Stephen Peacock. Personal development for smart people. Essay based on Steve Pavlin's book Personal Development

Steve Pavlina

Personal development for smart people

Introduction

“When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think about solving the problem. But after the end, if the solution is not beautiful, I know that it is not correct.”

Richard Buckminster FULLER

Do you remember the first time you became interested in personal development? I definitely remember. It was in January 1991 when I was in a prison cell. I was just arrested for grand larceny. It wasn't my first encounter with the law, so I knew I was in trouble. I was 19 years old.

I started stealing after moving to Berkeley, California, during his first semester at UC Berkeley. I I didn't steal for money or reputation, I stole for the thrill. I addicted to the adrenaline rush. The urge to steal was so strong that shoplifting became a routine, no more than an espresso every day. Usually I didn't care what to steal, I was attracted to the act itself. During a typical walk, I would steal a dozen candy bars and then leave them in a public place in the belief that someone would eat them. I didn't eat candy because he considered it unhealthy.

While I sat in jail for several days in January, doing nothing but wallowing in my own stupidity, the reality of the situation I was in came crashing down on me. At school, I was an honors student, president of the math club, and captain of the Academic Decathlon team. My future in computer science as a whole looked incredibly bright, but somehow I tore it to pieces. Now I planned, to spend next year or two behind bars.

Upon returning to my apartment after three days in jail, I received a letter from the university informing me in no uncertain terms of my expulsion. Apparently schools do this kind of thing if you don't show up to class and your grade point average starts with a decimal point after the decimal point. At that moment, I realized that there are two main options for how to act in such a situation: grow up or give up.

For the next few months, while awaiting trial, I was in total panic. Almost every day I woke up in the afternoon. I played video games for days on end, sometimes for 18 hours. These are single player NINTENDO games, not online multiplayer games. It's hard to feel motivated when you expect to go to jail for a while.

Eventually, I was provided with a lawyer and I met with him in his office to discuss my position. Before I could open my mouth, he said, “Steve, I've taken a look at the file, and since this is your first offense, I'm sure we can get it down to petty theft. If you plead guilty, you'll get a reduced conviction and end up with community service. I I am well acquainted with the district attorney, and I am sure that he will go for it. I resolutely against the proceedings in court, since the evidence against you is undeniable, you were caught red-handed.

My thoughts immediately began to move. First crime? Does he confuse me? Why does he think this is my first crime? Does he know about past crimes? If he thinks this is the first crime, will others in court think the same? Should I clear up his serious misconception?

While I was deciding how to answer, I heard a voice in my head: Keep your mouth shut! I realized that if I say now, it might have Negative consequences later, but there was also a faint hope that the consequences would be positive. I realized that at worst, the lawyer would be very angry at the end, but at best everything was too good to go through. Grand theft is a criminal offence; petty theft is only a petty crime. I decided he had to take the risk. Risk was an all-too-familiar pastime.

A few weeks later we went to court and I was terribly nervous. My plan was to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and say as little as possible. Outside the courtroom, I reviewed the documents on my case. None of my past transgressions were listed. Was it a human or computer error? Anyway, it was one big mistake in my favor.

Of course, when my lawyer and I entered the courtroom, the court was sure that this was the first crime and the process proceeded accordingly. I pleaded guilty, and did not object to the mitigation of the category for petty theft, receiving 60 hours of public useful work. I was dizzy as I rushed out of the courtroom. The next two years of my life belonged to me again.

I worked those 60 hours like it was my dream job, knowing that my punishment could have been 17520 hours. It is difficult to remember a more joyful time in my life than the days spent cleaning up the garbage in the EMERYVILLE MARINA park. You have no idea how wonderful freedom seems when you know you could lose it. I I felt huge gratitude for the second chance I got, which I don't seem to deserve.

I would like to say that my recovery from these events was quick and easy, but it is not. Despite this amazing gift, turning your life around was incredibly difficult. I said goodbye to his friends from Berkeley and moved back to his native Los Angeles. I got a job in retail with a minimum salary. Even with a criminal record, I could most certainly have found a better position, but I just didn't want to. I I just wanted to play without risk, stay below the radar, leading a "vanilla" life, devoid of stress and excitement. Courage is now my enemy.

