WaterfallMachine

I recall a 3-2-1 Shadow Process from Ken Wilber's book on Integral Life Practice. It goes like this. Step 1 : Think of something that triggers you emotionally negatively or something you see as an ideal that makes you too controlling or overpassionate about something. It could be a literal person in your life or it could be a part of yourself. It could be a person who keeps showing up in your dreams or someone you anxiously imagine like strangers laughing at you. Step 2 : Use third person words to describe your shadow. He, she, it and they. Make it as long as you need to. Ex. They are controlling. They are angry. Etc. Step 3 : Use second person words to describe your shadow. Ask it questions as if you are directly speaking to them and imagine what it would say. Make it as long as you need to. Who are you? What are you? Where do you come from? What do you want me to do? What is your gift to me? Or any other question you might want to. Ex. "Who are you?" "I'm the part of you that wants you to stand up for yourself." Etc. Step 4 : Use first person words to describe your view on this Shadow. Not only as a separate person, but as someone that's a part of you. Make it as long as you need to. Ex. "I'm angry! I want to control! I want to stop the bullshit people work on me all this time!" Etc. It could also be a regular everyday practice as well if you want to work on this in the long term.

Interesting. I've thought of different ways to define creativity before I'd like to share here. Creativity can be combining ideas. It's blurring the lines between different categories and finding a new field and way of thinking. It's like how special effects in movies was first made by a magician. He mixed magic and movies together in a way that first made "movie magic". Creativity can be way of understanding. A way of novel seeing. It is like how the visual illusion pictures you see that can be seen in different ways can be flipped to a different understanding. Creativity can be a lessening or reducing. Less can be more. Greater simplicity. Think how computers back then were very large expensive things but now it can as small as an iPhone. Creativity is often defined as separate from left brain logical thinking. But it can work together with it when it combines in observation of something and allowing creativity to imagine the hypothesis or theory of why this is so. A mix of imagination and logic. Creativity can come in large bursts. But it can also be in small gradual modifying of an idea. Creativity is quality. But it can also come from quantity. Think how famous creatives such as inventors who patented hundreds of works and writers who edited their work more than 50 times. Creativity can be a questioning of basic assumptions and finding a different option. Ex. There was a restaurant that challenged the idea that restaurants had to have food. They thought of an idea of making a restaurant with amazing scenery for people to bring in their own food to eat with in. Creativity is not always great ideas, but great criticicisms. Finding a flaw no one has before. Creativity can be found in novel awareness. Beggining with an awareness of a problem or an opportunity. Creativity can be found in intuition. In getting the sense of how things are better done. Creativity can be found by understanding yourself and your identity. Ex. Pixar employees report that when they make a story for a film, they take elements of their life and put it into the story to allow it to be richer. Finding your own unique spin on things. Creativity can be found in cutting things into parts. Dealing with a problem split apart and doing it one on one. Creativity can be imitating different sources, taking the parts you like or find advantageous and making your own combination of ideas. Creativity can come when randomness and order come together. Ex. Thinking of an idea 's possible traits. Like for a story. Thinking of a list of traits for a possible character and adding numbers for each trait in each area (Appearance, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes etc.) then rolling a dice to get a mix of different traits. Then choosing what you like and modifying it.

I think one of the good ways of doing it is maintaining a life not full of "shoulds" but something you "want or desire." What you have are better of not as rigid rules wifh an iron first but gentle guidelines. You can do this by practicing being aware of thoughts and replacing them with much more gentle and playful ways of doing with a spacious awareness. I'd like to add to Salaam's advice on humor here. I find in my experience, it was hard to find a sense of humor until I watched comedians. And trying to see their and the audience's point of view on laughter. Learning their way of making humor, jokes and having fun and finding what really gets you going the most. A kind of "humor" role model. Another way is seeing the situation from a fresh point of view such as imagining how a child would see it or an alien from outer space. I found it helpful to write a story in my life from a stressful point of view and then changing it to be more lighthearted. Ask, "How would a much more playful person see this situation?" and write that.

