Ah I see the disconnect.
Drawing from the simplified diagram… here is the ‘feeling bad’ part:
As you can see, there is no ‘identify the trigger’ step. That is, before identifying the trigger — the instruction is to get back to feeling neutral, first.
As Richard put it:
That is, as the chart faithfully conveys, before even trying to identify the trigger – – – get back to neutral, first.
So to re-state it, my question is:
- When feeling bad, before you try to identify the trigger and see the silliness, what do you do to get to that step of feeling neutral (from where it is fruitful to identify the trigger and then see the silliness)?
My question doesn’t relate to difficulties with identifying the trigger or seeing the silliness etc… or what one does after one is ‘stuck’, i.e.:
Well you snipped out the relevant part 
The “Good → bad” header just indicates the step that comes before feeling bad, i.e. I was feeling good, and now I’m not – I’m feeling bad. And now I have to get back to neutral.
The “Good → neutral” header was to indicate the contrast – that if I was feeling good and now I’m neutral, I can go directly to identifying the trigger… while if I was feeling good and now I’m feeling bad, I have to get to neutral first.
I hope that clarifies the nature of my queries?
About the reflections at the start of your post, I think there is worthwhile stuff to discuss there, but perhaps better to get to the end of this thread first.