My Self-Improvement Journal: Lessons in Personal Growth, Courage, and Authenticity.

[The Shining]

Hi everyone! I'm Moamen E. and this is my personal journey through self-discovery, love, guidance and hope.

This topic will serve as a platform for my ideas, personal experiences, life lessons that I personally learned along my journey and from a wide range of spiritual/personal development teachers. I will keep updating it weekly, documenting my journey from the start to the finish, keeping myself accountable and hopefully leaving a positive impact on you as well.

"Do the thing you fear the most and fear will move out of the way" -Elliot Hulse

"It's not about having the most detailed out plan, it's not about knowing it's going to work out, it's about doing it. COURAGE. Courage is what you will experience and what you will grow when the fear is there but you do it anyway.."-Elliot Hulse

"Success isn't doing the right thing and it definitely isn't doing the right thing the first time, success is having the courage to move in the direction of your dreams, move in the direction your heart is taking you, as you progressively realize that goal." -Elliot Hulse

"It's not about what you get, it's about who you become." -Elliot Hulse

My whole life I was scared to do anything new, I was confused and not totally sure about myself. I'm sure many of you have gone through the same thing in the past. Now is the time to change this.

Proactive vs reactive.

Fear will always be there, you just need to do the thing, and you'll flip the whole equation. It's like a switch and when you take action you are now operating from a much more powerful place than before. Express courage and your relationship to fear is going to totally change and you'll become a different person for it.

"God will not make his work manifest by cowards." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Do the thing and you will have the power." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I will keep pushing my edge, making my fear more and more known to me as I take the next step, take that leap of faith, only then will my life purpose begin making itself known to me. I trust that my heart will always keep guiding me towards my strongest, most authentic version of myself. I will become the person who I REALLY AM MEANT TO BE. We really do grow and learn from adversity. My work is my no. 1 priority right now.

To another day, peace.

[The Shining]

Work Ethic

-Everything is practice for the big show.

-The only difference between top performers/ huge successes is mastering consistency.

-Menial tasks done everyday.

-After 30 days your brain rewires itself to accept the new habit.

"if you can't get yourself to do all those little things, then how are you going to live your dream life?

"You're not gonna get put on, homie." -Owen Cook

"If you been blessed by god to have any gift, and you want to do respect to that gift by cultivating it, then you make a decision to execute." -Owen Cook

Love the menial little tasks. They are the foundation for success.

Motivation:

Higher Desires: Love, truth, purpose, freedom, expansion

Lower Desires: Prove people wrong, boost your ego, stick it to your ex/coworker/family/employer

We fluctuate between those when we are under-slept and grumpy vs. Happy and wide awake.

Learn to acknowledge them, but always be guided by your own highest self.

"The Bhagavad Gita"

Two paths to enlightenment: Action or Contemplation.

When people aren't taking action, they are stuck in concepts, overthinking, having all these ideas on how things should be which aren't rooted in reality.

When you take action, you keep running into obstacles and that makes you more grounded in reality than you were, you have a better understanding of reality, you're peeling away the layers of delusion as you do this and getting more and more clear on how things actually work.

The 5 Seconds Rule

“If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.”

Here are 3 reasons why this simple idea of a 5-second countdown can do the same for you:

Through little acts of courage, the 5 Second Rule makes you less afraid over time.

There are three reasons the “right time” will never come, so you just have to start.

The 5 Second Rule helps to override your feelings, a tactic which is called psychological intervention.

Count 1..2..3..4..5 and do it

Wash the dishes? 1..2..3..4..5 go

Talk to that girl? 1..2..3..4..5 go

That was it for today, I hope you liked these little tidbits of information, do the thing you're afraid to do

To another day, PEACE.

Resources:

- "The 5 second rule" Book by Mel Robbins.

Edited February 13, 2018 by The Shining

[The Shining]

"We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without
passion."
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

---

-- Svadhisthana (The Lover's Chakra)

Meaning: Sweetness
Location: Lower abdomen, genitals, womb
Element: Water
Function: Desire, pleasure, sexuality, procreation
Inner State: Feelings
Glands: Ovaries, testicles
Sense: Taste
Seed Sound: Vam
Celestial Body: Moon
Corresponding Verb: I feel

Today I will be discussing chakras, and how they relate to our feelings, which are part of our road to success. They can be looked at as a guidance system. Disconnected from feelings, you are without guidance, totally and unhopefully lost as an ego-based individual. To embrace emotions is to embrace your feeling processes, it is to honor one's own self regardless of what's happening around him, devoid of the head-based logic and more in alignment with your truest self, you now have the key to Intuition which guides you to your true path. The ego doesn't like losing control, it perceives some parts of that as danger, so it creates barriers between it and the real you. The ego is mistaken, for the real you is much more powerful than the ego, it is much more in alignment with your soul, it is more intuitively connected with your higher self and within that it has all your gifts, life purpose, true love, happiness and wisdom. To help understand how the ego traps us in our heads more, I will be elaborating on how to get in touch with this magical force using our own bodies and feelings. This brings us to the topic of energy, because as we know, we ARE energy. And chakras, simpy put, are energy centers in the body relating to different point of consciousness in our soul, we can look at them as a map of evolution. The chakra system consist of seven basic chakras that correspond to our basic human needs, govern our emotions, wisdom, purpose, awareness, and on a physical level the endocrine system.