I guess I could share some of my story with you. I had somewhat of demotivation today and I often motivate myself by reminding myself of what I accomplished so I guess it's the perfect time for me to think about it. And I hope this helps you. I had trust issues before. To the point where I distrusted anyone with any of my problems. Even my closest family and friends. So I practiced opening up online to start it easy first, in a community where those with mental health problems share their stories. I told everyone that I distrusted them and I could first barely mention any vague descriptions of my situation but now I'm starting to open up with people in real life about my goals (Currently in health.) and even sharing my story with thousands of viewers on a site somewhere. I was a very kind of "Emotions are irrational," and "Love can go crap itself" kind of person. But I eventually warmed up to people more genuinely and cared about relationships more. Started to care about people more. Now I'm trying to work on my studies so I can gain some credentials for my life purpose, maybe share info to people on the sidelines and trying to save up some money to donate to others. And overall, more friendly and patient with others. I was kinda short tempered before. And instead of endlessly judging my own irrationality as I called it, I was able to find patience in myself. And some growth in knowing that logic wasn't everything. I had a thing for knowledge for the sake of knowledge. And before, I often chased success ignoring what I loved most in life. Ignoring my own childhood of pouring over books and learning new things everyday. I was stuck in a situation where I lost my own curiosity and wonder. Where fear won over curiosity. But I eventually was able to gain a wide amount of reading from books and the internet while really enjoying it. I was able to do some meditation for about 4-5 years since I was about 11 or 12. Today, while of course I still have times where I'm stressed, there is a larger amount of peace and contentment in my daily life. Before, I found meditation boring. I kept skipping and missing days but for some reason, I followed through. I have never counted but I estimate trying over 50 kinds of meditations. I increased my focus. Before my depression and anxiety was making my focus so horrible I momentarily have times where I could not understand a single word from my books. I was very scattered and I lack follow through. But now I dislike 10 minute videos and short articles on things. I like books. I like long documentaries. I like a series of videos rather than just one short one. And I follow through well with my goals. I lessened my overthinking. Before I overthink so much that I questioned reality and that freaked the hell out of me. I kept overthinking daily tasks and it really made a difference on how slow my personal development was. But now I often can switch between theory and practicality well without getting that scared. I explored the hell out of personality typing in this. Mbti and enneagram to help develop myself. And it worked very well until I mastered some huge amount of self awareness in myself. In the 9 Multiple Intelligences, my intrapersonal intelligence is highest and very well developed. I know what I want. I update how my strengths and weaknesses are. I know my tendencies in thought very well. Independent of what others want me to do. I studied learning how to learn. Very very very much. I studied the art of memory. I studied the art of understanding. Creative thinking. Critical thinking. Problem solving. Focus. Discipline. Motivation. Grit. And all that to master some stuff on my studies. I'm not done with it yet but it tends to tie in to my very "Knowledge for its own sake" kind of worldview. I studied everything I could find on happiness psychology to better myself. And I find there's not much I haven't tried when I look into that field of work. It was the first personal development lines I've worked on since my depression and anxiety was running high. It was so bad I was having emotional breakdowns everyday and had anxious thoughts running through my head from my time waking up to my time sleeping. Especially some amazing use of cognitive behavioral therapy. I've recovered from my mental health issues since around the "ber" months of last year. I improved some simple ways with my relationships. Of course. I had to work on my patience before. I worked on eye contact. Worked on my own avoidance of conflict (Still not done today). And worked on a fair use of compliments and using the names of others. As well as some knowledge of body language. And some work on loving kindness meditation, compassion meditation and sympathetic joy meditation seemed to help in this area. Also worked on my shyness in choosing my own topic of conversation and going along with the other person too much. I've drastically improved my confidence to a healthy level. I still have some issues if you see my threads asking for advice here on really. But I find I can do a lot of things believing I can grow. I often lied. About how awesome my life was which was actually pretty bad. So I worked on being much more honest about myself with the right people.

So I've been trying to get into changing my diet and there are — so, so many. It's overwhelming. So I thought I would start with the basics that people are sure of first. Are they any? And what are they? And how would I know if it works for me if I try a diet?

I think I was actually judging myself on that instance I mentioned before. But eventually went on to care for myself more compassionately in my head. I notice this change of thought process at times where I judge myself for a bit and past a couple minues, another thought process comes rushing in saying stuff like, "No, no. It's okay!" Often the judging doesn't happen even at all and sometimes I talk it through with someone I trust. It only gets like that when it's particularly painful. I actually heard of this exercise and I've practiced it before many times. It's very unpleasant but strangely it works. Not really something I could use until the anxiety actually does come. I can't trigger anxiety just by thinking of it because I'm in my more "deep contentment" mode. It has to be triggered by a real situation that gets too much. I guess that's progress. My mind doesn't really react to false problems or ideas of them as much. Just reacts to negative situations when it's already there or if i have taken an action that goes away from what my fears want me to. Still does a bit at times though. These real situations can trigger non existing problems in my head once it's there though. Hm. I guess I'm in a better spot than I thought I was. I guess I made this thread because I wanted some feedback on how much progress I made. Mind if I ask you about that? What else is there I can do?

