I’m going to share with you a neat way of always being in control of your state of mind. Imagine that. Being able to change your state of mind at will.
For those who know me well, you know that I love dogs. I have two dogs, mother and daughter, Spinones.
They’re gun dogs. Bred to sniff out birds and game in the rough ground, disturb them for the guns to shoot and then retrieve the game for the gunner’s pot later that evening. This breeding has been going on for centuries.
As a result, my two dogs have a masterful sense of smell; I’ve heard it’s a thousand times better than ours. The thing about smell is that it has no barriers to recollect the memory.
Have you a favourite smell that just triggers the memory associated with it? Maybe a perfume smell that reminds you of your first love or the smell of freshly cut grass which brings back lazy hazy summer days.
Now that’s the secret to managing your state of mind. Here’s the strategy.
Make a note of the various states you need to perform optimally.
Maybe its patience, maybe positiveness, maybe curiosity.
Now think back to a time in the past where you had this state in abundance.
Relive the memory but this time try and associate a smell or taste. If you can, the mere whiff of this smell will flood you back to that time and inject you with the state that you had at the time.
I’ve a few of examples:
- For a relaxing, totally comfortable state – I smell sun tan lotion – this brings back memories of lying on the beach without a care in the world.
- Fresh cut grass helps me to inject myself with perseverance and finishing a boring job. As a teenager I earned most of my beer money cutting people’s grass.
- To perform my best when in front of an audience I use saffron, this brings back memories of Iran when I had a standing ovation from an audience of over 200 people.
- For clarity I use the smell of cold air. This memory is when I walk the dogs early in the morning when it’s fresh and chilled and the air smells wonderful. My head feels totally clear and I ooze clarity.
It works, worth trying, nothing to lose.
