How do we help people shift their lives to the next level?

We Work On Leverage Points

Leverage points are places where we get a substantially greater payoff for the efforts we exert.  They also enable us to do things we otherwise could not do.  In training ourselves to create more happiness from our experiences in life, there are key leverage points within the mind that can greatly impact the results we are able to achieve.  Knowing what these leverage points are, and focusing our efforts on improvement through using them, give us great advantages in improving our experience of life.  Many of the greatest minds in history have identified key leverage points for making our experience of life happier, more rewarding, and more fulfilling.  People like Socrates, Plato, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Solomon, Carl Jung, Krishna, William James, Abraham Maslow, Einstein, Jesus, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others have spoken on the matter, and many common threads of insight have emerged.  These recurring gold mines of wisdom have been identified in almost every culture around the world and throughout the ages.  Our work focuses on utilizing these for maximum benefits.

 

We Access Leverage Points Through Understanding

If leverage points are a gold mine in terms of tuning the engine that drives our experience of life, how do we get access to them?  For most people the engine is locked behind a door of mystery.  Most people aren’t even aware that it exists.  Understanding is like a key that can unlock that door and give us access to the engine room.

For our work with leverage points, there are 5 key initial understandings that we must have.  Once they are understood, the door is open to us.

The 5 Key Initial Understandings That Give Us Access To The Leverage Points

In order to begin working with leverage points for improving our lives, it is best to begin with the 5 key principles of understanding.  Assimilating these 5 key concepts shifts our understanding and opens our insight into the heart of what we are doing.

Key Understanding #1:  Happiness is what we are really after

If you ask people the question: “If you could only have one, would you rather have __________, or be happy?” the vast majority of the time, happiness would be the choice.

Key Understanding #2:  The mind’s perception and interpretation of reality, has a greater impact on how we feel about life than actual reality does

It is how we perceive and interpret a particular aspect of reality that determines whether it feels good or bad to us.  Imagine a car wreck.  One driver is angry and frustrated about the damage to his car and all the time and money it will cost to get it repaired.  The other driver feels lucky that no one was seriously hurt.   They had the same event occur to each of them, but one feels fortunate and the other feels cursed.

Key Understanding #3:  What really makes us happy is how we use our minds

Key Understanding #4:  We create most of our happiness through quality relationships

Robert Waldinger gave a great TED Talk where he summarized findings from the Harvard Study of adult development.  The study tracked the lives of 724 people over a period of 75 years and is the most comprehensive study to date on what most impacts our quality of life over the long term.  The bottom line is simple- it’s the quality of our relationships.  Robert’s talk is here:  https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness#t-2848

Key Understanding #5:  A disciplined systematic approach is necessary to hone personal skills of self-awareness that help create the life we desire.  (See page 4.)

A good system improves efficiency and effectiveness by eliminating time lost to trial and error.  It steers us directly to what works.  It also provides a framework that serves as a “checklist” ensuring we cover all essential aspects.  At Gears For Your Life, we have studied and distilled our collective wisdom as a species on how to most effectively use the mind to create a high quality experience of life, day in and day out.  We identified certain mind skills, which if developed and applied, are tremendous leverage points for creating and maintaining happiness.  From that, we have developed a proven, organized and effective system to help maximize the payoff from these leverage points.  Not only does this development improve our ability to perceive, interpret and interact with reality, it improves the quality of the relationships we have access to, and our ability to make the most of those relationships, both for ourselves and others.

 

Applying Understanding Through Practice 

Just as important as having a good understanding of the best leverage points for creating a good life, is what we do with that understanding.  Having it is useless if we don’t put that knowledge into action.

Knowing how to improve our lives is like knowing the rules of a game.  It’s pointless if we don’t actually play.  And a perfect understanding of the rules does not, in and of itself, lead to success. Mastery of the game of life requires practice.  People who consistently create happiness in their lives day in and day out, are able to do so because they have become very skilled at using the leverage points.  And they built their skill by practicing, often times for years.

 

Practice And Skill Development

Developing the ability to consistently create a high quality of life experience requires effort.  But the benefits are well worth it.  What price wouldn’t we pay to be able to deeply enjoy life on a consistent basis?  And the best part is, once we develop the skills, we get the benefits for the rest of our lives.  We are then able to create and experience happiness in ways and areas where previously we could not.

“I will do today what you won’t, so I can do tomorrow what you can’t.”

A Systematic Practice For Developing Skills For Using Leverage Points

At Gears For Your Life we have found a 5 layered practice system to be very effective at developing skills in using the leverage points.  Essentially we organize the leverage points into 5 groups, or “layers.”  (Specific resources for accessing the leverage points are listed on page 6.)  The layers are:

Layer 1:  Utilizing an efficient conceptual framework of consciousness and how it works

Having an understanding of the framework of consciousness is like having a map of the mind, which helps us understand where our mind is operating at, and why it is perceiving and processing reality the way it is.  It also shows us the way to where we want to go, wherever that may be.  We can teach you about the 7 Levels Of Consciousness.

