Day 5 of Be Extraordinary had a simple but insightful quadrant graph with the plotting of our different states based on 2 variables: happiness in the now & our vision for the future. Lower on both indicates a negative spiral state of mind. Higher vision and lower happiness, which is where many people are now, is a state of stress & anxiety. High happiness and low vision is the current reality trap. High on both is the state of bending reality. Obviously it's a spectrum and not hard lines in between each quadrant. The activity today is to rate where we are now and then measure where we get to by the end of the course as well as beyond. One way to 'scientifically measure' happiness, Vishen said, is the ratio of good / positive thoughts to overall thoughts. By that measure, I'd say I'm somewhere in between 80-85. For vision, I have a pretty clear direction of that as I've learned more and more the more I journal and learning about myself. I'd say 85-90 for vision. So rn, I'm pretty firmly in the 'bending reality' state, however, there's still so much I don't even know yet. So these ratings are with my current levels of understanding. To be consistent with one of my other philosophies, as I learn more, that '100' level of each metric might / will change.
The Discovery Day went pretty well as the group were basically good to move forward after meeting the team and seeing the facility. He's a pretty competitive guy as he wanted to play the best ping pong player at the office. So naturally, I volunteered as tribute lol. He's pretty solid. I also did my visualization meditation and it was one of the best I've led. That segment intending at the beginning of the day and in the middle are highly effective. It's like magic!
While I was walking during the Tai Chi class Saturday morning, I had some thoughts about self-realization. I've always thought of self-realization under the context of knowing something, when we understood the world, its truths, and ourselves. When someone says 'this person is realized or self realized', I take it to be this connotation. And that can be true. But it's only one interpretation. I realized (lol) that the second definition is about the realization of potential. If we have X amount of potential that's within us, then self-realization is asking the question of "Have we realized the maximum potential of the self?" People call that by different names, like personal development, self-growth, inner growth, etc. Whereas the former definition views self-realization as a result, the latter frames it as an inveterate process. Is it possible to realize the maximum potential? Yes. Then how is this also not a result? Because, again, our potential keeps increasing as we keep growing. We are multi-purposed. So we may have maximized our potential in one area, but with all our varied purposes, we have more to realize (in both senses of the word). The more we realize about the self, the more realize our highest self. (1st realize is the 1st definition and the 2nd realize is the 2nd definition.)
What's your visualization meditation?? 🤔