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Chapter 4
The Mindful Moment
(Synopsis: In this chapter, we’ll discuss the present moment and exactly when we can use mindfulness to establish balance in our daily lives.)
There’s a crucial moment during every interaction that leads our response. It occurs before we say, do, or produce anything. It’s the moment we reach our understanding of someone’s message and initiate a reaction. Discovering this moment is enlightening because it’s the moment we shift from receiving empty words to assigning personal meaning to them. From there, we contemplate our next move and deliver actions. That instant is essential in determining how the message will affect our lives. If we bypass our awareness, we might rely on the feeling aroused by the message at that moment to dictate our response instead of making an informed choice based on our intentions.
This moment is also heavily targeted by those desiring to trigger us into action, but it lives within our control. Every marketing department, successful influencer, and savvy caller knows this vital point in our transactions. Sadly, it’s not a requirement that we discover this moment. In this crucial moment, we could prevent many of the problems we create for ourselves and those we accept from others. But we’re free to ignore it and allow it to dictate our lives subconsciously.
Four-Step Response Process
There are four phases we progress through as we answer calls. Identifying your journey through these steps in your responses can stimulate change by revealing details about your mindset, beliefs, and true intentions. Each stage also offers an opportunity to change your direction and take control of your circumstances. These stages are your primary opportunity to direct your life positively.
Phase 1
The first stage begins before receiving the call. Every response begins with our presence. Our temperament, attitude, and disposition at any moment are the primary contributors to our response. That state of being in the moment we receive a call always takes the lead. When the caller approaches, our mindset, emotional state, and the setting each play a dynamic role in our response.
Phase 2
The second phase centers on our attention. When we receive the call, we have to determine how much attention we intend to apply to it. We can fully engage, casually address, or indifferently ignore the request for our attention. It might be easy to ignore calls, but we will miss out on the essential requests we need to receive. That means we have to apply some of our attention to the calls we receive in most circumstances. We have to determine if the call is worthy of our attention.
Phase 3
The third phase arrives after we’ve applied our attention to the call and received the information. In this phase, we make the crucial decision to accept the idea, reject it, or allow it to exist without impact…