By reading or taking the steps I included in the first part of this lifestyle development guide, you’ll be surely aware of the importance of taking action, both mentally and physically. The first part of this guide  focused a lot in the physical aspect of change, as changing through action was presented as the best way to interact with your inner self.

This part will start covering the mental aspect of both physical and mental action, that leads you to change. I am aware of the importance of this information and I am absolutely aware of the fact that I should offer this stuff to only the best users out there (maybe for a fee?). That is, making someone pay for this. But no, I just want to give everyone the opportunity to change their life for free; free information: this is how information should spread all over the world.

If you don’t get the point of what’s written in the lifestyle development guide it’s OK.
It means you’re not ready to take that deep change in your life (i.e. you’re scared of changing, don’t want to change because of the radical difference this will make in your life, etc. )

Let’s get down to business, guys!

There is lots of information out there about inner development and lifestyle development. But the truth is… they’re just trends, nothing special. A trend is made by a temporary interest in something. I’ve been discovering every sort of information about developing, building, evolving the skills you have at living your life and what I’ve come to is pretty interesting.

How to REALLY tell TOTAL BS from OUTSTANDING content!

Here, I want to put something I would have loved to hear some time ago. This is how to tell when something you read is a total BS:

1) They make you pay for realizing your dreams
2) They offer you the magic pill
3) They ADD another thing, subject or detail to worry about in your life

If you pay attention to the third rule for a second, you may realize that a good 80% – 90% of the content you find on the net is TOTALLY useless for everyone.

I personally had to find the GOOD information by deleting lots of stuff, checking tons of material, pages of books in both paper than digital version. I noticed that is really easy to rehearse the same content over and over, just giving a catchy title, bloating and article with lots of meaningless words. Most of those self made gurus work like this. They start from nowhere, they end up in nowhere. Because they talk about nothing, and… their talk is going nowhere. If this is something you’re accustomed with, just be sure not to rely so much upon this people and content.

I want to reveal you the best tip I’ve discovered over the years, so to gear you towards reaching the excellence in yourself. No strings attached, no BS of any kind, just the bare truth (because it is the only stuff that worked for me)

Thats is: Spread love.

This is what successful people do; Self made billionaires, celebrities and great people have all this mindset. In the next part of this guide I want to show how to build up the Spread Love Mindset.

this is a great mental attitude that will lead you towards the best you can find, both in yourself and in others.

Spread love, no matter what;
Love yourself for what you are;
love yourself for the great stuff you can do with the people around you.
Love the way something is, or let events amaze you. Let the details lighten up your whole, let people amaze you.

What you expect from reality, is what you get in reality. Remember this.
We’ve been taught not to trust people. What I say is, you should never trust people (it isn’t good to trust everyone you meet for the first time, OK) but you can always spread love. It’s easy to do. And it makes a difference. In every case, in every situation.

If you feel like to doing something good for someone, don’t let prejudice stop you from acting; don’t let a past experience stop you in advance.

Persevere, trust yourself and what you have, what you are and what you value.
Give peace to yourself for what you did once, because past is never coming again.
Let the day you’re living inspire you, from the bottom to the top.
Look at the details in life; let the surface melt for you to see what’s in depth.

Consider asking, talking with the people you want to be compared with. None knows everything about life; everyone of us knows it all in a different form and shape. Don’t let relativity stop you from reaching your goals.

Let relativity be the fuel of your life.
Let life be the fuel of your best self.
Let people around you be the fuel for reaching the life you deserve.
Let the details be the fuel that power your reality
Let the dynamics you perceive be the fuel for your interaction
Let the day you’re living now be the fuel for reaching your new self

“each time you neglect your best self by not taking action on the things that matter to you deep down, you are training your subconscious brain that being mediocre is ok”

Timothy Mark

After an intense week and a wonderful weekend, This is what I came across some minute ago. A wonderful post by Timothy Marc (from Do something rad). What’s Timothy talking about here is the concept of best self development.

How can we embrace our best in-depth self?

Is there any way to discover it?

