August 23, 2025 • 25 mins
Episode104: The Power of Neutral Good: Embracing Life’s In-Between Seasons
Join host Kimen Petersen on "Your Inner Advocate" as we explore the often-overlooked “neutral good” seasons of life—the quiet, in-between times after struggle but before breakthrough. Discover why these moments are essential for growth, healing, and self-discovery.
In this episode:
- What are “neutral good” times, and why do they matter?
- Real stories of recovery, patience, and gradual progress
- The power of presence and embracing the now
- How rest and reflection fuel resilience
- Practical tips for making the most of life’s slower seasons
- Lessons from nature and visualization exercises
- Encouragement to trust the process and prepare for your next chapter
Whether you’re coming back from a setback, feeling stuck, or simply in a season of waiting, this episode will inspire you to find strength, wisdom, and joy in the present moment.
Connect with us: Instagram: @yourinneradvocate Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, and more.
If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, like, and share with someone who could use a little encouragement today!
=
Short Timeline Summary
-
00:00 — Introduction & Episode Theme Welcome and overview of “neutral good” seasons.
-
01:00 — Defining Neutral Good Times What these in-between moments mean and why they matter.
-
03:00 — Stories of Recovery Real-life examples of patience, healing, and gradual progress.
-
06:00 — Embracing Presence & Rest The importance of slowing down and letting growth happen.
-
10:00 — Practical Tips Journaling, mindfulness, and self-care for neutral seasons.
-
15:00 — Lessons & Encouragement Reflections, quotes, and motivation to trust the process.
-
20:00 — Closing Thoughts & Outro Final encouragement and ways to connect with the show.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to Your Inner Advocate,a podcast by Kimen Petersen,
formerly Conversations with Kimen.
This podcast is a space forinspiration, soulful insights,
and meaningful life lessons.
Your host, Kimen Petersen drawsfrom personal stories and powerful
conversations with remarkablepeople to help illuminate your path.
These episodes reflect his livedexperiences and thoughtful perspectives,
(00:25):
all aimed at encouraging you to live lifewith greater authenticity, joy, and ease.
Your inner advocate is here tohelp you tune in, trust your inner
wisdom, and move through life withmore clarity, flow, and fulfillment.
. Welcome back , today I want to talk toyou about a season in life that often gets
(00:47):
overlooked, A season that might not feeldramatic or intense, yet holds incredible
wisdom if we choose to lean into it.
It's what I call the neutral good times.
These are moments you'veovercome a big injury, a setback.
Or even after a long plateauin your performance, you're
(01:10):
no longer in the struggle,
but you're also not yetin the breakthrough.
You're in the middle,
or like we say in manual therapy,probably you're in the distal third.
And here's the truth.
(01:30):
We don't always have to begrinding, pushing, and striving.
There is profound powerin simply being present.
Embracing the now and letting lifeintegrate the lessons we've learned
as athletes and as human beings,or just incredibly extraordinary
(01:50):
people, we are conditioned to chaseprogress, to always aim higher.
Faster.
Harder.
But what if the neutral seasons
are the most important seasons at all?
(02:14):
You know, um, a lot of this comes fromone of the people I work with, uh, who
just overcome a series of injuries.
In fact, you could almost put.
That person or another person who'skind of plateaued for a while or
some of the other athletes I workwith who've been through really
(02:38):
tough moments in the last few years.
Now, if you've ever worked withsomeone like that, you know how long
and frustrating the road can be.
And when they typically, when somebodycomes back, even myself, right?
Right now I'm coming back from hamstringstrain and my first walk run, I,
(03:01):
I just went out as hard as I couldand I set myself back for a week.
So, you know, they, myself, you, I thinkevery human being has this idea, like,
we want to get back as quick as possible,like we got places to be and things to do.
(03:22):
But there, there's this thingthat we need to start off slow.
We need to go back slow.
We don't need to jump in with both feet.
And
if you've ever been in thisposition, when you start this walk
run program like I'm doing, oryou start coming back to training.
(03:47):
Yeah, I was thinking this.
The other, I feel like I'm doing nothing.
