Use Anchors to become happy or confident

The national flag-whenever we see it- evokes awe in us and we experience the powerful emotions and sensations of how we feel about our nation.  This symbol is powerful enough to make us patriotic.

We can create a powerful state we desire through anchoring.  Dr. Ivan Pavlov rang a bell and gave meat to the dogs in his experiment. After a few days ringing the bell made the dogs go into a salivating state. We too live a stimulus –response life where much of our behavior consist of unconscious programmed responses. When people are in stress they smoke or drink without even thinking about what they are doing. Drinking or smoking is an unconscious reaction or response to the stimulus of tension or stress.  By becoming conscious of what you do the patterns of behavior can be controlled or changed.

There are positive and negative anchors; by a careful selection process, you can install positive anchors and drive off negative ones.  When a politician tries to wrap himself in the national flag or wear its colors, he is trying to link himself with all the positive emotions associated with the flag. Hitler used the Nazi symbols to bring strong emotions in his people. All leaders make use of powerful anchors to rally support. Comedians make good use of them too. They do something funny to make you laugh and when you are in the peak laughing state they make a sign or an action. They keep repeating the anchor a few times and you start laughing by simply seeing the action or sign later.

We can create anchors by ourselves:  when a person is laughing and enjoying himself, pull down his ears with a specific pressure a few times.  Later by simply pulling down his ears in the same way, pressure and place we can make him laugh. You can provide anchors to make a person or yourself instantly access a confident state. To create a confidence anchor, let him (or you) remember a time when he or you felt really confident. Mentally run through a courageous or winning experience and feel those feelings in the body. There will be instant changes in the body physiology--facial expression, posture, and breathing. As you come into the peak state give a particular anchor-say grab one’s shoulders in a particular way in a particular place a few times.  Alternately, you can come into a physical posture when you feel confident and as the changes happen provide the stimulus. Think about what you say to yourself when you feel confident, and provide the same stimulus in the same way. You breathe in the same way as when you are in a confident state and give the stimulus again. Later on by simply providing the anchor (grabbing the shoulders in the same place with the same pressure) a confident state can easily be brought in.