Ultimate Guide to Self-Development

Note: This was made during the time of the United Living Construct Blog, so it may get redone completely in the future. However for today I simply modernized certain topics, or left notes like this of their current equivalents.

Why Self-Development is so IMPERATIVE to YOUR life!

Look in the mirror, what do you see? Standing in front of you is the reflection of what you have become thus far. Every event, situation, accomplishment, goals you had set, and actions you took they all come together to encompass the being you see in front of you.

This is you, is this what you wanted to see? Did you accomplish the goals you previously set out to achieve? If yes then what did it take? If not then why did you give up? There is no point in wasting time being ashamed, or even proud, there is still so much more to achieve ahead of you. Every single person reading this, you have the potential to become something great, something amazing. This potential is exactly why you should set out to become even better.

The survival of your life is just a matter of how much effort you put into the strength, intelligence, and resilience you employ. If you pursue great things, you become great in the process**. Law of Attraction, Power of Belief, Karma**, or whatever floats your boat is the idea behind here. You are the epitome of the energy you put out.

As  the writer here I just want to disclaim, I have been holding off on  writing this post until I had the utmost excitement, creative juices, and eagerness to make the best article I possibly could. This is the  work of someone who has pursued Self-Development constantly, and eagerly wants to share his love for it with the world. -Dustin, PolyInnovator

How to Get Started

Simply by choosing to do so.

Wait I can’t leave it there? Alright here are some steps to get yourself started, and to grow that mindset for development. Keep in mind it is not some club you join, or become a part of, though that would be cool! It is about YOU, how you define yourself, how you want your personality, body, mind, to grow. It is all a matter of fact, and approachable ways to do it. The relationship this philosophy has to religion is peculiar, as many belief systems out there have a method of Self-Development. Sadly many people choose not to follow it, and even if they do it may be too confined in the application.

Meaning that even if you developed yourself because of your belief, it may not have pushed you far enough. The religions from all around world have their systems, and we believe it is actually best to try and learn from all of them. Maximizing your input, and creating new ideas, all from combining multiple ideologies.

The Four Pillar Philosophy, which we will talk more about in a moment, is simply a modernized ideology that allows for people from all over to apply it’s teachings to their lives without any situational disagreement. I.e. if a philosophy from Buddhism contradicts from a Judaeo-Christian belief, there would be tension. Conversely if it is explained in a simplified manner with the Four Pillars, it can be applied to any belief system without conflict.

Truly learning from all religions is a construct to maximize the philosophical wisdom you can possess!

The Four Pillars Philosophy

The Four Pillars is based on the Four major aspects of Life: The Mind, The Body, The Spirit, and The Emotions. Each of these interconnect, interweave, and mingle with each other. Meaning when you are building one Pillar up, say your body, then your Mind might get stronger, your resolve grows, your Emotions become happier due to Endorphins, etc.

Conversely however, there is a negative side to this as well. When your Pillars are not maintained, even just one, they can be negatively impacting each other. If you don’t develop your Mind, your body won’t be able to be as nimble, if your body is withering away, your mind will suffer. The Mind-Body connection is quite strong. If your Spirit is weakened, then your personality will reflect that, and your Emotions may as well.

Point being is that they are all connected in some way, for good or bad. Make sure you aim to improve them all, even if you simply start with just one!

The Mind Pillar

The mind is a complex subject, with fields such as psychology, neuroscience, intelligence, and metaphysics all having a major part in the development process. Though it is simple enough to start, read a book, watch an online course, take on a new habit, etc.

Brain Workouts:

Anything you do that challenges you mentally can be considered a Brain Workout. Staying still long enough to test your patience, taking up a new habit, or destroying an old one. Striving to be better at something, then going out to do it is a workout in of itself. Challenge yourself to do something new!

Meditation:

This practice is prominent in many different religions, even if it is called something else (Prayer). The idea is to keep yourself mindful, and introspective. Looking within instead of out, and not “clearing your mind”. In fact it is more of the opposite, focusing your mind on something, and pursuing that thought more deeply. No matter your belief you should try to some sort of simple meditation, it just may turn your life upside down!

