Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
Tearos

Advice for a teenager

1 post in this topic

Hello everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read and possibly respond to this, even though it is very long (teenagers are very good at making their problems bigger than they might actually be, hehe) :) I do not know why I am so naive to think that anyone would spend so much time and energy to read this whole post and respond with advice. I do not promote you to do this, but you might want to scroll down to the end of the section where I ask for your advice instead of reading the whole post.

I am a 17-year-old boy from Norway (50% Filippino, if you wonder about the color of my skin), seeking advice from you who may be able to suggest a solution to the situation I find myself in and am about to describe.

Note: English is not my first language, therefore I apologize in advance for any grammatical mistakes. I also want to let you know that I just registered on this forum and have not bought any products from Actualized.org, like the Life Purpose Course, yet . The initiative I have taken so far has been watching and learning from almost all video content provided by Actualized.org, practiced meditation every day for 6 months, read a few self-help books on various topics, cut out addictions and social media (unless as a tool) from my life, and done retrospection work by analyzing my old musical lyrics. Your advice will inevitably influence my decision.

Introduction:
I currently experience a time of difficulty regarding decision making. Right now, I am on an adventure in the USA as an exchange student, and next year will be my last at school before I will have to decide whereas I will either go to college/university, get a job, start my own business/non-profit organization/project, or do something else that you might suggest.
Fortunately, what I am certain about is what my vision is - what I want to achieve, what I am aiming for, and what impact I want to make. In a nutshell, I want to be a part of the most profound revolution of humankind. I will, for now, unofficially name this "The Happiness Revolution" . Let me provide you with a bigger picture to put you in my shoes. I will be referring to happiness as what we essentially desire to achieve: the unconditional, long-term, fulfilling, and peace of mind-version - the state of happiness.

Step into my paradigm: 
Norway is supposedly the happiest country in the world (2017), you can find this "fact" on articles from 'BBC', 'Time' and other sources as well by looking it up on the internet. I am from there - and this is a lie. I do not claim that it is not the happiest country in the world, but I know by personal experience that most of the people of Norway are not happy at all (if we speak of unconditional happiness). The question is, therefore:

  • If Norway is the happiest country in the world - and the people there are not, in reality, happy - then what does that say about the rest of the world? 
    I believe the majority of people chase happiness but are never able to find it because it is taught by Western culture that happiness can only be found in external circumstances. However, it is ultimately found mainly when we are able to live in the moment, but also when we have a life purpose, reach Enlightenment, pass neuroticism, and other elements that Leo additionally talks about in his content. People are not taught how to reach both their fullest potential and the state of happiness, therefore there is a low percentage of people who are happy and are willing to die for their Life Purpose. The follow-up question is, therefore:
  • What would happen, however, if only a slightly higher percentage of people would have reached their fullest potential with Self-Actualization, ultimately reaching Self-Transcendence, and would care about themselves, not as an individual Ego, but by identifying themselves as everyone and everything, as the oneness of absolute infinity, and so on?
    I believe that the Self-Actualized human being is, in a way, the next step in human evolution, where we move from the Neurotic era (all of history until now) to the Self-Actualized era. I also believe that The Happiness Revolution is what will create these extraordinary beings - because when we truly are Self-Actualized/Transcendent, we have reached the state of happiness.

This era is starting now. We are building an army of Self-Actualized/Transcendent beings with our weapons (symbolically) of passion to die for our life purposes about changing the world for the better. This army will be fighting our real enemies/challenges: ourselves, suffering amongst organisms, poverty, animal and world mistreatment, scarce of education, the state of unhappiness, ignorance, and the worst of all - neuroticism. The objective of this revolution is to clean up the mess we as humans have made throughout history. Something magical and astonishing is about to happen, are you ready? And more importantly, will you be a part of this?
There is a lot more to say about this, but this post turned out to be much longer than I intended, so I will get to my questions for you now. Sorry!

Asking for advice:
So I have my vision of changing the world by creating this Self-Actualized army. I have goals like Self-Actualization, Enlightenment, financial independence, traveling the world, starting a family, and still have time for creating my own music as a hobby and maintaining my relationships/spend time with my loved ones. These are the questions I have for you are the following: 

  1. I may decide to go to college/university, but I do not know what to study/field to study in. I would like to study psychology, but not what is taught in normal schools. I am interested in positive psychology, what Leo teaches us here, not dysfunctional psychology. I am looking for developmental studies, meditation studies, coaching studies, personal development studies, but I am not even confident about their existence. The reason why I feel I should go to college/university may be because of social pressure, because it is presumably the norm. Another reason might be because I feel because people will take you more seriously if you actually have some sort of degree. Anyhow, do you have a suggestion of what I can study if I choose to do so?
  2. I may decide to find a job where I can earn enough money to travel around for a while or build capital for a potential future business. I might instead, however, want to find a job that fits my values. My problem is that I personally feel like I am (not to seem arrogant) too creative and to entitled to my Life Purpose to follow someone else's business idea. Who knows, maybe Leo would want to hire me? Hehe. What would your advice be to this?
  3. I may decide to start my own business that will help me pursue my Life purpose and be a pioneer of The Happiness Revolution. This might help me reach my goal of financial independence. My problem is that I have no money and little experience with starting businesses. I have only had one job where I was paid - As a 15-year-old, I sold strawberries in a booth during my summer vacation. I was successful in my job, however, because I decided to bring my guitar to play some music to pass the long hours and to spread the message of creativity among youth culture, which turned out to be a good marketing strategy - the local news came to interview me and sales boosted. While I had this job I also read my first personal development book - Rich Dad, Poor Dad - which inspired me to someday start a business. Should I go for starting a business? If so, do you have any advice for me?
  4. I do not pursue money as a goal, only financial independence. If I were to start a big project like a business, I would much like rather start a non-profit organization. I also have so ideas to change the educational system in Norway to implement personal development as a mandatory class. I think my biggest problem is that I have too many opportunities (what a luxury problem!). How can I start a non-profit organization and still be able to support myself, and maybe my family?
  5. Do you have any other suggestion of what I could/should decide to do that adapts to my paradigm and values after I finish my last year of high school? Or do you have any suggestion of a different paradigm that I need to establish instead?

I think those were my questions for now. If you took the time and energy to read the whole post, you deserve an award! Thank you in advance for all responses. 
Sincerely, Tearos/Fred.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0