What drives action? What makes you want to buy that piece of jewelry that glitters as you walk pass? What makes you want to go for a holiday? And what makes you dread going to work every day?
Picture from 2s-space.com
Emotions drive our actions. Whether it is a positive action or a negative one, it is driven by our emotions. When you are motivated, it drives you to take more action. When you feel lazy, it stops you instead. When you are in love, your emotional state makes you feel that you can do anything.
So, emotional states are what drive us to work and to play. We may not know it, but it is true. It is therefore important for us to be aware of our emotional states. When we are aware, we will be more empowered to manage our states. And when we can manage our states better, our lives can become so much more resourceful. Let me show you what I mean.
Every morning when we wake up, what is your first thought? All excited about the new day? Excited about going to work? Or simply hoping that the alarm did not sound off so early? What you are feeling is an emotional state. You cannot control it. It is what you feel. But you can be aware of your state at the moment, and you can determine if it is a good state to be in? And when you are aware, can you change your state to be more resourceful?
Many of us are not aware of our states. Therefore we live our lives each day complaining that the world is unfair. We experience negative emotions and blame the world for it. What we do not realize it we can take charge of our emotional states. Instead of letting it control us, we can start by taking note of our states, and then decide if we want to change it.
Another example: Let us say you get into a heated argument with your spouse. Your emotional state now is anger. If there is no awareness, the argument will become a fight. However, if you are aware of your emotional state, and that you know how to change it, will the situation change?
Understanding your own emotional states is important because it allows you to identify if it is resourceful and if it is not, you can quickly change it.
I have always been a lazy person and I like to procrastinate. However, I am glad that I am now more aware of my states and I know that I have a choice to change it. One of the ways for me to change my laziness state is to break it by sitting up straight, and looking up with my eyes wide open for about 5 seconds. If this does not work, I will get up from my chair and get into a high energy mood.
There are many other ways associated with changing a person’s state. It is important to therefore understand yourself and explore the ways that suits you.
Are you aware of your emotional state? Do you think it is important for you to be aware? I have learned this through the Patterns of Excellence. Although I am not a NLP expert, I have gained much from this prgram, and I hope that many can benefit from it as well.
