“It is the raising of a barbell against gravity, rather than its release into free-fall, that builds the muscles. Likewise, the difficulty of attaining and maintaining positivity and awareness is what builds spiritual strength.
Sugarcoating the truth, or anesthetizing oneself to the truth via selective denial, is like cheating yourself by using lighter weights. Indulging in negativity is like lifting weights incorrectly and causing muscle damage.
But most importantly, there is no substitute for lifting the weight yourself – you cannot pay someone to do it for you. Likewise, only through personal choice to put in the appropriate effort, introspection, contemplation, enlightenment and transformation, can the spiritual muscles be strengthened.”-Tom Montalk
Remember: NOTchoosing is still a choice!
Let’s get to the meat of this article, shall we? Below are several areas of life where progress is 100% dependent onYOUR WILL TO TAKE ACTION. After all, you don’t get in shape by watching other people lift weights; NOW is the time to start lifting for yourself!
Health
The Truth and Nothing But: Nobody can make you chew and swallow anything; YOU are the only one in control of the amazing biological machine that is YOUR body!
Let’s cut to the chase here; you have absolutely nobody to blame for your physical condition, diet, and exercise habits except for yourself. The old saying “You are what you eat” holds more truth than most are aware of. Besides influencing our physiology, the foods we eat and the beverages we consume have the potential to greatly increase or diminish our mood and sense of well being.
Take a look around you; what do you see? When you turn on the news, what are you really looking at? Disease and death left and right. The sad thing is, most of the modern world’s health concerns (at least in the United States) stems from inefficient nutritional education and understanding.
The unfortunate truth is, human beings are creatures of habit by nature. Anything and everything that appears to cut corners, save time, or reduce workload is held in high praise.
“In today’s society (mostly western) consummation of food is practiced as a pleasure activity, a practice of unneeded fat accumulation, an unnecessary addiction. Food is everywhere, and is used as a means for comfort and for immediate pleasure. The TASTE of the food is the most important part, NOT the quality. People in today’s society get pleasure purely from the taste and not of how the food makes their body feel during or after consummation.
And for many, I’m sure, the act of eating food for pleasure becomes even more tempting to use solely for temporarily relief from guilt of not exercising (as we know we should), or feelings of guilt in general, such as anger, depression, anxiety, or any other self-sabotaging, unpleasant emotions.
Our society supports this malicious habit through consumerism and taking advantage of citizen’s stupidity or lack of consciousness. No one, it seems, realizes that consumerism has you by the neck and is influencing you and your animalistic urges, successfully, through advertisements and quick pleasures to allow your ego to drive you instead of your conscious mind and ‘higher brain.’ Once they have you hooked, they’ll continue to make money from you and love you and care for your every ‘need’ (or is it your ego’s every need?). Yes, they are manipulative and evil indeed.”-Jack (HighExistence.com)
The Truth and Nothing But: The more you rationalize away your higher dreams, goals and aspirations as impossible fantasies, the more you will psychologically torture yourself with unfulfilling work. Nobody is stopping you from living the career of your dreams except for YOU.
Perhaps the number one complaint and issue among people in general is money. We never seem to have enough, and all of our hopes and dreams constantly appear to be just out of financial reach. We limit our actions based on the numbers in our bank accounts, and it’s truly unfortunate that more people can’t recognize this as a blatant spiritual trap.
The truth about money is that the harder you think you’re going to have to work for it, the harder your circumstances will appear. This isn’t only true for money, but anything in life. This is why it is absolutely essential that you begin following your passion and figuring out a way to deliver it directly to others for a fair price. If you don’t make the conscious effort to follow your heart, your money situation is always going to appear to be an uphill battle.
This is not to say that merely by following your dreams, your bank account is going to be magically overflowing with excess funds as a result. ACTION is what brings RESULTS, and it’s a lot easier to stay motivated to take the types of actions that create wealth and abundance when those actions are aligned with your deepest, most sincere passions.
And why don’t more people follow their passion? Because they’ve usually bought into a highly oppressive, manipulative belief system brought on by their particular culture/society.
If there’s one article on the internet that can relate to your frustration regarding jobs, employment, and stale careers, it’s Steve Pavlina’s infamous “10 Reasons Why You Should Never Get a Job”. I highly suggest you read this article right now; it’s the single article that’s responsible for kickstarting my drive towards full entrepreneurship and self-employment.
Spirituality/Religion/Beliefs
The Truth and Nothing But: Pictures speak louder than words:
EDIT: I understand that part of this image is cut off; to see the full image above, CLICK HERE.
For the sake of the length of this article, and for speculation reasons, I’m going to leave this section to the above image and let you do the math : )
Relationships
The Truth and NothingBut: People behave and treat you a certain way because YOU consent to it. YOU allow it to continue. YOU are half of the equation, whether you’re conscious of who you associate with or not!
Family is one thing, but friends, acquaintances, and everyone else we associate with on a daily basis can greatly bias our mood and outlook if we are not careful. It is absolutely true that people’s negativity rubs off on you (anyone who works in customer/food service knows what I’m talking about ; )), and if we aren’t careful, our entire day can come crashing down because other people prefer to indulge in drama, speculation, and hearsay instead of productive positivity.
“For example, if a person at work pushes your buttons all the time, not only must first you understand his true nature and thus diffuse the subjective half of the negative emotions you would otherwise generate, but you must also take action and stand up to him or do whatever is necessary to get him to stop attacking you, which then removes the other objective half of your negative emotions by cutting off its external source or removing oneself from it.
It is not enough to only extinguish subjective emotions, because objective negative emotions remain unsolved and not acted upon. Thus, the external provocation remains. Ignoring objective emotions and failing to take well planned action leads to a “turn the other cheek” attitude, a submission to violence, and one remains a victim.