I feel like I'm standing still,
but what a walk run program is about,it's not about re rebuilding cardio.
It's not a lot.
It's not about likegetting the speed back.
(04:09):
It's simply progressivelyloading the tissues of the body,
the ligaments, the tendons.
And the joints and the muscles, andgiving them an opportunity to adapt
so that they can get ready forthe new load without breaking
down and causing problems.
(04:31):
And you know what?
It doesn't, it feels like it takes awhile, but eventually one day you're back.
And that's kind of wherethe neutral good times are.
They live in this space where.
You can remember where you were, youknow, before the injury, before the
(04:54):
incident, before everything happened,
and you can remember all the, all theheartache, heartbreak, the frustration,
the upset that happened when you knewyou were injured, and the time you
had to be patient through that injury.
(05:15):
And that's, and then you can rem you'resitting back and you're looking at
where you are now, and maybe you'renot as fast as you used to be right
now, but you're doing pretty good.
And, and that's what theneutral good times are.
They feel slow, they might feelboring beneath the, the surface.
(05:39):
But adaption is happening.
Integration is, integration ishappening, and healing's happening.
How about this quote for these times?
Sometimes the most productivething you can do is rest.
(06:00):
It's a quote by Mark Black.
And when we're resting, we'renot, it's not, we're, we're
not doing nothing as per se.
But we're allowing all thegrowth that came through this
whole process to settle in.
Just like muscles don't grow during theworkout, but in the recovery after your
(06:25):
life, your spirit, your re resilience
grows the most in theneutral good seasons.
You bring it in, you incorporateit, you really see the lesson.
So if you're in the neutral,good right now, breathe.
You're not behind, you're not stuck.
You're rebuilding.
You're rebuilding your mind, yourresilience and your strength.
(06:51):
You're incorporating everythingyou learned on your path.
Think about the times he broke down
just before you knew what was going on.
When you actually had a confirmeddiagnosis of what was going on
(07:13):
and then the way the places yourmind wanted to go, is it over?
Am I ever gonna get back?
And the, just the fact that youdidn't quit during this shows
something incredible about you.
Just the fact that you just kept on goingeven though you didn't know for sure.
(07:43):
See,
stuff like faith, faith isn't a guarantee.
Like when somebody believes in somethingthat they have no evidence for, they
believe that something's gonna work out.
Despite where you are, that'sfaith and making through seasons
(08:06):
like this increase your faith.
So let me tell you another story.
I know somebody who'san Iron Ironman athlete
and they went through a brutal trainingseason coming up to their big event.
(08:31):
And every single workoutwas about pushing the edge,
but after the race, they didn'tknow what to do with themselves
feeling aimless, nothing on thecalendar, no dramatic goals,
(08:51):
and instead of like forcing themselves.
Right into another race.
They decided to embracethis neutral good time.
They started looking at what do I haveto lean into when my main thing isn't
going wrong or isn't going right?
It's interesting, uh, years ago Iwas working with an athlete and they
(09:14):
had a, uh, an injury and they werereally frustrated and I asked them
simply, what do you have to lean into?
When running isn't going great.
And they looked up at me and said,what do you have besides work Kimon?
And I'm like, ah, touche.
And that's when I found something.
(09:35):
So the interesting thing about theneutral good times, you could look
at what do you have to lean intowhen things aren't going great?
What do you have outside your main things?
And maybe, you know, if you're not alwaysthinking about your main thing, maybe
(09:56):
you're gonna be less mentally exhausted.
Maybe, maybe this is a time to read,maybe this is a time to learn how to cook.
Maybe there's some kind of a cool interestthat you could get into in this time.
You know, this person thought their,their identity was only racing.
(10:17):
But it turns out that their strength was
who they are when they're not racing.
That is the gift of neutral seasons.
They remind us we are more thanour sport, we're more than our pb.
We are more than our accomplishments.
(10:43):
Here's a thought, somethingI want you to remember
that neutral good timesare not wasted times.
Even though it doesn't looklike we're moving forward.
We are neutral.
