{"id":5870,"date":"2018-07-18T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/?p=5870"},"modified":"2018-07-15T17:30:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T21:30:24","slug":"observing-negative-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2018\/07\/observing-negative-states.html","title":{"rendered":"Observing Negative States"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/strong> I have been practicing catching and dropping negative states. A few times I’ve awakened in the night, sick to my stomach and entertaining worrisome thoughts. I have awakened a few times feeling unbridled terror. I practiced the “Stop, Drop, and Endure” exercise you’ve spoken of, and the fear dissipated. What I wondered immediately after my period of relative objectivity was, is fear what I think it is, or is it a neutral feeling attached to my hypnotic belief about it?<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> No state is a “thing” like a coffee cup, or a sculpted piece of wood… an “object” that has a permanent shape and remains that way until shattered or burnt. All thought-induced, desire based negative psychological states, including fear, are the dark effect of converging forces and, as such, are never the same in content or appearance. Imagine a place where three rivers meet… and then see how the place they merge will always be changing because of the influence of their ever-changing confluence. Our task in observing these states must include an understanding on the part of the observer that what we are watching move through us moves, as it does, in part, because of the way they are observed.<\/p>\n

It is a common mistake, many of us will make for many years, to try to rid ourselves of unwanted states by hoping to glean some secret about their nature. Yes, understanding the nature of a state is important, but until we realize that any resistance we have towards the state helps create and sustain the state we don’t want, then we are trying to understand something that is, in effect, created by our own misunderstanding of it. One must watch and watch… work consistently to observe as best possible\u2026 until one starts seeing not only the nature of the state in question, but the nature of the observing “I” as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I have been practicing catching and dropping negative states. A few times I’ve awakened in the night, sick to my stomach and entertaining worrisome thoughts. I have awakened a few times feeling unbridled terror. I practiced the “Stop, Drop, and Endure” exercise you’ve spoken of, and the fear dissipated. What I wondered immediately after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[3067,2079,37,3069,21,257,3068],"class_list":["post-5870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-negative-states","category-self-remembering-awareness","tag-changing-psychological-states","tag-dark-forces","tag-fear","tag-objectivity","tag-resistance","tag-self-observation","tag-unwanted-states"],"yoast_head":"\nObserving Negative States - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2018\/07\/observing-negative-states.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Observing Negative States - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: I have been practicing catching and dropping negative states. A few times I’ve awakened in the night, sick to my stomach and entertaining worrisome thoughts. I have awakened a few times feeling unbridled terror. I practiced the “Stop, Drop, and Endure” exercise you’ve spoken of, and the fear dissipated. 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. 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