Victimhood is not only a state of mind, but a state of inaction. There are some who think that merely changing one’s mentality removes them from victimhood. Plenty of talk exists about ridding oneself of “victim mentality”, but that is only half of the solution. The other half is to rid oneself of “victim behavior” by not allowing the predator to feed, exploit, or control oneself.”-Tom Montalk
The truth is, nobody can aggravate you, make you sad, or bring you down without YOUR CONSENT. Most people completely miss this, but YOU are HALF OF THE EQUATION! If someone is mistreating you and you know you deserve better, or unfavorable actions continue despite your best and most honest effort, then it’s up to YOU and YOU only to speak up and solve the situation once and for all.
This portion of the article wasn’t written to focus on the negative aspects of relationships, but rather to point out the elements and characteristics which most people ignore, and thus, are directly controlled by. Friendships and romantic relationships add a whole new level of complexity to this game, but the underlying principles of personal action and emotional balance are the keys most are unaware that they possess!
Knowledge/Learning/Education
The Truth and Nothing But: Never stop learning, even when you graduate college! The only wall keeping you from higher understanding is your ego.
Knowledge in our modern society is neatly packaged and sold in universities across the country. In the United States, it goes something like this:
People stress all through high school to get into a good college.
Then they get in, and spend thousands and thousands of dollars on courses and books.
They graduate, and land a career in their field.
They enjoy their new pay raise, buy some cool cars, houses, toys, and gadgets, then stagnate for the rest of their life. Most of what they learned in college is forgotten, and the desire to continue learning is only fueled by the incentive to make more money, to buy more cars, houses and gadgets.
The consequences of materialism and complacency are astoundingly obvious here. The majority of humans on this planet place little to no priority on REAL knowledge, outside of earning a higher pay bracket. As a result, human beings behave and “learn” more like machines or computers than humans.
What can a little self-education do for you? The website you are reading right now is one example of continuing self-education in action. What can you do to keep the ball rolling? Do you really need college to show you the way, or is it YOU who decides what you learn, and for what reasons?
Think about it! Here’s a little more motivation for you, courtesy of the late (but never short on wisdom) Terence McKenna: nobody is smarter than you are!
Conclusion
It is absolutely vital that you begin understanding that your personal progress and evolution is nobody’s responsibility but your own. You cannot pass the buck and expect smooth progress; it simply does not work like that. You can deny responsibility and rationalize your lack of direct personal action all you want; your lack of positive results are a direct consequence of YOURchoice to remain inactive in your personal development and progress.
…So lift the weights that are circumstance, jump those daily obstacles, and start getting in shape for life!
The key to understanding the difficulty and strife we encounter on our way to personal progress and success lies in understanding that our perception is 100% subjective to our own will.
This truth is enough to break the chains of emotional oppression most find themselves subject to on a daily basis.
Achieving Congruency: Aligning Subjective Inner Perceptions with Objective External Reality
What it all boils down to is this:
When we place our focus on the future, or feel remorse and regret about past choices, we effectively disempower ourselves in the one jurisdiction which we have complete and total power and control; the present moment.
By making a conscious effort to remain rooted in the present moment, you effectively interact with physical reality as it actually occurs. When you are honest with yourself and your perceptions, you start to gain traction in the realm of physicality (our physical world), which is dominated by the laws of causality (cause and effect).
When you are facing difficulty and delay, you have the ability to return to the present moment 100% of the time without fail. In doing so, you are reminded that your train of thought is essentially “runaway”, and typically contingent on experiences which may or may not have even come to be yet.
What the above implies is that by staying rooted in the present moment, you are thinking “correctly” about reality, and are consequently able to take the types of actions which will actually garner the results you seek.
Too many people move through life like a ship with no sail; or even worse, they are sailing into the wind 90% of the time without even knowing it. Then, when unfortunate events and circumstances befall them, they naively assume it to be bad luck, misfortune, “punishment” from a higher power, or my personal favorite: “just the way things are”.
This does not dismiss the fact that we all naturally encounter unfortunate and negative situations in life, nor does it attempt to sugar coat and deny them as most New Age literature loves to imply. The key is taking the good with the bad, and recognizing that the bad isn’t really that bad; in most cases, it’s there to teach you something about yourself and how you perceive the world!
A Very Valid Truth: Your Perception v.s. Objective Reality
Now for a little blunt truth:
Yes, our thoughts and emotions can indeed influence and bias reality on the quantum level, but there also does exist a plethora of physical/causal elements that we cannot directly control, no matter how much we wish or intend.
The only thing we have control over in those types of situations is how we are going to react, act, and consequently behave.
Since the only thing we ever have 100% control over is how we think, feel, and consequently behave, personal progress depends heavily on your ability to recognize and apply this core principle.
The truth is, perception is the key to the gate that is experience. Whether your day is fantastic or terrible; perfect or the worst thing possible; your perception is what’s biasing and influencing your deepest psychological triggers.
Ever notice how most financially successful business people suggest rising early, exercising, eating healthy, and working for several hours before most are even awake?
This isn’t some subjective, mystical belief or ritual. What this is actually doing is causing the psychological feedback system that is your mind to subconsciously open up to and integrate positive, strengthening and progressive experiences, which consequently cause said person’s perception to adjust or calibrate to that “frequency” or “flavor” for the remainder of the waking day.
This is precisely why it’s said that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”; how you think, feel and behave as your body wakes up is going to greatly influence the “flavor” your day takes on.
Half The Battle is Becoming 100% Honest with Yourself
The only way to really get a grip on the circumstances that manifest for you in life is to become 100% honest with yourself. You have to recognize that your psychological dispositions (from your parents, upbringing, education (or indoctrination ; ) ), religious biases, and social/cultural programming) ARE NOT TRUE REALITY!
Think about it like this: If your friend does something that really aggravates and pisses you off, does suddenly denying the experience change the fact that it has actually already occurred? Of course not!
