AN ELEGANT MIND'S HANDBOOK: Transforming Reaction into Response

By Paula Tozer

Elegance is the natural expression of prosperity.  It is who you are before you think about it and decide otherwise. 

You were meant to live an elegant life!
In a 10-year span, I experienced a painful divorce as well as the deaths of 15 friends and family members.  I reached a point where I was left asking myself:  Where do I go from here?  Where is the hope in fighting a battle that never seems to end?  

That's when I gave up the fight and looked within for direction.

The rebuilding process began with one basic step...becoming friends with the one person who, no matter how high I climbed, or how far I ran, was always with me.  That person was me!  

Through the words of the part of me that I call my Constant Traveler, the most honorable, compassionate, and elegant part of me that I can possibly imagine, I found the answers that allowed me to rest, recover, and heal.

An invitation...
The 52 statements in An Elegant Mind's Handbook are the threshold to an open dialogue with your own Constant Traveler.  Allow the most honorable, compassionate, and elegant part of you to be revealed...

Then learn how to love what you see...

In this book, you will discover the benefits of:

• Living in the gap
• Cultivating a friendship with your Constant Traveler
• Embracing an Everything Gently mindset
• Living with Fearless Faith, Focus, and Fortitude
• Creating a personal Standard of Excellence

and so much more!

Through simple, effective practices, your Constant Traveler will remind you that elegance is pure living!

• Language: English
• Publisher: DeVorss Publications
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9780875169101

Book preview

Elegance Is…

Elegance is the natural expression of inner wealth. It is innate, universal, and observable. It is who you are before you have a chance to think about it and decide otherwise. Elegance is not learned. All things are made of it; it is a building block of being.

The expression of elegance is not limited to human beings but includes all beings and all things. Each possesses that which it is—vibrant energy, natural flow, and authenticity. Elegance is demonstrated in a bird’s song, in the lithe, fluid movement of a mountain lion, within a gnarled, ancient apple tree standing stark against the sky. It is delivered by a mare’s tail cloud, by deep ocean waves crashing on a rocky shore, on the back of a neon green beetle that finds its way inside my house.

The interesting thing about elegance is that human beings are the only beings who forget to remember what is so blatantly obvious to all other aspects of nature. Nature knows, because elegance is pure living. Why is this? Perhaps because they don’t spend precious time considering an alternative, expending an extraordinary amount of energy attempting to persuade others of what they are not.

SACRED SIMPLICITY…

Among other descriptors, the dictionary describes elegance as simplicity. It shows up as clean lines, clarity, and genuineness. It is not acquired or learned. It is intrinsic.

Our world is full of complexities, convolutions, and confusions. They catch us up in a cyclone of thoughts and emotions, and we never seem to touch down, to feel solid ground under our feet. It is scary stuff.

WOULDN’T IT BE NICE TO HAVE THAT CYCLONE CEASE?

Consider those things you hold sacred in your life. I think that once you begin to look for them, you will find that they are quite basic. Holding the goal of simplicity in our minds can slow the whirlwind.

Elegance is the natural expression of a beautiful mind; it is the result of focused intention. It is demonstrated when we resist the temptation to wallow in the mire of negative, destructive thoughts and instead lift our being with mastery and majesty to where we can see the panoramic view.

CONTEMPLATION…

We live our lives at the whim of our emotions and think this is all there is to life. We perceive and react as we get pulled in by the undertow of life’s drama. To understand the chaos of strong emotion—to calm the waters and allow us to see clearly to the bottom of the pool—there is contemplation.

Contemplation is a form of meditation, of becoming familiar with our mind. By considering an idea or thought and chewing on it in order to savor its flavor, we are allowing the monkey chatter that can overwhelm our consciousness to subside.

An Elegant Mind’s Handbook is the result of over fifteen years of study, questioning, and contemplation. It represents my focused efforts to summarize that which I had come to hold as sacred into concise statements of elegant simplicity.