So I've been getting an increasing amounts of this experience for some number of months. I can't recall. Maybe even as far as 6 months this has been gradually happening more and more often. Especially after meditation practice which I've been doing for a couple years even before I found this site and Leo. It was very rare and short before when you count a couple of minutes of it even before the last 6 months but now I'd say there's a large portion of my day like this. I'd describe it as a feeling of like I'm meditating even when I'm not meditating. An ease in being able to concentrate and so I find it easier to discipline myself in matters like avoiding junk food or learning something in depth. There's an utter satisfaction with the moment. No experience of small instances of things like being a bit impatient over something or annoyed at minor details. I'm patient with the kind of people and situations other people tend to get angry at and hate. Not much of a feeling of sadness over things or an anxiety over how the day will go. Just a deep contentment. Not that I'm like this the whole day. There's this lag where it takes time for me to get to this mode after I wake up and still some problems with my ego if you've seen what else I've asked advice on this forum for. Especially with anxiety and fearing what people think of me. But still, for longer portions of the day, I notice this growing peacefulness with what I'm doing. I notice when I get to self inquiry in this mode, this experience is worldless. Like, that thing over there is not a book. It's a mess of shapes, colors, textures and smells. And when I look away, the book does not exist. The thoughts in my mind seem less like "me" and more similar to random sounds I hear from the park outside my house. I am conscious of how people define themselves as "themselves" in common society and I recognize that as I look at my memories. But there's this lessening of association with myself from before. Back then I would get anxious over an embarrassing memory a day ago or even months ago and I would lack any negative reactions because well, that person is not "me". There is still a bit of anxiety often at the end of the day. I had an experience three days ago where all my crappy insecurities of my ego came rushing back to me in an explosion of thoughts and feelings. This would often happen at the end of the day as if I was bearing the weight of having to be in that mode for so long and I went back to normal. Two days ago, there was barely any. Yesterday, there was none. And I notice over the days this pattern over and over again. There was a bit of anxiety today but it wasn't much. It was like there was a stain on my being but instead of it being cleaned, the cloth of my being just got larger and the anxiety more minuscule in comparison. Anxiety is supposed to be a "bad" emotion, but it seemed no different than birds chirping outside. It still pained me though, but in a strangely not "bad" way.

Interesting. I guess as an answer to your question, I still get anxious these days in a "bad" way. In a genuinely actively disliking my emotions kind of way. I wanted to practice my own issues with anxiety by getting out of a comfort zone by giving out controversial information somewhere online (I like to work as an article writer on the sidelines but often avoid this kind of work) and got anxious for a few hours until it dissipated. And damn was that painful. But I'm good now, I guess. I'm not worried about it anymore that much and much sooner than I expected. I've been in personal development for a couple of years and I notice benefits tend to come in waves. It rises. It falls. It rises. It falls. But in the long term, it rises more in general. This is what it's like right now. I've gotten in the "I think everything is solved now," mindset before many times and later realized I was wrong about that many times. Too far gone into all this personal development work to believe in a linear road to success. But I find that kind of thinking of "bad" emotions as becoming rarer everyday. I have no idea if some emotional perfection could be reached. I doubt it. Maybe. Maybe not. But whatever happens next, I think it'd be better in the long term.

Aside from the above. There is EDx. Coursera. Udacity. ITunes U (the app). All above have free courses online from universities. Udacity though is more specialized for STEM subjects but has some other courses that aren't included in that. Topdocumentaryfilms. The site. Comprehensive source. In YouTube, there is Crash Course. It has a series of videos on each subject it takes. It chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, ecology, literature, world history, government (U.S), U.S history, computer science, mythology, games, philosophy and film history. It allows for a simpler overview of what you learn that allows a better and easier understanding of the subject once you go deeper. Concepts are explained very well. A good high quality forum is Metafilter that shows multiple content on multiple subjects. Reddit is often viewed as pretty low quality in content but some specfic subreddits are great. There's /r/Depthub, /r/Foodforthought and /r/Changemyview that put in really thoughtful content.