This is because…
Reality exists independently of you, regardless of how you choose to think and feel about it. Ironically enough, understanding and integrating this naturally causes you to feel more positive.
Imagine the worst day possible, now remember yourself in the present moment.
Only YOU are experiencing it emotionally, and YOU are the only one who has to deal with it. So WHY put yourself through the grinder?
You aren’t getting recognition from anyone or anything for being an emotional martyr.
You don’t get points for being “tough” and tolerating negative mindsets.
You must break free of this mind trap and consciously recognize that you have a choice on how to think, feel and act, 100% of the time.
Dealing With Downtime and Delays
One of the hardest things to do is to stay positive and motivated for action when you’ve been busting your ass, but have no results to show for it yet. This is where one is really put to the test. Again, perception and keeping a conscious eye on your emotional state is key.
Letting your lack of results cause you to emotionally launch into a downward spiral is neither intelligent nor effective in terms of progress.
Using Bad Days to Your Advantage
Ready for another shocker?
Mentally and emotionally frustrating days can be your greatest ally in terms of personal progress and growth, because they exist to directly identify your behavioral weaknesses. Because of this, you can isolate and consciously work on emotional inconsistencies that are keeping you from taking intelligent direct personal action towards your highest goals and desires.
Conclusion
Perhaps the single biggest hurdle for anyone with goals and aspirations is the indefinite toleration of delay and unfavorable circumstances. The spirit is hammered into shape by the variables of our external world, and if left unchecked, can cause unnecessary detriment to our willpower and aspiration for positive change.
By consciously returning to the present moment, you are reminding yourself of the universal law that is freewill choice. You don’t have to attach specific circumstances with particular emotions, although you may feel obligated to. Social programming is mostly to blame for this, but your birthright ability to choose independently of another is your greatest asset in your personal development toolbox.
The only question is, do YOU have the strength to keep moving forward, even when results have yet to turn in your favor? That was a trick question; of course you do!
Mastering your perception is just like riding a bike. It’s very difficult and almost demotivating for a good while, but then it just clicks, and you wonder how you couldn’t manage before!
…And it all starts with the conscious, objective observation of your ability to choose your next thought, feeling, and action in the present moment!
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget our past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful growing. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and perceive our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay”-Eric Hoffer
Persistence (n): firm continuance in course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”-Winston Churchill
“No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavors and make success impossible.“-Baudjuin
Your ability to tolerate perceived “failures” and set-backs as inconsequential to your final goal/result. It’s the old “Get back on the horse” mantra; try, try again!
Think of it like this:
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would “only attract riffraff.”
At the age of 21, French acting legend Jeanne Moreau was told by a casting director that her head was too crooked, she wasn’t beautiful enough, and she wasn’t photogenic enough to make it in films. She took a deep breath and said to herself, “Alright, then, I guess I will have to make it my own way.” After making nearly 100 films her own way, in 1997 she received the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Perseverance (n): steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
“Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.” - Washington Irving
“There is something to be said for keeping at a thing, isn’t there?”-Frank Sinatra
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” -Mahatma Gandhi
This is a big one; persistence is the ability to keep taking direct positive action, even when the odds appear not to be in your favor, and/or could potentially involve long periods of time before any sort of results occur. It’s the ability to recognize that all actions have consequences, even the ones which are cultural unfavored by the majority.
Think of it like this:
Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times; the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4 years old, and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was “sub-normal,” and one of his teachers described him as “mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.” He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read, and even to do a little math ; )
Babe Ruth is famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career, about which he said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” (John Wooden once explained that winners make the most errors.)
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him “hopeless as a composer.” And, of course, you know that he wrote five of his greatest symphonies while being completely deaf!
Patience (n): the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
Patience is your ability to tolerate inconvenient, uncomfortable and even straight out difficult situations while you move towards your personal goal(s). It’s the ability to understand that the golden moment for you to take that life-changing action will arrive, and involves having conscious awareness to recognize it when it finally shows up at your door. It’s the understanding that anticipation is merely a self-limiting illusion.
When you feel like throwing in the towel because things just aren’t going your way, the virtue of patience becomes your shield. With the deep understanding of patience comes a change in perspective; one that allows you to continue on your path despite how unfair, uneven, or flat out “impossible” your current circumstances may appear to be.
Think of it like this:
When you place your order at a restaurant, do you complain instantly because your meal doesn’t materialize right on your table?
Do you burst into a fit of rage when you plant seeds for your garden, because all your flowers and vegetables don’t instantly pop through the soil, ready for harvest?
Of course not! Yet, this is how most people treat real life experiences. Things always work out, but it’s our personal perception of our reality that causes the irrational emotional bias of impatience. You know that your food is coming and that your plants will grow and flourish; after the initial action (ordering your meal, planting your seeds), it then becomes only a matter of time before your end result manifests itself for you.
So as you can see, things are not always what we perceive them to be. Each and every single moment in time is an opportunity to regain awareness of the present, where all choices reside.
Every nanosecond of existence is a golden opportunity, just waiting for you to turn things around for the better. When patience, persistence and perseverance are working together in balance, they become much more than the sum of their parts.
Conclusion
Every second is a fresh start; we’ve just been culturally indoctrinated to ignore our higher spiritual impulses in favor of shallow, predictable, machine-like behavior.
The time to break the chains of unnecessary self-oppression is NOW. Bring forth love, truth and wisdom with each and every action that you take, and watch how life transforms before your very eyes. The combined strength of patience, persistence and perseverance in the present moment are your keys to a new vista of previously inconceivable opportunity.
“The present has to be our goal, because it is the only thing that exists.”-Unknown Author
Welcome to ThinkNowLiveNow!
Part psychology, part philosophy, ThinkNowLiveNow is a conscious personal development hub designed around helping YOU create long-lasting, positive personal change and fulfillment in your life.
