Develop Positive States With Anchoring Techniques

What is anchoring? Anchoring is an outside stimulus that activates a particular inner state or reaction within you. In 1904 it was the Russian psychologist Pavlov who discovered about anchoring by experimenting on dogs. Every time he fed the salivating dogs he would ring a bell. He did this several times and in the end the dogs would automatically start to salivate every time they heard the bell. Pavlov had found out that it was not the smell of the meat that made the dogs salivate but the conditioned response which was the sound of the ringing bell. The bell had conditioned the dogs to salivate.

The fact is you subconsciously respond to anchors all the time. For example the smell of freshly baked bread might remind you of a Sunday morning because your mother would always baked bread on a Sunday morning. The warm bread smell might give you a happy and carefree feeling inside like you experienced as a child. The thing is anchors are all around you. The phone ringing is an audio anchor because every time you hear it you automatically go and answer it. The sound of the ringing phone triggers an internal response in you which compels you to answer it. The fact is with anchoring it can help you build positive resourceful states that will benefit your life for the better. Wouldn't it be useful to be able to create motivational and positive states whenever you wanted them?

You must remember though that not all anchors are positive. When you have a bad experience in your life, i.e. you might have almost drowned as a child, thus, whenever you see water you might feel scared and vulnerable. The waters negative effect on your mental state might prevent you from allowing your own children into water for fear of them drowning. This kind of thinking does not help anyone and your children will never know the joy of swimming. So it is very important to be aware of your negative behaviour and ensure that it does not have a detrimental effect on yourself and others.

The key factors in setting anchors and building resourceful states are:

1. Ensure you have a good clear positive image in your head on how you would like to behave. It is very important that you whole heartily feel the confident state you wish to have.

2. Think of a past experience when you really felt motivated and confident.

3. The picture you recall must be as vivid as you can make it. Relive the experience with sights, sounds, smells, the physical feelings and internal sensations.

By following the above steps and you have mustered the maximum positive state you are now ready to set an anchor for yourself. If you are more kinesthetic (feeling) then visual or auditory a good anchor for you could be for example a hand movement. Notice what your hands are doing and when you recall the positive feeling you must ensure that you hold a distinct movement - this could be a clenched grip or thumb and first finger in a circle. Remember a handshake will not work because it is too boring and routine - it is something we do all the time. If you are more visual get an image that symbolizes the positive state. A more auditory person should us sound to help get his/her perfect anchor.

It is imperative that you follow these steps so you can develop positive resourceful states whenever you want them. So go ahead and get those positive resourceful states that will make a tremendous difference to your life!