Shift An Old Friend

A struggling friend who I hadn’t seen in years asked me when and why I learned to strategically shift my state of mind.

My answer became the ‘Shift With An Old Friend’ that follows.

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I had an unbelievably difficult emotional experience in college that led me to need to learn how to shift into a better place.

Back then, I'd gotten into emotional places I didn't want to be in anymore.

I'd experienced plenty of incredibly beautiful states of mind and body by then too.

Having experienced the emotional spectrum, I wanted to make sure I knew how to return to a peaceful state of mind and body whenever I needed to.

Actually, I needed to learn.

I was definitely interested in learning how to shift my emotional state in ways that would allow me to perform my best as well.

But my deepest motivation for learning how to shift my state of mind and body on demand was pain-inspired initially.

That’s the motivation that pushes most people learn to ‘shift.’

Shifting shows you that walking with your deepest cut, your deepest pain, can transform you into your joy.

Repeatedly making an inner journey through your pain and into peace and presence enables you to recognize, and eventually embody, your most liberated emotional states.

I found that making that inner journey to presence repeatedly— with a Shift, for example — is required, before most of us develop a consistently accessible present state of mind and body.

It seems that the human condition forces us to repeatedly navigate our unique inner journey back to peace along the path to fully thriving in our lives.

It can take a long time, but it’s a beautiful journey.

So…

Let’s strategically navigate ourselves into presence for a couple minutes together right now.

Start with a long, deep breath.

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Relax your entire body and come fully into this moment.

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Set your intention to focus 100% of your attention on your inner journey for a little while.

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What's the part of your personal story that has been molding you into your purpose during this precious, unique, miraculous life of yours?

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Take another deep breath and relax even more.

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Allow a question to hang in the space of your inner world:

What's the part of your personal story that has been molding you into your purpose during this precious, unique, miraculous life of yours?

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Close your eyes if you want to.

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Listen to life with 100% of your attention for one minute.

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Notice what arises in your inner world.

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What's arising in your inner world?

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Whatever arises, just notice it. Then, silently respond to it, as follows:

“Thank you for raising this issue to my attention, but for now I'm letting everything go as I shift into presence for a while.

I’m listening to life with 100% of my attention right now.

I know you will arise again later. And I will greet you later.

For the next minute, I'm committed to letting go of everything — and listening to life with 100% of my attention.”

Listen to life with 100% of your attention.

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Listen with your ears and your eyes.

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Even if your eyes are closed, listen with your eyes.

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Come more fully into presence.

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Feel the air on your skin in this moment.

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Notice how you feel right now.

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Have you shifted toward presence?

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Do you feel present in this moment?

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Fully commit to listening to life with all your senses for 30 more seconds.

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Deepen your presence by listening to and feeling life with 100% of your attention.

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Perfect.

A perfect, if brief, inner journey to presence.

The more you shift the easier it gets.

Have a great rest of your day!

Talk to you soon.

Stay present,

Sean