In a Negative State? Interrupt It…

Have you ever accomplished anything in a negative state of mind? Did you get anywhere?

• Do you ever stop for a second and ask yourself ‘what state am I in?’
• Do you think it is possible to change your state of mind instantly?
• Is it possible to interrupt your own state, so that you can change your negative state in to a more resourceful one?

If your on the fence, here’s something that may help…

Pattern Interrupts (A Very Brief Intro)

What are they?

It’s an abrupt interrupt (movement, gesture, words): which allows a break in a persons negative state or pattern, the breaking  then allows space for the person to be more open to suggestion.

Here’s an example, can you watch this little advert…it really does do a pattern interrupt very well!

Love it?

Most parents in that situation would not use that tactic to quieten a child having a tantrum! (Or would you?)

If you’re a parent you probably know how challenging it can be to get the attention of a child while in this state.  Easy?  How about when they are crying after hurting themselves? What a state, huh?

The adult in this video does an excellent job of interrupting the negative state of the child.  You can tell by the confused look on his face.  Pattern interrupts ‘stop’ people in negative states, bring them out of that state, by doing so they are so confused, they lose their train of thoughts, it’s hard for them to return to that same original state.

In the video, the breaking of state by the child would mean he would be more open to the suggestions of the adult.  Saying to the child ‘Put it back’ wouldn’t have worked before the state change, but it would a better chance after she interrupted his state.

How Patterned are Your Arguements?

A while back I was having the ‘patterned’ arguement with my beloved.

We were walking down the busiest street in Edinburgh and both of us were in a state of ‘I’m right, you are so very wrong’.  Not much listening going on.  No backing down.

The ‘pattern’ or habit we had created for our arguements would have normally went: argue, argue, argue, huff, tutt, walk off, not speak for an hour, sorry, sorry, whats for tea?

However the pattern and negative states were interrupted…

There was a group of  people wearing t-shirts that had splattered on the front ‘Free Hugs Here’, a man from the group came up to me and said ‘We’re giving away free hugs today, would you like one, no?’

(I don’t know if he was actually aware he pattern interrupted me with that sentence, but anyway…)

Of course I said yes! Hugs rock, even from a stranger!

The point being,  my partner and I both had experienced a state change: an interruption in our ‘arguement’ pattern.  After the ‘hugs’ we couldn’t go back to the heightened negative state.  They had unconsciously taken us from a negative state into a more neutral one.  In this neutral state we were at least able to hear what each other was saying!

Your day to day habits can be useful.  You have the amazing ability to carry out tasks with your brain on automatic pilot, able to tune out what isn’t important from your conscious mind. Some things you don’t have to think about, which is useful! Can you imagine not having any patterns and learn everything from scratch each morning?

Negative States and Paying Attention

However certain patterns can also be harmful to you.  When you live your life just using patterns, you stop paying attention, you can miss vital information, close down your minds to other ideas and suggestions.

You can be the child in the advert all day long.  Never coming out the pattern.  Have you ever had days, weeks, months in the same state?

Okay, if ever you find yourself in a negative, unresourceful, limiting state or you’re around others in that state, how can you interrupt it?

Here’s a couple of ideas:

• Write down or at least be aware of, when you are in a negative state.  Acknowledge it’s exisitence, but don’t dwell on it.
• If you can identify times when they exist for you before they happen (warning though, when you’re writing them down, be aware your state will change, remind yourself that this is an exercise).
• Work out ways you can interrupt the pattern or state when it arises.
• You can interrupt your own patterns.  The key is to always be aware of how you’re feeling.  State change can happen instantly, may take practise.

If you think you’re experiencing a ‘negative state’, are you able to ask yourself two questions:

• ‘What state am I in at this moment?’
• ‘Why am I feeling this way right now?’
• ‘What can I do this moment to change my state?’

The goal is to interrupt the ‘state’ or pattern so that you are open to other suggestions.