Quote:
Originally Posted by InTheShadows
There is a book called "Constructive Living" by David K Reynolds. It posits that you don't have to feel like doing something in before you do it. The only thing required is action. An example; the sink is full of dishes, but you're exhausted from a full day of work and don't "feel" like doing the dishes. The feeling doesn't matter. Constructive Living says you do the dishes regardless. After your done with the dishes you will experience the positive feelings you were waiting for. It boils down to doing in order to feel.
I hope that makes sense. The book is based off of Japanese Morita Therapy.
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That sounds like something that will work for some people some of the time. Which is fair enough, but if it actually says that you
will experience positive feelings afterwards, I respectfully disagree. You
might experience positive feelings afterwards, and it's possible that you'll escape additional negative feelings, such as guilt for not having done the dishes. But there are never any absolutes, and there's no automatic correlation in matters of psychological functioning. His model sounds like something that works for people who are fundamentally healthy, in order to get away from procrastination. But when you do the thing you don't feel like doing, and feel a million times worse afterwards, then it doesn't really matter what some author claims in a book that has nothing to do with you or your life.
Also, if the author says that the feeling doesn't matter he's being illogical. If the feeling didn't matter, then it wouldn't matter that "doing" would lead to "feeling".
I'm not saying that the theory is always wrong or that it doesn't make sense. It's just not applicable for all people (like pretty much everything else in the world....)