Roy

North Bay Ontario. Moving to Vancouver Island in the fall!

I used to play really competitively in games as well. I was GrandMaster Terran in Sc2 at one point. A good thing I found to get into flow state was to play like "myself". I imposed my personality on the game and took pride in it. I didn't concern myself with what others thought I should be doing. Of course I knew I had weaknesses I needed to work on to get better but I realized something that made improvement less of a chore and more attainable and natural: I put so much focus into expressing myself in the game and doing what I wanted, that when I reached "flow" state I would overflow with ability. I was simply doing the thing I was already good at, so everything extra could spill over into over in other areas. I'll leave you with a question. Going into the start of a game, which mindset do you think will serve you better? "Ok so I'm playing this guy. I hate the way he play. I NEED to counter this thing he does or I'm gonna lose." vs "Alright. A brand new game. I have a new chance to express what I'm good at."

Yep! Development has it's ups and downs. You're going to recede sometimes into previous patterns and addictions, then break out of them again. It's just apart of the game and you have to learn to accept them and just have a vision for the future. Remember you have a lifetime to develop, it's tempting to skip stuff and stages but you need to take everything as it comes and integrate/master it as you go. Stage Blue healthy qualities I would say are; - Putting your ego and personal wants aside to respect order/laws. - Being responsible and staying true to commitments. - Serving something larger than yourself. The individual will get benefits from serving the group. Example - Military (functions better with teamwork) - Healthy respect for authority. Not being a disturbance or rebel. - Having a solid sense of morality. Those are just some. If you have a couple hours Leo explains it well;

There is awesome utility in using the past in order to understand the present and the future. Having discovered Spiral Dynamics some years ago I thought it would be interesting to make a historical timeline thread with a compilation of examples, using the lens of Spiral Dynamics for analysis. I will be making sweeping generalizations and won't be including every part of the world for now as my knowledge is not infinite. I encourage you to PLEASE point out any flaws or differences of opinion, and suggest useful examples I miss. Just remember this thread is intended to be a macro overview - History has endless content so let's try to keep our focus on events of peak importance and not get lost in minutia. I want the purpose of this thread to be to deepen everyone's understanding of humanities journey. Hopefully with enough participation and improvement this can turn into an official awesome mega-thread! @Nahm @Serotoninluv @Leo Gura is that a possibility to pin this thread if it raises in quality enough? Let's start our timeline then! (%'s are not final. Just a rough estimate to help gauge values of where I think the world is at). Roman Empire: 27 BC to 476 AD - 40% Red/60% Blue. Forged with highly efficient Stage Red power, a transition to embracing the value of greater organization. Strong affinity to pride of civilization. The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. One of the first early successes in integrating proper respect for Order and Law. Extreme military success and excess luxury cause complacency. They being to erode Blue values and respect for Republic and order. 20% Purple/80% Red Germanic, Hun, and other tribes sweep in to eat away at the empire. Due to instability and chaos, Generals, Aristocrats, and Nobility vie for raw control and power. Western Roman Empire collapses and reverts back into Stage Red Kingdoms. Dark Ages: Roughly 500 - 1500 AD - 70% Red/30% Blue. Period of minimal organization. Kingdoms and Monarchies permeate most of the world. Most primitive and mystic Stage Purple cultures and countries are crushed or vassalized under the threat of Stage Red power. Major religions prosper and are used to unify and propel some countries into Blue, but not fully. Period perhaps best represented by the Mongol Horde. 100% Pure red embodiment. Stage Purple paganism are part of identity but no longer deemed important. Strength and ability to exercise violence/power are of highest value. No child can be Khan! Neglecting Stage Red limitations and refusing to see past it's successes, the Mongol Empire dissolves upon Genghis Khans death. Successors are divided by selfishness and are then overpowered by superior technology facilitated by coagulating and emerging Stage Blue nations. (Continent sprawling and unified nations like Tsarist Russia and Ming Dynasty.) Age of Discovery, Colonialism & Absolutism: 1492 -1821(Death of Napoleon Bonaparte) 80% Blue/20% Orange - Kingdoms lose relevance and evolve into world spanning empires. Individual cultures and identities begin to get left behind if they don't appeal and integrate into larger collective egos. Stability and safety under the blanket of civilization encourages exploration and innovation; The birth of the Renaissance. Most advancements in science and society are used to serve state and country, however the discovery of the New World and alien peoples give glimpses into greater ideals of Humanism. Sparking an ember and desire for individualism. The most advanced nations in the world are still embedded into trying to maximize Stage Blue. Nationalism is the status quo. Constant war and competition advances science rapidly as nations try to get an edge on one another. Absolutism & unity to culture and religion are highly valued. Ruthless efficiency is striven for. The Napoleonic Wars devastate most of Europe. The beginning of Blue's limitations are starting to reveal themselves. The masses begin to resent and question the authority of their absolutist leaders. People begin to seek Stage Orange autonomy and react violently. The French Revolution is the first major nexus of these resentments. Great Britain having won the Seven Years War and establishing itself as THE global hegemony, begins to slowly integrate Orange. Other nations follow suit. Entrepreneurship is encouraged as long as it serves Empire. The East India Trading company is born! The industrial revolution provides huge opportunity for common people to explore possibilities for themselves and their own success. Birth of the United States, Abolitionism, & WW1: 1776 -1918 - 50% Blue/40%/10% Green Orange. - Powerful nations rush to capitalize on the the riches of new global interconnected markets. Stage Orange is starting to be explored in an unhealthy haste of selfishness and greed. Africa is carved into pieces. Other lower stage countries across the world are either annexed or pitted against each other as Great Powers posture against one another. Across the Atlantic Ocean one of the first true Stage Orange countries is birthed; The United States of America. It's Constitution representing one of the most advanced documents at the time. Individualism is cherished and most of the ideals of the Old World are discarded. The nation grows across the continent rapidly and violently plows through Stage Purple Native Americans. Britain being the leading power begins to get a small taste of Orange limitations. Stage Green Humanist ideals show themselves for the first time. Parliament votes to abolish slavery. 1/6th of the navy is reassigned to free slaves and hunt down offending ships. More stuff coming later I'm tired lol.

