SHIFT

Life can be very lonely sometimes, can't it?

It's not just about the perspective you bring.

Life cycles, regardless of your perspective.

So that means sometimes you're naturally oriented more to different aspects of life.

And one of those aspects is the human objective experience of being separate.

And therefore, potentially feeling alone and lonely.

When you drop deeply into presence it's very possible to connect yourself to life — to connect yourself to everything.

That, to me, is the most obvious way to shift out of loneliness in the moment.

And we can do that today.

But I think it's also useful to think about another approach to shifting out of loneliness too.

We can think about it as a complementary approach…

Putting your love into the world.

One way to think about loneliness is to understand it as a reaction to not feeling love coming toward you.

That's why this this idea, this action — this activity of putting your love into the world — is so important.

Because it is your ‘putting love into the world’ that is part of the cycle of bringing love to you.

The challenge can be, sometimes, that it feels like you have to put so much love into the world in order to get love back.

But it might be that the love that you're putting into the world is bringing love back to you in a way that you're not noticing — or that you didn't anticipate.

And that recognition — if you can see it — can also impact that sense of loneliness that may be underlying some idea that you're putting love in the world, and you're not feeling it back.

So there are a few ways to address loneliness —

* Dropping into presence.

* Putting your love into the world, (i.e. making sure you're doing that to participate in shifting yourself out of loneliness).

* Noticing whether love may in fact be coming into you, but you are looking for it in a different form.

* Being very realistic by understanding that sometimes things take time. You may need to put a lot of love in the world before it comes back to you.

I’m not a big fan of pretending that there's not real, sincere, and genuine, and authentic, and accurate feelings of loneliness that we each have throughout life.

But I am suggesting that shifting out of that experience in the ways that we're talking about today — those that feel authentic to you — is a great practice.

So how are you putting love into the world?

And, is it possible that it's coming back to you (if you're feeling lonely) in a form that you weren't anticipating — but nevertheless in a beautiful form?

Maybe sit with those questions as we dive in the silence for a minute together.

Long, deep breath.

—

Another.

—

Think about this form of love coming into your life:

The fact that you are a miracle — you're a living miracle, buzzing with life.

And when I say ‘living miracle,’ a big part of what I'm talking about is the 30 trillion cells of your body that are buzzing you into life each moment are completely connected to your environment.

The air that you breathe in, that feeds you.

The oxygen that gives you the breath of life.

So we're not alone in that sense.

We are fully connected to life and to our environment.

If you feel that, is that another way that can bring you out of loneliness?

Or, into seeing the love that's coming back to you in a different and clearer way?

Sit with that as we just connect with our body.

I’d like to spend some time in pure silence with you today.

So I'll just talk you through entering your body.

Place all your attention into your body.

Notice its buzzing aliveness.

I use to remind people that you can squeeze your thumb really hard — squeeze your left thumb for three or four seconds.

And then release it, noticing the sensations that arise when you release — the buzzing aliveness of your thumb.

And that will help you pick it up strong — that buzzing, tingling life in the rest of your hand.

And then bring it into your whole body.

What is that?

That's you alive, aspect of life, never alone, sometimes lonely.

So feel that.

And let's just sit in that feeling state and see what arises for you for the next minute.

All your attention feeling your body and listening to life.

—

—

—

—

—

—

Perfect.

Did anything come up?

As I listened, I heard a question:

How are you putting your authentic love into the world?

Is it flowing through you as a reaction — as gratitude to being aspect of life, to being alive and connected to everything?

How is that awareness flowing through you into the world?

Is it flowing in the form of gratitude, or care, or love, or sensitivity, or art?

How is it flowing?

Do you notice that within that flow — within that giving of yourself — you are more deeply connecting to the world?

That awareness absorbs and subsumes the sense of loneliness a lot of times.

—

Anyway, food for thought :)

Let's take another couple deep breaths and say goodbye for now.

—

Set that intention to remain present.

—

And have a great day.

Sean

Did you know that the OnePerfect app (iPhone | Android) is free to you if your employer, school, or some other organization subscribes on your behalf?

Feel free to tell an organization you care about to contact us for a free trial.

Hi there, let's take a long deep breath.

And come fully into this moment — into presence — by intentionally focusing 100% of your attention into what you’re reading or listening to at this moment.

—

Nice.

I came across a young man last night — in his 20s.

He was telling me that he had just had a breakup with his girlfriend of six years.

He was two weeks out of the breakup and is now trying to get back to meeting people, and starting a new life — because he'd moved to a new place.

It made me reflect on breakups.

And what we go through when we are struggling to make a major change to our life, and our lifestyle.

Facing the reality that — especially when you break up with someone who you've been really close to for a long time — the cells and the cellular networks within your brain and body that represent your attachment to that person don't just go away because the breakup happens one day.

They can take a long time to shift.

It takes time to find a new style of attachment — to find a new kind of feeling associated with the experience of bringing your person (your former person) into your inner world, and to change how thinking of that person affects you.

Those are some of the thoughts I had as I sat with my new friend and chatted a little bit. So I wanted to talk about that today.

I also want to wish everyone who's going through a breakup — especially if you’re fresh with it — I wish you well.

Know that it's normal to have very difficult feelings for a long time, both for the physical reasons that I just described and also for all of the emotional reasons that are more self-evident.

If that's something you're going through right now, hang in there.

Why don’t we come into presence further to continue.

