The recipe for going down
Discouragement, frustration, nostalgia and inadequacy did not arrive from nowhere. I helped create them by replaying the past, asking ‘what if,’ collapsing the body and wearing the facial expression of defeat. The emotion was real, and so was the ritual feeding it.
“An emotion may arrive uninvited, but the ritual that keeps feeding it can be examined.”
The recipe for rising
Joy, excitement, power and strength had rituals too: moving, jumping, striking the chest, accelerating on the spot and saying yes. Playful sounds interrupted seriousness. The body reminded the mind that another state was possible.
Choice without denial
State practice is not emotional censorship. Sadness may contain information and grief may need time. The distinction is whether I am listening to an emotion or unconsciously rehearsing it. Once the ritual is visible, I can decide what deserves care and what deserves interruption.
Discover the emotional recipe
States that seem to arrive without warning often have repeated ingredients: a particular focus, internal language, posture and breathing pattern. Mapping the recipe creates choice. We can respect the message inside an emotion while refusing to repeat every ingredient that intensifies it.
Try this: recall a recent discouraging state and write what you focused on, said internally and did with your body. Then map a resourceful state in the same way. Choose one ingredient from the second recipe—gaze, breath, question or movement—and practise introducing it early in the first sequence.
Map one recurring low state: posture, breath, focus and inner words. Change one ingredient for ninety seconds and observe the effect.
This original letter is one of Yacopo's personal reflections from the courses and practices he continues to study as part of becoming better and better. Each lesson is tested through his lived experience in science, Kung Fu, relationships and the Spartan Monk Method.
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