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“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”

-Lao Tzu

Have you ever faced a tough decision, and miraculously known what action to take without consciously thinking about it?

Somehow, your subconscious mind knows what to do, and it makes the decision for you in a matter of seconds. It’s a state of heightened consciousness, which we often describe as our “gut instinct.” You take action without thinking twice, and in retrospect you see you made the right decision. This is intuition.

While some of us are more intuitive than others, I don’t believe we inherently less intuitive beings have to limit ourselves by saying, “I’m not intuitive… I just wasn’t born with it.” Intuition is, contrary to popular belief, a developed understanding. Your mind sends you messages all the time, whether you are able to interpret them or not. Being able to interpret these messages is largely dependent on how willing you are to listen to and accept them for what they are.

Emotional Intelligence

What is emotion? I’ve come to understand emotion as a strong, internal, subconscious response to external circumstance. We don’t think happiness, or sadness. We just are. We may be able to influence our emotions with thought, but thought is not emotion. Once we accept emotion for what it is, we can begin to interpret what it’s trying to tell us.

Emotion is designed to be the feedback messenger of your subconscious mind. Think of it as the Hermes of your subconscious mind.

When you’re angry, it’s usually because you are unable to come to terms with a specific aspect of your external environment.

When you’re frustrated, you’re attempting to bend your external environment to your will with little or no success.

When you’re sad, you may be having a hard time coping with your external environment. Regardless of the emotion you are feeling, there is always a message lying subtly beneath its surface.

So, how do you go about discerning the message? The key is to separate yourself from your emotions. You are not your emotions. Often times we get lost in our emotions, and allow them to consume our consciousness. They take over our minds, influence our actions, and frequently cause us to make poor decisions. Instead of thinking with our emotions, we must learn to use our emotions to think.

I was first introduced to this concept by Robert Kiyosaki in his book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. He describes that emotion provides us with an opportunity to think and learn about ourselves. Whenever I feel a strong emotion these days, I stop and reflect on Robert Kiyosaki’s perspective for a moment. I then decide to detach myself from my emotion and interpret what it means. You’ll soon find that every emotion serves as an opportunity to learn something new about yourself.

If I’m angry at something or someone, I see it as an opportunity to evaluate a mistake in my state of mind.  I’m being ungrateful, and failing to remember how good I have it. Maybe I’m being egotistical, and upsetting everyone around me while also upsetting myself. If I’m feeling frustrated, I may be beating my head against the wall. I need to re-evaluate my approach, and choose a different path to reach my goal. If I’m feeling anxious, chances are I need to learn a new skill. When I’m feeling bored, it may be a sign I need to take on new, exciting challenges. As you get more in touch with your emotions, you’ll begin to make noticeable leaps in your awareness. You’ll begin to see yourself in a new light.

Feeling emotion is human. Yet, so many of us try and push away our emotions instead of embracing them as a part of what makes us human. No matter how far we get in our personal development, emotion will always be with us. We will never escape our humanity, so why fight it? Do you ever attempt to fight the thunderstorm outside? Accept your emotional “thunderstorms”, and use them to learn as much about yourself as possible.

Motivational Intelligence

Ever since I began 6th grade, I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to do well in school. For a while, I wrote it off as being lazy. I figured, since all the other kids seemed to be working hard, maybe something was wrong with me.

Was I destined to be a bum? Maybe school wasn’t my thing.

At the end of senior year, it hit me. “What if I’m not just being lazy? What if it’s something deeper than that,” I asked myself. There were plenty of tough subjects for me to deal with. Usually I’m the type of guy who loves a good challenge. However, the challenge of the subjects wasn’t motivating me either, and I began to wonder why.

It has taken me nearly 3 years since that point in my life to recognize why I’ve had trouble motivating myself. It took a great deal of inner-reflection and thinking to understand why. Finally, I determined that at my core, one of my most important characteristics is my desire for freedom.

I’ve found it’s hard to focus my mind on anything which doesn’t interest me, regardless of its proclaimed “importance” to my future. Thus, in an environment like high school in which we are forced to take a certain curriculum whether we like it or not, I found it difficult to motivate myself. None of the subjects interested me, and I felt as though I had no freedom to choose otherwise.

