Change Your State, Change Your Life

Many things in life are totally out of our control. We can't control what others do, how they show up or react to us. We can't control the weather, the Earth spinning and so many other things. Where we have so much opportunity, power and control is over ourselves, our behavior and how we show up. One of the ideas that has been transformational in my life, has been the concept of our State. It essentially boils down to; How can we take control of our emotions to create more positive action in our lives?

This idea crystalized for me listening to Tony Robbins discuss this a few different times and truly experiencing it for myself. You can sit here and read, watch videos and more all day, it will do you NO GOOD if you don't actually work to experience it for yourself. Getting and living in a beautiful/peak state is up to us to create, nobody can do it for us. Many of us haven't learned how to take control and condition ourselves to live in a peak state. This takes hard work to reprogram our mental operating system that may have operated one way for 20,30,40,50+ years. First it takes awareness of what is happening right now and second to see what could be possible. The state we are in defines our emotions, how we feel and how we perform. If you are looking to perform better in any aspect of life, find more fulfillment and be more joyful you need to understand the 3 components of state that define our emotions and how we show up.

#1 Physiology: We embody many different emotions, feelings and ideas that we hold onto in our body. If I asked you to paint a picture of someone who is depressed, what would they look like? I bet most of us would list many of the same ideas. Face down, shoulders rolled in, looking small, not confident, frown on the face and many more. If you were to do the same with somebody full of joy, their Physiology would look different, regardless of overall health. What is your default physiology? If we are in a bad mood, take a deep breath, stand up straight or maybe even do some quick movement to get your pulse up (jumping jacks, push ups, quick walk around the block). We can change our Physical State to help us get into a Peak State. Try it out. How are you holding yourself right now? Make a tiny change or take some advice from Amy Cuddy's TED Talk: Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are. What can you do first thing in the morning to program your physiology so you show up how you want to?

#2 Focus: Tony loves to say "Where Focus Goes, Energy Flows." This is so true for us, our ability to choose where we focus our minds is one of the most powerful shifts we can make.

Neuroscience is showing that we have the ability to grow (Neurogenesis) and rewire (Neuroplasticity) how our brain works. Our brain has been programmed for 2 million years to focus on the fear and lack, to save our lives with every decision we make. In today's day and age, do you think that is what will best serve us? It takes disciplined focus and effort to train our mind. We can focus on Past, Present or Future. We can focus on fear or love, pain or pleasure, abundance or what's missing. What is your default? What do you want to focus on? How frequently do you bring awareness into what you are focusing on right now?

#3 Language/Meaning: We all have self-talk and chatter that goes on in our heads, even if we've been conditioned to feel bad about "talking to our selves". It's human nature but most of the time we don't realize the impact this has on how we show up in the world. In my case for many years, the language and stories I would tell myself did nothing but beat me up, gave away my personal power and control. It made me the victim saying "I'm not good enough, that person is way more qualified than I am, I just can't do it, I'm not smart enough, good looking enough, etc., etc, etc." This helped push me to be better in some ways, but for the most part held me back from trying new things, getting into uncertainty and unlocking the best in myself.

We all have the choice to look at any experience as good or bad. The biggest shift in my life was moving away from always asking the question; "Why is this happening TO me?" to "How is this happening FOR me?" This was a huge shift around what I was focusing on and the language I was using. By changing 1 word, it totally shifted my emotions and my state! We all have different meanings associated to words. Success means different things to you, than it does to me. Joy, Love, Pain, Pleasure, Rage, Annoyed all mean different things to each of us. What question do you usually ask yourself? If you look at the self-talk in your head, how much empowers you vs. brings you down? What words do you frequently use and what meaning do you associate to those words?

The triad above, creates our State and how we show up. There are many ways to take control of these areas, to train ourselves to show up at our best. Building habits and routines that can make Peak State part of your subconscious, just takes time and dedicated effort. You won't live there all the time, but can make it easier on yourself to get there! In the next post, we will talk about some ways to help train your mind to be in a peak state and set yourself up for success!

What are your defaults? How do you take control of these areas? What is one thing you can do today to help improve your state?