Illuminated Mind One Year Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary! Here’s to another great year.

Happy anniversary! Loved the vlog. :)

I like the idea that people should follow their natural rhythm, whatever it is. Weather it’s to be in the moment and enjoy life, or work to change and improve.

Of course, as you pointed out, the idea is simple and fetching, but in reality it’s not easy to recondition ourselves and ignore society’s definitions of what it means to be successful or happy.

I enjoy the occasional video post. They do require more time to consume, depending on their length.

Born out of love! Nice. I’ve started some of my ideas during vacation times, or times when I’ve been thinking about something other than the normal schedule of work. It’s when life gets messed up a bit, or I have a moment to breath–a moment of freedom!–that I come up with and feel motivated to start new ideas.

For me, understanding the psychological phases we go through when we’re going through change has given me a way to reconcile the seemingly “opposing” points of view in personal development. There are times when it’s appropriate and more useful to be “just being” and fully present, and noticing. And there are times when it’s more appropriate to be planning or reviewing, imagining into the future or the past. And then there are times when it’s more appropriate and useful to be taking productive action. Listening to your emotions, and using what you “feel like doing” (what you call “natural rhythms, Jonathan) is a great way to determine whether it’s most appropriate to “be, plan or do” – so long as you’re staying “clear” by questioning the stories you tell yourself. It’s easy to avoid planning or doing by telling ourselves we should just “be”, when actually our main (unconscious) agenda is to avoid the fear of putting ourselves out there/ some other fear (fear that will always be there, so long as we’re extending our personal boundaries and growing). If we’re doing work on making our unconscious agendas conscious and we’re clearing our fears, our “clear” emotions will always show us the next most useful and beautiful thing to be, plan or do.

P.S. Congratulations on 1yr of illuminating minds all over the world!

Born of love indeed. I suggest that therein lies the key on which to base our self improvement; upon love.

So we seek to improve not to fill the void of what is perceived as bad or lacking but because we seek the joyous fulfilling sensation of creative improvement for the fun of it.

For instance: “I loved writing that book, how can I write an even better one?”, “It was a great feeling winning that Olympic gold, I wonder if i could do it again?” or “I love my marriage, I wonder if I could get any closer to my wife emotionally?”.

The fearful lack based version has us instead focusing on what is missing so it becomes “That book I wrote really wasn’t good enough, I’m amazed it sold at all. I’ll have to do better with the next one or I’ll never make any money.”

“My marriage is ok but my wife doesn’t understand me, she’s seems distant, something is missing, perhaps I should find someone else?”

The impulse now feels fear based, separative, exclusive rather than inclusive and looking to build upon what is already there.

Do you improve your blog for the fun of it, to see how much more creative and of value you can be or is it fear that another blogger may get your traffic….?

Nice site Jonathan.

I thought it was a decent first vlog aswell. Your thoughts on presence and mindfulness are similar to those of Eckhart Tolle which are rooted in Buddhism. You do a good job of putting them in to simple terms which everyone can benefit from.
For your next vlog I’d suggest you take some time to elaborate on what you mean by following your “natural rhythms” as alot of us may not know how to tap into those.

Reconciling living in the moment and achieving your goals does not have to be difficult. If you accept what “is” it does not mean you cannot work toward creating something better, you just work to create something better whilst living in the present. When you do this your efforts to reach that goal will flow from a clear mind and a genuine will to achieve something bigger than oneself. These efforts wont be held back by our own egos, worrying about how we look or what people think of us.

Thanks for the blog and keep up the good work.

Matt

Happy Anniversary, Jonathon! Exploring life with others is so energizing; everyone learns from each other. The exchange is incredible and leads us to new thoughts and ideas. I wish you great explorations!

How do I accept the present while I’m reaching out, striving toward thriving, to reaching my goals? Practice, Practice, Practice! The greatest learning stretches are when life seems really hard. I’ve learned to stay the course, to ‘hear’ my feelings and to not be afraid of my weaknesses. They are as real as we are and when they reach out for help, they aren’t wanting pity. They want attention in order to become less of a weakling and more of a helpmate. Your thoughts about natural rhythm are so exact. Because we exist in a thinking breathing entity called the world, living within our personal natural rhythm adds fluidity to the world’s collective rhythm, and brings forward the qualities that let it shine – like beauty, discovery, happiness, joy in details and simplicity. Natural Rhythm is present in all things and it is the dancing part of life!

Much success to you, Jonathon! Best to you and your family …

Happy Anniversary! This was a great topic, as always!

Recommendation for future topic (because it’s something I could use some guidance on at the moment…haha): what to do when you have become so disorganized and/or have procrastinated for so long that you feel like you will never be able to dig your way out of the mess. I spent a lot of time at work putting off projects because they were not deemed important by my supervisors. Now I have a deadline approaching and since I put those projects on the back burner I feel pretty overwhelmed and I’m not really even sure where to start.

Your blog’s born out of love! :D

Is that totally coincidental or ya had planned for that all along? :)

Congrats for the 1st yr anniversary Jon!

Happy Anniversary Jonathan!

Thanks for all you do to keep personal development issues interesting and unconventional. It’s a pleasure to follow your thoughts.

Shann

Thanks for the thoughts to help get through a tough time. I enjoyed the v-cast, as I was able to listen and relax during the video. I can’t skim a v-cast to try to save time. It made me take the time for myself. Thanks for a great year!

Love you Jonathan! :) In a purely platonic, non-creepy, friendly way. :) LOL

Gratz on one year and thank you for all you’ve given me to think about!

p.s. I like the vlog! Please do more!

yes. born from the womb of love. were it that all our endeavors were born from this place!!! congratulations on the difference the love that is you is making in the world.
ephphatha,
suzanne, aka zen mommy :p

Congrats on the one year bro!

And what a great topic to kick off your second year and a video post at that!

Keep up the good work.