Tell Us How You Got Into Personal Development

[Tuomas]

Name: Tuomas V
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Location: Vaasa, Finland
Occupation: Mechanical engineering student
Marital Status: Domestic partnership
Kids: No
Hobbies: Music, weightlifting, martial arts, personal development, technology

I first got into personal development when i had reached the bottom of my life in 2010 and the only choice was to do whatever it takes to get myself up. I have not pursued personal development that actively all the time, but a lot has changed. In November me and a friend of mine decided to put in a higher gear and also started doing weekly masterminds and helping eachother push to the next level. Now i am more commited than ever to reach my full potential as a human being and create the life i haven´t even dared dreaming of.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

I have overcome my shyness and learned to be comfortable almost every social situation

I have learned how to attract the opposite sex and how to be e man someone thrives in a relationship with

I have learned to love myself to a certain extent and to believe in myself

I have taught myself to take personal responsibillity for everything i do, creating my own reality

I have become independent and not relaying on other people or circumstances (this has bitten back)

I have learned to be resourcefull and adaptible in life

I have killed a very large part of my ego which has helped me see things and react to them objectively

What I'm working on now:

Improving myself in every area of my life 

Learning to not push away or ignore my emotions

Getting more attached to people 

Finishing my final year and getting a job in Mechanical engineering

Getting my body into a shape i´m satisfied with

Edited February 22, 2017 by Tuomas
I edited the text because i wanted to formulate what i´ve overcome in a positive language

[Rebecc]

On 2/5/2016 at 5:03 AM, Leo Gura said:

Share your story, how you discovered personal dev, and what struggles you've overcome.

Here's an example from me:

Name: Leo Gura
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Location: Las Vegas, USA
Occupation: Personal Development Speaker & Entrepreneur
Marital Status: Dating
Kids: No
Hobbies: enlightenment, meditation, personal development, reading, learning, nature, healthy eating

I got into personal development in 2007 when I started my first online marketing business in Boston and then Dallas, Texas. From there I started reading more and more self-help books until somehow I stumbled upon the pickup community -- a community of guys who learn how to get better at attracting women. I sucked with women and dating a lot back then so I hit it really hard and spent the next two years immersing myself in mastering the art of dating. In doing so I delved even deeper into developing myself. During that time I discovered life coaching and became certified as a coach. Then I launched Actualized.org, which was intended to be a personal development blog. Then I started making more and more videos until the thing ballooned into what it is today.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

• Was fat my whole life until age 21
• Absolutely sucked at attracting women
• Used to be very shy, introverted, and socially awkward
• Started my own business and became financially independent
• Cleaned up my diet A LOT, now eating mostly vegetarian
• Learned weightlifting
• Changed careers and finally found my life purpose
• Started my dream business: Actualized.org

What I'm working on now:

• Working on enlightenment
• Working on improving my health & diet
• Working on being more authentic in relating to others
• Working on growing and deepening Actualized.org

Name: Rebecca Shih
Age: 26
Gender: female 
Location: Chicago, USA
Occupation: Sales Manager and entrepreneur 
Marital Status: Engaged
Kids: No
Hobbies: reading career development books, working out and lifting weights, cosplaying, all things art related

My first calling that jump started my path to personal development happened when I was 19 years old. I was an extremely toxic person who hurt everyone who ever came across my path. I hurt my parents and my family the most. I was reckless and callous. I was living with my parents at the time and they did the best and most loving thing they could've done for me at the time. That meant kicking me out of the house. I moved from Chicago to California with a boyfriend at the time who had equally as many problems as I did. I lost contact with my family and friends and fell into a very deep depression for about a year. Something happened to me. I started to become aware of all the ways I was hurting myself and others around me. I made a commitment to myself that if I ever had the opportunity to again, I would go pursue my education and take full responsibility for the outcome of my life. 
My parents surprise visited me one day in December during the deepest pit of my depression. They told me that their door was always open for me and that they loved me and only wanted me to be happy. I left my ex in California and moved back in with my parents, even though I felt like I was starting from scratch, I knew it was the right thing to do. The whole experience was a pivotal turning point. Moving back in didn't make all my problems go away. I had regressed a few times and still had a lot of anxiety but each year got better and better. I graduated with my BA a year ago and now am a sales manager for the firm I work at. I have a loving, healthy relationship with a man that I only dreamed of being with. I'm creating the life I've always wanted. 
Personal challenges I've overcome:
* Overcame my depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety 
* Overcame my poor impulse control and need for constant gratification 
* Got my degree after years of telling myself school wasn't for me 
* Lost a significant amount of body fat and am in the best shape of my life now
* Learned weightlifting
* Started my career in a industry that challenges and interests me
* Developed and built a beautiful and nurturing romantic relationship 
What I'm working on now:
* Working on my independence from others-being okay with being alone
* Working on improving my health & diet
* Working on developing my career and business
* Working on investing in more self development products
* Working on being less judgmental of others 