I also tried much of Scott Young's notetaking techniques. It is really hard but in the beggining. The one where you have to explain it to yourself in your own words (Feynman technique) is the hardest for me but eventually I reached a greater point where I was able to do them in my head quickly enough without the notes. (Though if the material is hard enough — I still need notes or may take repetition.) I still do reach a point of my brain hurting but there's a deeper much fuller understanding before that might take longer in the short term, allows a much better retention and understanding in the long term. Normal learning tends to feel "easier", but this is what allows them to forget it so easily and lack a deeper understanding that will help them along the way as they advance. I decided once to check the source of the technique once (Feynman) and he explains deeper understanding in several ways throughout his works. "The next Monday, when the fathers were all back at work, we kids were playing in a field. One kid says to me, “See that bird? What kind of bird is that?” I said, “I haven’t the slightest idea what kind of a bird it is.” He says, “It’s a brown-throated thrush. Your father doesn’t teach you anything!” But it was the opposite. He had already taught me: “See that bird?” he says. “It’s a Spencer’s warbler.” (I knew he didn’t know the real name.) “Well, in Italian, it’s a Chutto Lapittida. In Portuguese, it’s a Bom da Peida. In Chinese, it’s a Chung-long-tah, and in Japanese, it’s a Katano Tekeda. You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird. You’ll only know about humans in different places, and what they call the bird. So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing—that’s what counts.” — Richard Feynman. “We had the Encyclopedia Britannica at home and even when I was a small boy my father used to sit me on his lap and read to me from the Encyclopedia Britannica, and we would read, say, about dinosaurs and maybe it would be talking about the brontosaurus or something, or tyrannosaurus rex, and it would say something like, ‘This thing is twenty-five feet high and the head is six feet across,’ you see, and so he’d stop and say, 'let’s see what that means. That would mean that if he stood in our front yard he would be high enough to put his head through the window but not quite because the head is a little bit too wide and it would break the window as it came by.’ Everything we’d read would be translated as best as we could into some reality and so I learned to do that - everything that I read I try to figure out what it really means, what it’s really saying by translating.” - Richard Feynman

Diet actually does affect intelligence. I don't know much about it since I'm just the starting to get into this area for intelligence but I've heard there is specfic food that can boost brain power if you search online. Some people who write on learning recommend exercising before studying saying that it increases focus, creativity and retention. One person I've heard actually mentioned that you can walk around while learning. Working memory or short term memory can be increased by going into nature more. And some even report that you can do so also by looking at pictures of nature. You can even google the studies on this if you like. The brain training thing I gave you as a link earlier is risky in that most brain trainers are often seen as scientifically questionable but is the only system I've seen that didnt report major critics in its use or at least critics who have actually tried this system. Its emphasis is increasing short term memory but I tend requires payment. It is their own version of N dual back training which is controversial in that some people say it works for them and some people say it doesn't. Some hardcore N dual backers often report this system as the only one that actually works. I'll be looking into it and you may as well too.

Was going to suggest Cal Newport and Scott Young but someone already mentioned it. There is also this guy. https://collegeinfogeek.com/ This one for memory. http://artofmemory.com/ This one is a very well researched and explained free course on learning techniques. https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn This one is from a high quality question and answer site. This one received so much attention that it gained over a 100 answers in often in depth articles. https://www.quora.com/What-learning-strategies-do-quick-learners-follow Also this. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-effective-way-to-learn https://www.quora.com/How-can-you-learn-faster These are a series of articles on how to understand math better but from my experience, much of what he says can be applied to other areas and subjects as well. https://betterexplained.com/articles/developing-your-intuition-for-math/ This article of his I find is especially important. https://betterexplained.com/articles/adept-method/ Search creative techniques for better ability to brainstorm. Good books on this are made by Michael Michalko. This is also a good guide to understand learning itself. Use this to create your own "homework", exercises, practices and question sheets well. It's made for teachers to use but it can be used for students trying to learn something well on their own too. http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-taxonomy/14-brilliant-blooms-taxonomy-posters-for-teachers/ http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-taxonomy/249-blooms-taxonomy-verbs-for-critical-thinking/ For learning logic and critical thinking. A whole course on it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ywKZgjpMBUU Also search cognitive biases for this skill. Brain training is often seen as scientifically questionable but for some reason, I've checked over 10 reviews of this program and all of them were positive. http://www.highiqpro.com/ This is also a scientifically questionable thing but from what I know about the science of learning (and I'm pretty obsessive on this thing.) it is actually a possible method for it. A few had reported that it worked for them and I did notice something different on my practice with it. http://www.creativethinkingwith.com/Image-Streaming.html There is evidence s saying that adding visual simple doodles to notes increases retention. Here is a whole site on several articles on how to do this. http://www.schrockguide.net/sketchnoting.html Also a course on this. http://course.iqdoodle.com/overview/

