Here, in Part Two of this series, are seven more essential secrets of psychotherapy, condensed and diverse kernels of clinical wisdom. Again, the selection and order is more or less random. In this sense, these various secrets function as a psychological I Ching : Perhaps you will synchronistically stumble upon some particular secret that applies to your present situation or speaks to some personal, spiritual or existential issue you or someone you know struggle with. While reading these secrets is certainly no substitute for psychotherapy, such distilled clinical wisdom may be helpful in providing some new perspectives or possibly lead to deeper exploration through psychotherapy, philosophy or spirituality. Psychotherapists might also find this concise compendium of collective clinical wisdom worthwhile--even when not necessarily agreeing with all of it. And, in some cases, may want to add their own nuggets to this eclectic collection. Which I encourage.

Procrastination and the power of presence. Psychotherapy patients often report problems with procrastination. Avoiding doing what needs to be done. Putting off till tomorrow what can and should be accomplished today. One aspect of procrastination is what I call the Sisyphus syndrome. As punishment by the gods for trying to eradicate and evade death, Sisyphus was fated to eternally roll a massive rock up a hill each day, only to have it roll back down just as he neared the top. We all share a similar existential fate. We are each required to routinely roll our metaphorical rock--whatever that may be--uphill every day, only to do it all over again tomorrow. It is arduous, difficult, tedious, boring and laborious work. But Sisyphus must do it. And so must we. This tedious aspect of life is something many people try to avoid via procrastination. Like children, we would much rather play games than do our math or history homework, or clean up our room. Who wants to wash dishes? Vacuum? Clean the bathroom? Do their taxes? Study for exams? Write their dissertation? We refuse to accept the difficult, dirty, tedious tasks in life, distracting ourselves instead with more amusing activities so as to avoid them. We resist and avoid shouldering the boulder. But it should be remembered that for philosopher Albert Camus, in his famous little book The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Sisyphus found meaning, contentment and even happiness in accepting his fate. As must we all. As Friedrich Nietzsche put it : amor fati. Love your fate. Tedium is an inescapable part of our fate. And part of becoming an adult, of growing up, is accepting that life will at times be tedious. One secret to accepting the existential fact of tedium is to assert depth psychologist Otto Rank's therapeutic mental maneuver he referred to as "the willing affirmation of the must." We cannot totally eliminate tedium from our lives, but we can consciously will it by choosing to actively engage it. To throw ourselves into the tedious task fully and wholeheartedly, rather than resisting it. This shift in attitude toward tedium can, paradoxically, transform it. Another mythological metaphor for procrastination can be found in one of the Twelve Labors of the Greek hero Hercules. Hercules was assigned the seemingly impossible task of cleaning the Augean stables--where the droppings of hundreds of huge oxen had accumulated over forty years--in just one day. The nasty task had been avoided for decades. Procrastination, when unchecked, creates one's own personal Augean stable. Perhaps you know the feeling. Hercules, using both brain and brawn, cleverly diverts two rivers to get the daunting, dirty job done. What secrets can we learn from mighty Hercules about conquering procrastination? One secret has to do with the conscious channeling and focusing of life force into the immediate task at hand. Another secret is related to the practice of mindfulness. As the old Zen proverb tells us: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. Even spiritual enlightenment can't eliminate life's tedious tasks. The tasks always remain the same. What changes is the attitude taken toward these tasks. And the mindful presence with which they are quite deliberately performed. Even banal activities like sweeping or mopping the floor can be enriched, enlivened and made more interesting (therefore, less tedious) by a more mindful approach. Finally, since so much procrastination boils down to anxiety avoidance, overcoming procrastination requires a willingness to tolerate the experience of anxiety-evoking tasks. Not merely commonplace procrastination, but many psychiatric symptoms stem from or are amplified by a lack of presence. So-called ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) symptoms like distractibility and lack of focus are but one example. In our efforts to avoid anger, pain, boredom or anxiety, we avoid being fully present in the moment. But this avoidance of what we feel in the present actually exacerbates symptoms and diminishes our quality of life. Consider the following traditional tale: When a Buddhist monk's contemplative walk in the woods is rudely interrupted by a ferocious tiger ready to make a meal of him, he runs for his life, the tiger in hot and hungry pursuit. Racing through the treees, the terrified monk comes upon a clearing, and then stops dead in his tracks. He stands teetering at the edge of a precipice, hundreds of feet deep. Still trying frantically to escape the tiger's teeth and claws, the monk hurriedly climbs several feet down the sheer cliff, clinging precariously only to a protruding tree root. The starving tiger looms above him, snarling, salivating and pawing at his potential prey. The slender root to which the frightened monk desperately clings starts to snap. Before it is about to break, in that very moment, he spies a wild strawberry  plant growing from the cliffside, just within arm's reach. With his one free hand he immediately plucks the ripest, reddest, juiciest strawberry and very slowly places it in his mouth, savoring the intense aroma, texture and exquisite taste. This is a classic depiction of mindfulness: complete presence, even in the face of imminent annihilation. The secret is to savor each moment as though it will be our last. Like it is all we have. Because, existentially speaking, it may be. Death is an ever-present possibility. There are a thousand ways to die. But we can also learn from the monk the importance of remaining as present as possible in the face of life's constant distractions, demands and crises. Being mindful of what we are doing and how we are feeling or thinking at all times. Cooking. Eating. Exercising. Driving. Making love. Of course, this is much easier said than done. Mindfulness, like meditation, is a skill. And like any other skill, it must be practiced in order to get good at it. So don't expect instant results. Stay with it, however, and soon you too will be savoring strawberries. And doing that next thing that needs to be done. No matter what it may be.