[Rebecc]

On 2/21/2017 at 1:22 PM, Tuomas said:

Name: Tuomas V
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Location: Vaasa, Finland
Occupation: Mechanical engineering student
Marital Status: Domestic partnership
Kids: No
Hobbies: Music, weightlifting, martial arts, personal development, technology

I first got into personal development when i had reached the bottom of my life in 2010 and the only choice was to do whatever it takes to get myself up. I have not pursued personal development that actively all the time, but a lot has changed. In November me and a friend of mine decided to put in a higher gear and also started doing weekly masterminds and helping eachother push to the next level. Now i am more commited than ever to reach my full potential as a human being and create the life i haven´t even dared dreaming of.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

I have overcome my shyness and learned to be comfortable almost every social situation

I have learned how to attract the opposite sex and how to be e man someone thrives in a relationship with

I have learned to love myself to a certain extent and to believe in myself

I have taught myself to take personal responsibillity for everything i do, creating my own reality

I have become independent and not relaying on other people or circumstances (this has bitten back)

I have learned to be resourcefull and adaptible in life

I have killed a very large part of my ego which has helped me see things and react to them objectively

What I'm working on now:

Improving myself in every area of my life 

Learning to not push away or ignore my emotions

Getting more attached to people 

Finishing my final year and getting a job in Mechanical engineering

Getting my body into a shape i´m satisfied with

Sounds like both of our callings happened when we were in the pits. Thank you for sharing. It's good to know there are others who went through a similar situation.

[Gladius]

Name: Gladius
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Location: Madrid, Spain
Occupation: Writer / Engineer
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: meditation, personal development, writing, sports, nature, movies

Three years ago I realized I had absolutely no purpose and I was just being passive and letting life happen to me. I broke up with a girlfriend I had by then (someone I even didn't like) and got into pick up videos. I slowly learned the problem was much bigger than dating. I was not passionate at all, I lost all drive and enthusiasm. My health problems became more serious than ever (urticaria, breathing problems) and even had suicidal thoughts. I had to stop ignoring all these and realize I had deep issues that were demanding some attention: As a child my parents were emotionally neglected, my sibling had a serious eating disorder, I was bullied at high school... 

Believe it or not, the most frustrating part was that gorgeous women were drawn to me because I am phisically attractive, but when they get closer and saw I had no confidence they would run away.   

Thanks to Leo and some others I am starting to manage my emotions and being aware.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

Speaking up my needs

Finding and pursuing my passion

Taking care of my mental and phisical health

Being aware of toxic relationships

Forgiving my parents

Being more present

Decrease negative thinking

 

What I'm working on now:

Working on healing completely

Working on making a living from my passion

Working on being 100% authentic

Working on having a good relationship with family and friends

Working on my dating life

Working on my confidence

Working on mastering my emotions

 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Gladius

[Joseph ICU]

Name: Joseph Couteau
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Location: Yogyakarta
Occupation: Medical student
Marital Status: Dating
Kids: No
Hobbies: meditation, personal development, reading, learning, traveling new language,nature, vegetarian, psychadelic use, sleeping

I first got into personal development and found Leo's videos when I was struggling to adapt living, going to college in a new country: I wanted to be more productive, efficient. At the same time I discovered nofap.

But after a while, I had emotional issues and used  PD as a tool to master my emotions, thus developing a journal and meditation habit.

I decided to return back to my origin country Indonesia where I got interested in its psychologycal cultural, psychological background : did psychadelic(mushroom), meditation retreat.

I relate very much to the kid in Leo's "advice for college student", and am eager to grow exponentially

Just discovered the forum couple of months ago, and am so grateful of Leo and this community!

