Applying Theory To Everyday Life: A Musician's Perspective

[Liam Johnson]

Hello Self-Actualizers!

It's so exciting to join a community of people who are passionate about taking their life to the next level and living up to their full potential. Having done some personal development work for about 2 years now, I have seen many positive results appearing in my life since beginning this journey.

My aim with this journal is to provide you, the reader, with daily updates on how I apply self-help strategies and techniques to my own life to create tangible results. As a musician and music student, there are many challenges that I have to overcome in terms of creativity, self-confidence, time management, anxiety, emotional & physical well-being... The list goes on. I can relate only too well to a quote from Psychology for Musicians which states that "in addition to introversion, musicians have also scored high in measures of neuroticism, or emotional instability."

With self-help advice from the likes of Leo Gura, Brooke Castillo and Richard Nicholls, I have been able to grow from a place of depression to a place of love and fascination of life and what it has to offer. Self-actualization will play a much bigger role in my life as of today and I wish to share that experience with you.

I hope you find this journal to be insightful. All comments are welcome: I'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

Pick of the day: "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Tommy Emmanuel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cHeNscKZN0

 

(p.s. if anyone happens to know how to properly embed YouTube videos, please let me know!)

Edited December 12, 2016 by Liam Johnson

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 1 | Learning effectively through relaxation

Theory: Raising consciousness can dramatically increase our ability to learn new things quickly and efficiently.

Applying it: When learning something new, bring awareness to the tensions in your body as you carry out that activity. Then aim to relax those body parts.

 

I have recently started using this strategy during my practise sessions on the guitar. There is a piece I am trying to master for my final year recital which involves some rapid hand and finger movements (see link below). The fast passages had always caused me problems but I could never seem to fix them. It eventually occured to me that I was concentrating so much on forcing myself to play the right notes that I was not even paying attention to what my body was doing.

Once I started listening to the sensations in my body, it was painfully obvious that my right arm was rigid with tension. That was the main cause of the problem. As I played through the passages again, my focus was on playing the notes but with my arm as relaxed as possible. Suddenly the music just began to flow through my whole body rather than just through my fingertips. My ability to learn the fast passages rose and took me to a peak performance level which left me feeling incredibly satisfied by the end of the day.

In fact through writing these journal entries, I'm using a Dvorak keyboard setting on my laptop which has a QWERTY keyboard layout. As I am typing, I have to use only the sensations under my fingertips to find my way around the keyboard. I can feel certain tensions around my neck and lower back which I know is having an impact on my ability to get comfortable with the new layout. As I raise my consciousness more and more to what my whole body is doing, I'll be able to type faster and write more things in this journal (I set aside 1 hour to journal, no more).

If you want to learn a new skill, language, musical instrument, or other, try using this technique and see whether it can benefit you. The results can be quite immediate if you're lucky!

 

Pick of the day: Woke Up Dreaming - Joe Bonamassa

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 2 | Performance Mindgames

Theory: "Think less, concentrate more."

Applying it: Rather than being overly analytical about your performance, remain within the present moment and let mistakes come and go.

 

This is just a quick entry detailing one piece of advice that a performance lecturer gave recently. In a nutshell, the idea is to not allow negative thoughts to have an impact on your mood whilst working.

Although music performance can be a lot of fun, many performers develop anxieties about making mistakes and looking foolish, especially musicians within classical music. Performing solo on stage is a vulnerable place to be in as nobody can back up your mistakes for you and if things go wrong, the whole audience could potentially notice them.

These situations would instinctively provoke thoughts such as "I can't believe I messed up" and "this is going terribly." The difficult part is to try and get rid of these thoughts as it seems the more you try and cast them away, the more persistent they become. The best method I've found is to remain mindful of your body, senses and especially thoughts throughout the entire performance. If anything goes wrong or negative thoughts arise, reconnect with thoughts that get you motivated and engaged with the task in hand. In my case, it would be something like "I really love this piece of music" and "I'm going to play this passage like a boss!"

Thoughts that convey your genuine love for the thing you are doing are the most powerful in this context. If ever you feel any negative thoughts creeping up in any aspect of your life, remind yourself of the things you love about life and experience that in the present moment.

 

Pick of the day: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley) - Don Ross

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 3 | Prioritising Time

Theory: Stop doing unnecessary things in your life and spend that time doing something that aligns with your highest values.

Applying it: Create schedules on a weekly basis to plan out how you want to spend your time and commit to it.

 

I've fallen victim to the effects of bad time management in the last academic year. As a music student, I chose to spend my free time doing as much performing as I could. Whenever an offer came in my direction, I didn't want to let anyone down. I ended up performing three musicals, several gig nights and organising the Union's music night for the annual beer festival. Everything seemed like so much fun and I was also honing my sight reading skills at the same time. Yet despite the positive benefits that it provided, it also led to some nasty situations.

My time was so taken up with the various activities that I left myself hardly any time to do my work for university. I experienced an emotional meltdown which lasted several weeks. That was enough to convince me that I had to start prioritising my time properly.

As third year started, I committed to scheduling my time with the important work in mind. Through this process, I kept asking myself the following question: "how do I want to feel by deadline season?" There was no way that I was going to allow myself to feel like I did the previous year. I wanted to get to deadline season feeling calm and fulfilled with the knowledge that I gave it my best shot. This helped me focus and stay motivated to do my work as thoroughly and as soon as possible. I had to turn down some opportunities that came my way because I could see that it would leave me feeling more stressed about my work in the future.

The year hasn't fully ended but as of the present moment, I am feeling the emotions that I wanted to feel and my work is on track. Ever since I started creating and honouring a schedule for myself that aligns with my highest values, I've consistently felt more empowered and enthusiastic about each coming day. Most importantly, it feels awesome knowing that your free time is being spent in the most meaningful way possible.