Good times are where the body adapts yourmind, recalibrates and your soul realigns.
(11:11):
Have you ever heard the thoughtthat absence makes the heart grow
fonder and it is kind of a truth.
You know, I was talking to oneof my athletes who was injured
and they were pretty upset, and Isaid, just imagine, you know, we're
two or three months down the line
(11:34):
and you're back.
And you're on a solo run, and there'sthis place called Pacific Spirit Park.
Um, it's just a beautiful, beautifultrails to run in, in the trees.
Just imagine that there's a lightrainfall, so you can, you're in the
forest, you can smell the trees, yousmell the rain, you can hear your feet
(12:01):
going through the gravel, breathe the air.
Because, you know, sometimeswe lose, we lose our why.
Why are we doing this?
Maybe we get caught up so muchin the outcome that we forget
(12:24):
why most of the, most of whatwe do is processes, not outcome.
Most of what we do, they said.
There's this, this quote, I'm gonnaadapt it a bit, but they, like,
they, they say The man who loveswalking will go further than the man
(12:46):
who needs to get to a destination.
And what I wanna say is the,the person who loves running
will run further, faster,and more enjoyable.
Than the person who just wants to win.
(13:06):
See, neutral good is where youtake all those lessons that you
learned and they become you,
and you find that yourstrength is who you are.
That's where your strength is.
Strength is who you are.
It's not what you do.
(13:29):
And if you sit and fightthe neutral good times,
then you'll miss out onthe wisdom or you delay it.
It's been said that the, have youever noticed we have, sometimes
we have cycles in this life.
And I really believe there'scertain things in life that we're
(13:51):
meant to learn no matter what.
We are meant to learn this, and if wedon't learn this lesson, we will cycle
back to it again and again and again.
The lesson will continueuntil we learn it,
and the lesson has to do with the wisdomthat we pick up through overcoming.
(14:14):
I've always said that.
Okay.
Athletes are different.
You know
what we non like non-competitiveathletes think is hard.
Like all the running and theworkouts and like all the lifting
and doing all that hard stuff.
We call it hard stuff.
For athletes, that's the easy stuff.
(14:36):
The hard stuff for them is embracingthe times when they need to slow down.
Incorporating the lessons,holding back, getting recovery.
But if you embrace them, thenyou're going to be ready for
(14:58):
the next level when it comes.
So some, some.
Something you can do.
Like I, I've noticed extraordinary people,athletes, everybody, they are the best
in life when they've got a lot to do.
(15:18):
So I'm gonna give you somehomework if you choose.
So here's some ways you can embrace theseneutral times, uh, without feeling less,
re so restless and just a few practices.
I know most athletes have likea, a working, uh, like a workout
journal or a training journal.
(15:40):
Maybe create another one.
Maybe call it your gratitude journal.
You've heard me say whatyou focus on and expanse.
The more you focus on gratitude,the more you're gonna see
things to be grateful for.
The more you, you, you focus on the thingsyou've learned through this process,
the more you're gonna incorporate them.
(16:01):
So write down
three neutral, good things every day.
They don't have to be extraordinary,just simple blessings.
Something, the things that happenedjust because of where you are.
That wouldn't have happenedwhen you weren't in this space.
(16:21):
Maybe it's just a pain-free run.
Maybe it's a quiet walk.
Maybe it's a good meal.
Maybe it's just somebody you met,somebody you got to hang around with.
Number two, you can practicesome mindful presence.
I mean, if you understandmeditating, you can try that.
(16:42):
Meditation seems to bedifficult for a lot of people.
For me, meditation is assimple as you could sit in a
chair and you could breathe.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Focus on the breath in.
Focus on the breath out.
Maybe you're breathing through your nose,so you can try to feel the, the feeling
of the breath, like touching your, yourupper lip or the edge of your nose.
(17:07):
As you breathe in, breathe out andnotice when a thought comes up,
and then just go back to the breath.
And if you're going along and you, youget caught up in a thought, don't worry.
When you, as soon as yourealize you're caught in a
thought, go back to the breath.
You can also.
I try a moving meditation.
