Andrew

Hi Everyone I recently got into healthy eating I'm on the Bulletproof diet and drinking the coffee and I really enjoy the energy I get from it. I'm getting up at 6.30 am and have good energy until about 2-2:30 pm but I tend to crash and feel tired and brain fogged until the end of the work day. I like to run home so energy not a problem in the evenings and sleep is generally quite good. Can anyone recommend some good supplements (natural if possible) to help with energy and focus ? I really recommend Bulletproof coffee if your a coffee drinker thanks Andrew

@nick96 Hey Nick A good book to read is "Neurosis and Human Growth" by Karen Horney. She presents a brilliant outline of the neurotic personality structure/s and how it comes to be Thanks

Hey @Leo Gura you mentioned briefly in the "40 ways to get started in self actualization" video that you are using neuro feedback training. What apps/software do you use ? I have a neurosky headset and I'm interested in using it to build my concentration. Can you recommend anything Thanks

@Leo Gura Exciting to hear you are developing a new course on how to reprogram your subconscious mind ! can you give us an indication on when you will be releasing this Thanks

"A neurotic can neither enjoy his illusions nor give them up" Can anyone relate? a self confessed neurotic I awake everyday to the same old (excuse my french) bullshit circulating in my head on repeat the same way it always has for most of my life really , as long as I can remember anyway. The strange thing is as familiar as these patterns are that unconscious pull toward them, the allure , the sweet candy they promise and the sharp sting that they leave behind are just too god damn hard to say no to! For me this manifests in a particularly nasty vindictive pattern. I have a constant need to feel under threat like I could be verbally or emotionally attacked at any moment that someone will catch my defences down and make a fool of me or as I put it "get one over me". Each day it's the same the drama worthy of an oscar nomination that is the mental movie playing constantly on repeat staring me of course a hardened but likeable rascal of a man with a fierce tongue that can cut his most sworn enemy down with a single lashing of his most deadly weapon.. the spoken word ! the kind of ear bashing that would really see a fellow taken down a peg or two if you know what I mean ! honestly I make it sound like a 1950's black and white hollywood classic however this is the first post and I don't want to scare people off ! How it really plays itself out is usually someone I know , someone who has said something to me , someone who has really pissed me off approaches me with a smarmy look upon their face and that glint in their eye that says "I know a thing or two about you and I'm gonna make sure everyone else does" I usually give them just as much rope as they need to hang themselves before launching into a tirade of F&ck you you F&ckin pr*ck (Gasp Gasp ! Shock horror from all onlooking as I deliver my sermon) you're nothing but a F*ckin bottom feeding stuck up yuppie b&ll b&g why don't you F&ck off to where you came from ! (Cheers applause from the adoring crowd as my enemy walks off with an ego so bruised it will take years to come back from at least he wont be bothering me anytime soon ! then his supermodel girlfriend rides off into the sunset with me) no more quickly than justice has been served do Ms Victoria's Secret and I arrive at the sold out Wembly Stadium , why on earth would you do that you ask? I've got a show to play !! Obviously ! In reality I HATE confronting situations and hide behind a constant false mask of civil politeness and don't really have the stones myself to use the calm down to earth common sense that it takes to have a conversation that don't for a second get me wrong is difficult definitely difficult , but the kind of conversation a grown man should be able to have with someone where he tells this person look I feel you're being disrespectful to me and I'd appreciate it if you would cut that shit out. So can you relate ? what are your neurotic tendencies or inner workings that try as you may you just can't seem to escape being sucked back into?

Hi there Is anyone working with or has anyone worked with a life coach ? I'm thinking about doing it seriously so if someone has worked with a top life coach and could pass on their name I would greatly appreciate it. I'm looking for a world class top performing life coach that can deliver results I'm not looking for free coaching for someone who wants to improve their skills as a coach Thanks Andrew

@Toby I have been doing personal development/Self help for about 10 years now and I always find I just read a book watch a video or do a course and come away with new information nothing tangible or visceral. Yes I'm to blame for this I can at least take responsibility for the fact that I don't put in enough time/effort or my strategy needs work which is why I'm looking for a coach someone to help clarify goals/issues and hold me accountable Areas to focus would be Work/Career Relationships Personal Growth: In particular self confidence