Then I'll share one other idea that I think is worth thinking about if you're going through difficulty — a breakup of a relationship, or something similar.

Let’s first scan the space we're each in.

Place all your attention — 100% focused wherever you are.

—

This is a good exercise for bringing your attention into the present moment.

It's one thing to close your eyes, to go internal and listen deeply to your thoughts, and to explore your inner world to see where you're at.

But if you're like my friend from last night, maybe you're wanting to come back into the outer world in a new way. Scanning your environment is a beautiful way to intentionally experience the outer world.

—

So bring your attention outward now to get deeply connected to the unfathomable beauty that surrounds you constantly.

See the forms and shapes and colors and lights that the outer world takes.

Coming into appreciation of all that is a way of reconnecting with the outer world, which you may be looking to reconnect with in some new and very personal way if you're going through a breakup.

Take 30 seconds to look around your space.

See where your eyes decide to stop.

Enjoy the experience that seeing brings to you.

You can bring yourself into it by noticing changing light that reflects anywhere.

Or just notice the little details you don't usually notice — the shadows, or the layers of background.

Looking around your environment now — taking it in.

—

And keeping that intention of coming 100% into full presence.

—

Perfect.

Keep up with that if you're enjoying it.

Or shift to listening to life too, if you want to switch something up…

Try listening to life as you pay attention to your environment visually.

And I’ll say a little bit more about what I tried to share with this friend last night.

Without necessarily speaking advice to him, I just tried to share the experience of the outer world with him, and the awareness that what you are putting into the world is coming back to you.

If you’re wanting to come back into the world, or even just to change your relationship to life generally, rest assured that being positive and expecting life to give you love back is the way to approach the world — to re-engage with the world.

Because it is true that life loves you back.

One of my favorite sayings is…

Love life. It loves you back.

Those words powerfully encapsulate the true power of how you bring yourself to the world — and the influence that has on your life experience.

If you're ready to go back into the world, intend that for yourself.

Intend to love life.

And allow it to love you back.

Smile when you see people.

They will smile back at you, mostly.

Just authentically smile because you love life.

Life won't always love you back in that moment.

But if you are oriented to seeing love in the world, you're going to see it a lot.

And that's a great way to step back onto your journey.

Go out and smile. Say hello to people.

Love life. It loves you back.

That's what I wanted my new friend to experience and see.

We had a fun time actually.

So it did work out in that way, which was great.

Why don't we do one minute of a deep dive before we get back to our outer lives for the day?

Let’s continue where we left off — listening to life.

Close your eyes now if you want.

I’m going to close my eyes.

Let’s listen to life for one minute — to the sounds of life that you otherwise wouldn't hear.

Listen to the buzzing silence all around you.

Just listen.

—

That's perfect.

Keep listening as long as you want.

I’ll sign off now.

But first I’ll wish you — if you're struggling with having to move away from somebody in any kind of way — good luck with your journey.

Know that the world is out there waiting.

It’s ready to love you back when you're ready to jump back in.

Alright, have a great day.

Sean

Thanks for shifting with me today. Subscribe for free to receive new posts.

More about the OnePerfect app

It’s very personal.

One big reason that the app is very personal is that you can add your own personally recorded insights into your own app Shifts — so they become extremely targeted to your personal objectives.

The app also tracks your progress and has lots of targeted multimedia Shifts and programs.

You can download the app and use the free trial month to see if you like it.

iPhone | Android

Over 95% of surveyed app users report being able to shift effectively in 5-10 minutes.

Try it for a while to see if you like the benefits.

Did you know that the OnePerfect app is free if your employer, your school, or some other organization subscribes on your behalf?

Feel free to tell an organization you care about to contact us for a free trial.

This is a Shift for when you’re having a tough time — and to share with someone who may be struggling today.

Hello hello,

I'm so glad you stopped by. 

Come listen to the sounds of the beach in the background, and shift your state of mind with me anytime.

OnePerfect Shift out of feeling horrible. 

So you’re feeling horrible, huh?

That sucks. 

You may find what I'm going to share with you to be helpful though. 

It has been for me.

And it definitely has been for a lot of people I've worked with and people I’ve lived with. 

So know that there’s some hope, just from that. 

And let’s get going — let’s start with just a small shift.

Set an intention to shift into a more ideal state of mind over the next few minutes. 

Got it?

Did you set your intention?

OK, good.

Now let’s take a long deep breath.

Good.

And one more.

Nice.

As I thought over the challenge of making a shift, and the importance of making a shift when you’re feeling really down, I thought about the times I felt worst in my life. 

And I thought about the people I love most, and the many other people I've met when they were feeling near their worst, or at their worst. 

We’ve all been on that spectrum — the spectrum of feeling horrible, or feeling terrible, somewhere along the way in life — at least once or twice, if not more often than that.

So you are unique.

But you're not alone with this experience of feeling horrible, or horribly. 

It's part of real life. 

It’s also a fact that you are always welcome here, to OnePerfect Shift.

We’re part of your community now. 

And just reminding yourself of that is a step toward feeling better. 

Otherwise, the best I have to offer you right now to make a shift is to share a few of the most effective things that I know of that you can do when you're feeling really down. 

So, we already went over the first one — know that you can come back here to practice shifting into your more ideal state of mind anytime you want to.

And be aware it may take regular steps.

It takes a little time.

But there's definitely hope that things will get better. 

And that’s a great thing you can do to amplify them getting better, and to accelerate it.

