Embracing Growth Through Challenging Limits

This AI transcription/summary was created on @November 28, 2023. Listen to the original recording here.

TL;DR I've recently undergone a mindset shift, focusing on growth by pushing past perceived limits, which has brought new insights and efficiencies in both my work and personal life. It's crucial for me to differentiate between mere resistance and actual limitations, and to challenge my impulses to achieve spontaneity, growth, and unexpected miracles. I've integrated this perspective into my daily practices, including work habits and morning routines, aligning it with my 'octave' approach to life. This approach consists of eight principles aimed at fostering evolutionary growth.

(daily creating - the images included in each post are taken from the day’s work. Maybe a theme or format will emerge, but for now I am just including snapshots of any results from my main work or learning tracks)
(daily creating - the images included in each post are taken from the day’s work. Maybe a theme or format will emerge, but for now I am just including snapshots of any results from my main work or learning tracks)

Transcript

I really want to secure the mindset that I've recently come into, which is the mindset of only when we push past our perceived limits do we grow. Or in simpler terms, more elegant terms, we outgrow to grow. Easier said than done. But over the past few days, I've been experimenting with pushing myself past what I think is possible, in the moment.

It's a subtle difference between being out of touch with my own limits or my own boundaries, because I've done a lot of exceeding my own limits of energy and my personal boundaries and my energetic boundaries and my value boundaries a lot. And that actually hasn't grown my strength, it has diminished my reservoirs. But this is different, what I'm talking about now, because there are things we know based on our own patterns, based on taking a higher perspective over what we know to be more true than what is perceived. And usually what is perceived is some impulse in the moment that is more of a reaction to work or to a stimulation or to a toxin or something of that nature.

So an example would be from yesterday, at around 1pm, I was feeling so tired and I knew that I would have to take a nap. But instead of cutting off what was a pretty good flow of work, I told myself, you know, you can do this for one more hour, you are not going to die. And so I continued my work on the website and actually, in that hour, completely finalized and, well, not only finalized, but I discovered and then finalized an incredible aspect of the entire concept. It went from being a pretty overwhelming website build to actually landing on a really refined and relevant structure.

Another example would be from the morning, every morning, where there's the kind of impulse to check my phone and also the impulse to hit snooze on my alarm. And yet, I've had enough experiences that on the other side of getting up and on the other side of either checking my phone or not checking my phone, there's no more of that impulse. There's actually a different vector of motivation and a drawing towards a totally different line of action. So yesterday, I checked my phone and I was only in meditation an hour after I had woken up.

Today, I checked, I didn't check my phone and I was in meditation about 15 minutes after I woke up. It's a huge difference. Also, I'm not tired once I wake up. The things that are blocking me from waking up are the cold, since it's becoming winter here, and just a state change.

It's just this, yeah, state change. And so, knowing, I feel that if I have enough positive experiences, then it may become something I can habitualize. But if I can't rely on the habit, how can I change the mindset so that the mindset is actually so, so much less susceptible to the entropy of staying the same all the time. It's in those state changes where I think one of the principles from the octave is really, really, really, really apparent.

So, the octave is my approach to life, and it's written out on this site as the octave under systems. There are eight principles that form a cycle, and that cycle is a cycle of evolution, like a spiral towards higher and higher states of being. Principle number one is stay on path. Principle number two is disidentify the I.

Principle number three is the law of three. Principle number four is prepare for spontaneity. Principle number five is know your patterns. Principle number six is love restores integrity.

Principle number seven is the law of seven. Principle number eight is time for rest. Principle number four is what speaks to this morning and the notion that the bulk of our time is spent within our limits, and we can either continue that way, framing our life within those limits, or we can use that time to prepare ourselves for the breaking of the frame. So, it's two very different approaches, basically, to life.

One is that you only know what's within those limits, and you kind of live inside of a false world or a simulation, and the other is that you understand that there's a good side to that simulation, that it's a safe space, that it's a space for you to learn all the rules of how the game works, of how life is supported, of how you function upon a set of parameters that you can know and study and that you can leverage for strength and reliability. At the same time, you're also investigating where are the glitches and where are the limits? What can I touch and what can I not touch? And in becoming a master over time of these parameters, this game, that's the preparation for spontaneity, and spontaneity is when you break free and you are acutely aware of what is something new, something outside of the parameters, something outside of the binary.

And maybe we can only exist in that space for a split second. Maybe it's a zone of high density or low density or high oxygen or low oxygen as metaphors. But either way, our life is leading to those moments of spontaneity and miracles, and I've known this to be true in that it's actually, it takes a lot of time to reach any limits. So when one is tired, but one knows that it is possibly fatigue from a reaction of not wanting to do something or actually hitting upon the stream of miracles and the stream of new information, and our body and our mind only have a certain amount of ways to react, the symptom can look the same, but the cause can look very different.

That's when we can be very discerning and recognize, okay, well, there's resistance and the resistance is showing up as fatigue, again, because there are only so many ways to respond. But I know better than to know that this is real fatigue. No, this is just resistance, and I'm going to push through because that is where the miracle lies. I think this is a really, really important thing to remember, despite how hard it is to carry through in the moment, because again, the stronger that you become, the harder it is to hit those limits, and yet you realize that those limits, once you cross those thresholds, that's where growth happens.

That's where miracles happen. And yesterday, the miracle was after fatigue, I found inspiration. This morning, after sleepiness, I find meeting the day in the best possible way. I also think there's an obtuseness to this, there could be an obtuseness, and there can be a more nuanced thing as well, where there are examples of people who very much embrace this rule, but the obtuseness of the limits that they seek out means that they are really actually compromising their health or their relationships in order to find those perceived limits.

