Gestalt Cycle of Experience - Action

Gestalt Cycle of Experience - Action

Each month I'm taking a little tour round the Gestalt Cycle of Experience, describing each stage in turn. The cycle is a theoretical map used in Gestalt Therapy to describe the process by which needs, emotions and interests come into awareness and are satisfied. We use this in Gestalt Therapy as a way of trying to think about what might be going on in the therapy process; for clients, for ourselves as therapists.

You can read my introduction to the cycle here. This month we are going to look at the fourth stage of this process, 'action'.

You probably already have a fair idea of what this stage could be about from the word itself. Action, to act. To do something. In the context of this cycle, the theory goes that if action is aligned with the need or interest suggested through the stirring of sensation and the awareness of what might be called for in the moment, then there's greater likelihood of experiencing satisfying contact and resolution.

To use the thirst and drinking analogy I've used a few times in these posts already, if I take action to drink because I know the dry mouth or headache feeling suggests thirst, my thirst will be quenched. If the dry mouth or headache is actually more to do with anxiety or some other experience I'm unaware of, drinking isn't likely to resolve that need (although may mitigate the symptom in the moment).

As with the previous stages, the general principle here is one of developing awareness of what are real needs, interest and feelings might be, so that what we do and the choices we make are more aligned with what's really going on.

Action can be a place to get stuck. Doing doing doing. There is much in the dominant mode of being in the western world that prizes action, being useful or productive, getting things done. And there often are many demands calling attention in working life and for those with caring responsibilities. Without some space to pause and check in with what our own needs are it can be easy to fall into a mode of constantly responding to these demands.

This can become particularly chronic if someone has a history of having to put the needs of others first, and hasn't been supported growing up to learn about taking care of themselves, as well as others. Doing a lot can be a way of feeling useful and worthwhile, propping up a fragile sense of self worth. Keeping busy being a way to avoid potentially painful feelings.

In this kind of situation, the need more likely is for love and reassurance, connection and appreciation. Which could be why people who do a lot of doing and giving can feel resentful when all of that action doesn't bring the love they long for. I'm wondering what kind of action might be more useful in this kind of example, rather than getting busy doing a lot. If the need for love and connection and appreciation can be recognised and owned (which can be a significant journey in itself), maybe a reach to someone close for a hug or a request for some attention? This is certainly a more vulnerable stance, but potentially more satisfying, connecting and enriching. Perhaps with more of this all the busyness might not seem so important after all!

If there's a sense of constantly responding to external demands that feel other than what really matters or where the energy is, with the related feelings of frustration and lack of agency a sturdy no might be needed to push back and clarify where our boundaries are and bring about more choice. Again, the process of the contact cycle can be a resource for getting to know where we are, checking in with how we feel at the level of sensation and being curious about what this telling us. Rising anger being a sign that we might be going beyond our limits, possibly repeatedly.

Conversely, moving into action could be a place to retreat from. This could have many roots, what comes to mind at the moment is the link with our sense of agency and personal power and if we have come to believe our actions have an impact. The response we imagine, or have possibly come to expect through experience, can have a significant impact on whether the energy builds in mobilisation and the movement into action can happen. In the example I gave earlier of the possible need for love and attention being underneath an over doing or over giving - it might be extremely difficult to make that reach for a hug or ask for some attention if there has been many formative experiences of this need not being met, ignored, rejected or shamed. Moving into action in this way, with this kind of history, is an act of great courage.

In a less overt way, action in this cycle can include the expression of feeling. For example, letting go into the sobs of grief or mounting a protest in anger. In my work as a Gestalt Therapist these are the places I work with clients, bringing curiosity to the points where rising energy seems to fall flat or the expression of feeling seems to be interrupted. Raising awareness of what happens in these micro moments and the meanings associated with them can act as a doorway for deeper self understanding and the potential of building more support for taking risks with expression and taking action out in the world.

Like I've said before in other posts, I don't want to give the impression that there's a perfectly smooth and aligned state of being without compromise or impact from the wider world, our relationships or environment. We are inherently and constantly in an ever present shifting web of interrelation. For me, the cycle of experience provides a way of reflecting on where I might be in this web and what I might need to say yes or no to or what I might need to ask for. In the case of action, it gives a way of coming to recognising habitual ways of doing and responding, and in that the potential for new choices in the present moment that bring the possibility of spontaneity and a greater sense of vitality and aliveness

Mackewn, J (1997) Developing Gestalt Counselling