 |
Bounce! Conversations with Larry WeeksAuthor: Larry Weeks
Interviews w/ authors, entrepreneurs, athletes and others on resilience, getting on or getting over life's set ups and setbacks. If research exists on how people bounce back, he talks about it. If there are physical practices, proven psychologies or philosophies that can help people build personal foundations before the storms come, he digs into it. Language: en Genres: Business, Education, Self-Improvement Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
The Third Option: Gregg Krech on Morita Therapy, Procrastination, and the Art of Doing
Tuesday, 26 May, 2026
You know what you should do. You're just not doing it. The gym bag is by the door. The draft is open on your screen. The email's been sitting there for three days. And somewhere underneath all of it is the same quiet assumption running the show: that you have to feel like it first. That motivation comes before action. What if that's backwards? That's the premise behind Morita therapy, and it's the reason this conversation with Gregg Krech might rearrange how you think about getting things done. Gregg is the Executive Director of the ToDo Institute, a Naikan education and retreat center in Vermont.. He is also the author of several books, including: "Naikan: Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection," "A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness," "The Art of Taking Action," and "Question Your Life." For nearly thirty years Gregg has been teaching an approach called Morita therapy developed a century ago by a Japanese psychiatrist to treat severe anxiety, and it offers a genuinely different way of dealing with the feelings that stop us. Here's the core of it. When we have a difficult feeling, like anxiety, depression, anger, or the urge to quit, we think we have two options: express it or suppress it. Morita therapy offers a third. Acceptance. You coexist with the feeling, and you take action anyway. In this conversation we get into how you actually build that skill, not as a concept, but as something you train like free throws or piano. We cover why motivation is optional, what the maxim "lead with the body" means, why the smartest people often get the most stuck, and how to use your attention to relieve suffering in real time. We talk about recovering from real setbacks like job loss and divorce, and end on a surprisingly freeing idea about indecision: why what you do after you decide matters far more than the decision itself. Some highlights from the episode: 02:36 Origins of Morita Therapy 06:39 The third options 10:48 Thoughts vs actions 13:31 Purpose and feelings 17:24 Practice restraint and action 21:37 Directors vs actors 24:20 Willpower 27:27 Motivation and optionality 29:09 Lead with your body 30:38 Setbacks 33:29 Attention 35:37 Meditation 41:00 Breath practice 45:31 Resistance 48:24 Exercises over maxims 55:22 Indecision and commitment Enjoy! For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts/
