Fresh Book Encourages Openness in order to Thrive Through Change and Obstacles

Ann Van Eron's new book Open Stance: Thriving Amid Differences and Uncertainty convincingly shows us that the best way we can improve our relationships and cope with life's changes and obstacles is to be open-minded, or adopt an open stance.

The book opens with a powerful quote by Jim Collins, which perfectly sums up why this open stance is essential: "If the initial 2 decades of the twenty-first century have taught us anything, it is that uncertainty is chronic, instability is permanent, disruption is common, and we can neither predict nor govern events. There will be no new normal. There is only going to be a continuous series of not normal episodes defying prediction and unforeseen by most people until they happen." The response many of us might feel to the tumultuous change all around us would be to run and hide. Ann Van Eron realizes that. She describes a secondary she took to Santorini, Greece, which she thinks of as her oasis because there she learned to relax, quit stressing, and become open to what was around her.

Since being on a perpetual vacation isn't an option for most people, Ann encourages us to find our own oases or pleasant memories of times whenever we felt open and relaxed and apply them to situations inside our lives which may be more difficult. Whenever we approach our obstacles with exactly the same openness we approach a vacation or other positive things, we can shift to being more open-minded and finding ways to appreciate even the most difficult situations or come to find common ground with people we previously felt were too different for us to see eye-to-eye with.

Needless to say, being open or closed is all a state of mind. Ann teaches us how to be aware of whenever we are closed-to be aware of our thoughts and how they could be sabotaging us or preventing us from taking an open stance that may bring us greater fulfillment or peace of mind. She reminds us that we each have an interior spin doctor who tells us stories about situations, other folks, and ourselves. We need to be aware of when the spin doctor is operating, twisting perspectives to make us look good and others less so. By watching our thoughts also to other people, we are able to open a door to possibilities.

As a business consultant, Ann has worked with numerous organizations to teach their members how exactly to take such an open stance. She has witnessed firsthand how companies faced with diversity challenges experienced employees shift to being open so they could co-create solutions. Now in Open Stance, she shares the various tools and processes that have worked for the many people she has guided through the procedure. The book is split into four sections. Part One argues the case for being open, Part Two offers a process for shifting to being open, Part Three shares practices for embodying an open stance, and Part Four encourages us to take action from an open stance to help make the world an improved place, whether in simple ways or larger ones within our local or global community.

Through the entire book, Ann shares not only her very own experiences helping others to become more open, but she backs up her statements with research, showing, for example, how employees are more engaged if they are open and experiencing wellbeing. The result for companies is greater financial success and positive impact on their customers. By creating  what is openai  that's more open, people feel psychology safe, and they are more willing to share ideas, tend to be more creative, and are better together.

While being open may appear easy, it requires learning to listen to other folks to understand them. Ann discusses such topics as empathy and how to most probably to and interested in others. She also cautions us never to assume we are able to easily understand another. Can we really know very well what it's like to be in a wheelchair or to be unable to get yourself a cab because of our skin color? However, we can pay attention to others and arrived at understand why they hold the beliefs and opinions they do so we are able to find common ground.

We also can expand our emotional vocabulary to raised listen to ourselves. For instance, instead of use basic descriptions of emotions like happy, sad, or angry, we can expand to pinpoint whether we are frustrated, irritated, afraid, or annoyed. By becoming more alert to our emotions, we are able to develop greater emotional intelligence. We will also then be better in a position to notice what emotions others are responding from so we can respond easier to them.

Some of this might seem like common sense, but it is easy to forget these practices if we are closed. It is also an easy task to forget what long-lasting ripple effects we are able to create simply by having "compassionate curiosity" and connecting to one another. Open Stance's final section is really a true tour-de-force vision of how good the world could be if we simply focus on being open, play the role of optimistic, and express gratitude.