There’s no easy answer, and I won’t probably be sufficiently objective in showing you how easy it is to reach your goals. But… I can show you the way to do this. Also, keep in mind that what you find below is content based on my personal experience. This is what I’ve changed my life with. This is what I did in full time during my last year, and I want you to do the same if you really want to see results in your life, if you really want to go to that next level, taking that next step towards excellence and self actualization.

How to reach that extremely deep level change you’re craving for

Challenge yourself (the hard way),

Train hard, develop the personality traits you love the most and discard those that you don’t really like. Allow good stuff and abundance in your life, discover new things to change the (boring?) life you’re living. Get your performance to the next level, the way you want it to be, the way you can feel safe and optimal with it.

Challenge your core beliefs,

If you’re not sure about what your true potential is, start discovering new passions, get involved in new, unexpected activities. Listen to a different kind of music in the next 10 minutes, build new habits, examine which one is the one that suits your needs the best; live your life on the edge, look for adrenaline rushes, and do amazing things which will help you discover your true nature. Be patient in looking for cues and signs which let you know your life has really changed. Look for establishing a balance in the way your life is, and the way you want it to be. Discover new things and get to know new, successful people. Make your life successful.

Challenge the way you look at things,

never expect others to create an impression for the things you perceive on your own. If you can, always be mindful about the details a certain experience evokes in you, let your senses be awaken, even if you happen to feel down, on an occasional stressful situation.

Perception is strange stuff. Try new things with your girlfriend, with your spouse or with your friends. Love to hear different versions of the same stuff you could be interested in, different opinions and thoughts about everything. The multitude of approaches will highlight the important side of information, freeing you from the burden of useless junk. Let the situations you’re in balance the way you look at the life you’re living in general. Try examining a problem by different viewpoints, choose to establish new, better and healthier habits (quit smoking, drinking, going to bed late, for example).

Challenge our inner potential

by aiming higher and higher every time you can do so, you’ll find yourself submerged in a reality that allows you to face your fears, know your inner strength and act accordingly. Get to know your inner self, step by step. Meditation, dieting, training and working out in different manners, with different rules, with different mindsets. Develop inner strength by reading, getting to know things and loving the kind of culture and information you really want to be part of your life.

It is up to you, to build the path your life is going to run through.

I’ve decided to seriously get my life handled for good and I wish everyone could do the same. Obviously, this is no short-term voyage. Best self development and deep level changes take time, patience, effort, inner strength and will.

Feel free to contact me if you want to know more; ask for suggestions, tips, consulting and some help in general about my work

This is the first part of a series of Lifestyle Development articles, geared towards reaching the success you want in life. It would be great if you could spread the voice about it. Share this with your friends, your parents, your colleagues… You get the idea! If you’d like to stay in touch and receive the next article of the Lifestyle Development Series don’t forget to subscribe!

I wish you to find the abundance, the life and the happiness you truly deserve

Warning: If you usually write nonsense and remix the same stuff you write about, this post is going to hurt you.

An interesting aspect of the Internet is that you can find every sort of information. On the one hand, this is great because you find everything you’re interested on. On the other hand, you find the same content everywhere, written in different shape, forms, colours (and letters) and remixed one hundred times with maybe little differences.

I hate this.

• •.Because this creates hordes of I-know-it-all people 

• •.Because at the end of the day there is nothing useful you have learned, apart revising the same ideas over and over. 

• •.Because if there are hyper links, it doesn’t mean that a specific information is worth being spread. 

• •.Because if there is content, it doesn’t mean it is good for you 

• •.Because if there are lots of good opinions about something, it doesn’t mean you should trust them 

• •.Because usually what is really valuable for us to know is not meant to be spread to the masses 

Sure, the content I publish here is not meant to be understood and read and applied by everyone. Maybe, if it will make sense to you, is not going to make sense to another person.  And this is totally fine. It’s good to please the reader sometimes, but the content I write makes sense to me and you should do the same with the content you write on your pages.

The really important question here (for every writer, blogger or whatever) is that you should worry way less about the importance you give to the ideas and opinions of your visitors, friends, followers or whatever you have, increasing the value of the content you write; increasing the the value you perceive in this content. Your role (in creating new and valuable content) is living on your own terms, on a perspective of total abundance. You must publish content that comes from your heart. You won’t regret the idea.

