Welcome to Meditation Lesson 2 letting go of the false within you.

Before you watch this video, make sure you’ve played (and meditated along with) Meditation Lesson 1. It sets you up with some vital foundations, and prepares you for what you will learn in this lesson.

What’s this all about?

Every one of us has what I would call a “mental model of reality.” It’s an incredibly useful construct of the mind that stores representations of the world around us, kind of like a map, or index. It helps us navigate the world, and relationships around us. It’s great because it means we don’t have to figure out how to open a door every time we approach a wall—we just know, and we are able to walk through.

That’s probably an overly simplistic example, but it governs our personality, and how we unconsciously respond in every situation. We develop this model of reality (a.k.a. “ego” from a young age, and some of the things we pick up and feed into it, aren’t necessarily the truth. Some aren’t helpful, and some are downright dangerous!

An important thing to note is that everything within these models of reality is designed to keep us safe. Even the things that hurt us. We pick up a lot of things as children when we were powerless, and we make assumptions, and apply those falsehoods to the rest of our lives!

Well, meditation is the ultimate method for making this unconscious “model of reality” conscious. We start to see what we’ve put into this map, especially all the things that don’t work for us. All the things that do work, stay the same. But it’s those dysfunctional things that start to become apparent!

And as spiritual conscious awareness expands, those negative elements of the model, the things that allow us to sabotage our own lives (!), begin to fall away.

So this guided meditation video is about how to let go of the false in your inner model of reality, and live your truth. Enjoy.

Get set

You’re going to need:

• A quiet place to sit for 14 minutes and 3 seconds
• No distractions
• An upright, comfortable sitting posture

Where to next?

First, meditate along with me again tomorrow. Then, when you’re ready to move on, join me in Meditation Lesson 3. If you’re  experiencing any difficulty, feel you  simply cannot relax, or you want to accelerate your results, you certainly benefit from my Accelerated Meditation.

Thanks for watching Meditation Lesson 2 Letting Go

If you prefer to watch and comment on YouTube, you can do so here: Meditation Lesson 2

In 2014 I discovered what I consider the best nootropic for beginners. Watch the video review above to see what I experienced. And to find out more about it for yourself, go here: CILTEP.

Watch the video on my 18 month experiment with CILTEP from Natural Stacks.

After two months I made an epic video review of the product that detailed how it works, how to get the most out of it, and what my experiences of it were. You can watch that one here: Epic CILTEP Nootropic Review. Now, 18 months later, it’s time to revisit, and look at the long-term effects! It’s also a much shorter video!

If you’ve tried it, leave a comment and tell me about your experiences. I’d love to hear it. And if you’d prefer to watch on youtube, go here: The best nootropic for beginners

In 2014 I started experimenting with biohacking supplements to enhance my mental and creative abilities. I tried a number of products with mixed results. Then I found CILTEP. Watch the video review above to see what I experienced. And to find out more about it for yourself, go here: CILTEP.

Here are the results of my 2 month experiment with CILTEP from Natural Stacks.

It’s a hugely detailed look at my latest nootropic experiment, CILTEP (Chemically Induced Long TErm Potentiation). The makers make some bold claims about what this can do: increased motivation, creativity, memory. How does it stack up?

I explore the chemical process of how this supplement works, as well as the exact effects it had on me under different circumstances.

If you’ve tried it, leave a comment and tell me about your experiences. I’d love to hear it. And if you’d prefer to watch on youtube, go here: Epic CILTEP Nootropic Review

No sound. No image. No bodily sensation. I had to check if I was still “here.”

I was floating in silent darkness in an i-sopod at Float Culture in Auckland. Immersed in “brine,” 500 kg of the highest quality German epsom salts transformed the water in my pod into an incredibly buoyant solution and made me seemingly weightless.

I mustered the willpower and sent the command to my finger to move. A tiny motion and my entire body responded with the ripples of feeling from the finger. My body did exist!

No sound. No image. No bodily sensation. I had to check if I was still “here.”

