I Think I Get the Lightworker Thing Now

[impaul99]

Steve, I may be hearing the call of the Lightworker.

I think I'm starting to "see" the difference between the two energies now and I think it's totally different from what I thought before.

For the first time in my life I'm really at a point now where I have SO MANY different ways / paths presented to me to make money. I've overcome my inner ego by completely obliterating it during my 90 days of running on a treadmill. I now feel so confident having the discipline to do anything I set my mind to.

The question now has become what to set my mind to.

I'm starting to see the differences between Lightworker / Darkworker. For example I'm working on building up my online income by building up my Blog. So far I've had some great success even though it's only been about 2 weeks.

All of a sudden though, because I'm diving deep into the whole "Make Money Online" thing that there are totally different paths to take. Some people choose the "Dark Side" and make money with "Black Hat" approaches that make them money really quick, but build absolutely no value for people in the traditional sense. For example, they get into setting up 1,000 spam blogs with adsense ads all over them to make a quick buck before moving onto the next thing.

Do they make money? Some. Are they sustainable? Some. Could I succeed at them? Absolutely if I choose to.

The other option, however is to build a website like yours, where I provide tremendous value to people and maybe it takes me a LOT LONGER to make money online, but I'm building value and expressing my creativity in the world. The real payoff becomes being able to express myself creatively, helping people, touching people's lives, and having a lasting impact on humanity for the long haul.

The possibility of having someone read one of my posts and getting inspired by it 100 years after I'm dead is as exciting for me as making money from what I do. In fact, the primary intention of making money simply becomes only to fuel my ability to creatively express myself. It's a bit hard to explain, but I think you know what i mean... it's not about the money anymore.

Another example is how you talked about a Lightworker being vegetarian because he/she wouldn't want to hurt animals. At first when I thought about that I didn't think that it was fair to say that vegetarians are lightworkers and darkworkers are not,but then the other day I was thinking about something.

A darkworker may very well to choose to be vegetarian as well, and have very strong beliefs about it, but the DIFFERENCE will be due to the fact that they have proven to themselves that a vegetarian diet is superior nutritionally, not because he/she cares about "the animals".

So, once again it's the same thing with "Vegetarianism". Are you a vegetarian because you care about the animals, and then as a side effect you also end up eating a more nutritious diet, or are you a vegetarian because you care about the nutritional side of things and as a side effect you also save some animals.

In either case you still do the same thing (don't eat meat) but the intention behind it changes.

All of a sudden I can see the whole lightworker/darkworker polarities in all areas of life that don't have to do with just making money.

I also see how you're talking about polarizing, because trying to accomplish a goal by following both a darkworker path and a lightworker path becomes counter-productive. You kind of have to consciously decide which path you want and then go down it that way with full faith that the "other side" of the equation will take care of itself.

So, having said that... you got any tips on how to become a more effective Lightworker once the decision has been made?

[Sam988]

I had a few doubts before as to if i really got the concept, because it seemed too easy for me to understand it, both intuitively and conceptually; while many other people had such a hard time getting it and many others would just disregard it as useless. I couldn't understand them. Now with paul's topic i see that these people were unsure and didn't really grasp the whole concept of polarity. I'm glad to see that i wasn't wrong in my sureness about me understanding the concept well.

Now i'm sure i was lucky to be able to intuitively understand this concept which made things much easier for me to get what steve was talking about as fast as i first started reading his polarization articles. I already had a DW mindset (in the sense that, as steve said, a person commited to the DW philosophy and "way of life"; which basically is the self and its needs above all else). Because i could perfecly understand the DW side and therefore i could see the LW side as anything that wasn't part of DWing.


Paul you look very LW inclined to me. I don't have many tips on becoming a more effective LW (i wish you asked me the contrary ) but the basic LW mindset and guide is "how can i be of most service to humanity"? Because the DW would think "how can i be of most service to myself and my needs"?





If the polarization concept is already complex to many, i realize now that an essay could be written just on the differences between people and how it affects their understanding of DW/LW.

[Savage]

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.