 

Pick of the day: Music for 18 Musicians - Steve Reich

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 4 | Memories

Theory: Memories play a huge part in maintaining your identity and ego. To truly live in the present moment, stop hanging on to them as if they are important.

Applying it: Contemplate the concept of time until you realise that the past doesn't exist.

 

This is a topic that has been on my mind today for no specific reason. It is an idea that I've been exploring since last summer where I had lots of free time to reflect on and contemplate life. I started my journey of eliminating ego about 2 years ago which is when I got a first-hand experience of 'no self' by examining what I believed to be my identity. In a wonderful moment of realisation, I remember feeling overjoyed that I had no 'identity' of any kind and therefore I could create one for myself. In other words, I could create any kind of life that I wanted. That moment was one of my fondest memories...

A year later, I wondered "what are memories?"

It was around this point that the concept of time was fascinating me. It seemed as though that no past or future existed, only the present moment. Assuming that the past doesn't exist, the whole concept of memories seemed even more bizarre. Questions such as "did that moment even happen?" are difficult to answer, which makes them even more exciting to consider! What I realised was that all memories were just stories in the mind that helped to preserve my ego.

Shortly after this, I noticed that some of my memories started to melt away naturally along with my ability to remember things in great detail. While it may sound bad initially, it has actually freed up so much space in my head that life suddenly feels a bit more spontaneous. It feels good to be liberated from a lot of things in my past, particularly the negative stuff.

 

What about all the positive memories then? What about all those instances where you felt on top of the world? Should we let go of those too?

Probably not. Think about this.

 

Memories are essentially the opposite of visions. Visions are stories we create about the future, memories are stories we create about our past. (It is worth noting that our memories aren't very accurate and that we inevitably create the details out of thin air). High-quality visions can be extremely powerful to make changes in our lives. You will no doubt have seen at least one of Leo's videos in which he mentions the importance of being a visionary. Likewise, high-quality memories have the power to inspire you to make the changes you want to make in your life. For example, maybe you have a memory about how much you enjoyed learning about a subject at school. That memory could have impacted your career choice and your way of life as it is right now. Although both visions and memories are both imaginary concepts in the present moment, they can still influence your decisions and your way of looking at the world.

The important thing to remember is to choose high-quality memories. This means both positive and negative. Sometimes, negative memories can give you more motivation and inspiration than positive ones. For example, if you were a person to visit a poor country with devastating living conditions, that might inspire you to do lots of charity work to make a difference to those people.

Be sure to let go of any memories that don't serve you in your life. Let the memories you do choose to hang onto guide you through life with inspiration.

 

Pick of the day: Elizabeth Loftus - How reliable is your memory?

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 5 | Experiencing Strong Emotions

Theory: The more experience you have with different emotions, the better you will be able to understand them and deal with them.

Applying it: Seek opportunities that evoke new emotions and be accepting of the emotions that it creates.

 

I'd never really considered how important this point was until today. It seems so obvious to say that to gain any kind of mastery of your emotions, you have to be willing to seek opportunities that allow you to feel those emotions in the first place in order to learn about them. There is no point reading a book about how to deal with fear, for instance, if you won't allow yourself to feel that emotion.

Today I went with my flatmates to The Great Escape in Sheffield. The idea is that you are placed in a room and you have 45 minutes to solve the puzzles and escape. Our team was handcuffed to different parts of a pretty abstract room with covered in blood, severed hands and creepy writing on the walls (the room was based on the Saw franchise). It was a really fun experience and I was on the receiving end of many of the jump scares!

All the time I was in the room, I kept hearing a reassuring voice that everything was fake and nothing was going to harm me. Then the more radical voice in my head presented the idea "what would this be like if I actually believed the scenario?" and "what if this is actually real?"

This opened me up to the emotions that I was feeling inside. My heart was racing as the countdown on the wall slowly counted down to zero. It provoked many emotions within me like panic, desperation, anxiety and fear of the unknown. As the countdown approached zero, I allowed the fear to consume my body and almost paralyse it. My mind became hyper-alert and my movements were either slow and cautious or fast and reckless.

When we finally escaped, I remember feeling so exhilarated by the whole experience. Although it left me feeling many so-called "negative" emotions, it feels so fulfilling to have experienced those emotions on reflection. After all, there generally aren't that many things in everyday modern life that can provide you with that kind of experience. Most of us live in comfortable houses and work in safe environments that protect us from harm. For those of us who live this kind of lifestyle, there is no reason for us to be fearful for our lives. Although it took some imagination on my part to genuinely believe the scenario, it was a great way to actually simulate those emotions within myself.

Now that I've had that experience, I've been able to learn how my mind and body reacts in a fearful situation. It certainly puts all the petty little fears like performance anxiety into perspective.

If you have any emotions that you want to gain mastery of, search out any experience that will force you to feel that emotion. It might be a brute-force way of understanding emotions but it is the most direct route you can take.

 

Pick of the day: Thriller - Michael Jackson

Edited December 18, 2016 by Liam Johnson
title change

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 6 | How to truly listen

Theory: Listening involves paying attention to all of your senses, not just your hearing.

Applying it: Rather than just hearing sounds, try to feel the other vibrations that happen in your body.

 

TED Talks can be really insightful. One of the most inspiring talks that I've seen is Evelyn Glennie's talk about "how to truly listen." The link to the talk will be below. Evelyn, who has been deaf since age 12, presents many ideas about how she listens to music by using her body as a huge ear to sense the vibrations of the sounds. By raising her consciousness of the kinesthetic sensations in the body, she is able to feel the most subtle changes in pitch, volume and instrumentation within very large orchestras.

 

Through the way she presents this talk, she demonstrates her fascination with the entire process of creating sounds. She touches on the fact that music is not just as two-dimensional as watching and hearing someone performing a series of sounds. There is a lot more depth to be explored about the subject. Possibly the deepest point she makes is that many people are quick to make judgements about other people and other ideas. Whereas if we listened properly to these things, we would be able to break free from this habit.

