Becoming more autonomous, independent,and self-actualized

> Question: What do you think are the most important steps to become autonomous, independent,and self-actualized in life?

Answer:

  The most important are:

1) Distinguishing between:

  A - Limiting beliefs, ego-based biases and desires, social programming, biological programming, artificially induced thoughts.

  B - True intuition, the heart of your soul, your true Self, the higher part of you, truth, wisdom, resonance, innate spiritual intelligence.

  You have to know the true from false impulses within you, otherwise you’ll think you’re ‘following the heart’ but are actually following a false lead.

  As you identify which is which, it’s all about living more and more from B instead of A.

2) Contemplation:

  - Reflecting on your daily/life experiences and what they can teach you.

  - Studying/researching worthwhile material and really thinking them through.

  - Observing and thinking about yourself, your problems, your reactions, your weaknesses, etc. and how to tackle them.

  - Thinking about your skills, abilities, heart-based desires, and what to do to express them more freely.

  - Reflecting on unanswered questions, paradoxes, mysteries, problems to resolve.

  This is how you evolve, teach, and grow yourself through introspective feedback. We have self-awareness and sentience, and this is how we use it.

3) Living daringly and honestly:

  - To follow the path that your (true) heart compels you.

  - To walk away from situations that are killing you.

  - To make choice you own and can live with.

  - To take leaps of faith when appropriate.

  - To live without spiritual regrets.

  - To confront and overcome your ego-based fears.

  - To accumulate meaningful experience.

  - To put your wisdom and intuition and intelligence into practice and live it.

  This is the hardest and scariest part, and you need wisdom/discernment to not just be a gullible fool following the irrational whims of the ego. The ego isn't bad, it's just dumb and limited.

  This is the practice of "living more and more from B instead of A."

4) Mind over Matter:

  - To know that your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, mindset, attitude, outlook, etc. not only color what you perceive, but also shape what experiences/people you attract in life.

  - That you can and should resist giving into self-destructive, limiting beliefs and moods that are distortions of reality, because they will otherwise distort physical reality into seemingly confirming those mental distortions. When they do, this creates a malicious feedback loop between mind and reality that can result in an eventual nightmarish meltdown of both.

  - That what you focus on most, you help bring into being. Note, this doesn’t mean that ignoring something keeps it from happening, only that being preoccupied with something increases its chances of happening.

Hope that helps.

- Tom