I think there is a lot of juice to be squeezed by thinking about the self this way.
There is a lot of talk on here about how the self is an illusion or a construction. To say that anything is a "construction" is to think about it like a system. In other words a construction is made up of interacting parts. 
The idea of parts of the self can be most clearly experienced when you can't make a decision about something. For example say I can't decide whether going to university is beneficial or not. Maybe one part of me wants to experience the social life and loves learning. Maybe another part of me wants to just start earning money and getting experience in the real world and get a head start.
Treating the self like a system of parts (sometimes conflicting with each other), can help resolve decision paralysis and other similar problems. The idea is to examine what each part wants and to come to some sort of common agreement or goal. This is a process of getting the parts to communicate better together. For example maybe you go to university, but take a year out in industry - both parts would be satisfied.
What happens in reality is that the system of the self is built up haphazardly over time without any real planning. It's like building a house with non-standard parts and no blueprints: it's possible, but it can lead to a dysfunctional design. 
Anyway, I'm sure the are many more ideas from systems thinking that can be applied to the self.

The difference is that Germany admitted they were “in the wrong”, russia never will, lol, just like they still deny Holodomor with 7 million Ukrainians starved to death. 
 
In this video it is explained the kind of lie tactic russia uses. When you eat someone’s sandwich at work and someone asks you:
”Did you eat my sandwich?”
“Normal” person would lie something like:
”No, I have my own sandwich”
Vs russia would lie with:
”You never brought a sandwich”
Russia doesn’t even bother covering up its lies, or having some eloquent story. According to the video, a person who constantly needs to fact check a liar like this, eventually gets demoralized and exhausted doing it all the time, and over time, stops doing that. The video says that there is nothing more dehumanizing for someone to consistently have to fact check the information. Also, no matter what kind of garbage flows from media, if it consistently flows from multiple sources, humans will start believing it.
Another tactic used by russia is making people believe no one has the truth, everyone lies, everyone has an agenda, so you should believe “us”.. 
It’s a great video, I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious to learn how russia could brainwash so many people. 

Transmissions are the most powerful tool to increase your baseline Consciousness. I can't believe they are so little known.
I think one reason is that oftentimes when people try transmissions, they feel nothing at first. For Transmissions to work best, you need to be sensitive. Many are not sensitive enough, but by repeatedly receiving transmissions you increase your sensitivity and the transmissions become more and more powerful.
Another reason is that many transmissions have been around only for a very short time. I believe the popularity of transmissions will explode within the next years. 
The main aim of transmissions is to slowly increase you baseline consciousness, but many transmissions also have an immediate short term effect and can get you into Samadhi, like for example pure Divinity and SAT and to a lesser extend Shaktipat and KAP. 
(this Post about dimensions of Consciousness is foundational to some things I will mention here)
 
There are two different kinds of Transmissions
1. Aura Transmission
That's the classical transmission. You sit beside an enlightened guru and by his presence your consciousness alters. 
This works because everyone has an energy field, an aura, and whenever you are around someone (to a small extend even when you merely think about someone) your auras overlap and affect each other. That's how you sometimes pick up emotions of other people (though you usually don't recognize this and believe they are your own emotions). 
For example Ramana Maharshi gave these kinds of Transmissions. I believe sitting with Sadhguru, Mooji or Eckart Tolle would also give you this kind of transmission (varying strength of course).
And I believe every Shaktipat Transmission also works like that. 
 
 
2. Channeled Transmission
Here the person channels an external energy. For example: RASA, SAT and Light transmission. With pure Divinity and KAP I'm not entirely sure whether they are channeled.
 
Here are the most powerful transmissions I know of:
 
- Pure Divinity 
The only person I know of who can give this transmission is Gareth Duignam. In this video he talks about pure Divinity and how he became able to give it (happened just a few weeks ago). As far as I know, you need to be in ParaBrahman to be able to give it.
For me the state of consciousness the transmission puts me in just feels like pure Divinity lol. I believe this is the most powerful transmission for enlightenment. And Gareth and many people who have been receiving pure Divinity also say that it is the most powerful transmission. 
You can receive pure Divinity in a one on one session with Gareth, or during his Zoom Meditations (Tuesdays and Fridays) (the zoom meditations are currently either a combination of pure Divinity and SAT or pure Divinity and Shaktipat), or in his live YouTube  transmissions (every Monday) (currently pure Divinity + SAT), or in a normal youtube transmission video like this:
Gareth also holds weekend online intensives once or twice each month.
 
- SAT Transmission
Also called Supramental Force. Explained in this video. Gareth can give SAT, as well as Sat Shree. 
SAT is said to come from Brahman. I guess you could consider Brahman as the formless Godhead. And the purpose of this transmission is to get to Brahman. SAT is by far the most powerful transmission for Brahman Consciousness and therfore is my favourite transmission.
Brahman Consciousness is similar to what is experienced during conscious sleep, therefore SAT is also helpful for sleep yoga.
After having been receiving SAT for some time, my baseline is a bit closer to that formless Brahman Consciousness. But the most significant impact of SAT has been on my meditations which are also closer to Brahman Consciousness now. Peak states feel very close to Brahman Consciousness. During these, my recognition dimension is in Brahman Consciousness and the depth/immersion dimension seems close (recognition and depth dimension explained here). That means it's a very altered state of consciousness. But this is not solely because of SAT, it obviously also has to do with my high baseline consciousness, high sensitivity and brainwave skills from sleep yoga. But I am very sure that SAT has its good share. There has undoubtedly been a deepening of the depth dimension due to SAT. So I think this is the main thing you can expect from SAT, an impact on your depth dimension, mainly during meditation but also a bit on your baseline. This is also what most people report, very deep meditation. Some experience dropping in and out of consciousness (including me sometimes) which might maybe be Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
A very nice thing about SAT (and pure Divinity maybe too) is that once you are strongly connected to the force, it will start to automatically come down randomly during the day but mainly during meditation. And you begin to be able to channel it yourself.
Also if you often join the zoom group transmissions, you will naturally get connected to the group. Many people have been reporting to get transmissions during times when Gareth gives a transmission to someone else of the group, because of the conection to the group. This also happens if you meditate at the same time as the zoom transmissions, though it is more powerful to actually join. (this also applies to pure Divinity and I think for his Shaktipat also)
 
