# Distinguishing Positivity & Negativity

## Practice Visual

<img src="/files/AtnQSghuUKfDmNfwRJhc" alt="" class="gitbook-drawing">

## Overview

<table><thead><tr><th width="177"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>What</strong></td><td><strong>Virtues</strong><br>Habits that are based on and strengthened by softness and in harmony with your values <br><br><strong>Vice</strong><br>Habits that are based on non-softness and weakened by softness, and in disharmony with your values</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Benefits</strong></td><td>Ability to Distinguish Virtue &#x26; Vice</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Instructions</strong></td><td><ol><li>Notice or Activate a Habit</li><li>Soften into the habit</li><li><p>Curiosity</p><ol><li>Strengthens: Virtue </li><li>Weakens: Vice </li></ol></li></ol></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Daily Life</strong></td><td><p>Be Curious what happens when you soften into a habit. </p><ul><li>Does it weaken or strengthen?  </li><li>Is the habit that weakens/strengthens beneficial or disadvantageous for my values?</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Consider</strong></td><td><p><strong>Distinguishing between Constructive Effort &#x26; Excessive Effort</strong></p><ul><li><p>Some virtues might partially weaken as they are based on constructive effort as softening is able to release all effort - constructive &#x26; excessive.</p><ul><li>External: Thinking about what is most beneficial to say in a conversation</li><li>Internal: Curiosity towards noticing the benefit in letting go of effort</li></ul></li><li>Constructive effort is that which leads to less effort in the future and/or progress towards your values </li></ul><p><strong>Simmering > Impatience</strong></p><ul><li>You cannot force the activation or deactivation of habits</li><li>You do can create conducive conditions to increase the likelihood of activation or deactivation</li><li>Create the conducive conditions and allow it to simmer </li><li><p>e.g., Softening into Frustration</p><ul><li>Notice the excessive effort underlying</li><li>Notice how uncomfortable it feels</li><li>Release the effort underlying with some softening breaths</li><li>You may or may not notice the weakening or complete deactivating of the frustration</li><li>Notice how pleasant and preferable it feels to let go of effort</li><li>Allow it to simmer</li></ul></li></ul><p><strong>Accelerate via Enchantment &#x26; Disenchantment</strong></p><ul><li>Soften into i.e., releasing the excessive effort is effective in weakening any vice</li><li>Softening into a virtue is effective in strengthening it</li><li>However, creating a perception shift within your mind of understanding the benefit of virtues and the disadvantage of vice will accelerate the habit change due to 'parts of the mind' supporting it</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Progress</strong></td><td>Ability to Distinguish Habits into Virtues or Vice</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Acknowledgement</strong></td><td><a href="www.midlmeditation.com">MIDL</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://www.luisburgis.org/practice-guides/skills/conditioning/distinguishing-positivity-and-negativity.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.