If you’re not going to follow me, I won’t be offended. I have the possibility to have a small circle of followers with whom I interact with. If they learn something from me, I will be glad to learn something from them too, at least to willingly expand my consciousness about the reality I’m living in.

The so called “writer’s block” is nonsense.

The need for news is nonsense.

The fast-life addiction is nonsense.

Stop worrying about nonsense,

let’s focus on what really matters.

If it is called nonsense, there must be a reason.

 Once for all.

I think it is now the right time to make the thoughts about technology and lifestyle evolve from the outer perspective of simple living, digital interaction, real / digital balance to an even hotter topic: lifestyle development geared towards reaching personal success in life and work (using technology the right way). That is to say, Self actualizing through productivity.

My blog is changing with me

Those of you who have been following me for awhile will be accustomed to the fact that the topic of every new article I publish on this great blog is depending on what catches my interest on the moment of release.

PS. During the last few weeks I’ve been reading, thinking and writing a lot (here is my guest post for Liz Strauss! Check it by clicking here!).

Personal self growth and inner development put me in the path of a constant longing for more, to feel better, to always enjoy more of the stuff I can truly be interested in. Living on my own terms has made self actualizing possible for me, leading me in a state of total abundance of… everything. As for developing your ideal lifestyle, you can check my brief guide about Self Actualization and Lifestyle Design

I found my life purpose to be “to care deeply, connect playfully, love intensely, and share generously; to joyfully explore, learn, grow, and prosper; and to creatively, brilliantly, and honorably serve the highest good of all.” These words are by Steve Pavlina: Yep, I’m not original today, but who cares.

I’m 21 now

I decided to take a look at what I’ve accomplished during the past wonderful year and what I’ve left behind; what I’ve devoted myself to and what I decided to get rid of to acquire a new perspective over my existence. I guess it is important to evaluate wisely the changes I have had in my life over the last 12 months. In a certain sense, what I accomplished is what Matt Madeiro talks about in his post “Close the Laptop (How I Changed My Life)”. When that article was released my life had already changed and Matt’s post could be a sort of reminder of the long distance I had gone. I renewed completely what and who I am today. I changed the way I perceive the world I live in and the people I spend my time with. The same goes for this blog, which is my digital footprint.

I developed a successful lifestyle, a new life meant to be lived actively instead of passively; a life in which I take decisions because I want to, not because I need to. Nothing but abundance, in my financial, technological, digital, personal and inner existence. Our human natural tendency is to always want more; I was amazed at how easily I could achieve goals once I started to pursue them by completely focusing on them, letting everything fade away from my view.

• Living great is what we are really meant for   

• Dreaming big is all you have to do. Dreams DO come true if your focus allows you to face your fears.   

• Let bad thoughts fade away, dissolve.   

• Let the light of focus come in and lead yourself in reaching that next level you deeply crave for.  

• The more wisely you spend your time, the more able you’ll become at recognizing the lifestyle that best suits your needs. Your success will grow in autopilot, and whether the success you’re looking for is in your work career or in growing a consciousness of who you are, there are no limits to the potential you can develop.  

• The truth is in yourself and in who you are 

You probably know I started experimenting with my diet.

Are you ready to know how my diet experiment developed? I want to introduce you to my dieting results. The canonical 8-weeks of diet have finally come to an end on friday night and all I can do is just wonder at how amazing the results are.

Results

• I lost 6 kilograms in the first 2 weeks of dieting, and the “transition” felt really natural and flawless. 

• My waistline size decreased a lot (I dropped 4-jeans-sizes) and it still keeps going down. Needless to say I had to renew half of my wardrobe. That feels wonderful, and you know what? No loss in overall strength occurred! 

• I was amazed by what it feels like to live the day far from useless and counterproductive needs. I did never expect to be able to stay focused for many hours at a time, with no need to eat, without yawning, without feeling stressed or unfocused. Concentration at its best.  

• If you’re a student, this eating strategy / plan work wonders. It will literally change your life. 

Intermittent Fasting is also effective for muscle definition.

Also, I had never seen my abs so clearly before. Now I can. And this is why this experience is totally liberating.

