So many of us think of reporting as words: “Hank is feeling sorry for self,” or “Mary is angry,” or simply, “That’s a not-I,” thinking that saying the words will change the feeling and we’ll leave our “funk”. And though the words have value so that the intellect can recognize and define, what gets reported to X is the FEELING, not the words. It’s fine to say, “I’m feeling guilty,” or “Jerry is feeling guilty,” yet just saying or thinking the words isn’t reporting to X and the feeling of guilt usually remains.
The feeling is what’s reported to X. For example, if one is feeling fearful, that’s what X gets (no matter how much I say to myself I’m confident or thankful). However, we can report with feeling accurately and X will do the appropriate thing for the information received. The first step is to recognize the “what is:” (Ok, I’m feeling pretty fearful about _____.) We can then ASK ourselves, “Is this to “my” advantage? Do I want to stay this way?” If we do, that’s perfectly fine. If we don’t, we can CHOOSE another feeling a little higher up on the Tone Scale where it’s not so hard on the ole’ bod.
One good, simple, work-a-day feeling is Vital Interest. We can always get interested in something – even if it’s cleaning a closet or doing the dishes or running an errand. We can get vitally interested in situations, people, animals, conversations, work, anthills, scenery; the list is endless. So if we choose Vital Interest as an inner feeling, what’s next?
ACTION. Set a timer and for the next 20-30 minutes, ACT the way you want to feel. Getting the body involved is the key here. The inner feeling will change (from fear, self-pity, guilt or boredom, resentment, anger, anxiety or worry, feeling “better than” or “inferior to”) to a feeling of Enthusiasm or Vital Interest. And as we ACT, so shall we FEEL. And that’s what X responds to.
Submitted by Tian