So let’s take together now the biggest, deepest, longest breath you've ever taken, to begin a shift. 

Breathe in and hold it. 

—

Now breathe out. 

Okay, even deeper this time. 

Breathe in.

And hold it. 

—

And out. 

Can you go even deeper this time? 

Ready?

Breathe in. 

—

Hold it. 

Hold it. 

Hold it. 

—

And out.

All right.

That’s a good start. 

Now, get yourself something to eat or drink. 

Your priority right now is to get yourself comfortable. 

And then we'll continue.

So go grab some comfort food.

Pause if you need to.

—

Okay, got your comfort food and drink? 

Good.

I want you to come 100% into the present moment with me right now. 

We're going to do that by choosing any object in our environment. 

Just pick an object. 

Any object will do. 

Got your object?

And recognize the fact that you can shift your attention into any object you choose means that you can direct your attention in any way you choose, anytime.

In other words, you can choose to shift your attention anywhere you want to shift it, anytime you want to. 

You have control of your attention. 

You’ve just demonstrated that to yourself.

So get ready to study your object now for the next 10 seconds, just looking at it.

And while you study it, notice something new about it, like the way the light shines on it, or fades away from it, or how it's in the shade, or any little stains you hadn’t noticed before, or just the beautiful colors of life.

Be with it.

Ready? 

Study your object for 10 seconds.

—

Good.

Now that your attention is more focused in the present moment, you're a little bit more present, right? 

And you're a little bit less distracted by thoughts that amplify concerns or judgments spinning in your mind.

The fact that human beings feel horrible sometimes, and that those same human beings also feel great sometimes, gives us this undeniable hope that you will likely feel different in the future than you felt earlier. 

In fact, you may even feel great in the future. 

And the best way that I know of to move into your future when you're feeling down, is just to take particular steps in the direction of connecting to your personal unique purpose.

Your purpose — why you're here. 

And a great step towards connecting to purpose is to develop effective strategies for shifting your attention, just as we're doing now.

But when you're feeling horrible, basically I suggest you don't try to bite too much off.

So for today, just set an intention to complete reading this post, or listening to this post, and remain as present as you can for the rest of the day.

So set that intention.

You’re going to remain as present as you can.

Letting all the distracting thoughts and judgments go for the rest of the day.

Did you set the intention?

Okay, good job.

That's strategic.

So now, let's move on to trying a different object.

Choose a different object for a little while.

Focus 100% of your attention on it. 

Let's go for 15 seconds this time.

And if your attention wanders any time during that 15 seconds, if you get carried away by stories in your mind, just choose a different object, and focus on that new object for 15 seconds, instead.

Ready?

OK, study your new object for 15 seconds.

Go.

—

Great job.

Good.

You've taken a mini-step now towards feeling better. And you've connected to the present moment intentionally in order to do that.

It's very simple. 

It's a simple first step. 

And you’ve reminded yourself by doing that, there's always an opportunity to refocus your attention, and release unwanted mental activity, and just come into presence.

And, of course, you shared this experience with a community — a community that wants you to triumph, that wants you to move past current life struggles and get back to feeling your best.

So let's finish up by taking one more deep breath.

—

Hold it.

Hold it.

Hold it.

Hold it.

—

Release.

Okay, can you notice whether your mind state has shifted at all in the last few minutes?

Are you feeling less horrible?

I hope you do.

We offer ways to shift deeper into presence anytime.

And other than that, I suggest just try to have a great rest of your day.

And come back and see us anytime. 

All right, bye bye.

Sean

More about the OnePerfect app

It’s very personal.

One big reason that the app is very personal is that you can add your own personally recorded insights into your own app Shifts — so they become extremely targeted to your personal objectives.

The app also tracks your progress and has lots of targeted multimedia Shifts and programs.

You can download the app and use the free trial month to see if you like it.

iPhone | Android

Over 95% of surveyed app users report being able to shift effectively in 5-10 minutes

Try it for a while to see if you like the benefits.

Did you know that the OnePerfect app is free if your employer, your school, or some other organization subscribes on your behalf?

Feel free to tell an organization you care about to contact us for a free trial.

More Support

As a clinical psychologist I’m not allowed to provide direct personal feedback or mental health advice through OnePerfect Shift.

However, if your employer subscribes to OnePerfect for you, you’ll find links to support that your employer provides on your OnePerfect app profile screen.

iPhone | Android

Wanna Talk About It is another good place to begin connecting with support.

If you think you may need help, I encourage you to reach out for support.

A Shift is a digital experience that navigates you into an intentional state of mind.

Hello again,

I love sharing Shifts with you, and that so many people have been enjoying them.

You’re always welcome to shift your mind and body with me.

Thank you for being here!

In over twenty years in psychology, intentionally shifting into the mind state that you want to be in is the most beautiful and useful activity that I’ve found.

So in each Shift we do — including this one — we’ll take a rejuvenating dive into presence and we’ll explore our minds and then strategically shift our states together.

Today, I’ll also share more about why we shift repeatedly — and I’ll say more about how you can get the most out of doing it.

If you’re subscribed, you’ll receive at least 1 new Shift in your inbox each week.

Let’s take a long deep breath to begin this Shift.

Set your intention now to become fully present for a while — and to maintain that presence for the rest of our day too.

—

Set that intention now.

—

Did you set it?

—

Is all your attention fully here now?

—

Are you doing one thing at a time — committed to being fully present to that one thing?

