The simple power of posture

William Michael Forbes


A good stance sends a good message. wmf

A Well Known Fact:
Up to 90% of all human communication is on a non-verbal level

I was writing an article the other day on what values are and was scanning through my past to compare those to the values I presently live by. I was at a point in my memory banks where I remembered living on the streets of Toronto, sleeping in stairwells, on heating grates and for periods at friends homes...until I got my first apartment at age 15. As I was remembering, I noticed that my body began slouching over, my breathing had become restricted and I could feel the muscles in my neck, chest and shoulders tightening up as the body reacted to the memories I was accessing. I took a moment to communicate love, gratitude and appreciation to those parts of my subconscious mind that were reactivated and as I did my breathing normalized, my body spontaneously straightened and my muscles relaxed. After that I realized that this would be a great lesson to share with whoever ends up reading this.

Whatever thoughts, ideas, memories or events our attention is on will have an effect upon the body and so for today’s idea on how to be happy in 15 minutes or less let us try this out for a day. Create a way to remind yourself that during today, whenever you find yourself feeling stressed, anxious, angry or frustrated, do the following, it will only take a minute or two...longer if you get into the good vibes this activity can create.
During the times of the day you recognize you are in stress (or distress) do these three things in this exact order 1.) Straighten your body up and pull your shoulders back a bit to remove the pressure off your lungs and heart and notice how your body feels...if the body feels better say or think “Thank you!” to your body. 2.) Take a deep full breath and feel how it feels drawing your breath in, exhale and feel how the tension is automatically released from your upper body, again notice how it feels and say or think “Thank you!” to your body 3.) Put your happiest smile upon your face for about 4 seconds, also noticing how you feel. This takes less than a minute and at the very least you will notice a reduction in physical tension which in turn will ease tension in your mind. A positive posture will also communcate a sense of confidence and trust to those around you.

Thats all I have to say about that.

Have a great day!

William