(17:28):
A moving meditation is really great too.
When you're doing a moving meditation.
You're walking, but you want to bepresent with your feet on the walk.
So breathing in and out through the nose,feeling for the movement of the breath,
but also feeling, feeling your foot.
Feel the heel straight, the ground.
Feel your your foot, roll overand feel the toe off, and to the
(17:50):
other leg and back and forth.
And at the same time, you can payattention to the beauty around you, to
the wind, to the warmth, to the rain, andjust become really rooted in the moment.
Because the, the present moment is allabout the sensations all around you, the
sensation of your foot, the sensationof your breath, and it's really simple.
(18:13):
And you, you don't haveto do it for an hour.
You can go into a 10 minute walk.
Neutral.
Good times are about anchoringyourself in the present.
Not rushing, not worrying about thepast, not moving into the future.
It's about being right here, right now.
(18:36):
Another thing you can do, and I knowsome of the people I know dive into
cooking and maybe, maybe it's writing,maybe it's painting, playing music.
Find some creative outlets tolike fill the spaces a little bit.
Something other thanscrolling on your phone.
(18:58):
And the other thing is likeself-care rituals, epso, salt bath.
Maybe you're gonna go and do yoga,maybe you're gonna do stretching,
but not like the kind of stretchingor like exercise you would do.
Like really focal for work for.
Training, maybe.
(19:19):
Nice, easy, gentle stretching.
Take care of yourself.
Maybe you're gonna groom yourself.
Men, maybe we're gonna cut ourfingernails, get our haircut.
Shave women.
Maybe we're gonna get our, our nails done.
You know, do something of self care.
(19:41):
Something for yourself.
So that's your homework.
If you think about nature,
it really teaches us better than anything.
You know, the, the trees in winter,they're not producing fruit,
(20:02):
they're not sprouting leaves.
They look still in.
Darin, pretty much neutral,but underground in the root
systems are expanding, deepening.
And storing up energy for the spring.
If you only look at the surface,you'll think nothing is happening,
(20:25):
but everything important ishappening just under the surface.
And maybe your neutralgood season is the same.
Maybe this is your winter beforethe spring time when you're
storing energy, gaining wisdom, andpreparing for the next breakthrough.
(20:49):
And here's a quote that I made upone day that I just, I, I can't help
but put in almost every episode.
The truth is, if you can't meetyourself at the bottom, you'll never
get to meet yourself at the top.
(21:10):
And I'll add, if you can'tmeet yourself in the middle.
You'll never recognize thestrength it took to climb at all.
Neutral seasons are where youmeet yourself, your true self,
the one you're building, the onethat's preparing for great things.
(21:33):
You have no idea what you'recapable of, and you have no idea.
Why everything is is happening.
But the truth is the universeis conspiring to make you happy.
It's creating situations,scenarios that will help you learn,
grow, develop your resilience.
(21:54):
Because resilience isn'tcreated in an easy life.
It's created through overcoming incrediblestorms and the bigger the storm.
The harder the storm and the more fearyou had when you were in the middle
of that, that you would never make itthrough, the greater the resilience and
(22:15):
strength when you come out the other side.
So how about this?
Let's pause right here.
Wherever you're listening,
maybe you're out for a jog, drivinghome or sitting with a coffee.
(22:36):
Take a breath, inhale,
hold it at the top.
Feel yourself full exhale,
and allow yourself tobe empty and hold it.
Now imagine, now if you're visual,imagine what it would look like if
(23:01):
you're more of a feeling person like me.
Imagine what it would feel like.
Imagine your life is a race.
You've just come up the hardest hill.
You're at the top.
You survived the pain of the climb.
You're not at the finish line yet,
(23:23):
but you're on a steady plateau.
Feel your legs moving steady.
Ensure you're not sprinting.
You're not collapsing,you're just moving forward.
That is the neutral good time.
Trust it and enjoy it because justahead is another hill is coming
(23:50):
and also another breathtaking view.
Life is always teaching us.
Making us stronger, preparingus for the next level.
The hard times break us open,but the neutral times put us
(24:13):
back together stronger, wiser,and more ready than ever before.
