The Dynamics of Getting Out of a Funk
So you are finding yourself in an emotional funk. You feel stuck and cannot seem to move forward. Not to worry. I am going to give you some easy steps to get yourself moving again in a positive direction. If you know the principles and can apply them, you can move out of your negative energy and into a more positive state.
Why do we get into funks?
Everyone gets into funks, into negatively being stuck in places that are hard to move out of. No one escapes. It is not unnatural to be in a state that is hard to move out of. It is actually an essential part of life of being a human being. Being a human means that you have an internal impulse to grow and develop new aspects of yourself. It is hard-wired in us to constantly being a process of evolution. So what happens that makes the road to change bumpy? Let’s say that you are a very good manager of an organization in that your organizational abilities, trustworthiness, and responsibility to do tasks are second to known, but you have a problem with risk-taking, with trying out new things, and for your organization to grow it needs some new directions. The first thing you need to know is that the positive qualities that you already have like being organized will always serve you everyday of your life and in your management. You will not get into a funk because of organizational challenges. What gets you into a funk, then? What gets you into a bad emotional state is the inability to take risks because as soon as you have to take them, the first thing to show up is fear, probably fear of making catastrophic errors. When you feel the fear and then your incompetence, that is exactly the moment that the funk happens. You have a great set of abilities, you need a new one, the new makes you afraid, and then you go dysfunctional and into the funk.
The first step in getting out of the funk actually has nothing to do with the fear or the new ability. The first step is to remember all of the positive qualities and abilities that you already possess. Those are the reason that you have been so successful in the past. You need to recall those abilities, feel the positive energy in each one, and continue to use them. They will continue to produce. You do not want to throw out the baby with the bath water because you cannot take risks. I cannot emphasize how important this is. Before you tackle, fear, especially fear engendered by trauma, you need to remember all of your strengths.
I like to have people name their best qualities, then go into their memory using them and actually feel the positive energy. What does it feel like to be organized, to be responsible, to be trustworthy? It will feel awesome. And they will continue to be available.
The first rule in developing a new ability in yourself is take it slower than you think you need to take it. It is like racing a long distance. To be able to finish the race I always had to tell myself to go slower in the beginning. Somewhere in the middle, after taking it easy in the beginning, some kind of really strong energy kicks in, and the finish is faster than expected. If you do development of something new, too fast, too soon, then you will never make it to the finish line of a fully integrated new capability. If you take the example above, where the person was fearful of catastrophic failure, the first thing you need to know, is that the new ability, which is like a baby, is sitting next to big negative energy of past memories of catastrophic failure. If you go in too quickly, then the catastrophic energy will take over. And guess where you will be? In a BIG FUNK. Going slowly in the beginning should be your watchword. You have to be able to get used to the fear without it putting you into a funk.
You will have two energies sitting side by side, the baby energy of taking risks, and the seasoned veteran of catastrophic failures. In the beginning catastrophic failure is much more powerful. It creates huge fear and is capable of throwing you into a bad emotional place. So take it slow, remember your strengths, keep using them and do the work gradually and persistently to develop the new part of yourself. Going slow does not mean backing down. Backing down and not developing risk taking is actually more catastrophic.
If you know the structure of the capacity, then it can gradually replace the negative. For instance, taking risks means that you see a new possibility, focusing on a positive end, a positive outcome, and then you dive into or jump into action. The past memory of catastrophe is going to want to stop you by presenting negative outcomes. So you set the negative outcomes aside and then see the positive and jump into action. At first, it is important to do risk taking whose failure does not matter much. The people who are good at risk taking learn from everything that goes wrong so that they can improve each time. Obviously with high risk behavior you have to take into consideration safety issues and plan for them. You can do something like trying a new recipe for only yourself to eat. Then if it works out, that is great, but if it doesn’t, it is not catastrophic. What makes it easy to increase risk over time is the fact that organizational and responsibility capacities are already in place. So you can take risks in a responsible manner.
I sometimes like to have people write the two energies on separate sides of the same piece of paper so that they can see the energy that ends up in a funk and they can see the energy that is coming online. When new energy is baby like, you want to give it time and space to develop so that it can gradually be integrated into real life activities.
What are your positive qualities? What do they feel like in action? How do they make you successful?
What is the new process that wants to come into being that is like a baby inside? What is it up against? How can you create a safe environment for it to develop?
And when you have had a lot of trauma and it is easily stimulated, you can go for help and accompaniment.
Richard Hastings is an expert in change work and dream work and author of Dreams for Peace. He is a 
Dreams For Peace 
This is such a thoughtful and empowering post! I love how it emphasizes the importance of recognizing and leaning into our strengths as a foundation for growth. The analogy of nurturing “baby energy” while managing fear and past failures is so relatable and practical. Taking it slow and creating a safe space for new abilities to develop feels like such a compassionate approach to self-improvement. Thank you for sharing these insights—it’s a great reminder that progress is a journey, not a sprint!