10 keys to improving yourself over time

If you keep doing the same thing you've always done, you'll always get what you always had. - Mark Twain

If you're looking for a better life, you want to do these things to improve your self over time.

1. Read.

2. Read some more.

3. Find people who do what you want to do, and hang out with them. Volunteer for them. Go to college and build a network of friends.

4. Travel. Try out new things every day: new people, new foods, new music, new skills, and new places. Diverse stimuli are the source of creativity.

5. Be your self. Ignore others’ opinions. Replace their expectations with your own. Follow the joy: Repeat the things that bring you joy. Do what you love: Make a career of it.

6. LISTEN. Take time to understand what other people are saying. Learn active listening, empathic listening. Listen to their needs and wants, then keep them in mind as you go about your life. When you run into something that could be helpful, share it with them. LISTENING is the path to world peace. 

7. Trust yourself. You choose. Listen to all the advice people give you, and discard most of it. Pick out only the nuggets that are inspiring and empowering. Do what you want to do. You have to ignore yourself to always do what others are doing. Choose for yourself. Trust yourself. You choose. You always choose.

8. Try. So many wonderful ideas and important messages never get shared because people don’t even try. Everybody has great ideas, but few people try. Take a risk, give it a try. You can never fail until you quit. Never, never, never give up.

9. Love. Express your gratitude abundantly and abundance will come to you. Comfort, encourage and empower people every chance you get. Make it an every-moment-of-every-day thing. Sad people will become happy because you took a moment to be present for them. Broken people will heal and become strong just because you told them they could. You are power. Your love is powerful.

10. Get out and do something now! Always ask yourself, “Am I using the Internet, or is it using me?” Live the real life. Social media is an illusion and sucks your soul. —Christopher 

How you can make patience stronger than anger

Angry people think patience is a sign of weakness because they associate it with hesitation, fear and powerlessness. They know that survival and prosperity are won by struggle, and only by fighting to win at all costs can they survive and prosper. Blessings are won by conquering and using other people. Angry people take what they want, and leave the patient people whatever is leftover, the crumbs that fall from the table, whatever trickles down. Anger is strong in that it acts immediately – impulsively. It is powerful in that it has a simple focus: to win the competition for survival and comfort.  

Patient people think patience means surrender and not getting involved in the fight. They believe that, if they hesitate, the moment has passed, and they have lost the battle for survival and prosperity. But they have adopted the mindset and culture created by angry, aggressive, violent people. They believe they are the victims of angry people, that they have already lost. But they are fully participating in the war culture by lying low, not getting involved, and not acting in resistance. They accept the leftovers as long as they don’t have to fight for them, as long as they can remain tolerably comfortable. But, left unchecked, this eventually leads to a struggle over the leftovers, a fight for survival, and a bloody war with those who have taken everything of value.

Patient people can win in the competitive society by learning to …

-          Build community: Join in, and Cooperate with others. Listen and learn.

-          Win consensus and commitment to the community. Identify who disagrees, and hear them.  

-          Be assertive, not aggressive. Learn sharing, not selfishness.

-          Be intelligent: Carefully choose where to exercise power and force.

-          Exercise courage: Never fail to take appropriate action. Speak up, but don’t only speak up.  

-          Practice persistence: Patience requires continuous insistence to be successful.

-          Accumulate power and influence. Show how patience accumulates power and influence.

-          Build infrastructure and philosophy to sustain the community.

This is not so simple as fighting for what you want and taking it. It requires intelligence and thought, and thought requires time for contemplation. But you are busy trying to survive, and have no time.

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day – unless you're too busy; then you should sit for an hour.” – Zen Proverb

–Christopher

On tolerating foolish fact-checkers in polite conversation

Isn’t knowing the source and correct attribution a valid and appropriate expression of right speech?

Well, yes; but absolutely not when used by amateurs to disrupt normal discourse on a regular basis. We are not all trying to be journalists or scientists, nor should we be held to that standard in daily dialog. There must be a distinction for the sake of polite conversation, and not point out every little error.

Further, many pretend to be practicing science when they point out that “there is no proof of that.” Science starts with conjecture, which is then formed into a testable theory. The experiment never yields proof of anything, but shows “evidence for” or “no evidence for” the assertion. Science always leaves the door open for new conjectures, new theories, and new evidence. In science, nothing is ever really proven. 

