This is a wonderful Ted Talk by Dan Pink about the changing face of motivation and why it matters. It directly applies to the process of healing from depression.
Pink, a career analyst and writer, says that there is a “mismatch between what science knows and what businesses do.” Rather than the effort/reward incentive dynamic that has been used for decades, Pink makes the case for autonomy, mastery, and purpose as the best motivators. Simply put, doing what matters to you, matters. He defines autonomy as, “the urge to direct our own lives,” mastery as, “to get better and better at something that matters,” and purpose as, “the yearning to do what we do in the service of something greater than ourselves.”
This clearly applies to healing from depression. Because, in order to get well, we cannot wait for a doctor or mental health clinic to tell us what to do. Each of us, must become the director of our own self-directed recovery program. This is what I teach in my book Healing From Depression. The motivation to get well comes from our deep desire to be relieved of our suffering. This leads us to trying tools and strategies that bring about wellness. The more we practice these mental health recovery strategies, the better we get at them, until we learn to be masters of the recovery process.