 

Personal Challenges i've had to overcome:

Independence: living on my own in new country from parents, learning french

Victimhood in financial domain

Emotional growth, self understanding

Openmindedness to new experiences,cultures, socializing

Minimizing my bad habits(TV,nofap, partying)

Healthy eating(Vegan)

 

What I'm working on now:

Finding my life purpose and aligning myself with it

Building better habits(including self enquiry, exercise)

Building soft infrastructure skills such as publik speaking, writing: work ethic

Being more authentic in relationships with my girlfriend, family

Being more attractive, confident, building self esteem

 

 

 

 

[schmitzy]

schmitzy, 26, female, German

Occupation: Oboist
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: dreaming, writing, languages, health/nutrition/natural beauty, yoga, running

I got into personal development around 2013 or 14 to get better understanding of my emotions. I often made unrealistically hard resolutions and kept failing. I was struggling with the high amount of self-governance one has to develop as as an instrumentalist (lots of free time to be spent practicing autonomously) as well as eating habits and self-acceptance.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

• Fear of eating in public
• TV and romance addiction
• "education". school and college (just two months to go for my 2nd Master)

What I'm working on now:

• nutrition & fitness
• connect with femininity
• produce an album
• study grooves, beats, music production, music that makes people dance, Arabic tunes
• mourn and let go of my father who committed suicide two weeks ago

[Utopian]

Age: 31
Gender: Male
Location: Athens -  Greece
Occupation: Cinematographer
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: Playing a variety of musical instruments, cinema, theatre, arts, photography, travelling, meditation, personal growth

I've been having some serious disorders, anxiety, fears, panic, depression, anger for a long time after my studies. After searching to improve my physical condition, I went to a random massage place to release the muscle pain before a really heavy weekend of work. In 10 minutes the massage guy  gave me some serious tips by reading my behaviour  and body language, like that I should look for a therapist and that my solution to my physical problems is not where I was looking for. So I started therapy, and at the same time I started reading stuff and I came up to Leo's videos and I was in awe. I started watching one after another, and also other youtube videos about self-help and then I realised that I had so serious issues that I wasn't aware of. I was so enthusiastic though ,that there's actually a solution to all these by changing myself. So it's been 9 months since then and I'm grateful everyday for that treasure called personal development. 

 

Things I've overcome:

Panic attacks

Anger 

Anxiety 

Quit smoking,weed, reduce alcohol, eating better

Cut relationships with toxic people

Being worried all the time about the future

Being negative about everything 

Feeling lonely 

 

Things I'm working:

Getting rid of guilt 

my financials 

building new friendships 

[Destroy_]

 

Name: Matthew Shepherd
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Location: Hungary, Szeged

Occupation: Network -Computer administration, Library IT.
Marital Status: long distance relationship
Kids: No
Hobbies: enlightenment, meditation, personal development, reading, learning, nature, healthy eating, Streaming, Technical support on game clients

I faced several suicide attempts in my life. Once I almost killed myself. I became a nihilist because lack of willpower, bad relationships, lack of tolerance of other people. I played the victim and made so much excuses. Stucked in theory of nihilism. My healing proccess from depression took 1.5 years with antidepressants and tons of xanax... It was just pure poison to my mind. I found this forum and the youtube channel a month ago. I learned so much and claryfied my purpose in life. I had so much hatred againts the world and filtered everything with a negative perspective but Leo's videos gave me a rational answer and his practical psychology seems to work. I do meditation and inner and outer sense practice plus concentracion practice everyday. Its only 1 hour but work wonders. I wish I was taught this in school. Sorry for my grammar mistakes. 

Personal challenges I've overcome:

Defeated depression 

Find the right path

Cleaned or at least started to clean up my diet

Started university

No more hate againts the world and people.

Gave up living in a false theory

started to be more pragmatic and results maker

What I'm working on now:

Working on enlightenment (reading books from Leo's list, building up habits)

Working on improving my health & diet

Working on being more authentic in relating to others

Working on my relationship( how to avoid needeness , jelaousy and be honest)

Self-mastery

Become a non-neurotic person

Edited May 31, 2017 by Destroy_

[Skenderberg]

Name: Adrian
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Location: Sweden
Occupation: Blogging and internet marketing 
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: health food and supplements, books, personal development, music production, travel, marketing, psychology

I got into personal development hardcore in 2014 when I saw John Assaraf's webinar about success and the brain. Then started to do NLP and consumed a lot of books every day.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

• Shy and weak charisma
• Fixing an income after dropping out of 3 schools
• Fear of flying
• Cleaning up my diet
• Brain fog
• Major addictions
• Poor skin condition

What I'm working on now:

• My body
• My website 
• My charisma
• My body language
• Enlightenment

Edited July 24, 2017 by Skenderberg

[WaterfallMachine]

Name: Bianca
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Location: Philippines
Occupation : Student in a high school that specializes in science and mathematics. 
Marital Status: Not interested.
Kids: No
Hobbies : I like to try new hobbies and I change hobbies regularly, but lasting ones are reading books from every genre (Especially personal development, thrillers and science), programming and meditation. Some of my recent hobbies are, Yoga, poetry, making theories on cartoon shows and puzzles. Also researching the physics of comic book characters. Also, cute cat pictures. Oh boy.