What it all comes down to is this: The only thing keeping YOU from having the money, time and health you truly desire is a string of choices which you are unconsciously avoiding. These aversions are the root cause of your current apathy, depression, anxiety, uncertainty, fear, worry and doubt – and they require courage and conscious awareness to remedy.
Make no mistake: this is NOT your typical personal development website. It’s no coincidence that you found this website at this time. Or perhaps this website found you.
The Mission:
To inspire, motivate and empower YOU towards becoming more consciously aware of your own willpower and choices, so that YOU can begin applying your true potential, serve others directly, and finally begin living the life you are truly meant to live.
Imagine:
All of your fears, worries and doubts about yourself, your abilities, and life in general have been completely dissolved.
You make choices with confidence, then follow through with those choices until the results you intend for manifest and become a reality for you.
No longer do the opinions of others/your culturally/socially influenced emotional perceptions keep you from making choices; your consciousness is far too strong to be influenced by anything other than itself.
With just a little bit of courage and self-discipline, all of this can be a reality for you.
It’s about bettering yourself so you are able to serve others from your highest possible potential. The world needs more high spirited, passionate people such as yourself. Whether you’re aware of it or not, YOU have a skill-set that is completely unique, just waiting to be cultivated and put to positive, constructive use in direct service to others.
The Present Moment is All There Is
“The present: It is interesting that the “NOW” is called the “present.” The present is the ultimate gift; it is the gift of truth and life. You are given the present every second, and you will receive it forever. The present is the only thing that exists, the only thing you are ever conscious of. Your life is a series of presents moving through time. The future does not exist until it becomes the present. Life is one perpetual present.”-TruthContest.com
This is the “golden key” or “the secret” that causes life to “unlock” and “flow” synchronistically from event to event. Conscious awareness of the present – and only true moment in time, coupled with passionate, direct service to others is a sure-fire way to self-improvement and material abundance of the highest possible caliber.
By choosing to become consciously aware of the present moment, you effectively Think Now.
By choosing to take action in the present moment, you effectively Live Now.
Thinking Now and Living Now are all you need to unlock the true gifts of life, and finally achieve the true fulfillment which evades you, no matter how much money you may have in your bank account.
Achieving True Fulfillment
The one thing that everyone on this planet has in common, and the one thing that keeps everyone working so hard (usually doing things they otherwise wouldn’t), is the eternal quest for fulfillment.
Most people chase money, cars, houses and other material items in a never ending quest to quench their thirst for fulfillment. We feel like if we stick it out just a little longer, we will eventually reach “the top of the mountain”, then we can finally start living life the way we want to. This type of behavior may make us feel emotionally secure in the short term, but its ultimately an unstable model to base our lives around.
No matter what you’ve been told, taught and shown, no matter how hard you want to believe, material goods (money, toys, entertainment, etc) will never give you the deep seated fulfillment that you truly seek.
Your bank account will never give you true fulfillment.
The cars in your driveway will never give you true fulfillment.
The hottest/latest clothes and trends will never give you true fulfillment.
Don’t believe me? Just turn on the news and observe any number of Hollywood stars who have more money than they could possibly spend. They have all the cars, houses, toys and accessories any human could ever ask for, and yet, they still turn to drugs to fill the void. This “void” cannot be bought with external material goods. This “void” is the human spirit, waiting to be recognized and applied. Your spirit is smarter than your mind, though most people are far too unconscious to recognize this truth.
Too often people displace themselves by attempting to think and plan into the future, believing that more time, money and freedom lies just over the horizon. Unfortunately, most people don’t recognize this subtle flaw in thinking, and end up caught in an endless circle of materialistic instability.
Living with Passion and Purpose
This all comes from doing what you can and absolutely love doing! There’s absolutely NO TIME to be caught up in unsatisfactory actions and endeavors. Life is far too short to spend your precious time doing anything less than that which fills your spirit with passion and gusto. Following and cultivating your passion is precisely what you need to be doing; for it is this action which will release the floodgates of abundance you have been seeking so inefficiently through sub-par employment and traditional money-making schemes.
You may have been raised to believe that financial security is the most important thing in life, and that once you acquire it, you can relax and start living. You may have been taught that fulfillment comes when you have plenty of money to spend on expensive things. We have all been shown a grossly inaccurate model of reality and life, but we are not to blame. Humans are simply doing what they think is best for themselves and others, however, there IS a better way.
This not only erroneous, but it’s hilariously WRONG! Forget what others have told you about potential and possibility; they are blind to the absolute nature of reality and spirit.
Conclusion
ThinkNowLiveNow is about achieving true fulfillment in life via the active cultivation of conscious awareness to the types of choices we make. All that’s separating YOU from living the type of life that you’ve always dreamed of is a string of consistent choices infused with a little self-discipline and courage.
I’m Jason, and I’m the creator and author of ThinkNowLiveNow. I’m a 24 year old writer and musician from New Hampshire, and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t take traditional education, jobs, or the workforce seriously. Why, you ask?
Because I believeknow we ALL have a higher purpose and potential beyond the extremely limiting, self-reducing and dispassionate nature of what our culture and society tells us is “the right way” to become “successful”!
This sort of thinking has lead me to some very interesting conclusions about myself and others.
In short, I have a serious passion for writing, personal development and growth. Writing helps me grow; it’s just what feels natural to me. I could sit here all day and write about fresh perspectives, empowering ideas, and unbiased observation of reality; so I created this site!
I built this site from the ground up, including all the design, coding, content and graphics. Years of fooling around with HTML and Java have afforded me the opportunity of creating a unique resource without much reliance on external parties. In doing so,I hope to show you just what’s possible with a little willpower and direct personal action.
If you are tired of the way things are, tired of settling for “good enough”, tired of being told that you aren’t smart enough or skilled enough to be rich and/or happy – then this website is for YOU.
