What are some of the things that you do to take action on Self Actualization?

[7thLetter]

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?

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by 7thLetter

[Charlotte]

Meditation habit (most life changing)

Remaining aware and staying mindful throughout the day (it sounds like nothing but it can be challenging in stressful setting's)

Fitness

Yoga (Kundalini and Hatha)

Complete change in diet (meat junk food eater to organic whole food vegan)

Completely cut alcohol (been almost a year)

Deep contemplation

On the right path to life purpose (starting college)

Self enquiry

Reprogramming of subconscious mind (again very powerful)

Workshops

Theory

Working on mechanics of beliefs and open mindedness

And soon to use Psychedelics as a another tool

How has it changed my life? I can't even put into words ?❤️

[B_Naz]

I think it's also important to not do actions that are distractions, so TV, social media, news media, porn, capitalism, consumerism, stuff like that. It's great that you're doing all of self-actualization, but beware of the actions that are distractions to your self-actualization as well and Self enquiry them. Why am I following this TV series, why am I on social media, why do I like porn or materialism? Be with the distraction and feel it, and beware of what you're literally doing. Link those actions to your ego and identity. Mindfulness on the actions that causes distractions, like a chimp in a zoo and you're the scientist observing the chimp. Commit 100%, everyday is self-actualization.

How has this changed my life? Well I am doing more stuff that is stimulating, and become more aware of human nature. Instead of watching TV, I am reading and learning

Edited May 15, 2018 by B_Naz
Forgot to say how it changed my life :P

[7thLetter]

@B_Naz I agree, and at the same time you don’t want to resist the desire to do those unconscious behaviors and ‘get rid of’ those behaviors in a neurotic way. That has been one of my biggest insights or realizations in my journey. Which is not to align your life with the theory in a neurotic way, but to instead use it as a guideline as you continue to grow yourself internally. Those unconscious behaviors will then exit out of your life naturally depending on your level of consciousness. The theory is not there to tell you what to do in life. So for example, a psychologically dysfunctional newbie who is listening to advanced personal development theory for the first time won’t be able to apply any of it and take action right away. If the theory says that video games, drugs, sex, partying are unconscious behaviors, and that society is here to fuck us all so distance yourself from society, instead sit in a cave, do psychedelics, enlightenment work and meditate. He/she wouldn’t be able to to do it. The newbie would be so closed-minded, so he/she would have to work on open-mindedness and several other things and work their way up little by little. But as the newbie becomes a bit more comfortable with listening to the material, there’s the trap of resisting bad behaviors, “I should NOT eat this icecream” or “I need to STOP watching TV because the theory said I shouldn’t do this!” But sometimes you just gotta let these unconscious behaviors happen and be aware of it. There will be ups and downs, and its never perfect. In the end, the growth will come naturally as you begin to move up to higher levels.

[Viking]

 

29 minutes ago, 7thLetter said:

@B_Naz I agree, and at the same time you don’t want to resist the desire to do those unconscious behaviors and ‘get rid of’ those behaviors in a neurotic way. That has been one of my biggest insights or realizations in my journey. Which is not to align your life with the theory in a neurotic way, but to instead use it as a guideline as you continue to grow yourself internally. Those unconscious behaviors will then exit out of your life naturally depending on your level of consciousness. The theory is not there to tell you what to do in life. So for example, a psychologically dysfunctional newbie who is listening to advanced personal development theory for the first time won’t be able to apply any of it and take action right away. If the theory says that video games, drugs, sex, partying are unconscious behaviors, and that society is here to fuck us all so distance yourself from society, instead sit in a cave, do psychedelics, enlightenment work and meditate. He/she wouldn’t be able to to do it. The newbie would be so closed-minded, so he/she would have to work on open-mindedness and several other things and work their way up little by little. But as the newbie becomes a bit more comfortable with listening to the material, there’s the trap of resisting bad behaviors, “I should NOT eat this icecream” or “I need to STOP watching TV because the theory said I shouldn’t do this!” But sometimes you just gotta let these unconscious behaviors happen and be aware of it. There will be ups and downs, and its never perfect. In the end, the growth will come naturally as you begin to move up to higher levels.