Some thoughts after this experience

We are grown accustomed to bad habits. We are programmed to live in a bad way. That’s why we can try everything out there on the market and still being looking for an effective method to reach our goals. Intermittent fasting really liberated my life from a bunch of physical and mental clutter. There is no need to count calories; to obsess about macro and micro nutrients. If you do that, it’s just because you like to eat healthy, and I totally respect that. Apart this case, Intermittent Fasting frees you, in every sense.

I just eat the stuff I need, when I need it.

That’s basically the same concept of discarding what we don’t need. Setting everything aside is beautiful, especially if the increased boundary with material stuff leads you to a deeper connection with the reality you live in, and therefore with stuff itself. Intermittent fasting is part of me now. I will keep this dieting regimen. This wonderful nutritional lifestyle has increased my overall strenght, focus, connection with the reality I live in and what I want from my life.

Visit The Lean Saloon if you want to know more about this lifechanging experience. Reaching the goal for a better existence is what makes us better persons, every day of our wonderful lives.

Never let the occasion slip by

BONUS SECTION

A quick extract from The Lean Saloon, that explain the practical side of IF: (it is a complete diet for those who could need it, so, keep reading if you’re interested!). Johnny condensate all the practical side of IF into a single post, to reply the question of a curious user.

Yes, I usually eat my first meal in the late afternoon, 4 or 5 (and sometimes later). I’m glad you mentioned that this sounds restrictive, as I been meaning to write about it — so I’ll just say a few preliminary things in this reply: While this meal pattern (eating later) is not for everyone, it’s actually not as restrictive as it sounds. It follows the same pattern as The Warrior Diet, in which the first meal is at 5PM and eating ends at 10PM; and it also follows nearly the same pattern as the Lean Gain pattern, in which you fast daily for 16 hours and feed for 8. My feed-window starts around 4 or 5 and I’d eat one, two, or three meals, or whatever I feel like; I’ll eat as late as right before bedtime. (Weight gain from eating at night, as you might already know, is a myth.)

I chose this meal pattern for several reasons:

* I like to eat when eating really counts: with family, friends, or celebrations. These things USUALLY occurs later in the day.

* Not eating during the day frees me up to get a lot of work done, and allows me to be creative in other areas.

* A longer period of being in an UN-fed state increases fat metabolism and other energy-catalysts. This metabolic environment supplies nearly endless energy for mental focus (many people report greater concentration during the fasted state).

* Food stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, preparing the body for higher quality sleep. This makes sense to eat most of the food toward the evening, and to maintain the fasted state during the day for catecholamines to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system for wakefulness and energy.

* Although I eat a “paleo-ish” diet, I also realize that food is the center of our culture’s celebration of many events. As such, this type of intermittent fasting allows participation in the enjoyment of food, whatever kind it might be.

* Not eating every 3 or so hours (in the car, at the desk, in front of the computer, on the go) actually brings much more meaning and joy to food — at least for me.

Body fat perpetually at 5%, for long-term. (And I was a pudgy kid.)

There are a dozen other benefits to intermittent fasting, as you probably already know, some of which is potentially increased health and possibly longevity, without feeling deprived of calories. But since you brought up the (fair) concern that this meal pattern is *restrictive*, my reply is two parts:

1) Psychological hunger is like a switch. When you decide to go on an intermittent fast, you essentially turn “off” the switch, and something in the mind comes to an acceptance of “not eating.” The kitchen is closed, sort to speak, removing all ambiguity of the act of eating.

2) Physical hunger is a very interesting hormonal-based phenomena, in that hunger is highly adaptable. Most people adapt to changing meal frequency.

These 2 factors work together to make this meal pattern pretty accessible… not the least bit restrictive. But, like I mentioned, it’s not for everyone; as such, I don’t presume to convince everyone to try it.

But those who adopt this meal pattern have told me it’s surprisingly easy to lose fat and to keep it off.

Never let the occasion to enjoy the life you deserve pass by.

L’universo è cambiamento; la nostra vita è il risultato dei nostri pensieri (Marcus Aurelius)

As you know, I’ve been experimenting with Intermittent fasting. Check the results here: they are astonishing. During the last few days I’ve been thinking about how my life turned out. In every case of my life, be it a diet or an important occasion, I like to aim high and think big.