I studied creative writing and graphic design for a little bit after high school, but the courses were never really enough to hold my attention or interest. I was more interested in exploring my potential; getting out there and hitting the ground running. It may sound foolish to most, but I can’t imagine any other way of living my life. In time, I will get to where I need to be; not through meeting arbitrary criteria of various institutions and policies, but through my own sheer willpower, direct personal action, persistence and perseverance.
In doing so, I hope to walk the walk and lead by example. This website is a testament to my “mission”; just by reading this, we are already growing together : )
I also happen to think that we spend far too much time on our computers/smartphones. I do my best to make this website stand out by NOT catering to current online trends, and leaning more towards inspiring YOU to take direct personal action towards your goals, instead of just sitting around on the computer reading about it. This site is a catalyst for action as well as contemplation.
Needless to say, this is NOT your typical personal development site/blog.
You will notice that I update and add content on a sporadic basis, as I’m usually busy working towards my own goals – away from the computer. I suggest YOU start thinking of ways to reduce your reliance on passive living, and start taking action NOW!
This site is a direct representation of my own personal growth and development. Consequently, this site is going to change and adapt over time. This is to be expected in the field of personal development; new features and additions will undoubtably appear in the future, as the site expands to accommodate more and more consciously empowering material.
When I’m not writing for ThinkNowLiveNow, I’m busy making/playing music with my various projects, studying physics, metaphysics, psychology, ontology and cosmology, tending to my vegetable plants, exercising, or expanding my massive collection of classic 8 and 16-bit video games – yes, I’m a retro-gaming guru!
I could write pages and pages to catch you up to speed on my life, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to let you get to know me in a much more direct and personal way; through my writing and my content. Why tell you about myself when I could show you first hand?
Drop me a line; I do my best to answer each and every question/suggestion that comes my way! So what are YOU waiting for? Let’s start growing together!
“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Conscious personal development is perhaps the deepest, most satisfying form of personal growth possible. It’s about taking back control of your life, and consciously making the choices necessary to make your goals, dreams and aspirations a reality. By having the courage to consciously recognize and follow through with these initially uncomfortable choices, we allow ourselves to grow. Just like a body builder can only progress by applying heavier weights, so too must we apply ourselves by taking on progressively challenging choices.
“The journey to happiness involves finding the courage to go down into ourselves and take responsibility for what’s there; all of it.” -Richard Rohr
Make no mistake; most people are incredibly unconscious. Even worse, many claim they are more conscious than they truly are. The only way to experience true long-lasting positive change is to humble yourself and become honest about your deepest fears and insecurities.
These deep-seated emotional biases are the only things which are keeping YOU from taking the types of actions necessary to change your life, so it is imperative to cut them off at the root. As a result, everything else “shifts”, your perception expands, and you consciously evolve!
If you find yourself easily influenced and persuades by others, despite knowing deep down that what you feel is right, this site is for YOU! Understand that it’s foolish to allow others to influence your decisions and course of action. Through conscious understanding, you learn just why the opinions of others become invalid in regards to your path. Nobody can stop you but YOU.
Life = Emotional Learning Lessons
We are emotionally addicted to the very things which hold us back.
“Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security found.” -Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Suppose you want to lose some weight. The traditional route would have you changing your diet and exercise, which will indeed produce some short-term results for you. However, as time goes on, you find yourself slipping back into bad eating habits. What’s going on here?
The truth is, dieting and exercise are only alleviating the symptoms of your problem, not the ROOT issue.
The root of your eating habits isn’t that your diet and exercise aren’t sufficient, but your deep seated, unconscious emotional bias (influence, attachment) towards the excessive consumption of unhealthy foods.
In simple terms: you unconsciously get satisfaction/ease anxiety by indulging in unhealthy foods. If you didn’t get some sort of feedback from the behavior, you wouldn’t continue doing it. Your body’s emotional response to your actions reinforces a bad habit, and we become addicted to this feeling just like any drug.
Understand that the only thing preventing YOU from living the kind of life you truly desire is a deep seated, emotional belief/bias that has been grafted on to you through various forms of culture, conditioning, and upbringing.
These programmed perceptions form emotional biases which cause us to assume and reinforce false limitations upon ourselves.
Though we are not entirely to blame for this, YOU are the only one who can choose to consciously understand and integrate these fears, worries and doubts into strengths. This is the purpose of conscious personal development; to work through our fears, worries and doubts NOT with delusional positive thinking, but by solving the root issue of our problems with conscious awareness, and by taking direct personal action to change our behavior so our new results can manifest themselves.
Take Intelligent Action!
Results can only occur via action. Right now, at this very moment, you are taking direct personal action towards changing your life just by choosing to read this material and visit this site. Now, imagine what you could accomplish if fear, worry and doubt regarding a particular outcome had NO INFLUENCE WHATSOEVER on your choices? What could you accomplish? Are you starting to understand just how subtle and powerful the true nature of our emotions are?
Person A:“Hey! Why don’t you start that small gardening business! Your ideas are great; people would love your products and services!”
Person B:“Yeah, but I’m just afraid that it’s not worth the effort. Putting in all that time and money, what if nobody comes to my stand? What if I just look like a fool standing out there with all my vegetables? I’d better just stick to my job at the produce market for now; at least that’s secure!”
Does this sound familiar to you? Can you see how fear, worry and doubt literally control and restrict our decision making abilities? Not just fear of failure, but fear of future outcome. Allowing negative emotions to control your ability to choose is not intelligent.
But there is a way out, and it’s hiding right behind your eyes!
And All That’s Required is A Little Courage and Self-Discipline
“Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.”-Goethe
Now for a little tough love; living consciously is NOT easy! And this is precisely why so many people prefer to take the safe route of ignorance and denial. Only YOU can choose to better yourself, and for your own reasons. It will be hard, exhausting and emotionally challenging; but that is the very purpose of your existence!
