These are questions of importance if we wish to maintain a positive state. Obviously the answer is different for each of us.
- For some it is fear, fear of public speaking, or fear of death, or fear of loss
- For others it might be anger at a perceived insult, or at our own helplessness
- For still others it may be jealousy, at someone who has more than we do, or has things that we desire
Whatever negative state we find ourself in, it begins with our thoughts, perhaps triggered by something we see or hear around us. It ends with our feeling of fear or anger, or jealousy. The place immediately before this first thought, is our place of power, the place where we can change our emotional path.
"Before the first thought" is very still and quiet, but as soon as the first thought happens, the chain reaction begins, and the next thing you know, you're responding on an emotional level
John Daido Loori - Cave of Tigers
So how do we find this still, quiet place before the first thought? Traditional Zen would say we should recognize and accept the negative emotion in order to be free of it.
Going into the anxiety, going into the fear, going into the emotion, then being it, seeing the thoughts that lead to it, frees you.
John Daido Loori - Cave of Tigers
In NLP we take this road of Zen. As a coach we hold the space for the client, allowing them to slow down time enough to follow the train of thoughts from the emotional state they feel, all the way back to that still quiet place before the chain of thought begins.
From that quiet place, we can plan a new route, a new set of thoughts (or internal representations), called a "strategy" in NLP, to take us into a peaceful state, or a state of confidence, or whatever emotion we wish to feel.
Shawn Carson
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