I've been through a few Big Mind sessions and they are fantastic. Highly recommended. I can feel my neurons tingle, man. I love that.

I hadn't read this book yet, though. The two things that affected me the most this morning were:

1) Using every moment as an opportunity to practice. I like to be reminded of that. I felt myself expand and relax just at the thought. Just the idea of it shifts my perspective. The whole world is a monastery, or the whole world is a dojo? I tend to gravitate to the latter, and both are true and untrue. Which fits the whole theme, I think. As an instant reframe, though, "as if the whole world were a monastery" is a really nice sampling point.

2) The integrated masculine and feminine compassion. That kind of balance is key, and holding both at the same time is glory and just the thought stretches me. Like yoga-for-the-spirit stretches.

And yet, remaining unattached and rolling like a wheel. Quite a ride!

Awesome info and frame for that. :) Thanks for the cool reply. I agree. I want to hold others in compassion even as I see the pretenses going on, and that's a challenge for me right now. And, talking about the weather gets so damn boring. Know what I mean? So I'm having a hard time with that, because I do believe pretense is just jamming up the relationship space. Hmmm.

Maybe finding a way to inoculate a room of people against pretense pathogens would be a good thing to explore. Heh.

"So, what things were BLUE?"

What a great exercise for revealing the neural-based reality that we see what we are looking for. Part 2: look for what you want and what makes you happy.

Hey Bernard -
Yeah, now that you mention it, there is a lot to unwind there. Tony's TED video might help with the framing of the six fundamental needs:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tony_robbins_as...

As for the dominant question, it is something that is best formulated by each individual because the deeper it resonates to your truth and the crucible of everything you are, the more powerful the question will be for you. So try out different Q's, and use the ones that make you feel great and that make available to you the highest level of resources (from within, from around and from your history). Tweak until fine tuned.

Tony was talking specifically about a habitually-ingrained question that happens under stress, and it can take some time to shift that "auto-pilot" kicking in. But keep at it, and it will indeed shift. Just realizing that we have the power to do that can be a life-changer for many people.

Good point, Chris. Dressing up the exterior can be a good experiment and a reasonable exploration, but it really isn't the key to the change. Of course, I'm one to talk, how many times have I latched onto something - it could be anything - as the "next key" to change and growth... many times! That old Zen thing of "it is all within" is still not second-nature for me. Yet.

I need to go play Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums now.

Great way to look at it, threesthrees. I think I've missed a few of my annual garage sales and Goodwill drop-offs for my wardrobe these past few years. Time to get spring cleaning!

And that also connects to the "opening space is what brings in the new" concept for me.

Thanks for that!

Thanks, Mark. I know what you mean about the labels-game revealing how we respond to others' treatment of us. When that kind of pretense is revealed, I just want to strip it all away from all my interactions. But that doesn't work either. :/ I understand there is a balance between social respect and "Radical Honesty" (great book, BTW), but I'm still searching for the answer to the question, "What is pretense good for?"

The concepts and information in today's book are well-worn for me, having jumped into NLP over 20 years ago and being a hypnotherapist since 1993. Most are simple (and many times effective) reframes. NLP has some fantastic stuff in this area, and the refinement of the NLP patterns in this area has been amazing.

It was the Maxwell Maltz quote that was the highlight for me: "Our habits are literally
garments worn by our personalities. They are not accidental, or happenstance. We have them
because they fit us. They are consistent with our self-image and our entire personality pattern. about the subject.”

We have them because they fit us. Wow. Which means we can also look at our habits and see what shape we are. And we can change that shape simply by changing our habits. It explains the bounce-back from trying to change habits (shapes shift slowly and have inertia). This just clicks in so many ways for me.

I used to *hate* the quote "the clothes make the man" when I was in my 20's. I wanted the inner spirit, integrity, contribution and compassion to make the man, not some purchase of overpriced cloth. To me, that quote was the pinnacle of superficiality trying to convince itself of its own validity.

However, when I paint habits as clothing, it all syncs up, both directions. That feels so much better, and has that "hidden gem of truth" revealed... also informing about choosing actual clothes that fit your style, personality and where you are on your path.

I like it.

It's always good to hear that wolf story again, too. :)

Good stuff on the deep relationships, I think, but what jumped out for me the most was the learning... spend much less time on reading (hmm, is that one of the principles behind Philosopher's Notes, I wonder?) by focusing on the 20% of the learning that is important. I definitely need to apply that. Helpful story about the school girl improving her grades in 6 weeks using 80/20.

What's the change for me from this? Applying the 80/20 rule to social media and online networking. Which is the 20% that produces 80% of the connection and satisfaction for me? I'll be looking for that and adapting my online time to tailor a best fit. I'll also introduce that concept into my social media classes.

Oh, yeah, and I need to get rid of 80% of my possessions, I think. Which would actually leave me with more time, space and energy to enjoy the 20% of them that I actually like & use!

I really like the "both arms and legs" idea: money, community, personal health, family and relationships are ALL important and it's important to have them all for true happiness. This is a crucial concept.

When reprogramming the blueprint, true long-term success and happiness depends on having health AND wealth, money AND quality relationships AND reputation.

NLP has a super cool pattern that has helped me in this area. It's called "Well-Formed Outcomes" (see sample description), and the most critical step in the process, in my opinion, is the "Whole System Ecology Check," meaning the outcome is cross-referenced to family, relationships, personal health, social - everything. In short, it takes into account all your 'arms and legs' when creating goals and outcomes.

If people skip this step, they can inadvertently end up "selling their health" and "trading their relationships" for quickest gain of cash and assets. It looks like they are achieving their goals, but really they are just making a mess.

A lot of great concepts in this Note: Fruits & Roots, Grow, Aim High. Great linguistic discrimination with declarations vs. affirmations, too, a real key. I think this book meshed with the Four Quadrants of Integral Theory (a future PN, coming up!) is a very potent formula for life design.

How am i going to shift based on today's Note? I'm going to make "Action is always better than Inaction" my mantra for the next two weeks... and I'm going to hear Gary Vaynerchuck's voice telling me all the great soundbites from today's Note! To me, he embodies this book up, down, left and center - and his energy is what I'd like to model. :)

Oh, and I'll update the Big Ideas Grouping Etherpad document sometime today, too (feel free to jump in there, everyone!) with today's big ideas.