How to become the smartest person around in the new millennium

One of the early steps along the path to enlightenment and transcendence (those terms have specific meanings in my vocabulary) is the necessity to unlearn everything you know.

There are several good anecdotes and altruisms about this. One of my favorites is the one about the government official who visits a professor. The professor pours the man some tea; and when the tea reaches the top of the cup, the professor just keeps on pouring.

"It's full! No more will go in," the official blurts out.

"So it is," the professor observed. "How can you learn when your cup is already full? Come back to me when your cup is empty."

Wayne Dyer provided one of my favorite altruisms. He tells how we elevate ignorance to the level of cultural icon.

"The truth is the truth until an institution get ahold of it; then it becomes a lie because the institution becomes more important than the truth." - Wayne Dyer

Religions, governments, and corporations use this device to keep us in line to do their will. A religion erects icons and buildings honoring a person as the one true God (our culture now capitalizes the word "God"), while that same person teaches us to stop worshiping gods (icons). The government preserves the peace by conducting unceasing war. Corporations provide only what brings the greatest profit – including addictive sugar – and neglect what brings the greatest good.

People believe human beings are mechanical beings – bones wearing muscle suits – while science shows we are energy beings with a physical aspect.

Many of our fundamental, modern assumptions are wrong; and perhaps the greatest challenge to human existence is our comfort with the idea that we know certain things. Yet, we are beginning to see a shift in human consciousness from a violent adolescent civilization. We are becoming conscious that we individuals are integrated with everything and everyone around us. Each of us is not a body, but 50 trillion cells working in cooperation. We are not nations, but 7 billion humans caring for one another.

"In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are few." – Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." – Alvin Toffler

"When any real progress is made, we unlearn and learn anew what we thought we knew before." – Henry David Thoreau

"Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting something go every day." – Zen Proverb

Why I quit my job on the third day

Have you ever quit a job and walked out without giving any notice? What caused you to leave so urgently?

For me, it was a toxic boss.

When I get asked to interview for the job, I assume two things:

1) I already know this is a company I want to work for.

2) The company has reviewed my resume and believes I have the right stuff to do the job.

With those assumptions behind me, I’m interviewing the boss to see if I want to work for him/her. I’m asking about culture and relationships with coworkers, and who’s important to know. In short, am I going to feel comfortable working here? (Note that I am not trying to prove my worth or convince them to hire me. I’m past that. I’m trying to find out, are they good people to work with?)

On the second day of a new job, the boss came in to see me, and she was totally bonkers, put me in a dark office with flickering lights and an old wobbly chair, gave me no help settling in, and made me look for my own equipment to use. A couple of co-workers came in to console me and told me that, “She’s just like that.”

I slept on it overnight. The third day, I pleasantly thanked the boss and the two consolers, packed up my stuff and walked out. I left a nice letter to my boss’s boss, explaining why I left.

As an employee, it is not my job to fix the boss, adjust her attitude or teach her how to orient and motivate new employees. (I now charge $500 monthly retainer to coach an executive.) I didn’t trust this boss; so, I figured that, if things start out bad, don’t expect them to get better.

Compassion: An end to the same old mistakes

Dudjom Rinpoche

"Altruism is the path of beings of great potential. Therefore, train yourself in deeds of virtue, and do it on a grand scale. Shoulder the responsibility of freeing all beings from samsāra. No teaching is more profound than the practice of compassion." - Dudjom Rinpoche 

When I am anchored in the peace of the Universe, I see how the angry person is triggered by the projection of their own darkness, a shadow of themselves that they paint on me. So, I am not triggered by their anger.

I see it for what it is: The shadow of their own trauma and their unmet need for healing love. I can choose to walk away from negative people, but these days I am stable enough and centered in spirit enough that I can let them process their samsāra on me. 

And afterward, I feel good about myself for having helped another person working through their samsāra. –Christopher  

Samsāra - a Sanskrit word that means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to how we repeatedly find ourselves in the same situations that cause us the same problems over and over again, until we learn the lesson of the situation and resolve the struggle in our hearts. –C 

Your Soul Plan

Half-witticism #364: Ignoring makes life peaceful?

“The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.” – GratitudeHabitat.com

Another  overgeneralization. Another half-witticism being passed off as enlightened wisdom. 

