7thLetter

@Salvijus Still in the same situation pretty to be honest. Still trying to work on my financial situation. @Mondsee Do you notice the assumptions you are making? I think it's important for people to realize that you can't really figure out what someone's motivations are just based on their actions. Reminds me of what one of my co-workers/old friend said to me. He told me his motivation to go to the gym is to look good in order to get laid. So he projects onto me and assumes that I have that same exact reason for going to the gym. Which is not the case because I gym because I love doing it, and of course all the benefits come as a byproduct. I am not motivated by the results. So let me tell you, my motivation isn't just the money itself, but it's more about the opportunities and freedom that money will bring. I would say I have a pretty strong level of independence, and that's what attracts me to trading. You're behind the computer analyzing charts, you work on your own time, and you don't have to deal with anybody. Almost all business requires you to deal with people. Even if its an online business like what Leo is doing for example. You have to market the product, you have to deal with complaints, tech support, etc. You don't have to do any of that with trading. And the opportunities that money will bring? Once again I'm strongly independent so I definitely want to move out on my own. I currently live with my family and I often get the idea that living with them is subconsciously conditioning me in a minor way. Money will also allow me to quit my job. So what do you do in your life if you don't mind me asking? Do you live your life purpose and live the theory or are you just position-taking and regurgitating what the theory says? You make yourself sound like a Christian regurgitating what the bible says. In this case Leo is God and Leo's videos are the bible and lower-consciousness things are sins. So its like, "oh no don't chase money its a sin (lower consciousness act) you need to follow the word of God (Leo), it says in the bible (Leo's videos)!!!." From my perspective, its not just about 'knowing' the theory, its about understanding it as well. And understanding it to me, means experiencing it for yourself. So in my case, I 'know' that chasing money and all that is lower-consciousness, but I don't understand it. So I have to experience it for myself by acquiring more money so that I will understand it. Get it now? "Ugh." Anyways, you get the point. I mean I hope you do. I'm done being a hyena here. @Key Elements I've taken the course actually. Might re-visit it again sometime.

Strong introvert, INTP here. And I'm not talking romantic relationships, but relationships with people in general. One day I'm very comfortable speaking to this person or that person at my workplace, and good friend's with that person, but the next day it's like I've never met them before. In a way its like I'm ignoring them. Could it be a common behavior of the INTP personality type? Or maybe it's a common behavior of the Spiral Dynamics stage yellow type? Maybe I'm ignoring them because I'm too comfortable with my solitude and don't want to spend my social energy? And as a result of all this 'cold' or 'aloof' behavior, people get angry at me. Maybe because they have some insecurities and think that I dislike them, but in reality its more of the fact that I don't want to spend my social energy. Sometimes I think to myself, why does it matter to them so much what I think and if I'm not talking to them, and I also dismiss it as "its okay they're just insecure." Because I'm not really doing anything wrong, I'm just being myself. But, sometimes I come off as a 'social' person at times. My mood is all over the place, sometimes I like socializing when I'm in a good mood, but often times I'm in a tired mood if I don't get enough sleep or if I don't eat enough, etc. So I definitely understand their point of view if they see that I'm capable of being loud and talkative, but sometimes not. And even talkative with other people, but not talkative around this or that person. I don't have a lot or any friends I hang out with these days, and I don't 'need' any. I love my solitude. People take a lot of my energy and time, I just want to focus on what I value and get my shit together first before anything else. But this behavior has happened with almost every workplace that I've worked at. My whole life I've been working at a ton of restaurants in the front of house. I understand I'm seen as social at times but at the core I'm an introvert. So every time I have some people getting angry at me because I don't talk to them. It doesn't bother me TOO much, but just a bit and that's why I'm writing this post. These days I try to find jobs where I don't have to work with as many people. My dream job is to just trade the markets and live off of that. Anyone have any advice or thoughts on why I might be this way? I don't think its just that ONE thing that causes me to be this way, but its definitely a combination of several things like, possibly stage Yellow behavior, INTP behavior, and I used to do pickup so that might have added onto the cold behavior.

