Perception Shift and Confusion

[jarrodgötze]

Hello again John.

I have a question about interpretation/ a shift in perception as a technique to use alongside processing emotions. For example, in Deep clearing {which, by the way, I wrote a review for on Amazon only for them to tell me that I had not spent enough money on my amazon account to write a review! So I will keep it saved and post it once I've spent enough}, you spoke about 'reframing your experience'- making a conscious decision to perceive a negative event/emotion as an opportunity to clear suppressed contents as opposed to seeing it as a burden. This was a really interesting part of the book and made me think about this topic in more detail. You also talk about how shame & guilt are unnecessary because they can be resolved with a reframed perception of why it is you feel shameful (bringing your understanding to a spiritual level and seeing the bigger picture). Both of these are examples of the importance of reframing your mindset instead of ONLY processing emotions with no mental involvement.

I was meditating on 'regret' and other emotions relating to feeling as if I had wasted my potential and fallen behind other people my age in terms of success and accomplishments and found it to be quite overwhelming, even though I was applying acceptance and witnessing correctly. I then tried to reframe my perception of these problems- I reminded myself that everyone has a unique, incomparable life path and that these feelings of regret and sadness are not actually steeped in any accuracy. I did this whilst simultaneously processing the feelings {witnessing the feelings but at the same time, realising that they don't resemble the truth} and I found it to be much more tolerable and pleasant. I also felt I had successfully released a significant amount of those particular feelings after doing it every day for a week. In the same breath, I was worried that I was not FULLY experiencing the emotions because I am conscious of the fact that EC is very cautious around using thoughts to wash out negative emotions.

It also reminded me of the famous Roosevelt quote "Comparison is the thief of joy". What do you think of this approach?

Also, another quick question if I may. It's about confusion. This forum is a brilliant platform and helps to resolve confusion for a lot of EC followers, but do you think sometimes we (the human race in general) are too quick to ask detailed questions in exchange for detailed answers as opposed to accepting and experiencing the confusion and maybe frustration around not having everything 'figured out'? This is relating to page 112 of deep clearing where you label 'confusion' and 'distress' as valid  emotions to process instead of "Overemphasizing logical thinking as a means to resolve issues." So when do we draw the line between getting a good understanding of a topic and processing the confusion as a valid emotion?

Thanks John, I hope these questions are somewhat interesting.

[John Ruskan]

You have a good understanding of the principles, but I don't agree about 'reframing' emotions even though you say you were helped by doing so while you were also using the EC Process. Reframing, or seeing things differently, is what CBT relies upon, which I consider a completely ignorant travesty that has evolved psychology backwards, in line with the current backward evolution of society in general as technology advances. Reframing may spontaneously occur after feelings have been successfully integrated, but it is not part of the EC protocol. The whole thrust of the EC Process is to go beyond the mind and be present with the energetic experience of the feelings.

What I'm seeing here is that you may have been processing regret, but this is only a first-level emotion, and not a core feeling. (Similar to guilt and shame being first-level emotions, but the core feelings behind need to be addressed.) You have not indicated that you have been working with a core feeling, which would be something like insignificance, worthlessness, failure, not being good enough, etc., relating to the solar plexus Significance center. The core feeling is part of a dualistic syndrome such as accomplishment/insignificance. Striving for the positive will never bring the suppressed negative into balance, hence, the need for EC work.

Regarding your other question, I think you have a point, but once awareness realizes that it may be ok to live with some degree of confusion, it becomes a personal judgment call about when to allow confusion or seek to understand.

[jarrodgötze]

Hi John, Thanks a lot for the reply. I have to say, I'm stumped. You dedicated a whole chapter in your new book to 'reframing' and the importance of it but now you've labelled reframing as a "completely ignorant travesty"? Slight contradiction but not to worry. I'm guessing I should just disregard that chapter then. Also, both of your books are full of other mental reframing examples. Even the concept of 'acceptance' is reframing your attitude towards emotions (you change your perception of them from 'bad' to neutral/good. You purposely choose to reframe your attitude about life by believing in a higher self, afterlife, reincarnation etc instead of just processing feelings related to having a lack of purpose/emptiness. 'Taking responsibility' for emotions is also an example of reframing. It's not been made clear about where to draw the line.

It's true that I probably haven't gotten to a core feeling yet, that's an interesting point! I assumed regret was a core feeling but I guess you're right. Thanks again John.