BestSelf

@Colin Awesome dude, thanks for sharing! Have not heard of that before but it sounds very promising!

@Outer What is DMN?

@Leo Gura I am through shadow work, self acceptance work, and yoga. Was just wondering if it would be a helpful supplement in this specific case or not

@Serotoninluv Would you mind going into a little more detail in this example of what is the "45 percent self improvement" aspect?

@SageModeAustin Agreed, this is why I dont think it HAS to be an either or type of thing. They can be synergistic imo

@Serotoninluv I realize to fully experience truth one has to completely transcend the mind and its web of beliefs, but I think in the beginning one can both improve their beliefs to more empowering ones while simultaneously increasing their consciousness/awareness. The "more positive" belief system may actually enhance ones rate of progress in terms of awareness because there wont be as much resistance and subconscious roadblocks. It could theoretically help you move up the levels of consciousness faster until you realize its limitations and then can drop it to further expand. Just my 2 cents anyway

@Leo Gura Would you recommend modafinil to those with anxiety? Could it help with overcoming it or aggravate it further? Thanks!

Can anyone that regularly experiences anxiety and used Modafinil share their experience? I have heard that it can actually INCREASE anxiety and thats the last thing I need....

I have been dealing with a VERY similar dilemma myself. Made a thread about it here. One of the forum members @Mu_ had some solid insight. What I myself and going to be trying to do is continuing to focus on my life purpose and the vision I have for it while simultaneously trying to continuing to expand my consciousness through things like meditation and shadow work. I totally understand your dilemma though as I am still conceptually finding it hard to balance the two.

@Mu_ Thanks for all of the insight man, I greatly appreciate it! Starting to feel a lot better about the whole thing now

@Mu_ I got into it because I love learning about the whole realm of personal development and wanted to learn more about the spiritual side of things. So you think it is fine to strive toward being a certain ideal version of yourself? I cam do that while also expanding my awareness through things like meditation whiteout the need to actively try to "kill the ego" and not identify with a certain set of characteristics?

@Mu_ My purpose/ vision is essentially being the best version of myself and helping others improve their lives. That is the broad sense of it, but it includes many different things. I am a personal trainer, athlete, and affiliate marketer for some different personal development products. I want to help, educate, and inspire people to reach their unique fitness goals, be the best athlete I can be, spread information that can help others improve their lives, and live up to different attitudes and ways of being that I see my "ideal self" as. I basically had a whole story I wrote out incorporating all of this and more that I would read and visualize every day. Since I started diving into the non duality side of things this whole concept of my "ideal self" and other aspirations now just seems like things of the ego. It seems like by striving to be a certain way and do certain things I am just trying to cement my ego into a certain mold instead of seeing reality and my true nature for what they really are. So since learning this I have not been near as passionate about this vision and have lost some faith in it. Where as before even though I wasn't there yet with a lot of things I was excited at the process of striving towards those ideals. Now however, I feel like it might be false egoic ideals and this huge vision I was so excited and passionate about seems to have lost its oomp. I started trying to do away with the whole ideal self concept side of things I hard for myself, but I find it very hard to let it go as it makes me feel lost and not really sure how to go about things. Just been going through a bit of mindfuckery trying to figure out how to proceed forward.

So i've been kind of struggling with these two things lately. I developed this whole vision surrounding my life purpose and the kind of life I want to lead and person I want to be. I wrote it all out, and have been reading and visualizing it twice a day for a good while now. During this time I really started turning my life around and have made a lot of strides towards my different goals and have had more hope for the future than ever. However, as I have gotten more into this personal development work and specifically consciousness/ non duality type work, my mind has started to go all over the place and struggles with comprehending the two together. After learning about non duality and what increasing ones consciousness is supposed to ultimately lead to, it makes me question whether this life purpose and vision I have set out on is truly the right path for me. I'm wondering if this self concept tied into my purpose and vision would hamper the consciousness work and finding who I truly am at the core as well as seeing reality for what it really is. I don't want to give up this vision though as I feel like if I do I have no idea where I am going or who I am trying to be and get lost in negative thoughts. emotions and over analysis. My mind is just kind of all jumbled with information overload and what I should really be focusing on here. Does anyone have any advice on how one can go about balancing the two?

Hey guys, Ive noticed some solid results in the last few month of REALLY focusing hard on self development work. Im overall more relaxed, feel better about myself, and better able to express myself. One thing I still really struggle with though is caring too much what others think/seeking validation For example, on facebook when I post something and certain friends dont like it it still bothers me. I know rationally it shouldn't, but it still does. Also I find myself still very much like hungry. Im almost finished reading the 6 pillars of self esteem and while I feel my self esteem has grown from putting the knowledge in the book into practice along with other personal development techniques and I may be slightly less affected then i was before, I am still struggling with this issue. Is there any good book recommendations you guys have on the specific subject? Thanks!

@Moreira Very cool perspective! Thanks for sharing!