First, you don't have to go veg to be a lightworker. I don't recall ever saying that. In the most recent article, I used people's attitudes towards animals as an analogy for our attitudes towards other people. I figured a lot of people could understand that analogy. The point was that a darkworker thinks about people like a non-conflicted meat-eater thinks about animals. That doesn't mean a lightworker can't eat animals (assuming the lightworker eventually develops a consistent philosophy towards animals).

I went vegetarian and then vegan mainly for selfish reasons as mentioned in Why Vegan. It wasn't until much later that I starting caring about the animal treatment issues. So you're right that the motivation for such a change can stem from either polarity.

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. Internet marketers frequently offer 50-75% commissions because they make even more money on the back end. Many of these products are in the Internet marketing field. All I need to do is to promote them is stir up people's greed, and they'll surely sell. The products won't be effective for the vast majority of people, but that's no barrier to a darkworker. I don't even need to review the products myself. I just have to endorse them via a sales letter that's already written for me. On this path I'd recommend dozens of such products every year. 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.

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?

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. For example, I don't earn much by promoting The Journal, but I just love introducing people to it. It's a product I've personally used for years and find to be very beneficial. Erin uses it too. I also met the developer, and I know he takes good care of his customers. I could earn 10x as much by promoting an Internet marketing program instead, but it would provide less than 1/10th the value of The Journal.

Recently a wealthy businessman asked me, "Do you realize what a huge goldmine you're sitting on?" He then went on to outline a simple plan for how I could earn an extra million dollars in a matter of months. He's right too. His idea wouldn't violate most people's standards of ethics, and it would probably work. It's a great way to extract a lot of cash from my visitors, but it's clearly not the best way to provide the most value. I turned down his plan without a second thought. Even if I gave the money away to charity, it's still not the best way to provide value to people.

I realized that in order to be an effective lightworker, I had to be willing to sacrifice positional power in any form (fame, money, etc) whenever it detracts from helping people. Among other things this meant I had to make peace with the notion that I could die broke. I thought long and hard about it and then said to myself, "If I really do my best to make a positive difference in people's lives and end up broke/ostracized/discredited in the end, I'm willing to accept that. 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 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?

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.

[nownow]

No offence impaul but it sounds to me like the 90 days on the treadmill has made you manic. Slow down your not making sense. Your blog, which has been around for a lot longer than 2 weeks, always had good quality material which was helpful. Youre posts also seemed genuinely interested in helping people. It never seemed that it was about the money with you.
I think you have conflicting beliefs. Do you see the conflict in the statement that the "other side of the equation will take care of itself"? You are saying don't focus on the money if you want the money. You are being a lightworker as a sneaky way to get the money. Why would there even be another side of the equation if you were truely a lightworker? It must still be important.........

[impaul99]

@ Steve: Thanks man. I'll digest what you said and reply a bit later.

I totally see your point on re-defining how to keep score. You're absolutely right...previously, cash in the bank was the score in my life.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by nownow

No offence impaul but it sounds to me like the 90 days on the treadmill has made you manic. Slow down your not making sense. Your blog, which has been around for a lot longer than 2 weeks, always had good quality material which was helpful. Youre posts also seemed genuinely interested in helping people. It never seemed that it was about the money with you.
I think you have conflicting beliefs. Do you see the conflict in the statement that the "other side of the equation will take care of itself"? You are saying don't focus on the money if you want the money. You are being a lightworker as a sneaky way to get the money. Why would there even be another side of the equation if you were truely a lightworker? It must still be important.........

THank you for the kind words. What I meant by the 2 weeks is simply that two weeks ago I made a personal commitment to the "Inspired Money Maker" project in my life. Previous to that it was just a hobby project that I did when I got home from "work".

You are absolutely right, my Blog has always been about helping people, but that's only because I never really looked at it as a money making thing. I already have a job and I make good money with it so my Blog was a way for me to help people out.

