Self, selving, and the education of attention

• Published in: The Arts in psychotherapy Vol. 65; p. 101593
• Main Author: Malloch, Stephen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2019
• Subjects: Affect attunement; Communicative musicality; Embodiment; Fixed action patterns; Prospective movement; Psychotherapy; SEEKING; Fixed action patterns; Psychotherapy; Affect attunement; SEEKING; Prospective movement; Communicative musicality; Embodiment
• ISSN: 0197-4556; 1873-5878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aip.2019.101593

•The self can be thought of as containing a dynamic creative tension between two complimentary ways of being.•Self (a capitalised noun pointing to particular concepts I hold of who I am and how I behave – Fixed Action Patterns) and selving (a lower case verb indicating my embodied, vital, unspeakable, prospective experiencing and acting).•Problems occur when we lose sight of this creative tension and overly identify with Self – as illustrated through a clinical example.•A way to move back towards this creative dynamic of Self and selving is through curiosity and an education of attention.
Movement that predicts an outcome is central to life and central to the self. Thinking ultimately represents directed movement. Self (an upper case noun) is an internal objective state, or fixed action pattern (FAP), while selving (a lower case verb) is a vital, purposefully moving, intricate felt process that lies at our psychic core. As illustrated through a case study, overly identifying with Self as one or many objective states will lead to repeating patterns that feel ‘stuck’ as a particular way of being in the world. It is through the appreciative SEEKING awareness of the intrinsic tension between these two opponent processors, Self and selving, that we nurture, in the words of Colwyn Trevarthen, “hopeful purposefulness.” Graceful selving in embodied time, informing what we value, can be nourished through the artful and caring education of attention in a companionable relationship, such as between therapist and client.