Zane

In high school, I balanced AP classes and IB classes particularly History and English classes which were my deepest passions. Math is one of my biggest struggles and i remember those foolish kids from that Special Ed Math class.

@Cuzzo I understand the feelings of rejection! When I was younger I was unintentionally creepy or I was highly awkward and evasive around girls. Now, I'm mastering socializing and talking to girls and my mastery process has resulted in building solid friendships with girls, getting a prom date, and even having a deep and intimate friendship in college. I've made huge progress and I'm confident that you can make big progress yourself! I understand how painful rejection can be but over time and with practice, you will master socializing with girls. I also see nothing wrong with being single! When I was younger, I felt like I needed a relationship but I'm detaching myself from that neediness and I used to be very clingy and I am still am clingy to an extent.

I've been consistent with it for two years and I always make excellent progress on it! Now happiness is effortless for me!

WOW!!!!! I just realized how much my happiness has skyrocketed and how many amazing experiences I've had this year and the past few years. I realized that I'm out of the internal prison of boredom and silent depression! I am re-discovering why I love life. I've been feeling the intense emotions of euphoria, laughter and that deep bonding. I'm not even 23 years old yet and I feel like my life will be transformed within a year or two. I need to take my happiness to the next level and my life is gaining a much clearer trajectory. After watching Leo's video on Personal Development Levels, I realized that I'm an Intermediate in certain levels and I want to advance to the Advanced Level. Right now, Spirituality isn't my highest priority because I've been focusing much more on my inner happiness. The area I want to become a master of is creativity where I feel deeply inspired and i'm on creative fire where my passion and my muse consumes me and I'm effortlessly creating stories. For my Happiness List from 2014 to 2016, I must have hundreds of events. So far for Summer 2016, I have 70 events on my Happiness List and Summer isn't even over yet.

I just watched this video and the great news is that I'm truly tasting what is possible for self-actualization. For life feeling magical, I re-captured that state of staring at the ocean or the water and being awed of the beauty of it and feeling relaxed. I've been spending my time in nature or at the park like a child and not caring what others think. For creativity, I focus on the flow of it and the peak experiences it could bring. One day I was simply walking at the zoo and I felt completely relaxed and blissful and like a child again. I re-captured feeling childlike several times in 2014, 2015, and 2016. I've been going to the theater and it has revealed that my authenticity is the person who is intoxicated with passion and who is bursting with laughter and is completely immersed in what I'm watching. Stories compel me and it shows me my potential! For simplicity in my life, my plan is to live single and childfree and to focus on enjoying life and treating life like it has infinite opportunities. Theater and being in nature has made me feel that soberness and feeling of completely invested! I do have aspirations for being a benevolent force with my creativity and storytelling and I apply benevolence on a microcosm by tutoring students with reading and by befriending people on the Autism Spectrum. I know that I have much more to do but I'm starting somewhere and my sense of direction is clearing up much better! I created a Twenties Journal to create my life vision! I'm re-capturing life's childlike joy. I realize that if I was to ask a genie three wishes I would ask for limitless creativity, freedom, and a deep sense of passion, purpose, and fulfillment.

What an excellent video that was! I realize that in some regards I'm both a newbie and I also have intermediate tendencies. There are certain topics that I'm deeply ignorant about but I'm also beginning to learn about topics. I want to focus my life on creating passions and the emotion of passion in my life. I realize that one of my deepest passions is storytelling and creativity and I truly want to master storytelling and creativity. It amazes me how fantasy is so powerful by creating worlds from the mind! I'm fascinated by inspiration, the flow state, and being captivated by a work of fiction. In my future, I want to make amazing progress with personal development and I noticed that I'm much happier in my life but I still feel mixed emotions about the future like being somewhat intimidated and ecstatic about what's to come. For my own happiness, I've discovered simple truths like how happiness is savoring the moment. For example, I've been my happiest near water and in a park, where I feel deeply blissful and i'm walking through the zoo feeling completely relaxed and smiling. This year and for the past couple years, I re-captured deep feelings of happiness and childhood nostalgia and met awesome people but I want to go farther.

I think these are great goals! How will you implement these goals?

