Long-term effects of attending a CGW.

[Manomanman]

It's been 4 months since the first CGW. It's hard to believe that time is flying so fast, but it is.

Steve has developed in a rather drastic and public way since the workshop. But what about all of us peons at whom the workshop is targeted?

I've had a lot of internal/private shifts going on continuously, with lots of internal resolution of things that were bothering me in my life. How are these internal shifts manifesting externally?

1. I FINALLY quit graduate school today. It tore me up for the last four months. Graduate school has devastated my life for years, and I could never see the way out. I wasn't able to quit without the knowledge I gained from the CGW. I've been resonating a lot with the Power/Courage lesson, moving one step forward each day toward gaining the skills necessary to do what is most meaningful to me in my career.

I cannot overstate how massive of a shift this is - the Jesse of September 2009 never could have pulled this off. The Jesse of October 2009 that started JesseLovesYou.com was working through things. But the Jesse of February 2010 is a completely reborn and different person. Going in and saying, "I'm done" and not having it turn into a disaster today was one of the highest points in my life so far, and it's just the beginning of a new era in my life.

2. Self-Directed Conscious Growth. My awareness continues to expand. I am more aware of my health, my body, my emotions, other peoples' emotions, other peoples' thoughts. I am able to accomplish things with other people that I wasn't able to previously. I am able to intuit the needs of other people without them saying a word - it's almost like people are an open book to me now.

3. Synchronisities. I keep getting what I need from "the universe" to move forward with "my purpose." I wanted to help people online the way Steve helps people from the moment I first read his blog one year ago. But I couldn't see how it would ever work out for me. A few weeks ago, I got an article from "Early to Rise" that "stitched" everything together - the article was the boost I needed to shift into a different way of thinking about my life and my future.

I've been getting fortune cookies that synchronize 100% with my thought patterns. All fortune cookies have a positive spin, but the way they say it just synchs up perfectly with what I need in the moment I read them. Example: "Your future looks bright" came right after I read that article from ETR and had that major shift in how I was looking at my online career.

4. Personal Life. I haven't been romping around and having orgies or anything (yet), but my relationships with other people have been steadily improving. I've had sex 2 times since the workshop, which is infinity times higher than the 0 from the year before the workshop. I went to a strip club in Vegas right after the workshop, and strippers were magnetically attracted to me - I couldn't keep them off of me even though I wasn't giving them any money.

I can see in other peoples' eyes a new kind of respect for me - they see a conviction in me that they don't see anywhere else, and I'm getting help from others where there would have been resistance before.

Again, I'm very careful and calculated when it comes to making major shifts in my life. I've been reluctant to create a relationship with another person, as I've historically been unable to even care for a pet. People always seemed like vampires, both emotional and financial, and I've figured out a way to deal with that problem. (The solution was to look inside to beliefs that were programmed in me at an early age).

5. Other Peoples' Growth. When I hear stories about other peoples' experiences from the workshop, I have this eerie feeling. It's like we all just discovered fire for the first time, and nobody else knows about it. In other words, I believe that the people attending Steve's workshops are the beginning of a new evolutionary phase in human history. I've seen what other personal development gurus have to offer, and Pavlina is leaps and bounds beyond anything out there. I was completely turned off by PD until I found Steve. He's created a new paradigm for human existence. It's the realization that we can all become empowered and share in a new experience of human reality, one free from most of the limitations imposed by an older model of human existence. (The archaic fear-based existence in which human beings are mostly subservient slaves working for monarchs and/or tyrants).

I am inspired by what I experienced at the workshop, and I hope something more than sex and style comes out of the CGWs

-Jesse

[Burris5000]

This is an interesting post. I have been contemplating going to the past two CGWs, but I always came up with an excuse. I am currently a grad student, like Jesee. I missed the first CGW because I was at a scientific conference in Illinois that weekend. For the second one, I was going to book, but I was working on a Master's thesis in November/December, so that was an excuse (I finished!)

I am still working for the same PI in grad school, but I am now in the Ph.D. program at my school. In some ways, it may be the right decision to stay with the same advisor (I can get done faster, and I am familiar with the research/ lab politics), but sometimes I want to work somewhere else (I really have not though about what I would rather be doing). Some days I am grateful and excited for my current situation, then the next thing I want to change everything.

I understand why Jesse would quit grad school because it can get depressing. I was depressed when I started it, as it was all a shock and I struggled (which is why I decided to switch back to a Master's degree before going for the Ph.D). A lot of people have quit my research group in the nearly 4 years I have been working with my advisor. He is from the former USSR and sort of retains the USSR mentality, which can be disempowering to all of us. Other than that, I enjoy working with everyone else in the group, since it is a quite diverse group (Americans, Russians, Ukranians, Chinese, Korean). I also got an opportunity to visit Moscow for a scientific meeting last year.

Last summer, someone in the lab quit, and he was sort of the life of the party in our lab, as he helped us lighten up. It was too much for him. He was a free spirit, while my advisor is sort of the authoritarian type (I think he means well,though, at least for me). He immediately started a grant writing company (for community activism, not science) and got married right after he quit. However, he gave that up and has another job. I noticed when working with him that he comes up with a lot of ideas and cannot commit. If I were to move on to something else, I don't want to be like this. I tend to plan things out as much as I can ahead of time (of course things don't turn out as planned, which can either be good or bad in some situations.)

I know I need to change my mindset on this to get some clarity in my life. However, I can relate to Jesse's decision. I just need the courage to sign up for CGW this year. The money shouldn't be a problem, just that I lack courage and I feel that I live a sheltered life at times. I resolve to break through that this year. I am thinking of going either in the May or July/August workshop. Anyway, Jesse's story is inspiring and I wish him the best in what he decides to do.

[Kevin V]

Originally Posted by Manomanman

5. Other Peoples' Growth. When I hear stories about other peoples' experiences from the workshop, I have this eerie feeling. It's like we all just discovered fire for the first time, and nobody else knows about it. In other words, I believe that the people attending Steve's workshops are the beginning of a new evolutionary phase in human history. I've seen what other personal development gurus have to offer, and Pavlina is leaps and bounds beyond anything out there. I was completely turned off by PD until I found Steve. He's created a new paradigm for human existence. It's the realization that we can all become empowered and share in a new experience of human reality, one free from most of the limitations imposed by an older model of human existence. (The archaic fear-based existence in which human beings are mostly subservient slaves working for monarchs and/or tyrants).

I definitely had this powerful realization of Steve post-CGW #2. While people like you and I are recently awakened and trying to improve the lives of handfuls of people at a time (hey it's a start!), Steve is ALREADY doing so - at handfuls OF MILLIONS at a time.

[Mabel]

Originally Posted by Manomanman

I've been getting fortune cookies that synchronize 100% with my thought patterns. All fortune cookies have a positive spin, but the way they say it just synchs up perfectly with what I need in the moment I read them. Example: "Your future looks bright" came right after I read that article from ETR and had that major shift in how I was looking at my online career.
-Jesse

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

[Ravmar]

You could afford the CGW on a grad school student's budget?!! Did Steve charge less the first time? I wonder if the Universe blocked me from finding out about Steve's work until November on purpose?

Ok thanks for putting up with my little rant. I'm back to now.

ps. Congratulations on quitting school, since that's what you wanted!

[mmartin2009]

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

HAHAHA I've saving that Sonya!!