I began personal development when I had depression and anxiety as an 11 year old. The earliest of what could be depression I remember is when I learned how to empathize. I was the kid who kept making inappropiate pranks, jokes and was often pretty rude and blunt. I don't think I ever actually had any deep connection with anyone back then, even my family. When I first felt major pangs of guilt, I was far from welcoming it. I tried to pounce on every thought that wanted me to change and suppressed every feeling I had so much that I was literally distressed every moment of everyday. 

I was a wide reader as a kid. And one of those things I read was personal development. I never actually took action to them, but damn, I wanted to get out of there and I wanted to figure out how. 

As I realized this, my anxiety would spiral into more and more fears. I started thinking every body sensation like itching, tingling or pressure was a sign I would die. I started to worry about my grades more. I had this fear that everyone hated me and if they don't, if they knew the real me, they would. I would have hidden rages at people for the little things they've done. I wish I could have traveled back in time and guided my younger self, but for the next few years I would continue researching and acting on the pursuit of happiness, with barely any asking for help at all.

Why did I live? I thought sometimes. Because I did not finish every interesting book and article in the world. I was that kid who kept asking questions, questioned ideas and was easily amazed. Of all the horrifying things I've gone through, losing my curiosity was for me the greatest loss I ever had. And I would do anything. Anything. To get it back. Gratitude, love, humor, excitement or any other kind of happiness was hard. But curiosity? There was still some left and I made sure that shit grew.

On the last year, I felt I exhausted every option. The last thing I could think of was actually asking for help. I practiced first anonymously online on a site with volunteer listeners. And I followed through even if as I did it I distrusted them so much I often cried for hours after it from embarrassment. But I was so touched by their acceptance and kindness that I started giving more merit what I thought of "The absolute irrationality of love". So I practiced what I could of loving kindness meditation even if it took months for me to past barely feeling anything.

On about every step on the way when I didn't feel like going on, I asked myself, "Wouldn't it be interesting to see what happened next?" I had learned the most important lesson in my life : That curiosity has to be always stronger than fear.

Later on I'd tell one of the listeners on the site something and it went like this.

"Things have gone meaningless. You know, I want to use my curiosity and pursuit of truth for something more than myself. I don't know what. I don't know how. But I know why." 

"I'm so glad you're starting to see that love, relationships and kindness is more important."

"Love and kindness as most important? Hell no. Wisdom, curiosity and truth will always be more important. But . . . that doesn't mean I could do both. Maybe."

"I'm so happy!"

"Oh shut up. Well, I mean. . . thank you."

Somewhere along those days, my results started accelerating. I just seemed to have more motivation. More control. More satisfaction. More awareness. More confidence. More everything. It's a long story, but I've never felt so damn happy in my entire life.

How I changed for the better :

Gained numerous Jhana experiences. 

Studied various facets of happiness psychology, CBT, mindfulness, Stoicism, existentialism, Shadow Work, a bit of NLP and other tools for my pursuit of happiness. 

Feel elated for much of the day. Wakes up excited and sleep excited. Ridiculous amounts of drive.

Studied the science and art of learning. The art of problem solving and creative thinking. Mastered many techniques.

Had an account on Quora (A Q&A) for life advice (especially on learning techniques and mental health) and gained from the start to now, a total of 100,000+ views. One article got on the Quora digest. 

Worked on having more genuine and authentic relationships. Gained more trust and openness with others. Became a lot more likeable and willing to like others.

Lost some weight. Ate healthy more. Exercises more. 

Mastered the psychology of typology for personal development. Because of that, I gained a ridiculous awareness of my strengths, weaknesses, problems, opportunities, feelings, thoughts, behavior and values for my growth that is increasing as I change everyday in life. 

Gained an ability to be so curious that I can be interested in about everything. Can stare at a wall for one hour and think it's interesting.

What I'm working on now :

Trying more advanced physical exercises. 

Researching on diet. Haha. I'm good at the exercise part but kind of bad in the diet part.

Getting through stages 6-8 of the 10 Meditation Stages mentioned in the book The Mind Illuminated.

Trying to learn how to program Python for my life purpose.

Trying to better my logical reasoning skills for life purpose.

Trying to get my ass to donate more. (Main problem to this : "But think of all the interesting books and courses I could get with that money!!)