Shall we end all conjecture because we have no evidence? Shall we stop seeking better ways to understand because no one has run the experiment yet? Shall we assume only that which is measurable exists and all else is not reality?

In the end, we are a civilization of two-year-olds trying to pretend we know something. And this is the greatest sin that leads to war: To think you know anything for sure. 

But then, power mongers own politicians and the media. Many professional “journalists” repeat something they heard, extract it from its context so it takes on a different meaning from what was intended, and deliberately try to stir up passions so as to draw the attention of a paying audience.

And fools endlessly echo them without verifying whether there is any truth to the assertion.

So, we must temper our search for truth with the humility of our vast ignorance, and with caution due to the liars and know-it-alls who dominate the public discourse and twist it to serve their own ends and egos.

Yet, truth is truth, no matter the source. - Christopher 

Cleansing dark spots from the spirit body

Several people asked for a further explanation of what I was talking about in yesterday's blog.

I practice meditation.

We are often aware of blocks to the flow of our spiritual energy in the body, either as “being sad for no reason,” or often in the form of thoughts and feelings. "My parents beat me mercilessly as a child." "My friend betrayed me." "A fire burned down my house and all my memories went with it." "My mother died when I was 10." These emotion-laden thoughts are labels we put on blockages to the flow spiritual energy. They persistently manifest until we figure out how to clear them.

Once we become conscious of the movement of the spiritual energy, these "dark" energy-less splotches can be swept into the central energy flow (kundalini), where they are cleansed and purged from the energy body. The thoughts and compulsive behaviors may try to return, but they are no longer supported in the energy-body (soul). The thoughts and habits are easily recognized, and dismissed or laughed at as something old and unreal ... an empty echo of the now-missing aetheric injury.

When the blocks are cleansed, we can build new pathways of spiritual energy to whatever we desire, and that serves to motivate. These new pathways can manifest as new neural pathways in the physical body as well.

I hope that helps. - Christopher

How my spirit remotivated my body

When I took some of the dark holes out of my spiritual body field, I knew I was removing some deeply embedded traumas, which I had associated with various of my life stories. What I didn’t realize was that I was also taking out some of the motivations that I had used to write in the past.

Recently, I couldn’t get motivated to write for a long-term project like a book. But then I realized that I used to write from those old traumas, from the anger and pain associated with them. The energetic basis for my motivations were gone.

Since then, I experienced the absence of motivation in the form of momentary bouts of deep sadness. I wrote a meme about it: “I cry inside when I don’t do what I can do.”

This might have been confused with the return of the old sadness associated with the traumas or with guilt over not writing, but I knew it was neither of those. It didn’t have a story associated with it. I had no moral obligation to write. No, this was more fundamental.

This was my willing spirit crying for my weak, unmotivated flesh. My soul cried to be expressed. It was a sad spirit that didn’t want to be sad. It wanted my poor body to move.

When I realized this, I knew immediately what I had to do. Just as I had used certain yogic breathing practices to remove the old, dark, energy-less blotches from my soul, I could use the same practices to install new, positive, spiritual-energy neural pathways into my body.

It’s sort of a strange experience to do this. It’s not about the familiar sadness and suffering, nor the stories I used to associate with old traumas. It’s about establishing my bit of universal consciousness here and now in my body: My spiritual presence is embodied and aware. 

Then, holding my desired end-result in mind, and with deep energetic breaths, I establish a new spiritual connection between my soul and the desired end-result. That spiritual connection encourages new neural circuits to form in my body: A path for motivating energy to follow and move my body to express the spirit for a specific goal. 

The spiritual flow clears the way for the circuit to form by moving my spiritual energy-breath along it until I sense there is a potential for energy to follow the path, even when I'm not envisioning it. This is a non-specific imagining because my spirit knows what it's doing. It simply clears the path for the energetic potential to follow, and prepares a way for the neural connection to form. The physical manifestation of nerves grows along the spiritual path.

