The Best Guidance (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

The Best Guidance

[Justin Mazza]

This reminds me of Quantum Jumping, where you can learn to connect to another version of yourself. Perhaps to learn some new skills, and gain some knowledge in an area where you were once lacking.

[invisiblehouses]

On the subject of tuning out external voices (or becoming more selective about which ones you tune in to): I know a few people here were in the process of quitting Facebook, which is something I did last month. Have any of you experienced a shift in clarity since unplugging?

I know I have, and I've made more progress towards certain goals in the past 40 days than in all of 2010. The best part is how much more effortless (much less effortful?) it's becoming.

Oh, it's still a total PITA, but compared to three, five, ten years ago, it's a damn cakewalk.

[Asten]

I love that you brought up the "What have you done with Steve?" comment. Made me laugh. I remember reading that and thinking it was a strange thing to say. Who is anyone to say what's in character for you? Only you can tell yourself that

I liked the discussion about speaking to your highest self/self in 5 years/etc. I'd forgotten about that technique, which is something I've seen in a few places. I think my self and myself need to have a nice discussion.

"The answers are inside you. But sometimes in order to hear them clearly, you have to tell the rest of the world, Shut the hell up! "

Damn right.

[cacheborn]

Super post, Steve! It was clear that this came from your inner self. It felt like we are having one to one chat.

It was insightful to discover yet another, deeper, meaning to "Know thyself". Thank you.

I was glad to find that my goal is exactly what my inner self wants to do.

[Andreas]

Refreshing and illuminating. (not to mention the article is paced very well)

You never mentioned you could talk to a "parallel reality you", before. I did the previous meditation which consists of one 5 years ahead and one 5 years before, but this could be even more useful...


Perhaps I'd thought it on an unconscious level, but I'd never consciously considered goals specifically as means to reach my best self. Perhaps just a better self. But after reading this, I'm going to think goals in a completely new way.

And one thing's for sure:
2011 is going to bring me a hell of a lot closer to my Best Self.

And I suspect for you too, Steve. Thanks!

[chrisconey]

If Deepak Chopra has taught me anything it's that there is no such thing as a random coincidence and today's article was proof to me.

After reading the first few paragraphs I started smiling. Steve may as well have just composed a new email message and sent it directly to me.

I consider myself a bit of a seeker and one area where I may be a little extreme / unbalance is in gaining new knowledge.

I've got some nagging desire inside me to understand the human condition and how we work so perhaps one day I can 'save people from themselves' if you know what I mean?

I realised recently that I held the following belief:
"If I just just read enough books, get enough knowledge and absorb enough information, I'd find all the answers".

As Steve points out in this most recent article, all this data I'm putting into my mind is all external noise.

This then gets all caught up with impulses from my true self and I can't seem to distinguish one from another.

I have found myself going around in circles a lot of times. Because I know so much about so many things I find it easy to come up with a strong case, full of evidence why I SHOULD do A, B or C.

They are all excellent arguments precisely because I have so much knowledge based evidence to back them up. But no one is stronger than another.

This leads to self sabotarge, procrastination and frustration caused by internal friction.

Today I discovered that the problem is the huge amount of external input I'm allowing in.

It was only a week before reading Steve's article that I started to figure out that my furious pace of knowledge gathering was the source of my confusion.

This was a paradox because the very reason I was searching and searching for more and more knowledge was to get clarity, not obscure it.

So now I'm going to go through a phrase of trying a different approach. Instead of spending ever spare minute with my head in a book, I'm going to carve out short, regular periods where I do nothing but sit in silence and go through some of these visualisations, imagining what my best self looks like, feels like and acts like.

If I understand this correctly, it should naturally lead to me changing on a subconscious level, kind of like tweaking the sail on a boat, so in my waking life things will start to change effortlessly.

Better get to it.

[roxyruby]

I was going to say this was a refreshing article & someone else used that word too, interesting...

I really liked the part about how you can be a caring person and also be financially successful.

The idea that you have to not care about people to be financially successful I think is a limiting belief that really would limit potential.

Thank you

[Andrew Brunelle]

This is a really amazing article, Steve. "What would my best self do?" It's kind of like "What would Jesus do?," except it pertains to us in a much more intimate way. I'm going to paste either "What would your best (or true) self do?" on my computer monitor. It's all about the kind of person you truly want to become. I'll have to delve into my mind and create my best self. Thanks, Steve.

[supertom]

I see you have added Manifesting for Non-Gurus to your recommended reading list...I noticed you never added Master your workday now!, you highly recommended it and i thought it was a great book.

[curiouslyrandom]

Just what I needed to read today. Thanks, Steve.

Looking ahead to my best self 5 years in the future has been a helpful tool in my life for at least the past 13 years. I hadn't done it recently, thanks for the reminder.

[Julia.Ru]

I liked the imagining my best self technique, but what to do when it's difficult to imagine your best self? When I'm doing it, first I see my best self is exactly like me and then it just slowly fades.Can't make up an image.

[Adam Elkins]

Who are you, and what have you done with Steve?

Ouch! I knew I should've included a smilie with that post.... Sorry, Steve. I consider myself well and truly slapped across the face.

[alexplatups]

Definitely recommend Manifesting for Non-Gurus. The first chapter by itself
is worth more than the price of the book. It made me realize that the thing
that I am really good at and that I love to do is to organize difficult processes
in life, and to make them run smoothly. And this has been exactly how I have
been able to make the majority of profits in all my businesses over the years.