For a year of a quiet and peaceful life, I worked on myself. Gradually, I developed a new code of ethics to guide me, integrating the values of honor, integrity, honesty, humility, and fairness. This conscious recovery process was to continue for at least a few more years. As the months went by, I started to feel like I was getting better, and I decided it was time to get back to my studies. I figured that if I were educated in computer science, it would somehow erase my past mistakes.

In the fall of 1992, I entered California State University Northridge (CSUN), starting as a freshman. At CSUN, the Computer Science program was not overcrowded, which meant that there was plenty of room for new students. I was guaranteed admission even if I just filled out an application form, so they didn't care if I failed at UC Berkeley. Now at 21, I wasn't the same as I was at 18. Something had changed. I developed a passion for personal growth, and felt a strong desire this time to do his best.

In my opinion, I was already three years behind, and could not accept the fact that I would need another four years to finish my studies. I I knew that I myself was responsible for this situation, and I really wanted to speed up the process. So I set the ambitious goal of graduating in three semesters while taking a triple load. My friends thought I was crazy, but they couldn't look into my heart. I I was 100% committed to my goal and knew that nothing could stop me on my way to achieving my goal. It was the only way to honor the great gift of freedom.

To prepare myself for a large amount of work, I studied time management techniques and immediately applied the new knowledge. I listened to motivational cassettes every day to maintain a positive attitude. I practiced daily to cope with stress, and found creative ways to increase productivity. I I felt a huge flow of energy and drive, because I knew that I was doing everything on the verge of my capabilities. I worked hard and did a great job. I I even doubled my math workload. When I graduated, I received a special award as the best computer science student of the year.

In the last semester, I worked as a contract programmer, developing computer games for a local game studio, and I also served as vice chairman of the school computer club. It took a lot of hard work and conscious effort, but I successfully achieved my goal of completing college in three semesters. Somehow, this achievement has helped me free myself from the pain and guilt of the past, while learning valuable lessons.

Steve Pavlina

() Stephen Pavlina

Personal growth for smart people is a phrase I use to describe my approach to personal growth. Instead of picking low-hanging fruits and doing simple tasks like choosing healthy food or making more money, I wanted to answer a really difficult question: What does it mean for us to grow as a conscious person, and how intelligently do we manage this process?

Introduction

“When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think about solving the problem. But after the end, if the solution is not beautiful, I know that it is not correct.”

Richard Buckminster FULLER

I started stealing after moving to Berkeley, California, during my first semester at UC Berkeley. I didn't steal for money or reputation, I stole for the thrill. I'm addicted to the adrenaline rush. The urge to steal was so strong that shoplifting became a routine, no more than an espresso every day. Usually I didn't care what to steal, I was attracted to the act itself. During a typical walk, I would steal a dozen candy bars and then leave them in a public place in the belief that someone would eat them. I didn't eat candy because I thought it was junk food.

Eventually, I was provided with a lawyer and I met with him in his office to discuss my position. Before I could open my mouth, he said, “Steve, I've taken a look at the file, and since this is your first offense, I'm sure we can get it down to petty theft. If you plead guilty, you'll get a reduced conviction and end up with community service. I know the district attorney well, and I'm sure he'll go for it. I am strongly against the proceedings in court, since the evidence against you is undeniable, you were caught red-handed.

While I was deciding how to answer, I heard a voice in my head: Keep your mouth shut! I realized that if I spoke now, it could have negative consequences later, but there was also a faint hope that the consequences would be positive. I realized that at worst, the lawyer would be very angry at the end, but at best it was all too good to go through. Grand theft is a criminal offence; petty theft is only a petty crime. I decided that I must take the risk. Risk was an all-too-familiar pastime.

Of course, when my lawyer and I entered the courtroom, the court was sure that this was the first crime and the process proceeded accordingly. I pleaded guilty, and did not mind with a mitigation of the category for petty theft, having received 60 hours of community service. I was dizzy as I rushed out of the courtroom. The next two years of my life belonged to me again.

I worked those 60 hours like it was my dream job, knowing that my punishment could have been 17,520 hours. It is difficult to remember a more joyful time in my life than the days spent cleaning up the garbage in the EMERYVILLE MARINA park. You have no idea how wonderful freedom seems when you know you could lose it. I felt huge gratitude for the second chance I got, which I don't seem to deserve.