The aim of SAT is Brahman Consciousness but that doesn't mean you will get there. Brahman Consciousness is an extremely advanced state. I assume the vast majority of spiritual teachers aren't able to enter that state, probably never been there. Even with psychedelics it is rare to reach it (Brahman Consciousness means completely dissolving the dream, your room is gone, as well as body sensations).
 
 
- RASA
RASA is very effective to increase your recognition dimension (up until a certain point). Once at LOC 1000 you are probably subtly conscious of God, Love, Nothingness and Oneness.
How strongly you will be conscious depends on factors like your genetics, brain chemistry before RASA,  how much spiritual progress you have made apart from RASA,...
RASA is what got me from normal human consciousness into woke consciousness (around 2 years ago). Though it was subtle (because it only addresses the recognition dimension). 
I started from the LOC 570s and I think it took me around 13  1on1 sessions or so until LOC 1000.
You can receive 1on1 RASA sessions from Ramaji or Ananda, or any other RASA giver (I think they have half the price). Ramaji and Ananda also hold monthly zoom meetings with RASA at the end. They also uploaded some of them (including the RASA) to YouTube .
To learn more about the LOC 1000 model, read Ramaji's book "1000".
 
- Shaktipat
The purpose of Shaktipat is to awaken your kundalini. Once fully awake (which is very rare) you are automatically in a higher baseline consciousness. But the most significant effect of kundalini is Bliss. The more awake your kundalini, the higher your Bliss (baseline but mainly meditations).
For me Shaktipat puts me in a deep and blissful meditation. It has also resulted in much progress in kundalini awakening. After a few weeks of receiving Shaktipat several times a week + watching Shaktipat youtube videos during meditation + some kriya supreme fire I experienced vibrations in my spine (during meditation, when focusing on the spine) (I had done around 500 hours of kundalini yoga up until this point, and my meditations were already energetic from invoking spirits). The vibrations were pulsating up and down. First they went till the 3rd chakra, then the 4th, then 5th, and eventually into the brain (maybe 1-2 weeks later). Upon that, I experienced strong literal bliss going up my spine, putting me into deep bliss, sometimes ecstasy. This lasted for a few weeks, and was strongest during meditation. Then it subsided. But during meditation around 20-80% of the bliss is still there, depending on the quality of the meditation. I believe my kundalini is partially awake, but not fully.
People I know of who can give strong Shaktipat:
Jan Esmann He probably gives the strongest Shaktipat, particularly if you get to sit around him. He does intensives in Europe, if you can join one, that would probably be quite an experience. Gareth's kundalini fully woke up during an intensive with Jan. Jan also woke up Diana's kundalini. He also gives shaktipat in absentia. He charges a mala necklace and mails it to you. I got one, and can recommend it. He also holds Zoom Transmissions every Tuesday. And has YouTube transmissions .
 
Kai Shanti I think her transmissions are a combination of shaktipat and God's Grace. They are quite strong for me. The state of consciousness it puts me in is a bit similar to the one from pure Divinity. So it is divine, blissful and energetic. Very recommended. 
She speaks an intuitive light language during the transmissions, and is also very psychic, so she can for example see blockages you have.
She gives 1 on 1 transmissions  as well as weekly live group transmissions on learnitlive.com . You can get a learnitlive membership for around $8 a month and then can join these sessions for free. She also has transmissions on  YouTube . 
 
Gareth Gareth gives Shaktipat in 1 on 1 sessions, as well as in zoom group sessions (currently in combination with pure Divinity) and he also has some Shaktipat transmissions on Youtube. 
 
Advaitashram They have several Shaktipat givers. They offer 1 on 1 sessions as well as weekly zoom sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Website
 
Kip He sells audios charged with Shaktipat.  Try the free samples on his website, I immediately felt an effect from the Kali one. I bought all of them and, using Audacity, layered them into one audio. I currently listen to it during meditation (+plus video transmissions from Gareth). You could even get the audio of all kundalini transmissions on youtube and layer these audios in as well. Just make sure to export the audio in wav and I forgot how it's called but in audacity on the bottom on the left there is a number at around 48 000. Turn it to 92 000 or so (I don't remember the exact number). Thus you ensure to not lose any quality.
Kip also has free audios on his YouTube channel but I guess the paid versions are more potent.
 
Siddhanta Yoga She gives one on one sessions and has YouTube  transmissions.
 
