I had to observe myself over the weekend to be able to give a proper answer cos I wasn’t sure haha.
I would say I no longer go through prolonged periods where there is some form of feeling bad in place and I am unwilling to do anything about it.
There are however times where there is some form of feeling bad and I experience issues getting back to feeling good, the feeling bad persists/hangs on to some degree.
So for example, there is a certain level of anxiety that I tend to experience before doing my hen party jobs on a weekend (some kind of performance anxiety), it is nothing too problematic but there is certainly this anxious undertone which prevents enjoyment and appreciation.
I am aware of it as it is happening, I attempt to get back to feeling good, I attempt to explore it fully etc however it seems to be a very deeply ingrained affective response so often times all I am left with is experiencing it fully and sort of allowing it to run itself out. Then next time it happens I get another chance to chip away at it.
I was actually thinking about this sorta thing a lot over the weekend (the persistent feeling patterns), I will write a post later when I get a chance.
What I suspect is going on here is a form of avoidance. This is something that I did a ton of in the past, I think it relates to the fact that it is somewhat less painful to succumb to a bland/numb state than to become intimately familiar with your emotional landscape.
Obviously Actualism is about enjoying and appreciating however as you begin to apply attentiveness to your inner world you will begin to sharply experience things which you may have been avoiding for years. I think this is why you might be going for the numb/bland state instead.
Because if you were to apply attentiveness to what is happening you might notice that this blandness all of a sudden starts to become a concoction of various feeling tones, various flavours which are becoming sharper. To experience these things deeply can be a gold-mine for actually changing yourself but it can be daunting/painful to do this at times. To experience those feelings which you have been doing your best to shove into a corner for years.