Okay.

Let’s amplify our intention by dropping further into presence.

Just listening to life together for our next 10 seconds here.

All our attention focused on only listening to sounds in your environment.

Listen to the world go by.

Ready?

Listen.

—

Nice.

I’m hearing the branches scratching against the top of the beach hut here.

Nice little mini-shift there.

Why do we shift?

I shift because shifting develops your ability to focus your attention when and where you choose to.

And I’ve needed to develop that in my life, repeatedly.

In my experience, shifting consistently — even if you don’t feel like you NEED to right now — improves your ability to shift your state of mind in those moments when you do feel like you NEED to right now.

As you get better at shifting yourself on demand, you’ll also improve a couple key aspects of your emotional intelligence — your self-awareness and your self-regulation skills.

But what really motivates me to drop into a Shift each day — to take a deep dive as we’ll do today — is that shifting feels amazing because it brings you more fully into presence.

It’s intentional.

Depending on your day, you might want to release some stress, or get yourself more motivated, or feeling more confident, or more purposeful — more purpose-filled.

Shifting gets you more connected to the big picture.

We all need each of those things at different times, right?

A few minutes shifting invariably leaves you feeling more connected to a sense of purpose, which can then drop you deeper into your work, or your art, or your family, your love — your life — whatever it’s important for you to be present for right now.

For me, shifting is the core daily activity that keeps me feeling present and purposeful and intentional.

So it’s actually the life experience that consistent shifting leads to that keeps me shifting regularly — and has done so for years.

I love recording them.

And, I love shifting with you.

I also massively appreciate that you’re listening, and reading, and enjoying the benefits with me.

So all that bodes well for a future of Shifts.

In case you’re not aware, if you ever want to you can hear the waves rolling in the background usually by tapping ‘play’ at the top of any Shift.

Come listen here in the beach hut with me.

Listening can deepen your shifting experience.

Or, you can just read slowly through any Shift.

As you listen or read, breathe deeply — so long as it feels good to you.

Let’s breathe deeply for 2 deep, intentional breaths.

—

Nice.

Slowing down intentionally.

Find your groove.

Take your time to get the most benefit.

Deep presence.

—

It’s worth it, if you get yourself into it.

It’s helpful for being intentional about being present for family, and friends, and appreciating the gift of life that we share together.

Again, coming into that big picture — even when it’s not always easy.

If you want to further your shifting you can try the OnePerfect Shift app too.

I won’t spend too much time on it here as we shift, but there are lots of years of love and presence in that app.

It’s very personal.

And it works extremely well if you invest your time and attention.

I’ll share more about the app at the end today — how you can try it free.

Take a look at it if you want to.

If you like Shifts you’ll love the app.

Okay, let’s take a deeper dive into presence now.

When I say ‘deep dive’ during a Shift, by the way, what I'm talking about is setting an intention to come more fully into presence by placing 100% of your attention into the present moment for a while, for an extended while — not just for a few seconds.

Because sinking deeply into that space for a while, and just being in that place, in presence, at peace, connecting to life intentionally, is a way of rejuvenating.

Sometimes I'll talk you through some of that, depending on what the Shift topic is.

But for today, let's just take a pure deep dive to shift together.

Starting with another deep breath.

Reset that sincere intention to come fully into presence with me for the coming minutes.

—

How about 3 deep breaths in a row?

—

And on your third breath, bring all your attention into noticing the sensations of your breath.

Notice the air brushing against your nostrils.

—

Feel it?

—

And now notice the sensations of your whole body.

Shift from noticing the sensations of your nostrils, into your whole body.

Feel the tingling aliveness of you.

—

Nice.

Keep feeling your body buzz.

—

OK, good.

If you’ve closed your eyes, open them up.

Let's shift to studying our environments now.

I'm seeing the sun pouring in here through the hut window, onto my arms, and onto the couch.

Every time I look, I see something new that reminds me of the beauty that we're all embedded in, and we’re all surrounded by.

When we come into presence and just observe, you can’t help but notice it.

So just live for a while.

Just be.

What do you see?

—

Be with it.

The beauty of presence.

—

Allow all your thoughts about the future or the past to fade away for a while.

Don't get dragged around by the future.

Be here, in the present.

—

Why don't we walk outside for a little bit?

And listen to waves for a minute.

—

Just listening to life.

Fully in this moment.

—

Nice.

If you only have a little time each day that you want to dedicate all your intention and your priority to living as presently as you can, place that intention into this moment, right now.

Let's recharge together.

Listening to life with ALL your attention.

—

(Keep listening)

—

Waves crashing.

Perfect.

All right.

Feeling good? Feeling present?

Stay with it if you want.

That catches you up from here and sets us on the right path:

Presence for the day.

Hope you're having a beautiful, present day wherever you are.

I’ll talk to you soon.

Sean

—

P.S. Sharing the right Shift at the right moment can rescue a friend’s, or loved one’s, or colleague’s day.

You can share any Shift with someone you care about by tapping the blue button (or the arrow-looking thing) and sharing by email, or however you like.

Share it with friends on social media. Let’s spread the word.

Alright, have a great day.

More about the OnePerfect Shift app

With the support of the Regents of University of California, we built a hyper-personalized consumer & enterprise mobile app platform to teach how to strategically shifting how you feel anytime.

OnePerfect Shift iOS | OnePerfect Shift Android

Using the app, over 95% of people who've been surveyed reported that they were able to shift toward or into their ideal state of mind in 5-10 minutes.

