An ‘anchor’ is trigger for a behaviour. An anchor may be visual (e.g. yellow colour), auditory (e.g a car horn), kinesthetic (e.g. punching a fist in the air), olfactory (e.g. the smell of your grandmother’s perfume) or gustatory (e.g. the taste of chocolate).
We can program an anchor for desired behaviours such as relaxation, abundance and sleep. You can manifest the desired behaviour by activating the anchor.
Here’s how to go about installing your own anchors:
Step 1: Decide on a desired behaviour.
Step 2: Decide on an anchor. Make sure that your anchor cannot be accidentally activated e.g. by someone patting you on the shoulder where the anchor is on the shoulder. Make your anchor specific. For instance, you can use a unique hand gesture or a posture. You can even use a child’s favourite soft toy as an anchor for positive behaviour.
Step 3: Recall a specific situation where you experienced that behaviour e.g. on vacation, at the beach, when you won first prize etc.
Use as many senses as possible.
- What did you see (visual)?
- How did it feel (kinesthetic)?
- What did you hear (auditory)?
- How did it smell (olfactory)?
- (Where applicable) How did it taste (gustatory)?
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the intensity of the experience with 10 being the most intense and 1 being the least.
You can increase the intensity by playing around with specific parts of the experience. For example, if you see the experience in colour, see it in black-and-white (visual); if the experience feels grounded, make it light (kinesthetic); if you smell flowers, smell cotton candy (olfactory); if it taste like chocolate, imagine that it tastes like toast (gustatory). Use your imagination.
Step 4: When you hit around 7-10 in intensity, start activating the anchor. Hold the behaviour for 5-15 seconds.
Step 5: Break state. Do something completely unrelated to the exercise such as going for a walk or petting the dog.
Step 6: Test the anchor by imagining a situation where you would usually find yourself having the opposite, undesirable behaviour. Make the situation vivid by using all your senses.
Fire the anchor.
The desired behaviour should manifest. If it doesn’t repeat, steps 3 and 5 before testing it again.
You can can install anchors for confidence, relaxation, happiness, flow, love, self-acceptance, self-esteem and any other positive emotional state for any situation.
I wish you the very best of health!