Brain Games:

The debate goes on and on about how puzzle-like games like Sudoku, Tetris, or Zelda can improve your mind. In my experience I have felt a deep level of flow, intensity, and focus when playing Tetris for a long time. It gave me a mental workout in the challenge of getting better at the game. Now I do believe you have to change what you do in order to keep improving. After a while I got too good at it, and had to find something else. The point being never stop at just one thing, always keep searching for a new challenge (this goes for all Pillars!).

Nootropics:

As someone who has had massive experience with many different kinds of Nootropics. Both natural and synthetic I know there is a boost in my performance. Rather if it is truly measurable or not is hard to say, as every person has different reactions to each supplement. Not to mention the dosage is a key factor. If you are to experiment with these keep in mind that some can be dangerous, and others can be reactive to prescriptions.

Now that the warnings are out the way, lets talk about what they can do. They can help improve focus, cognition, memory, concentration, etc. All depending on which ones you take, and what combination you make out of them.

Studying:

This can take the form of learning in any manner: reading (preferably non-fiction), watching Edu videos on YouTube, TED talks, online courses, Self-Development workbooks, or any other manner of learning that you can think of such as experience itself.

The Body Pillar

The Body is probably the most common aspect of your life that you hear about improving. You can imagine some person in the gym squatting, doing push ups, and running on the track. Well it can be much more intuitive than that, and not to mention the more complex aspects such as health conditions, and your diet.

Physical Development (Working Out):

Here we have a link ^^ for an info-graphic on getting started working out the body, it is a simplified workout that can be modified to suit your physical needs. However it is suggested that you stick to the repetitions pointed out on the image, to really challenge yourself, and grow strong. The dynamics of it should help those who are aiming to gain strength, burn off calories for fat, or even improve your balance. It is a versatile workout, that if you change the speed, or intensity can have a very different physique coming out of it!

Nutrition:

You are what you eat. Simple as that, and the type of food you put in can be just as important, if not more, than how much you eat. If you are eating too much or too little can be a great factor in your overall Body Health. You have to realize that calories are not the enemy, they are simply energy in the form that your Body can use. If you have too much you store it in fat, if you have too little you over train your muscles. Neither is a good outcome, so tracking how much you consume is an important factor. Not just what you eat, though that may be where you should start!

Health and Ailments:

Many people go into Self-Development simply because of the health situation they are in. Such as if you have diabetes, overweight, underweight, or even if you broke your bone. It does not matter what factor, rather if it is a limitation or not, caused you to get into development. The point is that you are in it, and need to improve. Find some way to eat right, workout, whatever is going to help you, despite whatever situation you are in. If you are “too old” as you might perceive, change your mindset, and realize you have plenty of years left to change your body. If you are young, realize that you have so much potential for your future. It is all about perception!!

Detoxification:

Something we haven’t talked much about on here, but is something to keep in mind. Your body will accumulate many different minerals, compounds, and toxins over time. Yes minerals are vital to hydration, and can be important for your bones, etc. They can also be very toxic to your body, and often times you may have too much. Not only that you may eat a lot of seafood that has made you amass a lot of mercury.

Depending on your stance of meat, you may have too much iron, or some other heavy metals. Taking an approach to detoxification can be an important step towards a healthy life.

If you are not sure where to start, drinking Apple Cider Vinegar every morning with water and lemon, is a fantastic way to get going.

The Spirit Pillar

Often times spirituality is overlooked. Though it is a major player when it comes to your life, and have dramatic impacts on what you do, how do it, or most of all WHY you do it. It is the precursor to your personality. It is what your body/mind/emotions form to be you. When you think of yourself, your perception of you is formed from the Spirit Pillar. This isn’t going to even go into Afterlife, or anything of that sort, you can have other ideologies for that, but today lets look at what other factors the Spirit Pillar entails.

Meditation:

Once again we come back to meditation, as it is a strong way to look within. Yes you can sit there and just think about your life, but who is to say that isn’t some sort of mediation? It is not one belief system that originated the idea, it is just a natural way of developing your Spirit Pillar that multiple sects of people discovered at the same time. It has been used for thousands of years. There is a reason it stood the test of time!

Enlightenment:

I know I know, I said we weren’t going to go into afterlife, which this vaguely translates into, but in this manner we will look at wisdom. How it pertains to enlightenment, as most beliefs tend to see it as attaining the highest wisdom. What is to say that every person cannot attain this simply by learning, by experiencing, by introspection, and other methods of becoming wise.