The OnePerfect app is like an on-demand therapist one tap away anytime you want to shift into a better mind state.

Start your day off right, make a shift on your coffee break, get yourself motivated to perform your best, shift out of stress, or sadness, or loneliness, or even fall asleep.

OnePerfect Shift is very personal.

One big reason that the app is very personal is that you can add your own personally recorded insights into your own app Shifts — so they become extremely targeted to your personal objectives.

The app also tracks your progress and has lots of targeted multimedia Shifts and programs.

Download the app and use the free trial month to see if you like it.

iPhone | Android

Did you know that the OnePerfect Shift app is free if your employer, your school, or some other organization subscribes on your behalf?

Feel free to tell an organization you care about to contact us for a free trial.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Listen to (or read) this Shift on a Monday morning walk with me if you can.

Long deep breath. OnePerfect Shift on Monday morning.

Holy moly, let's get after this.

Here we go.

This is what we are here for, right?

Our work. Our work.

And so if you have a normal, typical workweek that starts Monday morning, the idea right now is let's get connected to our purpose…

Why we do what we do.

Maybe it's because this is the clearest expression of presence flowing through you that you can imagine — whatever your Monday morning activity is. 

Whatever your role is.

Or maybe it's that you're in your role as a step towards the clearest expression of presence flowing through you that you can imagine.

And if it's not one of those two, then maybe you should think about listening to presence flowing through you as we go here — and considering how you can take a step in your life toward at least feeling like you are on the path towards the free flow of presence, and your purpose, into the world.

Whatever category you're in right now, you take the same step on a Monday morning.

And that is to come fully into this moment.

So let's do that together.

All of our attention right here.

Allow your shoulders to relax.

I'm going to pull my shoulders back a little bit after I relax them. 

We're getting in the state to get after it this week.

Allow your arms to relax. 

Your whole body should be relaxed. 

And all your attention, 100% of your attention, right here.

Listening.

—

Being in your environment.

—

Allowing presence to flow unobstructed, unresisted through you. 

Feel it. 

Feel the buzzing of your body now.

—

Just keep breathing deeply.

Notice that tingling sensation of your alive body.  

All your cells coming together to express — to tingle with presence, to express the truth through you.

Feel that?

—

You're an embodiment of truth in form. 

Ever-changing every moment.

Aligned with the intention of that truth — your purpose.

Another long, deep breath.

And let's just set an intention together to have an incredible, an incredible week.

Set that intention:  A week of presence flowing through you.

You got it?

Alright, let's listen to life for 30 seconds, and then we'll get rolling.

Ready? 

Go.

—

Staying fully present.

If your mind wanders, just bring it back to your intention to allow presence to flow through you. 

100% of your attention right here.

—

Perfect. 

Another 10 seconds.

—

And as we tie up, set that intention to stay present throughout the day.

All right. 

Great job. 

And have an incredible week.

Sean

Thanks for shifting with me today. Subscribe for free to receive new posts.

More about the OnePerfect app

It’s very personal.

One big reason that the app is very personal is that you can add your own personally recorded insights into your own app Shifts — so they become extremely targeted to your personal objectives.

The app also tracks your progress and has lots of targeted multimedia Shifts and programs.

You can download the app and use the free trial month to see if you like it.

iPhone | Android

Over 95% of surveyed app users report being able to shift effectively in 5-10 minutes.

Try it for a while to see if you like the benefits.

Did you know that the OnePerfect app is free if your employer, your school, or some other organization subscribes on your behalf?

Feel free to tell an organization you care about to contact us for a free trial.

Hello,

I'm grateful to be able to be going back home to see my brothers and sisters and parents soon. And I'm really looking forward to it.

It's been another year full of learning and growth. There's a lot of peacefulness in my heart and life this year. I hope there’s a lot of peacefulness in your heart too.

The right track is never too far away though, regardless of where you are.

You can always take a deep breath and come into presence.

Let's do that together.

And then I'll make a few suggestions about how we can have a great holiday with family or friends.

So all our intention just listening in this moment for now.

Full presence.

Just with the intention to be able to place our attention in the present moment — and be here 100% whenever we choose to.

Just listening to life for 20 seconds.

—

Perfect.

Now let's step outside and listen to the beach waves in the background.

Let's continue by setting an intention to be intentional about how we're going into the holiday — the upcoming holiday.

Long deep breath.

Who's the person that you want to be for your loved ones, and with your loved ones?

It's a good question to ask and answer before you engage with the questions about — what do I do with those difficult moments, our those difficult loved ones?

Or those ones that you don't feel love for, but that are there in your family circle, or your friends circle, somehow. So a totally different topic.

The first and most important topic is how do you want to be?

So what is the ideal ‘you’ that you'd like to bring to this time off — time away from work?

—

You got that — got a sense of it?

You might want to jot it down for yourself, so you have easy reference when the inevitable challenge comes up.

But once you have that, now you're in great shape.

You know your intention.

If you do want to do a little pre-troubleshooting of the things that could come up, keep in mind that your expectations are huge drivers of actual events, and other people's behaviors.

What you expect is going to happen will influence what does happen. So be careful what you expect as you troubleshoot.

And that point also suggests that the idea of troubleshooting really should be a process of catching yourself and noticing yourself when you shift out of your priority — your intentional state of being with your loved ones, or with your weekend, with your time off.

