Hey Guys! In this video I’m going to tell you one simple way to increase your ability to face your fears and do what needs to be done. Not escaping those small moments that adds up and ends up having a major impact on your path in life. You now those moments. When you have something you really should be doing, but you just escape that action because it’s so uncomfortable. THAT CAN BE AVOIDED! And the key is to develop a high level of consciousness – being able to stay aware and present in all situation. Although it do requires a whole lot of focused practice. PRACITICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!
How do I know? Well I’ve been doing it seriously since the beginning of this year, and the results are just amazing. It makes acting as your ideal version of yourself – a whole lot more easier ( not saying it’s easy ).
How do we do it? Well there are different ways to go about, but what I’ve found to help the most is to JOURNAL – frequently. As often as you can when you start to practice this. To make it practical I set an alarm on my watch so it beeps every whole hour, then I know I should take up my phone, open up a notethingy ( I use Onenote ) and then you start journaling;
What are you experiencing right now, what emotions and thoughts are within you; good, bad, sad, enthusiastic, loneliness, hunger – and do you now why? Is it something subconsciously that happened a while back or is what is happening in front of you at this moment that is affecting your current state.
Writing a journal where you can reflect and reason with your self is SUCH A GREAT TOOL for your personal development – I can’t stress enough the power that lies within it.
So that’s your quest for this week, Monday through Friday. And then, in the end of the week, read through what you’ve written and see if you can draw any conclusions or seeing any recurrent pattern – perhaps making you realize that some behaviour changes are needed!
Link to full text and more tips on how to INCREASE YOUR LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS: http://alexandernilsson.nu/developing-a-high-level-of-consciousness-weekly-challenge-80/
If you want a deeper explanation of this, check out my other video on the topic of consciousness – strongly recommended! Link: https://youtu.be/key41WCjMD8
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Check out my previous 15 weeks of Rejection Therapy / Facing Fear Challenges:
Week 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxEVmwWsaHw
Week 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUTocnY8Mxs
Week 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anw0keWIf-8
Week 4: https://youtu.be/GFHK7O5DrxI?list=PLxw2jMXwRfskSFEl6sI9PzjgMUBZogiGG
Week 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od3M1x6UDCs&list=PLxw2jMXwRfsmwkP3SvSSK7cegXB4eutFg
Week 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aGxvi5qw1A&list=PLxw2jMXwRfskKqy6INIjOFJDJI8_jPAE1
Week 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T1I6j_04xs&list=PLxw2jMXwRfsluXabU_1_o4ucowiz118gG
Week 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM1GPDsP-18&list=PLxw2jMXwRfsl7LL_1QfrV_G0AU35o5YWS
Week 9: https://youtu.be/m-gx1cmBGH8?list=PLxw2jMXwRfsnYfBFiRZid3g3KhSGDvOaS
Week 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrKk416Sh4I&list=PLxw2jMXwRfslj5Eq20SWAcd6GPLU-sfRH
Week 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrSOXiOYKr0&list=PLxw2jMXwRfsn9NHLgWJWCdV1l89LqACFR
Week 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsT4SXifA8o&list=PLxw2jMXwRfsnoM1TBnJzmnKTBRUmgRY1y
Week 13: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxw2jMXwRfslhlXAcVvgpt1yWVTtY_5bz
Week 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Mh8BTFpwU&list=PLxw2jMXwRfskIc-kuuQr4XiNk6n4vefmf
Week 15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Mh8BTFpwU&list=PLxw2jMXwRfskIc-kuuQr4XiNk6n4vefmf
Week 16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fg9ZZUAUtQ&list=PLxw2jMXwRfsnmU2GPTV0VtCGYV10_o8mi
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Music:
New Places ss by Nicolai Heidlas Music https://soundcloud.com/nicolai-heidlas
Standard License: CC BY License 4.0 (Creative Commons) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: New Places – Free Inspirational Background Music | Free Upbeat and Happy Music
Video links:
Homer thinking: The Simpsons: Best of Homer and His Brain
Thor: Captain America: Civil War VIRAL VIDEO – Team Thor (2016) – Action Movie
OTHER WAYS OF INCREASING YOUR LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS
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# Here’s another very nice guide to raising your level of consciousness and being mindful without the journaling focus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Pfs3VuizM
Or a shorter alternative guide that is shorter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Pfs3VuizM
# Meditation
Finding 10 minutes a day to practice meditation. Just sitting down, closing your eyes and trying to be aware. This link will get you straight to a very nice Meditation For Beginners guide by Leo Gura ( really recommend it) https://youtu.be/fXmG1x1ih1U?t=5m14s
# Sentence completion exercise as described from the book The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nahaniel Branden:
“When working with sentence completion on your own, you can use a notebook, typewriter, or computer. (An acceptable alternative is to do the sentence completions into a tape recorder, in which case you keep repeating the stem into a recorder, each time completing it with a difference ending, and pliy the work back later to reflect on it.)
First thing in the morning, before proceeding to the day’s business, sit and write the following stem:
If I bring more awareness to my life today-
Then, as rapidly as possible, without pausing for reflection, write as many endings for that sentence as you can in two or three minutes (never fewer than six and ten is enough).
Do not worry if your endings are literally true, or make sense, or are “profound.” Write anything, but write something. “ (1995, Branden, p. 309-310)
Here’s more sentences:
“Living consciously to me means –
Then, as rapidly as possible, without pausing for reflection, write as many endings for that sentence as you can in two or three minutes (never fewer than six, but ten is enough). Do not worry if your endings are literally true, make sense, or are “profound.” Write anything, but write something.
