Hello

I wrote a blog  funky to joyous, how to shift the energy, posted january 28, 2011, with great ideas about how to shift yourself out of a funky mood.

But what if that funky mood was itself the cue that there was an underlying problem but it’s too vague to figure out?

When things just don’t feel right it may be that you are out of sync or you have taken a wrong turn.  Sometimes feeling off, or in a funky mood is just the cue to get you back on track if you use your mindfulness, observation skills, and pay attention.

Instinctive knowing is more of a bothering rather than a loud shout that there’s a problem.

A funky mood can be like a bothering, a nagging, sense that something is out-of-place.  So you can view it as a cue that you need to go within, get centered and listen, or mindfully look at what is bothering you.

I find this is especially true when the funky mood seems out-of-place.  You can follow the thread back to when you began the funky mood and see what happened just before your mood shifted into being funky.  Often through this process you can use your observation and investigation skills to see the precursor to the funky mood, and that will give you information about the problem with which you are bothered.

The funky mood is your instinctive knowing informing you that something is awry.

This tends to be an insidious experience; in a subtle, pernicious fashion things begin to go awry and the funky mood develops in response to this shifting.

When you use you attention to look at the circumstances leading up to the shift in energy you can see the precise moment the shift occurred.  It is often a word or statement from another or a set of interactions that are linked in some way to an attachment or expectation or agreement you hold about yourself, others in relationship with you, or a group.

First you use you attention to discern whence the funky mood originated, and then you use your intention to bring into light that which is bothering you.  Once you can identify the problem then you can clarify and choose to respond to it with your whole self, in a mindful and centered way.

Our natural state is to be in balance, easily connecting and interacting with those in our environment who matter to us.

A funky mood could be a sign that you are out of balance.  Using it as a cue you can engage your mindfulness and paradigm shifting skills to center yourself into your life and respond from within that center and feel a return to balance.

When the issue is an attachment then the shift may be to unlink the should of how things should be.  This is to say you have to evaluate if you have an attachment about emotion and action or an unexpressed linking of your behavior to another’s behavior in response.  ie:  I make everything ok and you owe me.

When the issue is an expectation then the shift may be to clarify, re-evaluate, and re-negotiate the arrangement that corresponds to the expectation.  Sometimes expectations are unacknowledged and there isn’t agreement among parties.  In this situation the resolution may be to create a space so that the expectation is identified and shared with all parties involved.  Sometimes the expectation is inappropriate and the shift is to let it go.

Expectations are often unexpressed agreements that are part of one parties’ belief system (or habit reaction pattern), but not part of another parties’ belief system.  This leads to resentment, conflicts, and funky moods.

When the issue is an agreement it is important to bring to light whatever aspects of the agreement that has either 1/ not been fully identified and expressed or 2/when the aspects of the agreement have changed.  You see this a lot with partnerships or love relationships ie:  with monogamy or loyalties – if the parties have different belief systems or when feelings have changed, what one party thinks is an agreement may not be held by the other party.

Agreements, expectations, and attachments are a normal part of relationship however they are dynamic.  This ever-changing aspect is the source of much conflict, discomfort, and miscommunication.

I have found that both expectations and attachments tend to result in dissonance and an imbalance moving people out of their center.  This is especially true when they  are unexpressed or unidentified until they go unmet.

It is wise to make an effort to evaluate these in your relationships on an ongoing basis.

You funky mood can be seen as an early warning system.

Paying attention to it allows you to adjust your focus and use your mindfulness to increase your alignment of your agreements, expectations, and attachments with your centered, balanced true-self in your relationships and your interactions.  You may find a cleaner, less funky relationship ensues, resulting in a more balanced present (available), happy, secure (confident), mood.

See you tomorrow.

Beth