Have you ever had a bad day? You know the type…the one that everything goes wrong. You can’t find your wallet, your keys have gone to some far away land, and your dog threw up as you are already late for work.
You notice the dog threw up because he got into the garbage and he decided to redecorate your living room with it. And then the finale, the barren looking toilet paper roll.
Now you are in a bad mood. Go on, you are justified. The storm clouds are on your every horizon. It is not your fault or your doing that all the planets in the universe have aligned to single you out as the daily cheese.
Then ‘that guy’ cut you off in traffic, you spill your ill equipped coffee…ruining your day. ‘That’s it, I’m done’ you think. You continue your day with dumping on your co-workers and family, wanting only for your day to end.
You have earned your bad mood and you have the scars to prove it. You are in a bad mood and you ought to have it.
Or do you?
Every second of the day, we make the choice of our mood, or what I like to call your ‘state’. Simply put; we have the choice of determining our mood.
We can either be at the mercy of others, letting them determine our mood, or we can go within and determine it ourselves.
The difference here is that one is external and the other is internal. The only one that we can control is the internal. I often say ‘watch your state’. We can spiral ourselves into a state where things work against us.
Being mad at someone or something, harboring anger or resentment, frustration or the like, is similar to taking poison and hoping it will hurt someone else.
I am not saying you should quit your job and join the Hare Krishna’s, repeating the mantra “my world is love, I love my world”.
I am not talking about positive thinking either. I am talking about the law of attraction. You will attract what you put out. It has been proven time and time again. This is all determined by your state. Your state will determine your outcome. This is the basis of quantum mechanics in the realm of the laws of attraction and repulsion.
What is this state thing, you say? Try this exercise and you will ‘feel’ what I mean. Think of a time when you were mad or frustrated. Go to that time and place your mindset in that state, if you were standing or sitting at that time, do so now.
Remember the chain of events that took you to that state, relive it in your mind. When you are there multiply your feelings by ten. Stay in that state and observe the way you are breathing, the tension in your body, notice your posture in that state. Where is the stress on your face? Where do you feel the emotion most? Is it in your stomach?
Now take a time when you experienced absolute, overwhelming joy. Think of a time when you felt the most love and connection in your life.
Reproduce, in your mind, everything about that moment. Hold that moment in your mind, feel it in your body. Once you are in that state, multiply it by ten. It should take you about 1 minute to fully recreate each of these states. Now, observe your posture, your breathing, your facial expression. Feel, in your body where you feel that sense of love and joy. Is it in your chest?
Compare the experiences of the two states. Do you see the marked differences? Do you feel the differences in your body, your breathing, your posture? Do you feel the different origins of the sensations? This is what I mean by state.
The main point in this article is that you can change your state in a mere instant by reproducing what your body was doing in that specific state.
Let me illustrate. Create the worst posture you can. Slump over, breathing shallowly from your stomach. Be flaccid and weak. Now…smile. Doesn’t it seem unnatural? Now stand straight up, stick your chest out, breath deep from your chest, and look up. Now…frown.
This seems awkward, doesn’t it? This is an example of how your physiology can alter your state. You and you alone determine your physiology.
So, the next time your radiator is going to blow because someone treated you poorly, choose your state. The cool thing is that you will change their state as well. Your state is your state, and is independent of everyone else. So, just for today, watch your state.
