The difference between catastrophizing and productively feeling helplessness is simple: one is in the head, one is in the body. Catastrophizing is a thought process created by an emotional state that you’re not actually feeling. Productively working with helplessness means fully, deeply feeling the emotional state all the way through.
Even when catastrophizing — “oh my God everything could blow up” — the body constricts. You can hear it in the voice. The emotion is being held back. If you said the same words but allowed yourself to feel the whole thing, it could be incredibly healing.
“The catastrophizing that’s dangerous or creates less freedom, more rigidity, is the one where you don’t feel it.”
This is why catastrophizing loops: the thoughts keep coming because the body wants to process the underlying helplessness. The thoughts are knocking on your door. If you let yourself have the thought but constrict around the feeling, the thoughts will continue indefinitely.
Joe also recommends doing this practice in both directions — visualizing the worst case and the best case — because the ego dies either way. If everything goes terribly, your identity has to shift. If everything goes beautifully, your identity also has to shift. Both can be useful.
Related Concepts
- Helplessness is the most potent ingredient of fear
- Naming emotions can replace feeling
- Unfelt emotions create physical stress