If you want a different experience, you have to perform your behavior differently. Adopting behaviors associated with desired emotions can create positive feedback loops, leading to genuine emotional shifts. This approach, often referred to as “fake it till you make it,” highlights the powerful interplay between actions and feelings, advocating for proactive behavior change as a means to enhance emotional well-being.
In this episode, we emphasize the concept that acting the way you want to feel can actually influence your emotions. You’ll learn that behavior can drive feelings, providing practical tips and personal anecdotes to illustrate this idea. You’ll also hear suggestions on how to start with small actions that reflect the desired emotion, like walking and cleaning out a drawer to feel more in control. This is a powerful tool for achieving a more positive and productive mindset.
Watch Act the Way You Want to Feel: Transform Negative Emotions Fasts here:
Resources for Act the Way You Want to Feel
Here are some blogs if you want to read more:
Gretchen Rubin: from the Happiness Project Act the way you want to feel
Forrestt Alley Depression and Anxiety: Acting the way you want to feel
edirect Negative Thought Reframing Cards: Order here!
EnCompass Game: Navigating Challenges Through Conscious Purpose Order here!
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Summary of the “Act the Way You Want to Feel”
Action is something you do for a conscious purpose. You control and regulate it. Feelings are emotions you experience with your mind and body. You feel without planning to feel. Feelings can be increased or decreased with your meaning-making, which is an action you CAN control. Your actions affect your subsequent feelings.
Humans are storytellers. We have loads of stories about ourselves, and we perform them. Sometimes, a problem story dominates, envelopes us, and affects our feelings and actions. If we consciously alter what we perform, we can change our feelings, experiences, moods, relationships, self-view, and more.
Should you fake it until you make it?
Feeling like you are being dishonest with yourself or that you are not allowed to feel stops us from using this tactic. However, that can end up having us defend our problems. However, when you defend your problems, you get to keep them. When you act in opposition to your problems, they shrink away. Here are some examples:
If you feel shy, act friendly
When you feel lonely, comfort someone
If you are angry, act compassionately (at least with yourself)
When you feel lazy, dance or get busy
When you feel down, dress up.
Do the opposite of what the negative feeling is telling you to do.
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