The Myth of States

Human beings do this with language every single day. We reify abstractions. We turn dynamic verbs into static nouns. We announce, “I have anxiety,” as though we strolled into an anxiety boutique, purchased a five-pound bag of it, and are now legally required to carry it through the airport.

This linguistic trap leads straight into the illusion of “states.”

People frequently ask why our approach does not train states or try to push someone from “State A” into “State B.” The answer is disarmingly simple: states do not exist.

Reality is an ongoing, fluid stream of change. A “state” is merely a frozen photograph you took in your head and treated as a permanent landscape.

It is the same reason we do not talk about “brainwaves” as static entities to be hammered into compliance. People say, “I want to enter the Alpha state.” Where is that located? Somewhere near Tennessee? You may produce an identifiable rhythm in real time, but the rhythm is not a destination. It is simply the activity of an adaptable central nervous system engaging with its environment.

When we treat an emotional pattern as a concrete “state” we inhabit, we become trapped in its maintenance. Keeping a feeling of chronic panic or misery active across an entire afternoon requires extraordinary effort. You have to actively reject evidence to the contrary, ignore moments of ease, and constantly rehearse the scenario that justifies your distress.

Consider the habit of smoking. When someone insists they are struggling to stop, I often point out the obvious: “You have already stopped. You aren’t smoking a cigarette right now. The task isn’t stopping; the task is not restarting.”

When you ask what smoking provides, the answer is almost universally, “It relaxes me.” Consider the irony: tobacco delivers nicotine, a known physiological stimulant. Why does inhaling a stimulant produce relaxation? Because the ritual demands an extended, deep exhalation. The physiology of the outbreath provides the release, while the cigarette takes the credit.

Transformation begins the moment you stop defending your supposed “states.” You do not need to journey anywhere to leave an island that only existed because you leapt into an abstraction. Take a full, complete breath out, see what remains in the present moment, and let the concept go.