Of course it did. But that I felt I needed to check tells you something about the initial experience. The world and its distractions fade away, and eventually so does the body.

The first time is an uncanny feeling, unlike anything I’ve felt before. I’ve heard it likened to being in the womb again, but that idea strikes me as being very cramped and very loud. This was anything but.

The sensory deprivation is a very welcome environment once you adjust to the initial strangeness of surrendering your body to the water.

Without external distractions, even people who find it difficult to meditate can find bliss in the pod.

I was a competitive swimmer for many years, so am no stranger to the meditative joys of being in the water (especially under the water), but this is something else entirely.

While floating in the solution I found it very easy to let go of external troubles, worries and stressors, and go within. And I’m quite sure that with a few more sessions, the process of surrender will be even quicker.

One large benefit of floating sessions is that for people who struggle to meditate, this removes all external distractions. No visual, auditory, even tactile distractions. Once you get past the novelty of floating in an isolation bath, it leaves you with just the thoughts and patterns of your own mind. A big shortcut.

Another great physical aspect is that the magnesium in the solution is absorbed through the skin, so the muscular relaxation is extremely pleasant.

But the greatest benefit I found was after the float had ended. For the rest of the day I felt like I was floating a foot off the ground. Colors seemed more vivid, and the sounds around me more defined. The sensation all around my body was of deep relaxation and calm.

I had to return to work afterward, and found that my mind was particularly clear, tasks were easily executed, and decisions made quickly. Very happy with that result!

Float Culture

After experimenting with floating in at the Floatation Sanctuary in New Plymouth, founders Anton Kuznetsov and Vasily Zagyada knew they had to bring the experience to Auckland. Float Culture is located in the central city and was founded mid-2014. I highly recommend booking a series of at least three sessions and feeling this for yourself.

Something else worth pointing out: The premises of Float Culture is like a luxury spa. The atmosphere is chilled out, the staff are friendly and helpful, everything is clean and hygienic, and privacy is assured. For such an unusual thing to do, they make you feel safe!

Note: I was lucky enough to receive a complimentary float session at Float Culture in January 2015. This post is an honest reflection of my experience there. I don’t receive any compensation if you choose to go along. As for me, I’ll definitely be returning (and paying) for more.

About a year ago I started a six-month trial of the nootropic supplement Alpha Brain by Onnit Labs. This video is a no-BS review of what I found.

I’ve always been interested in performing at my peak mentally, and finding ways to increase my cognitive abilities. But the promise of so-called ‘smart drugs’ wasn’t enough to make me want to try, simply because of the price I’d have to pay: as in some kind of come-down, or other negative side effect.

Mental focus increased and I felt like I had great clarity of mind.

But when I heard about a supplement form of neuro-enhancers my interest was piqued. Could it be possible to achieve some kind of boost using something like this? I’d watched a few videos about it and read as much as I could find, and honestly, it sounded a bit too hypey for me. Too good to be true?

The only thing for it was to try it for myself and record the results. What happened was surprising in the least. If you haven’t watched the video already, go watch it. Then come back.

Okay, so hot-damn it worked! Worked great actually. Mental focus increased and I felt like I had great clarity of mind. Recall was improved—things were just there for me when needed. And a really huge benefit for me was the increased creative output. A massive win.

So really, I’ve got no reservations in recommending you try it out for yourself. Others I’ve spoken to have had an even better experience with it, while some haven’t experienced any benefit at all. It seems that nootropic supplements work like any other supplement: deliver up what’s deficient in your system. But for me it’s great and I continue to use it.

As I said in the video watch out for the initial wave of passion or aggression. I’d recommend tempering it with meditation (goes perfectly with the Accelerated Meditation) to allow you to focus and channel your new motivation.

If you already take Alpha Brain, or are thinking of taking it, let me know all about it in the comments! I’d love to start a conversation about this and compare notes.

Try Alpha Brain here: Alpha Brain.

Your third lesson and guided mindfulness meditation.