“Suffering is not a punishment – it is a result.”-Robert Green Ingersoll
“Happiness is not a reward – it is a consequence.”-Unknown Author
All that you need to start turning your life around for the better is a little courage to start making better choices, and then the self-discipline to stick them out until your results manifest for you. Most people are extremely impatient and un-discipline, and it’s no wonder why they don’t progress much in life. Life is an exciting journey of opportunity and wonder for those with the courage to live consciously.
The Present Moment is All There Is
All the choices you’ve ever made – and will ever make – occur (and can only occur) in the present moment.
Displacing your awareness into the future and worrying about a particular outcome is a misuse of your conscious energy, and is an activity that keeps many locked in their present situation indefinitely.
This site is going to streamline the process of cultivating the courage and self-discipline necessary so YOU can start moving towards the life you are truly meant to life, starting right NOW! By Thinking NOW, you can effectively live NOW.
“I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving; to reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
So, what will YOU choose? Do you have the courage to take the first step towards a better life for yourself? Everything begins with choice, and your next choice very well could be the one that spawns the chain of consequences that lead you from your current strifes and frustrations to a life of happiness, abundance and fulfillment.
Freewill choice is your bestowed ability to choose independently of another person/being. How YOU think, feel and act in this life is 100% under your control,regardless of what other people think, say or do in regards to you and your ownchoices.
And while this may sound simplistic, most people are extremely unaware of the true nature and power of this principle. Freewill choice affects ALL dimensions of our experience; from our thoughts and emotions (ranging from how we think and feel about any particular thing/circumstance), to our actions (what we DO to make our intentions actually occur); our entire experience is contingent on the quality, intention and consistency of the choices we make.
Since choice is the fundamental principle of growth, it’s probably a good idea to establish a strong foundation on the topic. Doing so will give you a much better understanding of how your current circumstances relate to your goals and aspirations, and will provide a holistic “big picture” from which to work with.
The Big Picture: Thought, Emotion and Action
Personal development as a whole can be broken down or reduces to three “big picture” umbrella principles that act to simplify and streamline the process. A brief definition and function of each is as follows:
Thought
The initiator of choice. Nothing can take place until it enters our minds, and we either choose to act or react to any given circumstance in life. And although the nature of our thoughts can be heavily influenced by circumstance, as well as the opinions/words of others, it is ultimately us who choose to allow these things to either impede or assist our growth.
This is the prime example of the subtlety of freewill choice in action; choosinghow to think is the first step out of the darkness that is ignorance towards the light of progress and abundance.
Thought is the first step in the chain of command for personal growth. Once a thought has been chosen, it begins to influence and resonate with the next step in the process.
Emotion
Emotions are the fuel for our actions. It helps to think of thoughts as the pallet from which we choose,/strong> to base our perception, with emotion being a natural consequence of choosing to think any particular way. Once the emotional center is activated, we will feel a strong urge to take action, react to a stimulus in our environment, or cease to take action.
Emotion is the second stage in the process of personal growth, and it is vital since it can either make or break our ability to follow through with the next principle.
Action
One of the most fundamental truths – not just in regards to personal development – is the fact that no results can occur without action. You cannot make lemonade without preparing lemons, ice, and sugar. Likewise, you cannot progress unless you have all the proper ingredients ready.
Just as thought influences emotion,,/strong> so does emotion influence our ability to take effective action. If we allow ourselves to feel hopeless, negative and victimized, our emotional centers will reinforce this choice of perception, and our desire (and our ability) to take action to change our situation will be greatly diminished.
Think about this for just a second: how many times have you personally avoided getting something done because you “didn’t feel like it” today? How often do you not “feel” like doing something, no matter how beneficial it may be? Are you starting to understand how crucial our moods and emotions become in regards to personal growth and progress?
Thought → Emotion → Action: The Trinity of Personal Growth
Thought affects and influences our emotions, which in turn affects and influences our actions. This is the chain of personal progress in action. Becoming consciously aware of just these three principles affords YOU, much leverage when it comes to overcoming the very things which hold you back at this point in time. When all three are functioning and in balance, personal progress arises naturally as a result.
Do you see how each step affects the next, and how each step is integral to the whole?
Do you see how freewill choice occurs at each step, and greatly determines the integrity and function of the one following it?
The Thought/Emotion/Action trinity is a prime example of freewill choice in action, and it goes much deeper.
Since the goal of this site is to shed light on the aspects of personal development that others either marginalize or ignore, I’m going to offer you an even closer look into the function of freewill choice. One that affects and encompasses the above three principles in their totality; the choice of perception. By doing so, you are going to see just how all of this fits neatly into the umbrella trinity above.
The Choice of Perception: The Origin of The Nature of Freewill Choice
Thinking, feeling and acting a certain way is all a result of our perception. How we perceive the world directly influences how we think and feel at any given moment. The world around us, as well as all of our experiences, are completely neutral in their function and occurrence. What is NOT neutral is how we choose to perceive these experiences.
What scares the pants off of one person very well may cause laughter in another, and what one finds life-threatening or serious can appear hilariously trivial to a second party. The main difference between the way people will initially think and feel about any given circumstance/experience is…can you guess? That’s right, choice of perception.
Choice of Thought
Have you ever stopped to think about why you think the way you do? Does life in general make you feel overwhelmed or excited? Do new challenges excite you, or do they feel more like burdens and chores than opportunities for progress? HowYOUchooseto think about life in general is going to heavily influence the tone of your experiences.
Choosing to Think Negatively (In General) About Life Experiences Will:
Greatly bias your outlook and cause you to miss blatant opportunities right in front of you which are meant to assist you in your personal growth.
Cause everything to appear problematic and heavily resistant to your intentions, even when they are of a positive nature.
Directly affect the nature of your experiences by cascading down and influencing your emotional center, and finally affecting your ability to take action. You won’t feel much like changing the world when you are plagued by inner turmoil and in-congruency.