Then, go on to the next stem: If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my activities today-
(Why only 5 percent? Let us proceed in small, nonintimidating, “bitesizechews.” Besides, most of the time 5 percent is plenty!)
Then: If I pay more attention to how· I deal with people today-
Then: If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my most important relationships-
Then: If I bring 5 percent more awareness to (fill in a particular problem you are concerned about-for example, your relationship with someone, or a barrier you’ve hit at work, or your feelings of anxiety or depression) –
When you are finished, proceed with your day’s business. At the end of the day, as your last task before dinner, do six to ten endings each for the following stems:
When I reflect on how I would feel if I lived more consciously-
When I reflect what happens when I bring 5 percent more awareness to my activities-
When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5 percent more awareness to my most important relationships-
When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5 percent more awareness to (whatever you’ve filled in)-
Do this exercise every day, Monday through Friday for the first week. Do not read what you wrote the day before. Naturally there will be many repetitions. But also, new endings will inevitably occur. You are energizing all of your psyche to work for you.
Sometime each weekend, reread what you have written for the week, and then write a minimum of six endings for this stem:
If any of what I wrote this week is true, it would be helpful if 1-
In doing this work, the ideal is to empty your mind of any expectations concerning what will happen or what is “supposed” to happen. Do not impose any demands on the situation. Try to empty your mind of expectations.
Do the exercise, go about your day’s activities, and merely notice any differences in how you feel or how you operate. You will discover that you have set in motion forces that make it virtually impossible for you to avoid operating more consciously.”
( The Six Pillars of self-esteem, p.85, Nathaniel Branden)
More on self-esteem, from the book The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nahaniel Branden:
“Self-esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.”
All this material is based on the book The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden, and the six pillars of Self-esteem are:
- The Practice of Living Consciously
- The Practice of Self-Acceptance
- The Practice of Self-Responsibility
- The Practice of Self-Assertiveness
- The Practice of Living Purposefully
- The Practice of Personal Integrity
What is Self-Esteem?
“Self-esteem, fully realized, is the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life. More specifically, self-esteem is:
- confidence in our ability to think, confidence in our ability to cope with the basic challenges of life; and .
- confidence in our right to be successful and happy, the feeling of being worthy, deserving, entitled to assert our needs and enjoy the fruits of our efforts. (1995, Branden, p. 4)
To sum up in a formal definition:
Self-esteem is the disposition to experience oneself as competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and as worthy of happiness.” (1995, Branden, p. 7)
“What determines the level of self-esteem is what the individual does.”
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: Pillar one – The practice of living consciously – Extracts from the book
“To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals-to the best of our ability, whatever that ability may ~and to behave in accordance with that which we see and know.” (1995, Branden, p. 69)
“Why is consciousness so important? Because for all species that possess it, consciousness is the basic tool of survival-the ability to be aware of the environment in some form, at some level, and to guide action accordingly. I use consciousness here in its primary meaning: the state of being conscious or aware of some aspect of reality. We also may speak of consciousness as a faculty-the attribute of being able to be aware. To the distinctively human form of consciousness, with its capacity for concept formation and abstract thought, we give the name mind. As we have discussed, we are beings for whom consciousness (at the conceptual level) is volitional. This means that the design of our nature contains an extraordinary option-that of seeking awareness or not bothering (or actively avoiding it), seeking truth or not bothering (or actively avoiding it), focusing our mind or not bothering (or choosing to drop to a lower level of consciousness). In other words, we have the option of exercising our powers or of subverting our means of survival and well-being. This capacity for self-management is our glory and, at times, our burden. Our mind is our basic tool of survival. Betray it and self-esteem suffers.
If we do not bring an appropriate level of consciousness to our activities, if we do not live mindfully, the inevitable penalty is a diminished sense of self-efficacy and self-respect. We cannot feel competent and worthy while conducting our lives in a mental fog. Our mind is our basic tool of survival. Betray it and self-esteem suffers. The simplest form of this betrayal is the evasion of discomfiting facts. (1995, Branden, p. 67-68)
“The Specifics of living Consciously Living consciously entails:
- A mind that is active rather than passive.
- An intelligence that takes joy in its own function.
- Being “in the moment,” without losing the wider context.
- Reaching out toward relevant facts rather than withdrawing from them.
- Being concerned to distinguish among facts, interpretations, and emotions.
- Noticing and confronting my impulses to avoid or deny painful or threatening realities.
- Being concerned to know “where I am” relative to my various (personal and professional) goals and projects, and whether I am succeeding or failing.
- Being concerned to know if my actions are in alignment with my purposes.
- Searching for feedback from the environment so as to adjust or correct my course when necessary.
- Persevering in the attempt to understand in spite of difficulties.
- Being receptive to new knowledge and willing to reexamine old assumptions.
- Being willing to see and correct mistakes.
- Seeking always to expand awareness-a commitment to learning therefore, a commitment to growth as a way of life.
- A concern to understand the world around me.
- A concern to know not only external reality but also internal reality, the reality of my needs, feelings, aspirations, and motives, so that I am not a stranger or a mystery to myself.
- A concern to be aware of the values that move and guide me, as well as their roots, so that I am not ruled by values I have irrationally adopted or uncritically accepted from others.”
(Branden, p.72)
Good luck, have fun, and let me know if there’s anything your wondering about!
/Alexander