Sorry, but sometimes I just have a problem with letting the long parade of half-witticisms on social media continue without some attempt at clarification. 

Some "negative" people are depressed or anxious because of some trauma they've experienced. Then, the peace-making thing to do is to LISTEN. The sooner they are allowed to process their experience with someone who is sincerely LISTENing, the less damage happens and the faster they recover. Usually they have to pay someone to listen, and that shouldn't oughta be.

In the case where you are sensitive to negativity in others, then YOU need someone to LISTEN to you, to make a safe space for you to be heard and process your sensitivities and traumatic experiences.

If you are sensitive, you may have to protect yourself from overload on negativity. A sensitive person may benefit from distance - physical or psychological - avoidance or totally ignoring. (Partial ignoring doesn't work.)

If a person behaves or speaks negatively a lot, you cannot end their negativity with less responses. That is proven to not work because any response at all serves to reinforce their behavior. If they are getting any response at all, they will increase the frequency and intensity of the behavior until they get the desired level of response. Less response does not equal more peace.

The only way to end negative behavior and speech in another person is to totally ignore them when they are misbehaving, AND immediately reinforce them when they exhibit positive behavior, immediately returning to ignoring as soon as the negative behavior reappears. Totally ignoring an undesirable behavior is called "extinguishing." This is the only proven way to end negative behavior in another, and then, only when consistently used.

So, obviously, it's not anywhere near as simple as "less response = more peace."

In fact, everybody is "negative" at times. When they are suffering, are we to give them "less response?"

Instead, we might say, "When you're feeling sensitive, avoid negative people." Or "When you encounter a negative person, try to give them a safe space to be heard if you're able." Or "When someone is perpetually negative, avoid or ignore them to extinguish the behavior."

But, if you want to publish altruisms, please make sure they're at least true. Guiding people to make generalized ignorant and inappropriate responses is harmful. 

- Christopher

P.S. Really. I think I'll start a regular column called Half-Witticism, there are so many out there. 

The Word Cage Breakout

What are some ways to improve your health that nobody talks about?

Do people talk about health? I thought they only talked about their latest illness or injury.

However, if you want to prevent illness and injury – yes, and injury – here are some things to do.

1.       Stop eating sugar. Sugar is poison. Sugar is the primary cause of cancer, although there are many secondary causes. Sugar causes cancer to grow. Sugar is addictive, causing cravings and more hunger. Sugar destroys the gut biome that creates your immune system, thus, weakening your immune system. Sugar burns off the trace minerals in your body, which causes cravings that are hard to satisfy. Cut out all sugar. Minimize carbohydrates in general, especially sugar, grains and root vegetables.

2.       Fasting. When you eat, your cells feast and enter into growth mode: they reproduce. When you fast, after 18 hours your cells go into maintenance and repair mode (healing injury and illness). This mode intensifies from about 18 hours of fasting, and then tapers off until about 36 hours of fasting. After that, you begin to lose weight. Why don’t more people know about fasting?

3.       Exercise is essential. At minimum, walk 30 minutes per day. Three times a week, trade off your walk for 15 minutes of intensity training: run and walk. Add in some strength training two or three times a week. I guess people talk about that, but too often they sit at their desk for hours without exercise. So, get up and away from your desk for 5 minutes every hour: March, bringing your knees up high. Dance!

4.       Supplements. The majority of our food is grown in soil that is depleted of most nutrients, especially micro-nutrients. They put nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer on the ground to make things grow … because the soil is depleted. The problem is that, fertilizer tends to further burn off the micro-nutrients. So, it’s important to supplement with the 68 essential nutrients. Missing just one of these can hurt your wellbeing. Many Americans suffer cramps or restless legs because they aren’t getting enough magnesium. Study up and learn which supplements your body is telling you you’re low on.

5.       Meditate. According to a U.S. Surgeon General, 85% of illness can be traced back to stress. Here’s the well-kept secret: When you are stressed, you are distracted and much more likely to suffer an injury. So, practice stress relief. Meditation works wonders. It also allows you to become aware of the subtle energies that flow through your body. (Cells work biochemically, but they also have cilia that act as antennae and communicate via electricity and electromagnetic biofield. Cells also have microtubules that transmit electricity and photons. It’s good to learn how to sense where the energy flow is blocked or bottle-necked; and pain, hot and cold spots, illness and injury are a good indicator of where. Learn how to open the flow.) Also, walking in nature works wonders for stress relief. It’s kinda meditative.

