Power Positions

Have you heard of the Wonder Woman pose? Hands on hips, feet apart, standing up straight and tall. This is an expansive, high power position; it stimulates  the dominance hormone.

Then there’s the tall and proud, like Rocky, hands up in the air...signaling "I’m passionate, confident, authentic, captivating and comfortable. I have Presence. I'm a Winner." And not only do other people see me that way, but it changes how I feel about myself.

So let’s bring our boldest, most authentic selves to our biggest challenges, says social psychologist and Harvard business professor Amy Cuddy in her book, Presence.  How do we demonstrate presence? By accessing our personal power. And how do we access our personal power? By making small changes to everyday body language, behavior and mental attitude.

Her research indicates that by developing Presence, we can free ourselves from fear in high pressure situations and perform at our best.

You’ve got a big job interview coming up? Don’t wait in a low power position,  shrunk into yourself, making yourself smaller, she advises. This generates the stress hormone. Don’t sit there hunched over your smartphone in the iPosture, which mimics the low power position.

Go somewhere private, and for two minutes, stand in a Power Position. Be Wonder Woman. Be Rocky. Feel confident, assertive and alive before you tackle that challenge.

In Science of Mind we use Spiritual Mind Treatment to access spiritual power to help us build the life we desire. We treat and use our feet. We don't sit back and do nothing. Treatment is active, says Ernest Holmes. Our action, our moving of our feet, is to provide the mental mold for our desires. The Law will take care of providing the perfect substance to fill that mold.

Presence can help us develop that mental mold. We say, "Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life." Cuddy goes a step further:  Our body language, our bodies change our minds; our minds change our behavior; and our behavior changes our outcomes.

And if you feel like a fraud, then fake it. Not just till you make it, but fake it till you BECOME it.

That dovetails with our teachings. ACT AS IF you cannot fail. ACT AS IF your are healthy, wealthy, loved and loving, creative and wise. When you ACT AS IF, you are getting your whole mind - conscious and subconscious - involved in the creative process.

As you embody the desire, your subconscious accepts these behaviors, thoughts and feelings as natural, as normal, for you. As Ernest Holmes says: ACT AS IF AND YOU WILL BE.

And so it is.

Here's a link to a video made by Linnaea Mallette of a short training talk I did on this topic. 
https://youtu.be/GHXxEgJRuw4

For information on Linnaea go to: http://LinnaeaMallette.com.