Break Free from the Ordinary: Your Blueprint to Be Extraordinary

Today we start your journey towards becoming Extraordinary. We are going to explore a mental model for how you grow through life. What you're going to see is a map of elevating human consciousness. Today I'm going to take you through a journey of understanding the different levels of how we evolve in terms of our understanding of who we are in this world that we are born into. And I'm going to prescribe you an exercise that I want you to do today, and this exercise is a true game changer. Now, first let's talk about this mental model.

INTRODUCING THE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

We, human beings exist in the world in four different stages. These stages represent our relationship with the world around us. Unfortunately, vast majority of human beings exist at level 1, or what is called as the "victim stage". When you exist at level 1, you believe life happens to you, you believe you live in a mechanical universe and that you are the subject of the whims and fancies of the forces around you. It is your manager who is the suppressive a*****e. It is the economy that's keeping you down. It's the politicians, the media, this or that, but you feel that the things that actually irk you and upset you are outside you. But, at a certain point many people experience some sort of awakening, and that awakening moves them to level 2.

LEVEL 2 THE AWAKENING

Level 2 is where you start to understand that you have some control of the world around you, that you are not simply subject to what's going on, but you can change things. You can set goals, you can set intention, you can apply your mind in different ways. You can study personal growth. You can practice creative visualization. At level 2, you start to understand that you can shake things up, that you can change the world. But there's a level beyond 2. Level 3 is where the fun and the magic really begins.

LEVEL 3 RECODING INNER WORLD

Level 3 is where you start to understand that you can recode yourself. You start to understand that there are two worlds. There's the outside world but there's also this inner world, and this inner world has a reality of its own. Level 3 is where you start embracing transcendent practices. A transcendent practice is any practice that makes you go within. Forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, manifesting, creative visualization, affirmations. These transcendent practices become your new tool for remolding yourself and changing the world around you. This is when you start to learn to bend reality. But we're not done yet. There is a level 4.

LEVEL 4 BECOMING EXTRAORDINARY

At level 4 you start to understand that you're not just existing in the world, but you can change the world. Level 4 is the level of the visionary, the people who shift and improve the world to some degree, to make it better for everyone else. As you climb through these levels as we go through life, but the beautiful thing about these levels is that each is like an awakening. Once you get to a level, you get to stay there. You may momentarily forget who you are and drop a bit, that's happened to people, but once you have touched a level, it's very easy to get back up there. But there's an importance in understanding these levels. Ken Wilber said that maps of human consciousness serve a really good purpose. Much like a roadmap, they actually help you get somewhere. When you can see these levels, you're better able to climb the levels. Now as you look at the chart above, I want you to mentally ask yourself what level are you in?

WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU IN?

Are you at LEVEL 1, The Victim Stage?

Are you at LEVEL 2, The Manifester Stage or The Awakening, where you understand you ability to shift the world around you?

Are you at LEVEL 3, where you are deeply aware of your inner core, and using these inner abilities to guide you?

Are you at LEVEL 4, where you are making massive changes in the world?

Now here's the interesting thing right? Ken Wilber also says that all of us, inevitable, overestimate the level we are at by a factor of one. So, if you think you are at level 3, you may be just at level 2. And if you think you are at level 4, you may be just at level 3. Don't worry this happens to everyone, including me. We always overestimate where we are. As we go deeper into the nuances of these levels, you will start to see where you are, and here's why this is important.

DIFFERENT TOOLS APPLY TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

For example, if you are level 2, creative visualization is amazing for you. But when you get to Level 3 & 4, you use a different tool. Likewise, intuition is great at Level 3. When you get to Level 4, there's an added dimension to intuition, listening to outside guides, but you won't be able to understand the power of that concept unless you're already moving up to level 4. So, now let's look at these 4 levels and unwrap them. As you understand these levels, not only will you gain an insight of where you are, you'll gain an insight of the people around you and be better trained to help them grow. Let's Look at Level 1.