- KAP
KAP is explained in this video.
Kap is a transmission to activate the kundalini. KAP leads to kriyas in many participants (there are many different youtube videos where you can see it).
Most people have small movements, some have very big and some none. It usually takes some sessions till movements start. For me they started after around 5 sessions. But they were small/subtle, and stayed that way, and I don't think they might increase more. The movements are mostly subtle pulsatings of the spine.
In the beginning, the movements require some conscious effort, but eventually they kinda happen on their own, without conscious involvement. But they can be stopped at any moment (in 99,9% cases).
From my experience KAP does help to awaken the kundalini. In fact, my biggest kundalini success (when the vibrations finally entered the brain and the big Bliss started) happened during a KAP session (or right after, I don't remember). Despite this I think that purely for a kundalini awakening, Shaktipat is more powerful. 
While KAP does help in kundalini awakening, the focus is one purification. Purification of your energy system as well as emotional purification. Doing KAP before your kundalini awakening will probably result in a more smooth kundalini rising (because of less blockages) (my kundalini awakening was smooth and blissful). That is one benefit of KAP.
If you are someone who is faced with emotional stuff while tripping, I recommend KAP sessions. Similarly to Shamanic Breathing, they purify and release emotional stuff. 
Most people only experience emotional stuff during KAP sessions, and nothing nondual. But that's probably because of their baseline, most of them don't even know about enlightenment. I do experience some subtle effect on nondualness.
The main effect of KAP is longterm baseline. Many people report being more at peace and more blissful.
I think KAP does help for enlightenment, but not as much as other transmissions. The focus of KAP seems to be on personal development (purification and releasing shadow stuff and so on).
On this site is a list of many KAP facilitators, most of them give 1on1 online sessions, and many of them give in person group sessions (if you're lucky to live nearby). And on this site is a list of those who offer online zoom group sessions. I've had KAP with at least 5 different facilitators (group zoom) and while all of them are good, Diana Kasperska is the most skilled. She is a lot more spiritually evolved and seems to be the only one doing enlightenment work. She's also a bit psychic and sometimes perceives some stuff about you during the transmission, like blockages, and then can tell you about it after the transmission. If you book group zoom sessions with Diana, book via her Website  there you (currently) get them 33% cheaper if you book several at once.
 
- Light Transmissions 
Light Transmissions seem to be similar to RASA. Gareth gives Light Transmissions in 1on1 sessions, and says that his Light Transmissions have a similar effect as RASA.
There are many light transmissions on Youtube. I think most of them work well, but I don't think these are as powerful as RASA. The Transmissions from  Imogen seem to stand out, but I assume RASA is still more powerful. Anyway, she gives weekly live transmissions on Youtube and has normal video transmissions. 
 
 
 
 
The different transmissions affect different dimensions of Consciousness:
Predominantly recognition dimension: RASA, Light Transmissions  Predominantly depth/immersion dimension: SAT, Shaktipat, KAP Both dimensions somewhat equally: Pure Divinity, Kai Shanti's transmission  
 
Transmissions can be really powerful to increase your baseline if done over a long period. 
The more you do, the more sensitive you get, and the more powerful they become. My first transmissions (RASA) were all subtle. Only now, after much energy work, immediate effects of transmissions are really strong. Over the time, I've learnt how to channel these transmissions myself, and since maybe 2 weeks, these transmissions are similarly strong for me as those given by someone else. When I receive transmissions from someone else nowadays, I channel myself at the same time, making the session extra potent .
The quickest way to become more sensitive to transmissions is to receive many transmissions. Always let a youtube transmission play during meditation. You can even let them play while doing stuff like reading.
And any energy work in general also benefits that process, especially kriya supreme fire.
 
here  I posted some more YouTube transmissions.
 
The zoom group transmissions are always much cheaper than the 1on1 transmissions, and some are on donation basis. So do maaaany. As many as you can. I used to attend to up to 10 zoom group transmissions a week. (that was a few months ago)
The progress I made since then is crazy. In one month doing all these transmissions I made probably more progress than within the 12 months before that.
The more you do, the more effects you get, except with RASA and Light Transmissions, it seems like doing them more than once a week doesn't speed things up.
All transmissions are different and hit the ego from a different angel, so it is a good idea to do many different ones.
Generally, 1on1 sessions are more powerful than group sessions:
in person (not online) > 1 on 1 session > live zoom > live youtube > normal youtube
 
- How to make a transmission session more powerful:
meditate a few minutes beforehand. I recommend kriya supreme fire (particularly before shaktipat transmissions) try to be receptive Once you are advanced, try to channel the energy at the same time  
For your normal mediation sessions you can experiment with following:
I found that the larger and the closer the screen, the stronger the transmission (but only a subtle difference) It seems that playing several transmission videos at once can make it more powerful. You can use different devices, and open several windows at the same time. I actually mixed more than 10 videos into one new video, I think the software I used is called Filmora9. Doing this really seemed to increase the potency. But sometimes I'm not sure, currently I mainly meditate to single videos. Experiment. You can mix the same video several times, or many different ones.  
 
- Ability to give aura transmissions:
To be able to give the first kind of transmissions, the "aura transmissions", the most important requirement is to have a strong depth/immersion baseline consciousness. The recognition dimension has pretty much no value for that. Apart from that it's also helpful to have a very strong aura, the best practices for that is receiving transmissions, channeling energies and invoking spirits. 
 
 
Share your experiences with transmissions

I recommend both, they compliment each other. I never done nor inquired into the program you mentioned, but I know Julien Blanc is an RSD instructor. As far as I know, much of the PUA community and RSD material is based on manipulation tactics and strategy, whether it is manipulation of internal state or of the environment. 
Sorry to break it to you, manipulation will not transform you, because you are already manipulating your internal state and the environment. Real transformation is about maturing, not adopting new ways of relating to circumstance. If you want to mature, you need to let go of your self induced childhood patterns. Psychedelics will show you some of this and connect you, at least temporarily, to a more integrated and honest experience of life. 
If you want real "growth", it is about becoming as honest as you can be, and becoming conscious of all the patterns you adopted throughout your life, and deciding whether to drop them or not. It is also about bringing to your Consciousness everything that your repress. If this type of work interest you, I invite to research "shadow work" and contemplation of unconscious mind. Psychedelics accelerate this process because they increase Consciousness by showing you the content of your subconscious mind, which tends to dominate your experience and fixate your life to a certain form. In my personal experience, Ayahuasca is the most transformative psychedelic. Ayahuasca provides not only ego death (when needed), but also forces you to deal with your emotions. It will also show you the deepest material of your unconscious mind - the deepest fears, sorrow, pain that you hold. Ayahuasca is not a walk in the park, it is serious emotional work. But it is worth it.