In this short meditation, you’ll relax and go on a peaceful inner journey. You’ll discover the four pillars of mindfulness, and how you can harness them to improve your mood, your creativity, and take control of your own mental processes ~ the ego!

Get Set Up

As usual, you will need very little to do this:

• A comfortable spot to sit
• 15 minutes
• An erect neck and spine

What Will You Experience?

The experience of mindfulness is one of witnessing. You let go of any anxiety for the future, and any trauma from the past, and fully engage in life in the here and now. Emotions like bliss and joy are often triggered.

Remember though to allow anything that happens in meditation happen. Don’t resist, just accept. Let go of any expectation and surrender to the experience, even if it’s unpleasant. It will be what it will be.

After Your Guided Mindfulness Meditation. Where to From Here?

For more on meditation you can click on over to really get stuck in learning to meditate.

“Things change”, as the saying goes, and this site is no different. It’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally updated the site design to make things a little easier to read.

I’ve been doing some videos lately on YouTube which have been popular, so the site now displays video better too. I hope you like it.

What’s Changed?

First, I went from a two-column design down to a one-column layout.

I’ll see how this goes and whether people like it, but I wanted to test if it’s easier to read in this format. The navigation still exists in the header at the top, and in the footer at the bottom, so there’s no loss of functionality, just less distraction. Will it work? I don’t know, but I’ll post some results when I have them.

Next up, nice big legible type. Georgia is the typeface. The proportions, the line-heights, the paragraph breaks all conform to the phi-ratio, the Golden section, for ultimate aesthetic functionality.

Big video. I love featuring nice big video content on the site, and it now takes pride of place at the top of each article.

And lastly, AccelerateMe is now fully responsive. That means it delivers an appropriate experience on whatever device you are using from a huge 27-inch Apple Display, right down to an iPhone. The layout moves around as the screen resizes.

Please let me know what you think of the new site! Oh, and if you find something that doesn’t work, drop me a line and let me know and I’ll get it fixed up.

Thanks for reading!
Jim

P.S. There are a few things I haven’t turned on yet, but they’ll be coming over the next little while

So more change is happening around here. I’m keeping all the features that do work (big video, better readability) and restoring the sidebar with easy navigation.

Rejoice!

Thanks to everyone who let me know what they thought of the design. And oh yeah, green is making a comeback!

Update #1, 20th May: A grand failure

But a great learning opportunity! Turns out most people like the sidebar and use it to navigate around the site when they are done with an article.

See that sudden rise in the graph above? That’s the day I switched from the two-column layout (with handy sidebar) to a single column design.

It goes from averaging 30% (which is really pretty good) all the way up to 78%. That means that 78% of people arrive at the site and turn around and back right out again. Something ain’t right!

Update #2: Interpretation is Everything

Not so fast!

Turns out I interpreted the analytics data wrong! The bounce rate did go up – but not because people were bouncing more.

A year before I had installed a piece of code in the theme that told Google Analytics to interpret a ‘bounce’ slightly differently. When I updated my theme to the new one, that code was gone, and so GA went back to the original way of interpreting bounces.

Without a way to compare apples with apples, I’ll never know the impact the theme redesign had on actual bounce rate. And looking back on it now, the theme I created was actually pretty good!

So, when making decisions, be sure to have clean data to work from. Or, like in this case, you might read something as a failure when in fact, it was anything but.

Time to Shine the Light of Your Awareness in The Shadows of Your Unconscious.

When I began meditating, a lot of negative emotions came up for me. This is supposed to make me feel better isn’t it? It was the opposite of what I thought should be happening.

But I was wrong.

What happens is that your awareness begins to expand. Imagine for a moment your mind is like a house, it has tidy rooms that you look at every day. But it also has a dark basement where lots of things are stored, and you never go down there. It’s where all the ‘bad stuff’ is.

But, it’s also where the foundations are. 

So outside your conscious awareness are huge influencers on your life. Drivers.

