Thursday, December 14, 2006

Internal States

Finally, I’m going to address the idea of your ‘states’.
By ‘state’ I mean the feeling that you have in your body.
Can you remember a time when you felt happy and
excited?
Can you remember a time when you felt powerful and
energetic?
If you can, then you can HAVE THESE FEELINGS ANY
TIME YOU WANT THEM. Most people don’t use their
memories to help them feel good because they say,
“Well, that’s not really how I’m feeling; I’m just imagining
it.” Well, I have news for you: You’re ALWAYS just
imagining it. You might as well imagine it at times when
you need it instead of having it happen on accident!
Here’s how to apply this idea:
Write down three states that you’d like to be able to
put yourself into anytime you’d like. Then, write down
three times in your life when you felt each of those
states. Finally, close your eyes and put yourself into each
of the three situations that made you feel the state that
you want. Also, do SOMETHING UNIQUE with your body
as you’re remembering. For instance, if you’d like to feel
powerful and confident, while you’re remembering times
when you felt this way, breathe out quickly while
puckering your lips.
If you do this process of remembering the states and
exhaling quickly at the same time, all you have to do in
the future is close your eyes, breathe out quickly while
remembering the feelings, and you’ll have the states that
you want. It’s like having a ‘push’ button for feeling good
about yourself.
Next, you have to practice putting yourself into your
three powerful states when you’re in different
environments. So go to different places and practice
getting yourself into your states with distractions, etc.
This might take some doing, but once you have it
mastered, you’ll be able to get yourself into a positive
state when you’re not feeling it to begin with (Could this
exercise be useful when you’re feeling shy or afraid to
meet someone? Maybe!)
I also started keeping a personal journal of everything
that I was learning and doing, so I could reflect on it.

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