Emotional Awareness

The human body is a powerful system that can alter its delicate balance of chemistry to match the demands of the brain and therefore mind.

If we argue that who we are resides in the soul then our bodies are simply a vehicle.

If we continue on this concept then think about how specularly complex the body is.

If you feel depressed it is because the body releases a chemical to facilitate that response.

Same goes for excitement and so on.

What a fantastic system indeed.

This means that if you can control the chemistry of the body you may be able to alter and also understand how to have some control on your feelings.

Emotional Awareness.

With an understanding you can control it too. Take Tony Robins who is one of the most famous motivational speakers on the planet teaches that if you can control your STATE you can control your emotions. He explains state as a chosen way of being. He teaches how to prime and alter that state to achieve what feeling you want to have instead of outside circumstance dictating your emotional response.

Depression is a state I know all too well. And it is quite an amazing state. Growing up my mother struggled with this state often.

My mother was living in Long Beach at this time and on the visitation cycle of every other weekend I experienced this state half the time. When she was in this state it seemed as if all desire, energy and choice was stripped away leaving her with only the ability to lay in bed. Though this never stop my mother.

From her and my father I learned how to beat depression is action. She would use her son as motivation to get out of the apartment. She knew that her son needed to get outside and despite the debilitation she would get up and those walks to the store, trips to a swap meet or occasional trips to a nickel arcade. These trips housed environments where she taught me quite a lot. So when I feel the throws of depression I activate my sense of duty inherited from both of my powerful parents.

Yes Yes I hear you reader…. How do I activate a sense of duty? Thats a good question.

Steve-O from the Jackass Movies and his own stuntman antics has a system he uses to commit to a stunt. It is as simple as one, two, three. He counts off and without hesitation commits to the stunt. I activate my sense of duty a similar way.

Take for example doing laundry. It’s something that must be done so that I have cloths to wear so it’s unavoidable. So without any thought at all I get up and start grabbing my basket sorting my quarters separating and walking to the laundry room. My motivator is that I have to have clean cloths and they need to be clean for my job and I have to be to work on time and the time I have on a day off is perfect. Using logic I see that there is no choice which forces action. Just like in the first four minutes of a run I find my stride and discover nothing was stopping me other than some bs negative thinking. That is how I alter my state through duty.

Excitement and Anxiety are the opposing state of depression. The reason these two states occupy the same paragraph is because they are accessed in the same chemical pathway. Surprising… I know. Yet! The science is solid and it is quite the realization. This means anxiety can be turned into excitement with control of one’s state. The way I learned this one is the FAKE IT TIL YOU MAKE IT method. This method is one of my favorites because it is how my mother taught me confidence. From a woman who claims to have absolutely none she taught me how to harness a limitless potential mindset. And she did it by faking it as an example. Just like Tony Robins choosing a state by priming the desired state my mother faked it til it became made. Enough Said.

Now the reality is I am writing this because I find myself in a fragile emotional time of my life. I don’t often find myself in a constant state of gray, but I have been for a few weeks. The reasons are unimportant just because thats for another post. This post is more a letter to myself and posting it allows me to own it more forcefully.

I am reminding myself that I can climb out of whatever funk I am in. That I am the driver of my potential and future. I hold the wheel. I am capable of so much more.

I allow you to read this so that others may understand that we all find ourselves in weak moments, but what doesn’t kill you will strengthen you if you choose it so.