Turn the tables & shock more than yourself

What if all the abilities you think you possess are only the tip of the iceberg of your reality? Consider how you base current capacities on a view of opposites, that is, on what you think you can and can't do.  Why ingest limitations? You have come to believe self-understanding is open to frequent questioning and doubt.  What if this assumption was a misuse of the mind?  Think again.

Another way to view what you learn is grounded in perception.  How do you think that came to be? It evolved based on how you evolved to fragment your world into varying degrees, intervals of time, facets and frequencies.  Fragments began as a whole.  You chose to distort how you began.  When will you turn the tables?

Nurture instead the desire to eliminate previous assumptions and recreate your perception.  To heal your mind is to review and rethink how you have thought and what you've misconstrued.   Fundamental lessons can be learned as you realize how you unconsciously misuse your mind.  Each time you intruce uncertainty or fall into some trap of fear, you separate yourself from the truth.

It didn't actually happen

You may feel cut off from something important or, wonder whether you might not be missing the point to this exercise called existence.  Ask yourself what you may be resisting in your mind and world view.  Is it possible you've been foolish enough to believe you can learn on your own?  Everyone and everything assists you to compile your understanding of yourself.  Learning is never truly solitary.

What if your understanding of the Universe and everything around you was a kind of surreal dream?  Consider what you give up in exchange for things and circumstances you're convinced you desire.  What if none of that happens as you might have assumed it did? What if it's all a clue to something else, a process with a bigger impact on your spirit and body than you realized?

The day may come when you conclude that you don't give up everything for nothing rather, that you give up nothing to experience everything instead.  Why not evolve to recognize you choose what you'll learn and why.  Rethink what you mis-understood or mis-interpreted.  Reframe what actually happened in your mind.

What appears to be positive or negative, appropriate or inappropriate, is based on comparisons between perceived opposites. You create a sense of conflict and incompatibility that doesn't exist. Life as you know didn't actually happen. Consider how you have deluded yourself and continue to be deluded. Awaken from what you assume you know about your life.  Discover why you strive to be different.

Learn like an octopus

Increasing numbers of people complain they aren't reaching their dreams. Sometimes they say they don't know how. Sometimes they realize their strategies just aren't effective or quick enough. These types of people will blame society and education systems for their personal sense of failure. Have you ever felt you weren't given the training or other tools you need to reach your goals? Does this sound like anyone you know? Maybe this sounds too much like you?

Whatever you have learned before, it makes sense to look closer at possible reasons for not feeling like you move ahead now. What might you do to turn your current circumstances around? To learn like an octopus implies you may desire to learn to many things at once or procrastinate more than other people. Why not focus on learning to help you move forward? You can even teach and older octopus new tricks.

1) Ask yourself what "moving ahead" means to you.  Be as detailed as you can.

2) What do you need to learn to get yourself closer to this place or state of mind? 

3) Describe how you have "lived and learned."  How are you open to new learning?

What is your IQ?

Many people measure intelligence by way of traditional psychological tests. Yet, why is it that the American with the highest I.Q. supposedly lives in a trailer park and has worked as a bouncer during the last ten years? Why is it that the American individual with the second highest I.Q. also works in a bar and doesn't live the lifestyle standard you may associate with high intelligence?

And then, turn to someone like Thomas Alva Edison. He was an inventor who holds almost 2000 patents even after his death. Would you be amazed to learn he was expelled from elementary school for being considered stupid? Leonardo Da Vinci was seen as an anti-social recluse. He hid away from the world because he didn't think like anyone else. He was ostracized. Yet, remind yourself of his contributions to Humanity, from preliminary designs for flying machines and detailed examination of human anatomy, to applications of complex mathematics and cosmology. Would devising such ideas, long before their time, really reflect a lack of intelligence?

The former examples bring to light that human beings indeed have the potential to develop different kinds of intelligence. In a given era, societies establish standards for intelligence that ignore everyone doesn't learn the same way. Consider home-schooled children who learn outside traditional institutions. Consider artists, pioneers and other individuals who don't fit into traditional categories. Does this reflect short-sightedness or an inability to see beyond intelligence we think we know?

You might know people who are very smart about some subjects and yet, appear hopeless in other ways. A gourmet chef may have no idea how to repair a broken-down car. An olympic medalist may excel in sport yet, struggle to develop lasting relationships. A self-taught accountant who is brilliant alone may struggle in team settings. Some people learn easier through visualization and practical experiences. Other people learn better through repetition and regurgitation. None of these cases implies stupidity. They simply point out that everyone isn't gifted in every way.

Intelligence is quantified and qualified. You can develop emotional intelligence to better relate to and empathize with people. You can develop technical intelligence which might empower you to effectively repair machinery or design software. You might develop spiritual intelligence which permits you to connect with other realms. Varied talents could be understood as different kinds of intelligence. Intellectual intelligence is but one view of learning. Why assume one kind of perceived intelligence is better than another? Maybe its not. Maybe you're brainwashed.

In order to survive, no matter where you live, you need to develop 'life skills.' They include things like the ability to adapt, to develop versatility, to gain insight into emotion and diplomacy (sense when and how to say 'the right thing'). People who realize their views of success are known by qualities such as compassion, accountability, having respect for themselves and others, and listening to instincts which guide their evolution.

No limit may exist for the potential of our intelligence. Each of us may learn new things. Whether you connect with inner passions or act to build on your perceived IQ is up to you. Even if submolecular time travel is your vision, go for it! After all, naysayers didn't stop the invention of telephones, cars, airplanes and many other things that help people. Believe in your potential. Accept yourself. Redefine your I.Q.

Directions you're moving

You are here because you choose to be here.  From birth, you decide to learn or you would still be in diapers, you wouldn't move and you wouldn't communicate as you do now. From the cradle to the grave, you discover many ways you could evolve.  You never exhaust all the possibilities.  Where you go from here and how is up to you. Which tools and wisdom will you decide to gain? It all begins and ends inside you.

Dreams ground your sense of life. Your thoughts, feelings and personal choices bring you closer to understanding why you're here. Its a process to begin to sift through all the details. What do your instincts and feelings mean? What is worth listening to? What is worth ignoring? You may benefit greatly from constructing a dream vision board. This strategy will help to organize your mental process, action and results.

Every experience you sense or don't sense is earned by your effort and understanding. Each decision you make is associated with a potential lesson. How many have you missed? Are you quick to grasp or slow to learn? What can you do to affect the pace and nature of your personal growth?

"If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone." ~John Maxwell