The opposite is also ubiquitous the refusal to open up and engage oneself, to give credit, to trust or hope, the disposition toward negation, despair, or even suicide.
"To decide to engage oneself in History requires, even when the decision is a desperate one, hope," he writes in "Bento's Sketchbook," one of his last volumes.
Self-focus (i.e. the process by which one engages oneself in self-referential processing) is a core issue in the psychopathology of major depression.
To study ethics is to engage oneself in a millennia-old grappling with the most fundamental questions to ever occur to humans.
In fact, observing oneself engaging in effortful behaviors can rather ironically give one the impression of higher available levels of energy.
Imagery CBM involves repeatedly imagining oneself engaging in a broad range of activities that resolve with positive outcomes (e.g., going to work, meeting a friend, getting up in the morning).
It investigated if perceiving strong norms in favor of derogating against fans of outgroup teams, and engaging in these behaviors oneself, leads to an increased compartmentalization of these behaviors (i.e., such that they are restricted to a particular compartment within the self).
Intuitively, it seems possible that stopping oneself from engaging in negative behaviours might be easier than learning to systematically use positive ones (consider not eating chocolate versus remembering to incorporate more fibre into your diet, for example).
Stage 1 starts with engaging and familiarising oneself with the data.
It can lead to excessively drinking, using drugs, engaging in unprotected sex, or putting oneself in dangerous situations by associating with the people who drink heavily and use drugs.
