There has to be a valid reason for an emotion.

For example, if someone accidentally mispronounces your name and you get offended, but then you find out they genuinely just made a mistake, continuing to stay offended doesn’t really make sense anymore. The emotion might have been understandable at first, but once you know the truth, holding onto it becomes invalid.

Or take another example: if you expect to be praised and celebrated everywhere you go, and then you walk into a room and nobody applauds you or acknowledges you, you feel hurt. But that hurt is based on an expectation. A belief that you should be celebrated.

Now we’re entering a different space. This isn’t just about feelings anymore, it’s about beliefs. It’s about morality, values, even law in some sense.

So how do you navigate that?

Interestingly, over the last 15 years, even mainstream psychology hasn’t avoided this discussion. If you look at Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), it combines cognitive behavioral therapy with ideas rooted in mindfulness and even Buddhism.

The core idea is that you need strong values to guide you. Your actions should be aligned with your inner life. Psychology has realized that it’s not enough to just manage perceptions to “feel good.” It’s also about how you act in the world. And actions aren’t only external, they can be internal too.

For example, if I feel anger, do I allow it to ruin my whole day?

Choosing not to let it take over, that’s an action.

So this naturally moves into morality and worldview. It can become especially challenging when a therapist and a client have completely different belief systems / world views. But without addressing values and meaning, therapy can feel incomplete.

If it doesn’t help you navigate daily life and your struggles are psychological and connected to how you live, then what is it really for?

Dr.Francesca Bocca-Aldaqre & Shaykh Shadee Elmasry.