“Mankind will never see an end of trouble until… lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power… become lovers of wisdom.”―Plato

Religion:

A subject that is bound for debate. In it’s current form most religions have been hindering people’s Self-Development process. Now please keep an open mind, if you disagree feel free to comment and discuss. The future of religion is largely based on how it will evolve in society. What is people’s main goal from having faith in ancient beliefs. Not to say any of them are wrong, better, or anything of the sort. Just stating the fact that the old ideologies are causing people (such as politicians) to make important world-wide decisions based on them.

Keeping this in mind, it is up to you, and only you to decide whether or not any particular religion is beneficial to your growth. That is what this block of text is for, to aid you in the thought process. If it helps you keep an open mind, then by all means!

Expanding Your View:

Bouncing off the previous point, keeping an open mind is key. In order to change you have to realize that there is something to change about yourself. This is not a bad thing, it is just a simple decision for growth. If you feel that your body has developed enough so be it, and move on to one of the other three Pillars. What matters is that you give it an unbiased thought process, in order to determine fully if development in a certain area is necessary.

The Emotions Pillar

The best way to explain this is that Emotions are like an ocean. The waves come and go, and the overall essentials to this Pillar come in the form of understanding when those waves are coming, are here, and when they go.

Emotional Resilience:

Your strength in the realm of Emotion can be a sign of maturity, and most of all wisdom. The very fact that you got angry or not when just reading the Religion Paragraph, will say all that needs to be said.

Keeping an open mind is part of this, but really it is a matter if you are REACTIVE or PROACTIVE. Are you aiming for being someone who takes an emotion as fuel, or as a fire.

Understanding Yourself:

In order to be resilient you first have to understand that you are feeling someone. Emotions are so baked into our being that oftentimes we do not even realize we changed emotional states. Anger comes on so quickly it can be hard to realize, let alone quell the anger for positive growth. Breathing techniques can be employed here for controlling emotions, at least to a degree.

Once you understand how you feel when you are feeling, then you can take a proactive outcome.

Understanding Others:

When you understand yourself, your mind opens up to the possibility of understanding others. The “Put yourself in their shoes” kind of thing. When this happens you gain a level of compassion for another, even if the act that caused you to do it was out of anger. This isn’t just a Buddhist ideal, but they popularized expressing compassion based on understanding the antagonist.

Emotional Intelligence:

Your EQ can have a dramatic impact on everything said above, and some people are born with it. Others need practice, but just like any intelligence it can be trained. Some things to look up if you are aiming to improve yours would be: Micro-expressions, Body language, Vocal tones, conversational skills, and more along those lines. They are a great way to get started on this development process, and something I have thoroughly enjoyed putting into practice.

One thing to keep in mind is the Meyers Briggs test has been proven to be false multiple times, the creation was based off of preconceived bias. However the idea of Extroversion, and Introversion (as well as Ambiversion) have been proven to be relatively true. Just keep in mind that everyone is different, and although they may “fall” under a category, that does not define them.

Since Self-Development is a lifelong process, I aim to help as long as you live. That is very bold claim, and the aim is to instill a mindset that you can do it!

The U.L.C. Podcast

This weekly podcast focuses on Self-Development and World Unity, the two main concepts of the U.L.C. If you are the person who is too busy to sit down read some articles, perhaps an audio format for learning is more suitable!

The concepts are quite similar to what you have read here, as it is based on the Four Pillars Philosophy as well. Though it might get more expanded upon in them!

Note: This is no longer continue as it morphed into the Polymath PolyCast. However the U.L.C. Podcast can still be heard on the season one for the polycast https://pod.co/polycast

Wrapping Up

The aim of this post was to give you an insight to inner workings of the United Living Construct, and more importantly an insight to your own inner workings. Your life can be boiled down to the Four Pillars, and that allows for a simplification of the process for growth. This allows someone of any age, background, or creed to discover new things about themselves. Not only that but allows for the growth that person to expedited compared to the natural progression every person goes through.

Self-Development is not some modern idea, it is a biological instinct that starts at birth. No doubt about it though if you pursue greater heights your personal progress will explode in comparison.

I created this post with excerpts of my other company brand, The United Living Construct, and I have the ability to merge their ideals. Considering the overlap in the "World United Through Self-Development" philosophy.