Some of you may know that I like the occasional drink (particularly a glass of ‘bubbles’ or if not a lager and lime!) However I don’t really drink very often – in fact there are many nights I’ve been with friends and not had a drop, and had an amazing night. I can recall belly laughing so hard in an Indian restaurant in Gloucester one night several years ago. I was with some of my Travelodge colleagues – someone did something so funny that tears were rolling down our faces, my stomach hurt, as did my throat hurt from the laughing so hard – you know the types of times I’m talking about! I can remember that time now, as if I was there and in an instant change the way I feel – a smile appears upon my face as I feel great, as I remember some amazing colleagues who I am lucky enough to call my friends.
Anchoring is a technique that many people use to change the way they feel. In NLP circles we define anchoring where your emotional state or behavioural response is triggered by a specific stimulus (on our NLP Practitioner course we anchor a particular emotional state to a knuckle – so delegates can trigger their anchor whenever they want – and the good thing about using a knuckle is it tends not to be fired off accidentally!). Many many people use Anchoring to help enhance their performance from Olympic athletes, to film stars, premiership footballers, International Rugby Players, to celebrities. Some people use it to get a burst of a feeling (e.g. confidence before an interview, or calm before a presentation) or in order to trigger a behavioural response (e.g. you see a red traffic light and your automatically place your foot on the break). If you think about it, you are already ‘doing’ anchoring – it’s just that at the moment it’s unconscious (you are not aware that it’s going on and therefore can’t currently use it to your advantage).
That said, you don’t need to have undertaken NLP Training to be able to change the way you feel. You could …
- Recall a memory – simply close your eyes, and go back to a time when you felt excited, confident, powerful, happy, loved, etc etc (whatever feeling it is that you want to feel). Go back to that time, see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel the feelings of being totally ‘x’. Enjoy the moment, allow yourself to become absorbed in it and then your ready open your eyes.
- Do something – if you move your body, go and do something that you know makes you feel a certain way you’ll make you’ll change your mood (putting of a certain song also does it for me). I have been lucky enough to learn from Tony Robbins (a master at personal development and one of my Guru’s). He believes “emotion is created by motion. Whatever you’re feeling right now is related to how you’re using your body”.
As a final addition, I thought I would treat you to a YouTube Video. This video is not for everyone – it’s very ‘fluffy’ and ‘American’- so if you don’t like that kind of thing – thanks for your time today and I look forward to catching you soon. If you want a really powerful way this weekend to change the way you feel, the below 5 minute video is from one of Tony Robbins Events held by Oprah’s Winfrey – it’s called an ’emotional flood’ – once you know how to do it, do it twice a day for 7 days and notice what a difference it makes to your life – Enjoy!
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Laura is passionate about helping people realise their potential, and achieve the results they deserve. She believes, if you change your thinking, you can change your results. This blog is one part of our “Mental wellbeing series”. If you’d like to find out more about Unleash Your Potential, you can check out our NLP courses and coaching options, and link up with us via our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter or link up with Laura via LinkedIn. You can of course also email us at: [email protected]
