a threat. As Suzanne Kubosa
has found, this attitude is one of the characteristics of hardiness.
Flexibility leads to better problem-solving. As Roger Von Oech states, there are
times we need to step outside what we know or usually do and look at a problem
from new angles in order to find new solutions. Even negative events - like
being made redundant - can create opportunities to step outside.
Flexibility will make it easier to change your goals to suit new circumstances.
Getting older or sustaining a disability, for example, usually requires one to
adapt to significant lifestyle changes.
Flexibility will help you break out of boring routines and maintain stimulation
and variety in your life. It will also help you manage your time better, by
enabling you to change your plans to suit changing situations.
Developing flexibility
Use rational self-analysis to identify and change inflexible thinking. Watch
especially for any demanding shouldsand musts.
Expose yourself to new ways of looking at things. Read books that adopt
positions other than yours, talk to people with differing views, watch movies
you would normally not bother with.
Practice flexibility by rearranging your office or home furniture, hanging some
new pictures, visiting places you have never been.
Get into the habit of pausing before you take action on a problem and look at
ways of solving it different to what you would normally do. In other words,
attempt to act out of character on a regular basis.
Further reading
Ingham, Christine. Life Without Work: A time for change, growth and personal
transformation. HarperCollins Publishers, London, 1994.
Toffler, Alvin. Powershift: Knowledge, wealth and violence at the edge of the
21st Century. Bantam Books, New York, 1990.
Von Oech, Roger. A Whack on the Side of the Head. Angus and Robertson
Publishers, Sydney. 1984.
11. Objective thinking
Flexibility and openness, as well as the other principles, require freedom from
ways of thinking that are narrow-minded, sectarian, bigoted and fanatical; or
that rely on uncritical acceptance of dogmatic beliefs or magicalexplanations
for the world and what happens in it.
Objective thinking is scientific in nature. There are four aspects - it is (1)
empirical, (2) logical, (3) pragmatic, and (4) flexible.
Objective thinking is empirical
It is based on evidence gained from observation and experience rather than on
subjective feelings or uncritical belief. It seeks to avoid distortions of
reality.
Objective thinking is logical
It reaches conclusions that validly follow from the evidence. It is possible, as
the example below demonstrates, to have the right evidence but draw the wrong
conclusions:
Evidence: My supervisor has criticised me, I don't like being criticised
Conclusion: I can't stand this, it shouldn't happen to me, and it shows that my
supervisor is a rotten person.
Even though the two pieces of evidence are correct, this does not make the
conclusion correct. It does not logically follow that because I have been
criticized and I don't like this (both of which are true), that my supervisor is
rotten, I cant stand it, and it shouldn't happen (beliefs which go beyond the
evidence).
More logical conclusions could be: My supervisor has done something I dislike;
This is unpleasant; and I prefer this not to happen to me.
Illogical beliefs are often overgeneralizations, like, for example:
Something that is unpleasant becomes terrifying (awfulising);
Something that is hard to bear, becomes intolerable (discomfort intolerance);
Because I prefer to avoid discomfort, therefore I absolutely must avoid it (demandingness);
Because I behaved stupidly, therefore I as a person am stupid (self-rating).
To check the logical validity of your conclusions, ask yourself questions like:
Do my conclusions logically follow from the evidence?
What other conclusions may be possible?
Am I catastrophising, demanding, or self/other-rating?
Objective thinking is pragmatic
Science evaluates an idea not just on its evidence or logical validity, but also
in its usefulness to human beings. In other words, we need to be concerned with
the effects, both short- and long-term, of what we believe. Questions to ask
might be:
What effect does believing this have on how I feel and behave?
Does this belief help or hinder me in achieving my goals?
Objective thinking is open-minded and flexible
Nothing is seen as absolute or the last word. Beliefs are seen as theories that
are subject to change as new evidence comes along and existing ideas are proved
false. Objectivity encourages us to continually search for explanations that are
more accurate and useful than the ones we have now.
Why objective thinking is important to stress management
Objective thinking is a necessary component of the other attitudes. For example,
increasing your tolerance for frustration and discomfort means keeping their
badness in perspective, rather than overgeneralising them into awful or
intolerable.
Unscientific thinking can itself create distress. This can happen when you view
criticism as unbearable, demand that you succeed, or rate yourself as a total
person because you fail at something.
Believing you are controlled by outside forces, like fate or luck, can lead to
feelings of anxiety, powerlessness and hopelessness; and cause you to take a
passive approach to life and its problems.
Erroneous thinking, as we shall see later, can also make it hard to practice the
coping strategies in Part Three.
Developing objective thinking
Use rational self-analysis to challenge erroneous thinking
Use essays to critically examine magical thinking.
Read up on rational thinking.