His involvement and use of psychedelics does seem quite full of haste with some desperation for discovery. I get why people can see it that way and I do to a degree as well. However you have to realize that this is just his path, he is making his own choices. You have to stay true to your own path. It's probably a valid criticism of him that he's advocating for them too hard, and that can be really dangerous for a lot of vulnerable people who idolize him and just want to copy him. On the other hand is he really responsible for what anyone does? Should he limit himself and his work because of some irresponsible or deluded people? The answer to that is really no. If people make those mistakes they weren't doing the work properly in the first place of being independent and reflecting honestly. All you have to ask yourself is are you willing to come on the ride or not?

All privilege exists for almost every kind of person. Being good looking will grant you privileges in a society that values appearance. Being an outstanding Muslim will grant you privileges among a group of Imams in an Islamic country. Being white will grant you privileges in a majority white society. Privilege can exist for anyone just by having an identity or certain qualities. People's tribal affinity causes them to act biased outsiders and favorable towards those most like them. People keep trying to politicize this it will only go away when people transcend identity and expand their circle of love.

@Thewritersunion I discovered that Youtube channel a while ago. That guy makes some pretty good satire. Thanks for the link I laughed out loud.

I know you asked for Red (sorry lol) but how do you feel about Native Americans being a good example of healthy Stage Purple? I know they are romanticized a lot in this day and age because of the Stage Green recoil to how they were treated in history (and still to this day really), but I see a lot of cool aspects and things going on with Native Americans; - Extreme respect for environment/land/ecology in general. They have a humble inner acknowledgment about being in balance with the land and not exploiting it. - Strong sense of community. They actively look to heal without reparations and are very welcoming. - They have a competent and interesting understanding and interpretation of the value of psychedelics and other alternative medicine. Those are just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. Of course Purple is still a very low stage. They can be mired down by religious mysticism and tribal feuds. It just appears poignant that Native Americans were and are treated so bad when it seems like they were ahead of their time. Can't many of those aspects be considered Stage Green? It seems like modern Western society could undergo immense lesson learning by tapping into what they've been practicing for thousands of years. @Leo Gura What do you think? I'm also curious how moving up the Spiral to Red from this seems to be productive in any way? Red doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities except it has a more successful orientation towards power structures and being able to dominate others, but that is a step backwards is it not? I'm glad you posted this thread I need to look into the lower stages some more.