I agree only partly, because habits are a thing. even if youre very conscious you can still have habits that make you do low consciousness behavior, take for example shinzen young, an enlightened master who was addicted to marijuana after he was enlightened.

[B_Naz]

@7thLetter Very nicely explained. I did lack details out with the higher/lower consciousness mindsets, my bad. As a newbie, it can be hard to remove those distractions but only a newbie believes that self-actualization is a luxury. It's an actual need, to stimulate our mind and become more than humans... We don't improve ourselves for our own egoistic gains but because we're trying to stop our ego! Anyways, you are correct in saying that. We should be mindful of the actions rather than resist it. Once we're mindful, then we can control our lives

[7thLetter]

@Viking I mean I speak from experience and that has been how I got rid of ‘most’ of my bad behaviors. Of course it can be different for other people when you take in consideration their past, their genetics, etc. Personally I try to include every way possible I can to improve myself with fitness being one of them so that could be one of the things definitely contributes to it. So I’m not really saying enlightenment or meditation itself will cure all your problems. Also I wouldn’t know that because I’m not enlightened. But even Leo says that enlightenment won’t cure all your problems. You still need to work on your psychology. I would say enlightenment and mastering your psychology are two completely different things. Leo even says that even enlightened people can still do unconscious behaviors like go to strip clubs. Why not? Enlightenment doesn’t mean you can’t have fun but its more of a change in your thinking and your relationship towards fun. I think that’s another important thing to understand, which is that consciousness seems to just change your motivations towards certain things. And from the outside perspective you don’t really know what anyone’s motivation or intention is towards something until you ask them. The lower-consciousness person thinks the higher-consciousness person goes to the gym so he can get big and help him get laid. But what the lower-consciousness person doesn’t understand is his motivation for going to the gym. Maybe from the higher-consciousness perspective his motivation is because he enjoys it, he wants to become healthy, and all the additional results like getting bigger come as a byproduct.

So let me ask you, what would you do differently as Shinzen Young to get rid of the addiction? I know nothing about him but I think I saw a post that he did eventually get over the marijuana addiction. But are you saying you would resist the temptation to smoke more marijuana? Like, “Today I’m going to throw all my marijuana and quit for good!” Sure it might work in the short-term but down the road the cravings for marijuana might come back.

I think balance is the answer we are looking for. Again, I know nothing about Shinzen Young but maybe he only worked on enlightenment and not his psychology? Maybe fitness could have helped? Yoga? Nutrition? More theory? More action? One more thing to think about is that there really seems to be no end goal to enlightenment. Growth is infinite. I don’t care how many years he’s been working on his enlightenment, there’s always more room for improvement. As human beings we’re all dysfunctional in a way. We all have so much to work on. Maybe Shinzen Young had some past emotional trauma? Addictions are there to fill up an emotional void inside of you and maybe he just hasn’t gotten to working on that? There’s a lot to think about here.

[Viking]

@7thLetter I think he got rid of it by going to a psychologist, which means that's probably the "mastering psychology" part.

yeah, I get what you say, enlightenment is different than mastering your psychology.

wow man you opened my eyes that I should read more psychology books, to understand myself better! i too struggled with the problem of "should i force myself" and also came to the conclusion that doing things come naturally as consciousness increases, but then i backtracked that i still should force myself sometimes. the right answer is indeed "balance", but the most important part is wisdom, knowing your psychology.

[7thLetter]

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. 

[BjarkeT]

Balancing theory and pratice It have been really useful because it have helped me to figure out how to do things effectively in pratice.

[aurum]

@7thLetter

Meditation, yoga, healthy eating, gym, sun gazing, affirmations, visualization, life purpose, pickup, reading.

[Sevi]

@7thLetter I do a deep work with kundalini on a daily basis; and because I fell into right channel and I got really irritated, I'm writing this now.. what I would have loved to acquire, was to be able to stay in the witness position.. BUT!! ELAS!!

I would be so so so willing to share the staff that I do... But more and more I see this is not the platform for it.

