One of the core beliefs of Human Needs Psychology is that it’s not our conditions, but our decisions that shape our destiny.
So the question becomes: What shapes our choices – both in the short term and in the long term?
Answer: There are three factors – three moulders of meaning – that
shape all the decisions we make at the moment.
- Patterns of physiology
How you use your physical body such as breath, posture, movement, etc.
- Patterns of focus
Whatever you focus on, you will feel.Consistent focus = consistent feelings.
- Patterns of language/meaning
As soon as we put words to an experience, it changes the meaning of our experiences.
Emotional pain is always the result of constructing and creating a disempowering meaning within ourselves.
By changing our physiology, focus, language/meaning, we can shift to a more empowering state and make more empowering decisions.
Rather than talking to an individual about some mind principle or thought process, it may be just as (if not more!) efficient to shift their physiology.
You change their body by moving their breathing, or perhaps by taking someone depressed on a walk.
Suddenly, you can focus on something new and come up with a new way of seeing their situation that wasn’t available to them before.
Another example:
If you’re focusing on what you think has been “done” to you, you feel very different from if you’re focusing on what you can give in this situation.