I'm here to ask questions, share my stories, share my knowledge, help others with problems that I might have overcome myself, connect with other people in the self-actualization community because I don't know anyone who is involved in it in person, to acquire knowledge, sometimes I feel like its a source of validation just like other social media but maybe I really need to stop viewing it that way and using it that way, to see where other people are at in their current level of psychological development and what kind of inner demons they are dealing with themselves, sometimes to debate with others, to read stories, to read other people's comments on one of Leo's videos and to write paragraphs with no periods

@PsiloPutty Lol sounds silly but I honestly think it contributed to it in some way, or maybe not. But it did make me feel a bit light-headed after inhaling it for a couple minutes. And obviously one source on Google isn't the best place to get accurate information, but that one source did say it is linked to the development of brain tumors. Not saying its true, I have no idea, a lot of people here seem to use it, but I'm honestly not going to bother to use any of it anymore. Its just so odd that I had to blank out like that out of no where.

Lately I’ve been incorporating the use of different scents into my meditation practice. I bought a diffuser, and I also have been burning incense to go along with my meditation practice. This is something my Dad does with his meditation so I wanted to try it for myself. It definitely has helped me relax during meditation, but is it even healthy to breathe this stuff in? So yesterday I did my 20 minute meditation with incense. Later, I went biking by the water as part of my weekly routine. At one point, I picked up speed and out of nowhere my gears fell off so I couldn’t pedal or control the bike, plus my mind completely went blank. The direction I headed in went straight for a huge metal sign and I crashed right into it. Luckily I wasn’t hurt but my bike was slightly damaged. This morning, did my meditation again with incense. It was 20mins of incense smoke going straight up my nose. Couple mins later I could feel a slightly uncomfortable sensation in my nose, brain, and in my lungs. I then googled if it was good to meditate with incense and apparently it’s as bad as inhaling ciggarette smoke. I guess what happened to me on my bike was a pretty good sign not to use it. Going to use my diffuser instead. Is it safe to breathe this stuff in and do any of you meditate with incense?

I recommend getting into pickup if you want something practical. Get on the RSD or SimplePickup forums and join some other guys in your area who are just looking to go out as well. And start with SimplePickup’s paid program. I think its either called “Simple30” or “ProjectGo.” Been a while since I’ve done it. They have several daily challenges for you to do that help you get out of your comfort zone. First few challenges are pretty basic, asking for directions, giving people high-fives, etc. Then it gets more challenging by the end. Btw, you can easily find a torrent online for the program if you are unable to spend money on it. After finishing the program, you can just continue to go out consistently with other guys and that should help. You could also work some customer-service jobs, which help LOTS. Maybe as a cashier, or work front of house at a restaurant. Restaurants are a huge social environment and that should help you get into a social mood. And if you haven’t got a gym habit in place already, go ahead and start on that. Start small and work your way up. Over time you will get better and better. Good luck

Lately I've been trying and looking into different ways to grow while doing the techniques that Leo already suggests. I'm a highly analytical guy and I've been learning how to analyze candlestick charts in order to trade different markets like the Forex market. Trading is something I want to master, which is why I have been looking to improve my focus, analytical mind, mental clarity, memory, etc. What are some of the things that you suggest that would help with this? I've already got a couple Self-actualization habits that I've been working on such as reading/writing, meditation, contemplation, which help but I'd say are different from what this topic is about. I guess we're talking more about IQ here rather than EQ. Some of the things I have been doing lately are: - Playing and learning chess daily - Listening to classical music - Playing brain games on Lumosity.com daily (Not sure if this helps) - Other puzzle games such as Sudoku or Crossword puzzles - Solving quick math questions on iPhone/Computer daily - Improving typing speed through online games - Cardio (Biking & Treadmill) Suggestions?

