The Great Updraft

The wonderful thing about Integral Consciousness (stages Teal and Turquoise in Integral Theory) is that we realise we are continually evolving individuals in a continually evolving world. As such, we can consciously participate in our own growth. We make conscious the unconscious process of stage development as it unfolds decade to decade, year to year, week to week, and moment to moment.From this perspective, Integral Consciousness is not an end, but a means, a practice. And the four practices we look at today will assist you in your own consciousness project. Over time, these practices will positively alter your modus operandi.Practice 1: See The Necessity of All StagesPractice 2: See The Spectrum of Stages in YourselfPractice 3: Zoom Out on LifePractice 4: Love Thy Neighbour

• Master the essentials of Integral Theory
• Knowing Integral Theory v Being Integral
• Accompanying article on Integral Consciousness

Every society unwittingly programmes newborns with ideas, beliefs, values and norms, to the extent that we can get an idea of a person’s personality just based on their nationality.What ideas are we programmed with as 21st-century westerners living in modern society? What are the most limiting ideas we have?How does this jeopardise our self-transformation efforts?In this video we'll explore all these questions, and you learn 5 sustainable, long-term strategies for undoing all your unhealthy programming.Live a more authentic life based on your real choices and desires, not those you absorb from your society.

• Master Your Mind
• What is culture?
• Accompanying article on Western social programming

Have you ever heard the terms “natural ability” or “God-given talent”? Have you ever been told you're inherently incapable and should give up trying? Have you ever told this to yourself?The talent obsession abounds in education, media and our mind. Not only is it hogwash, it seriously jeopardises our learning.The idea that ability for a certain sport or pursuit is inbuilt and determines our chances of success is one of the biggest holes in the conventional wisdom on learning. But it’s not only that. If you believe this is true, you will never be able to get good. It’s an extraordinarily disempowering belief.Let's bust the talent myth and start creating the mentality we need to get great.

• Exploit The Pygmalion Effect in Learning
• Autodidactism: Top Pros & Cons
• Be a Ruthless Autodidact

Let's learn about magical thinking, carefully tease it apart from deep psychological insight, and discuss how to healthily integrate it.Know that we all pass through a Magical period in our early childhood, the Magic stage of development, and come out the other end at age 4 or 5.From then, all the way through adult life, our relationship to magical thinking can go one of two ways: we become completely allergic to it and be unable to consciously integrate any of it, or we remain addicted to it.In spiritual communities and personal-development circles, I often see an addiction to magic and a basic inability to really understand what magical thinking is and why it's fundamentally flawed in very mundane ways.Our goal as growing people is to skillfully integrate Magic into our psyche, and that's our goal in this episode.The result? Re-enchantment of our world, a connection to mystery and wonder, and a new psychological empowerment. Enjoy.

• What is the ego?
• The 8 Stages of Psychological Growth
• Accompanying article on magical thinking

A crucial part of learning how to learn is becoming acutely aware of the obstacles that block our path to excellence.Here we look at three dysfunctional characters – the Dabbler, the Hack, and the Obsessive. These are the three learner profiles you want to avoid. Together they’ll give you a spookily accurate assessment of how you prevent yourself reaching true competence and expertise.And in my article "Learning How To Learn + Skill Up: The Four Learner Types", we expand on these three learner types and look at the gold-standard learner: The Master. This character avoids all the learning pitfalls and ultimately prevails.You can use the exemplary archetype as a template for improvement in any area of your life, from your relationships, hobbies and career, to your overall approach to life.

• Your Fail-proof Guide to Learning Success
• 3 Dysfunctional Learner Types + The Master
• Here's why talent is a myth

The connection between mindfulness meditation and life purpose might not be apparent, but when it comes to aligning our career with our authentic passions and desires, we need the tools of mindfulness both to get started and see us through the process.I teamed up with Grace for a chat on Instagram Live. Grace and I discussed our career journeys, how to become more aware of what’s going on in our emotions and thoughts, and how to use this knowledge to find a career we love.

• My article on role of mindfulness in life purpose
• How to bring meditation into the everyday
• Grace's article on how mindfulness empowers us

Connect with Grace on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace.being/

I've had some pretty traumatic moments as a member of various spiritual communities, and it's inspired me to share my experiences and expose the dark side of spiritual communities.I hope to shine a light on these issues so that we can clean up spiritual communities. Budding meditators or yogis can spot these toxic aspects in advance, the perpetrators can realise what they've done wrong and grow as a result, and all of us can reflect on what spirituality actually is and why communities function as they do.

• Rinzai And Soto Zen Meditation: Zazen Fundamentals
• Learn Vipasanna Meditation
• Why We Need Both Spiritual Enlightenment AND Self-Help

Often we talk about Spiral Dynamics from an external point of view, as though observing it in the world and those around us. But here I want to turn the tables – how are our personal lives actually impacted by living at Spiral Dynamics Stage Yellow?I reached out to experts in the field and Spiral Dynamics enthusiasts to tell me their stories, and they shared some excellent insights with me.In this video, we’re going to unpack Spiral Dynamics Stage Yellow – from the inside.

Today we’re going to look at the good and the bad of Spiral Dynamics Stage Green in our personal lives. This is a super practical video packed with insights from my own life, my engagement with the Spiral Dynamics community, and my observations of the successes and failures of friends at this stage.My intention is to help you skillfully embody Stage Green – incorporating the healthy and constructive and sidestepping the unhealthy and destructive.

• Spiral Dynamics Stage Yellow
• Spiral Dynamics Stage Green
• Accompanying article on Green

"All of this is God."In this episode I speak with my partner and best friend, Inés Isern, about spirituality, God, spiritual awakening, and her amazing sacred gardens.And yes, we talk candidly about our experiences of spirituality, how it has developed, and how it currently impacts our life.Inés tells us what inspires her to create her unique spaces and how she makes the spiritual manifest in her work.

• My articles on spirituality
• Example of Inés' unique sensory gardens
• Learn more about Inés + contact her