This text is by no means complete, no more complete than my life is complete. In this volume I expand upon each statement as it comes through my dialogues with my Constant Traveler. I offer them to you as a beginning for your personal dialogue with your own Constant Traveler.

Contemplation is a space in which you may be intimately familiar or where you may not have visited until now. Either way, it has been waiting for you.

Living in the Gap

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. —Viktor E. Frankl

As Frankl notes, there is a gap between something that provokes a response in you and your response. OK, it may be only a second or two, but it is there. That gap is your power. You can make the choice to stretch out that gap, to make it longer. In the gap you have choices. Become mindful of this gap and give it your full attention.

When faced with a challenging situation, an elegant mind uses discretion and discernment. It takes the time required to respond in a mature manner. Psychologists call this self-regulation. Responding instead of reacting is what it means to live in the gap. Reaction is acting instinctively, based on emotion. Response is acting executively, based on wisdom. The gap is where we determine if we are a follower or a leader—a queen, a king, or a pawn.

If you travel to London and take the underground subway system, you will be reminded often to Mind the Gap.

First introduced in 1968, this now famous phrase cautions travelers, audibly or visually, to pay attention when crossing the gap between the train door and the station platform.

Consider how signs and symbols for elegant living are everywhere if we train ourselves to look for them...

Be mindful: The gap is where we transform reaction into response.

An Elegant Mind…

An Elegant Mind Loves Wide Open.

Love’s return is not its concern.

What is love? Can you know love by comparing it to what it is not? Love does not compare to anything. There are no degrees of true love—that is why it is called unconditional. There are, however, degrees of special love, attached love, and dependent love. What does it mean to love wide open? Wide-open love is love without attachments. You are not attached to any gain or outcome when you love wide open—you just let whatever comes flow through. Wide open means you are simply expressing your nature as a human being. You hold nothing back. The return on this investment is the realization of your own potential. To explore this and understand it as our foundation, what you are truly expressing as you live each day, you must go beyond the conventional way of thinking. Words are symbols for the feeling our thoughts incite. Our thoughts allude to something even deeper. In this manner, consider compassion (the desire to relieve suffering and give joy) as being synonymous with unconditional love.

Compassion begins with you. You cannot share that which is not yours to give. Authentic compassion for yourself will gradually mature into compassion for others as you realize that others are really the same as you—when you understand that everyone, at some point in their life, has suffered.

This means you must respect yourself, the quality of your thoughts, and your personal autonomy regarding loving. You must respect the autonomy of others more than you value your interpretation of love by offering it without expectation of return.

LOVE IS, REGARDLESS OF YOUR PERCEPTION OF IT…

Love is always simply love, regardless of the myriad forms in which it manifests. It is you who confuses love when you taint it with fear of its loss. It, however, remains constant. Its expansive nature extends itself by limitless sharing.

WOULD YOU BE OFFERING LOVE IF YOU PLACED ANY LIMITS ON IT?

The folks who live as close to true love as humanly possible do not feel the compulsion to say it is so. They are living examples of love, so in tune with their essence that its fragrance attracts everyone. They offer it free of charge and expect nothing in return. Return is not a concern, as they are too focused on what they are extending to be concerned about what is reflected. They are in love with the way the light plays off all that they see.

A Constant Traveler Reminder:

LOVE WIDE OPEN

What does loving wide open look like in your life? Flesh it out in point by point form. Dream bigger than you have before. Describe a scenario where you would be loving without attachment to an outcome.

Give someone you know some TLC.

Eventually, you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.

—Gary Zukav

An Elegant Mind Knows That Freedom from Limitation Is Attainable…

…and that its pursuit is worthwhile.

The universe is an infinite source of wealth and knowledge, available to anyone. With an elegant mind, you are able to tap into this vision of freedom at any time, knowing that no matter what problem or limitation you are experiencing, there is a solution waiting to connect with you.