@B_Naz @StephenK Been looking into coding as well lately. Will definitely look into it even more. I love how there’s a lot of sites that offer interactive games that teach you coding @Nahm Leo talks about it quite a but but I haven’t actually looked into it myself. Will check it out thanks

@Chrissy j I would say that it has a lot to do with the terrible social conditioning that comes along as a result of living in and interacting with society. It’s somewhat similiar to Leo’s video on “The Deep Problem of Marketing” where Leo talks about how modern marketing is not just selling you stuff but it’s also shaping your reality. Marketers are there to manipulate you into buying their shit products. They don’t care about you, they care about money. And the fact that they’re manipulating you affects you in a certain way, and the shit products affect you in a certain way as well. How? Let’s take a look at some possibilities. - Since we live in a world with tons of manipulative advertisements around us such as clickbait youtube titles and thumbnails, colorful vibrant posters in the streets, half-naked chicks in the magazine to spike your emotions advertising a bottle of perfume, etc. This conditions people to view manipulation as a social norm. Even if you’re not a marketer, it may lead you to subconsciously manipulate people in your daily life. - They’re manipulating you into buying their shit products which are products that aren’t usually good for your health. Leo mentions food, they’ll manipulate you into buying that creamy rich milk chocolate bar through an advertisement. Which isn’t good for your health. Pharmaceuticals, video games, clothing, TV shows, movies, you name it. And I don’t think Leo mentions this but they’re all taking your money. - Socializing with friends and needing validation and playing the status game all leads you to care what other people think of you. If your friends are constantly seeking validation, subconsciously you will end up being like them and needing more validation too. One time I had lunch of my co-workers who is also an old friend, he showed me his Instagram and was like “Dude I’m now at 100+ likes per post.” Who gives a fuck. And knowing him for 5 years, he tends to care a lot what other people think of him which brings you no peace. If you live in that state of mind then you constantly would always need validation from other people and you won’t be able to be happy on your own. Imagine being stranded on an island, who’s there to give you validation? Need the monkeys to give you validation? - Holidays, socializing with family about nothing and subconsciously being conditioned to take holidays as the norm and you’ll celebrate it next year and pass it on to your children so that can celebrate it every year and waste money too. It’s all just another way for businesses to make money. - Sports, let’s bet and cheer for the best team of half-naked men running around. You’re also socializing with other lower-consciousness people who love sports and you’re becoming more like them. Surprisingly sports is a multi-billion or trillion dollar industry. Anyways, I could go on and on about this. You’re free to do whatever you want but fun and entertainment is a distraction if you want to develop your consciousness or create more being for yourself. Instead of playing Fortnite or any popular video game out there, you could be sitting in solitude in nature developing your state of being. In the end I would say it all comes down to actually experiencing and living in this perspective for yourself in order to fully understand these ideas and this video. The video isn’t there to tell you what to do, but I see it more as an explanation of the perspective of the higher-self. All of it isn’t just an idea, but it’s an actual way of living. Once you’re starting to grow, you CAN still experience fun, but won’t care about it. You will prioritize your inner peace over almost everything else.

@Outer Been on my way to mastering that. And I've heard of Dual N-Back but its not making any sense to me to be honest

@Nahm I've definitely been noticing lately in myself that I tend to project and criticize people based on how I view the world, and I'm starting to see this in other people as well. I know that I do it, it just can be a bit frustrating how stubborn people can be, especially the people around you in your life. My whole family that I'm living with is on meds, except for me. There's not a whole lot I can do for them really. I've tried to change good friends that I've had in the past by talking to them but its not easy. I understand that with enough consistency, you can change someone's perspective on things very slowly through working with their subconscious mind by building tons of rapport, sharing your beliefs, etc. But that just takes a whole lot of effort and energy from someone like me to put into a relationship. So I've kind of given up on trying to change people, but at the same time I just wish it was easier for them. Having basically no friends and living in solitude has been a beautiful thing, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have people around who have a similar way of living as me. But in the end I guess it doesn't matter with more and more acceptance.

@QeenB Exactly, no one else would know where you currently are in life and what's right for you but you. But I mean at the same time, the more and more you go throughout your life, build awareness, and learn about personal development, you might even notice some things about yourself that you want to change. Like at one point in my life I just quit pickup, thought I was fine to explore and try out Dropshipping on Shopify for example. Then I realized I was subconsciously treating people like crap at work. I wonder why? Because I just got out of pickup and narcissism got a hold of me so I had to work on my awareness. And just a random fact, I got fired at one of my jobs for the first time, and I think a huge part of it had to be because of the unconscious narcissistic behaviors that I had back then. But honestly though, there could be so many different things out there that you can't even ignore about yourself and that you might want to work on. Maybe your money psychology, maybe you might have several distractions in life like video games or TV that might distract you from working on anything productive. Maybe you feel like you need to improve your happiness levels at some point and come back to the self-actualization work, etc. Just realize that self-actualization is an endless journey, and I guess you can come back to it any time but just don't hold it off for too long. Balance is a good answer, but I mean its already good enough if you mentioned that you're still going to meditate, read, and all that. Goodluck

