Joseph Maynor

I've always been a minimalist. I used to move around a lot, and because I've been by myself a lot in my life, I didn't really have anybody to help me move, so I sort of learned how to live with the bare minimal amount of stuff. If I need something, I can usually pick it up on the street when someone is getting rid of it like a dresser or desk or something. An then when I move out, I don't really give a shit about leaving stuff behind. I went to Athens Greece for 2 weeks with one overstuffed carry on backpack and the hotel receptionist in Athens laughed at me and said she would need like 2 suitcases minimum. So, yeah -- 2 weeks in Athens on a backpack! -- That's minimalism -- And I had everything I needed in there too -- I had to hit up a laundromat once or twice but that's no problem in most countries

Really? Is that how it works?

Oh cool! Thank you!

i like the idea of a subconscious programming course that Leo mentions in his Life Purpose Course.

Awesome!

Paradoxically, there is a sense in which all perspectives are illusory other than one perspective: but on the other hand, the illusion of many perspectives is part of Experience.

I'm so happy that everybody is in such a light mood. It's refreshing to me.

I like that. I think is a sign of assertiveness on your part, which is good. To be assertive is to know what the heck someone is talking about before responding to them. I tell people "I don't know what you're talking about" all the time. And then either they clarify it or they don't. If they don't, I just drop it and move on. Don't turn this into a limiting-belief though. There's ways to be assertive in nicer ways than others. If you're assertive without being nice about it, people can think you're being an asshole. But you know as well as I do, that's not your motive, but people may perceive it that way. And that's kinda their problem too, but you can smooth things out by being polite and assertive at the same time.

There's a paradox here. On the one hand it's irrelevant to compare yourself to anybody. But on the other hand, it's good to compare yourself to other people who have attained something that you might want for yourself. And that includes higher-consciousness and Enlightenment.

There are pros and cons regarding addiction to personal development. One of the pros are you are focused on improving your life. A couple of the cons are you can stop short of improving your life and get distracted by all the theory and by teaching others. Teaching others can be a pretty nasty distraction to doing your own projects. As a teacher you gotta make sure you're not bypassing from doing your projects by teaching others. It's so easy to find any reason to fall short of doing what you plan. In that case personal development just becomes more distraction and more comfort mentality. After all, everything is great when you don't actually expect yourself to do anything that you've planned! It's like living in thought thinking and that's doing, but that ain't doing. That's you being tricked by the Mind thinking you're doing just because you're swimming around in ideas that all sound like you're doing something important. But all the while, your actual personal development projects just sit idly by untouched while you're all caught up in ideas.

@AceTrainerGreen If you haven't done Leo's Life Purpose Course, give that a look. That will clear up passion for you if you work hard on the course. You can gain more clarity about your passion than is commonly realized. Few people do that work, that's the issue. You can get very clear about what you're not passionate about. I keep a journal and note all these things for future reference. Keeping journals about stuff you like and stuff you don't like is good. That way when you walk into something you can design exactly what you need rather than taking a crap-shot. Sometimes you do have to take a crap-shot, but not when you don't have to. Sometimes you can really make an informed decision based on knowledge of yourself. Your passion is knowable if you have the desire to chase it down and pin it into categories. And then that serves as a great foundation-piece to your Personal Development Work because you can use that passion as a litmus-test for everything you decide to take on in your life. That's up to you. But you can really design a life for yourself that revolves more and more around your passion. That's one of the available options of Personal Development Work!

That's why I don't like humor much. I like humor but I don't indulge in it. Somebody beat philosopher Herbert Spencer at chess and Spencer looked at the person and berated them for spending so much time mastering such a useless game as chess! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer

Jump up a level in Spiral Dynamics.

i Kinda feel like the ideal is to have equal measures of right and left brain. This is rare though I find. For Personal Development you definitely need both left and right brain. I consider Enlightenment to be a branch of Personal Development.

This is something that I've worked a lot on this year. Being Assertive is making sure that you keep you in consideration in all circumstances. And this doesn't have to be a selfish thing. This is an honest thing. Because the things that you wanna get involved with are things that resonate with your passion. And that's on you to monitor that for yourself. Nobody's gonna look after your own best interests better than you, see. You've gotta become a designer, a creator of your own life.

Shyness can be a fear of social interaction. In addition, shyness can also be you don't have anything in common with anybody nor want to. Or a combination of those two. Shyness is caused by you being socially insecure on some level. And what you want to find is the reason for that social insecurity. Social insecurity isn't always bad, but you need to investigate that thoroughly in your case and see what's going on there. Take hold of that problem and don't let it go until you've gotten to the root of it. Put it in your project binder and never take it out even if you think you're gotten it managed well.

The key is to drop the theory. You actually keep the theory you just don't put as much value in it. Once you figure out what you need to do, all this theory stuff becomes much less important. You'll still be Enlightened, but you're gonna be focused on completing projects instead of theory.

I kind of agree with Elon. The thing you're passionate about you're kinda always working on. You're always working on it because you're passionate about it. It's fun to work on it! It's what you wanna be doing. This is why finding your passion is so important and starting to move everything your work on in your life to be in alignment with that passion. When I was learning how to play jazz, that was real passion. I would work on jazz all day long. I would read books on music theory. I would practice my instrument at least 4 to 5 hours per day. I would practice all these skills that jazz musicians practice. I would spend all day working on jazz, and none of it seemed like I was punching a clock at a job. That's when your work is aligned with your passion.

@Leo Gura Yep. When your work is aligned with your passion it doesn't seem like work.

What about the future? You don't talk about the future. You need past, present, and future. They function together. See, Vision has to do with future. Future has to be treated properly in Personal Development Work. This is something that is hard to keep in proper perspective because in Enlightenment Work we focus so much on the present.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/exeas/resources/oxherding.html "As the ninth picture shows, when self and reality (as constructs) are left behind, then things are revealed to be just what they are in themselves; streams meander on of themselves and red flowers naturally bloom red. In the ordinary events of life are found the most profound truths. Only by seeking the ox as a separate ultimate reality could the oxherd discover that there is no separate reality; that the ultimate is to be found in the ordinary." This sounds like Stage Coral. Early Stage Coral.

It seems to be a paradox. On the one hand Ego looks like a game from the perspective of being. But on the other hand we've been living with the illusion of Ego all our lives too. And Ego definitely does not think of life as a game. Ego thinks of life as serious of f*ck.

I wouldn't say so. Has your life ever felt like a game? Like is a little bit more serious than a game. That's not to say that we can't think of life as a game. But that's a different thing.

That's for you to find! You've got to find the ox for yourself. Nobody can do that work for you or tell you what that is. That's why Enlightenment is a very personal journey. People can point things out to you in Enlightenment Work, but nobody can really help you discover the ox. You gotta jump in there and do it yourself.

I don't think so.