Challenging materialist paradigm. Reading Leo's recommended books and trying out more "new agey" techniques to try myself. Especially past life regression. Is it me or nearly all visions of my past lives included insanely curious people?

Edited July 29, 2017 by WaterfallMachine

[Damir Elezi]

Name: Damir Elezi

Age: 18

Gender: Male
Location: Germany
Occupation: Student, free employee at a local newspaper
Marital Status: Dating
Kids: No
Hobbies: Rapping, personal development, kung fu, reading, philosophy, nature, meditation

Ever since I was a kid I loved to find out how the world works and I always looked for some kind of deeper meaning. As a child I found that meaning in my religion (christianity) but I outgrew my faith when I was around 12 and became the typical science-loving atheist. I kinda noticed that life has no meaning whatsoever and adopted a motivational-video-like mindset like "I am gonna create my own meaning of life through hard work alone!!!" At around 16 I started going to the gym and really pursuing my passion which is making hip hop music. Technically speaking, I have been doing personal development since then, but I didn't know about any of the concepts that are specifically taught, nor did I even know about the term 'personal development' at all. I was very stressed, neurotic and beat myself up at the time, as I treated myself like a result-making machine, hating myself whenever I couldn't achieve something. 

Some day, a friend gave me a book, in order to help me cope with stress. It was about teachings from the shaolin monks and how to implement them in every day life. It was my first personal development book and This was when I learned about personal development and buddhism, both of which really influenced my life.

Some time later I looked for methods for time management and found Leo's video about that. I browsed his channel a little bit and found his videos about meditation, which really resonated with me because I was interested in buddhism and meditation anyway. From this day on I Became kind of a personal development junkie.

Personal accomplishments:

I cleaned up my diet (went From extreme meat and junk food eater to mostly healthy-eating vegetarian)

Gained more control about my emotions and manage to be calm most of the time and create feelings of happiness without any stimulus.

Started putting out content, pursuing my career as a rapper

As somebody who used to really hate working out, I Found a sport which I really like (kung fu)

Created a meditation habit and had some minor experiences

Freed myself from the opinions and judgements of others. 

Became much more compassionate

Started to find a sense of meaning and belonging, which I thought I had lost forever.

Able to accept my body completely, as I used to really hate looking into the mirror just 2 years ago (I am pretty skinny)

What I'm working on now:

Breaking my porn and internet addiction

Building a successful career as a rapper

Pursuing enlightenment

Studying various philosophies and spiritual traditions

Becoming completely indepentent from my parents 

Building a disciplined workout routine and Building some muscle

[Moreira]

Name:Axel

Age:33

Gender: male

Location: Spain / BCN

Status: single

Kids:no

Hobbies: fitness training, going in nature, tattoos, japanese culture, cooking.

 

Back in 2014 I'd been in depression and social anxiety taking SSRI, this medicine kept me numb, lazy and sexually impotent so I decided to stop taking it.

Then I meet a girl by social media and started dating her, this served me as motivation to become good in pickup, self-development, manliness, inner work.

By that time I was following the advices of Elliot Hulse, Leo Gura and Tyler of RSD.

I'd love to say thanks to Leo and the other mentors that helped me thru their videos to:

Become a man, I was raised with no father and I was like ungrounded stupid boy which his higest value was his physical attractive. Stop being the flower and start being the warrior.

Beat my depression because my psycology sucked. I've to mention ralph Smart from Infinite waters, very useful material.

Stop repressing thanks to bioenergetics and catharsis. 

Today I still struggle with internet addiction, videogames and stimulation and general that algo sabotages my meditation habit.

[Fredrik Andersson]

Name: Fredrik (Fred)
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Location: Sweden (born)
Marital status: Single
Kids : No (and don't want kids)
Occupation : recently quit my job (carpenter)
Hobbies : personal development, positive psychology, writing (poetry, rap, speeches etc), movies, women, marketing, projects, motivation and making music: 

Personal challenges I'm trying to overcome:
Stress
Prioritize 
How to deal with emotions
Procrastination 
Balance: Money-Follow dreams

What Im working on now:
Follow my bliss and see where it leads me
My PD (Actualized.org- Life Purpose Course) + Books and KBT
AFC trying to understand Men+Women (mostly the "how to meet someone out of the blue" part
Success
Motivation
My career 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Fredrik Andersson

[AilinKyung]

Name: Ailín Kyung

Age: 20

Gender: Female
Location: Capital Federal, Argentina
Occupation: Personal Development Artist & Entrepreneur
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: personal development, painting, photographying

I got into personal development in 2015 when I wanted to have a boyfriend and I sucked at attracting man, but not only I sucked in this domain; I realized that my health sucked, my relationship with my family sucked, my financial sucked, my psycology sucked, everything in my life sucked. I hated myself and my life.