I have a vision for lifestyle minimalism and my vision is to live smaller and a low maintenance life so I don't have to worry too much about finances or clutter. I won't completely eliminate technology but I will use technology in moderation! I see a minimalist life as being an opportunity to focus on yourself and your own values. I prefer moderate family commitments rather than eliminating family commitments but not letting commitments rule my life. A minimalist lifestyle has broad possibilities and you can create it however you want. I see a minimalist lifestyle as self-actualization investing heavily in books and learning and pursuing my passions and having much more free time to use wisely rather than tying myself down to family, a full-time soul sucking job, or so many commitments that I can never relax.

@ZenBlue YES YOU ACCOMPLISHED THE HUNDRED DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You completely committed yourself to the goal and went beyond your 5 minute goal. I'm glad you're aware of your flaws while meditating but you can't be perfect at meditation. The good news is that the changes are subtle and you will get better at it. In San Francisco, in 2014, I felt deep bliss twice on the trip without even meditating and I think the reason why was because it was such an amazing moment of being where I was completely absorbed in the moment of sitting on the dark of the bay, smelling the ocean, and basking in the sun. In the park, I felt deeply blissful and relaxed. Thank you so much for the mention in your post for my support!! It's my pleasure and i love supporting people on their journey. You can go even farther with self-actualization! I'm making great progress with it and I re-captured the emotions of awe and wonder, deeply relaxed bliss, laughing like nobody's watching, the flow state of creativity, feeling completely invested in a movie or a show and a childlike spirit of adventure. I created a Twenties Journal to track my happiness and I'm much happier than I ever was in my life. I want to go even farther!

Honestly, I feel like I'm living in a quarter life crisis where I'm focusing on all of these aspirations and achieving them even though I'm in my early 20s so I can prevent dying with so many regrets that I feel unaccomplished with my life. I've had so many great experiences in my early twenties!

Actually, a lot of these goals can be achievable!! You need to think strategically to achieve these goals and learn about people who have achieved the same goals as you did. If you say the goals are fantasy, than that would limit you from achieving them. Maybe you can tell yourself "these goals are grand but I can create a solution!" Some major goals I've achieved were going to San Francisco and New York, committing myself to a Twenties Journal and writing around 90 pages, committing myself to daily creative writing, and seizing new experiences like theater experiences and to skyrocket my own happiness and i'm in my early twenties. You have the great vision but what you need is to think like an entrepreneur and create your vision rather than say "it's impractical." When people try to be "practical and realistic" they can feel unfulfilled.

Actually, a lot of these goals can be achievable!! You need to think strategically to achieve these goals and learn about people who have achieved the same goals as you did. If you say the goals are fantasy, than that would limit you from achieving them. Maybe you can tell yourself "these goals are grand but I can create a solution!"

I feel like you need to balance passion as the first priority and money. Wanting money is not inherently bad but if you're only focused on the money, than it will be highly likely that you'll be unfulfilled. To achieve fulfillment, you need to be motivated by passion, vision, and purpose which will guarantee fulfillment for you. What makes you the happiest and how will your passion make you money? I can think of so many success stories who profited from their passion. Walt Disney transformed animation into an empire! Jim Henson originally saw puppetry as his foray into TV and he deepened his passion for puppetry and created an empire based around revolutionizing puppetry from simple hand puppets and marionettes and transformed puppetry into an art form. Steve Jobs applied his passion of calligraphy and Zen simplicity into Apple fonts and to Apple's user friendliness. The truth is that passion can be profitable because profit without passion is soulless and hollow. I want you to ask two questions "what are you passionate for? How can you make the passion profit?"

A strong theme in Leo's videos is to be a freethinker and to consider his ideas but NOT blindly or dogmatically rejecting them. Leo is an extremely open-minded individual who is detaching himself from beliefs and is willing to consider the possibilities. You seem to be misunderstanding Leo as an arrogant academic elitist but Leo is a person who has high aspirations to pursue self-actualization and go farther. Leo isn't high and mighty and criticizing society just to criticize. He's studied society heavily and is realizing the flaws and limitations of mainstream society. Leo also clearly expresses his gratitude to live in the freest and greatest time in human history because of the creativity, innovation, and ease of accessing information. Leo is simply sharing his wisdom to us and if you disagree with it, that's fine and that's your choice. Leo is developing his wisdom to truly master it.

You have 8 days left of meditation! It's great that you've committed to your schedule so consistently even if it's difficult to meditate some days. I'm also proud of you for deciding to dedicate your life to master meditation. Keep in mind that plateaus are inevitable in any mastery process! I highly recommend Leo's videos on patience and the plateau and the mastery process.