What moves me towards new heights in my life is what makes me wonder at how beautiful life is. It is so beautiful to be in love with what you think is important for you. It is great to give form and shape to the limitless life I want to design for myself.

My only expectation is that I will be able to pursue what I really perceive to be valuable to me.

• Follow your heart in what you read and what / who you listen to. 

• Make sure you only follow what you truly think to be important to your core values, to your best self. 

• Change your life accordingly to what your real aims are. 

• Be selective on the information you consume and the people you spend your time with. Be wise in building your relationships, because you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with 

Stop living average. We are not meant to live average.

You have the opportunity to design a life which suits you the way you want it to.

Here we are, talking about lifestyle design and personal development. Why? Well, technology is evolving the same way human race is. The stuff we’re talking about today is really, really huge.

How do we perceive the depth in things?
We can find answers in this brief post written by Mike Schumacher, and I want to share it with everyone who’s interested in personal development, self improvement and growth. If you’re interested in Mike’s opinions, thoughts and articles, you can read his writings at http://mikeschu.info/

Boundaries in Personal Development

When a boundary or a line is drawn, there are two sides generated. A drawn line indicates a difference in perspective, while boundaries imply an inclusive and an exclusive perspective relative to what side of the boundary you are on.

Boundaries are imposed on us from a variety of sources. Our parents are the first to draw boundaries. Friends and social groups draw boundaries. The use of social groups includes religious affiliations and places of employment. Governments also draw boundaries on what people can and can’t do through the application of laws. We can even draw our own boundaries as we attach meaning to events. Boundaries and lines can be physical or mental constructs.

Consider your elementary school teacher or parent imploring you to “stay within the lines!” when you were coloring with crayons as a child. Your parents and teachers assume that the lines are boundaries when in actuality they are not. You can certainly color outside of the lines on the page. You can even color outside of the page, as parents that have experience with kids, walls and crayons know. The perception of meaning attached to the lines (e.g. bad grades, scolding by parents, good grades, your art posted on the classroom wall) is what specifies the lines on a coloring page as boundaries.

As I said previously, it is healthy to set boundaries at times. Your parents didn’t want you to experience electrocution as an infant, so they likely placed protective plastic plugs in the unused electrical sockets around the house. The protective plug acts as a boundary between you and electrical current. If you’re trying to break an addiction to alcohol, you may need to set up a mental boundary of not going into bars, liquor stores, and the liquor sections of supermarkets. There are good safety reasons why it is important for football players to not hit or tackle someone out-of-bounds in a football game – they may be unprotected (like coaches), innocent bystanders (the fans and media), or the tackle may cause injury when someone makes contact with a wall, steel pole, bench, or another person.

Yet at some point in your personal development, some boundaries may no longer serve you. Most of us eventually understand that electrocution is a bad thing, so once that lesson is learned the plastic plugs can come out of the wall sockets. It’s silly to keep using the protection plugs when everyone knows not to stick improper items in electrical sockets. Similarly, your parents may have told you to avoid certain people or certain neighborhoods when you were growing up, but people and communities change over time.

The trick of expanding perspective for most people is to know that all boundaries are false – they’re actually just lines with meaning attached to them. For instance, many people cross the line between being an employee and an entrepreneur. However, it’s relatively common for people to identify with one side of the entrepreneur/employee preference and express negative opinions of the other. There is no “other side” when it is apparent that both perspectives answer the question, “How do you make money?” Similarly, you can drive a car off of a cliff. The cliff edge is a line between earth and air that should be respected, but it’s not a boundary. This last example states a good point: just because all boundaries are false does not mean that all lines and perspectives are false. Maintaining respect for lines and differing perspectives is very important, as I’ll discuss in a future post.

It becomes apparent that personal growth to expand perspective happens in one of two ways.

1. Dissolve the boundaries by removing the meaning attached to the line. The civil rights movement and the abolition of apartheid are good examples of dissolving perceived racial boundaries.
2. Expand the boundaries to be more inclusive of perspectives, people, etc….

By extrapolation, recognizing and experiencing that there are in fact no boundaries in the Universe is considered enlightenment by most of the world’s religions.