Well, I gotta confess here. I get way too afraid with disagreeing with people at times. I tend to be afraid that someone will get angry at me or accuse me of being closeminded. And I can say I'm pretty openminded — too much maybe to the point of indecisiveness. Strangely not much in real life. Probably because I tend to have this idea of safety that it's alright to disagree with people I'm close with. Why I'm ironically more blunt when I'm closer to people, mostly because ideally, I find acting towards the truth and honesty in relationships as important. And my friends are alright with that. But outside that — nah. Mostly in the internet. And you might be asking — but why care about disagreements from the internet? Isn't it more important to value what people closer to you think because they genuinely like you than strangers on the internet? Well, I mean, it's for the intellectual and personal development benefits. I can disagree so I can hear feedback on important issues in my life and others. I can disagree so I can share in a civil discussion somewhere. And another thing is that on the sidelines, I write articles on the internet as a way to help people gain access to infomartion but I tend to be afraid of sharing controversial content. Or content I'm not at least 90% sure of. I've actually done some progress with the last part with actually sharing some things like that online these last couple of days, but it still feels like I keep hesitating and getting anxious about it. Obviously not a good thing. And I tend to be slightly anxious at the idea of people disagreeing angrily at something I didn't notice, accusing me of being irrational, close minded or immoral in some form of name calling. It tends to keep me away from asking questions on the internet that can help me. I guess maybe it might be fear of what other people think or it might be the fear of offending someone. Or it may be some Green stage thing of wanting everyone to be heard. Wanting everyone to feel good in a group. . . that tends to get itself to indesiciveness. Or some Orange stage thing of wanting some sort of praise and status. Because recently, I've been noticing a Green transition for the last couple months and I've been getting less and less of the Orange motivations and behaviors and more of the Green ones. My more Orange praise for science and rationality self would think this kind of idealism of harmony and peace with people as pretty stupid, but well, now I'm in it. And I have some respect for that than compared to before, but it seems rather unhelpful at times, really. Eh, I'm not sure. What do you think? Maybe there's another possible cause here. Another way of thinking. Another way of acting. What else? Thank you in advance.

Well, currently I've been trying a more kind of exposure therapy approach to this. Try really small actions towards this over time. As well as figuring it out with cognitive behavioral therapy in questioning limiting beliefs. I remember reading a book on it long ago but Ive known this information for so long I've forgotten where I first read it. It's how I've gotten over my depression and anxiety long ago so I've grown familiar with it. Another thing is an Enneagram perspective which if you don't know is a categorization of people's core motivations and core fears. That's a simplification but let's say my situation is included in there and I've read books on it by Beatrice Chestnut and Riso Hudson. I've also explored mindfulness on acceptance and self esteem problems not from a book, but a payed program. Both seems to have helped a lot really. But is there something more? @SOUL @eskwire Actually, eskwire. I think it's a mix of both. I wrote this plea to help and left after being anxious for hours. Then came back to hear you guys and for some reason I'm calmer. So I figured I'd try working on a potentially and possibly controversial article of mine for a larger audience. I'm not famous or anything but usually some areas on the internet have more views than others and I've been avoiding those for these kinds of things. So maybe I'll try this and see what happens. Oh boy. Edit : Holy shit. I did it. Edit : Thinking of doing it again. Haha. Nope. Not going to do that twice a day.

Spirituality in everyday life I've been doing self inquiry and the enlightenment exercises. I don't claim to be some enlightened master but the little progress in my mindset during these exercises tend to lessen as the day goes by. I seem to have this cycle of having to challenge edging and edging away to open up my beliefs, only for it to close at times, then for it to open up a little more. And this goes on and on. It's much easier to reach a higher level of peace in formal exercises than doing so in everyday life. Mind if I give a suggestion here? The enlightenment exercises look like they're made for formal situations, but can there be exercises designed for practicing it in daily life? Kind of like how other mindfulness exercises are designed for everyday life such as doing a routine task like washing the dishes or taking a walk? Maybe even mentally intensive work like solving a math problem or learning piano songs, any hobby. Some good way to monitor progress Basically, it's for me to check if I'm really progressing or I'm being caught up in mind traps. And for another reason, being able to monitor progress in some way that allows more motivation in seeing little wins over time. I guess I do see some progress in my practice as how I seem to notice getting a little bit of growing realization and clarity in my practice rooted from experience. But what can I expect? Is there some kind of stages to enlightenment I can look forward to? Maybe it's my ego wanting enlightenment to be sooner but I think I remember in one of your videos something about the tail of the ox as a metaphor to the stages. I'd love to see that. I mean, I actually googled it already. But I'd like to hear it from Leo since he tends to explain things with more clarity and more in depth ways than short articles I see scattered around the internet. I get the impression from intuition that I'm already great at this thing but obviously the more rational side of me thinks this is crazy. I spent a couple years of meditation but still less than a month in self inquiry. Of course I haven't achieved mastery. This shit takes even longer, doesn't it? Though, there is this growing sense of deep calmness and even ecstasy without excitement. But of course with the information above, it gradually leaves me as the day goes on. But it's growing, nonetheless. I wish I could find some clear way to prove that intuition wrong somehow by knowing where I am. Take for example, practical signs for progress. Or even vague metaphors or abstractions if it can't. Also I wonder what exactly happened with me. In the first few days of self inquiry, there was some intense fear that kept coming up. Then after some of that, an extreme sense of tranquility and peace which is starting to get more regular in each practice. Huh? What happened?