So, now, anytime I want to write, the first thing I do is breath and re-energize the spiritual path from my soul to the desired outcome. And then, I imagine the neural paths manifesting. They are real to me; so, I behave as though they are real. I believe they are growing from the spiritual to the physical reality.

All the naysayers will point out that this is simply my imagination at work, a psychological figment, and that's an appropriate concept for their level of understanding. For them, I have no doubt that the figment of my imagination is true for them – until they expand their understanding.

For me, I create my life and my world. Reality bends to my knowing. – Christopher

Ego beliefs vs. Spirit beliefs

I was inspired at 3:20 a.m. This is what I have so far, and I don't see an end to it yet! It's a work in progress.

Ego	Embodied Spirit
I am a victim of circumstance. I am helpless.	I take responsibility. I am more powerful than I ever imagined.
I work hard and struggle to build and maintain my life.	I attract my desired life by holding the vibration of what I love and doing that.
I know my limits.	I’m constantly testing my limits, and I haven’t found them yet.
I am the victim of karma. What goes around comes around.	I am loved. I forgive. I am forgiven.
Every cause has an effect. I am formed by the events in my life.	Every effect has a cause. Be cause. I form my life.
Scarcity: There is not enough for everybody. I must compete for and take my share, which may be more than I need.	Abundance: There is more than enough for everybody. I help each person get enough.
I will die, and that is terrifying.	I am part of the universe and continue as long as it does; and that is glorious.
It’s complicated and confusing.	It’s elegant and beautiful.
I am alone and lonely.	I am one with life and community.
Shit happens.	I am a problem solver.
I’m stuck doing the same old things.	I am a creator of new things.
I repeat mistakes until I learn their lesson.	I do my best, and I do better next time. I am learning every day of my life.
I am waiting for the right conditions.	I start now.
I give it a try; and if I fail, I quit.	There is no failure as long as I keep trying. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Risk scares me. I don’t take chances.	I am fearless. I love trying new things. I exercise due caution. I am prepared in case things go wrong.
I hope to go to heaven when I die.	I love everyone, so heaven is at hand right here and now.

7 practices to stay mentally sharp

Are you dragging yourself around, forcing yourself to do what's necessary? Do you feel mentally fuzzy in the afternoon? Get rid of all that struggle.

Take charge of your mental fitness by including these seven practices in your life.

1. Learn everything you can about everything. Knowledge if the foundation of wisdom. Diverse stimulation is the foundation of creativity. “Frankly, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can.” - Elon Musk.

2. Meditate: The goal of meditation is not to get rid of thoughts or emotions, but to become aware of the deepest causes of your thoughts and emotions, to clear the cause, and thus, to start fresh every moment.

3. Collect experiences. Take a chance.  This is about stretching your limits, realizing the difference between real threats and illusionary fears, and ending stress and worry over things that never happen. The more experience you have, the more mental toughness you develop and the more confidently you can approach life. “Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” ― Carrie Fisher

4. Exercise caution. Protect yourself. Keep yourself safe. Your greatest vulnerability is your trust in a good friend, but even good friends get angry and make mistakes. Keep that in mind. On the other hand, remember that some people get satisfaction by lying to you, to redirect attention from themselves, to avoid conflict or just for the fun of seeing you react. These invisible stressors take up brain energy, so eliminate them. 

5. Be grateful for everything. Watch for the beauty in every moment of every day: the wind blowing in a green tree, the birds, the butterflies, a friendly puppy, a gem, or a painting. That uplifts you. Compliment and encourage people every chance you get. That uplifts them … and you.

6. Exercise. Get up and walk around every hour. Go for a 30-minute walk at least once a day. Do some kind of intensity training for 15 minutes three days each week: lift weights, swing concrete blocks, or work in the garden. Exercise also minimizes depression and anxiety. 

7. Sleep. Don't buy in to the myths about "sleeping too much." When you're rested you can get twice as much done! Fact! So, sleep eight hours every night. If you get tired in the afternoon, take a nap long enough to reset your brain. You can do this by hanging your keys from your finger and falling asleep. When you totally relax, the keys will fall from your hand and wake you. If you are sick, sleep more. Often we have a low-grade sickness, and we need an 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. You'll love life when you feel rested. Don't underestimate the importance of sleep for your mental sharpness and improved energy. - Christopher