Developing many of the other principles will also move you toward more objective
ways of thinking (especially emotional and behavioural responsibility,
self-direction, and flexibility).
Further reading
Thouless R.H. Straight and Crooked Thinking. Richard Clay, Suffolk, 1939.
11. Acceptance of reality
It makes sense, wherever possible, to change things you dislike. But there will
be some things you will not be able to change. You then have two choices - you
can rail against fate and stay distressed; or you can accept reality and move
on.
The principle of acceptance
To accept something is to (1) acknowledge that it exists, (2) believe there is
no reason it should not exist, and (3) see it as bearable. Lets examine these
three aspects of acceptance in more detail:
Acknowledgment of reality. This involves admitting that reality - including
unpleasant reality - exists. You see it as inevitable that many things will not
be to your liking. You view uncertainty, frustration and disappointment as
aspects of normal life.
Absence of any demand that reality not exist. This means that although you may
prefer yourself, other people, things, or circumstances to be different from how
they are (and you may even work at changing them), you know there is no Law of
the Universe which says they should or must be different.
Keeping unwanted realities in perspective. You dislike some things, and find
them unpleasant - but you avoid catastrophising them into horribleor unbearable.
Acceptance of reality includes many things
There are many realities people are called upon to accept. Here are some that
are especially relevant to stress management:
Uncertainty. In the real world there are no certainties. The outcomes of our
actions can never be guaranteed. It is helpful to anticipate the future, but we
can never know for sure what it holds.
Utopia is unlikely. You and I will almost certainly never get everything we
want. This includes total happiness or personal perfection. We will probably
always experience some pain, anxiety, or depression.
There are limitations to personal change. There are many things we can change,
like anxiety and depression. But there are some things that will not change no
matter how much we try, as Martin Seligman points out in his book What You Can
Change and What You Cant. Accepting this reality can help people avoid much
unnecessary distress.
We cannot change others. One thing we can never change is other people. Only
they can change themselves. Accepting this reality may save a lot of pain.
What acceptance is not
Many people have trouble with the idea of acceptance. They think that to accept
something means they have to like it, agree with it, justify it, be indifferent
to it, or resign themselves to it.
Acceptance is none of these things. You can dislike something, see it as
unjustified and continue to prefer that it not exist. You can be concerned about
it. You can take action to change it, if change is possible. But you can still
accept it by rejecting the idea that it should not exist and that it absolutely
must be changed.
Why acceptance is important to stress management
Hurting yourself does not change what you dislike, and will only take away
energy better used to confront and solve problems. By reducing the intensity of
your bad feelings, you will be less disabled by them. Acceptance can,
paradoxically, increase your chances of changing what you dislike!
Acceptance will help you tolerate what you cannot change, and avoid adding
unnecessary emotional pain to the unpleasantness of the situation itself.
Acceptance, finally, will help you avoid wasting time and energy and risking
your emotional or physical health by striving for what is unattainable.
Developing acceptance of reality
Take note of non-accepting thoughts and behaviour. Watch out for:
Believing that people or things should be different to how they are; that it is
awful and intolerable when things are not as they should be; that the world
should be a fair place; that one should always be treated fairly.
Feeling angry but unable to do anything.
Needing to get other people to admit they are wrong, or avoiding acceptance
because it might mean giving away a sense of self-rightness.
Keep reality in perspective. When facing an unpleasant development in your life:
Use the time-projection technique.
Ask Is this situation, event or possibility really so bad for me?
Develop a catastrophe scale.
Query yourself: How much do I really need to upset myself over this?
Challenge your demands that reality not be as it is. Ask yourself:
Can I really change (this person, this situation, etc.)?
Though I would prefer that be different to how it is, where is it written that
it should be?
Why must this not happen?
Is demanding that this person change going to make them change - or would I be
better to try and understand how they see things and then attempt to talk with
them?
Practice acceptance:
Regularly remind yourself that human beings are fallible and not perfectible.
Don't retaliate when people do things you dislike.
See the world for what it really is (and always has been) - imperfect.
Practice being satisfied with compromises and less than perfect solutions to
problems.
To sum up
We can sum up our discussion of acceptance - and in fact all the rational
principles - with a paraphrase of a well-known saying. It suggests that to
achieve happiness, there are three things to strive for: the courage to change
the things we can, the serenity to accept the things we cant - and the wisdom to
know the difference.
One last thing. Dont make these principles into demands. They are ideals.
Probably no-one could practice them all consistently. Rather than see them as
absolute mustsfor managing your stress, use them as guidelines to a better life.
Further
reading
Seligman, Martin E.P. What You Can Change and What You Cant: The complete guide
to successful self-improvement. Random House, Sydney, 1994.
This article has adapted from the book Good Stress: The Life that can be yours,
by Wayne Froggatt, Published by HarperCollins New Zealand, Auckland, 1997.