He will experience more being

Yes do it and don't let anything tell you otherwise. Anyone around you will subconsciously talk you out of the things you are doing in your life if you tell them about it. They don't want you to do better than them because it makes them look bad so they try to pull you down to their level. It's like a bunch of crabs in a bucket. If one of the crabs tries to escape from the bucket, another crab is holding that crab down so that that crab wouldn't be able to escape. Every single crab is in that bucket holding another crab down. These crabs could be anyone, could be your family, your friends, your co-workers, your boss, etc. I'm 22 as well and I'm working towards this as well. Past couple years have been me trying different things and figuring out what I actually enjoy doing and what I'm able to consistently do. Its true what they say about doing the thing you love doing and not to just do it for the money. Because if you don't love doing it then you wouldn't enjoy yourself and it wouldn't be sustainable. My whole entire intention going into personal development was to hopefully create financial independence. And it hasn't directly helped me, but I guess I would say it has helped me develop a sense of strong independence which is important to finding time to study and put in work towards your business or anything you're working towards, rather than hanging out with friends and partying all day. But also if you're like me and tend to love the deep ideas that Leo talks about and analyzing every little thing about life and human nature and how existence works and what reality is or God, etc. etc. Then you sometimes could get off track and instead go really deep into this work. Personally I'm just working on a balance at the moment, but I do love working on both. Do what works for you

Biking is a good one too, one of my personal favorites compared to any types of cardio work because its enjoyable. Its good on the quads as well. But all types of cardio is good.

Lol a pretty well thought-out scam if he’s going to put hundreds of hours and a ton of effort into his videos. Especially with him putting out several videos that are almost an hour long on his Youtube channel for free? Ask yourself some of these questions: “Does my Dad have what I want in life and is he satisfied and fulfilled?” Maybe you can ask him that too. ”Do the random people on Google or Quora have exactly what I want in life and are they fulfilled? Do I even know who they are?” ”Do I myself have what I want and am I fullfilled?” If not then sure be skeptical of what’s out there, but at the same time be skeptical of your skepticism. “Are we currently living in a psychologically developed and advanced society, and should I listen to them or is everyone else dealing with their own psychological issues like depression, anxiety, neuroticism, narcissicism, insecurities, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, agoraphobia disorder, anger management, closed-mindedness, PTSD, antisocial personality disorder, ADD/ADHD, social anxiety, avoidant personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, etc.” Ask yourself these questions. And btw I took the last one a little bit to the extreme to give you an idea that a lot of us are dealing with a lot of deep psychological issues and you can’t afford to listen to some ‘random’ review on Google. Understand that a lot of people are closed-minded, and naturally a lot of people don’t like change so they tend to deny it. Another thing to add, understand the difference between theory and action. Watch Leo’s video on that. Just because someone buys a course online on how to start a business doesn’t mean they will automatically start a business. And just because they didn’t come up with the business, doesn’t mean the course is a scam. The course is there to guide you, but if you’re not going to take any action on it, then that’s all on you.

@nour-cha93 I completely understand. In some cases its not that easy to cut people out of your life. In my case for example, I live in a very psychologically unhealthy household. I’d say we come from a lower-class background. Got me, my mom, dad, brother and sister living together. Parents are always asking me and my siblings for money. Dad is always hoping that he’ll make it some day with lottery tickets. My mom is extremely extroverted so everything she thinks you hear so she’s always complaining, especially to her friends she talks to everyday on the phone. Both brother and sister are on medications for ADHD. And a ton more that I won’t include here. I talk to them a little bit but even ignoring them is psychologically unhealthy for me to do so I’m stuck either way. But in no way are they abusive or selfish. They’re actually really caring and parents just want the best for us. I can’t really blame them for who they are because nature has made them that way. I can say that when I was 18, it was a bigger problem for me than it is now at 22. These days I love my life. I don’t think about what I don’t have as much, I always appreciate what I do have. Personal development has literally changed my whole attitude towards life. Although if you’re dealing with a narcissist, it can be difficult for almost anyone. And by the way, the fact that you say “some people are meant to be around you for so long” is a limiting belief. You literally can even take an extreme route, hop on a plane tomorrow morning and just fly to another country and never have to see them again. Of course money is an obstacle, but try to handle that first. In my case I ‘can’ move out and would love to but I’m here to help out and leave when the time is right. Still handling my money situation at the moment. And sorry for putting my life story out there, I kind of get the idea that most people don’t care to hear about other people’s stories, but I try to do it as little as possible