I realized that I have to love myself first before loving someone else. I wanted to be myself. I wanted to be attractive.

When I was 18; I search "how to be myself" on Youtube and Actualized.org appeared! I couldn't understand English very well but I listened more than 8 times in order to understand Leo's message. I had never known that Self help existed in life. I got obsessed with it.

Nowadays I'm a totally different person compared to who I was last year or 2 years ago. Everyday I'm learning. Everyday I'm growing. Everyday I'm changing. Everyday I'm loving myself. Everyday I'm loving my life.

 

2017 and 2018: I'm gonna contribute no matter what and help people.

 

Personal challenges I've overcome:

 

Disorder Eating

Bulimia

Perfectionism

Social Anxiety

Permarexia

Low self esteem

Destructive habits

Laziness

Party Animal

Trying to be a people pleaser

Bad relationships with my parent

Was fat during 17 or 18 years old

Absolutely sucked at attracting men

Used to be very shy, introverted, and socially awkward

Found my life purpose

 

 

What I'm working on now:

 

Working on starting my own business

Working on my contribution through Youtube

Working on getting up at 5:00 am

Working on being more authentic in relating to others

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by AilinKyung

[Huginn]

Name: Anonymous for now (If found out, I'd be very curious about how it was done )
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Location: Reykjavík/Iceland or Norway
Occupation: Information Security master's student
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: Personal development and enlightenment, Healthy living (food etc.), Learning, Almost anything concerning information systems (human minds/computers) and their informational interconnectedness, concerning information/psychological warfare, privacy and things of that nature.

I can say that I started dabbling in self development since I started my first "real" job as a software engineer in 2014 after I finished my computer science degree. It was due to a growing dissatisfaction with my job in the role of the obedient code monkey cog with no real sense of purpose. Additionally, I was and had been an online roleplaying addict for about 10 years since being a teenager to the point of alienating myself from my friends. I had developed a very grim view of reality and people, leading to extremely anti-social behavior, neuroticism, inhibition of personality and what have you. I had been trying out meditation in the years before (I've just always been interested in exploring the capabilities of my mind), but it was very dry without a heart so to speak, I remember. At least meditating helped me see how my online gaming affected and distracted my mind). So I felt something needed to change, and quit my job and moved to Norway to do my master's degree in 2015.

Of course, even if it felt like a fresh start, my problems stayed with me. I was always analysing myself and my behavior, trying to fix my social and women issues with stuff online (conscious wanting to connect, but subconscious was like "nope, people are bad, not worth the time and pain"). So the summer of 2016, on Youtube, I ran into Burt Harding. I was impressed with his stuff, but was still just dabbling, not looking at the root problem, then Youtube suggested Leo's channel to me. Now I'm not quite the same person.  I've now read and implemented to various degrees the solutions of many of the books on the book list, mostly just this year (thanks to a course-light semester). Then I just joined this forum now, having become convinced I'll get further with social support.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

• Started living on my own in another country
• Quit online gaming for good
• Overcame porn addiction
• Cleaned up my diet quite a bit (still refining)
• Learned latin dancing to get out of comfort zone
• Overcame a lot of emotional immaturity, neuroticism, egotism and self-consciousness (i.e. others-consciousness).

What I'm working on now (in process of prioritizing some):

• Master's Thesis in connection with life purpose
• Starting a business / securing income, in connection with life purpose
• Overcoming fear of initiating talks with strangers in unconventional places (not official parties etc.)
• Become more confident in speaking Norwegian
• Getting to my ideal body composition
• Curing my autoimmune symptoms
• Eliminating my myopia naturally and gain 20/20 vision
• Making my first awareness raising / educational youtube video
   

Edited August 21, 2017 by Huginn

[B Clear]

Name: Bianca Maya Foltyn(Clear)

Age: 36
Gender: Female
Location: Queensland, Australia
Occupation: Spiritual Counsellor/Regular counsellor
Marital Status: Newly single
Kids: No
Hobbies: I Ching, Toa te Ching, Medicine Ceremonies, Ritual, Communing with Trees, Singing to the creek at the bottom of my property. Understaning Human Behaviour. Enlightenment, Meditation, Contemplation, Self Development/Self Actualization

