We have a passive relationship to negative reactions, to this negative will, because no one has ever told us that we do not have to be passive to the punishment of these reactions. Not being passive to the punishment of these reactions includes not doing anything at the appearance of that reaction other than having a new and active way of meeting it. Work to understand a little bit more about the will of negativity through recognizing some of the common characteristics that are connected to it: feeling apathetic, cynical, suspicious, bored, just to name a few. Then when you catch yourself being carried off by a painful negative reaction, remember that you are not the patsy of this negative will and that your first action must be to reclaim your attention. In practicing this you effect a certain freedom from it by separating the ordinary relationship that you've always had with it. See where you have agreed to be the passive instrument of negative reactions that are nothing but a punishment. Now you see that you don't have to do anything towards these negative reactions, except to understand clearly that without you these reactions are nothing. They have no power, no authority, and the only power they have is that which you give them in your sleep.