“I can’t stop this feeling… deep inside of me”

These words reflect exactly what it’s like to fire off a self-made anchor. 

Anchor is a reminder to your brain to give a command to produce certain emotions, sensations and thoughts that together are called a “state”. Whether it’s concentration, pleasure, comfort, motivation, satisfaction, forgiveness, and 10 million other options – all of them are states, a combination of physical and emotional choices. 

The idea of anchoring – being able to recreate a certain state – brings up the ultimate question: should you control your states? Aren’t emotions more “real” if they happen by themselves?

The answer is simple: they are not. Emotions do not happen by themselves, randomly. They exist for a reason, there are causes that drive them. You already have a few billions of anchors, that have been set up for you or by you since childhood. 

What kind of anchors and how to recognize them? You don’t need to know or be able to recognize the existing anchors at all. Anyway you won’t be able to manage even 1% of them on your own. That is true unless something bothers you and you find out that you simply link certain “anchor” to a certain unpleasant feeling. 

Here is the frame work for setting up new anchors:

Step One

Choose the specific behavior or emotional/physical state you want to anchor and be able to recreate on cue. 

Next, decide on the specific anchor you will use. That can be any action that is unique as much as possible (for example – twinkling your left eye; bumping your fists; drumming with your toes to a certain beat; pinching your right chick – need more ideas? How about an anchor to the tune of “I can’t stop this feeling… deep inside of me”). 

Step Two

Enter the state. Think, imagine, remember or pretend to remember a certain physical/emotional state. It would be easier if you can actually remember an experience you had when and where you felt that way exactly. 

Do your best to find intense experiences. If it’s motivation, for example, think of the last time you felt extremely motivated to do something. So motivated, that you couldn’t stop yourself from actually doing it. 

Step Three

Find the calibration point. The highest point of sensation, of feeling so much of that state, that anything after that point is only downhill. The one moment in your imagery experience where you felt that specific state all over your body, fully aware of it. 

Your breathing might become deeper at this moment, or your eyes might move to a certain direction, maybe you changed your posture to represent an associated experience (leaned forward, head’s up, etc.). That is the calibration point, the moment in time you want to capture and hold on cue (anchor). 

Step Four

Imagine that state again, think about it, ignite the feelings, and at the highest calibration point, when the emotions are high and the excitement is way up there, hold the anchor! Press on it! Create it!

Whatever your anchor is (a touch, a sound, a word), stimulate it at the calibration point. Add another dimension to it. If you decided to ‘drum with your thumbs to a certain tune’, drum with your thumbs and hum that tune! Quickly, now.. 

Step Five

Stop. Move. Turn your head. When was your birthday again? Good, you’re all set for the real work:

Perform step four again. This time quicker. Think of the state, the imagery experience that gives you that feeling you want to anchor. Stimulate the anchor. Break the state. Repeat it again. Quicker. 

How many times? I say… 10 times! Why? You want to make sure it is well remembered in your mind. If you do step five as quick as you should, it won’t take you more than 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES and you can feel the state of ZEST on cue for the rest of your life. How powerful is that… 

Step Six

It’s not over yet. Now we need to test it. 

Break the state. Go do something else.  Then, fire off the anchor. If it makes you feel that desired state, you’ve done your work right. If not, you’d better go back to Step One. 

A few Pointers:

   * At first choose states that are familiar to you, emotions and physical states you have already experienced in the past. It’s easier to elicit and recreate. After you practice those, you can move to bigger and more exciting states. 

* Do not choose familiar anchors. Choose unique anchors. Don’t choose combing your hair, because it’s too familiar. Don’t choose petting your shoulder or scratching your chick or blinking. Choose an action or a sound that you won’t do or hear on a constant basis (can you imagine what happens if you link sexual orgasm to car horn? Now imagine yourself with that anchor in downtown L.A.. Brrr…). 

* Do choose familiar anchors on the road while you’re driving, but be smart about the kind of states you link to those anchors. For example, I chose the “STOP” sign as an anchor for heightened focus. It’s better this way. I also chose my university professor’s bold head as an anchor for concentration state. Who said anchors have to be serious?

* Forget about the anchors that are constant. If you set the ‘STOP’ sign anchor, forget about it after you test it. Let it work its magic. You’ll be surprised how many anchors like this one you can set and forget about and then hear others complimenting you for your high qualities. 

* Make anchoring a game. I already said it doesn’t have to be serious stuff all the time. Use it to be playful when you want to, to increase your sense of humor (you can anchor your friend’s face to a state of playfulness) and so on. Find new states you want to feel (how about Random Shivers of Pleasure?), anchor them and fire them off. 

* Remember the old saying, “if it ain’t broken… break it!”? Monty Python made us laugh by breaking so many cultural anchors. Certain people in England live like (and like) royalty because of common anchors. Advertisers use tons of anchors through any thinkable media to fire off your “purchasing state”. Break anchors, rebuild them the way you want to.