In a moment I will explain how you can easily develop your neutral state, it's a powerful idea. But first...
What is a neutral state?
A neutral state is a mental foundation, a buffer, that essentially 'catches' your emotions before they get too far out of control. A neutral state 'grounds you' both when you are feeling down, and feeling up. (In depression AND in ecstasy)
In neutral state you don't have to think, you don't have to feel - you just accept and appreciate
Try to see it as a filter that catches every stray emotion, and brings them into perspective. It not only catches your emotions on the way down, but it catches your emotions on the way up.
Now people can clearly see a benefit for when you're on the way down but I think I need to give an example of why you'd want to catch yourself when you're flying high. The next chapter named 'Higher You Go the Harder You Fall' demonstrates what success too quick can do to you.
Neutral state arouses a feeling of neither happiness nor sadness - a completely indiscriminate mentality. The single purpose of neutral state is about finding contentment. It gives you a strong foundation to organise your emotions and gives you a great head start in:
- Attitude
- Vision
- Mental Strength
- Understanding of purpose
"With neutral state, the most 'negative' emotion you feel is contentment"
This is another way to use your 10% (logical brain) to leverage control of your 90% (emotional brain). But alone, it's just an idea. Where's the leverage?
Factual Philosophies
Facts have an uncanny way of just being right. They are obviously dependable and reliable, and because of this they have high leverage. Let me explain with an example.
When your emotions are flaring and you're losing control, the mere thought of a factual philosophy grounds you like nothing else.
Factual Philosophy = Fact of Life
Ideally, you won't need to rely on this strategy very often but it wouldn't be a bad thing if you did. Neutral State is like a set of principles, if you are strong principled, you take action when people cross the line.
"Neutral state serves as a logical head start to get your emotions in order."
Before we go through the process of finding the right facts of life for you, there're some critical points I must make in order for this approach to work.
This is the four point system that you should use to go through the process I'm about to show you.
For this idea to be effective, you have to not only ACCEPT the facts of life, but APPRECIATE the facts of life. And the fact itself must be unconditional and always be a reality.
The 4 Steps to Neutral State
- Acceptance, while a good starting point, sparks indifference
- Appreciation sparks a positive emotional reaction
- Unconditional - like love for your family
- Reality - so long as you live, they will be facts of life. But it doesn't matter if it comes and goes, only that it will always be there as long as you live (and even your children too)
Note:I'll give you some ideas but ultimately its effectiveness depends on YOU finding the right facts that you have chosen through the above steps
Finding your Neutral State -
Now we are going to do an exercise to find the facts of life that will empower you to
· Take action
· Retain control of your emotions
· Live a happier life
· Leverage the reliability of the facts you choose
The idea of Neutral State can be quite difficult to explain so the following example here will give you a clear idea of what I mean with some of my favourites -
· Appreciation for your family
· Appreciation for nature
· Appreciation for a clear blue sky (good because it's never too far away where ever you are)
· Appreciation for your mind
Or even these -
· Appreciation for flowers
· Appreciation for dogs
When people say something is a 'fact of life' it's usually a negative statement. It's time to flip that.
Get the idea?
I'd like you to be a little introspective now and try to identify your factual philosophies - we all have them.
REMEMBER -
· Do you accept it?
· Do you appreciate it?
· Is it unconditional?
· Will it always be a reality no matter what your emotional state is?
Factual Philosophy 1:
Ø--------------------------------------------------------------
Factual Philosophy 2:
Ø--------------------------------------------------------------
Factual Philosophy 3:
Ø--------------------------------------------------------------
Last point on Neutral State:
These are philosophies that cannot/ will not change with the ups and downs of life - whether it's raining or you slept in late. The right facts are beyond your emotions. It doesn't matter whether you are upset, angry or stressed. The right facts still ring true.
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity."
Bruce Lee
With neutral state you can push yourself. When you have identified the facts of life you are comfortable with, or become comfortable with, this is the mentality you run long distance in, the mentality in which you exercise 110% at the gym. You have the reassurance and the dependency to push yourself to the limits.
Unlike religion, you won't have people telling you your philosophies are false. If you have chosen well, it's impossible.
When life goes downhill people don't have any intellectual foundations so to speak. They may have foundations in the form of family, but where the mind's concerned, it can just keep on going down, down, down. This is where a neutral state comes into play.
Action Steps...
Do you understand the potential of neutral state?
Did you have the equivalent of factual philosophies before you read this chapter?
Do you understand that it's not enough to accept a factual philosophy, but that you must appreciate it? This gets you emotionally involved.
Did you complete the exercise?
Did you benefit from the exercise?
About this Author
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