From my perspective, I cannot speak of personal growth in terms of enlightenment. As I’ve said before, you can’t count on instantaneous enlightenment happening during a lifetime. You might catch glimpses of it and have peak experiences that closely replicate it, but sustained enlightenment is something that very few people attain (or remember, depending on your point of view).

One of the goals of the blog to pursue and write about mechanisms of personal growth. By incremental expansion and dissolution of boundaries, we can change how we view the world. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to achieve complete enlightenment during our lifetime, but we can influence the world positively by adopting more perspectives in our decision making and worldview.

For this week, consider the physical and mental boundaries you experience. Consider how they may be turned back into lines that are to be respected (or not) and what perspective you need to take to make it part of your reality. I’d like to hear about your experiences in the comments.

What am I experimenting with these days?

Dieting

My diet is going great, I’m at week 7 (out of 8). 1 week left

during the 2nd week I found out that I had lost 6Kgs. I haven’t had the opportunity to check my weight again during these last few weeks, but I feel completely comfortable with this new body. Not bad, really. Quasi-defined abs look pretty nice, afterall! I’ve been training hard for so long time until this diet, and never had the results I see now. That’s impressive. Less obsession over exercise means more muscle and less body fat. (this is to say that the mental aspect of what we do will influence the results).

Eating less and narrowing our daily intake window time is the key. For my diet, I have been inspired by The Lean Saloon. I must also thank Matt Madeiro, for the interview he had on his site with John Nguyen, creator of The Lean Saloon.

Intermittent Fasting really works and it is the most effective method of dieting (it was also used by our ancestors). Intermittent fasting is not a fancy way of starving and suffering. It is freedom of thought, mind and body. It’s amazing for productivity and for concentration during the day.

I find the concept of Digital Feng Shui proposed by Ian P. Hines to be interesting. I’ve been scrolling Ian’s 44gb up and down for so long and yet I sense that I need some more thoughts to feed my mind with. I’m curious. In his article, Ian adds something really useful to my experience with computers. He reminds me of how good is to have a mindful approach to the reality we live in, by constantly creating fragments of space and time, in which we keep things in order and we stay free from worrying about useless junk. 

“Having a 15-month old, my house is rarely, if ever, tidy for more than a few hours at a time. And that’s as it should be. But for peace of mind, I need order—a place for everything, and everything in its place—and it’s on my MacBook that I find it. I keep my drives clean and orderly, my desktop empty, and my windows neatly sorted into 9 distinct Spaces. It’s like digital feng shui.“

Freeing up space in our lives is essential to our overall wellbeing. Everything makes sense within a structured system of information. Be it a computer, be it our life. To this day, to me, digital feng shui is simplifying the digital life and reducing the clutter.

• We need peace of mind for our work to be accomplished,  

• we need to find balance to have our thoughts going, and our words flowing. 

• We need an extremely satisfying and tidy place in which we know that everything has and is at its place 

As Ian says, “a place for everything, and everything in its place”

PS. It was bizarre to notice that digital feng shui can also become digital filing system, or debian from scratch.

lifestyle design is one of the hottest topics in these days. We all tend to complicate what we know and what we want in life (because it’s our nature)

If we want to become immune to the external or unwanted manipulation of our thoughts, we must deepen our knowledge (and grow a consciousness) of ourselves and the functioning of our mind. By doing this, you create the life you want.

Quick homework

• Change the sources you stay up to date with 

• frequently try new things 

• go looking for something new NOW 

• Stop judging others and yourself 

We have a short life. The average life is 68000 days long. Why shouldn’t you choose the information you want to assume and the reality your want to live in? Before giving your opinion, make sure you make direct experience first.

Only when you discover stuff for yourself, you can finally decide what’s good or bad on your own terms.

Everyone is right, in a sense.

Everyone is wrong, in another sense.

Your life has a sense. It’s the sense you give it. It’s the sense you give to yourself. It is up to you to choose a reality based on duality or a reality based in oneness.

• Stop worrying about things you can’t control.  

You are responsible only for what is under your control.

So, make sure you go with the flow, by living in the present.

• Share your experience and let others’ illuminate yours. 

• Just keep wanting to know more  

• be open to every sort of information 

• let things open your mind and think.   

• Think.