There's not really much I can say about this talk: it really must be viewed to be appreciated.

I personally find music to be an incredibly useful tool to practice raising my consciousness. This is especially the case when listening to pieces that explore the beauty of the sounds that we can hear in this world and explore new sonic and metaphorical territories. Most popular music these days doesn't focus on this aspect as it's usual function is to attract money. The reason why most popular songs sound similar is because the melodies and harmonies used are ones that we have grown to like in our culture. As most people are not all that accepting of change, making music that stays within this format has a high potential to be received positively by the masses.

More pure and artistic styles of music encourage you to appreciate the raw sounds and colours of the instruments. It can also challenge your belief systems about music, art and sound. As a performer myself, I have a deep love for the sounds and feel of the instruments that I play. On the one hand, it is exciting to feel all of my senses intensify whenever I play the instrument. On the other hand, it can be incredible to have outer-body experiences during a performance and marvel at how this is all possible in the first place. These experiences can then be taken and applied to everyday life.

 

Pick of the day: How to truly listen - Evelyn Glennie

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 7 | Following Your Intuition

Theory: Listening to your intuition will provide you with all the wisdom you need to make the most important choices in your life.

Applying it: Make decisions based on how your body feels in the present moment rather than being overly analytical or logical.

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

They can be as tiny as deciding whether to have fruit or cake for dessert or they can be as huge as deciding to move to a foreign country to start a new life. This topic is inspired by Leo's video How To Harness Your Intuition. If you haven't seen it, watch it because he explains the whole phenomena really precisely. The general message is that it is more rewarding to listen to your intuition whenever a decision has to be made. Living life like this provides a lot of spontaneity and fulfilment.

I feel very lucky in the sense that I seem to have naturally made a lot of intuitive moves in my past that have put me in a good position today. Although I produced my highest academic results in mathematics during my school and college life, I was always attracted to the study of music. There were many people who recognised my talents for maths and who tried to convince me that I would be able to get a high-paid job if I studied maths at university, as opposed to music. The reasoning makes sense but I was able to recognise that more money doesn't equal happiness and so I chose to study music at Sheffield University.

I've reached my final year now and thus far, it seems like I made the best decision for my own happiness and fulfilment. I've been working hard mastering my passion for performing and I approach each day with enthusiasm. The prospect of me doing a maths degree just seems soul-shattering for me because it isn't what fascinates me about life.

Recently before I started this journal, I was stressing out a lot about life after graduation. The choice was to either live in Sheffield with my friends and get a part-time job or to move back home and start work on a business of my own. There were aspects of both choices that really appealed to me and, as a result, it created lots of stress for me. In the end, my intuition guided me to chose the latter as I would not have enough time/energy to complete my goals at Sheffield.

It feels powerful to look back on the decisions you've made in your life and recognise the moments where you either followed or ignored your intuition. I can see all the positive results that have stemmed from following my intuition and the spontaneous way of living that it has created for me. There are also a few times where I remember ignoring my intuition and now I can see the negative impacts on my life stemming from those incidents. Once you can get an overview of these incidences, you can appreciate that the best results in your life have come from following your intuition. As mysterious and abstract as it seems, it doesn't take much to have faith that your intuition will continue to have the same effect on your life in the future.

 

Pick of the day: Music For 18 Musicians - Steve Reich

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 8 | Interruptions

Theory: Interruptions can be a great way to test your reactions to unideal circumstances.

Applying it: Remain present and aware of your thoughts and emotions whenever someone/something interrupts your work.

 

While I completely agree that it is important to carry out personal development work or any other type of work important to your growth, there is a danger of becoming too neurotic about it. Interruptions are always going to happen. You can try your best to reduce the amount of distractions in your life by turning off mobile phones, working in a quiet zone like a library or reducing your social activities. However, there will be some days whereby things don't run as perfectly as you had planned.

I've recently returned home for Christmas to my parents. It's been quite a while since I've seen them and I've also got work to do for university and personal development. The difficult part for me is to balance my work time and family time in a way that I feel satisfied with both. By over-prioritising one of these things, I will miss out on the other.

My strategy thus far is to spend most of my free time in the day doing work until I feel satisfied with it. If my family interrupt me during my work, I will remain present and make the most of their company. At the moment, I'm getting consecutive interruptions only lasting a minute or so. On one hand, I could begin to get annoyed at the many distractions from my work as I have done in the past. On the other hand, I could be accepting of the situation and savouring the moments that they happen. After all, my interruptions happen in such small bursts that there would be no reason to stress about them. My parents are excited to see me back home and I'm excited to see them too. Things will probably die down in a few days once everyone is used to it.

These sorts of distractions are the sort that you would perhaps want to happen. In the case of distractions that you don't want to happen, it might be best to try and eliminate them altogether.

For example, you may have been in a relationship of sorts with someone and eventually they decided to break up you. This may have left you feeling several negative emotions as rejection is not easy to overcome. For a few months afterwards, you could be constantly thinking about that other person and imagining what life would have been like if they were still in your life.

To anyone who has done personal development work, you would be able to recognise how much those thoughts were damaging you. Furthermore, you would know that the best way to deal with it is to be accepting of your current circumstances and move on. So off you would go trying to implement this and all of a sudden, that person messages you asking how you are. This would just bring back all of those thoughts that caused you damage and bring you back to the beginning.

In this scenario, it might serve you better to make the commitment to never talk to that person again. This isn't because you have developed a hatred for that person, nor does it mean that you haven't forgiven them for what they did. You simply understand that by talking to them, you are bringing back those thoughts about the past and it is preventing you from moving on. In fact by doing this, it will be much easier to forgive that person for their actions.

 

To conclude, there is nothing wrong with interruptions and distractions. They can be a great place to implement your personal development theories and, as a result, they can test your ability to master your emotions.

