{ ACT } creative hopelessness

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) invites you to cozy up to the idea of

"creative hopelessness."
Caveat: This isn't the kind of hopelessness that most of us think of when we hear the word, i.e., sad, pathetic, resigned, etc.

In ACT, hopelessness is less so about the feeling (about the future), but more about the active stance we choose to take -- towards our present, and in light of our past.

The main question is this:Has it worked, for you?

"It" being all your previous efforts to deal with -- change, avoid, justify, conquer, or otherwise avoid -- some thought or feeling or experience. Everyone dabbles a bit in this art.

Say you're working on a project and you secretly believe that you're incompetent, a phony. To deal with this, you shake your head and say: "That's silly, I know that's not true. Stop thinking that." Hello, self-talk! Maybe the fear goes away. Or maybe it goes away for a while, just to come back in another shape or form. To deal with it, this time you gear up to attack the problem. You work harder. You stay up later. You plan it all to a tee. And you feel good, for a while.

But that fundamental fear, belief, is never far at bay. It's "sticky" in the sense that it just won't go away, it's one that you keep coming back to again and again. One that rudely pops in for hello like an uninvited guest. And the more you try to show him the door, the more he gets kicks off his shoes and gets comfortable on the living room couch.

So -- has it worked, for you?
For those of us who answer "Um, maybe-a-little-not-so-much...", creative hopelessness involves simply allowing some { space } for the idea that maybe what we've tried so far hasn't worked -- and won't.

Often we pile on strategy after strategy, trying to keep some kind of intact sense of what we can do for ourselves. But sometimes what we need is not to save our own ideas and efforts -- but rather to let them shatter. Because: what if this kind of shattering is what makes room for fresh ways of thinking and being?

As Ayn Rand's character in The Fountainhead puts it,

"All growth demands destruction. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."
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Has "it" worked, for you? What was your gut reaction to this idea? It is something people either click with instantly, or take a long time to warm up to. Either is fine...

This post is part of the occasional Acceptance & Commitment Therapy series, where I share concepts from my training & how they relate to life, wellness & creativity. Subscribe to KARMOMO ( bloglovin' or feedly ) to get the latest updates when posted!