" THE VICTIM STAGE"

When you live at level 1, the culturescape really has its grip on you. And you fail to understand the difference between absolute truth and relative truth. Take a glass of water, it's an absolute truth. Relative truth meaning your religion, your culture, the indoctrination that you went through growing up in the world. You fail to understand the concept of BRULES (b***s*** rules). You fail to see that there are rules of the world that you can question, that you can bend, that you do not have to obey. And you're susceptible to peer pressure. You live your life, not often for yourself, but for your parents, or your grand parents, or your spouse. Traditions play a big part in your life. But remember, as one writer said "Tradition is nothing more than peer pressure from dead people". I was at level one at one point, it was an eye opening moment. But I had my trigger. I'm going to ask you to think about your trigger. That trigger brings on the awakening. The awakening is level 2. When you move from level 1 to level 2, this is how your perception of the world changes.

" THE AWAKENING "

You start to understand that life can happen to you or life can happen from you. At level 2, this is when you start writing down your goals. This is when you start practicing affirmation. This is when you may start dabbling with creative visualization. You've started to understand that there is power of intention, and a power of focus that you have to shift this world around you. You don't like the 9 - 5? You start your own business. You don't like religion? You discover your own spirituality. You begin to understand that your beliefs are not you, rather, your beliefs possess you and you start being able to shed the beliefs that no longer serve you.

Reverend Michael Beckwith says " Your world as you see it is an artifact of a previously held point of view. Your eyes are always looking into the past". And when you come to level 2, you start to recognize this. You start questioning the rules of the Culturescape, and you start seeing that, like food products, certain rules have an expiration date.

SEGMENT INTENDING EXERCISE

I want to teach you an exercise from Esther Hicks that is powerful if you are at level 1, and you are still mildly skeptical of your power to shift the world around you. Now those of you who are at level 2, who already believe that you are powerful manifestors pay attention to this exercise, cause it's just as useful for you, and I bet many of you are not doing it. This is an exercise you can teach your friends or family members whom you feel might be operating at the victim level. The exercise is called Segment Intending. Segment Intending works like this. Esther Hicks, in her brilliant books says this, " The most valuable skill that you can ever develop is the skill of directing your thoughts towards what you want". To be adaptive, quickly evaluating all situations and then quickly coming to the conclusion of what you most want, and then giving your undivided attention to that. When you wake up in the morning think about the day that's about to unfold. And while you are in the meditative state, or while you are in the shower, simply tell yourself, and pretend as if you have control over this day. So let's say you wake up, and you dress the kids and take them to school. You might say, Wouldn't it be nice if today I had wonderful breakfast with the kids, If i get them to school on time, and if we had such a beautiful conversation in the car. And then, wouldn't it be nice if, when I get home, I was so inspired to go to the gym, and I had one of my best workouts ever. Wouldn't it be nice, if my lunch meeting was filled with inspiration and best ideas and the restaurant was incredible. Wouldn't it be nice if I got home before 6pm? You see what Esther Hicks is making you do. She's making you suggest and influence your day.

Now something fascinating happens when you do this. Some of you may believe in the idea that gods create reality, so by declaring how we want our day to unfold, we create that reality. Some of you may be skeptical on that. But even if you are skeptical, and you don't buy the thoughts creating reality model, you still have probably heard of the brain's Reticular Activating System. When scientists talk about RAS or Reticular Activating System they talk about it as the brain's gold seeking mechanism. As our brain's evolved, we had to hunt deer, we had to find berries on the bush. Our brains are good at detecting and finding information that meets our goals. The scientist always give the same example, if you buy a white Volkswagen, you will certainly start noticing other white Volkswagen on the street, because it's in your mental frame. Likewise when you practice Segment Intending and you tell yourself that you are going to have an inspiring lunch, and the food is going to be good, and the restaurant is going to have amazing ambience, when you actually have that lunch and the waiter messes up your order, you actually are less likely to focus on that. Because you have told your brain to focus on the ambience and quality of the food and the conversation you have. You have directed your brain on what to focus on. So when your day ends, you'll find that your day is actually better.

Now before I wrap, I want to give you another piece of homework. You try the segment intending exercise and tell us in the comments about your own experience of trying the exercise, it will inspire other people. In a journal, write down what was your awakening? What caused you to go from level 1 to level 2, from victim to understanding you had a power within you to shape your world? Was it a book, a teacher? Was it a movie? What was it for you? Sometimes our awakenings come from pain or suffering. Sometimes from a great mentor. Who's your Yoda? What was your life transforming book? Now as you write it down and reflect on it, if you are open you can share it in the comments.

We'll cover Level 3 and 4, in next blog post. Keep an eye out for it.