Emotions are neurochemical blue-prints for action

When people write to me, telling me what they are going through, it isn’t enough that I sympathize and listen. I have to take seriously what they say they believe, and point out to them the responsibility their words leave them with. They may feel sad, depressed, anxious, and lonely or what have you, but acknowledging this is only a first step. If they don’t take action—really believe what they say they believe and take themselves seriously—they are in grave trouble. People can’t simply have their feelings as an end-point. Emotions are neurochemical blue-prints for action. Not being certain exactly WHAT to do is also not an excuse for inaction. Like an airplane pilot, we are required to self-correct constantly in order to remain adaptive to changing circumstances.

SHOOT: Very useful piece this, and note the focus on 'honesty' and 'emotionally connected relationships'.

clipped from energybulletin.net Psychotherapy wasn’t designed to heal a sick society, but proponents of psychotherapy have been calling our world a sick culture for quite a while. Harry Stacks Sullivan complained bitterly about it, when he was launching his own psychiatric practice during the Great Depression. The theory he developed talked a lot about the importance of honest, emotionally-connected relationships, and the lack of them in his time. Therapists with a clear macro-view of the world realize that to be minimally effective, they are going to have to leave the therapy room and actually attempt to heal and repair the world, just as Sally has tried to do in her movie. But let’s talk about what relevant therapy is going to look like in the future. I run a site, Peak Oil Blues, which is devoted to helping people face an energy-depleted future, full of climate change and a collapsing economy.