Young Self-actualizers

[Xin]

what advice would you give teens doing personal development work? 

[Saumaya]

@Xin Im 18 and I started when I was in 9th grade. Believe me, you've got much better resources and roadmap nowdays. Just apply yourself ruthlessly and think for yourself. I would recommend you start eating healthy and start pursuing enlightenment as early as possible. You're young so your less full of shit now, enlightenment will take a lot less time if you start now. Remember, age is just a number, don't go easy on yourself just because you're young.

[Courtney]

@Xin keep at it!!! I wish I would have started this work at your age.  What I've learned over the last year from podcasts and books on enlightenment and personal development is just incredible and I haven't even scratched the surface!  

[aurum]

@Xin

Start simple. Get a basic meditation habit going, start looking at your diet and reading personal development books. You'd be amazed how just doing that will create massive change.

[Shin]

Also do NoFap, the amount of sexual energy you will have at your disposal will be insane.

Wish I had that in my teens.

[Staples]

The work is not different if you're a teenager. The only difference I can really think of is that you probably have more time to work on it.

[bransavage]

I'm 18, I started this road of self-actualization my sophomore year, I had depressions, insecurities, existential crisis, life purpose problems, and health concerns. None of which school taught me how to deal and go about these things but I understand why now. The amount of growth that has occurred is phenomenal, I pretty much gave my heart to this work and my grades plummeted but I can fix that in college.  Now, for this year I want to reform my social circle, I've outgrown my circle of friends, I no longer find smoking weed as a vice amusing and I don't find binge drinking at high school parties to be fun and they certainly won't bring long-term value to my life. What I want to ask is, where do I find and meet people who have the same high consciousness values and goals?        

[Girzo]

Meditation habit! At least 20 minutes daily.

The MOST important habit. You will feel like another human being just after a week. The thing is not to do it mechanically. For starters, I recommend guided meditations, like Leo's or Mooji's ones

[lrompa]

Oh, how I envy you. Way back in the early 1970's I learned about meditation, higher levels of consciousness, Maslow's self-actualization process, read Alan Watts on Zen, Herman Hesse books and learned lots of Eastern mysticism. I wanted to pursue self-actualization, but felt it was too lofty a goal; that I was reaching way too high. Who was I to think I could achieve this? I stopped my pursuit 1) because of this negative thinking, 2) because back then there were very limited resources available, and 3) because it was considered "hippy stuff". My regrets are enormous. I am now in my 60's and after decades of attempting personal growth and self-understanding by looking outwards (this helped me avoid responsibility by blaming other things), I have finally discovered the art of looking inwards. I am back to daily meditations, guided visualizations,  and am about to start learning Kundalini Yoga to open my chakras. My advice: watch all of Leo's videos, meditate daily for longer periods over time, always remember to look inward not outward, and find  and use all the resources you can to further your growth. Find out what works best for you, knowing that this will undoubtedly keep changing throughout your journey. Commit to making this your lifelong journey. You live in an incredibly accepting era of history and technological advancement. Appreciate and use this and best of luck to you.

[Jonatan]

It is important to have the right epistemic foundation asap so that your mind is open. Then you will minimize the amount you must unlearn later. Meditation and mindfulness are fantastic tools, reading and contemplation/reflection as well. The possibilities are endless if you are pragmatic. 

[RawJudah]

@Girzo I thought Leo said everyone will suck at meditation for about a year?

My advice would be to question what you’ve learned already, as it’s probably mostly bullshit. And start meditation, yoga, eating healthy, exercising and reading books. And try not to chase girls as with my experience it’s a massive distraction from looking inwards. 

Most importantly, have fun! Your young so have fun but don’t waste time doing things that aren’t worthwhile.

[Girzo]

@RawJudah I am speaking from my own experience. Starting meditation habit took almost immediate effect on me. You may suck at it and not be able to meditate for long periods of time, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't work at all. 20 minutes is not that much to pull off.

[Lorcan]

I am 16. I started when I was 13.

I discovered the channel by googling "how to deal with toxic parents".

Leo video on how to deal with toxic people came up. From there, I began watching many videos from Actualized.org. At this young age. My existential view, my idea of what it meant to be a human, radically changed.

When I was 15 I got a mediation habit going. I did 40 minutes a day for 3 months in the summer. This was by far the most content I have felt in my life.

I wasted away a lot of time when I was 13-16 doing a lot of typical stuff 13-16yr olds do. THOUSANDS of hours playing video-games. I did make attempts at self improvements such as cold showers and meditation and exercise, but I backslided. Again, and again, and again.