The key to understanding, expansion of knowledge, creativity, and growth is questions. The key to limited knowledge, stagnation, , bias, and decline is to draw conclusions. Every conclusion you will ever draw will be a limitation. Because the moment you draw a conclusion you have drawn a delineation. The moment you have drawn that delineation you have created good and evil and thus have become a Devil. A biased, self-righteous, egotistical, "enlightened" devil.
Now I am not saying you cannot draw conclusions. We need conclusions to make sense of the world. But NEVER draw HARD conclusions, and recognize each conclusion for what it is....a LIMITED PERSPECTIVE. Outside of ABSOLUTE TRUTH, all conclusions are limited finite, and ANY HARD attachments stop your growth, can even cause a decline, turn you into a devil, and thus you create evil.
By my nature I am a VERY logical person, very opiniated, a little preachy, and self-righteous at times. Its amazing because on this journey I come across people who speak and communicate very similarly to how I use to be and it brings a smile on my face. It is truly marvelous how Leo's video on everyone operates from good intentions is TRUE!!! People are really doing the best they can with what they BELIEVE to be true. WE ALL ARE. Its so funny how we fight amongst ourselves collectively when our heart is in the right place....just the mind is corrupted. If you corrupt the mind....you corrupt the whole being. But if you can reach the heart....you can purify the mind.

These summaries might be helpful

https://podcastnotes.org/category/huberman-lab/

edit:

https://www.listennotes.com/de/podcasts/huberman-lab-scicomm-media-FB5OVUfl4PZ/
 

Thinking about your post, I guess I haven't thought of the word authentic enough.
Authentic kinda reminds me of the word truth.  I am weary of applying the word truth to things because it is kinda impossible to know the truth about anything.
However, if it just goes with, instead of aiming for authenticity, aiming for feeling and what feels "right", even if it is based on a bunch of things that are based on a bunch of things that are based on a bunch of things... where everything is based on everything and everything is the foundation of everything...
Even though we can't really rely on anything, I guess there is the whole paying attention to feeling.  How do I feel about this?  And keep on asking that.  The hard part is that we could pay attention to feeling and feel one way but then later those feelings change....and how can we trust what we are basing our feelings on?  How we can trust our feelings though?  Pay attention to feedback, pay attention to body movements, pay attention to thoughts.  I guess just try stuff, see what happens, make some tweaks, try again, see what happens, make some tweaks.  BUT... can we trust our judgment, our interpretation, our environment's judgement/interpretation?  But where is the dividing line between me and my environment?
It's hard because we may never have all the info but we just try our best.  Life is whatever we make of it.
Something could feel "inauthentic" because "oh I don't usually talk like that or do that, that is not me."  But... what is me?  Me is whatever I make myself.  So is that inauthentic or is that me trying something new, something different?  Me can change and transform all the time.  Shapeshifting.  Me has to be something though right?  Like I have to have some sort of skin/personality/appearance...  Is it bad for me to start acting/being a way that I have never been before?  Is that inauthentic, is that being silly, is that being experimentative, is that being creative, is that being exploratory/curious, is that being impromptu?
Do the words I say have to match the words I think?  Do the words I say have to match the words I have said in the past?  There is no "have to" to anything.  Some stuff feels horrible, seems horrible, looks horrible... but then what is our definition of horrible and why are we saying xyz is horrible and abc is great?
Why do I even want to be "authentic" in the first place?  Am I trying to be the "same" person and do I want to be the same person I was 10 years ago and the same 10 years from now?  Is to be authentic to be upholding a sameness?  Or do I want to do stuff that feels foreign, inauthentic, weird, scary and am I going to be something totally different in 10 years?  Is that okay?  Am I pressuring myself to be the same and not change because of how I think others will think of me?  Are the others me?  Do I want to be authentic for me or for others?  
Cool topic thanks for sharing the question.

Just do it.
 
I overthink.
I will get hung up on a phrase for hours like arguing against it from all angles while I am floating around in my space. Hopefully being productive, mostly not.
 
Why cant I simply do like I was back in summer last year? I just had one of those "mindfulness?? FUCK! I forgot to be doing this again!!" 
I was actively trying to hit my best it seemed like, getting my physical body, mind ,energy all good. Not being LAZYY, like keeping organized clean and tidy. 
 
What happened?
I went back around people I knew. I felt like a king that could take on the best, I showed up at a new job and was like overkilling it... And the echoes of conversations and phrases in mind started sponging up small-town laziness, and it was a morphological unwinding of good habits into old habits, started skipping gym day and 3 months later im suicidal quitting my job on my birthday, because I had 150% at least expected of me by my job, and I was like "nahhh not on my birthday"
 
If i had kept going up instead of going back down, that day could of been my opportunity to prove to myself "I am 150%+" or something, but no...  I regressed
 
"Just do it..."
The cycle has been driving me crazy. I explore every option. Over and over and over it churns. The mind keeps looking everywhere, and nothing happens.  
 
Why do I not restart my morning ritual?
Why do I not have habits I am building?
Its like extreme Peter-Pan never growing up and maintaining a job. Constantly like 10-20-30 ideas, I try to aim for 1-2 things and the brain storms on. I sing and dance through the rhythm of chaos. 
 
I cant think about one thing and just like do it.
I keep running away from myself. I keep forgetting goals. I keep moving and thinking, and I can't sit still and get things done...
 
It is so annnoyyyyinggg!!! 
 