Thank you, but not very specfic. Read on what? I already knew knowledge was the answer and I would look for it without this. Though, I was hoping people would give me advice or possible resources for research on this topic that I haven't known. What I google on the internet or what popular books I see on Amazon to read may not be necesarrily the best places for research and people have the difference of being able to notice information of quality out of all those different things and understand things in their specfic contexts.

Underestimating myself. I tend to underestimate my own skills and my own good traits at times, though it got a lot better after more than a year of reading and doing what I can around this fear, but it's still there at times. It tends to come from the ability to see how much mistakes I have, awareness of people more knowledgeable and wiser than me to learn from and being able to envision what else I have left to do without much awareness of how much I know. The more I know, the less there is to know. It is good to be humble to a point — but it can cause inaction and stagnation. 5 years of personal development have taught me how to deal with my own fears like this and it seems that fear never goes away, it evolves. It evolves to fear much more bigger and ambitious tasks but it still stops me from what I want to do. Theory and practice of The Graves Model Spiral Dynamics. I don't actually seem to fully understand the levels even as I recently bought a few books on the topic to read. (I finished 1. Starting to read another by Ken Wilber. ) I would wish there could be some sort of questionnaire to write where someone would figure out where you are in the system or a self -assessment test with different options for this to see where I am. Some way to measure progress. Or even a whole forum to discuss each level's experiences in a concrete way but I'm guessing I won't see any of my hopes on this soon. I also can't seem to figure out much of a practical use that brings out its full potential with these. There was a thread on this yet it didn't really seem in depth compared to other resources around here but maybe I'm mistaken as I haven't explored the site deeply yet. But I'm doing the best with the material and ideas I have on hand at least and am off to learn about new perspectives. How does this apply well to specfic areas of life — in helping people, in health, in studies/career etc.? I mean. Or specific ways to develop for each level. (I seem to be around Orange and Green apparently. Gradually getting away to the ideas of achievement and scientific thinking to learn more about the more altruistic and more spiritual ways of thinking.) How to influence people for the better. I don't really know how to do this. I haven't settled on some life purpose or mission in life somehow. And I don't know how else to do so. Maybe I'll try to consider Leo's life purpose course for this though.