So if you're in that season right now,don't rush it, but don't resist it.
Receive it.
Embrace it.
Because the next amazing chapterof your story and you know who I'm
(24:36):
talking to is already on its way.
Thank you for joining me todayuntil next time, keep embracing
the season of your journey.
The struggle, the breakthrough, yeah.
And even the neutral Good.
And keep on buildingyour own inner advocate.
(25:01):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Your Inner Advocate, a podcast by
Kimen Petersen, formerly Conversationswith Kimen if you found value in
today's episode, please follow likeand share the podcast with someone
who you think may benefit from it.
You can listen on Apple Podcast.
Spotify, Podbean, and connect onInstagram @ your inner advocate.
(25:25):
Until next time, keep listening toand developing your inner advocate.
Welcome to Your Inner Advocate,a podcast by Kimen Petersen,
formerly Conversations with Kimen.
This podcast is a space forinspiration, soulful insights,
and meaningful life lessons.
Your host, Kimen Petersen drawsfrom personal stories and powerful
conversations with remarkablepeople to help illuminate your path.
These episodes reflect his livedexperiences and thoughtful perspectives,
(00:25):
all aimed at encouraging you to live lifewith greater authenticity, joy, and ease.
Your inner advocate is here tohelp you tune in, trust your inner
wisdom, and move through life withmore clarity, flow, and fulfillment.
. Welcome back , today I want to talk toyou about a season in life that often gets
(00:47):
overlooked, A season that might not feeldramatic or intense, yet holds incredible
wisdom if we choose to lean into it.
It's what I call the neutral good times.
These are moments you'veovercome a big injury, a setback.
Or even after a long plateauin your performance, you're
(01:10):
no longer in the struggle,
but you're also not yetin the breakthrough.
You're in the middle,
or like we say in manual therapy,probably you're in the distal third.
And here's the truth.
(01:30):
We don't always have to begrinding, pushing, and striving.
There is profound powerin simply being present.
Embracing the now and letting lifeintegrate the lessons we've learned
as athletes and as human beings,or just incredibly extraordinary
(01:50):
people, we are conditioned to chaseprogress, to always aim higher.
Faster.
Harder.
But what if the neutral seasons
are the most important seasons at all?
(02:14):
You know, um, a lot of this comes fromone of the people I work with, uh, who
just overcome a series of injuries.
In fact, you could almost put.
That person or another person who'skind of plateaued for a while or
some of the other athletes I workwith who've been through really
(02:38):
tough moments in the last few years.
Now, if you've ever worked withsomeone like that, you know how long
and frustrating the road can be.
And when they typically, when somebodycomes back, even myself, right?
Right now I'm coming back from hamstringstrain and my first walk run, I,
(03:01):
I just went out as hard as I couldand I set myself back for a week.
So, you know, they, myself, you, I thinkevery human being has this idea, like,
we want to get back as quick as possible,like we got places to be and things to do.
(03:22):
But there, there's this thingthat we need to start off slow.
We need to go back slow.
We don't need to jump in with both feet.
And
if you've ever been in thisposition, when you start this walk
run program like I'm doing, oryou start coming back to training.
(03:47):
Yeah, I was thinking this.
The other, I feel like I'm doing nothing.
I feel like I'm standing still,
but what a walk run program is about,it's not about re rebuilding cardio.
It's not a lot.
It's not about likegetting the speed back.
(04:09):
It's simply progressivelyloading the tissues of the body,
the ligaments, the tendons.
And the joints and the muscles, andgiving them an opportunity to adapt
so that they can get ready forthe new load without breaking
down and causing problems.
(04:31):
And you know what?
It doesn't, it feels like it takes awhile, but eventually one day you're back.
And that's kind of wherethe neutral good times are.
They live in this space where.
You can remember where you were, youknow, before the injury, before the
(04:54):
incident, before everything happened,
and you can remember all the, all theheartache, heartbreak, the frustration,
the upset that happened when you knewyou were injured, and the time you
had to be patient through that injury.
