The Dangers of Personal Development

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you’re surrounded by people who have no idea that their subconscious mind is creating their very own version reality as we speak. All these people – so-called normal people – have no idea that their subconscious mind controls them and, by virtue of the fact that they, in the ordinary course of their lives, exercise no control over their own mind, that they are actually crazy.

But you, even by virtue of the fact that you have landed on this page and you are reading these words, have at least decided to have a peak outside the norms of crazy living. As such, having delved into the study of personal development , you may already have some inkling that your thoughts create your life – what’s going on in your head dictates your behaviour, normally reactive behaviour, and, as a result, creates your reality. Countless books have been written on it, numerous self improvement websites proclaim that you can, indeed, shape your own experience of life. And, indeed, you may well already have had some results to show for your endeavours.

But therein lies the great danger. If you are aware that you shape your own life, that your subconscious mind can be brought under your own control and that your resultant behaviour, actions, interactions and, therefore your life, can be directed by you – you have a heavy responsibility to yourself that you must bear moment to moment. Because, just in the same way that many books have been written on the enormous benefits of what I loosely describe as personal development , a great deal has also been written on just how badly things can go wrong for those of us who know how the game of life is played and choose, either by act or omission, not to play by life’s very simple rules. What are those rules? You get out what you put in – what goes around comes around – you reap what you sow, not just in the major actions, reactions and choices that you make in the course of your life, but in the moment to moment management or mismanagement of your mind.

And the problem is that many people who know how these rules work – and have seen them work in their favour – become complacent. What you must understand is that complacency is a far more subtle enemy than frustration, stress, doubt, worry or fear. Complacency lulls us into a false sense of security that enables your subconscious mind do what it does effectively and effortlessly – slip back into the default normal state of mindlessness that allows your programmed subconscious mind start to disassemble the benefits that you might have gained from being more mindful, more focused and more present.

For the vast majority of people in this world – normal people – it is a challenge too far to even awaken from the deadly hypnosis that their programmed subconscious mind wields over them. Indeed, for the vast majority of normal people, they will die never knowing that this challenge was even one that they could take on and rise to. But for those of us who do take on this challenge and experience some or a lot of success, the real challenge is not to awaken but to stay awake, stay alert, stay tuned in and stay focused on a moment to moment basis. Any fool can be forgiven for the shambles that their life is in if they have no idea as to how they can put it right. But the universe doesn’t suffer fools lightly – and it is far more foolish and dangerous, in knowing how the universe responds to our intentions, thoughts and action, if we simply let ourselves drift back to our normal default state of mind. And it’s the easiest thing in the world to do – because we’re surrounded by normal people and, as far as we can see, they’re not too badly off.

But not too bad becomes ‘not too worse’ if you slip and slide back into default mindlessness. In effect, what we’re saying to the universe if “We know how the whole thing works – but we really couldn’t be bothered taking the trouble to create the lives that we really want.” I’ve seen many people perish on this particular rock – and have run aground on it myself in the past. We never know when the thief that comes in the night will confront us to set us off on another path of self-sabotage, so we must do our very best to do what little it takes each day to ensure that our minds are focused and that we are as fully present as we can be to the only place and time where life can be lived – the here and now.

At the very least, commit yourself to five minutes each morning to, at least, start the day off in a clear state of mind – a good start is half the battle. It’s shocking the number of people who tell me that they can’t find five minutes to make the other twenty three hours and fifty five minutes so much better. These same people keep hassling me for advice on how to improve their lives! The solution is entirely in their own hands – it is, similarly, entirely in yours. What are you going to do about it?