Anchoring

Not your ship anchor…the other kind.

The definition of anchoring that we’re interested in here is “The process of associating an internal response with some external trigger (similar to classical conditioning) so that the response may be quickly, an sometimes covertly, reaccessed.”

So we can deliberately set an anchor for a great state that we want to access again easily.

The anchor can be set powerfully while you are experiencing a specific stimulus or in a really great state.

But what about non-deliberate anchors? They can be wonderful or not. Anchors can be set out of awareness…valuable and not so valuable ones.

Some of the inappropriate responses we have are caused by old anchors…unconscious anchors.

It might be valuable to keep that in mind before we judge someone’s seemingly off-the-wall response.

Remember, feelings don’t just come from nowhere. Accessing pictures, sounds, smells and tastes results in feelings or sensations whether they are very pleasant or not.

When we do recognize this, break state/interrupt the pattern. Do it often enough, the anchor can be gone, unless you want to keep it.