 

Pick of the day: I Carry Your Heart - Michael Hedges

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 9 | The Power of Visions

Theory: If you have a strong vision of your future that you are passionate about, you can achieve it if you work hard and let nobody stop you from reaching it.

Applying it: Focus all of your efforts in life to fulfilling your dreams and, most importantly, don't give up until you reach it.

 

(Had a near-death experience witnessing my laptop turn itself off after writing nearly all of this entry! Thank you forum for saving my progress and emphasising lesson 9b - never give up!)

 

As a final-year university student, this is something that I have to keep reminding myself about. After this year, I will be introduced to life without formal education. At this point, I will be released into the world of work and expected to fend for myself.

One thing I am good at, though, is filtering out all of the negativity that is created by the society and culture that I live in. There have been many people in the past who have pointed out how there are fewer jobs available for younger people these days. I've also had to listen to other people ridicule my choice to study music at university, including remarks such as "that's a waste of time," "get a real job" and the infamous suggestion to "have a backup plan in case things don't work out."

Looking back at these comments, I feel so grateful for ignoring this advice and following my dreams. The life has felt so rewarding and fulfilling ever since I made the decision to pursue music. On reflection, the one thing that has helped me to get where I am today is my ability to create accurate visions for the future and have the courage to follow through on them. This relates to the whole topic of following your intuition.

One of the first defining moments in my life happened to me when I was around 13 or 14 years old. By this point, I had been playing the guitar for around 4-5 years but I was a very slow learner. Realising how sick I was at producing below-average results, it was at this point that I made one of the most important distinctions in my life: I wanted to be the best at what I do, not mediocre.

In my head, I envisioned the kind of player that I wanted to become and spend all of my free time dedicated to making my visions come true. My social life was practically empty through my school years as many of my friends ended up rejecting me from their social circles. This provided me with both the time and the motivation to work towards being the best I could be as it felt like I had very little to lose at the time.

My learning pace transformed from rather slow to lightning fast. Within a year or two, I was tackling some of the most difficult pieces for shred guitar including the song that caused me to have my revelation in the first place: Riot In The Dungeons (link below. Be warned, it's metal!). Instead of being the quiet, uncool kid that never knew how to stand up for himself, I became the confident, outgoing, popular guy that I had always wanted to become. Even today when I hear reactions from people when I perform, it gives me fulfilment knowing that I have accomplished that goal in my life. Now I can move onto bigger and more important goals.

It is amazing to think that so much success and happiness in my life so far has come from having a clear vision and persisting with it. Similar such visions have helped me overcome social anxiety, getting over past relationships and reach a high level of mastery with the guitar.

I can't stress enough how powerful visions are for self-improvement. If you can have one powerful vision that covers what your life will look like from now until your death, you'll find that so many of your problems will fix themselves as you strive to achieve it.

 

Pick of the day: Riot In The Dungeons - Yngwie Malmsteen

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 10 | Reflection

Here I am, 10 days later from creating this journal. Rather than having days off from writing entries into this journal, I figured it would be cool to post about where my life is at every 10 entries. This could then serve as a broad outline of my life's trajectory which might be useful to gloss over in the future.

My decision to even start this journal in the first place was entirely spontaneous. I'd considered doing my own private diaries but I could never stay committed long enough to keep it up. I'm slightly baffled at how instantly I became comfortable writing entries on a daily basis. It hasn't stressed me out one bit. In fact, it has made me realise how passionate I have become regarding self-actualization. There are so many topics that interest me in this field and maintaining a habit of writing them down on a daily basis is a great way to convert my thoughts into something more concrete.

Over the last month (and especially the last 10 days), I decided to start taking self-actualization seriously. Previously, I treated it as a hobby of sorts. But now I am eager to explore this topic in great depth. Nowadays, I am probably spending more time meditating, researching and strategizing than I am spending it on music work. Indeed, there is a lot to explore within the realm of music. However, it doesn't compare to the mysteries of life and consciousness. I'm keen to explore how I can connect these two fields together to create a whole new experience.

My university work is going smoothly so far. I was in desperate need of some time management for this year and, as of yet, I feel as though I've done a great job. I only have one assignment to complete fully and just little bits of assignments here and there to complete in just under a month. I made sure that most of my work was completed as early as possible to ensure that my sanity remained intact. When that deadline finally rolls around, I'll know for certain just how successful I've been!

I've been focussing on what kind of career I want to create for myself after graduation. Relationships aren't something I'm that bothered about at this stage as it's a case of "been there, done that." I made the spontaneous decision to secure myself a website host and domain name for my music. Through writing these journal entries, I feel more comfortable with starting a blog to accompany the work I want to do. All that needs to be decided is what kind of things I should write about and how much effort I should spend on it.

To sum up, it's all eyes on the present and the future. I want to savour where I am at in my life and also start making preparations for what I have planned for my future.

 

Pick of the day: I Am Sitting In A Room - Alvin Lucier

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 11 | Outer-body Sensations

Theory: The most enigmatic sense we possess is our ability to feel (kinesthetically, not emotionally). Through open-mindedness, we can refine these sensations in order to perceive existence with greater depth.

Applying it: Contemplate the question "can I actually use my senses to feel the sensations occurring in the environment outside of my body?"

 

Here's a great test of open-mindedness!

This whole concept came to me during my meditation session today. Having recently stretched my meditation time to 1 hour, I managed to go real deep inside myself and experience a high state of awareness of the vibrations within my body. Near the end of my hour, I could sense my dog, Isa, jumping up on my bed and making herself comfortable. My eyes remained closed throughout.

After a few moments, I could sense Isa moving around on the bed again. But this time, it was as though I could literally feel the sensation of moving around and lying down on the bed despite the fact that my body remained stationary. Granted, I will have felt the bed move somewhat because it makes logical and scientific sense. However, the sensation that I received felt much deeper than I'm able to explain with words. It was almost like I could feel what the dog was feeling.