I would like to say that my recovery from these events was quick and easy, but it is not. Despite this amazing gift, turning your life around was incredibly difficult. I said goodbye to my friends from Berkeley and moved back to my native Los Angeles. I got a job in retail with minimum wage. Even with a criminal record, I could most certainly have found a better position, but I just didn't want to. I just wanted to play risk-free, stay below the radar, lead a "vanilla" life, devoid of stress and anxiety. Courage is now my enemy.

In the fall of 1992, I entered California State University Northridge (CSUN), starting as a freshman. At CSUN, the Computer Science program was not overcrowded, which meant that there was plenty of room for new students. I was guaranteed admission even if I just filled out an application form, so they didn't care if I failed at UC Berkeley. Now at 21, I wasn't the same as I was at 18. Something had changed. I developed a passion for personal growth and felt a strong desire to do my best this time around.

In my opinion, I was already three years behind, and could not accept the fact that I would need another four years to finish my studies. I knew that I myself was responsible for this situation, and I really wanted to speed up the process. So I set the ambitious goal of graduating in three semesters while taking a triple load. My friends thought I was crazy, but they couldn't look into my heart. I was 100% committed to my goal, and I knew that nothing could stop me from reaching my goal. It was the only way to honor the great gift of freedom.

To prepare myself for a large amount of work, I studied time management techniques and immediately applied the new knowledge. I listened to motivational tapes every day to maintain a positive attitude. I trained daily to manage stress and found creative ways to increase my productivity. I felt a huge flow of energy and drive, because I knew that I was doing everything to the limit of my capabilities. I worked hard and did a great job. I even doubled my math workload again. When I graduated, I received a special award as the best computer science student of the year.

In the last semester, I worked as a contract programmer, developing computer games for a local game studio, and I also served as vice chairman of the school computer club. It took a lot of hard work and conscious effort, but I successfully achieved my goal of completing college in three semesters. Somehow, this accomplishment helped me free myself from pain and guilt...

Steve Pavlina is one of the most famous self-development experts in both the US and Russia. For many years he studied the literature on personal growth and came to the conclusion that today there is no really effective approach. Methods according to spiritual development many, and they all contradict each other. Trying to put these ideas into practice, Steve got only a rambling mishmash of views. Taking this problem seriously, he found the "general scheme" behind all attempts at personal growth, and created his own - universal! - method.

This method consists in using the seven universal principles to reveal the unvarnished truth about one's inner qualities. The reader is invited to analyze in detail their ideas and beliefs in every area of life (family, career, health, relationships, spirituality), and then apply simple exercises in order to change them for the better. Stories from the life of the author and valuable practical advice will help you understand how these principles work, will allow you to succeed in business, family, sports, and become a truly happy person.

Steve Pavlina's book is for those who really want to "live" and not "survive", who want to know life from different angles and change their habits and beliefs once and for all!

On our website you can download the book "Personal Development Course for Smart People. A Master Class from a Recognized Specialist" by Steve Pavlina for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read a book online or buy a book on the Internet store.

Steve Pavlina

Personal development for smart people

Introduction

“When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think about solving the problem. But after the end, if the solution is not beautiful, I know that it is not correct.”

Richard Buckminster FULLER

While I was deciding how to answer, I heard a voice in my head: Keep your mouth shut! I I realized that if I said now, it could have negative consequences later, but there was also a faint hope that the consequences would be positive. I realized that at worst, the lawyer would be very angry at the end, but at best everything was too good to go through. Grand theft is a criminal offence; petty theft is only a petty crime. I decided he had to take the risk. Risk was an all-too-familiar pastime.

Of course, when my lawyer and I entered the courtroom, the court was sure that this was the first crime and the process proceeded accordingly. I pleaded guilty, and did not mind with the mitigation of the category for petty theft, having received 60 hours of community service. I was dizzy as I rushed out of the courtroom. The next two years of my life belonged to me again.

I would like to say that my recovery from these events was quick and easy, but it is not. Despite this amazing gift, turning your life around was incredibly difficult. I said goodbye to his friends from Berkeley and moved back to his native Los Angeles. I got a job in retail with a minimum wage. Even with a criminal record, I could most certainly have found a better position, but I just didn't want to. I I just wanted to play without risk, stay below the radar, leading a "vanilla" life, devoid of stress and excitement. Courage is now my enemy.

“When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think about solving the problem. But after the end, if the solution is not beautiful, I know that it is not correct.”

