> It runs like this: everyone has the power to decide how to perceive and respond to the unavoidable constraints and challenges they face. How did such a belief

> It runs like this: everyone has the power to decide how to perceive and respond to the unavoidable constraints and challenges they face. How did such a belief become commonplace? I'm reading a few books on Adlerian psychology (albeit in Japanese: 「嫌われる勇気」、「劣等感と人間関係」、「勇気づけの方法」) and this pragraph strikes me as very characteristics of Adlerian psychology. > There’s one problem: mindsets are not free-floating. They are neither optional strategies that everyone can freely adopt nor value-neutral ways of enhancing wellbeing. Instead, they are embedded in life conditions that have material, social and ideological dimensions, and this is just as true for those of us living in poverty as it is for the rest of us living in financial comfort. This is not a helpful mindset. "My situation sucks". ok, maybe. But you should not be searching for external causes. You should be thinking about what you can do with what you have. As far as I could gather, Adlerian therapy focuses on "encouragement" in the form of getting you to be comfortable with yourself ("like" and "accept" yourself) and cultivating a sense of "contribution" to others. Having a positive self worth makes a huge difference in how you respond to situations. > (will your child need a new school uniform, or will your car need repairs?). This strikes me as very strange. You have children, and you have a car, but you are "at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder"?