So let's just sit with that intention — to primarily return yourself to your own intention whenever any “trouble” arises, or any stress arises, or anytime you get pulled out of it somehow.

Notice, and then return with your intention.

So set that intention now.

And let's just spend a minute getting into sync with that intention so that we bring it into our bodies — so it becomes very true and real as an intention that's going to last for a couple days, at least.

Alright.

Ready?

One minute.

Close your eyes if you want.

Bring the intention to mind — the state you intend to shift back into if you ever notice you got triggered emotionally.

If you bring it to mind enough, you'll bring the feeling state of that intention.

If it's love, you'll start feeling the love.

See yourself in that state to bring yourself into it.

—

Can you feel the love welling up?

Can you picture a scene of you expressing yourself as you want to, and being as you want to?

Are you smiling?

Are you interacting?

How are you feeling?

—

Feel it.

Amplify it by really sinking in, diving deep into the feeling state — the intention.

—

You got it?

Awesome.

Well, have a great time on your time off.

Return to your intention when you need to.

And have a great, present rest of your day too.

Sean

Hello there,

Albert Einstein showed us that the mass of objects bends the trajectory of light.

Now, you can try to wrap your mind around what that means.

But if you do, you may well miss what Einstein really told us when he gave light to unseen laws of nature.

Take a long, deep breath.

Allow your shoulders and neck to relax.

Your arms to fall toward the ground.

What Albert really told us, is that what you see is a distorted truth.

That fundamental truth and lesson is at once the most important to understand on your path to peace each moment — and meanwhile, it's the most difficult to continually not forget.

After all, your eyes and your ears and your other senses, they're constantly at odds with this broader truth.

Your senses present and argue for a different truth.

And that's a big part of what makes it such a challenge to remain in awareness of life's deep truths moment to moment.

This is the challenge we rise to when we meditate — or shift.

Most people that I've worked with, who make a consistent commitment to meditate, experience a couple things.

Number one, the consistent commitment pays dividends by providing structure to your day — by reminding you of your intention to value what's really important to you in life.

And number two, repetition of practice — when you do it properly — has the effect of changing your brain to improve your capacity to put your attention where you want to — and, when you want to.

And that actually leads to number three...

Being able to put your attention where you want to when you want to enables you to strategically reduce your experience of stress — anytime stresses and distractions come into your life.

That enables you to move consistently toward the results you want.

Now, it's not easy building consistency of meditating into your life.

But it does bring enormous rewards, especially over time.

Once you put some intentional and strategic practice hours behind you, after a while the floodgates to freedom open a bit.

And then they open more and more as you progress.

And peace, joy, love — they all begin to flow much more unresisted through you.

And you begin to connect to others more deeply — to be more open to others.

And to enjoy this brief time we have together here, alive.

That's why I meditate.

And it keeps getting better.

Let's focus on the breath for a little while together.

Breathe in.

And out.

Just noticing the in-breath.

And the out-breath.

All your attention focused on your breath, for the next minute.

All the sensations.

Returning your attention to your breath, over and over.

—

Good.

Sean

Personalized your Shifts with the OnePerfect app — iOS | Android | Enterprise.

Shift into confidence.

I’m recording in a busy park today.

Bear with the background sounds (if you’re listening to the audio).

It will be worth it.

This truly is so simple and straightforward.

First of all, a lot of lack of confidence comes from some form of doubt about yourself.

You think that you're kind of being a fraud somehow. But that's just this feeling that people get because we can't possibly know everything. 

We know that we have to make a lot of assumptions in life just to get by — and we don't know everything. 

Those factors (and others) create a sense of uncertainty, potentially…. 

Until, you realize that you are a living miracle. You’re a perfect specimen. 

And the way that you come into physical, bodily, state awareness of that fact is to just come fully into presence. 

And the way you do that — especially when it's about confidence — is to be fully present by focusing all your attention on listening.

And now, I know what you may be thinking…

What about if I'm speaking? Why am I focusing all my attention on listening? 

And therein lies the magic of this suggestion. 

If you put 100% of your attention into listening to your voice as you speak, and you take deep breaths anytime that you need to, people respect your deep breaths.

Deep breaths are a sign of somebody who is taking sincerely what they're talking to you about. 

They're being authentic.

They care.

They're taking their time. 

So, whenever you need to take a little bit of emotional recharge, take a deep breath.

And continue to assert your intention of listening with all your attention — whether it's you speaking, or whether it's someone speaking to you, or whether it's the silence in between.

There's silence constantly, even when you're speaking.

When you come into that space, you are authenticity. You are confidence.

Confidence and authenticity are massively overlapping.

So let's practice right now. 

Take a long deep breath. 

And by the way, this is one of the reasons why in the OnePerfect app (iOS | Android | Enterprise) you are able to record your own insights anytime.

You're always one tap away from being able to record your voice.

Because speaking your truth out loud, and listening to it, and hearing it, are all components of bringing you into authenticity. 

And when you're in that place, life is good. 

You're having far fewer doubts and questions about yourself being good enough, or your ability to meet the fears and challenges that you encounter.

You realize you're 100% worthy.

So let's just listen together for a minute. 

And then we'll finish up with one more thing.

Ready?

Listen.

(If you’re listening to the podcast audio right now, close your eyes and listen to life with 100% of your attention for a while.

If you’re only reading this post, just listen to life in silence for as long as you choose, before you continue reading.)

Just listen.

Keep listening. 