(05:15):
And that's, and then you can rem you'resitting back and you're looking at
where you are now, and maybe you'renot as fast as you used to be right
now, but you're doing pretty good.
And, and that's what theneutral good times are.
They feel slow, they might feelboring beneath the, the surface.
(05:39):
But adaption is happening.
Integration is, integration ishappening, and healing's happening.
How about this quote for these times?
Sometimes the most productivething you can do is rest.
(06:00):
It's a quote by Mark Black.
And when we're resting, we'renot, it's not, we're, we're
not doing nothing as per se.
But we're allowing all thegrowth that came through this
whole process to settle in.
Just like muscles don't grow during theworkout, but in the recovery after your
(06:25):
life, your spirit, your re resilience
grows the most in theneutral good seasons.
You bring it in, you incorporateit, you really see the lesson.
So if you're in the neutral,good right now, breathe.
You're not behind, you're not stuck.
You're rebuilding.
You're rebuilding your mind, yourresilience and your strength.
(06:51):
You're incorporating everythingyou learned on your path.
Think about the times he broke down
just before you knew what was going on.
When you actually had a confirmeddiagnosis of what was going on
(07:13):
and then the way the places yourmind wanted to go, is it over?
Am I ever gonna get back?
And the, just the fact that youdidn't quit during this shows
something incredible about you.
Just the fact that you just kept on goingeven though you didn't know for sure.
(07:43):
See,
stuff like faith, faith isn't a guarantee.
Like when somebody believes in somethingthat they have no evidence for, they
believe that something's gonna work out.
Despite where you are, that'sfaith and making through seasons
(08:06):
like this increase your faith.
So let me tell you another story.
I know somebody who'san Iron Ironman athlete
and they went through a brutal trainingseason coming up to their big event.
(08:31):
And every single workoutwas about pushing the edge,
but after the race, they didn'tknow what to do with themselves
feeling aimless, nothing on thecalendar, no dramatic goals,
(08:51):
and instead of like forcing themselves.
Right into another race.
They decided to embracethis neutral good time.
They started looking at what do I haveto lean into when my main thing isn't
going wrong or isn't going right?
It's interesting, uh, years ago Iwas working with an athlete and they
(09:14):
had a, uh, an injury and they werereally frustrated and I asked them
simply, what do you have to lean into?
When running isn't going great.
And they looked up at me and said,what do you have besides work Kimon?
And I'm like, ah, touche.
And that's when I found something.
(09:35):
So the interesting thing about theneutral good times, you could look
at what do you have to lean intowhen things aren't going great?
What do you have outside your main things?
And maybe, you know, if you're not alwaysthinking about your main thing, maybe
(09:56):
you're gonna be less mentally exhausted.
Maybe, maybe this is a time to read,maybe this is a time to learn how to cook.
Maybe there's some kind of a cool interestthat you could get into in this time.
You know, this person thought their,their identity was only racing.
(10:17):
But it turns out that their strength was
who they are when they're not racing.
That is the gift of neutral seasons.
They remind us we are more thanour sport, we're more than our pb.
We are more than our accomplishments.
(10:43):
Here's a thought, somethingI want you to remember
that neutral good timesare not wasted times.
Even though it doesn't looklike we're moving forward.
We are neutral.
Good times are where the body adapts yourmind, recalibrates and your soul realigns.
(11:11):
Have you ever heard the thoughtthat absence makes the heart grow
fonder and it is kind of a truth.
You know, I was talking to oneof my athletes who was injured
and they were pretty upset, and Isaid, just imagine, you know, we're
two or three months down the line
(11:34):
and you're back.
And you're on a solo run, and there'sthis place called Pacific Spirit Park.
Um, it's just a beautiful, beautifultrails to run in, in the trees.
Just imagine that there's a lightrainfall, so you can, you're in the
forest, you can smell the trees, yousmell the rain, you can hear your feet
(12:01):
going through the gravel, breathe the air.
Because, you know, sometimeswe lose, we lose our why.
Why are we doing this?
Maybe we get caught up so muchin the outcome that we forget
(12:24):
why most of the, most of whatwe do is processes, not outcome.
