state.

If you have read a previous blog post of mine, or if you pay attention to any sort of life-coachey, personal growth content, you may be somewhat familiar with the concept of one’s ‘state’ – state of mind, state of being, mood or attitude. 

Being curious about developing the skill of self-awareness can support a practice of noticing one’s state – mood or attitude. 

Consider the ‘state’ of feeling balanced. Not too much, not too little, enough. If you prefer the science-ey language, more than the fluff, think homeostasis. Equilibrium.

Does it make sense to you, considering your experience of life, that all living systems move toward a balanced state – and obviously the vast majority of the time maintain the balanced state. We would not sustain life if this were not true, right?

This simple strategy of noticing your own mood or attitude, and recognizing when you are either in balance or out of balance, can be a starting point to living a life that aligns with your own most natural state. A natural state that allows for a balance of feeling satisfied, while having a positive expectation for more.

Sweet.

Spot.

I can share two feeling states that I do not enjoy: feeling powerless and longing for something to be different. 

The skill of self awareness helps us to notice and name the state. Here is where fluff becomes relevant. Loving yourself and caring about the way you feel is what can level up your day-to-day experience of life – you have to care enough to believe that feeling good, being in balance, is the most natural way to be. Can you be open to a desire to feel good – just to feel good?

If you believe, on some level, that you deserve to suffer (insert any interpretation of a belief that you are not enough), and you give power to the way it used to be, or the way it is for other people (longing) – then you believe that, and it’s true. The only thing you get to feel good about is that you are right.

Without the awareness of being in a state of feeling powerless – guess what we often choose? Either more of the same – a ‘victim’ mentality (so much fun to be around), or the desperate, often impulsive or contrived, need to get the power back and stay stuck, or keep spinning, in a game that never ends. 

When you thoughtfully shift your state by implementing a skill, tool, or strategy that disrupts limiting or unhelpful beliefs that drive patterns of behavior – on purpose, with intention – you now have empowered yourself. 

If you can be open to noticing (self-awareness) your state and be able to name it – you are on your way to a greater sense of control that leads to a more desirable state of balance – the space holder of possibility.

Start here. 

January 1, 2020. 

The fluff may begin to make more sense.