When you begin to meditate, it’s like taking a flashlight down to the basement. At first, you’ve got a very tiny torch and can only see slivers, cobwebs, shadows… It’s pretty scary. Sometimes it can be horrible.

So you go to the store to buy a bigger flashlight.

Expand Your Awareness

You practice meditation and your awareness expands – your torchlight widens.

And now when you descend to the foundations of your mind, you can see a little clearer.

And you see that the scary shapes aren’t so scary after all.

They might still appear repellent, but they no longer seem to hurt you.

You have a closer look.

Here are all the things about yourself that you have repressed.

The thing about repressed feelings is they have a tendency to express themselves, usually in a dysfunctional way.

One of my major disfunctions used to be that I thought that I was unloveable. I believed that no one could possibly love me. And I hid memories, pains and traumas away in the basement of my unconscious mind.

And they manifested in my waking life, in the form of low self-esteem, and attracting women who couldn’t love me (and in cases where they could, I perceived it like they didn’t).

If you repress something, it will eventually express itself in a compulsive and destructive way.

When you shine the light of your awareness onto that which you fear, that which you have repressed, you gain a spiritual ‘control’ over it. I say ‘control’ but really you just gain choice about it.

When you aren’t aware of something manipulating you, you can’t do anything about it. When you are aware of a thing, you then have a choice about which way to act.

When I shone the light of awareness on that aspect of myself — and all it is is an aspect of self — I dissolved its negative power over me. After all, my unconscious only wanted to protect me from experiencing the trauma all over again. It wanted to keep me away from being hurt again.

I saw that the demon within me, that had caused me so much pain and suffering, was really my child self desiring to keep me safe! It was me all along. And the intention was good. The methods were not.

When you meditate you expand that light and see more of your self, expand your awareness, and make your inner model of reality conscious.

When it is conscious you can change it. You can decide in the moment instead of being dictated to by a powerful negative emotion-driven ancient pattern.

As you meditate, become aware of your true feelings and their original intentions. You will gain such power over your life you cannot comprehend right now.

Or don’t.

It’s entirely up to you, and how you want to live your life.

You can learn how to use meditation to expand your awareness for accelerated results.

After meeting my fiancee and falling deeply in love, I’ve spent a lot of time over these five years thinking about what makes us go together so well.

Especially given how much we’ve both changed in that time.

It feels to me like we’re more in love now than ever, even though we’re now two totally different people to who we were. We’ve each been a huge influence on each other, and somehow grown with each other. Complementary. And we’re definitely in a better place in our lives now than we were.

Did we get lucky?

Yup.

Very lucky.

But then, I don’t really believe in luck. I believe you create your own luck.

So how can you be “lucky in love?”

Before I met Emma, I had done a little exercise which I’ll show you how to do in this article.

The weird thing was, that she had done it too…

People started asking

A reader wrote to me a few months ago wanting my thoughts about her situation. And our special love exercise was the perfect solution for her.

Here’s my edited email to her (no names or personal stuff, just the goods):

Message:

Thanks for writing. It takes courage to open up to others about very personal things, so I commend you for that. It helps to have people around you that you can rely on for support. Do you have friends and family members who will support you no matter what? Open up to them and let them know what you are going through.

It sounds like your relationship with this guy is making you question yourself, and your self esteem. And that is not good. Let me ask you a question:

Have you ever known someone who kept getting themselves in the same type of situations, the same problems, and no matter how obvious it was to you what they had to do to change their life around for the better, they just couldn’t see it? You can tell them their problem right to their face, and they still wouldn’t see it. Then one day, they come to you and say that they finally figured it out. After all that time, and even after you had told them – they had to figure it out for themselves, in their own time.

The point is, that it is easy to spot patterns in others, and almost impossible to see them in ourselves. And until you are ready you are going to experience these same problems in your life. Maybe you find another guy, and experience the same thing all over again. Actively looking for answers though, and trying to figure out what you can do about it is a great first step.

