“I had to stop watching the news. It was making my own problems seem insignificant.” –Cartoon I just saw in the New Yorker
It’s a long story, but many years ago I met Lynda Carter at Chris Evert’s wedding. So when Warner Bros. announced yesterday that Michelle MacLaren will be directing the new Wonder Woman movie, the first big budget superhero movie about a woman, I thought about Lynda (who will probably not be cast in the movie) and decided I would practice her superpowers this week. Here’s why:
Scientists have proven that when you stand like Wonder Woman (fists on waist and legs spread in what Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy calls a power pose) you lower your cortisol levels and boost your testosterone.
“So what?” you might be thinking. WHAT is that when your cortisol levels go down, you drastically lower your stress and when testosterone goes up, you feel more confident.
Cuddy discovered that standing in this pose for a mere two minutes helps folks ace job interviews, tests and other potentially stress-provoking events.
Which is why I plan to strike this pose throughout the holidays, whenever I’m tempted to get testy with relatives or to feel time pressure about the 14 dishes I’m attempting to maneuver into the oven at the same time.
I plan to slip into the bathroom (Superman used a phone booth, but, thanks to cell phones, they’re practically obsolete), strike my Wonder Woman pose and come out, if not in cape, a whole lot calmer and happier.
I’d like to thank Dirk Stroda for introducing me to Amy Cuddy’s fabulous TED talk. I just met Dirk and his beautiful wife Verena in the Okanagan Valley of Canada. Dirk, who is a coach to executives and Olympic athletes, also taught me how to procure free drugs—well, oxytocin which is the love drug and the only one I’m interested in stockpiling. It can be manufactured IN THE BODY without Walter White’s goggles and messy law enforcement problem.
The point is…our physiology (like I point out in the Boggie Woogie Experiment in E-Cubed) can help us get our mind back on the joy frequency.
Dirk and I gave a workshop together at Sparkling Hill Resort, an unbelievably cool health resort with eight different saunas and steam rooms (one of them even had the same ceiling as the Sistine Chapel) and more than 3 million Swarovski crystals. Do I have a cool job or what?
The last little tip I’d like to share for sailing through the holidays is to sing. Jay Pryor, another cool friend of mine, from one of my power posses, and his wife Jessica have started singing to their two young kids. Instead of demanding that they come to dinner or stop drawing on the Lazy-Boy, they simply break into an operatic aria that more effectively gets the point across.
And lastly, because I was tempted to join a protest after last night’s Grand Jury decision in Ferguson, I’d like to present yet another headline in the world I’m envisioning:
Police officers all over the world give up their guns and realize the best way to do their job is to shoot love, not fear
Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.
18 Responses
Happy Thanksgiving World!!!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Happiest of Thanksgivings. May it be the best one yet!!!
well, if this is not “unbeleivable” (doooh), I don’t know what is. just earlier I was making lunch and turned on the Hay House radio and there was a familiar voice telling how importaint is to dance at the Happy tunes while brushing the radio with revireing the brain and stuff and I thought: I wonder if she had already seen this TedTalk Fake It Until You Become It… I haven’t even drank my after lunch coffee yet and voila….
You rock Pam, you rock!
brushing the teeth not radio:$
Dear Pam,
Pam, that newest headline is the BEST! Reminded me of Andy Taylor and Mayberry and how Sheriff Andy treated everyone he met with genuine love and respect and steadfastly insisted on finding the good in every situation. How wonderful it will be when we can look at one another and ask, “Remember back when cops thought they needed guns?” and then add “How silly we were then.” Then we will laugh and laugh over the childish games we used to play.
Yesterday I called an elderly cousin to update him on holiday plans. When I asked what he was doing, he said he was watching the news reports on Ferguson and immediately launched into a rant about who’s fault it all was, etc. I interrupted to explain that I do not watch the news, had no idea what he was taking about and politely explained I didn’t want to know because I like having a positive mindset and I can’t if I focus on the daily news, which leans toward negativity. It became one of the briefest phone conversations we have ever had, and after we hung up I started to laugh. Not only has not watching the news– any television at all, for that matter — these last eight months made my life infinitely better, I have discovered a very pleasant way to end negative conversations. My cousin may have thought I was nutty as a fruitcake for not joining him in his negative rant, but because I was polite, he was too, and our conversation ended on a very sweet high note. And maybe, just maybe, I even gave him something to think about.
And I can only imagine how well it might have ended had I struck a power pose. I’m doing that next time, for sure. And now I’m going to listen to Cuddy’s Ted Talk. Thanks for mentioning it.
You truly are the best, Pam. I appreciate you so!
May your blessings abound,
The Empress of Everything
Kate,Thanks a lot for such a nice post.And as you said, “but because I was polite, he was too, and our conversation ended on a very sweet high note. And maybe, just maybe, I even gave him something to think about. “””. You also gave and proved to us that you had done it practically for eight months and still “The Heavens didnt Fall” when you gave up hearing/looking those mind buchktiolocksters called THE News.
Thank you Kate for your wonderful advice,
Thanks Pam, I like this idea and have been a fan of Superwoman since a kid in the 1970’s back home in New Zealand getting poor re-runs. Nothing quite like thinking of oneself as a Super Hero to start the day.
I’m thankful for a daily dose of Pam Grout! Your simple,humorous blog renews my faith that “Things are always working out for me.”
Thanks Pam…for always seeming to know when I need to change my focus and get happy.
Hey this really works!! I did it for 2 minutes and then went and told my boss to get a life. Ha. Just kidding. But I love the pose. Thank you!!
Love your posts Pam, and I am impressed with how you give credit to the originators of material that you use or quote. I loved the Ted Talk, in fact my daughter drew it to my attention and I was hooked on Ted forever more! Thank you for the reminder and happy, grateful and delicious holidays to you and yours! Lauren
Pam, I thought about you and the headline idea yesterday as I was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist. There were two other people waiting, both facing the TV and intently following the news, the latest flash from Ferguson, MO. I was sitting across the room facing the glass wall/widow that showed the hall and elevators. Here is what I saw and the two other people totally were unaware of: the elevator door would open and there was a line of people passing ( like a bucket line at an old time fire) bags, boxes, bundles of donated food, that were being passed along to loading two moving van type trucks to be taken to families needing food for Thanksgiving. My suggested headline might read: ” One hundred people worked together to pass along love and food to the Hungry in Madison, Wisconsin. “
Thanks for all the times your messages get me through the day Pam, as a gun toting police officer
Thanks for all your true and uplifting thoughts. I follow you and have read two of your books.
I also think one aspect of being loving involves being open-minded and having all the facts before making a judgment. Of course the world needs love and I practice this in my professional work and in my day-to day life. I do wonder, if someone was about to punch me in the face if I would be quick enough to respond with love before I instinctively raised my arms to deflect the blow, or if someone had already taken my gun once and shot at me, if I would guess this was the intention again and automatically protect myself.
I don’t know- we weren’t there…..That is why I can’t judge, but can join all who pray for a more loving world.
Thank you, Pam, for your powerful inspiration—yet again!!
When I read to the bottom of the page to learn you were in the Okanagan of BC—a mere 30 minutes from my home–I was mortified that I’d missed your talk at Sparkling Hills last weekend. I could have brought two dozen friends to hear you speak! Why were there no announcements in the local papers? Will you be back? How can I sign up for your upcoming schedule of events?
Thank you! Julie Larsen
I envision a world where people are all valued highly, and young people of all races are supported and encouraged. Right now my throat hurts from crying. How do I transform my deep feelings of anger at injustice into love and joy in action? I guess that’s my latest experiment.