Hey TW,

Yes, it's happened to me. But there's a quick cure . . .

There are only two operating states in this life: CAUSE and EFFECT. You're always going to be operating in one or the other of these states in life. This is not to say that one or the other is better. Both are necessary to live life, but there needs to be a balance. I'm sure you can think of effects that you have experienced that have been enjoyable (i.e., not negative). But when it becomes overbalanced, and you feel that you are more EFFECT than you are able to be CAUSE, then you can get the idea that being EFFECT is not good (no fun). The solution is to find a way to return yourself to the condition of being CAUSE.

The silly joke of it all is that even when you are operating at EFFECT, you are CAUSING it.

Here's the mechanics of it: When you blame someone or something else for your condition, you are electing them or it CAUSE and yourself EFFECT.

Get it?

It's a choice. Fill in the blanks: ______________ is causing me to feel ______________ (fill in the effect you are experiencing in the second blank). It doesn't matter what you put in the first blank . . . "Joe Blow doing me rotten" or "Green cheese" or whatever. It could be any one of a million-million things. But you only need ONE reason to elect yourself EFFECT, and it doesn't matter what it is. If you believe that "X" is CAUSE and you are the EFFECT of "X", then you have spoken, and so it is.

Ah, but the million dollar question: How do you get yourself out of the condition of being the EFFECT of "X"? Well, by switching over to becoming CAUSE, of course.

Yes, yes, yes . . . but HOW???

It's all about INTENTION and ATTENTION.

While you may or may not be able to control how you feel right at the moment, you certainly can generate an INTENTION to do something about it. Or you can generate an INTENTION to do nothing about it. That's true, isn't it? Again, it's a choice.

So the first step is to WANT to return to the state of CAUSE.

Is this what you want?

You see, like your INTENTIONS, your ATTENTION is something you can control. If returning to a state of being CAUSE is what you want, then this is where you must direct your ATTENTION.

From what you have said, right now your ATTENTION is stuck on something negative. There is a quick cure for this: Direct your attention to things which are NOT negative, and continue doing that until you no longer feel negative (i.e., until your attention is no longer stuck on the negative).

Do this: Go out and take a walk. As you are walking, look around in your environment and find something that is not dangerous and/or not threatening to you. Look at a tree and ask yourself: Is that tree dangerous to me? Is that tree threatening me right now? Keep doing this - - - keep looking around and finding things that are not dangerous or not threatenting to you - - - until you feel better about things. I've used the mere fact of taking a walk and looking at things in the environment to pull myself out of the mud more than a couple of times times. It works.

Here's the thing: If you allow your ATTENTION to be fixed on negative things, you will be stuck at being EFFECT (I'll never recover from this . . . ", "I can't do anything about this . . . " type of thoughts). Remember, it's YOUR attention. Generate an intention to take your attention back from the negative that has swallowed it up. Taking a break from newspapers, TV and other media would be a big step in that direction. Their whole game is putting negative thoughts in your mind and getting you to dwell on "how bad it all is". Don't buy into it. And disassociate from negative people. They are vampires. Get them out of your life.

Hope that helps a little.

---- Hugh