I consciously started the Journey to self development when I was around 9 years old. At that time the only 'mystical' text I had access to was the Bible. So I would spend time reading the psalms and proverbs. I came across Proverbs 8 about wisdom. This was it:

"Wisdom’s Call:

Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
At the highest point along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
beside the gate leading into the city,
at the entrance, she cries aloud:
“To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
You who are simple, gain cautiousness;
you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.
Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say;
I open my lips to speak what is right.
My mouth speaks what is true,
for my lips detest wickedness.
All the words of my mouth I make just;
none of them are crooked or perverse.
To the discerning they show right;
they are upright to those who have found knowledge.
Choose my instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold,
for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
“I, wisdom, dwell together with cautiousness;
I possess knowledge and discretion.
Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have insight, I have power.
By me kings reign
and rulers issue decrees that are just;
by me princes govern,
and nobles—all who rule on earth.
I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.
With me are riches and honor,
enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than fine gold;
what I yield surpasses choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,
along the paths of justice,
bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me
and making their treasuries full.
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old;
I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in this whole world
and delighting in mankind.
“Now then, my children, listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
Listen to my instruction and be wise;
do not disregard it.
Blessed are those who listen to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway.
For those who find me find life
and receive favor from the Lord.
But those who fail to find me harm themselves"
- Proverbs 8"

That is when I dedicated myself to answering "wisdoms call" I felt a deep sadness in my childs heart that wisdom called out and people would not answer. So I decided to answer.  Shortly after through one of Deepak Chopras Books called "The return of Merlin" I discovered Vedic literature and eastern mysticism, I then began to explore meditation. Soon after I was diagnosed with Petit Mal, a form of epilepsy where you have absence seiures and put on heavy medication that numbed me to an extent. Things go bad as I hit my teens and due to the presure of my father I developed anorexia and bullimia and became quite suicidal. At that time I was exploring Celtic Mythology. When things got at their worst I met  teacher who initatiated into transcendental meditation at age 15, which started to turn my life back around and I came off the medication. We then immigrated from South Africa to America. It was a hard transition for me as I made a commitment to no longer have an eating disorder but I messed up my metabolism so I gained more weight that I had in my life. As the foreigner , I also was not so welcomed into the preppy school. I became heavily depressed and my parents solution was to send me to South Africa for surgery to remove all my excess weight. The surgery did not really work and resulted in the doctor cutting me open in his consultation room whilst I was consious and watching my chest open. I dissociated from my body and it has taken 17 years to come back to it.  Most of my self development was to cope with all the pains I have been through living in South Africa and surrounded by trauma 24/7 along with my parents loving actions out of ignorance and my commitment and vow to wisdom. I now live in Australia and feel like for the first time in 7 years I am back on track with my self development

 

Personal challenges I've overcome:

Overcame Epilepsy

Overcame Anorexia and Bulimia

Immigrating 5 times

overcome being shunned by my family for my sexual orientation and reconciling

Changed careers

Worked successfully as a sole trader for 6 years - I don't know if I can quite call it a business as I just rented a consultation room and worked out of there?

Completed my Masters BSc in Psychology and Masters in Counselling despite my dyslexia and ADD

Living with no family in a foreign country

Overcame unknowingly falling into a astral traveling/gnostic cult when I first moved here and didn't know anyone and then leaving it and reprogramming my brain washing

 

What I'm working on now:

Working on self actualization & Enlightenment

Working on starting my first proper holistic counseling business

Working on recovering from y breakup and understanding and addressing my role in that

Working on reaching out and connecting with people who are like minded

Working on making enough money to pay rent, buy food and look after my animals whilst I try set up my business.

Working on developing my personal power

Working on becoming physically stronger and more connected to my body

Working on eliminating my low grade underlying post trauma/depression/distrust of people&life that surfaces more so when things get tough.
 

[Znep]

Name: Znep
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Location: Australia
Occupation: Student, Manual laborer
Marital Status: Complicated
Kids: No

Hobbies: Writing, Drawing, Exploring, Travel, Watching TV/YouTube, Hiking, Camping, Mountain Biking, Fishing, Skydiving, Windsurfing, Water Skiing, Existential Contemplation, Meditation

I haven’t really gotten into “personal development” to date.
I’ve been focused on “enlightenment/consciousness work” since I was a kid.

 

Personal Challenges I’ve overcome:

Social anxiety

Awkward social manner

Learned to overcome expectations of what is possible (within myself)

Post awakening ego backlashes

 

What I’m working on now:

Deepening my understanding of reality

Improving my sleep patterns (currently very disturbed)

Finding/creating a compelling vision to live into as I can’t really be motivated by fear anymore.

