To understand 2017, you must understand the years before that.   2014 - SURVIVE It was the year that I had athletics ripped away from my life It was the year that I saw my parents get divorced It was the year that I had my grades plummet, at the time ruining what I thought were my chances for a good career It was the year that I broke up with, at the time, the love of my life It was the year that I thought life was meaningless, the world was meaningless, and that I was meaningless It was the year I almost killed myself    2015 - WAKE UP  It was the year that I began following actualized.org. It was the year that I invested in the reading list It was the year that I invested in the life purpose course It was the year that I began  to watch every single video I could. It was the year that I was getting ready to finish college and began experimenting with my own business ideas It was the year that I was just beginning to wake up to a better life.   2016 - NAIL YOUR VISION It was the year that I truly began to explore the nature of consciousness. It was the year that I experimented with psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and several monster doses of 5-meo DMT It was the year that I created a 5-meo-DMT neurofeedback protocol  It was the year that I studied under zen masters like Brad Warner, Doshin Roshi, and Peter Ralston It was the year that I discovered who I really was on an existential level (THAT) It was the year that I recognized the importance of personal values.  It was the year that I began to understand the nature of true contemplation. It was the year that I began to figure out a real vision for my life beyond just money or power It was the year that I began writing my thoughts down religiously It was the year that I began to realize that its possible to have abiding, joy and love for oneself -- and truly grasp what that feels like.    2017 - PLANT THE SEEDS It was the year that I earned better life by embodying my self-derived philosophies It was the year that I got comfortable with Not Knowing.  It was the year that I doubled down on the importance of taking 100% responsibility  It was the year that I got a perfect score on the MCAT after 550 hours of study It was the year that I competed on American Ninja Warrior and Broken Skull Challenge It was the year that I worked as a photographer then a cognitive neuroscientist and now a professional videographer  It was the year that I began seeing out of the eyes of yellow, then turquoise, and now Coral It was the year that I cleaned my room each morning, slayed my dragons each night, and saved the girl in the long run. It was the year that I began dating a turquoise woman (and my fucking god it's so much better than dating someone at lower level.) It was the year that I began waking up everyday excited to know that I could die that day It was the year that I realized that life = happiness It was the year that I realized that love = a behavioral commitment to raising the quality of a being, no matter what and for no particular reason It was the year that I quit sugar It was the year that I quit the porn, masturbation, orgasm cycle It was the year that I quit sleeping in It was the year that I  finally understood what 'take 100% responsibility' meant on an existential level. It was the year that I finally became 100% financially independent. It was the year that I realized that ultimately everything we do is an attempt to recreate joy in our lives as an expression of love for our life, the people around us, and the world itself. It was the year that I realized that all work, all development, all things come down to simply loving oneself unconditionally and seeing yourself, the world, and everyone as perfect yet still able to get better. Perfection is a process of improvement, not an end goal. It was the year that I realized that there's no proof, no contemplation, no lover, no teacher, no exercise, no psychedelic, no practice, no accomplishment, no thing at all that can make you love yourself or show you why you love yourself because unconditional love is unconditional. It was the year that I realized that nothing can take away the fire of unconditional love that lies at my very core because everything that would try to take away that fire would just be more of that fire itself. It was the year that I realized that this is not some teaching and that any explanation of the above is useless, as seeing, feeling, and being the fire that burns is an experiential thing that goes beyond all talk and all philosophy yet is available at all times. It was the year that I realized that that is enlightenment. That conscious existentence is itself just a ride meant to show you the strength of that fire and that such existence is enlightenment thus everything you have ever consciously experienced is itself enlightenment and the entire universal consciousness of all things possible in all times in all possible realms is enlightenment. It was the year where I stopped trying to become enlightened because I AM. (Then again, if you're on this forum I can basically guarantee that you're not mentally ready enough to appreciate what it means to stop trying. So don't listen to 99.999% of the fools who parrot the words 'stop trying to become enlightened' --- It's only through all of the trying and all of the struggle that you'll even begin appreciate why it is that there's nothing to try for when it comes to loving yourself and the world for being perfect yet capable of getting better. So give it your best, do absolutely everything you can, and then you'll get that all you have to do is see that you've been perfect this whole time. To skip straight to the end ruins the fun; there's no shortcuts when there is no path.) It was the year that it became normal for me to cry out of pure joy while living everyday life.  It was the year that I could truly say I no longer need actualized.org although its nice to visit every once in a while.     What about 2018? The theme for this new year: DON'T TRY. EXECUTE.   So thanks, @Leo Gura P.S. I'd like to chat with you about some very interesting ideas I had regarding spiral dynamics levels past turquoise. I genuinely believe I can help you with the new level, as its part of my own life purpose to get a minimum of 100 men and women to Coral before I die. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the planet who could help you with this, as no one else understands enough about spiral dynamics and is high enough to help you.  P.P.S. for anyone else curious The difference between Turquoise and Coral has a lot to do with facing death everyday through some form of BODYMIND practice like martial arts, big wave surfing, or extreme hiking, That is, whereas Turquoise faces death form the perspective of the MIND BODY as by psychedelics or meditation, coral level people face it in a "physical" sense from the perspective of the BODYMIND. So whereas I might place Ramana Maharshi at Turquoise, I would place Bruce Lee at Coral because Bruce Lee can understand everything RM is talking about regarding consciousness, but RM won't recognize everything Bruce Lee might talk about regarding moving his body toward an opponent. Both have experienced death from the MINDBODY perspective (deep meditation), but Bruce practices death from the BODYMIND perspective (a rear-naked chokehold, for example) and thus Bruce is at a higher level.  Moreover, the levels past Coral are bad ass versions of the lower tier levels, but they can only be accessed once one gets down to the physical embodiment of one's philosophy as by Coral level thinking. I know you know that, but the actual vision of what it looks like is the key here and that is what I'd like to talk to you about over Skype (there are body language nuances that I won't be able to convey through text).