Hey There I'm about to turn 30 in a month or so's time and so I'm taking Leo's advice and deciding to have an early mid life crises ! I currently work in Financial Analysis doing budgeting and forecasting I spend most of my day in excel .. columns .. rows ..you get the point. Needless to say I don't love my job and if I look back at my 20's and my working life I've never loved my work or what I do for that matter. So I'm contemplating taking a whole year off next year to discover my life purpose. I've already done Leo's life purpose course but I don't think I gave it the time or consideration necessary to get anything really meaningful out of it. Which is why I think a whole year is needed to dedicate solely to finding my life purpose and spending more time on self development work Things you need to know - If absolutely necessary I could move back home with family so finding accommodation or paying rent wouldn't be an issue - I am lucky enough to have travelled quite a lot around the world and while that was amazing I don't think I need to do any more wandering to "find myself" (It didn't work the first time) - The I first two jobs that I had were Full time employment gigs that lasted for about 2 years each and I absolutely hated both of them. For the last year and a half or so I have been contracting which means the maximum amount of time I stay in any one organization is about 6 months. This has worked well for me as I tend to get bored at any job I work in after say 4 months or so (as I said above I don't love my job) Questions I have: Am I being neurotic ? Maybe it's not necessary to take a whole year off with lifestyle changes or perhaps negotiating to work less I could find the time What if I take that whole year off and don't find my life purpose ? I feel like I need to do a whole life style change , I currently live in a big city , have many friends , spend weekends socializing. Do I need to totally change my life to find my life purpose ? or is that going to be too drastic a move or strategy ? Any advice , thoughts , opinions and constructive criticism would be much appreciated Thanks

@ajasatya Thanks for your advice. I listened to a great podcast today on finding your spiritual vision. Check it out below if you want http://lewishowes.com/podcast/krishna-ji/ This year I started Transcendental Meditation. I've been doing TM for almost 6 months now and just recently I feel like I've been getting something tangible from it. How I got into TM in the first place was through Headspace and practicing mindfulness. Can you recommend how to deepen your meditation practice ? or even speed up the results you get from meditating ? Thanks Andrew

@MIA.RIVEL Thanks for your advice and insight. I like the part of asking questions as he who asks the better question gets the better answer. Recently I went through the Dream Lining exercise in the four hour work week by Tim Ferriss. This is a similar exercise to the one you describe above and he also has a fear setting exercise which is about capping your downside and helping people to spell out their worst case scenario in order to overcome it. If I'm totally honest I seem to be good at setting goals and following through on them but not actually getting what I'm after out of the whole experience. For example this year I set a goal to read 40 books on Leo's book list. I have read close to 20 books from the list and have at times given an honest attempt to do the exercises from the book but I don't feel like I "got" what the exercise was about or have anything practical I can now demonstrate as a result of doing the exercises from the book , I'm just collecting theoretical knowledge. Is this a motivation issue ? Do you have any recommendations ? Thanks for your help

How do you reprogramme HUGE limiting beliefs like I'm not good enough or I can't do anything right. All this year I have been working on increasing self esteem but lately I have been noticing everyday the hundreds of little things like forgetting to lock my bike up properly , not cracking an egg properly first time , almost walking away from the cash machine and forgetting my cash. Of course these are all tiny things to be concerned about I have bigger concerns also that I'm working on but will choose not to get into here Don't even get me started when it comes to my job. Is there something bigger going on here? it seems like when I go to complete a task any task no matter how big or small I just want the end result I don't want to think about it, do any planning or think about the steps or details involved Am I just being lazy ?

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. To provide some content and background I am meditating for 20 mins per day and practicing mindfulness even though I know trying to think about and plan for every little thing is neurotic and just plain impossible but it's just so annoying when I seem to keep banging my head up against this every day I'm thinking also of perhaps taking an interrogative approach asking questions , what might happen if ? in this situation what could I do differently ? what about ? although painful I see this as necessary part of growing

Hi Everyone I wanted to share in here a well known NZ olympic runner has spoken out about his struggle with Porn addiction so I wanted to share the following links http://fightthenewdrug.org/what-it-means-to-be-pro-sex-and-anti-porn/ http://makelovenotporn.com/pages/landing thanks Andrew

Hey Guys Does anyone have any good self help seminars or programs they can recommend ? Lately I am working through the Sedona Method CD Program and quite enjoying it and I'm thinking of going to a seminar in June has anyone else used and had good results with the Sedona Method. Also I'm looking at a program called super human life by Wes Chapman except I can't actually figure out how to sign up for the program ( the website just shows videos) has anyone else done the superhuman program ? Thanks Andrew

Cool @Phrae thanks for the recommendation !