Completing my BSc (6 weeks to go!) This is taking up most of my time.

[Eden]

Name: Eden Frenkel
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Location: Windsor, Ontario (Canada)
Occupation: Military Reserves of Canada, Professional Pianist, Early Childhood Educator, Personal Development Junkie, Actress, Dancer, Artist. Writer.
Marital Status: Dating
Kids: No
Hobbies: Writing, meditation, reading, nature, enlightenment, music, cooking, helping others, personal development, filming, acting, dancing, arts-drawing, painting. 

I was born in Rehovot, Israel and came to Windsor, Ontario in 2000. I have a small family of 6 in Windsor; My mother, currently working as a PSW. My father, currently working as a truck driver. My younger brother, who is graduating the 12th grade this year; and my paternal grandparents. Though my Jewish mother’s family consists of over 100 family members, my Russian father’s family is very small because of the passing family members of the Holocaust.

I've completed the programs of the University of Windsor; Bachelors of Psychology, Philosophy Minor, Filming School, and Early Childhood Education in St Clair College. I am also pursing my passion for music by performing at several bars, restaurants, nursing homes, weddings, etc., as a professional pianist and vocalist. As I grew up disliking the piano lessons I attended to, my mother mentioned that ‘I’d thank her later for it’. Though one of the greatest inspirations for becoming a pianist came from when I was only 7. I discovered my life purpose right there, right then, as my uncle David played harmonic and melodic tunes of the unimaginable. The way he closed his eyes and moved like the ocean waves gave me true inspiration. Since then, I’ve been composing music, writing songs, and performing them.

Getting my name in the industry was a struggle over the years, so I decided to pursue my second passion. I have graduated Early Childhood Education and am planning to pursue my teaching career by completing teacher’s college. On my spare time, I enjoy helping several children and adults with personal development coaching and their spirituality (Inspired by Leo Gura). 

I have written some articles on spirituality, personal development, and am currently writing children books. Though it is quite challenging, knowing I still have to work my 3 jobs to pay rent and feed myself, I still manage to include half an hour of meditation per day. Meditation has been the most helpful and soothing solution to my life’s challenges. The amount of stress that I carry is unbearable. Meditation helps me clear my mind and improves my performance in any situation I run into; work, school, my inner demons, etc.

In five years, I see myself working as a full-time grade school teacher, inspiring young minds and sharing my secrets of life and performing in the nights of Toronto, Ontario; sharing my greatest compositions. I’d hope to continue my self-actualization journey with Leo and others and publish many of my creations.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

• Coping with toxicicty of family
• Finally moving out at 18. 
• Changing my careers from teaching to music at 20. 
• Dealing with depression and anxiety for most of my life
• Dicipline, motivation, and inspiration to do what I really love. 

 

What I'm working on now:

• Enlightenment, meditation, spirituality, epistimology, science, studying, learning, mysticism,
• Music, composing, keeping up all the alternative rock, motown, jukebox oldies, and indie rock bands with juggling survival priorities. 
• Keeping a good relationship with my family but not staying around them too much becasue of toxicity. 
• Personal development, helping others with personal development, 

[Cjaryo]

Name: Chris Arroyo
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Location: New York, USA
Occupation: 10th-grade student
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: Personal development, reading, running, journaling, philosophy

I got into personal development in 2014, the year that I got friend-zoned and then depressed. During this time, I was watching a lot of videos about getting a girlfriend and getting un-friend-zoned. I later watched other videos from Leo, listening to them primarily while playing video games.

Personal challenges I've overcome:

• Became a vegan
• Got friends
• 21:15 5k
• Journaling habit
• Detachment from needing a girlfriend
• Overcame Netflix and video games

What I'm working on now:

• Improving exercise habits
• Working on PMO addiction
• Solidifying journal habit
• Preparing for a meditation habit
• Learning to play electric/acoustic guitar

[Guest Annetta]

Name: Annetta
Age: 29
Gender: F
Location: Seattle
Occupation: Not sure yet, it's a toss up between animal behaviorist or outsider artist.
Marital Status: Single
Kids: No
Hobbies: Art, pets, hiking

Personal challenges I've overcome:

? - Compassion for toxic family members, acceptance of them, an understanding of the root of generational trauma.

? - Got help for bipolar, meds for like... 4/5 months.  Reaching stability every month.

? - Started a daily routine, fell off the horse but will get back on pretty soon.

Not a lot, but great for a 5 month period of time.

Ciao.