Meanwhile, the nuanced approach is to understand that we're actually always at the threshold. The threshold can exist in such subtle ways, where growth is not this thing that we identify and then stick to. Growth is actually happening constantly, and the potential for growth is omnipresent. So where in this moment am I hitting a limit that is causing reactions?

Like my concentration is shifting. How can I push through and actually keep that concentration? Or I can feel that I would, this is just an example, but I could feel that I would leave meditation without having really structured an approach to the day. How can I really sit here and not leave until that is with me, until I am with it?

Maybe a limit is disrupting the normal flow of the day. Maybe there's something that would totally change how the day unfolds, and maybe it's related to reaching out to somebody or to even brushing your teeth with the other hand. You know, there are so many nuanced ways of shifting into that place of miracles and spontaneity. So the point of this message is really to reinforce a new mindset, a mindset that enlivens everything, that reframes what it means to be on a path of challenging impulse, because impulse is actually staying buried within your limits.

It is giving yourself over to habituation. And the mindset is important because if we don't believe that there's something else to be had, that there's something greater to be experienced by questioning those impulses or giving space between the action and the impulse. If we don't believe that, then we'll never take that chance. And the shift for me has been in recognizing that it's just too interesting.

It's too exciting, it feels too good to not challenge the entropic outflow of my life energy into these almost vampiric realms of losing an hour because of opening my phone or going to sleep and never having that incredible burst of inspiration that I only found on the other side of fatigue. It's too exciting to let that go for what feels like an unconscious kind of death.

Notes

Main Points

  • The speaker has adopted a mindset that growth requires pushing past perceived limits and this has helped them realize significant improvements in their work and personal habits.
  • They differentiate this mindset from excessive boundary pushing, which previously drained their energy, whereas the current approach selectively challenges limits for growth.
  • A recent work experience demonstrated pushing past fatigue led to a creative breakthrough the speaker would have otherwise missed with an earlier rest.
  • Their morning routine showed that foregoing immediate impulses like checking the phone led to timely meditation and a more productive start to the day.
  • The speaker urges recognizing resistances, such as fatigue, as opportunities for growth, rather than succumbing to them, as they are often just reactions to challenges.
  • They emphasize the importance of a new mindset that prioritizes pushing limits over succumbing to the entropy of habituation.
  • The 'octave' approach is a personal strategy composed of eight principles that guide one towards growth and understanding of life's rules and spontaneity.
  • Acknowledgment that reaching limits can be subtle, and growth potential is omnipresent, can lead to continuous personal evolution.
  • Questioning impulses and creating space between impulse and action opens the way to experiencing something greater, as opposed to staying within safe, known limits.
  • The excitement and possibility of growth and 'miracles' beyond resistance motivates the speaker to challenge their thresholds continuously.

Stories and Examples

  • The speaker recounted their experience of pushing past fatigue during a website build, which led to finalizing an important aspect of the project.
  • Comparing two mornings, one where they checked their phone and another where they did not, highlighted the significant impact of immediate choices on the day's start.
  • The act of pushing through sleepiness to embrace the day was illustrated as an example of challenging limits for growth.
  • The narrative detailed the nuanced approach towards personal limits, using the example of changing mundane daily habits like brushing teeth with the other hand as a threshold for growth.

References and Citations

  • The speaker's personal 'octave' approach to life and its eight principles.
  • The use of the metaphor comparing limits to a game with parameters, glitches, and a binary to understand life.
  • These metaphors also included identifying zones of high or low density or oxygen levels to illustrate different states of being.
  • Mention of the impact of the cold and the difficulty of a state change when waking up as a daily challenge
  • The contrast between the excitement of surpassing limits and the mundane result of following impulses

Integration

Potential Action Items

Apply the 'octave' principles to daily life situations to foster personal growth and evolution.
Cultivate the habit of pushing past perceived limits regularly to experience growth and new possibilities (2023-11-29).
Consciously resist the urge to follow immediate impulses upon waking, such as checking the phone, to begin the day more productively.
Identify moments of resistance throughout the day as opportunities to push for growth and breakthroughs.
Reflect on personal daily routines and identify any actions that could challenge current limits for potential growth

Follow-Up Questions

  • How can the principles of the 'octave' be further integrated into different aspects of one's life?
  • Are there specific tools or methods that can assist in recognizing and pushing through resistances more effectively?
  • What measures can be taken to avoid the obtuseness of challenging limits to the point of compromising health or relationships?
  • In what ways can one differentiate genuine fatigue from mere resistance to ensure healthy boundaries?
  • What are the long-term effects on personal and professional life when regularly pushing perceived limits?

Arguments and Areas for Improvement

These are potential arguments and rebuttals that other people may bring up in response to the transcript. Like every other part of this summary document, factual accuracy is not guaranteed.

  • One could argue that the desire to constantly push limits might lead to burnout or chronic stress.
  • There is a potential risk of underestimating the importance of rest and recovery in pursuit of continuous growth.
  • Some might question the practicality of applying philosophical principles like the 'octave' to everyday tasks.
  • Critics may debate whether the subtlety of growth as omnipresent is too abstract to be useful in tangible improvement.

Alt Text

Related Topics

  • applying principles for evolution to the daily routine
  • balancing pushing boundaries with health and well-being
  • importance of self-awareness in personal development
  • mindset and personal growth
  • nuanced approaches to personal growth
  • overcoming resistance and limits
  • philosophical approaches to life improvement
  • resistance as a catalyst for growth
  • the impact of spontaneity on creativity and innovation
  • the role of daily habits in long-term success

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