Have been doing this morning routine for about 5 weeks now and is going well for me looking to add to it as well - Wake up at 6:30 - Cup of bulletproof coffee - Meditate using headspace app (really good and I think has just been launched in the US) - Visualize for 5 mins - Affirmation for 5 mins ( Currently: "I am completely independent of the good or bad opinions of others" from Leo's how to stop caring what people think of you vid) - 15 mins of Sentence Stem exercises from the book " the six pillars of healthy self esteem" Some good ideas I have got to add to my morning routine are - Review my values & strengths - Review my mission statement - Breathing exercises Any other quality suggestions welcome

@lilacwest I'm currently also experiencing this exact problem. After literally doing all of the above to "try" and be present I find my mind is masterful in coming up with new things to be dissastisfied about. At the moment it's this pattern of being hyper aware of sensations in my body like in my back or the top of my head or even when I move my eyes and I go into this resistance by saying "This Shouldn't be happening" if I was truly present everything would be perfectly still and I would be in a state of absolute oneness and joy so my mind goes to check if that is the case now and ...oh no there's that sensation again your not present ! this is a loop that repeats itself in particular in the afternoons as like you I am quite bored in my job. I did just watch Leo's video on 40 ways your neurotic which outlines ultimately all neurosis is demanding things should be a certain way rather than being at peace with the way they really are - you COULD check it out ! One thing I have found helpful when observing the thoughts in your mind and bringing attention into the "inner body" is to imagine if you like two clear see-through clouds (one in your head and the other in your body) start by watching yourself literally as if there was a movie screen in front of you sitting at your desk and then by way of special effects you have these two clear clouds inside you constantly moving and changing form. It helps to remind me that I am not my mind and I can for brief intervals hold this realization of the observer watching the thinking mind

@r3v0 I'm currently drinking Bulletproof coffee as well and really enjoy the energy/mental focus . Have you or do you get your Cholesterol tested? as some people tell me it can increase your bad cholesterol because of the butter in it

I've been working on releasing anger and resentment towards my parents a bit lately , doing sedona method exercises , journalling and visualization so I guess it's been on my mind a lot. In the weekend just gone I woke up at 6.30 am and was having really restless thoughts but managed to get back into a drowzy almost lucid dream like sleep state and I dreamed I was yelling at my mum (now in the present) that I was really angry at her for divorcing my dad and splitting up our family but I could control what I was saying it wasn't like I was watching the dream as a movie Is this what I really need to focus on releasing and if so how ? or perhaps I had this dream simply because it's been on my mind a lot lately

I think being authentic is something that your tuned into , you have to work at it (that's why we're all here) but when your in the moment and expressing yourself in an authentic way there is a "knowingness" your not overthinking anything just being and expressing yourself in the moment in whatever way the moment calls for it's like this authentic knowing is guiding you I have had such experiences though they don't happen all the time and I am certainly working on my people pleasing and over analyzing as unfortunately this is something I have struggled with all my life as well. Mindfulness and meditation is definitely helping me to just be able to observe myself overanalysing or if I'm concerned about how I'm coming across to other people I bring my attention into the feelings and sensations also becoming aware of space around you helps as it draws consciousness away from the mind As for worrying about things I think the combination of mindfulness and doing inner work like journalling or simply asking questions "what am I worried about ? Why ? Why does this bother me ? you may be surprised at what it is your actually worried about and may be able to release the emotion/energy around that so it doesn't bother you any more

Hey Everyone Who would of thought a request for some diet tips would spark such a healthy discussion ! Leo thanks for your reply above. I'm going to look into the tests you mentioned and I think the last point you mentioned about subconsciously resisting something is very relevant to me. at the moment I'm working on releasing anger and resentment towards my parents and I think my afternoon brainfog/procrastination could have something to do with getting back at them

Name: Andrew Age: 29 Gender: Male Location: London, UK Occupation: Financial Analyst Marital Status: Dating Kids: No Hobbies: Self development , Travelling ,working out , healthy eating , Rugby I got into Self development at 18 when I read the Power of Now then later my sister gave me a self development book the principle message being you can change your life by changing your thoughts which has led me down this rabbit hole to here ! I took 5 months out last year to travel through North Central & South America where I had a lot of time to reflect and think about my life. Personal Challenges I've overcome - Letting go of difficult divorce of my parents - financial hard times while studying for my degree at University - Partying/Drinking to much/drinking to escape - Unemployment after moving to a new City - Succeeding in a very fast paced aggressive business culture to advance in my career What I'm working on now - becoming my authentic self - discovering then fulfilling my life purpose. - Increasing my self esteem and self confidence - Letting the real me shine through - Finding my spine in life: Being more assertive instead of a people pleaser - Finding and then curing myself of Neurosis

Hi Leo & Fellow early birds Grateful to gain early access to the forum and look forward to sharing ideas and challenges with you guys. Leo please consider me in the future if you need more moderators Thanks Andrew