@krazzer EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!! Haters, neurotic people, and highly dogmatic people and critics can brand Leo as a "phony" or a charlatan or a liar but he will keep on going. Dogmatic people will be so stuck in their views, that Leo's advice does nothing for them.

Mastery is an excellent personal value! The best thing about personal values and life purpose is that you can create them however you want.

Or here is some simpler advice: 1. Create an identity for yourself. Have a vision for your identity in writing or in pictures and read the vision to get it into your head. Do an exercise prompt called "being my authentic self!" For example, I might write "I want to be the hilarious comedian with a gift of gab." 2. Strategize on becoming this identity! Write a concrete action plan! For example "I would go to comedy club open mics and go on stage to perform either spontaneously or with a plan and rehearsal. I will look at this identity from multiple angles." 3. When socializing with women, don't randomly choose women or focus too much on sex. Be more selectively social and set your eyes on a few girls! Ask yourself "how can i confidently approach them, start a conversation and make a connection?" Put that idea into action! So to boil the strategy down: 1. Create your own identity 2. Focus on being selectively social and slowly expand options 3. Strategize and practice

I know the struggle of trying to talk to women! I used to be tactless and unintentionally creepy around women. When i was younger, i felt baffled by girls and i would get so awkward that I would psyche myself out. I used to blurt out what came out of my mouth and that alienated women from me. I started focusing on making my game much more natural and more authentic but balancing my quirkiness and exuberance and not compromising my personality. I spent close and intimate time around one girl at a time and in high school, I spent two years getting to know a girl and my breakthrough was inviting her to prom and she accepted. We're still good friends today but I loved her because she embodied my values of authenticity, quirkiness and creativity. I also practiced being completely confident telling a good friend that i loved her and she said "I love you too." In college, I met a relaxed and quiet and highly intellectual and creative introvert who loved "Alice in Wonderland" as much as i did and she won me over with her illustrations, her serenity and her kindness and sweetness. Talking to her was effortless and I spent a good deal of time with her by inviting her to movies in my dorm, to parties and to eating dinner with her. I'm now using OkCupid to apply my strategy of genuine curiosity, being authentic and not compromising your personality and not conveying desperation for love or sex and for not being an extremely fragile male. I have a selective approach to women where you choose a girl carefully, spend time around her and learn deeply about her, discover mutual interests and don't fake confidence. Instead of eliminating your shyness, find a way to use your shyness as your greatest asset when socializing. The girls i met embraced my eccentricity because it was rooted in someplace authentic. Authenticity revolutionized my social skills! You don't have to be an Alpha Male! My motives were not to get laid or have a harem, but to create genuine friendships with a strong foundation in my own values.

Can you please elaborate more on what you mean by balancing pragmatism and higher consciousness?

@IronFox This video might be highly valuable for you. http://www.actualized.org/articles/how-to-deal-with-difficult-and-toxic-people

Over the past couple years, I'm becoming much more strategic. For example, I strategically created my transition from struggling college student to becoming a greatly improved student who used strategic resources like tutoring and help from professors. I'm strategic with my creativity by feeding my muse in many ways, having a comeback to creative writing after a big failure and also getting the opportunities to travel more. I haven't fully mastered strategic thinking but I'm improving excellently. I will be strategic and short-term and long-term for the rest of my life.

Leo, thank you so much for the forum! I'm here because self-actualization is a growing passion of mine and I make sure not to participate in the collective unconsciousness. Leo, all your time and work into this forum is worth it and thank you so much for it!

Juan, thank you so much for the summary! I really appreciate how you create summaries for these videos! I've been heavily applying this video for a big creative undertaking where I dedicate myself to writing five pages a day and on some days, I go beyond my five page quota. Right now, I'm committing myself to a project of an online creative writing class for new writers or young writers and I've committed everyday to create slideshows.

Marriage is a big decision to consider but keep in mind that marriage might not guarantee financial security. Please consider other ideas for financial security! Your security is your own responsibility rather than your husband's responsibility. You need to learn self-sufficiency! Some remain stuck in dysfunctional and toxic relationships and marriages for "security" and this creates disastrous consequences! For my life, I will detach myself from a marriage or a family and create my own values, life purpose, my own freedom, and my own security. If you choose to get married, that's your own choice but consider that there are alternatives to be financially secure.