Richard Buckminster FULLER

Eventually, I was provided with a lawyer and I met with him in his office to discuss my position. Before I could open my mouth, he said, “Steve, I've taken a look at the file, and since this is your first offense, I'm sure we can get it down to petty theft. If you plead guilty, you'll get a reduced conviction and end up with community service. I know the district attorney well, and I'm sure he'll go for it. I am strongly against the proceedings in court, since the evidence against you is undeniable, you were caught red-handed.

While I was deciding how to answer, I heard a voice in my head: Keep your mouth shut! I realized that if I spoke now, it could have negative consequences later, but there was also a faint hope that the consequences would be positive. I realized that at worst, the lawyer would be very angry at the end, but at best it was all too good to go through. Grand theft is a criminal offence; petty theft is only a petty crime. I decided that I must take the risk. Risk was an all-too-familiar pastime.

I would like to say that my recovery from these events was quick and easy, but it is not. Despite this amazing gift, turning your life around was incredibly difficult. I said goodbye to my friends from Berkeley and moved back to my native Los Angeles. I got a job in retail with minimum wage. Even with a criminal record, I could most certainly have found a better position, but I just didn't want to. I just wanted to play risk-free, stay below the radar, lead a "vanilla" life, devoid of stress and anxiety. Courage is now my enemy.

In the fall of 1992, I entered California State University Northridge (CSUN), starting as a freshman. At CSUN, the Computer Science program was not overcrowded, which meant that there was plenty of room for new students. I was guaranteed admission even if I just filled out an application form, so they didn't care if I failed at UC Berkeley. Now at 21, I wasn't the same as I was at 18. Something had changed. I developed a passion for personal growth and felt a strong desire to do my best this time around.

In the next few months after graduation, I started my own game development business and met my future wife, however, personal growth remained my top priority. Little did I know then that this was only the beginning of my lifelong pursuit of conscious growth. Over the next few years, I read hundreds of books and listened to dozens of audio programs on personal development in a variety of areas, including psychology, motivation, success, productivity, career development, problem solving, health, wealth, mindfulness, spirituality, meditation and more.

However, most of the information was useless. The authors were enthusiastic, but more often than not their ideas were unoriginal, inconsistent, out of place, incomplete, impractical, or simply wrong. I suspected that many exaggerated their results. If you're an avid reader of this kind of literature, I'm sure you've experienced similar problems, such as buying a diet book and discovering it's nothing more than a covert ploy to sell an expensive app. However, I came across some nuggets of wisdom that gave me new ideas and helped improve my life. However, the greatest discoveries I made were in personal experience and not in information products.

I have played computer games for many years (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) while maintaining a passionate interest in personal development. But as time went on, I lost interest in creating games, and running this business ceased to satisfy me. I decided it was time to turn my personal development hobby into a full-time career.

Created by StevePavlina. com

Although I did not have any authority in the field of personal development when I started, the page StevePavlina. honeycomb garnered huge traffic, quickly becoming the world's most popular personal development resource, with readers in over 150 countries. This was due to the fact that, having benefited from free content, people informed their friends, family members and work colleagues. I didn't spend a dime on marketing and promotion. Soon, the site began to bring in tens of thousands of dollars a month, although I had no products, no employees, no customers. This generated even more visitors as people wanted to know how I could make so much money by providing all the content for free. All free content is still available on the site today, with monthly additions.

Maintaining the StevePavlina website. hundreds in mass mode greatly advanced my knowledge of personal growth because I was able to communicate with more people about their unique problems. After thousands of interactions with readers, I began to discover recurring patterns and themes. I also noticed that when I wrote an article on a particular topic, often someone took a general concept from it, and found a way to apply it in a completely different area. For example, if I wrote about sleep, someone will come up with how the same general advice can be applied to their business. I began to suspect that there was some hidden order behind our seemingly chaotic growth of experience.

What is personal growth for smart people?

Personal growth for smart people is a phrase I use to describe my approach to personal growth. Instead of picking low-hanging fruits and doing simple tasks like choosing healthy food or making more money, I wanted to answer a really difficult question: What does it mean for us to grow as a conscious person, and how intelligently do we manage this process?

For me in my life there were two ways to solve this issue. The first line is my obsession with the concept of research in the long term. The second line is my direct research in the field of personality development.