I don't think I fully understand your question about higher goals. But it reminds me of Leo's video on this. It's called Fake Growth vs Real Growth where he mentions the possible goals of the ego or the higher self. But I think from my understanding, you have trouble realizing large paradigms in the world and being objective, right? Well, I guess you're right about me having an eye for bubbles. It's one of my more natural talents early on. But I still appreciate how I found someone who seems to surpass me in that area to learn from. (Leo). But these are some of the ways I found large paradigms somehow. I think the first thing to realize though is to find big bubbles, you must understand the smaller bubbles. Learn to follow the assumptions of smaller bubbles and later on you'll find the big ones. Seeing the world in what kind of values people emphasize and seeing that as a paradigm. Does this person value fun, security, authenticity, hard work, objectivity, kindness, etc. ? How do they act according to these worldviews? How do you relate to them? How do you not relate to them? This applies not just to individuals, but to cultures, teams, groups, businesses, schools and more. And seeing how these values play out in specifc life areas. There are a whole cast of big bubbles found in the study of philosophy if you check. So many assumptions that we take for granted are in there. So you might want to check it out. And all kinds of different beliefs on the world on what reality is and how should we live from different religions. Study cognitive biases. These are scientific researched phenemenon that classifies the common logical biases people have in their head. You can take time to be aware of them and practice them, little by little. What kind of people do you look up to? Why? What people are you jealous of? Why? What people do you dislike or hate? Why? You can do this in different areas of your life. It seems to point to specifc paradigms somehow. Another good technique in finding assumptions is asking why repeatedly. A person may ask, "Why do I work hard for my business ?" "Because I can get rich." "Why?" "So I can be happy?" Then asking is that true? You can google the Ishikawa or Fishbone diagram for this. You can take the simplest of beliefs with this technique and strip it down to its deepest beliefs. Another thing is to learn about other cultures beliefs. Different cultures seem to have different assumptions built into them and when you search on their culture online, you might find different practices and beliefs that talk about their worldview. A good idea to work on are the differences of beliefs between the west and the east. The differences between individualist and collectivist cultures. You can google mind maps to better diagram your paradigms. Other models of seeing the world. I think looking at the sites Personality Hacker and Personality Junkie cognitive functions seem to help with being able to realize where your paradigms come from in the first place. Cognitive functions is a theory based on finding what type of information people are attracted to and how they decide things in life. Mbti is based on it, but Mbti oversimplifies the theory too much that several people find it unhelpful. There is also enneagram, a system based on trying to find people's deepest motivations and core fears. You might argue that these things generalize too much but it is a pretty good guide and only as a guide, not a crystal ball, to see what kind of paradigms you might have and what you can learn from other paradigms. Another thing is googling a belief you have and seeing other's opinions on it. Or asking other people what their views on things are and asking about it. Even if that belief seems rather obvious. Leo has a questionnaire guide on challenging paradigms under his How Paradigms Work video. You can download the file if you want. Seeing big bubbles from the smaller bubbles is basically another way to say the ability to summarize ideas well. So you can try practicing summarizing smaller ideas and build your way up to notice bigger ideas from multiple perspectives to summarize. I've tried a daily log of my actions, thoughts and feelings and summarizing them in beliefs. Then read these logs over several days, even months, and seeing what similarities in a paradigm can appear. You can practice summarizing ideas in all kinds of different interests, hobbies and areas of life though. I was able to watch the contemplation video recently. And I think the idea comes from a value in being able to understand the theory and understand what's practical experience. People need both. Leo has emphasized people who do not reflect like this in his videos and has also criticized people who do not base ideas on observation and concrete examples. So any order seems good to me. Some people do better with theory first and some people understand better with concrete examples. But it seems from my stay around this forum, lots of people here are the type who are more likely to emphasize theory too much. Probably the reason he emphasizes not to actually look at what other people say is to allow a clean state to think for yourself and looking at other views early on may remove some ideas you could have thought on your own. But later on, seeing others' views on it is beneficial to learn more. I also took time to watch the roles video and I already seem to be familiar with how my roles limit me from my study into cognitive functions and cultural perspectives but maybe I should think about this more. I think of these roles less as something you have to subtract and your real self is what's left. I think of your real and actualized self as what is there when you transcend your current roles to learn from other roles, a kind of addition. Or what happens when you're aware of them and you choose what roles you really prefer yourself, an act of mindful subtraction. I wouldn't call to really remove every single trait of every single mask you play. More that it doesn't have a tight hold on you and a sort of easygoingness with trying these different roles appropiately, choosing it's good traits and not letting it limit you. And being able to see these roles in an " authentic clean slate" as Leo puts it, adding a freedom to what you want to be. You might find it easier to understand roles as labels. Our minds sees objects as a certain label. A book. A tv. A couch. But these things are human constraints. In reality, these objects are a collection of colors, shapes, sizes, lines, sounds, smells, tastes, touch and more. And if you see this world, you'd see you are not your role. You are a collection of traits, thoughts, feelings and actions that you can try to see beyond those generalizations or labels. A way to notice being limited in a role is when you criticize people for not playing the same roles as you well, when it's fine for people to have their own strengths and weaknesses. Change comes from awareness first and being aware of it not only in theory but how it actively appears throughout your life in thoughts, feelings and actions is going to be relevant here. There is no shortcut to this, only gradual awareness that can be helped by records and reflection. Any further questions?

@Leo Gura I find this rather interesting actually. I fit your category of rationalist skeptic types really but after watching some of your videos, there's this pinprick in doubt in me about it. And I'm both fascinated and scared. But I'm willng to double check my beliefs on this. I guess what influenced me the most is how well thought and objective your logic seems to be yet you still believe in the paranormal. I always imagined people who do to be the opposite. But you're different here. And when you said the thing about questioning your criteria of how you come to believe something is true. I've questioned information, but not my criteria of ruling things out. I didn't seem to realize I didn't explore the other side in as much depth — comfirmation bias. Well, alright, maybe I should check this out. Any advice on what good resources to check on this? Honestly I ask you because I have a hard time believing other resources on the paranormal but from you, it's much much much easier. You might tell me to figure things out myself, sure and that's good as a long term goal. But well for now, I have to start somewhere. You've probably heard about starting small and making small adjustments in personal development, right? Believing enlightenment is easier. My own practice with this seems to open up some doubt in my worldview, so yes, I'll go with that. But actually the major fear I have is that exploring the paranormal sounds dangerous. That situations like spirits might attack us. Or some other paranormal danger I'm not aware of. All those ghost horror movies creeped me out growing up. Actually, most of my fears have to do with spirits. Any comment on how to get over this fear to get myself to explore this more? Am I having a misconception here or what? Oh well. I guess I'll just practice with this Ra stuff at the moment while I wait for a reply. I guess I'll work on this partial belief thing you're talking about.

I've been watching Leo's videos a lot these days and one of the things I don't really get is how an enlightenment experience is defined. Also, I just watched his video on contemplation and asking the right question so might as well exercise it. What is it? What are the signs of it? Any examples? Metaphors?