You may be saying, “Rahul, you’re just making excuses. You really are lazy!” I won’t disagree. You’re entitled to your own opinion. However, following this profound realization about my true nature, I’ve started picking up activities which do interest me; such writing articles for this blog, studying philosophy, and personal development. The results are I find myself working 100 times harder, 100 times more efficiently, and providing 100 times more value to society. All the while, I’ve retained my freedom, and feel much more motivated.

The long example above from my own life introduces us to the concept of “motivational intelligence”. Much like the quote at the beginning of this article by Lao Tzu, at the center of your being, you know who you really are.

If you’re finding it hard to motivate yourself to do something, ask yourself why. Is the task not interesting? Is it too challenging? Does it restrict your freedom? Is the task too menial? Don’t do as I did and write yourself off as being “lazy”. This will only lead to negative self-talk, and will prevent you from obtaining valuable information.

Try and understand why you’re having difficulty motivating yourself. You will soon discover, just as I have, Lao Tzu’s quote is true. Your subconscious mind knows exactly what you want to be.

If your true interest is music, but you’re forcing yourself to study medicine, you’ll have a hard time motivating yourself. If your true interest is serving the greater good, and you’re stuck in a job which provides little or no value for anyone, you’ll have a hard time motivating yourself. If you’ve been denying yourself from using your motivational intelligence for a long time, the first step is to accept you have deviated from what you should be doing with your life. Once you’ve accepted this truth, you will be prepared to make progress in the right direction.

The next time you fall asleep on your books while studying for a test, or pass out on your desk while your boss is out to lunch, ask yourself, “Is this really what I’m supposed to be doing with my life?”

Don’t “Go Through the Motions”

It’s easy to fall into the trap of “going through the motions” in life, and ending up somewhere you aren’t supposed to be. When we stop listening to what we are trying to tell ourselves, this is precisely what happens. Blindly going through the motions could surely lead you to some interesting places. However, it’s much more likely this method will lead you to a sub-optimal place in life which limits your contribution to society by barring you from your true potential.

The longer you choose to ignore your intuition, you deprive society of all the potential good you could be doing. Don’t be the reason why society is missing out. Learn to use your intuition.

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“Nothing is worth more than this day.”

- Goethe

What’s all this hoopla about living in the now?

Of course you’re living in the now! You’re breathing, moving, and existing in the now! Everything you do is being done right now; so what could people possibly mean by live in the now?

Remember when you were just a child? Your only aspirations were those of wanting to be a “fireman” or a “princess” or a “ballerina”. You didn’t spend your days pondering your future, or reflecting on your past. Every day was like a new life, full of opportunity.  Wouldn’t you give anything to be able to experience that bliss once again?

This truth raises a burning question; have we lost touch with our inner child over the years, and forgotten what it means to be alive? We spend most of our time working our butts off so that we can buy that awesome new car, or that cute new purse we’ve been wanting for so long.

Then, and only then, can we enjoy ourselves in the present moment.

Then, and only then, do we let our inner child out to play again.

The enjoyment lasts for a moment, and then we are off to the races once again, moving towards our next toy… our next enjoyment fix.

There Must Be Something More to Life

Is this all there is to life; a blur of movement followed by momentary pauses of “joy” and accomplishment? I’ve learned that it doesn’t have to be. Many experts in human psychology say that one of the most powerful motivational forces behind human behavior is the desire to be great.

The bum on the street still has the desire of being great one day. Those who are already great strive to be even greater tomorrow. You desire to be great. I desire to be great. But somewhere in the midst of experiencing this powerful desire, we forget what it means to be alive.

We find ourselves constantly striving to be something we aren’t today. We strive to make more money, we strive to build our character, we strive to find the “perfect mate”, we strive to educate ourselves in hope of finding a good job in the future. But when does this ever stop? When do we ever truly get there?

When we land the job of our dreams, or find our “perfect mate”, do we just roll over in a state of bliss and proclaim to ourselves, “I’ve arrived!”? The last time you reached a goal did you arrive somewhere, or did you proceed to set your sights toward something farther off in the distance?

If you answered “something farther off in the distance,” you can bet that’s the same feeling you’ll experience when you begin reaching the momentous goals you set in your earlier days. Life is constantly changing. We are always, and will always be moving towards our next goal. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t live in the now.