Well I've only done it once so I only have a limited comment to make. It seems extremely safe if you have a sitter to make sure you don't fall or walk anywhere dangerous, because if you take a good hit you will lose complete sense of having a body or physical/motor function. Your visual field gets utterly replaced until you come down. You'll only be high for 5-10 minutes then you're completely sober again which is nice, no hangover (maybe a little dizzy/disoriented). My trip went pretty good but keep in mind this was back when I was 18 and had extremely limited spiritual intent. It was just a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon with my best friend. So I took a solid hit through a bong. Within 10 seconds my vision started vibrating very hard and then it was gone. Shortly after I became the objects in the room. Like literally! My regular sense of having a human body, the feelings of blood pumping, the feeling of each limb, of breathing. Everything evaporated and was replaced by whatever was in the room (and what I must have been looking at or touching). I literally experienced what it was like to be a couch. The rectangle like shape, the fuzzy fabric texture, the feeling of people sitting on you. I became the television after. I had the feeling of channels being changed, completely reorienting my being in the process. My existence projecting light and sound out into the world. It was very bizarre. My friend had a totally different trip than me. I did like that throughout the trip I still had vague control over my thoughts. I could think in clear English and tell myself, "Ok you are on drugs right now, they will wear off in a few minutes. This is interesting let's try and enjoy it."

It may very well be logically true that love and romance are just survival mechanisms, and that all relationships are transactional when reduced down to their core. However none of that really matters because - The map is not the territory. Love is actual and all the anthropological, psychological, and relationship sciences and concepts are just that, science and concepts. Love is transcendent. It's beyond reason. It's illogical. That is fine. You wonder how humanity has slowly gone from tribes slaughtering each other indiscriminately to a globe spanning interconnected society? You may say it's because we've learned that needlessly killing each other is economically unproductive and simply illogical, true. You may also say that we've evolved our governments and systems of law to be more fair, true. What's really true if you look hard enough is that we've expanded our capacity to love. As time goes on our circle of love increases and includes more and more people and beings. Starting with ourselves, to our immediate partners, to our neighbors, to our community, to our culture, to our country, to other cultures and countries, to humanity, to the planet. If you're wondering yes the ego does plays a role in this because it's so pervasive. However it is transcended and evaporated, because it becomes impossible to maintain itself under the weight of love. What I'm saying here is really advanced and profound and you'll probably have lots of resistance and thoughts running through your head like, "Wtf is this hippy talking about." All I'm going to suggest of you, is consider letting go our your need for maps and explanations and go experience. Do that and soon enough your confusion will subside.

You all need to desperately learn and practice acceptance. You're neurotically unwilling to accept the reality that feminists do things that make you mad, and think reality should be another way. They should be perfectly logical, not make mistakes, and behave the way YOU think they should behave. Which if you searched for honestly enough you'd find it would be extremely biased towards your own desires and survival needs. Step outside of yourself for one moment and consider getting an eagle eye view of history to realize the truth (and it is the truth); Men have been historically favored over women for thousands and thousands of years in many aspects. Guess what? We're now in the part of history where they are able to fight back. Do you think they are going to fight clean? Should they fight clean? No, stop being so naive. Saying they should be this way or that way is a projection of your ego. They are behaving in a way that is inconvenient to you. Too bad, quit whining like a little bitch. You sound like a woman! (See what I did there?) Transcend this stupidity. You're keeping the pigs in the mud longer than they have to be by getting in there and trying to wrestle them out. Worst of all you're covered in mud now too. You are literally creating all of your own problems and stress, and you aren't even aware of it.

Before you should tackle the deeper stuff let's just start grasping simple physical infinity with this example. So picture the world exactly as it is right now, now outside your house look at the first patch of dirt you see. Now try to guess all the individual grains of sand in that patch of dirt. Let's say 25 million just because we have to pick a number, each grain has a number to identify it, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, so on up to 25 million. Now imagine the universe again exactly as it is right now, except grain 57,896 is switched with grain 7,454,831. That is a different potentiality than the one we're in right now. "God" could even make an endless amount of changes just to the qualities of each grain of sand! Imagine the displacement of any single atom, molecule, or any other appearance in reality. You'll quickly find that it's hilarious semantics to try and assume we could possibly imagine or map all these differences out because they are literally (in every sense of the word) endless. Another way to describe Infinity is, "Endless Potentiality in all possible and impossible directions." Not to put you down but you're making a mistake by ascribing human qualities and emotions to God. Existence wouldn't become "hell". or God wouldn't get "bored" because God isn't a separate entity. God didn't even create Infinity. God is the Infinity.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Because you can reach all those states sober and wouldn't need to spend hundreds of dollars on weed that rots your lungs? Your ego is justifying the addiction by telling itself you have brain fog sober and need pot.

I don't think you're fully grasping what infinity means lol.

