SHIFT
SHIFT
A Shift Before Important Events
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A Shift Before Important Events

Take a walk with me, if you have a few minutes.

Hello! I took a walk while recording this Shift.

Apologies for the audio buzz from the wind on this recording. We’ll get it cleaned up.

For now, please enjoy this live cut with me.

Stay present,

Sean

P.S. - Time is running low to invest in Shift Therapy®.


Let’s take a long, deep breath.

Feel yourself slowly shifting into a more relaxed state with one long, deep breath.

Maybe take another deep breath now.

Nice.

When I have what I think of as an ‘important upcoming event,’ my mind often starts going a little bit faster — into a new gear — to prepare.

Does that happen to you too?

It can be good and bad, right?

The good is the intensity is there.

That accelerated emotional and psychological space tends to surface things that are important for that particular ‘important’ endeavor.

That tends to be the case for all of us.

The downside is that your thinking can get in the way.

It can also provoke anxiety when your mind races about something that you think of as important to you.

So today I wanted to talk about how you find that sweet spot that allows you to get amped up to prepare in a way that's effective, while not getting in your own way.

And, when you do start to sense yourself getting in your own way you can have a strategy that you can rely on 100% to bring you back to where you need to be…

presence.

Let's take another long, deep breath.

And just listen to life.

Drop into presence more deeply with me for 20 seconds or so just listening with 100% of your attention.

What are those sounds you hear right now that you otherwise wouldn't hear?

Notice the shift continuing — into presence.

What do you hear?

Perfect.

Through that listening exercise, I hoped to illustrate the main point and strategy that I wanted to share today.

This strategy works for me and I think it works universally if you learn to apply it in your own life: That is, understanding that your rapid thinking is what tends to get in the way of your ability to listen.

When you're rapidly thinking, and it's not based on having listened closely to what you’re hearing in your inner world and in the outer world, you’re not allowing your mind to fully engage in that moment.

When you stop listening, your rapid thinking can quickly turn into emotional distraction. One of the forms of emotional distraction can be stress, anxiety.

I’m talking about the importance of fully recognizing that your life experience flows through you in every moment.

You life flows through your 30 trillion cells, and then it flows into your inner world —including into your mental experience.

So, being able to listen and hear that activity needs to be a higher priority to you than dictating what the present moment is, i.e,…

You can't tell 30 trillion interacting cells what they ‘should’ be saying.

You need to listen to hear what they are saying — and follow their lead.

When you’re doing that, that's your sweet spot.

That's your flow.

That's your zone.

That's when life gets very free and very good — and also oftentimes accelerates you into a new level of confidence and performance, because you've removed all the friction in your inner world.

By listening fully, you remove the friction that gets paradoxically generated from trying too hard by from thinking too much — from the cycle of thinking too much that can occur when stress and fear arise — because you're not fully listening in the present moment.

Listening is an act of trust and curiosity.

It's saying: I believe, I understand, I know that if I listen, to myself, to life, that my unique purpose, which I know is flowing through me each moment, will be facilitated through the act of listening with all my attention.

If you've done a bunch of Shifts, you know that you can listen with your ears and you can also listen with your other ‘portals of presence.’

The more portals of presence that you're listening through, the more deeply you might embody the lessons of any given moment.

Let’s listen to life together as we feel air on our skin now.

Close your eyes if you want — if you're sitting still.

Allow yourself to feel that body buzz that you can pick up after you've noticed the feeling of air brushing against your skin.

Deepen the listening with your body by listening to your body and to the outer world at the same time.

As you shift, notice if some gratitude arises as presence emerges.

Nice. That was a perfect quick Shift into presence.

Thank you for shifting with me.

Have a great rest of your day!

Set your intention to stay present with whatever is next for you today.

Feel that intention anchoring in your body now.

Can you feel the intention anchored in your inner world?

Perfect.

I'll talk to you soon.

Stay present.

Sean

PS — Only ~10 Days left to invest in Shift Therapy®.


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SHIFT
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OnePerfect Shift is an audio letter from a psychologist that shifts you into a better state of mind anytime. Each post gives you a fresh look at your relationship to your mind and reminds you how much control you can have over your life experience.