2021 Volume 64 Issue 4 Pages 506-517
Mindfulness is an attitude of mind that seeks to accept inner experiences as is. It also has much in common with Morita Therapy. However, it has also lost a great deal because of the de-Buddhistization of mindfulness. The third wave of behavioral therapy incorporates the emotional regulation of mindfulness into the framework of behavioral therapy. Emotional and behavioral control are the core of these techniques. The basic framework of Morita Therapy is to separate our experiences into “what we can’t do” and “what we can do,” to give up on and accept “what we can’t do,” and to work on “what we can do.” What we cannot do is to control our emotional experiences, the world we are involved in, and ourselves as we see fit (i.e., “should” thinking), whereas what we can do is the activities of our daily lives. The goal of Morita Therapy is to create a state of mind in which fears are simply perceived as fears and desires as desires, and in which an individual can freely engage in the world of life.
