The attributes of energy is an abstract concept.  The idea that energy could have emotional content is counter intuitive.  Even more so is the idea that we can control our emotions as opposed to vice versa.  Once upon a time, Sifu Perhacs guided members of the “Total System” through the valuable but remarkably laborious process of creating autosuggestions: he said that our actions determine our feeling and state of mind, not the other way around.  Recently I came across some data that supports Sifu’s claim and sheds light into the reasons as to “why”.

In his book Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell shares with his readers an encounter with Paul Ekman and Silva Friesen, the men behind the Facial Action Coding System, FACS; FACS is a five-hundred-page document that painstakingly details the thousands of facial expressions and accompanying emotional meaning through the interplay of five facial muscles.  What struck me as profound and immediately applicable in every area of life was an account of their work and the realization onto which the scientists stumbled.  While facing one another, calling out the specific combinations to make specific facial expressions, they began to become aware of their physical sense of well - being (and sometimes lack thereof).   Friesen described his feelings after a long day of deliberately making the facial expressions for sorrow and anger:

“What we discovered is that that expression alone is sufficient to create marked changes in the autonomic nervous system.  When this first occurred, we were stunned.  We weren’t expecting this at all.  And it happened to both of us.  We felt terrible.  What we were generating were sadness, anguish…  My heartbeat will go up ten to twelve beats.  My hands will get hot.  As I do it, I can’t disconnect from the system. It’s very unpleasant, very unpleasant.” (Gladwell; Blink; 206-207;)

Additional research was performed with multiple men and women participants.  The findings were noteworthy.  For many men and women, the idea that emotions and feelings govern our actions is a personal reality.  The research performed by Ekman and Friesen demonstrated that the face is “not a secondary billboard of our internal feelings.  It is an equal partner in the emotional process.”

I thought about my own life.  I enjoy laughing and feeling good.  I laugh loud and often.  I smile a lot.  I feel good; I feel good so I smile; I smile and I feel good; I feel good and I find myself laughing.  It is a wonderful cycle.  A cycle each of us can create or break with deliberate intention.  Being aware of how you feel is the first step; knowing how you would like to feel is as simple as choosing the accompanying facial expression, or engaging in associated activities.

Here at SPC USA we take a holistic view of energy building and the instruction provided.  Just as important to us that our students cultivate their energy in an exponential fashion, it is equally important to us that they prosper in all their ways and enjoy the journey of life.  To that end, all of our products, exercises, and mentoring sessions are built around being mindful of the attributes of the energy- being mindful of and enhancing our own happiness.

Be well; be mindful.

V/r

Don Brown [Certified Instructor]