It's a practice in confidence. 

It's a practice in authenticity.

Be totally intentional about your relationship to life — your willingness to listen to life.

—

Perfect. 

And now, if your eyes were closed you can keep them closed, or you can open whenever you're ready. 

I just suggest to you, do a couple reps inside your mind's eye of yourself.

See yourself succeeding in whatever it is that you're about to go do. 

And know that people genuinely want you to succeed. 

That's what the people who matter to you — who should matter to you, the ones who care about you — that's what they want for you — for you to succeed. 

So know that you are supported. 

You are loved.

And there is always tomorrow. 

No matter what happens today. 

So just be yourself.

Be authentic. 

Be confident. 

See yourself succeeding now in your mind's eye.

And feel that feeling in your body.

—

Perfect landing every time.

Nice.

All right.

Have a great day.

Sean

P.S. If you need a reminder of how to know you’re a living miracle, listen to Shift when life is difficult.

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Let’s spread authentic confidence together.

OnePerfect Shift out of overthinking.

Hello.

How are you?  

Can't stop ruminating on the same thing (or person) over, and over, and over, and over, and over, huh?

Sorry.

I couldn't resist. 

Actually, humor is a good way to interrupt anything.

“Overthinking” is included in anything. 

You know, it's usually something not too funny, is what's hijacking our attention though, right?

So, accept my apology.

I’m not trying to be insensitive here.

But inject some humor into your life — helps you get perspective. 

So let's set an intention together to shift out of overthinking.

That was a secret, hidden, mini-shift we just did by laughing at it a little bit.

But set your intention to come into a more ideal state over the next few minutes. 

We're going to commit 100% of our attention to letting go of whatever's hijacking your attention today. 

So set your commitment to that. 

Say to yourself — ‘I'm committing 100% of my attention to letting go of whatever's hijacking my attention.’

—

Okay, good. 

Say it out loud to yourself — ‘I'm committing 100% of my attention to letting go of whatever's hijacking my attention.’

—

Good. 

Long deep breath. 

—

Feel yourself sinking into the surface you’re sitting on, or laying on. 

Just melt into it.

Feels so good to direct 100% of your attention exactly where you want to. 

And you can do that. 

—

Just be present. 

We're shifting out of overthinking together.

When your brain power is used to obsess over something that's either not essential at this moment, or something you just can't do anything about anyway in this moment, your inner space, your quiet, your silence, your peace fills up with this repetitive noise.

And it blocks you.

It sits as a dense, and often a thickening layer, in front of your peacefulness. 

And it thickens as you repeat the same thoughts over and over. 

This rumination is blocking you from paying attention to what you want to focus on — or taking actual useful, strategic steps that you want to, to move forward in your life — because obsessing hijacks your attention from the present moment.

It drags you around in this purgatory of repetition. 

So, let's interrupt it. 

Let's interrupt it further. 

Let's reconnect to the present moment intentionally, strategically, by taking another long — this time an intentional breath by inhaling deeply to a count of 4. 

Ready?

1, 2, 3, 4.

Hold your breath for 4. 

1, 2, 3, 4.

Now exhale for 4. 

1, 2, 3, 4.

And finally, relax for a count of 4. 

1, 2, 3, 4.

OK, good. 

The timing doesn't need to be exact. 

That was just a practice one, to find your rhythm and relax into it.

Let’s try it again. 

This time, focus 100% of your attention on the sensations you feel as you’re breathing in and out.

And I’ll… I’ll… why don’t you count it for yourself? 

I’ll just give the instruction. 

Ready?

Inhale deeply for a count of 4. 

—

Hold your breath for a count of 4. 

—

Exhale for a count of 4. 

—

And finally, relax for a count of 4. 

—

And we’re going to keep doing that, to calm yourself down. 

It can take a little while. 

It could take a little repetition to break that inner noise. 

So take your time. 

Don’t be in a rush. 

It’s a great way to start bringing yourself back to center, back to peace. 

And if that rumination returns, return to this breathing ritual, until you’ve slowed it down a bit. 

And then we’ll keep going.

Let’s do one more before we keep going.

Ready? 

Inhale deeply for a count of four.

—

Hold your breath for a count of four

—

Exhale for a count of four. 

—

And relax for a count of four. 

—

Good. 

Now you’ve shifted your repetitive thinking pattern a bit loose — it's time to insert some new instructions into your brain. 

And those are your instructions.

They’re up to you. 

The most important part is to identify what you want to be focused on for the next period of time.

Think about it as the next hour. 

What mind state do you want to be in?

—

Do you want to be at peace?

Do you want to be engaged in learning something new?

Or practicing something you're trying to master?

Do you want to read, or write, or call a friend, or exercise, or work?

Set an intention.

Do you want to meditate?

Do you want to nap? 

Maybe you want to sleep.

Whatever you choose, the key to breaking that rumination is replacing it.

Calming down first, as you've done.

Coming further into presence — that breaks it up a little bit.

And then replacing it with a better option for your brain to engage in for the next hour.

So, what's it going to be today, for the next hour?

—

Take 20 seconds. 

Think about that. 

Commit to it.

Decide and commit to it. 

Ready?

Go. 

—

—

You can decide on whatever you want.

You have complete ability to shift your attention with intention. 

Just put enough intention behind it.

Another 10 seconds to decide. 

What's up next for the day?

—

Got it? 

If you do, you've almost finished implementing a strategy for shifting your attention into whatever you want to be doing. 