While I was getting my computer science degree, I majored in artificial intelligence. I learned how difficult it is to create intellectual computer programs, mainly because we don't really understand intelligence yet. We incorporated basic Artificial Intelligence techniques into some of my early computer games, but these programs only mimicked intelligent behavior and could not be considered truly intelligent. Soon I asked myself: How do I know that I myself am intelligent? I couldn't find an answer that satisfies me. Eventually, my pursuit of personal development led me to adopt a new definition of intelligence that satisfied both my logic and my intuition. You will learn about this definition in Chapter 7.

In studying personal development for many years, I have learned that the field is very broad and fragmented. Any area of your life can be intelligently considered for self-improvement, including your health, career, finances, relationships, and spiritual beliefs. Each of these areas has its own narrowly focused specialists, they all share different ideas, rules and guidelines. Relationship experts teach you how to maintain successful relationships, enrichment experts teach you how to manage money, and health experts help you improve your body.

Unfortunately, these experts often do not agree with each other. Some recommend a high protein diet, others recommend a high carbohydrate diet. Some say success comes through hard work and self-discipline; others recommend relaxing and letting God or the universe take care of the details. Some experts push you to change, while others tell you to accept who you are. If you try to apply all these diverse ideas to your life, you will end up with a fragmented, incompatible mess.

I soon realized that an intellectual approach to personality development must resolve these incompatibilities one way or another. Such an approach would give a logical and intuitive meaning that satisfies both the head and the heart. I would have to appear logically correct in order to satisfy the left brain, and create a sense of intuitive correctness in order to occupy the right brain.

The laws of physics are universal. Although their specific applications may vary greatly, these governing laws do not change regardless of our location, our culture, or our mood; the basic principles are the same whether we are dealing with missiles or submarines. Why should the area of personal development be any different? Could there be universal laws of consciousness here?

Qualities of Basic Principles

I decided to tackle this problem with my head, something that no one has ever done. I set out to find a common pattern behind all successful growth attempts to define a complete set of basic principles that would be universally applicable. To determine what this set of principles should look like, I came up with a set of criteria that the end result should satisfy. These criteria include: universality, completeness, irreducibility, consistency, and practicality.

First, these principles must be universal. They should be applicable to anyone, anywhere, in any situation. They should work equally well in all areas of life: health, relationships, career, spiritual growth, and so on. They must exist outside of time, which means that they must work 1000 years later and would have worked 1000 years ago. They should not be tied to any culture. They should work for everyone living on Earth, as well as those aboard the space station in orbit. They must work both individually and collectively, and must be equally effective for any group, of any size.

Second, these principles must be complete in their totality so that all the essential elements are present. It needs to be possible to trace these principles as the basis for all other effective universal laws of personal growth. Ideally, these principles should be both simple and elegant in structure.

Third, these principles must be irreducible/prime, similar to prime numbers in mathematics. They should act as the basic building blocks-atoms of conscious human growth. Therefore, it must be possible to combine two or more primary principles to form secondary principles, and the resulting combinations must be essentially logical and universally applicable.

Fourth, these principles must be internally congruent/compatible. They cannot conflict with each other. They must be intuitive and logically consistent.

Finally, these principles must be practical. They must be able to generate reasonable results for the real world. It should be possible to use these ideas to diagnose personality development problems and come up with effective solutions. Knowing them should accelerate your personal growth, not the other way around.

Consider the statement "Love your neighbor as yourself." This concept can help many people on their path to personal growth, but unfortunately it conflicts with most of our criteria, so we cannot accept it as part of our framework. First, the concept is not universal. It is applicable to some areas of life, such as relationships and even business, but there is no point in trying to apply it to improve physical health. Second, it is not irreducible. This statement actually follows from the more general principle of unity, and unity itself follows from the principles of truth and love (see Chapter 4).

Taken in isolation, this statement is incomplete/incomplete and therefore only provides partial guidance. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a logical recommendation that can help you improve interpersonal relationships, but she is unlikely to help you pay your bills. There are many similar concepts that have positive applications, but which we cannot fit into our main framework because they do not satisfy all of our criteria.

The search for a hidden order, behind all the processes of a person's conscious development, is an extremely difficult task, since the solution must be quite general and abstract, and it must also have wide practical application. Since we are dealing with the realm of pure conscious thought, the solution will not be as precise as a mathematical formula, but it should be as close to such an ideal as possible.

I have explored various philosophical, psychological and spiritual foundations that have previously tried to solve this problem. Some of them clearly defined one or more of the main concepts, but none of them gave a satisfactory explanation of the overall picture. I racked my brain over and over, wondering: What does the base model look like? The clues were everywhere, but the final structure remained a mystery.

