In this episode, Dr. Z. chats with Russ Harris, M.D., author of The Happiness Trap, The Reality Slap and many other self-help books. Russ shares how he applies skills from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – grounding, defusion, acceptance – to his writing process. In particular, he shares how he handles his fears of making mistakes, thoughts about his writing not being good enough, his inner critic, and the overwhelming feelings and anxieties that show up when he’s writing.
Highlights of the conversation:
2:51 How Russ channels his anxiety.
3:32 How Russ gets hooked on anxious thoughts at times.
4:05 How Russ practices defusion from harsh thoughts.
7:57 How Russ drops his anchor to handle anxiety when writing a chapter.
8:58 How Russ handles his fears of his writing “not being good enough.”
13:02 How Russ handles the struggles of not finding the right metaphor when writing.
15:08 How Russ handles his inner critic.
15:39 The type of Australian biscuit Russ likes.
17:41 How Russ practices noticing, naming, and taking a distance from analysis-paralysis thoughts.
18:33 How Russ remembers to anchor himself using the acronym ACE
22:55 How Russ relates to positive thinking
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