Layer 2:  Improving our subconscious thought processing

A huge amount of our processing of reality actually occurs in our subconscious mind.  It is our subconscious which drives our emotions, which drive us.  Opening our awareness of and insight into the workings of our subconscious is like raising the hood of a car so we can see how the engine is operating.  It also gives us access to modify and tune it to make it operate much more effectively, efficiently, and powerfully.

Layer 3:  Developing and pursuing a clear vision for self actualization

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.  ~Seneca   By achieving clarity about what is truly important to us and what moves us at the deepest levels, and becoming aware of hidden conflicts within our values and belief systems, we are able to move in directions that will best support our living as our true, authentic selves.  This is when we have the most profound and fulfilling experiences of life as a human.

Layer 4:  Developing specific mind skills to better create happiness from experiences

Certain mind skills have been heralded by sages throughout the ages as being key components of living a good life.  They have been advocated from cultures around the globe and across the centuries.  By getting good at these skills, we can equip our minds to be exceptionally effective at creating happiness from our experiences.  These mind skills are universally applicable across people and cultures.  (We call these the 21 Indicees.)

Layer 5:  Habit building

Creating great experiences of life is like learning to drive a car.  At first the motions seem arbitrary and clumsy.  But as we practice and become skilled, driving becomes second nature and quite easy.  While the learning curve for reliably creating great experiences of life is steeper and longer than learning to drive a car, once we learn it, it is much easier to do.  The habits that we build to support the process are more individually focused on the particular needs, circumstances, and life path of each person.

 

How Effective is a Systematic Approach?

How effective is a systematic approach?

Here are some specific examples of things people have actually achieved by using a systematic approach to increasing their skill at using leverage points:

Greatly increased levels of peace, joy, and love in their life

Greatly expanded self-awareness and insight

Greatly enhanced self-esteem and confidence

Developing more richly satisfying relationships

Elimination of persistent inner conflict

Breaking self-sabotaging patterns

Overcoming depression

Overcoming paralyzing guilt and regret

Significantly reducing hostility in a divorce, amicably resolving it for the sake of the kids

Restoring broken relationships

Transforming a life of anxiety to a life of joy

Significantly increased social insight and interpersonal skill

Identifying and securing their dream job

Increased conflict resolution skills

Transforming ego based relationships into relationships based on true love

Greater wisdom

Transitioning to living as their true, authentic self

Determining their life purpose

Attaining enlightenment

Evolving their consciousness at more than twice the normal rate

Enhanced capacity for empathy

Enhanced intuition

Greater creativity

Breaking free of societal conditioning

Cessation of life-long nightmares

Overcoming and eliminating post-traumatic stress

 

 

Want To Know More?

 

Additional Information

If you would like more information, you can:

1)  visit our free resources page where we have free resources available (they are listed below) and also find links to talks we have given on the subject of consciousness (listed in number 3 below)

2)  call Jennifer at 817-658-9646 to have a free workbook mailed to you (containing the resources listed below)

3)  view the following online videos of talks we have given on consciousness:

Transcending The Ego- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orm9ySmbOK0

The Consciousness Paradigm- https://vimeo.com/66785715

Using Consciousness To Create The Life We Want- https://vimeo.com/46340480

The Convergence Of Science And Spirituality- https://vimeo.com/46559771

4)  purchase The Consciousness Paradigm at Amazon via the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Paradigm-John-Smotherman/dp/0615367933.  This is the book from which our philosophy, principles and resources are derived.

5)  call or text Jennifer at 817-658-9646 to inquire about our coaching and training services

 

Resources:

We make the following resources available on our resource page for free:  1)  A set of “Jump Start” exercises that are a good, easy way to start exploring the process.  2)  A more in depth Public Workbook for diving more deeply into gearing up life.  The Public Workbook contains the following sections, organized according to our 5 layered practice system:

Layer 1-  Utilizing An Efficient Conceptual Framework Of Consciousness And How It Works

1)  Explanation Of The 7 Levels Of Consciousness

2)  Self Perception And Its Influence On Morality

3)  The Underlying Center Of Gravity Of Interest In Social Interactions

4)  Relationship Considerations

5)  Energetic/Environmental Mental And Emotional Background Energy

6)  Learning Exercises

Layer 2-  Improving Our Subconscious Thought Processing

1)  Primer On The Sunrise Meditation Method

2)  Primer On Assumption Management

3)  Primer On Following The Pain Back To Its Subconscious Origins And Eliminating It

4)  Practice Exercises

Layer 3-  Developing And Pursuing A Clear Vision For Self Actualization

1)  Coaching worksheets on developing a clear life vision for self-actualization and a plan of action that supports it

Layer 4-  Developing Specific Mind Skills That Help Us More Effectively Create Happiness From Our Experiences

1) The 21 Indicees of Consciousness

2)  Practice Exercises

Layer 5-  Habit Building

1)  Primer On Constructive Life Habits And Building Them

2)  Habit Development And Tracking Sheets