It tells me that you are ready to start to change. But you have to take responsibility for your transformation, and decide if it’s really what you want. Because it’s going to be hard work.

There is something that you are doing unconsciously that is causing you to attract, and be attracted to, men like this guy. For a man to admit to being afraid of committing is a warning sign. It is code for: “I’ll be with you until someone I like better comes along.”

You are better than that, and deserve a whole lot more. Ditch him, you don’t need that kind of abuse.

Next, begin work on yourself.

Here is your homework:

How to attract your ideal mate

Suspend your critical thinking for a while, and do this exercise. Write down all the qualities that your dream-man has. Is he successful? Intelligent? Handsome? What does he do for a living? What are his interests? Everything you can think of, write down. Who is this pretend person? I want you to write out a long list that describes who this man is.

No, I’m not trying to magic a man out of thin air for you. This is much more powerful than that.

Next, you are going to look over the list a few times, and get really familiar with it. Daydream about it for a few minutes and see this man in your mind. It might sound really weird at this stage, but trust me, this works! Put the list under your pillow that night and think about this man as you fall asleep. What you are doing is saturating your mind with the imagery of who this person is. It will all make sense soon.

Then, the next day, you are going to think about what kind of a woman this man deserves. What kind of a woman would he be with? She’s going to have to be very special. You are then going to write down all the qualities that she has that would attract the man. Forget all the superficial attributes like looks etc. Just focus on the important things. What does she enjoy doing? How does she like to have fun? What does she contribute to the world?

Really think about this woman. Write it all down. I bet she’s a really good person.

Now, that evening, place the two pieces of paper under your pillow, and as you fall asleep, imagine they meet. They meet and fall in love, and see how happy they are. They are literally made for each other. No dramas, no conflicts, a perfect compatibility. It’s lovely. Make sure you really feel those beautiful loving emotions that these two have for each other.

Because that is the kind of relationship you deserve. No relationship is going to be perfect like the dream couple, but you CAN have a relationship that’s pretty damn loving, fun, and mutually respectful!

Now, here’s the important step. Look at that woman. She is the man’s ideal mate… And that woman is you.

She is how you see your idealized self. Now, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with you as you are right now – no. But there are some self-esteem issues. The way you want to be has healthy self esteem. You have lost a little confidence. Who you really are has perfect confidence. Who you really are is powerful, attractive, and loving.

Your real self, your “higher self,” has nothing holding her back. So what do you have to do to become that woman? What do you have to do to adopt the traits that she has? How are you going to transform yourself into your real self?

The other important thing to note is this: This is not for some man’s benefit. This is for your benefit. Your duty in life is to be the best you can be, and reading your email, I believe you can do that. You can, and you will, if you have faith and persistence.

I did this. And I completely transformed who I was. I shed my insecurities, the BS, the fears. And became the man I wanted to be. I attracted the perfect woman by finding out who I was, and becoming that person. That real self.

It won’t be easy to go through the initial changes. But it will get easier. You will feel better. And better. Until you will be your confident and  powerful self, who wouldn’t dream of being with a guy who doesn’t respect her for who she is.

This is not about the men. It is about you. So, take some time just for you. And find out who you really are.

Please let me know how it goes. Or if you need any help.

To your bliss and success,

Jim

End message.

Are you in love right now? Looking? Have you ever tried an exercise like this before? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Here’s a funny look at what gear I use to meditate, and how I got to this point.

Something you might not think about meditation: it can be hard on your body in the beginning. If you’ve had a back injury like me, just sitting still for more than a few minutes can be agony. You aren’t going to get into the meditative state very easily like that.

So check out the video to see what I went through to get to where I am today.

Here’s the long term plan if you have any pain:

1. Get comfortable in any way you can and meditate.
2. Try to keep the neck upright.
3. Over time, bring your entire back into to strengthen it up.
4. Exercise. Focus on lower back strengthening. Yoga a great, but any strength exercise will do. Until you can finally…
5. Sit erect. Enjoy deep states of bliss.