The neurotic urge to be always "right" and not "wrong" and "perfect" is a very materialist, fact of the matter, ego based attitude to have. As is the applause you're giving it. That's not only fine but necessary when the context is mostly scientific and pragmatic. Of course details matter. But too often Sam and others alike spend and waste so much damn time checking semantics instead of connecting to the larger human picture. Even if you have a stage Yellow attitude and strategy and intentions going in, you can still get triggered and bogged down like he does and come out of the discussion with neither person having learned anything. If he was truly a pure stage Yellow thinker like you believe this wouldn't occur nearly as often as it does. Believe me mate, I've probably consumed and followed him just as much of him as you have. Possibly more who knows :P! I'm sure there would be some fruitful nuggets to be had from him talking to a Turquiose Guru. But I'd be willing to bet there would be a lot more of Sam getting frustrated and focusing too much running every concept and idea that came his way through his filter of logic and rationality. He is still too invested in Orange. It's clear as day. Sam needs to stop all his books and projects, quit social media. public interviews and showings for a year, take his family and go live in a cabin, do isolated meditation retreats every so often, and take psychedelics a few more times. If he did all that and came back he would be a fucking POWERHOUSE and would lift millions more people from ignorance.

When you have the capacity to do Absolute Good, and your actions aren't in accordance with that capacity; You are failing as a Spiritual being.

@Endangered-EGO You are thinking too much in absolutes. The spiral is blended, it's not a blocked staircase with strict walls around every quality. Psychedelics don't "belong" to turquoise. They are tools that exist that catalyze the opening of the mind and changing of perspective. Both of which usually trend someone up the spiral but if the experience goes wrong it can send them back down temporarily or they might not move at all. Sam Harris has much green in him. His political attitudes are green, he supports legalization of drugs, he encourages and has done vegetarianism/veganism etc. etc. Does this make him purely green? No. Once again with the limited thinking; Yes Sam Harris is fighting against Green, because Stages are broad and expansive and include a LOT of people. It includes the radical SJW feminists bloggers and it includes your local volunteer tree planters that aren't even aware of their agenda. Where do you think he is coming from when he's criticizing and fighting those kinds of Green people anyways? It's the attachment in stage Orange in him that is focusing too much on the minutia and content of what they are saying and ignoring the more important large scale change in structure that they are trying to make (whether they are aware of it or not). The illogical and hasty progressivism is just a means to an end because they aren't fully developed Green. You're being resistant, because it appears you've already had your mind made up when you made this thread. You're attached and idolizing Sam and his teachings instead of being an honest observer. Reality and people are complex. People don't just suddenly hop from one generalized stereotype to the next as they move up the spiral LOL. You don't go from a Mafia boss, to a Christian family man, to a greedy Oil Tycoon, to a Pot Smoking Hippy, to a UN ambassador, to a modern Jesus. Everything is mixed and muddy.

I love Sam Harris! I started my whole intellectual/philosophical journey with him back in 2013 while also listening to people like Terence McKenna! For that point in my life where I was probably a mix of 65% Orange 35% Green he resonated huge with me. He gave me a strong scientific/rational/logical basis to ground myself in but also taught some more advanced concepts like challenging Free Will as an illusion, introducing meditation, and taking on a more communal "green" attitude towards politics with less affinity for materialism in our culture (economic not meta-physical). I think Sam is a fantastic bridging point to get stage Orange people to really start considering expanding to the next level. However it's also apparent he's just soooo damn good at debating and being a champion of reason I think people burrow themselves in that because it's so comfortable for the mind. You have to realize that Sam's survival is grounded in maintaining his worldview for the time being. He is a public speaker allied with many other academics and scientists, he is an arbiter for rationality, he is a damn neuroscientist on top of it lol! It's simply not in his interest for his public persona or income to branch away from that too much. I bet if Sam took a few years off to get away from trying to always fight our toxic culture and politics, take his meditation to the next level, and have some more psychedelic experiences he would come back almost fully Yellow and be in a position to really raise a lot more people with him. Yes Sam has a decent amount of Yellow right now but it's more like 45% Orange 30% Green 25% Yellow. That's just probably the truth about it. I stopped consuming content from him about 2 years ago, though I check back now and then to ground myself a bit and because I like him.

