Brain State 4 - A Moment of Opportunity

• Brain States
• Cycles

What is halfway between Brain State 3 and Brain State 5. How does it feel to be in Brain State 4 and why is it the Moment of Opportunity?

I'm in Brain State 4 right now. Yum!  Without EBT, I would say something less socially-acceptable. Instead, I say to myself, @#$%$, I wonder what that neural circuit is anyway. I get it. I'll use The Cycle Tool and find out!

You know you are in Brain State 4 when you are more than a little stressed. It is the anchor of our unconscious emotional expectations that hold us out of the pit of unstoppable stress, and in Brain State 3 they are largely in tact. In Brain State 5, we can forget it!  We have no clear expectations or rigid expectations, either very permissive or highly depriving.

Yet in Brain State 4, we are still quite sensible, but negative and with expectations that are a bit off. Our prefrontal cortex is still functional enough to use The Cycle Tool -- perfect -- so we can nab that unconscious unreasonable expectation, bring it to a conscious level and rewire it.

I'll jump in a do a Cycle now. In another posting we'll talk about the anatomy of The Cycle Tool, but for now, a quick demonstration . . .

Just the Facts:

My shoulder hurts from playing golf, my brother is in the hospital after open heart surgery, I am going to visit a friend tomorrow morning in LA, and see her daughter's wedding reception, and I am missing my mother, who passed away a little more than two years ago.

Natural Flow of Feelings

I feel angry that my shoulder hurts. I hate it that my mother is gone . . .

I feel sad that my brother is sick. I feel sad that my shoulder hurts.

I feel afraid that I will keep having losses, my mother . . . more . . .

I feel guilty that I feel bad.

Now I am in the portal of my emotional brain, and having expressed those emotions, can use deductive reasoning to  identify that maladaptive circuit, that unreasonable expectation that is the distillation of unconscious experience . . .

My unreasonable expectation is that I shouldn't feel bad when I am in the midst of loss.

My reasonable expectation? I expect myself to feel as bad as I need to feel for as long as I need to feel it.

Encouraging Words?  I can do that!

Essential Pain? What is the truth about the human condition or my life that I must face in order to follow through with this new reasonable expectation, in a state of balance and joy?

The Essential Pain is that:  Life can be difficult. I will have pain.

The Earned Reward (of accepting that): I can see myself. I can honor myself. I can feel a sense of sanctuary within. I am at Brain State 1.

Now that I have switched my brain from stress to joy, what do I need (including what do I need from others)?

What do I need? To enjoy my life. To appreciate how much love I feel for my mother, my brother, my family. I need to call the hospital and find out how my brother is doing (it's still a "no visitor" day as he is in intensive care and in discomfort).

Grind In? No Grind In. I feel full of love and gratitude right now, just as I am . . .

The Cycle Tool gives us the power to rewire our unconscious memory systems, and using it simply as I just did or in ways that target healing of our early trauma and most challenging situation, such as with addictions, rejections, and survival needs, it astonishes me. It guides us through the natural processing of stress through the brain, sending that electrical and chemical energy through stress and back to joy.

If you have done a Cycle recently and want to share how you feel when you switch your brain to joy, great!