THE ELEGANT MIND’S CHOICE…

You have been creating the vision for your life all your life. Your past choices and your experiences based on those choices have brought you here. What does your best life look like? To be free to pursue your best life, you must hold the vision of it in your mind: what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like as you describe it. Be prepared to accept the changes your vision will require of you.

CHANGE OR RESISTANCE?

Life is change. It is the only constant in life. Regardless of our protestations, it is impossible to not be subject to the changes that come with time. Resistance to change manifests as stagnation and regression. These can bring on stress and disease.

EMBRACING CHANGE…

Elegance is acceptance of the natural flow of thoughts and events. With time comes the opportunity to discover and understand the elegance of your own mind with greater clarity. The possibilities are endless.

Your choice to mount an expedition of self-discovery is the genesis of possibility. All new discoveries begin with the inspiration of the explorer—you must first imagine it possible.

You place limitations on yourself when you judge each thought, each word, each action as worthy or unworthy. Begin by practicing observation of your thoughts without any intention, evaluation, or reaction. This can be achieved through contemplation and meditation.

To live your best life, it is necessary to value each achievement. A beginning effort slowly and surely builds momentum.

KNOW THAT WHAT YOU KNOW IS NOT ALL THERE IS TO KNOW…

You accumulate information every day in the form of experience. Looking back at your life, you can acknowledge that you know more than you did when you were a kid, even if you simply call that knowledge experience, even if all you know for sure is,I won’t do that again.

How do you know what you know? Do you believe you are wiser than you were last year? Ten years ago?

You have been thinking within the confines of rules, boundaries, and limitations all your life. Many of these were adaptations designed to keep you safe, but many no longer serve you. Perhaps it is time to offer yourself the freedom to choose otherwise?

THE CHOICE TO WALK CREATES THE PATH AHEAD...

Consider your choices as a series of luminous stepping-stones that are powered not by the sun but by your intention. They extend in all directions but light up only when they sense your attention and energy. When you make the move, the step responds and lights up.

Consider the smallest obstacle you have overcome, and begin there. Freedom can be accomplished one gentle step at a time. Each step is the springboard for the next one—it energizes and forms the next step.

Understanding freedom from limitation does not have to be overwhelming; it can be done in increments. Envision a gently sloping pathway of easily navigated steps—a stairway designed to build confidence and staying power.

Have you ever…?

Lost a pound

Taken a course and passed it

Made a new recipe

Sung a song (and not just in the shower)

Spoken up for yourself

Assembled an IKEA product

Learned to play guitar

ITS PURSUIT IS WORTHWHILE…

Pursuit, in this regard, is an activity (an occupation, career, interest, etc.) to which one devotes time and energy. Success can be achieved in the same manner as a baby learning to walk (baby steps), approaching it with the four Fs—fearless, faith, focus, and fortitude:

Fearless—because when you practice doing something you fear, you begin to fear it less and less. This is the genesis of confidence.

Faith—that the Wellspring of Inspiration is open to all, always and in all ways. It is through inspiration that you create the vision of your best life.

Focus—the result of inspiration that sustains your intention and attention as you advance with confidence toward the vision of your best life.

Fortitude—as, expressing the spirit of a Michelangelo, you keep your eyes on the prize, chipping away at the block of stone, gradually revealing the work of art underneath, the work of art that is your life.

It would be overwhelming to implement these suggestions all at once, but perhaps one per week is achievable?

A Constant Traveler Reminder:

ACTIVATE THE NEW 1% RULE

To change your life 100% right now would be overwhelming, but to implement change in 1% increments, weekly, is quite attainable. And after one year, you would have changed your life by 52%. These are the minimum results you can expect, because change can build in momentum, and quantum leaps are possible.

Need help deciding where to focus your efforts? Consider Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix (Put First Things First) in his business classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, where he states that our efforts can be organized into four quadrants:

Urgent and Important (items requiring our