However, I want to devote a lot more of my energy and time to the project because I know I can help a lot of people if I do. Of course, in order to do this I need to monetize the Blog in some way which is what I'm doing. This is where the realization came in regarding the whole Darkworker / Lightworker thing. I started looking for ways I could make money online and I found all kinds of possibilities. However, only some of them resonate with me, while others totally don't. For example, setting up 10,000 Black-Hat blogs that spam the search engines and then making a killing off of them via affiliate income and AdSense doesn't resonate with me. It's not that I don't want to make money, I have no problems with money...I just don't want to chase money anymore.

For example, I'd prefer to do what I love and make $100,000/year than to chase all kinds of "schemes" out there and make $700,000/year but do stuff that I don't really feel good about. Do you know what I mean?

Some of what I say may sound conflicted, and that is because I'm still very much going through a transition right now to start polarizing down the Lightworker path.

What I really love about my InspiredMoneyMaker project is that I love working on it so much that I stay up until like 2:30am and I want to do more, I want to write more, I want to help more people..then I have to go to bed so that I can go to work the next day.... and then at like 4:30am my dog will wake me up because he wants to be let outside, and I'll jump back on the computer for 30 minutes to work on the blog some more.

I'm so excited about working on it, it's not even funny. I've had these kinds of feelings of flow in my life many times before and I've always made good money when I was in this flow, so I'm not really worried about money.

Hope that clarifies things a little bit.

[fwellers]

I've overcome my inner ego by completely obliterating it during my 90 days of running on a treadmill.

Sorry, I have to ask. What do you mean by saying that you obliterated your inner ego ?

In reading this forum, I am sometimes struck by the amount of intense ego I see. ( I am no acception ).

Please reread your post, count the number of referrals to yourself ( I, me, my, my power, my money etc... ).

No judgement here, but I do see EGO. Maybe I am misunderstanding the quote I quoted above.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by fwellers

Sorry, I have to ask. What do you mean by saying that you obliterated your inner ego ?

In reading this forum, I am sometimes struck by the amount of intense ego I see. ( I am no acception ).

Please reread your post, count the number of referrals to yourself ( I, me, my, my power, my money etc... ).

No judgement here, but I do see EGO. Maybe I am misunderstanding the quote I quoted above.

Let me rephrase. My Ego is very much still with me, as with anyone else. However, I went through a transformational 90 day period where my TRUE SELF (Spirit) triumphed over my Ego self through a process I learned from a book by Stuart Wilde. It's basically a process of "taming" your Ego to put it back in check in your life.

What does this amount to in practical terms? My ego's need for comfort no longer takes precedence over my spirits desire to do it's work. It's a bit hard to explain, but there has been a HUGE shift in my level of consciousness since going through this journey. Lets just say there was a lot of agony, and I have come out a much stronger person on the other side.

If I could give an analogy/metaphor of what I mean, imagine that before my spiritual side was a 20-30% shareholder in my life, and my Ego owned 70% of the shares. Yes Ego had to occasionally listen to the other "shareholders", but at the end it had voting power. Now, imagine that my true self has purchased a controlling interest of shares (for example 51%) so IT now has the power to do what it wants in my life. Shares owned by ego are still there, but they no longer have as much power as they did before.

That's the best analogy I could come up with.

Does that explain it at all? I know my original post wasn't written the best way.

[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.

[yossarian]

That's really cool impaul, you were presented with that choice I mentioned before and you consciously chose the service-to-all path. One cannot overemphasize how big of a change it is to have consciously chosen, to have brought that aspect of yourself to conscious awareness.

My experience was just like yours really - one day I was presented with a choice and I realized that I had a choice. I suppose that is the day that people actually discover polarity, the day the choice is really facing them.

No doubt Steve's articles prepare them for it too.

Anyway thanks for sharing, your enthusiasm rubs off even through a forum

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by yossarian

That's really cool impaul, you were presented with that choice I mentioned before and you consciously chose the service-to-all path. One cannot overemphasize how big of a change it is to have consciously chosen, to have brought that aspect of yourself to conscious awareness.

My experience was just like yours really - one day I was presented with a choice and I realized that I had a choice. I suppose that is the day that people actually discover polarity, the day the choice is really facing them.

No doubt Steve's articles prepare them for it too.

