The S-PEAK State

How do we transition from negative states, into positive, “peak states”?

Let’s say you’re feeling sad and depressed, and instead, you want to be feeling joyful and happy. How are you going to get there? The first thing to do is pay attention to what your body does when it’s sad and disappointed, or afraid, or out to lunch, or fantasizing, or whatever it might be. How are you breathing? How focused are your eyes? How are you standing?

Probably, your chest is concave, your head is down, you are breathing shallowly, from the chest, and your whole body feels constricted, because you are not currently in a peak state. Now, sit up straight, think about all the blessings that G-d is giving you, think about what you appreciate and are most thankful for in your life. Your state changes right away. Your posture is straight, you are breathing more freely, you have a different facial expression, your shoulders are back, your movements and speech are a bit quicker.

Make a note of what’s going on in you, physically, when you’re in your sad, depressed state, and then change it! The quickest way to change our state in a moment, is simply by thinking about your role model for happiness, who you have been studying and trying to think about and copy; or, by recalling that happy memory when you, yourself were in a peak state of happiness.

Some of us may need the help of a physical “anchor”, to help snap us back into that peak state, “Feeling oriented” people can condition their peak state to some simple physical action, like pushing two fingers together (the thumb and the pointing finger, for example). Other, more visual types will summon up an internal image of their role model such as Rabbi Arush or Rabbi Brody.

Once you’ve done the necessary spadework to “anchor” your happiness peak state you can get back to that state in a second, and re-access it, simply by thinking about your mentor or Rabbi!

The most powerful “PEAK” state is what I call a S-PEAK state. This is where you are speaking to G-d about your ongoing immediate experience. To enter this state, people learn to trust their own sensory experiences, feelings, perceptions and mental associations as being “action-signals” from G-d that tell them what to do next. Even negative emotions are a “call to action” from the Creator who is prompting us to take a different approach toward things.

When you first enter into the S-PEAK state, by talking to the Creator, you will need a triage system to quickly determine if the thoughts, feelings and urges that you are getting are ready to be acted upon or if G-d wants you process them and refine them more before you do something that you might regret later on. I have found that with a little guidance, most people are able to do this.

For example, a man has a great opportunity to expand his business. He speaks to G-d about this and his first thought is: “Wow, thank you Hashem! Finally, I have a way to support my family!” Of course he is right to thank Hashem, but is he ready to kick into action without further processing? Maybe he needs to ask Hashem what the effect of working longer hours are going to have on his wife and family? When would be the ideal time for them? Should he get up earlier to do extra work then? The answers will come to those who remember to look for them by “speaking them out.” Now we can understand why Rebbe Nachman puts so much emphasis on personal prayer (see Likutei Moharan II:25) – he wants us to be in the S-PEAK state!

Another way to use a challenging situation to “snap” into a positive state is when we think about the “higher” meaning that an event can have. People who are looking to “reframe” events as “action-signals” and “meaning signals” from G-d make less mistakes – they make better decisions, and those decisions lead to better results.

Take, for example, a father is being verbally disrespected by his teenage son. The father’s first (biological, emotional) response is the urge to “fire back” at his ungrateful, lazy, good-for-thing upstart of a son! This kind of “knee-jerk” animalistic Pavlovian behavior may work in the short-run but it won’t do much for the future of the relationship. But, on the other hand, if he thinks about the “message” that G-d is sending him through his son and starts, right away, to speak to G-d about it he will enter into the best state there is for deciphering the Divine Will in the situation. Maybe he’ll realize that he needs to set a limit with his son; maybe he’ll realize he needs to “let this one go”; maybe he’ll realize that this his chance to “model” for his son how to act like a real “mentch” (a mature person) so that someday his son won’t explode at his employer and lose his job (but won’t because he has the image of his father’s restraint in his mind).

These are just a few a samples of the many ways that we can detach from “problem states”, and get into and stay in emotional states that work for us. People who get good at this literally use whatever life (G-d) gives them in order to learn from it, grow and become all that they can be.