That's true. I very much agree with you. But people don't seem to realize that learning about something that isn't 100% accurate on learning about yourself isn't entirely useless. It is more of a guide and a good guide in my experience. Used without believing that it dictates and predicts your entire life, it could help you be more aware of what problems you may face and how to get through it as well as use your strengths. In summary, use it thinking it points to likelihoods rather than absolute truth. The consensus in some Mbti communities is that your personality does not change. It doesn't mean the introvert-extrovert, intuitive-sensing, thinking-feeling, perceiving-judging kind of change. But in the cognitive functions, structures of thinking. And I emphasize, structures of thinking, not what is in the thinking, which is supplied by culture. In the more complex deeper theory called the cognitive functions (See the sites Personality Junkie and Personality Hacker for more), everyone has introverted, extroverted, thinking, feeling, perceiving and judging traits. And people tend to prefer traits but they can actually grow into their opposite traits and become more skilled at using them, while still preferring their more early traits. This is why people can look like a different type later in their life. Descriptions of types online are the less developed versions and don't have much info on versions when they grow more developed. Which is unfortunate, because it gets the misunderstanding that' people are fated to be forever stuck in their ways. Because if you look closer, there are information online on how to be more feeling if you're a thinker, more sensor as an intuitive and more in specific advice applied to a type. Another idea is that people in stressful times and mental illness don't look like the normal versions of their type. They take on traits of their opposite type more in an unhealthy fashion. I can't really go into this much without making it too complex or confusing. But that's the idea. The dichotomies are an oversimplification, making Mbti a more limited experience to people.

I wanna learn this!

So there is this whole world of personal development found in typology and personality systems. These are usually doubted as massively inaccurate and flawed. But really, no one who uses them well actually sees it as a prediction for everything in life. It's good as a guide and one of the best guides I've seen in personalizing advice to specific people. People are unique, complex and different but this does not mean guides don't have insight. Definiton : A typology or a categorization of people's core fears, core beliefs. motivations, emotional coping tools as well as the likely behaviors they can have according to these four areas. It's also used as a personal development tool to find the limits of these worldviews and further develop yourself. What I want to know : I actually know a lot on this area already but I figured I'd share this information so other people might use it. Anyway, here are some additional interesting parts to check. The Levels of Development : This reminds me of the Graves model as it records different information in levels of development. But for each specifc type. Those at level 1 are free of their fears, aware of their limits, able to use their strengths for themselves and other people for compassionate use. At level 9, there are people driven to suicide and even people capable of murder. The idea is to go up the levels in development. You can get the book Personality Types by Riso and Russ Hudson for an extensive description for each type's level. Integration and Disintegration : This is enneagram' s term for when you're at your best (integration) and when you're at your worst (disintegration as a type.) Passion and Virtue : It's the idea that every type has a passion (An unhelpful behavior) along with a virtue (helpful behavior.) Fixation and Holy idea. : Fixation (An unhelpful worldview) along with a holy idea (A helpful worldview.) So for example, a summary of one of these. Type 5's basic fear is helplessness. Their core motivation is to know. Their likely behavior is of solitude and reflection. Integration is when they are able to take action and influence the world rather than think all the time. Disintegration is when they become distracted and flighty. Their passion is avarice, not for material wealth, but in hoarding knowledge but in the limits of overpreparing for the world. The virtue is nonattachment, not in relationships, but a nonattachment to the safety of their minds and a readiness for the world. Their fixation is stinginess, not in money, but often of their time in that they believe they don't have enough time for other life areas other than knowledge. Holy omniscience is when 5s see things clearly rather than making false theories about the world and really understanding it, Some resources : For a summary of levels of development. http://www.fitzel.ca/enneagram/levels.html Description of the types. https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/ https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/ A forum full of information.. http://personalitycafe.com/ - Just go to the enneagram section but you can check out the other information. Some good books : Anything by Riso Hudson or Beatrice Chestnut on this.

7 cups of a tea, a free therapy site has 1 on 1 volunteer listener's and also different forums that are support groups for several different issues.

People have talked about them state of enlightenment itself, but has anyone actually talked about what happens slowly in the path to it? Does any even small benefit happen along the way or do the benefits only come at the end? What changes to worldview, emotions and actions does it cause in the progression over time? I ask first because I'm curious and second because if I know the signs of progress, then I might be able to notice if I'm being stuck in the traps to enlightenment Leo mentions in his videos. In the other way of thinking, what are signs of stagnation in this? Of following too much some status quo or close mindedness in your mind and not being aware of it? Or are the signs too tricky to name and I have to find out myself?