For a lot of people fictional characters are idols that we get our values, principles, and morality from. Whether that's from the action hero of our favorite movie franchise, the wits and wit of a know it all doctor TV show, or from the tales of heroes in comics, we find meaning in these larger than life characters. Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam) is a kid who can transform into a hero by saying just one word.  His real strengths and the importance of his character go beyond being powerful, and makes him the greatest paragon in comic history.

Who?

Don't know much about this inspiring hero? Just say the word. No, really, that's part of the thing. Shazam (more famously named Captain Marvel for the majority of his existence) first appeared in the 1940s, and was based off the original great, Superman. Surprisingly, Captain Marvel dominated the newsstands of those decades and outsold the Man of Steel himself. It's a story of a young boy given the ability to transform into a strong and capable protector with the power of one word - Shazam!

A Kid Who Has The Heart

What makes this hero different is that he's a fantastic blend of the optimism and hope of a kid, but also given additional powers in his super form and becomes enhanced in many ways. Instead of being some alien born with these gifts, or a billionaire with access to hardware and technology to help him fight crime, Captain Marvel could be any of us. And that's where the magic (pun intended) comes from. The idea that deep down we could all become a hero (with a little help from a wizard) and that the thing which makes us special is already there, it just needs to be brought out and shown to the world.

Family Is For All

Shazamily (or Marvel Family) - while it's a quirky name, it actually fits the story. While his origins have changed over time, and the roster of his team has been beefed up, one of the unique parts of Captain Marvel was that it introduced a team of people who shared the same power. No spandex clad sidekicks, the hero of the story gifts his powers to his (adopted) family and they tackle problems together. This was the first instance of a capable team of heroes with the same power, and even those other characters held their own. Hell, Elvis Presley himself modeled his look off of Captain Marvel Jr including the half cape and all.

So in our own lives, how does this translate? I think that we all find ourselves dreaming of a bigger, better, and more successful person that we become but we end up ignoring the power of sharing and relying on others. Instead of going it solo, inspire those around you and you'll find that they can inspire you too.

Say The Word

While there's so many ways to explore his character (like a deep dive into his comics, or summary videos on YouTube), the core concept is what makes him someone to strive towards. No, not the magic powers, beefy muscles, and handsomeness, although thouse are pretty cool too. The true core concept is the ability to change ourselves with just a word. There's a lot of strength in being able to activate or change your mood with a phrase or snap of the fingers, and this is a real world thing in the world of neurolinguistic programming called "Anchoring."

Think of it like Pavlov's famous experiment - ringing a bell and giving a dog food, which eventually leads the dog to salivating when hearing the bell as it associates the bell with eating food. In this case, you can change the food to something like feeling energized or confident.

You can set this up to anything, such as snapping your fingers, and give yourself energy or change your mood instantaneously. By performing the anchor action while associating it with the desired outcome, like positivity by remembering a very happy moment in your life, or energy by jumping up and down after performing the anchor, you can give yourself a desired physiological effect really quickly and surprisingly easily too.

Find Your Own Word

There's a lot of ways to incorporate anchoring into your life, and it almost feels like hacking your brain, but without all of the Instagram garbage attached to that very popular phrase.

For me, my first and best experience with anchoring came from playing the same song right when I began to psyche myself up for a run. I did this for months, and by the end I wasn't psyching myself up at all - at least not deliberately. I had already anchored myself into being energetic, focused, and driven by hearing just the opening part of the song.

I'm certainly no expert, but for beginners to the idea I think music is a really powerful cue that we can use to change ourselves on a deep level very quickly - since a lot of songs do this for us already.

We don't always have access to our music though, and so I've been working on using a word or body movement to do this lately. Anchoring takes time, but if you stick with it you'll find some amazing results. And if you've made it this far, I bet you can guess the new anchor that I've chosen to work on.