Self Talk and Positive Thinking.com

The biggest leverage we have in any situation is PHYSIOLOGY. Remember, mind and body are totally linked in a cybernetic loop, so the best way to change your state (how you feel) instantly is by changing your PHYSIOLOGY-putting yourself in a powerful physiology. Physiology is the lever to emotional change. In fact, you can’t have a change in physiology without a corresponding change in state, and you can’t have an emotion without a corresponding change in physiology. We think of states as primarily mental, but in fact, they all have very clear, identifiable physiologies. Think of a depressed person-eyes are generally down ( talking to themselves about all the things that make them depressed), shoulders dropped, and weak, shallow breathing. Depression is a result, and it requires very specific body images to create it.
Studies even show that when people get depressed, the biochemical and electrical processes of their bodies are also affected-their immune systems follow suit and become less efficient-their white blood cell count drops. The exciting thing is that you can just as easily create the result called ecstasy by changing your physiology in other specific ways. Smiling and laughing (using the 80 muscles in our face) set off biological processes that make us feel good-they increase the flow of blood to the brain and change the level of oxygen and the level of stimulation of the neurotransmitters. The good news is that you can just pretend, or act “as if you felt more resourceful, more powerful, and happier than you’ve ever felt before-”How would I stand, breathe, look, and use my face if I were to act ‘as if I felt the best I can feel?”

An important corollary of physiology is congruency. If I’m giving you what I think is a positive message-like “I can handle it”-but my voice is weak and tentative and my shoulders are hunched over and my eyes are down, I’m incongruent, and your unconscious mind will pick up what your conscious mind didn’t, and you won’t feel confident about my ability. Unconsciously you know that part of me believes I can handle it; and part of me doesn’t. I am representing one thing in words and quite another in physiology. But if you say, “I absolutely will do that,” and your physiology is unified-that is, your posture, your facial expression, your breathing pattern, the quality of your gestures and movements, and your words and your tonality match-I know you absolutely will do it. One of the best ways to develop congruency is to model the physiologies of people who are congruent-people you respect and admire-watch them in person, or get videotapes of famous people in resourceful states you might want to model.
Remember, modeling is about creating possibility. And there’s no faster, more dynamic way than through physiology.