Affects can be positive, or negative. If an idea arises in a mind possessed by a positive affect, it will be an optimistic one. Conversely, if an idea arises in a mind possessed by a negative affect, it will be a pessimistic one. Pessimistic ideas do not emerge from minds possessed by a positive affect. Likewise, optimistic ideas do not emerge from minds possessed by a negative affect. But the tone of our thinking can change from pessimistic to optimistic, sometimes without our consciously noticing. Furthermore, if we decide consciously to do so, we can actually change the tone of our thinking from pessimistic to optimistic, or vice versa if we want to. However this is not a natural capacity and indeed it may require inspiration, or even leadership presence, from an empathic other for it to occur. When our minds are possessed by an affect, whether positive or negative, we will either need, want, or desire to express ourselves. We may do so verbally, or we may do so by another means of expression. Until we do, we will feel internal pressure, or stress. Consequently, holding our own needs, wants, or desires for expression in order to extend the empathy of hearing another’s expression requires self- discipline. We can also experience states of being that are not rooted in an affect. These are called equanimous states. Ideas emerging from these states are neither optimistic nor pessimistic. When they are tested by objective means, which is to say by an empirical or scientific test, they will be found to be rational insights. In short, if we are certain we are in an equanimous state, we can have confidence that our verbalizations of ideas emerging therefrom will, if we have the language or artistic skills to articulate them accurately, manifest as rational insights – as distinct from the intuitions we have while in a state of either positive or negative affect: |
| Ideas get verbalized, i.e. emerge, from what psychologists term an affect, which is either a more-or-less passing emotion or a more-or-less stable (or stuck) mood: |
| IHXEN Partnering: Ideas, Affects, Equanimity, & Decision-Making by Angus Cunningham President, Authentix Coaches |
| The Rideau Institute on International Affairs is an independent research and advocacy group based in Ottawa. It provides research, analysis and commentary on public policy issues to decision makers, opinion leaders and the public. It is a federally registered non-profit organization, established in January 2007. Authentix Coaches supports the mission of Canada's Rideau Institute. On the subject of Afghanistan, the Institute carries a comment by our President, Angus Cunningham, at the following link. |
This discussion of the relation of ideas to the affects in which they arise, of the nature of positive and negative affects, and of equanimous states of being tells us that, when we feel the need to make a decision in circumstances involving more than simple escape from an imminent danger, we will be wise first to enter deliberately, if we can, an equanimous state. (Of course, in circumstances such as the imminence of getting run over by a bus, our instincts usually serve us well for "personally rational" decision-making in such circumstances is already programmed into us as an inheritance). Traditionally, we have entered equanimous states by means either of meditation or of scientific analysis. In meditation, we deliberately take ourselves as far as possible from externalities that we know would, if we kept them present in mind, impose upon us an affect. In scientific analysis, we deliberately acquire as much certainty as possible as to what our externalities actually are or will be. The specific methods available to us for either meditation or scientific analysis are many. But whichever we use, we seek a course of action or intention that will be either useful or healthy for us to implement. And unfortunately, if we fail to enter an equanimous state before making our decision among the options then known to us, we may advance only our own well-being at the expense of others, which ultimately means we will advance neither for long. “I have X emotion now” is a linguistic that helps us become conscious of, but not helpless in, whatever affect may be biasing our minds. This linguistic, known by the acronym IHXEN and conveniently pronounced Eye-Zen, enables us consciously to label our emotions. UCLA scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health have demonstrated with fMRI scans that labeling our emotions is a source of relief from strongly negative ones like anger and fear. Thus use of the IHXEN linguistic can be a relief from strong affects. With further practice, one can use IHXENs to learn to “move our minds” between mildly positive and mildly negative affects -- until we know by reference to both that we are in an equanimous state between the two. Authentix Coaches have proved this in practice with our clients. If you click on the following link you will find some client testimonials, and, on the next link, you will find a short account of the spectacular pay-off that one particular Authentix client won from his investment in IHXEN coaching. We can use IHXENs either privately or we can exchange them with another. Because we all grow up quite skilled at telling the affect "governing" our caregivers, we can reasonably expect another to recognize whether our own honestly articulated IHXENs are accurate. Since few of us are consciously aware of our affects, having an IHXEN partner with whom one agrees to exchange IHXENs can be very helpful in gaining IHXEN proficiency and hence, direct knowing of the affects for which we need either meditation or rational science to move us to equanimity. If we lack such a partner, we can resort to writing and explaining our IHXENs, and, if we then later read our writing, it will give us feedback, albeit delayed. Thus, either through partnering or through journaling, we can use the IHXEN linguistic to gain proficiency in knowing very accurately what our emotions are and thus both to know when our states are equanimous or otherwise and to discover what in the way of rational science or meditation will lead us to equanimity. Once “IHXEN self-aware”, one finds one rapidly gains clarity as to what one’s present needs, wants, and desires truly are. One also can learn progressively how to reach equanimous states when meditation is, for practical reasons, difficult or impossible. Since these are, of course, the only states of being from which we can distinguish insight from intuitions and thus make truly rational decisions, being able to reach them quickly through IHXENs is a helpful skill to add to our decision-making repertoires. Lastly, since IHXENS are today quite unconventional -- although executives do frequently intone "I have concern ..." when wanting to convey empathy, they feel unnatural initially. I have therefore found that my clients need preparation and practice in the articulation and exchange of IHXENs in order to become proficient in applying them to major decisions. I usually do this with a few "I have gratitude ...'s", "I have concern .....'s", etc., which are IHXENs representing emotions I can articulate naturally, i.e. without any difficulty that might strike my clients as lacking in authenticity; and I then proceed to prepare my client to be "OK" with my use of the word emotion in relation to both someone not present and myself. Then, at a time when I feel very certain that my client is having trouble expressing him/herself authentically, I will very carefully relieve him/her from the temptation to resort unwittingly to flight into inaccuracy or (even fantasy!) with the following: "I have curiosity now", which will then indeed be very true. "What emotion do you have now?". If my intuition of my client having difficulty is accurate, this will usually elicit a smile of embarrassment. I then help my client to articulate what we both agree is an authentic IHXEN for the circumstance in which he/she took off in a flight of inaccuracy/fantasy (verbal manure). In the process, the client will invariably get an insight into something of considerable mystery up to that point to him/her. This insight may be a personal insight, i.e. one about his/her own pattern of habitual behaviour, or it may be an insight into his/her enterprise or organizational work or career. In either case it will in due course become a key factor in recognizing the specifics of the need from which an emotion always springs. When each partner (or one's coach) feels that the IHXENs exchanged are accurate, it has become time to identify the needs to which the emotions point. At this stage the following table outlining a range of possible "articulator intents" can be used, along with other models of interpersonal rationality, facilitate, through the IHYNN process, discussions that clarify real, as distinct from spurious, needs: |
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