Your 5 floors

ATTIC

The staircase is spinning higher and faster.

Everything has become too much. You are completely overwhelmed. You cannot think at all. You are vibrating fast — heart racing, chest tight, mind blank. There is panic. I must get out of here right now. You may explode emotionally, lashing out at the people nearest and dearest to you. You may be so overwhelmed you just want someone to tell you what to do.

Sometimes we take the lift to the Attic. We bypass the spiral staircase and go from zero to a hundred — and find ourselves way up high in our House Within.

upstairs

Your head is busy. Spinning. You are working hard, striving to achieve something. You are overthinking, over-worrying, catastrophising — playing out every worst-case scenario before anything has actually happened. Your thinking goes round in circles with no productive result. Always comparing yourself to others. I should be doing better.

The staircase is spinning and pulling you higher with every thought.

After a while you become exhausted and start to attack yourself. I’m so stupid. It is all my fault. Or you turn and attack others. You’re so stupid. It is all your fault.

And then one of two things happens. You spiral down into a Basement state of mind. Or you head straight for the Attic.

GROUND FLOOR

The staircase is still.

Here you have all the emotions that you have on any of the other 4 floors — but here you can hold your emotions and bring in your clear thinking to help you decide how best to respond in any moment, and in any interaction with another person. You want to make progress, not just spiral up and down. You want to fulfil your potential as a human being and live by what you value. By what is important to you. By what adds meaning to your life. Here you are naturally grateful and compassionate. And you have a determination to move forward — in your own reactions and in your relationships. Here you want an outcome that is good for you and for others, at the same time and in equal measure. You do “we-thinking” here.

This is the floor where you have the best chance of building good relationships and finding meaning and purpose in your life.

BASEMENT

Here negative thinking takes hold. You have walked down the spiral staircase and it is spinning slower. The vibration level feels lower.

You may think things like: nothing ever works for me. No one values what I do. What’s the point? I give up. Nothing is worth trying. And in the Basement, everyone else seems to have what you don’t have. There is real bitterness here, and resentment that can harden if you stay too long. You feel the world is telling you what to do — and you don’t like that.

But the Basement is a place of economy of thinking, economy of effort, economy of responsibility. It is safe and predictable. Tomorrow will be the same as today. You are not taking risks.

In the low Basement there is a trap door. Hover too low for too long and you can fall through the trap door to self-harm. Seeking help is important.

CELLLAR

It's just all about me.

You don’t care whether it is good for you or good for others — if you want to do it, you will do it. And nobody can stop you. There is real attitude here. All the addictions live here. All the careless behaviour on our roads, on social media, and in conspiracy theories comes from the Cellar. It is survival of the fittest. It is deeply competitive. People in the Cellar play emotional games. Everyone can visit the Cellar. The question is how long you stay.