Much love fam
-Kory

The problem is that you have a very strong aspect which is very self-hating or self-defeating. It's very strong that you even identify your whole self as that one aspect. This is a very difficult problem to solve because this self-defeating aspect is embedded deep in your soul and runs in the background of your mind. This is why you feel a very strong resistance when you try to do something good for yourself.
I think you should try to balance it out by developing the aspect of you which is self-loving. It must be there, somewhere in your soul. I have a small but powerful technique to help you do that. But first I need to clarify what love and self-love is.
Self-love is:
Being kind and good to yourself                You honor your desires and do things which serve you; you eat delicious or nutritious foods, you sleep long (more or less 7 hrs) and deep, you chase and bang beautiful women, you do self-actualization work, and you pamper yourself with a big pizza from time to time.
Being understanding or sympathetic to yourself                When you make a mistake, especially a big one, you don't condemn or punish yourself by judging yourself as dumb, bad, or evil. And you don't restrict your chance of succeeding or doing it correctly. You always deserve a chance. Why? For no other reason but you love yourself.
               You also try to understand why you made such mistake. You consider your external and internal situation (your beliefs, thoughts, and feelings at the time of committing the mistake). 
Forgiveness                It is connected to understanding or sympathy. It is easy to forgive yourself if you understand why you made a big mistake. You can even go a level higher. Even if you don’t understand for whatever reason why you are being dumb or made such a stupid mistake, you still choose to stop punishing yourself. You are still being kind to yourself, the same way you are being kind to that beautiful girl who captured your heart (might sound cringy ).   
Having respect and setting boundaries                You draw lines or set rules for how others should behave towards you, and you strictly implement such rules. Don’t allow others to insult, bully, or gaslight you. You should be willing to punish anybody who verbally or physically harms you. It is exactly similar to protecting somebody or something you love; a dog, computer game, or $1 million in your bank account. You nourish it. And you destroy anybody or anything which harms it.
Appreciation                You see and appreciate the good things about you and the good things you do.
Those are the essence of self-love. Contemplate them until you clearly understand them.
 
Then start a conscious decision to love yourself and be your own protector and cheerleader. There will be a very strong resistance, but you need to use all your energy and will power to resist the resistance.
1. Look yourself in the eye in the mirror for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
2. Say "I want to love myself." Yes, I'm bad, I'm this, and that, but "I want to love myself.
    Do this 2 times a day, preferably in the morning, and night. You might want to wash your face first before doing it, so you look better. 
You can verbalize it or just say it to yourself via thoughts so nobody can hear you. And throughout the day, pause or take a moment to say it (5 to 10 times without the mirror). Do this for a few years. You will know when to stop. But after 1 year, you will feel and see the result.   
    Don't say "I love myself". The resistance will be even stronger, and more importantly, it's a lie. It's better to be straightforward and honest, so say "I WANT to love myself". Also don't say "I want to love you". It's more direct and empowering to say "I", so say "I want to love myself".
 
That might look a very simple exercise or routine and you underestimate its effectiveness. But it works. I generated strong and stable self-love via that. It is via self-love that you naturally become connected to your desires and feel love and excitement for existence.
It's also good to have an alone time (1 to 2 hrs a day, at least 3 times a week) for contemplation, introspection, and appreciation. And find a way to implement the essence of self-love in your daily life. It's probably better if you continue your van life until you earn enough money to be able to afford an apartment. Don't go back to living with your family. And playing computer games is surely a waste of time and energy. 
Here is a thread I started which might also help.
 

EDIT: You have issues with not doing things. 
Basically, it is Negative Consciousness , you can do 4-7-8 breathing w/ gratitude and attitude of effortlessness to switch to Positive.
 
You can get practice facing this shadow/demon/lower directly consciousness by cold shower / Wim Hof breathing. (Try to manage meditation/flow state while taking a cold shower!)
 
Pomodoro timer is good. Harsh punishment as accountability is great (pay $20 if u dont).  Have a list of reasons WHY that motivate you... (Imagine you had to pay $1,000,000 if u failed... Imagine all your dreams coming true and how you would feel to see it as reality if you succeeded) you can use self-hypnosis and like Tony Robbins sudden burst of physical energy (go fucking nuts cheering for yourself , get emotional state to 10/10) 
 Work on process-oriented goals (doing 1 minute versus just doing it) and tune-in to your Flow State (parasympathetic with gratitude/effortless mindset) 
Keep doing the smallest achieveable step you can. 
Wanna start the gym?
Put your shoes on! FUCK YES! WOOHOO!   Now rinse repeat, going 1 step further... 1 rep? SUCCESS!!   Get used to the habit in reflections and CONSISTENCY IS KEY. GET MOMENTUM!  
 
Self-Talk - Brian Tracy's goal setting video, use it for self-talk like "I am getting up to do 1 minute of work now!"
(Avoid trying to persuade yourself, just stick to your motivations (different motivations for your lower and higher consciousness) 
I like to tap into my identity at the cosmic-level (level 3 i call it, not the same thing as the higher energy-vibration of consciousness) , there is some deeper shit on it... Like self-realizing that you are the eternal energy of the cosmos from the Big Bang as an infinite creator aka "God" (however u like) and everything is merely your mind as a VR-headset simulating the reality you want to see 
 
 
 
 
SORRY, INFORMATION OVERLOAD AHEADh

Who are you?  

What is reality? 

