My Insights On My Pd Journey Thus Far :)

[Christian]

I want to share some insights I have had on the journey throughout the 2 years I've been doing. In no way am I claiming my insights to be true and I am just here to share, not to defend a perspective or convince you. 

So firstly I want to start with a fundamental truth that I have discovered through direct experience. And that is that I do not exist as a separate entity. I exist as nothingness or "the void". This nothingness is both nothing and everything simultaneously. Mind blowing...

Another insight I've gotten is that ego and suffering are one. They are two sides of the same coin. And that true happiness is not found in your material possessions, it is found from knowing who you are existentially. When you believe you are this body sitting here, you can't be happy unconditionally.

Furthermore, I have realized that in this life,  I basically know nothing. That a lot of my knowledge in inaccurate and that I need to be vigilant for self-deception. One self deception that I fell into recently was believing that if I show I am  hurt to others, that will make them understand and I will feel better. In my life, that proves to be false. People are generally just as egotistical as me and probably care way less of me than I think they do. The way to deal with hurt is to forgive the person who hurt you and let your feelings pass. That can seem counter intuitive, it did to me, but it is so liberating. Check out "The Sedona Method to learn how to let go.

I've also discovered that the greatest strength is letting go or surrendering. Surrender is critical to inner growth and to be open-minded.

Another thing I've encountered is that proper habits are essential for personal growth. You are what you repeatedly do. And when building habits, the most important thing is consistency, not the technique you are using. That does not mean that you use an obviously wrong technique, you should still care, but not that much. There is a balance here. What are positive habits? Meditation, reading, study-habit, healthy eating, contemplation, visualization, affirmations etc. 

Next up is life purpose. Life purpose is critical to living a passionate life and dying with no regrets. If you are stuck at a mediocre job that does not honor your top values and has no meaningful impact, you better believe that will have great effect on your emotions. Find your life purpose as soon as possible.

Another thing I've encountered is that life is highly nuanced and that being contemplative is important. Basically reflecting on your actions and behaviors looking at them from a bigger picture, seeing the subtlety in life and disengaging from black and white type thinking.

Studying personal development is also important; not because you are doing it to teach personal development through some media, but mostly for yourself.  That requires learning from a variety of sources, not just one source because that could be unreliable. This means reading books, watching videos, going to seminars, implementing techniques, etc.

There are many more, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, hope you got some value out of it and please share your insights regarding PD below would love to hear them

 

 

[Vaishnavi]

My insights aren't very deep but for sure they've been very valuable to me. I'll actually use the word realisation since insights is concerned with something very profound and deep. I'm not very familiar with the concept of self and enlightenment since I'm trying to get more sanity around myself and I want to keep enlightenment for later, for now. Some of the realisations I've had include

-the fact that the society is in a really bad shape at this point and it isn't entirely its fault. Either the business and the marketing people are really cunning and smart and have discovered all are weaknesses and buttons or they're highly ignorant. I think they're somewhere in the middle. More like a combination of the two. And the worse is that they want us to be a part of them, to become one of them. Something I personally dread and resist greatly 

-another realisation that I've had, and this is my personal opinion which is formed after a lot of research and observation that changing our education system can solve a majority and in the long term can solve all our problems since I personally believe that developing quality individuals is the key to all the difference we seek. 

-A similar realisation to you @Christian has been that I'm ignorant. In fact I don't know anything at all. My beliefs are baseless and groundless. They aren't solid enough and are only supported by more beliefs. And since we all are in the same boat, it seems completely "normal" and probably the only way. 

-Another realisation has been the fact that nothing comes easy. Probably the best "insight" that I've had is this one. And i don't mean only in terms of work but in every aspect. A good relationship, a healthy lifestyle, or even understanding economics, it doesn't come easy. Finding authentic people doesn't come easy, connecting the dots isn't easy, questioning your beliefs isn't easy, anything at all. You will have to put massive massive amount of emotional labor. But it's worth it. I still struggle with it though 

- that life is beautiful with every colour of it. Emotions, people, logic, science, experience, FOOD!! 

- that status and ranking, competition and comparison is shallow

-that acceptance is very powerful 

-that being is peaceful 

[Nahm]

Awesome Christian. Thanks for sharing. If you're looking for life purpose, I suggest you consider writing. 

Edited February 13, 2017 by Nahm

[OKO]

I figured the extent of my knowledge is my current thought

[Gorlov]

My biggest realisation ultimately came from Eckhart Tolle. Beyond form, beyond thought, beyond knowledge, beyond the body, beyond the mind, there is PEACE. I feel like this is what you meant by The Void? The silent observe behind everything, that which has no specific form, but can be anything.

Really cool post!