[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

It sounds like you really got it, Paul. These are tough concepts to explain for sure, but when you get it at a deep level, it actually makes things seem simpler.

Yup, I know what you mean. Some things you have to "get" experientially, and then when you read someone writing about it, it begins to make sense. If you just read about it, it doesn't make sense. I find a lot of Eckhart Tolle's stuff like that too... they are not concepts that can easily be understood by the intellectual mind at first before they are experienced. However, if you do read about it, and you do experience it, it is easier to know what just happened. Gives you a context for understanding.

First, you don't have to go veg to be a lightworker. I don't recall ever saying that. In the most recent article...So you're right that the motivation for such a change can stem from either polarity.

Yeah, exactly. Vegetarianism in itself has nothing to do with Lightworker/Darkworker. I was just pointing out another example that I noticed the polarity thing working in life besides relating to making money or "flowing things in" vs "flowing things out".

You can say the same thing about charitable giving. I've seen people who give a LOT of money to charity, and people applaud them for it and talk about how much of a great philanthropist they are, but really I know their motivation behind giving is because their accountant told them to give X amount this year for tax purposes. (aka Darkworker polarity). Then there are those who give without any recognition, without any intention of getting anything back, and even if what they give isn't huge, you can just tell that they aren't doing it for a tax receipt.

I've actually given money away from both polarities. One feels good inside, the other one just feels like a financial transaction.

With respect to business, I can totally relate to what you say about the opportunities coming. I get offers every week that would easily double or triple my income if I took advantage of them. All I have to do is promote very profitable but largely worthless products for a cut of the sales. ...I'm fairly certain I could clear $1M a year this way, and it wouldn't take much effort at all. Just post a few blog entries and cash the checks.

Yup. Believe it or not, I've only got 120 RSS feed subscribers so my Blog is still a baby compared to yours, and I've ALREADY got people sending me stuff, wanting me to endorse them etc. Some of the stuff is awesome and I have no problem promoting it, but for every 1 thing I will promote because I believe in it, there are probably 10-15 that ask me for a promo and I simply won't.

It's funny, it's almost like some of these people who have a money-making scheme product want to "borrow" our credibility to sell their junk because they can't get anyone to trust them. It all comes down to how much you value your reputation I guess.

If I'm getting approached with my blog as it is so far, I can just imagine how often you get asked. LOL.

Getting attached to power and money is a path to the dark side. The more you travel that road, the worse it gets. Once you acquire a certain position in business, it's easy to worry about losing all the power and money you've gained, and that fear of loss can trap you. If you run into a situation where you have to choose between integrity and power, which will win?

To be honest, I've always chosen integrity. It's like one of my very top values. Someone might not like my opinion, someone may get pissed off at what I say, but I find it really hard not to be honest. Not negative, but honest.

The challenge with having integrity is that if you're in a line of business ran by darkworkers, you get your ass whooped because they just lie their way to the top. I've been fairly successful in my life so far, but it is now becoming apparently clear that I've been working in too many industries where darkworkers are at the top and wondering why it's so hard for me to succeed there.

It's funny because I look back at this one time when I had to go to Supreme Court in New York as a witness in a lawsuit, and even though I was cross-examined by an aggressive defense attorney that tried to completely destroy my credibility on the stand for like 4 hours, I was like a rock. I was scared sh&*less before going on stand because it's such an intimidating situation, but after it was done I couldn't believe how easy it was. WHen you always speak the truth it's really hard for people to poke holes in your "story". They dig deeper and deeper and deeper but there is nothing to find.

I definitely make less money on the lightworker side than I could on the darkworker side. I certainly do well financially by most people's standards, but I give up a lot of potential income by promoting products I believe in instead of those that are the most profitable... But if I retire a famous billionaire but know deep down that I consistently held back on the service side, I'm unwilling to accept that."

I guess I see what you mean. See for me it's kind of the other way around...I realize now that I'm a lightworker, but I've been working in jobs and careers that are dominated by darkworkers, and my super-hard work helped me to get ahead financially, but now that I look at moving myself to doing Lightworker stuff, I actually see being a lightworker as a much more positive side for me financially.

Meaning, if I'm already able to make a six figure income working in industries that are dominated by darkworkers without comprimising my integrity, I can just imagine how much easier it's going to be for me to succeed doing things that actually align with my natural state of being.

I guess I could possibly equate it to your experience with Dexterity software vs. your Steve Pavlina Blog. If you stayed there with the other darkworker business partners, but tried to be a lightworker in the middle of all that, you probably wouldn't be earning anywhere near your current income.

If you switched to Darkworker mode, then yeah, but not if you stuck with a lightworker polarity.

So I guess one of the first things that I can see being of benefit for polarizing is to identify an industry where you can make a living and not starve by being a lightworker. For example, it would be completely pointless for a lightworker to try to become a criminal attorney.

Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to Blogging while the rest of my friends see absolutely nothing exciting about blogging. I just look at it as "If I can express myself creatively, be positive and make money with full integrity, that's like heaven!"

I had to devise a different way of defining wealth and success. Instead of using money as the score, I consider the number of people I've helped, how deeply I helped them, and the rippling effects my decisions might have down the road. I aim for a high score in this area (even though it's harder to measure) instead of a high score in the bank account. To be honest this was a hard adjustment to make because being in business conditions us to use money as the primary scoring method.

Think about how you evaluate your own success. Could you feel totally successful if you were dead broke but you knew you were having a positive impact? Could you feel successful if you became a billionaire but knew your impact wasn't as positive as it could have been?

I used to always tell my wife "If I don't become rich, I will never be happy." and that is why I worked so hard in my life to make a 6-figure income etc., but I always did it with integrity.

The weird thing is that at some point, I just made this realization and I said to my wife "This is so weird...I just realized that I now no longer need to be rich to be happy. It doesn't mean I won't be rich, it just means that I no longer NEED money for it." What was really weird is that once I made that realization, I actually felt so much richer than ever before.

I know people who have WAY more money than me, but I wouldn't trade my life for theirs, ever.

One thing that will help you progress on the lightworker side is deciding how you'll evaluate your progress. If your method of evaluation is based on your personal gains, it will hold you back. Money is a useful resource but only to the extent that it boosts your service.

Hope this helps.

Absolutely. I totally see what you mean. I used to look at money as the "scoreboard".

Right now I'm kind of looking at it like I'm making money from two different paths. One of those paths feels very lightworker polarized (My Blog), and another path feels like I'm a lightworker in an industry where darkworkers rule. As my personal growth continues, I feel more and more out of place there. I think one of my first "Goals" should be to move into deriving all of my income from lightworker activities.