This made me start questioning my sense of feel. Maybe I was completely unconscious about how much precision can be perceived through feel. I remember watching a documentary about Evelyn Glennie the night before. Seriously, she's just so inspirational! At one point, she talked about how if a person were to become blind or deaf of sorts, then the other senses in the body would be able to fill in that missing information.

This alluded me a lot as it would suggest that these hidden qualities were something I could unlock and use for myself. As someone with full possession of all my senses, I wondered what would happen if I trained myself to feel in a deeper and more precise way.

I've made several realisations in my past concerning the mysteries of existence. I've had a few experiences of no-self and one profound direct experience of the true Self that made me first consider the possibility that everything in this existence is illusory. Although I've understood the whole concept of how everything in this universe is you, this experience not only proves this idea through direct experience but it has created a fascination within me about how much we can actually feel.

As soon as I had this experience, I spent the last 5 minutes of my meditation looking around my bedroom and trying desperately to feel everything. I looked at the walls, my instruments, the clouds outside, the trees, everything in my field of vision. Suddenly, I could feel something deep inside of me expanding and growing outwardly. I started to feel complete and at one with my surroundings after a minute or so.

My body filled with energy and became revitalised. All the stresses, pains and laziness in my body, minuscule as they are at my age, disappeared completely. When I played my guitar, I felt like I was suddenly performing at my usual high standard with hardly any effort at all. I even remember trying to force some aggression through my body to play one particular piece but to no avail. My mood was untouchable, and it felt amazing.

The most important lesson I can take away from this experience is that there is no such thing as the body. I was able to understand this conceptually for a long time beforehand but now I have the definitive proof thanks to directly experiencing this for myself.

 

Pick of the day: Drumming: Movement 1 - Steve Reich

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 12 | Schedules

Theory: By making the effort to schedule your time, you can increase productivity and happiness levels when you follow through on them.

Applying it: Assess your schedule every week to make sure that you are spending your time in the best way possible.

 

At this time of year, I really wish I could make a strict schedule for myself. I felt satisfied knowing that I was spending my time consciously rather than pissing it away. With Christmas festivities all around the house, though, it is perhaps the most distracting thing I've ever had to deal with and, as a result, I've decided to wait a few days before I make my schedule.

In the days before the Christmas holidays, my schedule was designed so that I was spending my time balancing everything I had to do with everything that I wanted to do. I made it clear to myself that there was no work that 'had' to be done. The closest thing to that would be attending my lectures every week. Even then, the truth remained that it was my decision to go to the lectures in the first place and do the work.

Once that was clear, I set times on my calendar for when I was going to do university work, meditation, gym, guitar practice and enrichment time to do as I pleased. It was extremely helpful to be super specific about how I spent each passing hour. It was reassuring to have the next day planned out according to my highest values every time I went to bed. Some days, I would forget what I planned and then feel even more excited to find out what my schedule was.

By doing this little bit of strategising every week, I could wake up feeling pumped every single morning and make it last through the day without succumbing to tiredness or fatigue. I could recognise and combat distractions as they presented themselves. It provided that self-talk within me that said "THIS is who I want to show up as. THIS is the lifestyle I want to be living."

Again, maybe not the best time in the season to apply this method. However, Christmas has made me realise just how important it is to schedule your life. It's a liberation, not a restriction.

 

Pick of the day: Satch Boogie - Joe Satriani

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 13 | Reading

Theory: Books are some of the most thorough and reliable sources of information that exists. By reading factual books regularly, you can get a much clearer understanding of how existence works.

Applying it: Aim to read a large variety of books, particularly those which will enable personal growth to occur. Take extensive notes on any lessons, techniques or quotes that can be directly applicable to your own life.

 

Late entry with this one. The excitement of Christmas was something I wanted to cherish. Also, my dog wanted to play for hours with her new toy which was really sweet and hilarious to watch!

It's been a few weeks now since I decided to commit a large chunk of my life to doing self-actualization work. To sign the deal on that commitment, I bought access to Leo's booklist and put a few of them on my Christmas list. Now I'm sat with 3 books in front of me with eagerness to explore their contents and see what I can learn from them.

At first glance, I thought the books didn't seem very big. Maybe I could finish reading them real quickly. Then I picked up one book and read the introduction and the first chapter and HOLY CRAP. The pages were literally teeming with key insights, life lessons, important concepts, you name it. There's already a ton of pencil markings on the pages and my notes are already over 1000 words long. I haven't even finished them yet!

Suffice to say that I've had quite a lot of typing for one day, so this post won't be all that long. All I can say is that these books might look deceptively small but there is so much to be learned from them. As soon as you pick up one of these books, you can tell that each sentence has something to contribute without wasting any words. I've had to highlight massive paragraphs of text in pencil because I simply couldn't narrow them down any further.

It's probably best to commit to reading about 1 hour a day or, as Leo recommends, 1 book per month. It is really important to read these books regularly, but at the same time it shouldn't be treated as a race. Allow yourself time to digest the information that the books provide and find a way to apply it to your own life. I've just found out how to control fear on a practical level, which is something I wish I'd have known at concerts where my performance anxieties got the better of me.

Assume you have a lot to learn from somebody, find the teachings and apply it directly to your life. That's the plan.

 

Pick of the day: Jingle Bell Rock - Tommy Emmanuel

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 14 | Why I Don't Listen To Music

Theory: The key difference that separates musicians from non-musicians is the commitment to be the creator of sounds rather than the consumer.

Applying it: Every time you feel the need to listen to music, consider the possibility of creating it yourself rather than simply seeking other people's work.

 

I haven't gone into much detail about how I apply techniques to my music making recently. That's to do with the fact that I just write about whatever is on my mind at the time. It has occurred to me just now that I have the bizarre characteristic of not wanting to listen to music.