Let's start with Wilber' AQAL framework for a Reality Overview "All Quadrants , All Lines ,Levels, States T,ypes
4 Quadrants of Reality
Reality seems to come back to the Points-of-View, 1st , 2nd , 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th (consciousness can become Aware of its own awareness) and go to higher levels of perspective in the mind

States of Consciousness - (im rusty on Wilber's version Gross/Subtle/Casual , but I will highlight Nondual   and Dualism     , Dualism is Yin and Yang, Nondualism is Oneness   ... (like people take psychedelics to feel this Oneness state)

Levels/Stages - (Vertical Personality Development)  I like Terri OFallons StagesInternational ,  Spiral Dynamics SDi is the most popular, Maslow Heirarchy is is the original, and  David Hawkins is one of the my favorites  Levels of Consciousness

Lines of Development ( like how well you can detect flavors , or notice aesthetics) 

Types - (Horizontal Personality Development) aka  Big 5, MBTI, Enneagram, etc...   (MBTI is flawed pseudoscience, but worth checking out)  

 You see, consciousness can be separated like Lower / Neutral / Higher      , which seems to be directly caused by Sympathetic or Parasympathetic Nervous System dominance... which is controlled via breath 4-7-8 (lifehack to change negative to positive) 

Consciousness operates Bottom-Up , not Top-Down... so   'being'>feeling > thinking .   (see Consciousness )

 Triune Brain Theory    Start with "Why"  

Cultivate your Self-Talk to be a Self-Relationship. I play both the "devil" and "angel" and its give-and-take , there have been times it was toxic, and now there are boundaries like I will punish that "devil" side with cold showers and breathing exercises if it personally attacks...  (learn to love the company as time with yourself, not "being alone")

There are like 3 levels of identity (ego-based, then ?? , then cosmic-based...  , reconfiguring your Identity to be a Level 3 Identity is a BIGGG upgrade

KEY POINTS
- DEPROGRAMMING - CAN NOT BE UNDERSTATED  (Beliefs are not real, just the effects)   (Emotions are strategies to outcome)  (Thoughts are deceptive)     Letting Go (a powerful technique for many problems)
- CRITICAL-THINKING   (my strategy Radical Openmindedness + Healthy Skepticism)

- The delusional trap?  Watch out:  Skepticism is a dangerous tool when Self-Bias is unchecked (like objective verification)

-The great misunderstanding is that Science is totally objective truth, except it is self-biased to its own objective perspective as the only truth...   which is a flawed assumption.        Science is just now admitting this in 2022 "Rethinking the Definition of Reality"      Everyone is actually simulating reality as Consciousness, and mistaking their perception and interpretation  for the real thing.  "People dont' believe what they see, they see what they believe"   
 
Audit Yourself! (Creating notes then seeing patterns as you reflect across a number of instances is OP! )
 

David Hawkins Map of Consciousness Explained  (there is a Part 2 on her channel)

Personally, this is what has blown my mind recently:  7 Hermetic Principles of the Kyballion
Also I'm impressed by Joseph Rodriguez - he has been covering  Napolean Hill (super popular), Joseph Murphy, Neville Goddard... this Power of the Subconscious Mind is a great one I thought
Meditation is  a huge deal (coming back to this later)

How to Learn and Teach (leaked pdf)

How to Speak
 
MUST WATCH documentary Superhuman World of the Iceman (WIM HOF!!))

Avoid the channels  Spirit Science, and Gaia  imo, they both seem like bullshit.

Leo's videos God-Realization Explanation, and the one regarding Neediness and Lonliness were some that helped me  (Actualized Clips!) 
also his videos on Meta (content vs structure) and (superpower)
Metacognition , Metaperspective, MetaAwareness, etc

Escaping Ordinary channel is good
Tom Bilyeu channel is good (Impact Clips)
Optimize.me and app (comprehensive crash courses for lots of topics)

things I didn't cover
Habits
Mindsets (Abundance vs Scarcity)  (Fixed vs Open)
Principles (Leose's list of Principles is a great piece)
Integral Life Practice handout (Wilber)
Paradigms (cant solve a problem at same level it was created aka change your paradigm!)

Eckhart Tolle
Chakras (i know little but think they seem solid)
Yoga (as underrated as Philosophy itself probably, but Im a noob here also)

Enlightenment
Biohacking
Science of Optimal Mind - Dan Brown (Science of Awakening)
"just be yourself" as flawed advice.
 
Left brain - focuses on the reality as individual bits of info 
Right brain - holistic osmosis  (see TedTalk Stroke of Insight) 
Pomodoro (concentration timer, take 5-15 minute breaks to "zone out" aka Diffusion mode)
 
Process-orientation > perfection-orientation (take 1 step, meditate for 1 minute, focus on process mastery)
 
Character
Virtues
Values (systems of values being linked to our stage of perspective on Spiral Dynamics , which is a major reason people disagree = different value systems) 
Worldviews (the epitome of Paradigm-tech, Leo says they are like Master Keys)
Chinese? Worldview - Flow States! (See Flow and Psychology of Optimal Happiness) 
Buddhist  worldview? , Attachment = suffering? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Find your "thing" - Ikigai venne diagram.  
 
Consumerism vs Creationism 
 
 
 
 




Im having fun wriing this, but will have to come back later!

Much Love 
- Kory

That's not necessarily true.  When I discovered Leo's work I began doing self inquiry the way he explained it in his first enlightenment videos and it worked.  I had had an awakening to no self and God within 2 weeks.  It was amazing.  I can give you pointers on what worked for me in terms of self inquiry just PM me.  But yeah it doesn't have to take 20 years.  There probably is some genetics involved here and I do have OCD..so maybe I am wired a bit differently.  But if you are not making progress with self inquiry after a few months then yes before it drags onto years you may want to look into psychedelics.  I've no doubt that they can open your mind or change your state or consciousness in an instant and save you decades.   But the traditional methods can also work depending on genetics.