The task seemed almost impossible, and there was no guarantee that the answer existed. I have rejected countless partial solutions. I was very frustrated by the moments when I found a solution that seemed good at first glance, but subsequently found many gaps in it.

Introducing seven principles

It took almost two and a half years, but I found the solution I was looking for. It consists of three primary principles: truth, love and power. The four secondary principles follow directly from the first three: unity, authority, courage and intelligence. Unity is truth plus love. Authority is truth plus power. Courage is love plus strength. The intellect is the sum total of truth, love and power. Therefore, we can say that the intellectual approach, the “smart people approach” to personality development is the direction that will lead you to agree on the following principles: truth, love and power. In Chapter 7, you will learn a very elegant definition of intelligence: Intelligence is the coherence of the principles of truth, love and power.

Don't worry if you don't understand these principles yet. We will spend a chapter studying each of them, and several additional sections will be devoted to their practical application. Once you learn these seven principles and how they work in all areas of your life, you will never look at personality development the same way again.

Some of these principles will seem sound at first glance. The principle of truth/truth is intuitive to any scientist. The principle of love is common to all major religions. And the principle of force manifests itself constantly in business and power. Unfortunately, our society, as a rule, tries to share these principles. We are taught to respect the truth during our studies at an early age, while our strength is dwindling under the external influence of powerful figures. We are encouraged to be guided by love in relationships and spiritual practice, while truth and authority are overlooked. We are placed in a position where we are forced to strive for power/power while we build a career and try to improve the financial condition, while truthfulness and love remain in the background in these areas. This is a huge mistake. These principles are universal, they cannot be successfully separated without sacrificing something much more important - our true nature as conscious beings.

The purpose of this book is to teach you how to bring all areas of your life in line with universal principles. This will require injecting truth into your relationships, aligning your career with love, and bringing strength to your spiritual practice. This is what it means to live as a conscious, intelligent person. The more your life conforms to these principles, the smarter you become.

This book offers you a new way of thinking about personal growth, from high concepts to practical action. You don't need a variety of rules to stay healthy, build a career, and take care of relationships. The basic principles of growth do not change, regardless of the area of life or the person to whom they are applied. Once you understand how they work, you can use them to improve your results in any endeavor.

How to read this book

This book is in two parts. Part I deals with the seven basic principles of personal development, beginning with the three primary principles of truth, love, and power. Once you master these fundamentals, you will create a solid foundation for improving your growth efforts in all areas of your life. The purpose of reading this part of the book is simply to get an idea of these seven principles. There are several recommended exercises to deepen your understanding, but you don't have to do them all at once. These exercises are primarily intended to illustrate how ideas can be applied in action. Since some of these principles build on the previous ones, it is best to read the first seven chapters in order.

Part II is the practical application sections. This half of the book explains how to apply the seven principles to achieve positive practical results in your life. Each section looks at different areas of life, including career, health, relationships, and more. You can read these sections in any order and jump straight to the section that interests you the most. However, it is best if you first read all the chapters of Part I (1-7), before Part II (8-13).

If you need more help, or you just want to explore personality development with a similar thinking people don't forget to use the forum Personal development for smart people» at www. StevePavlina.com/forums. There you will find a welcoming and friendly community of thousands of people from all over the world who are interested in personal growth. The forums are completely free, so there are no barriers to participation.

Incidentally, several Internet sites will be referenced in this book offering you additional free content at StevePavlina.com. Rest assured that this book is complete in itself. These web pages are offered as additional resources, as are the forums mentioned above. If for some reason you do not have Internet access at home or at work, please note that most public libraries provide Internet access for free.

My message to you as you read this book is threefold. First, in accordance with the principle of truth, I will be honest and direct with you. I am not interested in filling your heads with misconceptions and misleading you. Secondly, in accordance with the principle of love, I will try my best to connect with you as human to human. I am here as a friend and adviser, not as a guru. And finally, in line with the principle of strength/power, I intend to help you discover your true strength and face your fears. Sometimes it means that I will encourage and support, at other times it means that I will challenge you. Applying what you learn in this book will not be easy. It wasn't easy for me either. Real conscious growth is rarely undemanding, but it is always worth the effort.

Let's begin the journey of conscious personal growth.