As a music student, people are often stunned at my lack of knowledge of bands, composers and famous songs. I never listen to chart music, rarely go to watch concerts and only occasionally decide to put music on if it tickles my fancy. Disclaimer: this doesn't mean I have anything against chart music or the cultural norms regarding music.

The idea crossed my mind that the reasoning for this was because of my commitment to becoming a music student. After all, we have to dissect lots of pieces to find out how it works and therefore making it hard to enjoy a piece of music without analysing it. However, all of the music students on my course seem just as surprised to find out that I don't listen to music regularly.

Then it hit me. The main reason why I choose to never listen to music is because I would rather be creating it myself. Instead of wanting to listen to the same old Christmas songs every year, I'll learn how to play them on guitar instead.

I take so much passion when it comes to being a creator. The process of creating compositions and arrangements really excites me because it allows me to be as inventive as I want. If I feel like playing the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or Wallace and Gromit theme tune, I'll learn how to do it myself. Or perhaps the chords in Oasis' Wonderwall are a bit boring and repetitive for me... I know! Let's completely rewrite the chords to make them sound more spacey and let's add in some percussive effects on the body of the guitar!

It's really empowering to feel as though you're making the entire music realm your bitch rather than being a bitch to the entire music realm.

When I go about the rest of my day doing activities then, I feel no need to switch on the radio to drown out the silence. In fact, there are some days where I actually enjoy silence more than the music making. It's a great place to explore your thoughts and also appreciate the sounds of nature.

Also, there is no such thing as true silence. Even if you were to go and meditate in an anechoic chamber (an acoustically dead room), you will always hear your breath, heartbeat, and numerous chemicals swirling around inside your body.

My advice to anyone creative is to consider the following question: "Do I want to be a consumer or creator?" If you have a desire to write a book, do you want to sit down and do the hard work that is necessary to get it completed? Or would you rather sit back and admire other people's works and continue living in a dream world?

There won't always be times where you want to be the creator. For instance, I don't desire to be a great painter at this point in my life but I will happily consume some other artworks for inspirational purposes. However, if you have that deep passion within you to accomplish a certain goal in the creative domain, it is essential that you recognise which approach is going to benefit you in the long-term. It may not be as enjoyable as it seems for the first few years but with patience, you will begin to develop even more passion and love for what you're doing. So much so that the idea of quitting seems laughable and stupid.

 

Pick of the day: "Super Mario Bros. 2 Jazzy Orchestra Version"

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 15 | Being Creative With What You Have

Theory: No amount of material possessions will give you more creativity.

Applying it: Focus on how you can make the most of what you have in life, rather than searching for something that you don't have.

 

It's a sad moment indeed when a guitarist snaps a string on his guitar. All of that promise and potential that you envisioned for yourself in the short-term suddenly falls flat. There are so many pieces, melodies and chords that I can't play because of that missing string. It's like trying to have a conversation without saying "the." It just feels wrong.

You are faced with a choice. You can either sulk about how you suddenly can't continue with your practice or you can take it in your stride and adapt yourself to the new circumstances. Today, I chose to adapt. In fact, I was surprised at how quickly I was coming up with creative ideas. I ended up creating a whole idea for a song thanks to my persistence.

This made me think about the whole idea of materialism within music. Growing up, all of my musician friends would talk about getting new instruments, amplifiers, new effects and so on. In fact, a lot of the culture of the electric guitar realm is focussed on getting the best gear that money can buy. Not very often did I come across someone who was passionate about being the best player they could be.

This caused a confusion within me from a young age as I understood back then that no amount of new gear will ever make you a better player. An experienced professional guitarist can play on the cheapest guitar there is and sound better than a beginner on the most expensive guitar ever.

Therefore, could it be safe to assume that no amount of new gear can help you gain creativity? 

Absolutely.

While it may be nice to have some impressive tools or, in my case, instruments or gear in my possession, they don't provide any creativity. Just like all other emotions, creativity comes from within ourselves.

That's not to say that they can't provide you with inspiration which can then lead to creativity. For instance, if I happened to own a drum kit, that might inspire me to create a composition that explores the capabilities of that instrument. But no matter how many instruments I own, I don't need those things in my life in order to reach my full creative potential.

If you ever catch yourself thinking that you need certain possessions in order to be successful, stop and consider the potential that you have already. If you want to be a musician but you can't afford to buy an instrument, you could easily take up singing or percussion. You could buy some cheap pots, pans and spoons and make music with that if you wanted to.

NEVER use your lack of material possessions as an excuse. There will always be an abundance of resources for you to use. All you need to do is recognise them.

Check out my pick of the day which you may recognise. He plays a one-stringed guitar and has made a career for himself in music.

 

Pick of the day: Chicken In The Corn - Brushy One String

Edited December 27, 2016 by Liam Johnson

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 16 | Tapping Into the Subconscious Mind

Theory: Depending on what belief systems you have developed, the subconscious mind has its own ruthless way of affirming that belief regardless of the outcome.

Applying it: Become aware of the suffering or nuisances in your life. Dig deep and look for a connection between that suffering and your unconscious belief systems.

 

This topic comes from reading The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. I've read three chapters so far and I'm starting to recognise his teachings in my own life. His main teaching is that every person on the planet suffers from something called the Upper Limit Problem which, very briefly, is caused by a set of beliefs that self-sabotage our ability to remain happy for long periods of time. It's an incredible read so far.

Yesterday I started to explore how this problem affects my own life. It occurred to me that the moment I arrived home for the Christmas holidays, I developed a bad cough that has lasted about a week. Also, I had been finding it difficult to sleep through the night, constantly tossing and turning trying to get comfortable.

Before reading this book, I would have made some plausible excuses for these. For instance, maybe I just caught the cough from my mum who was suffering from one the moment I arrived. As for the lack of sleep, I could have just accepted that there was nothing I could do to prevent myself from getting a bad sleep because I would be unconscious.