A strategy that I think is much easier is instead of trying to tackle and break the hard ice of modern pick-up, focus on swimming with the water under it and work on personal development in all the areas except the pick-up. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to be perfect in all these things before you even start looking for a woman. Just make steady and stable improvement in them you'll naturally attract better and better women more frequently simply as a by-product. You'll also cut the quantity of work you have to do by doing pick-up by a magnitude of 10x, and you'll avoid a LOT of painful rejections. - Work on doing well at your job and/or discover your life purpose. Enjoying and being passionate about what you do is huge for a lot of other things. It will give you the basic happiness and fulfillment you need during the day (because you have to be doing something during the day anyways!) and it'll give you the resources (money) to pursue all the other stuff. Leo is big and on this and the Life Purpose Course he made is pretty damn good and affordable (like $200 US now?). - Fix, improve, optimize your health. Clean up your damn diet so you don't feel like shit and have bad thoughts about yourself (mind&body connection)! Come up with a gym routine, play pick-up games with friends, join a league for a sport you like, WHATEVER you gotta do to exercise just fucking do it lol. You'll start to feel way better in your body and after a while you'll find you won't be judging yourself (mind&body connection) for being "ugly" or out of shape. You'll gain natural confidence as a by product of feeling strong. - Invest time into genuine hobbies and interests you have. Not only is it fun, but you'll be interesting and have something to talk about with girls. It's attractive as hell hearing someone who is contagious with their passion for something, it's unattractive to be boring and not have anything to talk about passionately and just be like "meh" about everything. - Volunteer or get involved with your local community in some capacity. It feels really good and can be really beneficial for developing social skills outside the pressure of work or dating where you're in the context of something being expected of you. Once again something to build confidence and happiness. There is lots of other stuff but that will keep you busy. Pick-up can be really toxic and give you a warped view of women if you're coming from a place of desperation. I ONLY recommend it if you are completely socially inept with initial attraction and need to learn basic skills, then it's quite useful. Anyways the reason I suggested you work on that other stuff instead of pick-up and relationship advice is because it's more important. If you're struggling in all the other areas it won't matter even if you get a girlfriend because chances are you likely won't keep her, unless she's doing as bad as you are (easy/whores like you mentioned) in which case it's just going to be a disaster of a relationship and it will keep you from growing. Not to mention the obvious; There are way more important things in life than getting your dick wet, it's just for a lot of guys to see that because they are so thirsty it's like they are dehydrated in the desert they become delusional and lose sight of what's important. The only solution they think is to get stuck in that immature cycle of selfish behavior for years to make up for having to wait. Don't be like those guys. Anyways I'll finish by warning you don't put all your eggs in one basket of trying to solve this problem by only focusing on getting good with girls and doing pick-up. Whether you realize it or not you'll be approaching it from a place of need and desperation and generally women are pretty intuitive and will be able to recognize that and this will turn them off. Addressing your concerns in short; 1. Improve yourself broadly. You'll get rejected less and have higher self esteem so rejections stop hurting. 2. Come from a place of abundance. Relationships and sex are not the most important thing to you. Believe that and you'll become less creepy/aggressive. 3. Accept the reality of your past and current. It may not appear so but consider you might actually subconsciously like moping about it. Whatever the case acceptance is key, then you can move onto healing. 4. Take responsibility for your health and grooming. All that matters is how attractive YOU think you are. Embrace your ego here until you transcend it and don't need it. Some girl thinks you're a 6? "Bitch please, I'm an 8 at least. And I know it because I'm ripped and healthy." 5. Women are counter-intuitive and illogical. This isn't a bad thing. Accept this and embrace your feminine side and you'll grow to appreciate this. Your frustration comes from neurotically trying to interpret women through a male worldview. Deliberately step outside of yourself and into their shoes. You'll shed toxic ideas and become better at healthy relationships. I hope this helps - Roy

Science is built upon certain assumptions and beliefs about reality, which is attached to and defended by people being taught or experiencing facts/mathematics/experiments. Religion is built upon certain assumptions and beliefs about reality, which is attached to and defended by people being taught or experiencing religious history/dogma/traditions. Actualized.Org or any other alternative is built upon assumptions and beliefs about reality, which is attached to and defended by people being taught or experiencing first person phenomena/contemplation/reflection. If one is to self-actualize, improve them-self, or go about their life trying to understand the world in any capacity, it's always just an attempt. Nobody can ever truly claim they've got the "holy grail", because if they are ACTUALLY honest with themselves and doing true questioning and reflection of their themselves, their beliefs, and their worldviews they'll find that everything is groundless. People are going to sit on the thing that they like most or makes the most sense to their ego, until they are shown otherwise and move to the next best thing from wherever they're at. Is it a fair statement to say that even those who are enlightened, involved in these kind of communities, and even Leo himself aren't completely in touch with that? Otherwise why spend any energy, time, or resources in ones life criticizing, defending, or espousing if it's hypocrisy? After all, everyone is just trying to make an attempt at understanding reality to the best of their capacity are they not? The religious criticize the uncivilized, The scientists criticize the religious, the post-rationalists and spiritual criticize the scientists, then so on and and so on. My point is isn't the real work to be positionless? Instead of resting in the sea of life with ones arms attached to a buoy, shouldn't one be perpetually swimming and treading water for infinity to really be growing? Is resting in any capacity a failure by spiritual introspective standards? Is the only true indicator of a teachings or ideologies "truth" and validity the amount of hostility it projects outwards into the world? Because as people move up the spiral they obviously get less violent and less needy to convert others. I'm just curious how people feel about this. I by no means am enlightened or anything, just another trying to make sense of things.