Beginner
Pick a meditation object such as the breath and prepare yourself with the intention to notice that the sensations of the meditation object are not you (anattā/no self/non substantiality of a self residing in the sensations witnessed), they cause dissatisfaction/suffering (dukkha), and they constantly are in flux/changing (anicca/impermanence). Reminding yourself with linguistic thoughts such as “these sensations of the breath are not me”, “these sensations of the breath are dissatisfactory”, and “these sensations of the breath are impermanent” is fine, but try to do this sparingly if possible. Using a linguistic reminder to stay with the intention of the practice is better than losing the intention of the practice and having no linguistic thoughts. 
 
Intermediate
Take the skills gained from the beginner level practice to now start noticing the three characteristics in the entire sensate field of experience (anattā, dukkha, and annica). Feel free to add linguistic self inquiry to this during the first few minutes of meditation before stopping the linguistic form of inquiry to view sensations alone. Self inquiry is an optional part of this. It is not necessary for vipassana practice, but it may improve results for some. Keep in mind that thoughts and anything else created by the mind are also sensations. We are investigating all of experience on an equal footing. There is no need to stop thinking if you are able to simultaneously investigate the sensations of thought. When first doing the intermediate level practice, it may help to still the thinking mind in order to be able to give proper attention to the sensations coming through the other five senses. 
 
Expert
Move from looking at vipassana through the linguistic lens of the three characteristics by dropping notions of anattā, dukkha, and annica and instead hold the intention before meditation to penetrate and see clearly into the nature of all sensations which arise. This step should only be done once intermediate practice has allowed one to clearly feel anattā, dukkha, and annica with ease in essentially any circumstance, including outside of formal meditation sitting practice. 
 
You should be feeling the nature of sensations at this point at an incredibly intimate degree. There should be no gap or separation felt between the practitioner and the sensations present. There should be little to no need for any linguistic reminders such as “this sensation is not me”, “these sensations are dissatisfactory”, and “these sensations are impermanent”. All of this should be running on auto pilot so to speak although those thoughts might not be happening. There should be no need for these linguistic thoughts to be in between the meditator and the sensations present. Similarly to the intermediate level, thoughts can be witnessed as sensations, but if one is truly practicing at this level, thoughts should be no hindrance to intimately feeling the nature (which includes the three characteristics) of all sensations present. 
 
You can also begin focusing attention toward subtle aspect of the sensory field such as space, consciousness/pervading I-am-ness within the entire field of sensory experience, non-linguistic forms of thought, gravity, etc. The purpose of focusing on more subtle aspects of the sensory field of experience is to feel the three characteristics at work within these patterns of sensations. Doing this practice can dissolve the solid-feeling nature of such subtle sensations in order to transcend them. 

Non-dual spirituality is all about working with the present moment, but this is a thought about the future that is making you suffer. If you stopped thinking quite so many thoughts that make you suffer, I would count that as a decent result from meditation. Try taking what you've learned on the cushion into every day life by seeing how certain thoughts and perspectives limit you (mindfulness and wisdom) and using this information to let go of suffering-inducing thoughts and beliefs (surrender).
Step 1: Mindfulness: Watch your thoughts.
Step 2: Wisdom: Clearly differentiate which thoughts make you suffer.
Step 3: Surrender: Let them go.

I am talking about someone who has never done any self-actualization / personal development work and who's life is kind of a mess. I guess it should be something very basic and foundational, but also big picture and inspiring. Any ideas?

I've thought about "becoming a sage" video, cause it was probably the one that inspired me the most and hooked me onto this journey. But at that time I was already quite open-minded and had some experience with more basic self-help. I think the concept of becoming a sage would seem to woo woo and off putting for a regular person.

Interestingly enough, what first motivated me to get significantly serious about my life was short clips on YouTube of Jordan Peterson, this was just when he did that notorious channel 4 interview with Cathy Newman.
Then later I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, applied it, had it massively improve my life. Then The Success Principles by Jack Canfield, then Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Then the Obstacle is the Way. 
Then I remeber one day bookmarking a hundred channels that popped under the search term, "self improvement".
Then much later I was creating a resource document for a friend, showing my love for self improvement. Through fluke luck I saw Leo's content, had zero fucking clue the value of Leo's content or anything. All I saw was a bald dude leaning on several stacks of books explaining how he is better than you. ?
My massive YouTube Addiction led me to Leo. 
Even as a little kid though, I thought about reality WAY more than anyone I knew. Racing thoughts, spending most nights, terrified, thinking about death, heaven, forever. Questioning Christianity to death. I was so terrified of going to sleep, because losing my consciousness I really didn't like, having a massive fear about dying in my sleep. So the only way I could go to sleep for the first 2 decades of my life is to pass out from exhaustion. Only in the past few years have I had the courage to even close my eyes to fall asleep. Even today I struggle letting go. I figure I must fully let go of my life to fix this at the root. 
Throughout my childhood I collected little quotes and wrote them on small pieces of paper and I collected them. 
I see now, that I would NOT have a fraction of the curiosity I have if I didn't struggle with massive amounts of anxiety, making me the problem kid in school, resulting in me being sent in the hallway for hours, resulting in me being stuck with just me and my mind. 
 
Anyways my point is this: Everybody is EXACTLY where they need to be. Where they are, IS a manifestation of God's highest love. A lot of times people need to ignorant longer, suffer longer, in order to learn the lessons they are sentenced with learning. 
The butterfly needs a cocoon, otherwise its wings won't grow strong enough to fly. If you cut a butterfly out of a cocoon, it's wings won't be strong enough to fly. Humans NEED suffering in order to flourish. If life came easy, then there would be no survival agenda to grow beyond that. Your struggles are your gifts. They are the vegetables on your plate, and when you finish them, you grow big and strong. 
If you identify as a light worker, The way I look at it is: It is not your job to enlighten the masses per say, but to be an embodiment of higher self. Change yourself to change others. Be a resource that can point people to what they need, but don't get attached to how much they grow. 