This in turn will create experiences which cause you to further justify your negativity, sealing yourself into the ignorance trap which can be remedied at any moment simply by consciously choosingto think differently than before.
Choosing to Think Positively (In General) About Life Experiences Will:
Greatly bias your outlook and cause you to see plain as day the opportunities for circumstantial and material assistance which are blatantly there to assist you in your personal growth.
Cause everything to appear synchronistic and fluid in nature, with life experiences appearing to “fall perfectly into place” as if there was a “higher plan” unfolding for you moment by moment.
Directly affect the nature of your experiences by cascading down and influencing your emotional center, and finally affecting your ability to take action. The world becomes your playground when you are mentally calibrated for progress!
In turn, this will cause experiences which justify your positivity, and reinforce your positive choices of action.
Do you see how each of us literally chooses the course and nature of our own experiences? The only difference between the first and second group is the origin of choice of perception in choosing to think positive rather than negative – even when our current circumstances give us absolutely no reason to do so!
Remember: The greatest trap for most is the erroneous assumption that we have to think and feel a certain way about life. Nobody is commanding the nature of your thoughts and emotions; YOU are the one in control here! Everything, is choice.Allresults are a consequence ofYOURchoice of action.
The first step of the chain is perhaps the most vital, since it sets the stage for the rest of the process. Being consciously aware of the nature of your own thoughts is the first step to changing your situation for the better.
The ONE Key Thing That 95% of People Forget/Ignore/Miss
Ready for the hilariously ironic part? Despite what most insist upon, we each have complete and total control over how we think, feel and act in regards to ANY and ALL experiences in life, regardless of the nature of our circumstances!
Do you realize just how liberating and empowering this is?!
Do you understand that you DO NOT have to think and feel a certain way about certain things, just because you are expected to and/or everyone else does?
Can you now see how most people are ignorant of their own freewill choice on how to perceive reality, and thus by default end up choosing not to choose – which is STILLachoice?!
Are you starting to see how the only thing really holding you back from actively pursuing your potential and living the life you were meant to live is nothing more than illusory, culturally programmed ways of perceiving reality?
Most people are slaves to their given culture and society; we have enough of those people. What this world needs is more consciously aware human beings such as yourself! And staying conscious of the variables which directly affect our future opportunities and results is the key to maintaining consistency in choice of action.
DO NOT FORGET:
Consistency of results (the very thing(s) which you seek to change/create) are dependent on consistency of choice of action.
Consistency in choice of action is dependent on consistency of choice of emotion.
Consistency in choice of emotion is dependent on consistency of choice of thought.
And consistency in choice of thought is dependent on consistency in awareness of choice of perception.
Conscious awareness of choice is the ultimate key to personal growth, progress, actualizing our potential, and living the life we’ve always dreamed of!
At any given moment, you are consciously aware of something. That which you are consciously aware of defines your perimeter of focus. You can only focus on one thing at a time, therefore it becomes imperative to your personal growth that you start becoming aware of what it is you are currently spending your time focusing on.
Since consistency of choice is the true key to progress, understanding the nature of distraction, how to cope and overcome it, and how focus plays a role in this is a fantastic place for new-comers to start!
How Does Focus Assist Us In Personal Development?
Imagine:
You are able to stop and uproot issues as they occur, becoming consciously aware of the very thoughts, emotions and actions which are preventing you from progressing.
Your focus of consciousness is centered on your growth; everything else is secondary.
As a result of this, you enjoy laser-precise (the direct opposite of indecision) decision making which is congruent with and satisfies your highest mental, emotional, and physical (actionable)desires.
Because you are taking the right types of actions over and over, you are enjoying an abundance of results as a consequence.
Just as with our emotions, our focus can either hold us back indefinitely, or propel us to previously inconceivable heights. Since becoming consciously aware of our thoughts, emotions and consequently actions is integral to personal development, cultivating strong focus becomes imperative to this process. Without focus, all of the above will appear as fleeting and temporary, contingent on circumstance.
Why Conscious Focus is Essential to Personal Development
Having conscious focus is analogous to having a hand to turn on the light switch in a dark room. Most people don’t even realize they are living in the dark, let alone in a room of their own creating. By turning on the light, we can see plain as day how our perceptions are biased, and thus effect our ability to choose, and consequently take action for the better.
Remember:
Results cannot occur without action, and you won’t feel much like taking the types of action necessary for true, long-term change if your mental and emotional centers are constantly in flux.
Most people are already very unaware of the influence their own thoughts and emotions have on their choices of action. Cultivating conscious focus is the first true step to getting ahead of the majority of people on this planet, who are essentially sleep-walking, talking machines who’s entire decision making process is controlled by external circumstance.
We have enough machines; what we need are more conscious human beings. Do yourself (and everyone around you) a favor, and start harnessing your focus!
The True Value and Benefit of Focus
The more you are able to concentrate and focus on any given task, the better and more thorough you will be able to perform it. Take this very article, for instance. If I allowed myself to browse the internet while writing this, it would be very inconsistent and weak. Because my focus was divided, neither task is done as good as it could be.
Unfortunately, this analogy applies to habits that most people unconsciously adopt for life.
Things such as excessive cellphone use (texting and calling), internet and television cause abrupt breaks in cognitive cycles, keeping the individual from ever really having consistent thought patterns. Everything just becomes about neurotic checking back, creating a whole new list of issues that are based entirely in choice. Can you start to see how even a small lack of self-discipline is what causes people to give in to emotional impulse and remain trapped indefinitely?
How Can We Cultivate and Strengthen Our Focus?
Conscious focus is just as much a mental act as it is physical, and requires an ample amount of energy to sustain. Do not let this deter you, however, as focus is just like any muscle in the body. With practice, your focus is going to increase and strengthen. A healthy, well-rounded diet will absolutely make this process easier to sustain, but you don’t have to be a health freak to enjoy the benefits of solid conscious focus (however, cutting down on high-sugar and artificial, chemically-ridden food is a great start : ) ).
