Hello friend,
By now, you’ve likely had at least a taste of this work—perhaps through one of the following:
Today, I want to show you what’s actually happening in your nervous system when you Presence Shift.
This post is a plain-language ‘why this works’ map for our Year of Presence—a look at what’s unfolding beneath the surface each time you move through the 5 Inner Steps, including:
What your nervous system is doing when a “bad day” starts to take over
What changes across Answer → Intend → Focus → Flow → Begin
Why repeating the same 5 Inner Steps in real-life moments gradually retrains your nervous system
If you like understanding things from the inside out, this one’s for you. But before we go further, take one slow breath with me.
In…
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…and out…
Your 24/7 Inner Conversation
Whether you’re reading this on a calm morning or in the middle of a stressful night, one thing is always true:
There is a 24/7 inner conversation happening inside you.
Words. Images. Memories. Predictions.
Tension. Hope. Dread. Meaning-making.
That ongoing inner story doesn’t just describe your life.
It actively shapes your moment-to-moment experience of being alive.
Your inner conversation influences your emotional cycles, your energy, and how your day unfolds — often more than the external events themselves.
Your Inner Conversation Is Living Tissue
Over the last century, psychology and neuroscience have converged on something simple and profound: Your brain and body are not static hardware.
They are a living, adaptive system — cells firing, wiring, and rewiring in response to:
What you repeatedly pay attention to
How you respond to pain, fear, safety, or possibility
Every time you:
Replay an old criticism
Spiral into worst-case scenarios
Or return to a grounded breath
…your cells are listening.
They adjust what feels familiar.
They shape what your system expects next.
They determine what becomes “normal.”
Your inner conversation isn’t “just in your head.”
It’s a physiological event — a living pattern across your nervous system.
That’s part of the scientific backbone of what I call The Presence Revolution.
Why Arguing With Thoughts Often Fails
Older approaches to emotion regulation often emphasized:
Identify your thoughts
Challenge them
Replace them with more “balanced” ones
That can help — when you’re already calm.
But when you’re at all flooded (anxious, reactive, overwhelmed, numb), trying to think your way out often backfires.
You’re asking yourself to climb a mental ladder in the middle of an emotional storm while your body is still in survival mode.
Meanwhile:
Breath is shallow
Muscles are tight
Heart rate is elevated
Threat circuitry is active
So you’re trying to negotiate with thoughts while still inside the state that produced them.
No wonder rumination often intensifies instead of resolving.
New Psychology: Shift Into Presence First
Modern research — alongside mindfulness science, somatic work, contemplative practice, and decades of clinical experience — points to a different sequence:
Shift into presence first.
Then engage with your thoughts.
That’s exactly what the 5 Inner Steps in The Presence Shift are designed to do:
Answer — honestly name what kind of moment this is
Intend — set a clear intention to become fully present
Focus — bring attention into breath, body, sensation, sound, etc.
Flow — let presence orient toward one small next step
Begin — actually start that step from presence
As you do this, your nervous system tends to:
De-escalate
Soften muscle tension
Shift breathing patterns
Restore access to flexibility, creativity, and perspective
Increase feeling connected to life right now
That’s presence shifting: guiding your system back to feeling connected right now — and letting your next step emerge from that state.
From there, you can relate to your thoughts without being consumed by them, if you choose to do so as the next step of your day.
A Short Presence Shift (Try This Now)
Before we go further, let’s pause together for a very brief Presence Shift.
You don’t need to feel calm first.
Just willing to pause.
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Answer
Take one long, slow breath.
Quietly ask yourself:
What kind of moment is this for me right now?
Name it in a word or two.
No fixing. No improving. Just noticing.
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Intend
Take another slow breath.
As you exhale, set a simple intention:
I intend to become fully present over the next few minutes.
Let that intention land in your body.
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Focus
Bring your attention into this moment.
Feel your feet where they touch the ground.
Notice the weight of your body being held.
You might sense the subtle buzz of your body —
thirty trillion cells quietly alive.
Let your attention rest here for a few breaths.
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Feel your deep connection to all of life through your body and breath.
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Flow
From this more present state, notice what the next small step of your day might be.
You don’t need to plan it.
In this case, let it come into view that your next step is finishing this post.
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See that plan in your mind’s eye.
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Begin
When you’re ready, actually begin that step.
A Presence Shift isn’t complete until you begin.
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So let’s keep going…
30 Trillion Buzzing Cells & A Shared Field
You are made of roughly 30 trillion buzzing cells.
In the short Presence Shift you just completed you noticed the body buzz that your 30-trillion cells are producing 24/7.
Somehow, those cells:
Hold memory
Generate emotion
Fall in love
Create art
Grieve, imagine, pray, and wonder
And they don’t exist in isolation.
They’re immersed in:
Other people and their nervous systems
Nature, cities, light, sound, gravity
A larger living world that is constantly shaping and being shaped
From this view, presence isn’t just a mindset.
Presence is what happens when your whole system remembers:
I am a connected piece of life in this moment.
Your inner conversation is one weather pattern inside a much larger sky.
Across Traditions — One Shared Insight
Different traditions name this differently:
Christianity speaks of abiding in love or divine Presence
Buddhist practice emphasizes returning, again and again, to awareness
Dzogchen points to immediate recognition of already-present knowing
Indigenous traditions emphasize listening to land, ancestors, and life
They don’t share doctrine, but they share a quiet intuition:
Life is miraculous and being awake to this moment matters.
Presence shifting doesn’t replace any path.
It offers your nervous-system a ritual that can support any path:
Answer → Intend → Focus → Flow → Begin
How Repetition Retrains Your System
When you repeat the same 5 Inner Steps in many real situations, your nervous system begins to:
Recognize the pattern as safe
Relax more quickly
Recover perspective sooner
Treat presence as home base rather than a rare visitor
You’re not memorizing a formula.
You’re training your nervous system — retraining your 30 trillion cells to recognize presence, and your unique path to presence, as familiar.
This is what I mean when I say the 5 Inner Steps become second nature. And this is exactly what The Presence Shift Masterclass is designed to support:
Science-based training to live with more presence through 5 Inner Steps that become second nature.
How to Use This in Your Year of Presence
A simple rhythm:
Learn the map
Try the Begin post to complete a full Presence Shift and actually begin the next step of your day in your flow state.
Repeat in real moments
Complete The Three Introductory Presence Shifts and use the Weekly Presence Shifts for anxiety, grief, conflict, fatigue, numbness, or everyday life as they post.
Let presence shape your days
Whenever you notice yourself drifting into unwanted emotional territory:
Notice it
Walk yourself through the 5 Inner Steps
Begin your next step from presence & flow
You don’t need perfection.
You don’t need to remember every detail.
What matters most is simple:
You notice when you’ve drifted.
You return using the 5 Inner Steps.
You begin the next step of your day from presence.
That quiet shift in your nervous system is where real change happens.
Stay present,
Sean
Sean Sullivan, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and creator of The Presence Shift®, a science-based, 5-step ritual for presence shifting in real life moments.
Emotional Safety Notice & Warning
The statements on The Presence Shift have not been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. This project is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The Presence Shift is not intended as medical advice or as a replacement for professional health or mental health services.
Some content may be emotionally provocative, including references to abuse, trauma, grief, and other difficult experiences. If you are not feeling comfortable, please stop until you feel safe again. You can explore getting emotional support anytime at wannatalkaboutit.com—or by calling 988 in the United States or your local crisis line.