After reading this book, I started to wonder whether the reason behind this suffering was something much deeper. I use the word 'suffering' to categorise all the things that limit myself from maintaining high levels of positive energy. All things considered, I'm mostly positive in my outlook thanks to doing a lot of personal development work. Despite this though, I always strive for better.

When I started exploring what could have caused this suffering for myself, I noticed that my cough developed as soon as I arrived home for the Christmas break. My levels of happiness were very high when I first arrived home and as I started to enjoy it, along came the cough to spoil it. Having done some reading, I recognised that the cough was likely brought on because of my Upper Limit Problem: it came to repress those feelings of happiness I had.

This all happened unconsciously. I had a deep belief system that I was fundamentally flawed as an individual and, therefore, I didn't deserve to feel that happy. Due to this belief, my body unconsciously created this cough as a way of toning down the positive energy that I was experiencing. Since becoming aware of this, my cough has reduced significantly in the last 24 hours.

As for my lack of sleep, I recognised that I subconsciously believed that I didn't deserve to have high-quality rest. This belief came from when I misunderstood one of Leo's videos in which he said that we should be 'working our asses off' to do the work we want to do in this life.

This is not Leo's fault: his advice was probably aimed at novices who needed to be told to stop wasting time watching TV, partying, playing video games etc. I never really did much of these to begin with so I must have become overly neurotic about doing work. Although I'm grateful for the amount of work I've done over the last few months, I needed to learn how to rest properly!

Anyway, I became aware of this belief last night and it came as no surprise that I slept like a log! My mum had to wake me up at 11:30am, which is the longest I've ever slept for a long time. Finally, I could live up to being a proper student and sleep in late!

 

The main lesson is that our unconscious mind works in brutal but effective ways. If you can become aware of how it's creating the suffering in your life, you may find that the problems simply dissolve away.

 

Pick of the day: Athens To Athens - Joe Bonamassa

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 17 | Inspiring Others

Theory: By living in your 'Zone of Genius,' you can become an inspiration to others around you as well as gaining fulfilment for yourself.

Applying it: Commit to living up to your full potential on a daily basis by only spending time doing the things that are of high importance to you.

 

Time to admit it: a good few of these posts are going to be related in some way to The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. I'm really enjoying learning the concepts that he provides. Some of which are things I've heard before along my journey of self-actualization, in which case it gives me all the more reason to believe in their power and potential. On the other hand, some concepts and strategies are completely new to me.

For instance, I would have never considered there being such a thing as a Zone of Genius. This is the state you are in when you are living up to your full potential or life purpose. The state where you are having the biggest impact you can in this world and, as a result, you gain the most fulfilment.

For a long time, I always believed that my life purpose was to become a performer. There is plenty of evidence in my life that would suggest this. My friends, parents, teachers and strangers often tell me how much I am suited to performance, saying things like "I can't imagine you without a guitar" and "you look like you're in the zone."

As I'm reading this book, I'm starting to question what the real forces behind it are. I'm starting to go deeper into why I find performance so enjoyable. It's a wonderful thing to explore that there may be something even more special and mysterious at work whenever I pick up the guitar. It's almost like discovering that I have a superpower hidden away somewhere!

Going back to performance, I remember one of the mantras that I kept telling myself was that I wanted to inspire people. Not just with what I do musically, but as a human being. Having done a lot of shows, it's always gratifying to see someone who was inspired by one of my performances. I've heard a lot of stories about how people suddenly felt inspired to dig their guitars out of their closet and practice again.

It feels deeply fulfilling to inspire someone. In fact, the other night, my mum and I had a heart-to-heart chat about her feelings. She was telling me about how she was feeling depressed about her situation in life having quit her job to take care of my dad who has Parkinson's. She also expressed her concerns about how they were always arguing and never having any intimacy.

In an attempt to make her feel better, I tried to use some of the coaching strategies I'd picked up from the last two years. I talked to her about where her problems were coming from and why she was feeling the way she was. To do this, I described a concept called "The Model," which I learnt from my first self-help resource, The Life Coach School Podcast with Brook Castillo, to overcome my depression issues a few years ago (sorry it wasn't you, Actualized.org!)

As we talked, she started to understand everything. Furthermore, she recognised the potential behind these concepts because she could see how much of a difference it has made for me. Truth be told, I feel like a completely different person than I was even 1 year ago. I'm getting on top of my health, university work and, most importantly, I'm beginning to master my emotions. I can say all this in confidence because the proof is in the results I've got.

I suggested she listened to the podcast and, to my amazement, she leaped at the opportunity. It was a fulfilling moment when she told me that I had inspired her to take action having seen the positive changes that self-help had made to my own life.

That's when I started wondering if I maybe had a second calling in life. As well as music, maybe I could benefit from becoming a coach in the future. Knowing that I gave her inspiration through my support would suggest that I was operating within my Zone of Genius at that moment. After all, Gay writes that as you extend in abundance, success and love, you naturally inspire others to do the same.

In summary, you know that you are living up to your full potential when you can inspire others to do the same. When you notice it for yourself, you can reap the rewards of feeling deeply fulfilled.

 

(Today's pick of the day is one of the guys who inspired me to self-actualize. His stage presence and outlook on life was something special to me as I was growing up. I thought "this guy knows something special about the existence he inhabits" because of his extraordinary creativity with the guitar and his positive energy. I don't think I would be here right now if it wasn't for the inspiration he gave me.)

 

Pick of the day: Michael Hedges - The Artist Profile

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 18 | Skill-Building: The First 20 Hours

Theory: In order to get good at a particular skill, spend around 20 hours of deliberate and strategic practice on it.

Applying it: Commit to spending around an hour a day for 20 days in order to acquire a new skill.