Choose to Love Each Moment

Our days of childhood were great in that we were in a constant state of bliss. There was no real world responsibility of having to provide for yourself and your family. Mommy and daddy took care of everything, and you went about your business playing kickball in the middle of the street.

Unfortunately, these responsibilities do exist now and we have to be aware of them, otherwise we will end up like the bum on the street. Despite this reality, we can still attain a state of bliss similar to the one experienced in our childhood days. The key is to love each moment as it passes by.

Of course there will be bad days and bad experiences, such is life; it’s always in a state of flux. However, we can minimize the number of these moments by building a life around the things we enjoy.

School and work are common sources of pain and numbness. I don’t understand why so many people spend their days in school hating school, or their days at work hating work. It’s possible to love these times in your life also.

Choose a major you enjoy. Choose a field of work you love. Surround yourself with positive people who make your day more enjoyable. If you’re already in a position that you don’t like, simply acknowledging this fact is progress in the right direction. Soon enough you’ll find yourself living a more agreeable lifestyle.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years living in the future. I’ve always focused on how much better the future will get, and have always been striving to improve my future. I thought and thought and thought. I ceased to live in the now, and I always had a sensation in the back of mind telling me something wasn’t right.

This summer (which is sadly dwindling to an end), I made it a point to live in the now. I’ve surrounded myself with enjoyable activities such as martial arts, golf, reading about topics which interest me, writing these articles, and spending more time with my loved ones. I’ve picked up meditation and started feeling more connected with the present moment. This summer has been one of great awakening for me, and I have to attribute this to living in the now.

Be Mindful of the Past and Future

Living in the past and future is, for the most part, unproductive. Nothing can physically be accomplished when we dwell on the past or the future in our minds. When we spend our time reflecting on painful moments in the past, or worrying about the future, what we are really doing is taking away from our time in the present to make our lives better right now. If we’re going to dwell on the past, and postulate on the future, why not at least do it in a constructive way?

Learning from our mistakes is obviously an invaluable byproduct of being able to relive our pasts. When we choose to look into our past and evaluate our previous performances, we can gain valuable insight into how we can improve today. We learn from our mistakes, and we make corrections; forever improving our lives today.

Stop punishing yourself for your past mistakes. Stop pitying yourself for the pain in your past. Find the good in every pain, mistake, and failure. Many of the most successful people in our world today proclaim this ability is the single greatest cause of their success today; they can find the good in every bad.

Consciously Create Your Future

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” This statement is a powerful truth. If we do spend time in our heads contemplating the future, let’s do so constructively. Let’s not waste our time worrying or wondering about where we are headed. Instead, let’s assertively construct the future of our dreams in our minds, and then set out in the present to make this vision a reality.

Meditating upon the future as if it were present reality is extremely powerful. See the life you want to live through your eyes in your mind. Often times you will be amazed at how your vision, in time, manifests itself as your reality. This isn’t magic. By seeing it in your mind first, you will take necessary action to create it.

When you woke up this morning and thought of breakfast, you saw it in your mind first. You then went to the kitchen and created whatever it was you saw in your mind.

Hey, you predicted the future accurately!

It’s just as simple to apply this power of vision to all areas of your life and obtain the same outcome. It may take some more time to manifest the car of your dreams, or the house of your dreams, but in the end you will learn that you’re a pretty powerful “psychic” after all!

Evidently, meditating upon the past and the future should be aids which help make your present a better experience (it always comes back to the present!)

Take-Away Points

“Life sucks and then you die.” This doesn’t have to be your life. Your life can be filled with enjoyment, and the down moments can be the exceptions. Engulf yourself in enjoyable activities. Manifest your dreams in the present. Get back in touch with your blissful inner-child.

Don’t worry about the future, or dwell on painful moments in the past. Instead, make the most of the present moment. Set your goals, achieve them, revel in your achievement; and enjoy every step along the way. I’ve chosen to look at life as a journey, not as a destination. I’ve also chosen to look at success as a direction I choose, not some place at which I will “arrive”. These are extremely empowering mindsets.

Remember, this is the only moment in your life that you are truly alive. Once it’s gone, you’ll never get it back. So love it, embrace it, and make the most of it.

As Goethe once said, “Nothing is worth more than this day.”

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