Sometimes the problem with self-help gurus or coaches, is the fact that they give us the theory that comes from the perspective of someone who is already at a 'higher' or a different level, than their audience. So a lot of the time you hear coaches saying something like "You need to be detached from outcome." Then some of the people in that audience would ask questions like, "Why detachment? Does that mean I just sit around do nothing and not go for what I want then?" You get rid negative people in your life because in a way they tend to affect you on a subconscious level. It may not seem like it in the moment, but its like the snowball effect. It affects you little by little until it turns into something a lot bigger. Sure the more and more you develop yourself, you're able to deal with negativity more effectively, but I think at any level that you're at in your development it would affect you in either a major or a minor way depending on where you're at. To deal with it completely? That could be several years down the road for most people, and maybe some people are already there. Humans tend to affect other humans at a subconscious level more than you think. Think about how people develop accents? Why do people have British accents? Is it because they were born with it? How do most people find an interest in watching sports? It's most likely more a social thing rather than a genuine interest in watching sports. Even when you were a child you were probably picking up little things from the people you grew up with. There's a popular quote by Jim Rohn that says something like "You're The Average Of The Five People You Spend The Most Time With." Which is true. If you're hanging out with negative people all the time, you will become just like them. You'll start having a negative attitude towards life and the world, you'll start dressing like them, eating like them, talking like them, doing things like them, etc. Which can be a problem. And one more thing to add, just like with anything else in personal development, there’s always some traps to be aware of. And that trap is to be careful not to avoid negativity in a neurotic way. For example, constantly looking for negativity and avoiding it just because that’s what the theory said. Such as hearing a negative statement from a friend and covering your ears and cutting him out of your life completely because he said something negative. Things like that. Once you’re actually growing, getting rid negativity should come naturally rather than avoiding it because that’s what you heard from a video.

@Nahm I guess we'll have to wait and see. Lol sorry for breaking your streak if it never happens @Sevi I'll probably try it one day honestly. I'll let you know. Was a bit skeptical at first but I guess it's an actual thing

Hoping this would be a an interesting topic to talk about. Kind of want to get an idea of where everyone is at, and I think this is a pretty important question that we all need to ask ourselves. What are some of the things that you do in order to take action on Self Actualization? And what has changed in your life because of it? I often tend to think that success at anything is a numbers game, in terms of how many people actually achieve it generally speaking. In a certain community, it seems like only 10% of people succeed and 90% fail in some way. For example, in the pickup community, there's tons of guys who want to get better with women, but a majority of them quit. Success with women itself also is another numbers game, not every girl will like you, 10% of the time you'll get the girl's number, 90% of the time you won't. 10% of the time you'll get the date, 90% of the time you most likely won't. Business is another numbers game, I think a lot of us have heard that 90% of businesses fail. And just one more example, if you look at Leo's channel on Youtube, he has around 727K subscribers at the moment. What? There's 727K+ Self-actualizers out there? Oh wait but if you look at Leo's view count over his most recent videos, he only gets an average of about 35K-75K views per video. Maybe we can apply the same rule to the number of views as well? Could it be that only 10% of those views are people who take action on the theory? I think the biggest trap here in the Self-actualization community is the fact that people LOVE listening to the theory without doing any of the work. Thinking that listening to all the theory will make them grow and become cooler and much smarter. I have a story about a good friend of mine, he's the only one I know in person who watches Leo's videos. So I know this guy from high school, we were always pretty close. After high school and not seeing him in awhile, I bumped into him and I found out he watches Leo's videos. For over a year, we've had so many great conversations about the Actualized.org theories. We both did Leo's Life purpose course and bought his book list. But as I kept talking to him more and more, I always have been sharing my insights and my challenges, and growth progress, but he never seemed to share his. As we talked more and more, he became more distant, and we didn't hang out as often. It seemed like it was because I was growing, while he stayed where he was at. Now we all know meditation is the best thing you can do to take action on the theory, but he never meditated. I also realized that he was still partying, doing drugs, hanging out with old friends, etc. Having more and more conversations with him, I could now tell he's at a lower-consciousness level. He often tries to talk me down to his level, saying things like "oh mediation doesn't make you money." So these days its like ok he definitely doesn't take this stuff seriously. Some of the things that I do personally are: - Meditation (Still trying to build the consistency) - Deep contemplation (On the theory, on my life, on the world around us, on human nature, etc.) - Eating healthy (For the most part) - Fitness - Appreciating life, nature, what I have - Trying to understand all of life, truth, meaning, human psychology, and trying to understand my own psychology and life. Especially exploring different areas of life like business, fitness, etc. It all seems to be a part of understanding different perspectives. - Then reading and listening to theory. I know this isn't part of action taking but just wanted to include it. And as a result of it all, it has brought me a sense of inner peace, more appreciation for life, more in love with my solitude rather than hanging out with a ton of people. More understanding of life, and people. Deeper and more complex thoughts. And more to come. So, what are some of the things that you do, and how has it changed your life?

