Pleasure-based Happy vs The Neutral Zone (Day 108)

There is all the difference in the world between the kind of happiness that's based on the pleasure of getting what you want (which is always shadowed by the suffering of not getting what you want...anymore!) vs the happiness that comes from getting off the wanting roller-coaster altogether. The former comes and goes, whereas the latter, once you tap into it, is everlasting.

Remember, we are addicted to wanting, so we'll keep going up and down, for now. And it will take some time to really settle-in and plumb the depths of the neutral zone, which is where the second kind of sustainable happiness is. Neutral is tricky to feel, because it kinda by definition feels like nothing is happening – it's hard to feel the absence of something (reactivity).

PRACTICE

Just notice as you go up and down between 'I like it' and 'I don't like it', reacting throughout your day. Take particular note of when you're neither very far up nor down, when you're in the neutral zone. Which, to start with, could be anything between +3 and -3 on the scale below. Remember, even if you're at a reactivity level of 10, a move to 9 is a step in the right direction!

Reactivity Scale

+10 (best) 🙂

↕

+1

Neutral 😐

-1

↕

-10 (worst) 🙁