Can you notice whether you're feeling more relaxed and less ruminative right now?

I hope you do. 

If you do, you've made a shift. 

Let's take one last step. 

The last step is actually engaging in what you want to be doing for the next period of time — say the next hour.

Ready?

All right.

I'm going to sign off, and you're going to get to it. 

Go. 

Have a great rest of your day and night.

Sean

Shift deeper anytime.

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Hey there. How are you?

Not feeling so great, I guess, if you’re checking in on this post.

Or maybe you just enjoy the shifting, no matter what we're shifting from, because we always end up in a better place than when we started.

But today is OnePerfect Shift out of being scared or anxious.

So we'll focus on that. 

Let's start with a small shift.

Just by setting that intention to shift into a more ideal state of mind over the next few minutes. 

It's important to set the intention.

Skipping steps doesn't help. 

So did you set your intention?

Okay. 

And take a long, deep breath. 

And another. 

Prepare ourselves. 

Prepare our bodies and minds.

—

Good. 

All right, let's do a specific shift now, for when you're feeling scared or anxious. 

If you're struggling with fear or anxiety, a great way to think about your life journey — to sort of re-conceptualize how you're seeing the world:

Your life journey is the sequential removal of fear from your life. 

I really love thinking about it that way. 

And I say that because removing fear is the gateway to revealing the next step in your life.

Moments of clarity emerge as your fear recedes. 

So, that begs the question, what removes fear?

Connecting to personal truth, to universal truth, to the miraculous nature of life, removes fear. 

So how do you get in touch with life's deep truths?

That's what our question is now, right?

So let's take another long, deep breath together.

And do that. 

Acknowledge the anxiety inside you. 

We're just going to sit with it. 

We're going to strategically sit with the anxiety for a while, even if it may feel scary, or it may feel unpleasant. 

It likely does. 

But the best way through it is to allow yourself to acknowledge it and feel it. 

We're not hiding. 

We're here. 

We're facing fear. 

So locate the feeling of anxiety in your body. 

Do you know where it is? 

You got it? 

Now, say hello to it. 

Befriend it, by sitting with it. 

Don't turn away. 

Just feel it for a while. 

Can you feel the sensation change at all? 

I'll give you a second. 

But notice if you feel the sensation at all as you just sit with it, and feel it.

Let's do that for 10 seconds. 

Ready? 

Go. 

—

Good, good. 

Did you notice a change? 

Let's next come into full presence intentionally, by connecting to your deepest truth.

And I'll give you an example of how I do it. 

And then you can apply what your deepest truth is. 

I come into full presence by connecting to deep truth in me. One way I love to do it, like today, is just looking at a beautiful garden, sitting in a beautiful garden. 

It evokes, for me, an amplified awareness of my deepest truth.

And as I sit, I just direct my attention to feeling my buzzing body, surrounded by, enveloped by, immersed in the garden’s beauty. 

Noticing my buzzing body, it reminds me immediately, that my body is thirty trillion-plus cells, interacting in countless ways each moment, completely outside my control. 

Life flowing into form, as me, producing my experience of life.

Think about that — 30 trillion cells interacting outside your control, as your body!

So this to me is the undeniable truth, that I'm a miracle. 

And I'm immersed in a broader miracle. 

This garden reminds me of that. 

Something so much bigger than this idea of me as an individual.

Every flower absorbing sunlight, producing oxygen, bursting with life. 

All part of the same truth. 

So take another long, deep breath with me. 

And allow each new inhale of oxygen to remind you of the miracle that sustains your life. 

We are each part of this miracle of life. 

So breathe into it with me. 

However you frame that version of truth for yourself, let's do that together for 10 seconds.

Just breathe deeply.

And be.

—

Okay. 

—

And now, close your eyes.

And let's for 20 seconds, after closing our eyes — imagine that you're sitting with me here in this beautiful garden. 

We'll drop into full presence together. 

Allow yourself a little time before we get going, to slow down even further. 

Come into alignment with this moment, the present moment.

Relax. 

Allow your body to relax. 

Allow any stories that were producing fears or anxieties to dissipate.

Thoughts and stories, just fading away for now.

And sit with me here in the garden in your mind, without any distractions, for a little while. 

Let go of wants, or needs, or the future, or the past. 

Just be.

Be now. 

Feel the truth of now. 

Listen to life. 

And let's just be together for 20 seconds this way.

Ready? 

Sit in the garden with me, being.

Go. 

—

Perfect. 

Keep feeling life flowing through you. 

Keep your eyes closed. 

Life flowing through the air, the space, and the silence — connected to your body, connected to truth, part of one miracle. 

No one can ever take that from you. 

It is you. 

Only you can become distracted from this realization. 

Are you feeling less anxious now?

How about 10 more seconds? 

Let's do 10 more seconds to really reduce anything, any inner form that's creating noise inside you, that could produce anxiety — just let it go finally now. 

Ready?

Sit with me in silence, in the garden, in your mind, proving to yourself that you have complete ability to shift your attention wherever you want it, whenever you want it. 

Ready? 

10 seconds.

Listen to the sounds of the garden. 

People working in the garden, as part of your miracle.

Can you hear that?

Listen.

—

You’re never alone. 

You feel better? 

Feel less anxious?

I hope you do.

You can always complete this post again anytime to deepen your chill.

And love life. It loves you back. 

Have a great day.

Sean

Shift deeper anytime.