ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the Five Emotions and the need to feel and recognize them so you can stop self-identifying with the negative beliefs they signify. The Five Emotions that stop success are Shame, Grandiosity, Envy, Boredom, and Fear. Metaphorically, we can think of them as an emotional version of primary colors, because just as primary colors are at the root of all other color variations, the Five Emotions combine in endless variation with each other, creating a myriad of unpleasant experiences. Solution-focused thinking cannot emerge from these emotional states as they are designed to illuminate problems, such as the pain one feels when one touches a hot stove. The Five Emotions generate drama, and drama obfuscates by masking the beliefs which create paralysis when it comes to taking meaningful action, such as removing the hand from the stove. When we identify the source of our problems as problem-focus itself as generated by the Five Emotions, we can begin to shift to a solution focus by keeping these emotions in our awareness. In other words, as Carl Jung once said: “Keep your shadows in front of you, they can only take you down from behind”.
