New Book Encourages Openness to help Thrive Through Change along with Obstacles

Ann Van Eron's new book Open Stance: Thriving Amid Differences and Uncertainty convincingly shows us that the simplest way we are able to 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 first 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. You will see no new normal. There is only going to be a continuous group of not normal episodes defying prediction and unforeseen by most people until they happen." The response most of us might feel to the tumultuous change all around us would be to run and hide. Ann Van Eron understands that. She describes a vacation she took to Santorini, Greece, which she thinks of as her oasis because there she learned to relax, quit stressing, and be open to what was around her.

Since being on a perpetual vacation is not an option for most people, Ann encourages us to find our very own oases or pleasant memories of that time period when we felt open and relaxed and apply them to situations in our lives which may be more difficult. Whenever we approach our obstacles with exactly the same openness we approach a secondary 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.

Of course, 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 will bring us greater fulfillment or peace of mind. She reminds us that people each have an internal 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 create us look good and others less so. By watching our thoughts and to other people, we are able to open a door to possibilities.

As a small business consultant, Ann spent some time working with numerous organizations to teach their members how exactly to take such an open stance. She's witnessed firsthand how companies faced with diversity challenges have had 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 process. The book is split into four sections. Part One argues the case for being open, Part Two supplies a process for shifting to being open, Part Three shares practices for embodying an open stance, and Part Four encourages us to do this from an open stance to make the world a better place, whether in simple ways or larger ones in your local or global community.

Through the entire book, Ann shares not merely her own experiences helping others to become more open, but she backs up her statements with research, showing, for instance, how employees are more engaged when they are open and experiencing wellbeing. The result for companies is greater financial success and positive impact on their customers. By developing a workplace that is more open, people feel psychology safe, and then they are more ready to share ideas, are more creative, and work better together.

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

We also can expand our emotional vocabulary to raised listen to ourselves. For example, 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 can 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 better to them.

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