Most of what we do, they said.
There's this, this quote, I'm gonnaadapt it a bit, but they, like,
they, they say The man who loveswalking will go further than the man
(12:46):
who needs to get to a destination.
And what I wanna say is the,the person who loves running
will run further, faster,and more enjoyable.
Than the person who just wants to win.
(13:06):
See, neutral good is where youtake all those lessons that you
learned and they become you,
and you find that yourstrength is who you are.
That's where your strength is.
Strength is who you are.
It's not what you do.
(13:29):
And if you sit and fightthe neutral good times,
then you'll miss out onthe wisdom or you delay it.
It's been said that the, have youever noticed we have, sometimes
we have cycles in this life.
And I really believe there'scertain things in life that we're
(13:51):
meant to learn no matter what.
We are meant to learn this, and if wedon't learn this lesson, we will cycle
back to it again and again and again.
The lesson will continueuntil we learn it,
and the lesson has to do with the wisdomthat we pick up through overcoming.
(14:14):
I've always said that.
Okay.
Athletes are different.
You know
what we non like non-competitiveathletes think is hard.
Like all the running and theworkouts and like all the lifting
and doing all that hard stuff.
We call it hard stuff.
For athletes, that's the easy stuff.
(14:36):
The hard stuff for them is embracingthe times when they need to slow down.
Incorporating the lessons,holding back, getting recovery.
But if you embrace them, thenyou're going to be ready for
(14:58):
the next level when it comes.
So some, some.
Something you can do.
Like I, I've noticed extraordinary people,athletes, everybody, they are the best
in life when they've got a lot to do.
(15:18):
So I'm gonna give you somehomework if you choose.
So here's some ways you can embrace theseneutral times, uh, without feeling less,
re so restless and just a few practices.
I know most athletes have likea, a working, uh, like a workout
journal or a training journal.
(15:40):
Maybe create another one.
Maybe call it your gratitude journal.
You've heard me say whatyou focus on and expanse.
The more you focus on gratitude,the more you're gonna see
things to be grateful for.
The more you, you, you focus on the thingsyou've learned through this process,
the more you're gonna incorporate them.
(16:01):
So write down
three neutral, good things every day.
They don't have to be extraordinary,just simple blessings.
Something, the things that happenedjust because of where you are.
That wouldn't have happenedwhen you weren't in this space.
(16:21):
Maybe it's just a pain-free run.
Maybe it's a quiet walk.
Maybe it's a good meal.
Maybe it's just somebody you met,somebody you got to hang around with.
Number two, you can practicesome mindful presence.
I mean, if you understandmeditating, you can try that.
(16:42):
Meditation seems to bedifficult for a lot of people.
For me, meditation is assimple as you could sit in a
chair and you could breathe.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Focus on the breath in.
Focus on the breath out.
Maybe you're breathing through your nose,so you can try to feel the, the feeling
of the breath, like touching your, yourupper lip or the edge of your nose.
(17:07):
As you breathe in, breathe out andnotice when a thought comes up,
and then just go back to the breath.
And if you're going along and you, youget caught up in a thought, don't worry.
When you, as soon as yourealize you're caught in a
thought, go back to the breath.
You can also.
I try a moving meditation.
(17:28):
A moving meditation is really great too.
When you're doing a moving meditation.
You're walking, but you want to bepresent with your feet on the walk.
So breathing in and out through the nose,feeling for the movement of the breath,
but also feeling, feeling your foot.
Feel the heel straight, the ground.
Feel your your foot, roll overand feel the toe off, and to the
(17:50):
other leg and back and forth.
And at the same time, you can payattention to the beauty around you, to
the wind, to the warmth, to the rain, andjust become really rooted in the moment.
Because the, the present moment is allabout the sensations all around you, the
sensation of your foot, the sensationof your breath, and it's really simple.
(18:13):
And you, you don't haveto do it for an hour.
You can go into a 10 minute walk.
Neutral.
Good times are about anchoringyourself in the present.
Not rushing, not worrying about thepast, not moving into the future.
