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I don't have the words to express how much this clicked for me. Thank you doesn't seem to be adequate...

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🙏

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Is feeling as simple as "How would you feel if x were a present tense fact?" as Neville has mentioned in the past? At times he'd make it sound easy by telling you to answer one question, but then mention SATS where there's a whole process of making a dream feel as real as possible.

When I try Neville's question method, even if I were to wear it like a new set of clothes I don't experience a new stream of thoughts from it. If anything it feels like I'm holding my breath for a very long period. And SATS I have a mental wall where I use it as a means to an end so I am never fulfilled coming out of it.

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If it feels like you're holding your breath, that might mean you're operating at the level of thoughts and sensations (even mental sensations) during your visualizations. Start by trying to get in touch with a pure feeling that is already present, not one that you're trying to insert. So, if someone does something that annoys you, get in touch with the feeling of annoyance. Slowly begin to remove your mental sense perceptions one by one -- so if you're picturing the annoying person's face, replace it with a blank screen; if you're hearing their voice, silence it.

Eventually, you'll arrive at pure feeling. You'll be dealing with "annoyance" (or whatever feeling you choose) in its distilled form. The value of this exercise is that it helps you get comfortable dealing with the currency of feelings instead of sensations. Then you can go back to your visualized scene and see if you're actually accessing the feeling you desire, or if you're using thoughts and imagined sensations to try and mimic the feeling without actually feeling it.

Some people would tell you this is an overcomplication and that a feeling is just a feeling, but (obviously) I disagree. I'd liken the way thoughts, imagined sensations, and feelings get blended together to the experience of tasting food. Technically, your tastebuds can only sense salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami -- everything else that factors into "taste" is based on smell and texture, but that ends up being a lot. It sounds to me like you're experiencing something similar to eating salty ice cream and trying to convince yourself it's sweet. Because the texture and scents of vanilla and cream and whatever else are present (because your visualized scene contains the thoughts and sensations that should be associated with your desired feeling), you're caught in a weird place where you taste the saltiness but feel compelled to call it sweet (you feel some undesired feeling but are compelled to say you're accessing the desired feeling).

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Apr 16Liked by A.C. Winklier

Thank you for your simplistic way of explaining things. I understand now I was treading water at the surface level, but feeling is at a much deeper depth. I can honestly say I've never felt the feeling like this until I distilled it in the way you suggested.

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