The following video from Shunyamurti came up in my Youtube recommendations so I figured I'd share it here, I know trauma's a big issue for a lot of people so hopefully some will get use out of it:
 

practice kriya yoga and all your inferiority complex will go. uwill be in bliss/ecstacy/psychidelic state for 8 hours such that those bliss will make u love yoursefl

Watch “Waking Life”
Dont watch a trailer, skip straight to the film.
You’ll know when you watch it, if you’re a member of this forum this movie will severely resonate with you.
Enjoy 

Hi everyone. I come to you with my most ambitious list of books yet.
How so you might ask? Because this is the condensed version, as short as I could manage without excluding the essential works.

Description: A condensed list of thoroughly vetted critically-acclaimed books that convey essential real-world knowledge to sort out ourselves, and the world.
Aim: To transfer practical, intelligent, hard-to-find real-world knowledge and lived experience of highly learned people from nearly every practical domain, from all over the globe. To educate the masses.
What we think, believe, say, and do matters. To wield the real-world knowledge of our predecessors is our birthright. To figure ourselves out carries weight, and it is a responsibility that we owe to ourselves, each other, and the world. Attached: 
An Image previewing the sections (content headings) The full .pdf version (2.5MB; 16 pages) The full online version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T6FTeGDgoDFgdJrItXbXc09zhngY-SGc/view?usp=sharing Thank you for you attention. Now the floor is yours.
As usual your positive and/or critical input is always welcome .
(P.S. This is the z-library version https://b-ok.xyz/book/19284799/81762c)
Sources of Essential Knowledge by Lukares.pdf

Thanks so much for sharing, @Loving Radiance! I just registered for an Actualized forum account so I could say thank you ?. 
I'm happy you were able to connect the topics I cover on the site with Spiral Dynamics / Integral Theory stages even though I don't explicitly mention them.
I'm actually working on a Premium post that attempts to connect my own life experience over the last 6+ years (Sloww's stages) with Ego Development Theory (EDT's stages).
All the best,
Kyle Kowalski (Founder, Sloww)

I found this incredibly useful guided meditation from Dan Brown—
 I can't find anything else similar. Any recommendations? 

If you're looking for high consciousness sci-fi / fantasy, I'd highly recommend Ursula K Le Guinn
If you're looking for sword fights you won't find it in her work, but if using fantasy as a unique lense to explore sociological and philosophical ideas, Le Guinn is one of the best.

Nobody is taking it seriously as long as Las Vegas is still allowed to exist. How much water is needed to sustain a population of 2.4 million people, and their lawns, pets, and the extravagant tourist attractions there? All the water comes from an artificial lake that would not be there without the human ingenuity needed to build a dam. It’s the most glaring example of humanity not caring. It’s the first domino that needs to fall if the global community wakes up to this issue of water sustainability.

Of late, it seems that the society we live in is almost automated like a highly efficent machine. Almost a slot machine as such that it is rigged against you, as you insert more money into it, the owners of the slot machine get richer and richer, while the player loses all his money and then goes off to work to get more money to play the put more money into this slot machine, and this person feels like it has to play this game or he will end up miserable.
Let me brake the system down to how basics. Here is the mediocre life
1.You are born into the world.
2. You are named, you identify yourself as this name that has been given to you.
3 . You begin to grasp an understanding of the world which you beleive is true, you are easily influenced
4. You are taken to a Pre-School where you interact with others like you.
5. Parents discpline you.
6.You start asking questions lots of them, we are given answers to them which we beleive without qestioning.
7. Our emotions conflict with what we have been taught.
8 . We are sent to Primary/Elementry school where we are discplined even more, where we are forced to attend by law or heavy punishment will occur.You learn to fear authority and acceptance of it.
9.Tests are introduced to us, you are tested constantly.
10.You are taken to secondary school/ high school which you a forced to attend by law.
Here you are discplined and taught at a higher standard and higher exspectations
You begin to question the system,you are quickly told you are wrong by everyone surrounding you and made beleive that you are is whata wrong.
You are tested heavily and throughly and a huge emphasis on grades,you are punished if you receive bad grades, both by parents and school staff.
11. You finish your examinations thats get you "Points" which can get you into colleges and get certain courses in that college. 
12. You get into a college  and take a course you are interested in, or family members advised you to take.
13.You may or may not get a degree.
14. A job fair is hosted all sorta of corpartions a recruiting and they are lookimg for specfic kind people with certain skill sets.
 
15. You are employed you start your job,you have mixed feelings about your job you work for years to earn enough money to do what you desire.
16. You proabably have fallen in love and have a spouse/girlfriend/wife.
17 . You buy a mortgage for your house.
18 .You have children.
19 . You work, work,work to pay off mortgage
20 . Your kids to school, you tell the that their schooldays are the best days of there lives. You wan them to be better then  yourslef seeing you are miserable/ mediocre..
21. You kids get jobs.
22 . You retire
23. You enjoy retirement.
24. Your near death feeling unfullfilled and with regrets, without really knowing why.
25 . We die
26.?????
Thats the life of the majority.
Ive noticed this , and theres something very fishy going on to say the least. And I dont like it.
Its like farming, but instead of killing the animal, they are using the animals as a labour force to make  the farmers who the animals rich pricks who do little work.
 I dont want this to be me.
I cant stop this system, so its all ready a " If you cant beat em, join em scenario" where in I cant beat the system, so to survive in the system I have to earn income which can only obtained by working with the system. ( Illegal shit will get you locked up for decades).
Its corrupt! And everyone is unconcious of it!
The thing is, How am I supposed to avoid like becoming the rest of the sheep?
 
 

Red = power / freedom
Blue = stability / safety
Orange = abundance
Green = better world / peace
Yellow = perfection / optimal order
Turquoise = love