@Sevi That's great to know. But why put butter up your nostrils and what purpose does it serve? Is there a specific butter that you use or just any from the grocery store? I would try it, but I don't know enough about what the purpose of it is. Plus I'd prefer not to get any acne on my face @Nahm Thanks for seeing that in me I appreciate it! And never thought of that but it would be an interesting experience and pretty amazing if that happened

@Sevi Challenge accepted. You gave me the inspiration to set a day sometime soon to try the Do Nothing technique. Maybe I'll even meditate for over an hour in that day for the first time. Maybe not the last part of what you said in that post. But also, maybe I shouldn't say anything about that because you might insert say something about my ego or how I'm closed-minded to doing so. Literally? Lol like come on, I won't pour butter in my nostrils until I see a video of you or someone else doing it for the sake of nothing or for growth purposes.

@Sevi let's do it

Not sure why I took the 3rd part as sarcasm lol. But yeah forcing yourself does work as a short-term solution in most cases but its not sustainable. I’m sure a lot of people force themselves to quit a certain addiction or force themselves to go to the gym but eventually quit until the next new year’s resolution. I will never forget this but when I was in highschool I always thought I had Social Anxiety because I was always quiet. And the first ever personal development I’ve listened to 5+ years ago was “Overcoming Social Aniety Step by Step” by Dr. Thomas A. Richards. It was a pretty long audio series with tons of practical exercises. One of the most important things that I got out of it though was the quote “That what you resist, persists.” So there would be a ton of exercises on changing your negative thinking habits and replacing it with newer positive ones instead of resisting it. And I’ll say that it worked. Resisting these things will persist and just make it worse. Its counterintuitive. A lot of things in personal development are counterintuitive really.

I think the most important thing for you to realize is that, being at these different spiral dynamic levels won’t necessarily help you take action. You can be at the highest level, and not take any action. It may bring you a change in your values, motivations, and way of viewing the world, but taking action is all dependant on you. Maybe look more into entrepreneurship if you can’t stand having a job. Try different things in that field and find what you like. There’s e-Commerce, dropshipping on Shopify or Amazon/eBay. Affiliate marketing, Youtube, Trading stocks/options/forex/cryptocurrencies. Just to name a few. For me personally, I consider myself around the yellow stage level as well after tons of personal growth (even if people on this forum who don’t even know me disagree) and I’m working on trading Forex and Cryptocurrencies. Trading is highly analytical, entrepreneurial, and definitely appeals to the stage orange or yellow type. Plus you’re sitting at a computer all day reading charts and not having to interact with anyone. But again, all the action is dependant on you. You can listen to as much theory as you want, go to as many forums as you want, watch as many videos as you want, but that itself won’t help you get to where you want to be without taking action. Hope I gave you a good idea of what you want to do next though good luck