Love Louder: 33 Ways to Amplify Your Life by Preston Smiles

Author:Preston Smiles [Smiles, Preston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: North Star Way
Published: 2016-06-06T22:00:00+00:00

16

WHEN SHIFT HITS THE FAN:

HOW TO SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL

All events are neutral events.

It’s our interpretation of them that makes them “good” or “bad,” “right” or “wrong.” A key component to loving louder is shifting into neutral as much as possible and seeing the world from the lens of possibility. Just as when a car is in neutral it has an option to move forward, reverse, or remain where it is, we too can view life from a neutral and unattached space, leaving us with endless possibilities

One of the things that astonishes me about us humans is how many interpretations we can have of any given moment. I surf a lot, and the other morning I witnessed two guys yelling at each other over a wave. The first guy believed that the second guy was not supposed to be on the wave when he was. The second guy was upset with the first guy for disrespecting him by yelling at him. The event was neutral until guy number one positioned himself as the judge of what’s right in the water. It was also still neutral until guy number two chose to see guy one’s reaction as disrespectful. If either one of them had shifted into neutral, they would’ve seen that neither party meant any harm and that there were numerous options on how the interaction could’ve been handled. In no way am I saying that you need to be 100 percent neutral at all times, but cultivating a practice of STARTING in neutral—as opposed to starting in defense, anger, or judgment—will give you more perspective on the situation at hand.

Another way to describe living in neutral would be mindfulness, which is the practice of observing your life from a nonjudgmental, compassionate, and accepting attitude. Mindfulness begins with a simple awareness, paying attention to your experience from moment to moment. When I shifted into neutral and began practicing mindfulness, I saw that my emotions, thoughts, feelings, and body sensations were transitory. The things I thought were so important no longer held so much weight in my life. They would come and go almost like the evening breeze.

Rather than operating on automatic, reacting to negative thoughts, and swimming in your emotions, you should try to observe everything from a neutral point of view. Living from this kind of mindful awareness will immediately help you make wiser choices. And those wiser choices will have an effect on everything from your bank account and professional goals to your relationship with friends and family. Make the shift today.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.