I have know my life purpose since I was 14. Back then I put it as "To end first world corruption". I never had, and to this day, a clear vision.

I do know that I must be a revolutionary , and elevate mankind. Although, this day, I have not used this much as fuel to drive me, even though I should. I have cried for my purpose twice. Although, they were not all natural tears, somewhat forced.

I am 16 now, I am mediocre. I have a accomplished little. I notice a drop in consciousness since stopping meditation 4-6 months ago. My focus has shifted for saving mankind to trying pick-up girls in my school. I have not fully given up however. I still hold on.

I wish I would of discovered actualized.org even earlier, or realized how fucking significant my life is earlier, yet I STILL piss it away, day, by fucking day. Ahahaha. Maybe I am simply crestfallen.

 

My advice to other teens, is to never give up fully. That way, you can always get back on the path to mastery. If you give up fully. If you shun the way of self-improvement, and submit to the shallow way of living your peers and family go about living. Forget it. Your finished. All the ones like me. Fail over, and over, and over again trying to improve, to rise above the masses. Distractions are everywhere. Be aware of that. And have a vision. Even if its a weak and murky unclear one like mine currently is.

 

 

 

 

[Lorcan]

On 2/18/2018 at 9:29 AM, Shin said:

Also do NoFap, the amount of sexual energy you will have at your disposal will be insane.

Wish I had that in my teens.

I never thought of it this way.

So I can actually use pent up sexual energy as fuel for activities that make me more attractive to the opposite sex and more?

[Shin]

9 minutes ago, Lorcan said:

I never thought of it this way.

So I can actually use pent up sexual energy as fuel for activities that make me more attractive to the opposite sex and more?

You're gonna be way more attractive if you do those activities because you truly care, the most counter intuitive thing with women is that the less you care, the more you get 

Edited February 22, 2018 by Shin

[gleb]

@Xin Consistency is key. Get the habits that you want built over the course of years. Learn to appreciate the slow building, long term growth. Don't expect it to change in a week and give up.

Dump your phone except for communication and the relative bare necessities. 

And for the love of baby jesus don't run from the suffering. Sit with it, get used to it and you will grow.

 

Another tip that might apply to you: Don't make a beline for the spiritual realizations. If they come, they come. Build a base (buissiness, circle of friends, gf/bf, egoicesque goals and achievements, etc.) and then take off. A cannon can shoot farther on solid ground than in a boat. You don't want to be walking around with existential dread while trying to decide what you want to do with your life. Or maybe you do - who knows. 

It's only up from here my dude!

[Ether]

14 hours ago, gleb said:

@Xin Consistency is key. Get the habits that you want built over the course of years. Learn to appreciate the slow building, long term growth. Don't expect it to change in a week and give up.

Dump your phone except for communication and the relative bare necessities. 

And for the love of baby jesus don't run from the suffering. Sit with it, get used to it and you will grow.

 

Another tip that might apply to you: Don't make a beline for the spiritual realizations. If they come, they come. Build a base (buissiness, circle of friends, gf/bf, egoicesque goals and achievements, etc.) and then take off. A cannon can shoot farther on solid ground than in a boat. You don't want to be walking around with existential dread while trying to decide what you want to do with your life. Or maybe you do - who knows. 

It's only up from here my dude!

I like this advice.

[Ibn Sina]

Having started on personal development and spirituality since I was 13, I will say that it is absolutely amazing to have  done so at teenage years. First of all teenage years are formative, and it is these times that most people pick up bad habits like smoking drugs, and doing this can give you a competitive edge. And if you get into this early on and stay on it for a long time you really start  to know yourself and find out what works for you and what doesn't. However there is 2 important things- while doing personal development you should still be in touch with the crowd because things will be very difficult in the future if you become someone very different  from the crowd, so you should take care of both. 

And the most important thing that a teenage personal development student should consider is- commitment. lt should be life long. Remember this- if you are a teenage who is into personal development, then there is  a good chance that you might take a very long break or completely stop with this path in the future. You might get into it for 2-3 years and then you might stop. 

Another thing- remember  personal development is not  the same thing as ou ward success. There will be many  people  out there who are better student then you, or any other kind  of better performer or are rich. They might not have done any personal development. Don't confuse those 2 things. 

Edited February 23, 2018 by Ibn Sina

[mikeyy]

start talking to all the girls u see! That's what ive been doing cuz Its fun and I want to get good socially first @Xin