 

There are so many skills out there that we can learn about if we want to. There are artistic things like drawing, painting, singing, learning a musical instrument, rapping, poetry and literature. More practical skills include persuasion, public speaking, reading, driving, parenting and so on. There are also self-help skills which are, arguably, the most important ones to acquire. These include meditation, awareness, contemplation, open-mindedness and journaling.

You may have seen a TED talk from Josh Kaufman called The First 20 Hours - How to learn anything. The talk will be linked in my 'pick of the day.' He presents the 10,000-hour rule as the method to reach mastery with any skill. However, if you just want to become good at a skill, all you have to do is strategically practice for 20 hours.

I've been writing this journal for almost 20 days in a row now. This has helped me develop the skill of discovering what lessons I learn and apply to my life on a daily basis. So long as I can continue to write about them in my journal, I will know that each day has presented something valuable to me. I don't necessarily want to comment on how good I am at writing. But at least I can remain consistent with my entries and find enjoyment out of the whole process.

Also, I've used this journal to test out this 20-hour theory with another skill: using the Dvorak keyboard. I'd had a few hours before starting this journal to try out the Dvorak keyboard. My reasons for using it was to try something alternative to the standard QWERTY keyboard and also to learn how to touch-type.

By this point, I will have spent over 20 hours using the new keyboard. My conclusion: it feels a lot better to use under my fingertips and my typing speed can reach to pretty high speeds now. Compared to my introduction post for this journal, I can feel my way around the keyboard with a significant amount of ease. I still only spend 1 hour a day to write journal entries and as you can see above, the word count for each subsequent entry has increased more ane more.

Other skills that I've tried to practice the 20-hour rule on include learning how to play the tabla, bodhran, singing and, the most significant one for me, learning to play acoustic guitar. I had electric guitar lessons throughout school but I was interested in learning to play the acoustic guitar. There are lots of differences between the two. Acoustic guitars are generally less forgiving to play, the whole fingerstyle and percussive guitar style of playing was radically different, and you can't use special effects like heavy distortion to cover up your mistakes.

Despite the challenges that presented themselves, I took charge of my own learning and picked it up smoothly. I became so comfortable with it that people at university find it hard to believe that it is actually a recent skill that I've acquired. Of the 10 years I've spent playing guitar, only 3 of those years have been spent on acoustic playing.

I can fully vouch for the idea of spending 20 hours to get good at new skills. The results prove the theory without a doubt. Admittedly, mastery is another thing entirely. All the same, it's reassuring to know that the early stages of skill-building can create some beneficial results after a short while.

 

Pick of the day: The first 20 hours - how to learn anything | Josh Kaufman

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 19 | Letting Go of the Past

Theory: Your life story up to the present moment is part of your identity, which is one of the things that the ego thrives on.

Applying it: If you want to be free from your ego, recognise that the past only exists as a story in your mind in the present moment.

 

During one of my most recent meditation sessions, I noticed just how present I had become in general. I had been liberated from the emotional baggage that my past has left me with, thanks to my realisation of what the past truly is.

It is, in fact, a fiction of the mind that feeds directly into your ego, because it provides the supporting foundations for your identity. Initially, this is difficult to accept. You might look at pictures that depict fond moments from your past or you might ask "did that thing I just say two seconds ago ever happen?" While it can be a very blurry concept, the one thing that feels true is the present moment. In fact, I'd argue that the present moment is all that matters.

To say that the past is pretty much irrelevant is a contradiction to what I talked about in my "Memories" entry. However, sitting with this contradiction is very exciting. To hold two different beliefs at once provides a thrill for me as it reminds me of how little I know about this existence. All I can say is that while memories and identity can provide lots of benefits to life, it is important not to become so attached to them and be willing to accept that they are not nearly as sacred as the present moment.

Thinking back to early childhood, I can imagine how much freedom I had to act and say as I want. As a kid, you don't have a lot of past experiences. That meant you didn't have all of that conditioning that told you to act polite to people, say nice things about other people, don't hurt their feelings, and so on. Our free spirits were soon drilled into acting how our culture wants us to act. Bad move.

One thing that self-actualization strives for is to remove this conditioning. And as you start contemplating and pulling things apart, you will be faced with the inevitability of assessing your identity and your past. While the rational mind may want to only remove the "bad" parts of your identity and memories, the only way to reach that childhood freedom again is to detach from even your fondest memories and your best qualities of your characteristics.

So you might think "Won't that mean I'll just become careless and emotionless? Will I just go out there and start massacring people now?" And the answer is...

Of course not!

In fact, you'll probably not notice much change at all. Your personality quirks will still be there and you will continue to have memories. So then, you'll be thinking "What is the point of this in the first place?"

The point is this: by accepting that the past no longer exists and letting go of your identity, you lose the neurotic behaviours that are attached to it. You lose the conditioning that you have been brought up with. This means that you can act in a more genuine, authentic way. You don't feel as though you 'have to' be polite to anyone. Instead, you can either choose not to be polite or to be genuinely polite.

I have a friend who has the tendency to hold doors open for everyone when we go to the gym. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but after getting to know the guy quite deeply, I can recognise that it's a neurotic behaviour. The person who he is being polite to could be a long way away from the door in the first place. And when someone else ends up being polite to him, he persists in being polite to them until they give up and accept his invitation. That tells me that he must be thinking "I need to be polite so that people will like me." I know, I've been there myself.

But after letting go of my past, I would feel a lot more free in that situation. Sometimes, I will happily hold the door for someone without expecting any gratitude. Other times, I will unknowingly let the door slam in someone's face and think nothing of it! The difference is that I don't have that chatter in my head that says "if I'm not polite to people, I won't get their approval and I'll guilt trip myself about it." My politeness is executed more consciously and genuinely, rather than having to do it for society's sake.

 

By completely letting go of the past, you open yourself up to have the best experience of the present moment. My creativity has also benefitted enormously from it in regards to making music.

 

Pick of the day: Prim - Askell Masson (performed by Evelyn Glennie)