Anchors - Powerful way for instant change

When I wrote about anchors earlier, one of my friends gave an example of a movie by the name ‘Munna bahi MBBS’. If you have seen the movie you may recollect a character Dr. J.C. Asthana played by a renowned actor Boman Irani. Whenever Dr. Asthana goes through stress he has this tendency to laugh deliberately. Induced laughter. Induced laughter is an anchor to change the state of mind for Dr. Asthana.

 

If you missed reading that blog, you my follow the link.

 

 http://bhushankulkarni2903.blogspot.in/2014/08/want-to-change-your-mood-use-this.html

 

Take another example from movies of Rajanikanth. Most of us are aware of the characteristic style in which he wears his goggles. The moment he does that, we know that the opponents are in trouble, we as audience have a treat and there is some high point in the movie.

What we see in these examples is how a particular action by an actor triggers some change either in his mood or the scene around him.

I once interacted with a dolphin instructor. She shared with me that they use anchors with Dolphins quite extensively. They train dolphin to behave in a particular way or give a particular performance and they get rewarded with their favourite fish. Getting fish is an anchor for the dolphin.

I have a friend who crosses his middle and the index finger before an important presentation. When I checked with him what it means to him, he said that crossing his fingers give him the signal that he has to be extra alert than usual. He said he took that from a movie ‘Hindustani’. Kamal Hassan in that movie crosses his fingers whenever his is required to fight with another person for a better cause. He says I use it to have elevated spirits and a confident voice while making presentations in the meeting.

Many people use specific actions while performing their regions’ rituals. These actions induce a certain frame of mind or evoke some specific emotions in an individual.

Anchors are specific actions or words that one assigns to a particular behaviour. Once assigned, the brain gets conditioned to invoke the similar behaviour in future.

Since it’s a skill it requires practice, sometimes deliberate and once we are comfortable we can change the current state into the desired state or frame of mind or mood with that action.

Where all have you been using this method, I asked my friend who crosses his fingers before an important meeting. He found anchors useful in many ways. Whenever he is in in a low mood, he has assigned some anchor that instantly revives him. He says it’s like having an Orange juice when your body is dehydrated. Like the orange juice to a dehydrated body, my specified anchor is to my mind. It allows me to come back to the resourceful state of mind.

So if anchor is a particular action than don’t you feel uncomfortable using it in office or any other public place, I asked. He told me that it need not be a grand body posture always. Like crossing my fingers is not visible to other but it’s a trigger for me. They can also be some words. Slogan or war cry like ‘Har har mahadev’ induced insurmountable energy to fight enemies amongst soldiers. ‘Vande mataram’ filled people with great patriotic feeling. ‘We can and we will’ changed the entire nation’s mood. He says even these have been great anchors.

So where do we start, I asked.

 He said start using it to change your mood from low to high. Assign something that indicates revival to your brain. Continue it for a month and check if it works for you.