It's about being right here, right now.
(18:36):
Another thing you can do, and I knowsome of the people I know dive into
cooking and maybe, maybe it's writing,maybe it's painting, playing music.
Find some creative outlets tolike fill the spaces a little bit.
Something other thanscrolling on your phone.
(18:58):
And the other thing is likeself-care rituals, epso, salt bath.
Maybe you're gonna go and do yoga,maybe you're gonna do stretching,
but not like the kind of stretchingor like exercise you would do.
Like really focal for work for.
Training, maybe.
(19:19):
Nice, easy, gentle stretching.
Take care of yourself.
Maybe you're gonna groom yourself.
Men, maybe we're gonna cut ourfingernails, get our haircut.
Shave women.
Maybe we're gonna get our, our nails done.
You know, do something of self care.
(19:41):
Something for yourself.
So that's your homework.
If you think about nature,
it really teaches us better than anything.
You know, the, the trees in winter,they're not producing fruit,
(20:02):
they're not sprouting leaves.
They look still in.
Darin, pretty much neutral,but underground in the root
systems are expanding, deepening.
And storing up energy for the spring.
If you only look at the surface,you'll think nothing is happening,
(20:25):
but everything important ishappening just under the surface.
And maybe your neutralgood season is the same.
Maybe this is your winter beforethe spring time when you're
storing energy, gaining wisdom, andpreparing for the next breakthrough.
(20:49):
And here's a quote that I made upone day that I just, I, I can't help
but put in almost every episode.
The truth is, if you can't meetyourself at the bottom, you'll never
get to meet yourself at the top.
(21:10):
And I'll add, if you can'tmeet yourself in the middle.
You'll never recognize thestrength it took to climb at all.
Neutral seasons are where youmeet yourself, your true self,
the one you're building, the onethat's preparing for great things.
(21:33):
You have no idea what you'recapable of, and you have no idea.
Why everything is is happening.
But the truth is the universeis conspiring to make you happy.
It's creating situations,scenarios that will help you learn,
grow, develop your resilience.
(21:54):
Because resilience isn'tcreated in an easy life.
It's created through overcoming incrediblestorms and the bigger the storm.
The harder the storm and the more fearyou had when you were in the middle
of that, that you would never make itthrough, the greater the resilience and
(22:15):
strength when you come out the other side.
So how about this?
Let's pause right here.
Wherever you're listening,
maybe you're out for a jog, drivinghome or sitting with a coffee.
(22:36):
Take a breath, inhale,
hold it at the top.
Feel yourself full exhale,
and allow yourself tobe empty and hold it.
Now imagine, now if you're visual,imagine what it would look like if
(23:01):
you're more of a feeling person like me.
Imagine what it would feel like.
Imagine your life is a race.
You've just come up the hardest hill.
You're at the top.
You survived the pain of the climb.
You're not at the finish line yet,
(23:23):
but you're on a steady plateau.
Feel your legs moving steady.
Ensure you're not sprinting.
You're not collapsing,you're just moving forward.
That is the neutral good time.
Trust it and enjoy it because justahead is another hill is coming
(23:50):
and also another breathtaking view.
Life is always teaching us.
Making us stronger, preparingus for the next level.
The hard times break us open,but the neutral times put us
(24:13):
back together stronger, wiser,and more ready than ever before.
So if you're in that season right now,don't rush it, but don't resist it.
Receive it.
Embrace it.
Because the next amazing chapterof your story and you know who I'm
(24:36):
talking to is already on its way.
Thank you for joining me todayuntil next time, keep embracing
the season of your journey.
The struggle, the breakthrough, yeah.
And even the neutral Good.
And keep on buildingyour own inner advocate.
(25:01):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Your Inner Advocate, a podcast by
Kimen Petersen, formerly Conversationswith Kimen if you found value in
today's episode, please follow likeand share the podcast with someone
who you think may benefit from it.
You can listen on Apple Podcast.
Spotify, Podbean, and connect onInstagram @ your inner advocate.
(25:25):
Until next time, keep listening toand developing your inner advocate.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.