UNDERSTANDING STATE - BEING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT
Emotional State - a state is our way of being in any moment. It comes from our physiology, our thinking and our emotions.
Our ‘states’ affect our capabilities. There are no unresourceful people, only unresourceful states.
How well you learn depends on the state you are in.
How well you perform depends on what state you are in.
Exercise:
Try this exercise to get you started with recognising state and changing state.
Be aware of your state (how you are being/feeling right now) - observe it, be interested, what is it like? This ‘personal’ observation is one of the most powerful resources you have for emotional freedom.
Change your thinking - think about how you want to feel? Take yourself to a time before where you’ve felt like that. Close your eyes and feel and sense what it felt like to feel that way. Where were you, what were you wearing, what was the weather like, the setting. Make it as real as possible. See it through your own eyes, feel the positive feelings
Change your physiology - change your posture, are you sitting? If so, stand up. Are you stationary, is so – move. Are you feeling serious/worried? If so, start to smile. Yes, pretend! At first it will feel wrong but give it a moment. If you want to change state – then take action and your thinking will start to follow your physiological change.
Move - we know movement really works in helping us to change our state - so walk, run, dance. Vigorous movement will change your state. Beta - endorphins that are triggered when we move are powerful mood enhancers. (Hence why exercise makes us feel great). So if you’re feeling stuck – go for a quick walk – or simply shake out or stretch out the body.
Change your breathing - breathing more deeply and taking twice as long to exhale and inhale has a calming effect on the nervous system and your mind generally. Just try the breathing exercise in the resources section or revisit one of the exercises that you have practiced in the 6 week program.
Relax your muscles - notice the tension, especially around your jaw, face and neck. Every emotion triggers its own muscle tension and creates its own breathing pattern. It is difficult to feel stressed and anxious with super relaxed muscles!
Change your vision - most unresourceful (negative) states tend to narrow your vision. If we’re feeling down, we tend to gaze down - usually downwards to the floor. So look upwards, open up your vision, stand at a window or get outside and try and see a big sky so that you can use your peripheral vision.
Pay attention to someone else - change your focus from yourself to others. Go and help someone else and do something positive for them. The more we do for others, the better we feel about ourselves. Even a simple task of making someone a cup of tea, or cooking for them, or helping with their shopping, cleaning etc. Any supportive tasks.
Use your pleasant experiences - using your pleasant experiences can help move your state. By harnessing the experiences you love and enjoy, you have a go to space when you are feeling unresourceful and stuck in a rut. In a coaching session, this is referred to as ‘anchoring’. So remember those pleasant experiences and create a positive space for yourself by having a couple of memories that make you positive and happy – whenever you need them. Perhaps add a photo, or reminder of these to your desk or somewhere you look at daily – so you have a constant reminder of those pleasant experiences – and give yourself to acknowledge, smile and ‘change your state’.
All you can change is yourself and that changes everything