And I thought the whole time that I loved making money, while the whole time
I loved organizing stuff, and the money flowed as a consequence of that.

This is a primary distinction, and the first chapter makes you focus on this
with a very simple exercise. In fact, it seems that the simpler the information,
the more effective it is. I was even sceptical about it being TOO SIMPLE while
reading and doing the exercises in the first chapter - until this insight hit me.

You post was timed perfect, because this was one of the most important
questions that I had spinning in my mind for such a long time.

What am I really good at and simultaneously love to do?

This is the first information product that helped me to find an answer!

Thanks for recommending this book, and thanks for the awesome post!

[mikethedrummer44]

Incredible article. Thanks.

[Broderick]

Man...your articles have seemed to take a step up since you got rid of the "noise".

Of the 5 steps, I understood all but the first one, so I'm glad you went into depth about it.

[Bizarre Jester]

What I got out of this article is that I have to increase my awareness of my higher self. I also realized that a lot of my goals and dreams are based on external influences which is why I don't succeed at some of them.

Originally Posted by Julia.Ru

I liked the imagining my best self technique, but what to do when it's difficult to imagine your best self? When I'm doing it, first I see my best self is exactly like me and then it just slowly fades.Can't make up an image.

I also am not too experienced with visualizing. Are there any other methods to do this?

[Cado]

Originally Posted by Bizarre Jester

I also am not too experienced with visualizing. Are there any other methods to do this?

Visualization is just a fancy word for feeling your way to manifestation. Being able to hold an image of another self in mind is indeed a powerful exercise but jumping right to that will be difficult for most. Something I like to do is hold a question in mind and meditate, then once my mind has calmed I watch where my energy goes, ie what pops to mind? You don't have to have a detailed image of what your ideal self would do, you just need to understand what things like courage and inspiration really mean to you, and that knowledge is always within grasp if you'll quiet down and listen.

Alternatively, you can look for a source of energy which you can plug yourself into and then ride the wave. As an example, when I was looking for clarity on something blasting this song put me on the right track: YouTube - Slipknot - Before I Forget

I think the important thing to remember is that the ideal self is something we create, it's not necessarily a fully formed vision which simply comes to us. It's true there are elements of ourselves which will cry out given the chance but then it's our choice as to how we express it.

[Bizarre Jester]

Originally Posted by Illustro Cado

Visualization is just a fancy word for feeling your way to manifestation. Being able to hold an image of another self in mind is indeed a powerful exercise but jumping right to that will be difficult for most. Something I like to do is hold a question in mind and meditate, then once my mind has calmed I watch where my energy goes, ie what pops to mind? You don't have to have a detailed image of what your ideal self would do, you just need to understand what things like courage and inspiration really mean to you, and that knowledge is always within grasp if you'll quiet down and listen.

Alternatively, you can look for a source of energy which you can plug yourself into and then ride the wave. As an example, when I was looking for clarity on something blasting this song put me on the right track: YouTube - Slipknot - Before I Forget

I think the important thing to remember is that the ideal self is something we create, it's not necessarily a fully formed vision which simply comes to us. It's true there are elements of ourselves which will cry out given the chance but then it's our choice as to how we express it.

This was helpful, thank you. I like the idea of using music to stimulate my consciousness. That is a great song, it's definitely heavy enough to motivate and energize me but not ideal for gaining clarity.

[chrisconey]

Originally Posted by Bizarre Jester

This was helpful, thank you. I like the idea of using music to stimulate my consciousness. That is a great song, it's definitely heavy enough to motivate and energize me but not ideal for gaining clarity.

Right. So what you do is, listen to it through once with the volume up, let the music affect you, move your energy into a higher state.

Then once it finished, sit in silence and just observe what happens inside you. Watch your energy change.

Visualisation is just a fancy word for imagination. If you are not a visual person then visualisation for you could mean imagining sounds or feelings rather than images.

The most critical part of manifesting is putting your body in a state where it FEELS like it will feel once the thing has manifested itself, hence the music idea.

Once you've put for your body into a high energy state, you can then sit and imagine that you're in the future and feel this way because the thing you want has manifested itself.

Make sense?

[Cado]

Originally Posted by Bizarre Jester

This was helpful, thank you. I like the idea of using music to stimulate my consciousness. That is a great song, it's definitely heavy enough to motivate and energize me but not ideal for gaining clarity.

Yeah, it did the trick for me at the time because those were the missing elements to the clarity I needed. That's something else which is helpful to keep in mind-clarity is not a static condition, it can mean many different things and occur many different ways depending on the circumstance. The same is true for nearly anything. That's why I always look for the principle underlying the method as the method will need to change while the principle never will.

[Bene]

You're finally talking about true self/ higher self! There is no need for "personal development" when the higher self is already within and knows the best path to wherever we want to be going. Its more about dis-covering... "making the darkness conscious" like Carl Jung said.

[Cado]

Originally Posted by Bene

You're finally talking about true self/ higher self! There is no need for "personal development" when the higher self is already within and knows the best path to wherever we want to be going. Its more about dis-covering... "making the darkness conscious" like Carl Jung said.

It seems more accurate to say it's the beginning of personal development. After all, it's quite challenging to bridge the gap between how you currently perceive yourself and what your best self calls you to.

[chrisconey]

Originally Posted by Illustro Cado

It seems more accurate to say it's the beginning of personal development. After all, it's quite challenging to bridge the gap between how you currently perceive yourself and what your best self calls you to.

Exactly. Because our 'lower self' shall we call it, is often the self created through social and societal conditioning.