Meditate!
Simple meditation is enough to start training your center of focus to become more conscious, absolute, and consistent. It’s no secret that distraction is a result of insufficient focus (which cascades down and directly affects our willpower and motivation). Therefore, tackling the root issue is the most intelligent, effective and time efficient approach.
I was skeptical at first, but after adding a brief 15 minute meditation to my morning routine, I have since experienced a heightened sense of clarity, emotional well-being, and of course my ability to focus on tasks has gone through the roof.
You don’t need to pay someone to give you lessons, climb the mountains of Nepal and meet with a guru, or have years of experience under your belt to enjoy the many benefits meditation can bring. All you need to do is find a quite, comfortable spot where you can be alone to focus your mind for 15 minutes.
For those new to meditation, a great article on the topic can be found at HighExistence.com
The Thought → Emotion → Action trinity affords much perspective and practicality in regards to streamlining the process of personal development and growth. However, by delving slightly deeper into each element, we can see just how each influences the others, as well as precisely why, when in proper balance, the trinity becomes more than the sum of its parts. What follows is a highly practical, usable every day working model for conscious personal development.
Thought = Focus
We previously discussed the ins and outs of focus (which can be found here for those who may have missed it), but the important thing to remember is that it all begins within the domain of thought. How we choose to think about any given circumstance in life is going to directly affect how and where we place our level of conscious focus. Since we can only focus on one particular thing at any given moment, that which currently holds our attention is going to directly influence our emotional centers.
This is why the key to effective personal development starts in the mind; how we choose to think and feel about ourselves and our world has a larger influence on our experiences than many may be ready to admit or acknowledge.
In order to escape the frustration, strife, confusion and negativity of our old ways of behavior, we need to start at the root of their cause; thought. By becoming aware of yourself in the present moment, and consciously choosing to think positive thoughts -even when your external reality gives you no direct reason to- you initiate a new chain of causality. This time, however, it is of a conscious rather than mechanical/reactive nature.
By striving and practicing the habit of becoming consciously aware of yourself in the present moment, you are already leaps and bounds ahead of most people!
Emotion = Intent
We’ve mentioned that emotions are the fuel for action. Therefore, the intention of our emotional state becomes the gasoline for the engine that is our body. Our emotions have great influence on what we feel like we are capable of doing and/or achieving at any particular moment. Hypothetically, if you could condition and train yourself to feel nothing except positive emotion – no matter what the circumstance – you would constantly remain open to incredible synchronistic opportunities for personal growth.
For the hypothetical person in the example above, the choice to remain positive in regards to life represents their intention. You must choose to think positive about your goals while simultaneously and consciously intending that they occur. This is NOT the same thing as wishful thinking, because this actually influences the probability of these events occurring rather than ignoring counter evidence.
Willpower = Action
Willpower is your level of interest/enthusiasm in taking a particular action. Without willpower, none of your goals and desires can manifest, because you won’t feel like taking the action necessary to make them a reality. This is an integral part of the trinity; if our thoughts aren’t of a positive nature, our emotions will likewise be incongruent and we won’t feel much like taking any action out of the ordinary. This is a dangerous position to be in!
Willpower is perhaps the number one thing most people struggle with (along with self-discipline) when it comes to making personal progress. Many know what they want, but it often requires getting overly upset to the point of becoming pissed off to finally gain the courage to make a change. Notice how even when anger becomes the catalyst for action, it’s still an emotional catalyst.
Emotion will ALWAYS be your fuel for action; we are just able to take more intelligent actions when we are calm, collected and positive.
Fortunately, one of the best ways to increase your motivation and willpower is to simply start taking direct action right now. You don’t need to have a huge, elaborate plan worked out in advance; just start taking whatever action you are capable of at this point in time, and eventually through your efforts you are going to start feeling a mental, emotional and physical “resonance”.
For instance, when I sit down to write each morning, I typically have a very vague idea of what I will be organizing and discussing. I may have a couple of topics or ideas, but nothing takes shape until I just start writing about something. Next thing I know, 20 minutes have passed, I’m warmed up, and ideas are flowing like butter. Had I allowed my initial state of indecision (emotional uncertainty) to control my actions, I would just be constantly staring at a blank screen in OpenOffice.
Conclusion
You can apply this same example to just about anything in life. I hope that you are starting to understand how all personal development and progress can be reduced down to three simple umbrella elements, when in balance, are much easier and practical to maintain over longer periods of time. And since growth is about consistency in the types of choices we make every day of our lives, a practical long-term strategy such as this one is optimal.
Regardless of whatever source you may have received guidance from previously, ALL personal development can be condensed and reduced down into 3 “Big Picture” Umbrella Categories:
Thought → Emotion → Action
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it’s expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”-Elanor Roosevelt
The Truth is, Life is a series of choices.
Over time, the choices we make collectively form the nature of our present circumstances. Whether aware of it or not, choice is precisely why things are the way they are for you, right now. All of your present freedoms, as well as limitations (barring any hereditary/medical dispositions, of course!), are a direct consequence of a series of choices made by YOU.
Accepting 100% Responsibility for Your Choices
You may have been coerced by fear, worry, and doubt via the words and actions of others, but YOU are the only one truly responsible for allowing these things to influence your decision making. YOU are the only one responsible for your choice of action.
While this may initially seem daunting, rest easy; the very thing which causes you so much strife and frustration is the very thing that will lead you to the life that, deep down inside, you’ve always known you were meant to live.
Don’t forget,choosingnot to choose is still a choice!
Most people fall prey to this trap, but consequence of choice can never be circumvented, only redirected.
Conclusion
The only thing keeping you from having the money, time and health you truly desire is a string of choices which you are unconsciously avoiding. These aversions are the root of your personal growth, and they require courage and conscious awareness to remedy.
