Use Physiology to Create Your Present & Future

How the Body Shapes Your Outlook and Day

We think of our emotional state as something that just is, or as something that happens to us. Perhaps we wake up feeling tired, stressed, or frustrated, then behave accordingly. But physiology works in every direction. Physiology is at the ready to shape our day in positive direction.

The way we hold ourselves, occupy space, stand, breathe, and move influences how we feel.

Our bodies are not disconnected entities simply carrying us around. Your body is an active, consequential participant in creating how you experience the world and every moment.

What does this mean in practical terms?

It means we can shape our emotional state via simple actions. In fact, we can shape how we feel in our own bodies via something as simple as how we awaken and rise out of bed each morning.

When you sit and then stand for the first time each morning, be attentive to your first movements. Rather than allowing your body to communicate fatigue—lowered head, slumped shoulders and movement—stand up with your head high, with strong spine and shoulders.

Ensure your first many steps convey energy. You may be tired, but don't rise or move like you're tired. Convey something else.

The point of this is to be active regarding what you are messaging and reinforcing via posture and movement. The truth is, the way you stand and move matters. The way you stand and move matters because it sets tone.

Note too that this isn't something limited to the first minutes of the morning. Pay attention to your physiology throughout the day. Notice how you sit, how you enter a room, how you stand while talking to someone, and how you move when you're under pressure.

When we become more attentive to our physical selves, we gain another avenue through which to influence our experience of the world, others, and ourselves.

Sometimes the most useful first move when we feel same-old same-old or depleted isn't to think our way out of it. It is to get up with strong head, spine and shoulders and move. This is about noticing and capitalizing on the remarkable connection between body and mind. Move through and occupy the space you're in with strength, freshness, and gratitude. Small physical choices, and choices of the mind, repeated consistently become habits, and habits determine the tenor of our days. In the end, the way you stand, move, and carry yourself is part of who you are and who you are becoming.

Your physiology is an immediate lever that holds huge influence. You don't have to wait for your mood to change before standing strong and moving with gratitude.  The scenery is good and it comes with great benefits.

Standing and moving with a strong head, spine, and shoulders is a practice. It is the practice of deliberately shaping your present and your future using your own physiology. 

The fact is, you are not at the mercy of whatever emotional state strikes.  It may seem that you simply feel whatever you feel, but that is not how the body / mind operates. You have Agency. You also have the brass tacks power to change your outlook and the tenor of your day by deliberately using your physiology to do so.

You inhabit the engineering miracle that is the human body. You can stand tall and take strong initial steps. You can choose to move with energy even when you don't initially feel energetic. By doing so, you become more attuned to the miraculous physical YOU—and to the extraordinary fact that your body is not merely along for the ride.  It is a miraculous instrument through which you create your life.