Blessings! - Christopher

Four things you should cut out of your life if you are depressed or anxious ... Plus the key to defeat depression and anxiety for good

Many people experience depression on a regular basis and don't know what to do about. Here are four things to stop doing because they contribute to depression.

1. Cut out sugar. Sugar burns up vitamins and minerals in your body, especially trace minerals. It gives you a temporary high - about an hour, and then it makes you feel bad, depressed and anxious. Try a low-carb or a keto diet. For anxiety, also cut out all caffeine. 

2. Stop doing nothing. Sitting around leads to more sitting around. Getting moving leads to more moving. Exercise is one of the best ways to beat depression and work off anxiety. Get out and at least walk a half hour every day. Running is great! 

3. Stop dwelling on all the bad things. You have control over what you think, but you're probably thinking too much about bad things, so much that it becomes a habit. It’s a habit that makes you feel helpless, worthless and tired. Here’s what to do: Identify your favorite thing to do, you favorite place to be and your favorite real person to be around. Every time you catch yourself thinking about bad things, deliberately change your thinking to the good thing. This can be hard at first simply because you have the bad habit, and changing your habits is always tough at first. But as soon as you catch yourself thinking about a sad/bad thing, change it to your happy thing. Then, get up (No. 2 above) and to do that favorite thing in your favorite place with your favorite person.

4. Give up watching television or computer. Research has shown a direct correlation between time spent watching the screen and depth of depression. More screen time = more depression. Less screen time = less depression. Turn it off, and do the solutions to No. 2 and No. 3 above. Run. Go hang out with people. Go someplace you love.

Also, people who watch TV tend to watch the news, and the news is always and intentionally depressing and anxious-making. Why would you watch that? I know a guy who is addicted to FOX News, and complains about his depression all the time. But he won’t give it up. 

Okay, if you cut out these things, it will help. But if you want to beat depression and anxiety, you want to beat its root cause. If you fix the root cause, your depression and anxiety will fade away. 

Here's the key: I find that the root cause of all depression and anxiety is people are "not being who they really are." They are faking their life. They are putting on a mask for others. They’re trying to be somebody who wins approval.

It's easy to deny this to yourself, but notice the times when you feel uncomfortable about doing something with somebody but you do it anyway. Also, notice the times you don't do something you want to do.

Also, start noticing the things that make you happy. Do the things you love more often. Get a job doing what you love. Get a hobby doing what you love. Pursue the joy!

Here's the solution: 

Most depression and anxiety can be reversed by always telling the truth. It's hard to do at first, because people want you to continue being who you've always been (a people pleaser). They'll raise hell because you start standing up for what you really want. They'll throw everything and the kitchen sink at you, and then they'll throw the refrigerator at you, trying to get you to be who they always thought you were.

When the voice in your head becomes louder than the voices from outside, you'll be happy and confident. 

People who don’t like the real you will leave after throwing a fit. But people who like the real you will appear out of nowhere when you start consistently being your true self. When you speak or decide to do something, always tell the truth. Your depression and anxiety will fade away. - Christopher

The quantum physics of our own little world

"Quantum physics tells us that nothing that is observed is unaffected by the observer. That statement, from science, holds an enormous and powerful insight. It means that everyone see a different truth, because everyone is creating what they see." - Neale Donald Walsch

This is a commonly held misconception. But with a little clarification, you can understand what’s really going on.

In physics, the observer influences the observed. That does not imply that we are each creating a different physical reality. Instead, we are co-creators of our physical world to the degree that we influence what we see. Our individual influence is not that strong, but it does have some effect. That is the physics of it.

The psychology of it is a different thing. Human beings create a mental concept of the world from our perceptions. We react to the world according to the construct of it that we hold in our minds, and not directly to the real world. So, we are each creating our own little world in our minds. 

Multiple perspectives, one world. That's an entirely different thing from the idea that each of us creates a free-standing physical world of our own. The two ideas are separate and unique, and to combine them in this way is illogical.