When you’re distressed, can you shift to neutral with confidence and ease?
I didn’t realize for a long time that this is a SKILL… a skill that can be cultivated and become one of the most beautiful gifts we can give to ourselves and those around us.
People talk about wanting to be Happy. They dream of Joy and Delight. Yet, many find these emotional pleasures hard to reach and even harder to hold onto.
I have a theory why… would you like to hear it?
I used to ride the roller coaster of emotions. If I was doing a lot and winning, I’d feel good. If I was doing a lot and not accomplishing what I wanted, I’d feel stressed. If I didn’t have the energy I really needed, I’d feel depressed.
Do you know anyone else like that?
Emotions need a soft, neutral place to rest. If emotions cannot “balance” at a soft place of ease, they will sink down or stress out. Both sinking and stressing are terribly hard on the body-mind, so it tries to force us into another gear. The grinding tension can be felt in our core.
Instead, imagine this: You’re feeling stressed… and with a few minutes of tapping, breathing, and meditating, you shift to neutral: feeling OK. Not ecstatic. Not filled with bliss. You feel surprisingly OK.
Or you’re feeling down. Things haven’t been going your way. The bill was bigger than you’d expected. With a few minutes of tapping, breathing, and meditating… you shift to feeling NEUTRAL. A sense of solidness returns. You can feel your toes, your hands, and your heart again. You’re okay…
Feeling OK has immense value!
If you’d like more of that in your life, what Cathy and I recommend is that you:
* Learn to go from happy ecstatic joy… to neutral, centered presence and soft savoring…
* Develop the skill of moving from down and depleted to grounded calm…
I find that “neutral” is a place of deep potential… a state of being where clarity can come without the noise and hussle-bussle of action. What are you noticing?
Warm smiles,
Rick & Cathy
P.S. We’ve found working with thousands of individuals that there can be a lot of resistance to shifting to neutral. If that’s coming up for you, it’s okay. We’ve got you covered. We share more ideas for clearing that resistance and getting the parking brake off your life in the primitive brain program.
Originally published Feb 9, 2015
Thanks Rick and Cathy, I needed this and didn’t even realize it until the yawns started. I was thinking, “what pressure” until I realized I’m trying to de-clutter emails, piles on tables, magazines and books. I’m trying to have fun with it as much as possible.
I like going to neutral though. It is certainly better than that roller coaster of emotions. As a highly sensitive person my emotions used to swing wildly. But with tapping and meditation, they don’t swing as far as they used to.
I love meditations where we can take a few moments, stop, turn within, breathe deeply and center ourselves. Gosh I feel like on those stressful days it would be good to do this every few hours.
Warmly, Jean