Commonly, when I am in a rutt with myself where some negative state has overcome and captured me… in addition to trying to sort out the events leading up to the stuck emotional space, I often find it valuable to do some form of “thought experiment.” First, I feel into the state that I am in (which is often a global undifferentiated kind of feeling), and then I imagine some part of the picture as as different, that is, I factor out some part of the picture, or change it in some significant way… and then I check back in with myself and observe if and how my mood shifts as I imagine this or that piece of the picture as different. I am repeatedly surprised how this simple procedure can powerfully shift my perspective and clarify my mood. As a result the mood becomes less global and I am often able to emerge out of it.
This process can be hugely clarifying. Most “out-of-sorts moods” are global states, with huge overgeneralization in the negative direction (mixed in with “learned helplessness.”) The thought experiment takes down the overgeneralized global state and replaces it with a more differentiated landscape. This alone can often shift a mood into a more realistic state that has hopeful prospects. And the clarification that comes with this process can open up an awareness of action that one can then take to improve the situation.