Today we will be discussing the second chakra, governing the EMOTIONS, our need for pleasure, excitement and fulfillment. Playfulness shows up here a lot. It's flowing, thriving on change & uncertainty.
 

"Without change, our minds become dull. Without
change, there is no growth, no movement, and no life. Consciousness thrives on change."

 

This movement is the essence of the second chakra’s purpose in the overall chakra system. It is the opposite of the first chakra’s stillness. Where
the first chakra seeks to hold on and create structure, the second chakra’s purpose is to let go and
create flow. Flow allows one thing to connect energetically with another. It is the difference between
a point and a line.

This chakra is the center of sexuality as well as emotions, sensation, pleasure, movement, and
nurturance.

In Sanskrit, the chakra is called Svadhisthana, usually translated as “one’s own abode." We also find in it the root svad which means “to taste sweet” or “to taste with pleasure, to enjoy or take delight.” When the plant has deep roots and is well-watered,
then the fruit is sweet. To open the second chakra is to drink with delight in the sweet waters of
pleasure.

Pleasure, as befits the duality of the second chakra, is a two-edged sword. It’s an easy chakra to get
trapped in, yet the trap can result from avoiding pleasure as much as indulging in it. The balancing of
any chakra requires opening to its particular energy, without becoming excessively attached.

Sensation is a valuable information source for all levels of consciousness. It provides the raw data
that eventually becomes information, stored and analyzed by the brain. Ignoring bodily sensations cuts
us off from the valuable feelings and emotions that play a part in transferring information to the brain
and in moving psychic and physiological energy through the body. Sensations are the building blocks
of our feelings and emotions. Without them we are lifeless and disconnected.
Pleasure and sensation are essential features of the second chakra. If desire is the seed of
movement, then pleasure is the root of desire, and sensation is the medium of pleasure. Pleasure is
essential for the health of the body, the rejuvenation of spirit, and the healing of our personal and
cultural relationships.

Emotions (from the Latin movere “to move” and e meaning “out”) promote the evolution of
consciousness through the body. When we emote, we are moving energy out of the unconsciousness,
through the body, and into the conscious mind. This flow of consciousness charges the body, cleanses
it, and heals it. It is a movement of our life force through which we achieve change. We are back to
the basic elements of the second chakra: movement and change.

When we reject emotions, they get buried away in the subconscious mind, in the form of "shadow", these are the aspects of ourselves that we reject.

Activities that open the Sacral chakra:

-Releasing trapped emotions

-Yoga

-Dance

-Creative Arts

-Sex

-Aromatherapy

 

"Every perfect action is accompanied by pleasure. By that you can tell that you ought to do it." —Andre Gide

I will be doing these activities that act as a way to move energy through the body, release emotions, moving into my body and feeling all the feelings that arise, as well as moving towards pleasure throughout the next week. As I gain more awareness of my emotions, accepting all of them and integrating them into my life, I will be reporting back the results over the next few weeks. The main issues I deal with is inability to be with my emotions, avoiding them, not knowing how to use them properly, honor all aspects of myself. Now I'm taking them head-on as I learn how to re-connect with myself and explore the different themes this realm of being offers, navigating my way through with my own intuition and my studies.

Until the next time, PEAACEE 

Resources:

https://lonerwolf.com/sacral-chakra-healing/

"Wheels of Life: A User's Guide to the Chakra System" By Anodea Judith.

Edited February 22, 2018 by The Shining

[The Shining]

Yoga was good but not that emotional (at least for now)

Osho meditation is good but needs a judgment-free environment (I live w/ family)

Aromatherapy was helpful, recommended for the heart chakra: Rose oil.

I talked with some family members, had huge emotional releases, lots of crying..

Felt instantly better afterwards.

I realized the real work that needs to be done is on the heart, that's where the blockage is.

I had my heart broken and fell apart because of it, it was a blessing and a curse. Now is the time to get back on the relationship-track.

I will be playing The Game.

Until I get "love" back, my love for myself, my love for women, love for life, I will be unable to progress into the next step in my life. Social interaction is a huge part in my self-actualization journey, I think.

This is what the Heart Chakra is all about.

And so I will build myself up again, even better than before, now more grounded in principles and disciplined action, and become a potential suitor.

I will be going to the gym.

Buying new clothes.

Taking action daily.

On the side, I will still be doing the more "yin" part of self-help, which is self-acceptance.

Mostly I will be trying to get the F out of the head-brain, and more in sync with the heart. 

This is where the truth lies. My truth. My love, my humanity.

I will keep y'all updated, now I'm eating and going to the gym..

Until next time. PEACE.