@Leo Gura I've finished rewatching, "What is Actuality". I still remember what you've said in it since I watched it a year ago, and I've noticed I've changed my orientation more towards first person experience vs concepts and ideas. So progress! Though I think I've pinpointed the answer to what has been nagging me at me, but I'd like your input if you don't mind; The distinction between science, religion, and other modes of thought compared to the ones discussed here is that although they also use first person experience as well, they ascribe far too many qualities, context, and labels during and after the experience. So much so that they have gone through and ignored the actuality. Building unnecessary and dysfunctional paradigms in the process. It's like scoring a soccer ball on goalposts with no net, they already scored and they just keep on dribbling the ball having not realized it! The conscious decontextualization of experience is key.

Yes marijuana can be extremely addictive. It's amusing how quickly heavy users who are usually so "chill" will scramble out of the woodwork to cram "science" and endless arguments in your face to try and prove otherwise. It's just the ego trying to justify the habit. Obviously, pot in comparison is one of the safest recreational drugs that exists, but this is just a deflection from the reality of what it does to people. Far too often I see people convincing themselves they aren't addicted and they get really defensive when it's brought up. Yet they do it very frequently, the definition of a habit or addiction. They rationalize the addiction in their mind by saying it helps them be "spiritual", it elevates their ability, and it makes them less stressed and more calm. All that may be completely true and I won't fight that (I felt the same I used to smoke weed a lot as well), but what they need to become conscious of is that it is completely possible to attain those states regularly without depending on a substance. In most cases it is just people being lazy and using these positive states they experience as once again an excuse to justify not being able to stop. Despite what people will say it is a low tier substance like nicotine and alcohol. It clouds the mind and distracts from the necessity of sober life needed for spiritual work. Once you get transcend the immaturity of stage orange and green attitudes towards marijuana you will see this too. Before anyone backlashes to what I'm saying I'll point out I'm a young person who grew up smoking a lot of weed. I am fully for the legalization and decriminalization of all drugs, despise the war on drugs and the corrupt prison systems, and support social programs and rehabilitation centers.

The past few years I've done deliberate solo adventures/exploration of the world locally, I have a 14 foot 1 person Kayak meant for long distances. I mostly do day trips because I've rarely had more than 1 day off in a row with my last job, but want to integrate more overnight trips in the future once I've moved to Vancouver island so I can sleep removed and undistracted from society and therefore have a chance to integrate any insights I have overnight without waking up in the regular buzzing human world. I've never purposely done any practices or meditation during these trips because I simply find the act of doing the trips themselves is a spiritual and meditative process. I am in nature, where everything is raw, brutal, real, and unfiltered and I am completely dependent on myself for my survival. Every action I do is piercingly intentional. It let's me think the most clearly I can in life because I am connected to the simplicity of being an animal. If I want to get somewhere like across a body of water, or up to the top of a cliff I need to use myself, my body, my desire to get there. There is a tremendous satisfaction in this process for me and it's extremely peaceful. I prefer to do roughly half existing routes with half unmapped stuff but this can be quite dangerous if you don't have basic survival and navigation skills. It takes a thoughtful mix of preparation and spontaneity to come up with an adventure so it doesn't feel like a chore or unsatisfying. These feelings can be amplified when you're in solitude so you need to consider that before doing any solo trip. I am quite confident and comfortable with being completely alone for long periods of time and when I tell people about some of the trips I've done their jaw drops or they can get quite judgmental. Be prepared to face a lot of internal and external resistance, and remind yourself to look forward to the satisfaction!

Vision. Create it by imagining a future state or situation that you desire, and that matches your authentic values and attitudes about life. Maintain it by imposing consistent, powerful, and motivational reminders of your vision - Every day. The human mind is limited, and therefore forgetful. You need to constantly pound the message in over and over.