Anyway thanks for sharing, your enthusiasm rubs off even through a forum

Thanks! Even though I know it may be a bumpy ride, and I might have to give up some of my comforts in the short term, it will definitely be worth it.

[schola]

Bump.

That's a really good explanation Paul. Thanks.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by schola

Bump.

That's a really good explanation Paul. Thanks.

Thanks. It only took me like a year to "Get It".

I think I owe Steve a beer.

[Trezker]

I wish I had a beer for every time I helped someone...
For a good lightworker, I guess the amount of beer would get out of control quickly...

[wolfgang]

Originally Posted by impaul99

Let me rephrase. My Ego is very much still with me, as with anyone else. However, I went through a transformational 90 day period where my TRUE SELF (Spirit) triumphed over my Ego self through a process I learned from a book by Stuart Wilde. It's basically a process of "taming" your Ego to put it back in check in your life.

Which Stuie book is that process from? I've been reading his "Sixth Sense" recently.

What does this amount to in practical terms? My ego's need for comfort no longer takes precedence over my spirits desire to do it's work. It's a bit hard to explain, but there has been a HUGE shift in my level of consciousness since going through this journey. Lets just say there was a lot of agony, and I have come out a much stronger person on the other side.

This business of your light path also being like seeing the ego for what it is, makes me conclude some more that DW=ego and LW=(whatever it is to not be lead around by the ego).

If I could give an analogy/metaphor of what I mean, imagine that before my spiritual side was a 20-30% shareholder in my life, and my Ego owned 70% of the shares. Yes Ego had to occasionally listen to the other "shareholders", but at the end it had voting power. Now, imagine that my true self has purchased a controlling interest of shares (for example 51%) so IT now has the power to do what it wants in my life. Shares owned by ego are still there, but they no longer have as much power as they did before.

That's the best analogy I could come up with.

Does that explain it at all? I know my original post wasn't written the best way.

I would think this is everyone's true path. shifting away from the ego. but then, the darkworkers will complain. no, there's a way to get results with the ego, and in complete use of the ego. but then what are the results one is wanting? more stuff? more fame? more security? or more connection? more spiritual motivation? more real joy? more authentic purpose? more cool vibes for people around you?

[munish]

Originally Posted by impaul99

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.

There are two kind of people; One, Those who do work; Two , Those who take credit .
Be the first one, as there is no competition there .

" Indira Gandhi".(Former Indian P.M. ,she and her family ruled India for over five decades,and is still the ruling family of India ).

Similarly, It's better to be a lightworker,as there is no competition there.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by munish

There are two kind of people; One, Those who do work; Two , Those who take credit .
Be the first one, as there is no competition there .

" Indira Gandhi".(Former Indian P.M. ,she and her family ruled India for over five decades,and is still the ruling family of India ).

Similarly, It's better to be a lightworker,as there is no competition there.

That's awesome. I love it.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by impaul99

What I really love about my InspiredMoneyMaker project is that I love working on it so much that I stay up until like 2:30am and I want to do more, I want to write more, I want to help more people..then I have to go to bed so that I can go to work the next day.... and then at like 4:30am my dog will wake me up because he wants to be let outside, and I'll jump back on the computer for 30 minutes to work on the blog some more.

I loved reading this -- that is such an inspiring comment. It's great to hear when people are so excited and enthusiastic about what they're doing.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

I loved reading this -- that is such an inspiring comment. It's great to hear when people are so excited and enthusiastic about what they're doing.

This Saturday I told myself that I would sleep in to catch up on all the hours of sleep I've been missing because I've been so excited.

Guess what... I woke up first thing in the morning with such an inspiring idea that my eyes were wide open and I couldn't sleep anymore. Jumped out of bed, told my wife about and then proceeded to run and begin implementing it.

FLOW energy is so exciting, it's so much fun, it's so much different then the "I just want to go to bed and sleep because I'm so frustrated with life" energy.

It's funny because I get emails from people saying "Dude, don't you sleep!?" when the see me emailing them at like 2:00am and then at 4:30am etc.