I realized I didn't offer much in the way of background in my intro...
I accidentally started studying hypnosis, meditation, NLP, Qigong, & sports psychology about 15 years ago.
I was reading books which I thought were just about martial arts. I wanted to be a tough guy.
I wanted to kick ass!
So I learned how to kick ass, but I quickly recognized this wasn't enough. I had only wanted to 'kick ass' so people would respect me. I did get some of the fearful respect I was looking for... but it didn't do much for me.
Fortunately for me, I had developed a powerful interest in personal growth along the way.
The books I had read left powerful clues about the disciplines I described earlier. In particular, the disciplines of meditation, Qigong, and NLP stood out. So I started studying them as well.
At first, I became a zealot telling friends how great this material was, without really using it to transform myself. It occasionally made for very interesting conversation... but I was largely ignored.
This is where I re-learned that you shouldn't 'talk the talk' unless you can 'walk the walk'.
It's funny that a guy who was so interested in 'kicking ass' would need to learn this twice...
So I set about creating a new 'Ben'. Some things worked beautifully well... some didn't work at all. With some great successes and some embarrassing setbacks... I started to see real change in myself.
But there was a problem:
I was the only one who could see it!
Everybody else just saw the same old me. At first I thought that maybe I hadn't really changed. Then I realized... people like 'sleeping'. If they don't have to 'wake up', they won't.
I hadn't become a millionaire. I hadn't become a mass murderer. In their eyes, my change was insignificant. 'Ben with better time management, more focus, more smiles, and more passion' wasn't enough to register as 'real change' with them... so they didn't notice it.
But my change meant the world to me. One obvious lesson of this is:
Objective reality is useful for many things, but it is in subjective reality where we find happiness!
It didn't take long for me to concern myself less and less with the ability of other people to notice the changes in me. If they do, it's a nice bonus. If they don't... it's no big deal.
As some point it struck me:
This is my path!
It doesn't matter what family and friends think I can or can't do.
I don't need followers. I don't people to agree with me. I don't need what everybody else calls 'success'.
I'm open to the feedback of others... but I'm not dependent on it.
I'm joyful just to
follow my path!
So step at the time, I started transforming my life more and more.
From the time I've spent in the Army... and my time training in a variety of martial arts... I've learned that 'discipline' is much more useful when it is defined as 'enjoying playful practice'.
'Enjoying playful practice' tends to conjure up a very different image than 'discipline' does.... and I promise you, you will have much better results when you learn to love something.
When you
find something you love... (right now)... it is easy to be consistent.
It's easy to keep coming back!
If you truly love this activity... you will do it again and again and again... just because it feels wonderful!
I talk about a variety of practices I have used, how I have become consistent in their use, and the powerful effects I have enjoyed from them on my site:
Energy Oneness | Cultivating Consciousness | EFT
I'm here to
- participate in this community,
- learn as much as possible, and
- offer my help.
Hopefully some of you have already found my posts helpful... I have definitely enjoyed reading many of yours!
Here's to the Evolution of Consciousness...
keep smiling,
Ben