About a year ago, I bumped into a man with whom I had shared the "I have X emotion now" concept 10 years before. Conceiving himself to be what I might describe as an aardvarkian type, i.e. agnostically skeptical, he demurred in those days even as he appreciated the rest of my coaching; but he was evidently extremely pleased to bump into me. After exchanging a summary of our respective narratives over the intervening decade, during which I learned that he was on the point of being divorced by his wife, I said "Ian, I have gratitude that we have met, and great interest in your story. What emotion do you have now?"

Ian thought for a minute. He had, of course, received 10 years before a shorter list of emotion nouns than I had listed in my last post, and so knew of this verbal centering technique. Suddenly he looked up and with astonishing intensity said "I have pensivity now". I replied that he certainly had had pensivity and that I now perceived something else. To which he instantly replied "I have pleasure".

I said "So do I". After which he said he would start using the technique in his relationship with his wife, and in a few minutes we said our goodbyes. During the past year we have periodically talked over the phone and he tells me how his marriage is improving and how he has gained sufficient proficiency with the "I have X emotion now" technique to begin tentatively to interest his wife in using it.