I can sometimes allow myself to become eclipsed by others (those in my social circles). What they think and do becomes so important to me that I forget about myself and my needs. At other times, I can get caught up in my self-importance and not notice or attend to others around me.  I may lose myself in some contexts while feeling self-important in others. In one situation, I give away my agency, and in the other, I do not respect the agency of others. Recognizing that we each have agency is a reminder that taking over or yielding to the agency of others is not healthy and creates relationship imbalances. Living in relationships where our agency and that of others can be respected and valued creates space for harmonious and mutually fulfilling relationships.

Each of us is in a relationship with our embodiment and with our uniquely changing social context. We can reflectively turn inward about our embodiment, or we can turn outward toward our sphere of social influence.  I have agency about what to see and what not to see in both me and others. Recognizing our own agency allows us to choose more consciously what we don't see and see in both ourselves and others. Awareness of one's own agency often has the effect of motivating us to be more reflective about how we are interacting with one another. In the process of trying to understand the words and actions of others, we may draw inaccurate conclusions, what Freud termed projection. Our projections can often reveal much about our wants, needs, wishes, fears, anxieties and more. We can become curious (reflect on) about what we are projecting and why. With this awareness, we can learn not to let our projections impede our accurate understanding of others.

Agency is both determined and free at the same time (Williams, 2002). Thinking about the role of knowledge requiring prior learning, we can explore how we have learned and organized knowledge in the past. It also means that we can explore the ends and possibilities to which we can direct our agency for the sake of action within our unique contexts. Thinking of agency as a hinge between past learning and future possibilities for action means that while we may be constrained by the paths that we have taken, we can also have hope and be optimistic that new solutions are possible. The possibilities are available and found in the freedom that our agency provides. Understanding that we have agency helps us to know that possibilities always exist.

Through awareness, we can reframe previously framed experiences. We can do this by seeing the connection from a present meaning that is emotionally laden for us and its connection to similar past emotionally laden meanings. If Jim, for example, has not grieved the loss of his parents, he may become angry when reminded of this loss by a friend's constant talking about the great relationship he has with his own parents.  Jim can learn to see how his irritation with his friend is actually connected to his ungrieved loss. We may project past hurts on to others and twist the present into a way of confirming past wounds rather than working through them. When we allow ourselves to experience and process past wounds, we can observe our projections melting away giving us a clearer view of our present relationships. Jim's friend, for example, was innocently talking about his parents; he was not trying to irritate Jim. Bringing awareness to how we agentically dealt with past wounds, allows us to see new possibilities in the present.

We can use our agency to shut out some or all of our emotional experiences. This is not healthy and can lead to mental health concerns. If, for example, I repress my anger, I may find myself in relationships where I am not acting honestly. When we can recognize how we frame meaning to block emotion, we can unframe and reframe it towards experiencing and expressing emotion in healthy ways. Emotion must be cognitively modulated via agency. Increasing awareness via agency in order to experience and express our adaptive emotion (McCullough et al., 2003) is another way of saying one is cognitively modulating or regulating one's emotion in healthy ways.

Knowing generally some of the principles of agency is helpful for knowing ourselves.  If we recognize that we reason from what we know to what we do not know (Rychlak's predication theory), we may work more diligently at understanding and targeting what we want to learn. Knowing that we are creating predicating or determining contexts for further learning, we can better structure the meaning we make around specific principles.  This is in contrast to the idea that we gain knowledge through memorizing a large amount of facts. We, also, can elaborate knowledge in a way that makes it useful for further learning. We can, for example, commit to a particular understanding and still be open to modifying it if new evidence warrants it (Perry, 1968)

If we appreciate the oppositional quality to meaning-making, we may be more careful about inferring meaning from what is not said and, instead, find ways to ask about our inferences if appropriate. This allows us to collaborate directly with others on the meanings we each express in our relationships. Much depth in couples therapy can be accomplished by helping couples work through the multiple meanings embedded in their statements. This can help them uncover competing intentions and enable them to work on being clear and more unified in their communication with each other. Ambivalent feelings toward each other, for example, are not uncommon or unhealthy. Ambivalence can cause harm and relational distance when ignored. If the ambivalence is recognized and processed, it can lead to increased closeness. Clarifying meanings and working on directing intentions toward commitment, can bring about intimacy that a couple had previously thought to be impossible.

Finally, knowing that meanings can change instantaneously brings hope. We are influenced to act in certain ways because of our determining contexts, however, we are always free to choose otherwise.  We are not determined by our biology, social context, or prior knowledge. There is always another, or what I call "a third," way. Clients will present with a conflict that seems to have only two answers and neither one feels right.  Everything that they learn, however, will broaden their determining contexts and bring about an array of meanings that produces a new insight. 

We can become more fully aware of our agency.  Doing so is ground shifting. Understanding our agency can help us live in a more intentional and conscious way, embracing our agency, rather than simply reacting to circumstances.  A psychological theory about being human must be able to explain its complexity. Humans have multiple perspectives or theories about what constitutes our nature. Some believe that our biology is all there is and that there is nothing beyond this physical life.  Others believe in a multi-dimensional view of what it means to be human which includes, the physical world, and also, for example, a spiritual world inhabited by an all loving, all knowing Creator and also by deceased loved ones.  From the agentic perspective presented here (Rychlak, 1994), humans with agency can say that agency is simply grounded in physical reality (i.e., it emerges from our neurophysiology). They do not recognize the power inherent in having an awareness that we have agency.  In contrast, others who embrace their agency gain access to the power of self-determination. An agency-centered psychology can account for differing perspectives.  Part of having agency means that one cannot be pressured into acting agentically. An agency-centered psychology observes that if we do not wish to recognize the full power inherent in agency, we can choose not to do so. 

As a clinician, I explore with my clients how to experience their agency more fully by interacting in agency respecting ways. I also teach them about agency when we explore together how they frame and experience reality and how they learn to regulate emotion.  I help them learn new and different ways to practice their agency. Some of these interventions include healing trauma through the reorganization of past framed experience and metabolizing unintegrated emotion, learning how to apply meaning to emotion (labeling emotion), learning how to experience and express emotion (emotion regulation), directing their agency to different ends (choosing goals), and understanding the moral implications of their actions (the consequences of agentic action).