I have to stop being in this forum. Talking and talking and talking about enlightenment. Really?? Really?? I can't believe myself I'm now writing.. But guess what if I keep hanging around withright channels what else is gonna happen?? Right??

"I" "do" "learning" ; "I" "do" "yoogaa"

"I" "meditated" "A LOT!!!" "Like, the other day 'I' meditated like """8""" hours!!" "WOw" 

You know @7thLetter  I distance myself from people too; especially when I feel there isn't any room to share the staff that I do; for a regular meditator, those things will gonna sound like absurd.. And you being judgemental like this, there is no question your friend distant himself. Who are you to judge someone else's growth?? You say you grow a lot, well hello to your ego, since your judgemental defence mechanism up there; maybe you're just kidding yourself, who knows?? How are we gonna measure?? Should we send the sizes of our dicks too? With the pictures of them for the proof?? It would be very convenient.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Sevi

[7thLetter]

@Sevi let's do it

[Sevi]

6 hours ago, 7thLetter said:

@Sevi let's do it

Okay. The more you do the further apart "it" will fall from you. And the more frustrated you're gonna get. 

Instead of purifying your attention, you keep distracting it with thoughts and analysis and judgments, and you're narrowing down your own gate into your enlightenment, if not closing.

Stop talking. And stop posting at least a day or two. For the sake of continuation of your business you keep dividing your attention and you are disturbing your attention. Stop for maybe just for a day. Forum will survive. Don't do this to yourself.

Put ice on your liver every two hours for about 15 mins and pour melted butter into your nostrils; hopefully it'll cure a bit of this nonsense.

@7thLetter

Edited May 16, 2018 by Sevi

[Viking]

9 minutes ago, Sevi said:

Put ice on your liver every two hours for about 15 mins and pour melted butter into your nostrils; hopefully it'll cure a bit of this nonsense.

lmao

9 minutes ago, Sevi said:

Stop talking. And stop posting at least a day or two. For the sake of continuation of your business you keep dividing your attention and you are disturbing your attention. Stop for maybe just for a day. Forum will survive. Don't do this to yourself.

wow this is huge for me, im always multitasking and putting a ton of shit in my head. i do that because i cant stand doing single things. im always thinking how could i improve, what is reality, browsing the forum, just random stuff and nothing gets done because i dont go deep, i always just scrap the surface, but if i dont do it, it feels like i will become bored, and i feel like i have to figure something out. i also crave the dopamine.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Viking

[Ether]

Stay present all the time.

Literally.

All the time.

[Viking]

1 minute ago, Ether said:

Stay present all the time.

Literally.

All the time.

what do you mean by that practically? 

whenever we should wait for something, not get lost in thought but be aware of breath? if doing something, do it fully concentrated on the task?

[Ether]

24 minutes ago, Viking said:

what do you mean by that practically? 

whenever we should wait for something, not get lost in thought but be aware of breath? if doing something, do it fully concentrated on the task?

Yes.

When I walk, focus on the sensation of my feet hitting the ground.

When Im doing nothing in class, focus on the teacher's words or in my breath.

When Im playing a videogame, give my 100% focus and try to win.

[SFRL]

@Sevi whats happening to you? 

You used to come across as a happy hippy. 

Edited May 16, 2018 by SFRL

[The Don]

Hello.

Thank you for opening this great topic of Self-Actualization.

I started this journey on February 14 (2018) when I was trying to set up a meditation habit.

I didn't understand much about meditation and I failed. I abandoned the practice for two weeks and I felt bad about it.

Then I was watching this video to understand what exactly meditation is and how meditation can transform my life. It convinced me!

Since March I meditate every day. I have no skips. The benefits are enormous. I feel more calm. I have fewer negative thoughts and I feel better.

Everyone should meditate DAILY.

Another part of my Self-Actualization is reading books. I started to read almost on a daily basis. I gain new insights. It works and I'm happy about it.

The biggest challenge right now for me is social anxiety. I did a lot of research online about anxiety. I learned how the conscious and subconscious mind works. I'm doing some progress. By shining awareness on any problem... the problem will dissipate in the end.

I still have much more work to do but it makes me happy. It's the right thing to do.