| Getting UNSTUCK It is common for all of us to occasionally find ourselves snared in some way by behaviors or thinking that have caused us difficulties in the past. Despite our best efforts to avoid it, we often find that we cannot easily break out of the pattern. It’s almost as if certain situations act like magnets that draw these self-defeating behaviors out of us. Actually, it’s not the situations that are the culprits. The reasons we cannot simply recognize and abstain from self-defeating thoughts or behaviors is that we over-estimate our ability to rationally guide our behavior and ignore or minimize the powerful influence of our emotions and of our invisible thinking. Most of what we do, whether adaptive or maladaptive, self-progressing or self-defeating, is the result of fundamental beliefs, expectations and assumptions that we have formed over time and of the emotions that guide us to behave in ways that are consistant with these. To change means to struggle with these forces within us. People get stuck because they either do not accept that they have to deal with these forces or don’t appreciate the commitment one must make to get unstuck. Many movies have dealt with this issue. Although a number of them have been rather simplistic in their approach to this issue, some have been revealing. Here are a number of films that offer real insights about being stuck and what one must do to break free. The Films SHIRLEY VALENTINE There is hardly a character in the film that is more stuck in life than Shirley. A woman in her early forties, she lives life in her kitchen, talking to the wall for company, and dreams of someday "going where the grapes are grown." The trouble is that Shirley is too scared (and too stuck) to do anything like travel but instead does what so many people do: stay cuaght in their little worlds, feeling more and more discouraged and disappointed about life as time slips by. In this movie something happens that gives Shirley a chance to break out of her pattern. When watching this film realize that in her attempt to find a life "beyond the wall," she, like most of us, must take some reasonable risks and will also make some mistakes. However, there is much to gain from this and much to learn about ourselves and the world. It is only when we really see ourselves and our invisible thinking that we are able to begin to change. Paramount Pictures Rated R by MPAA. See Also: The Wizard Of Oz Restoration Please note: More movies are being added to this page. Check back soon.
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Therapeutic Cinema
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