VOLUME 1

THE
PRO

CESS

TO DISCOVER AND

AN AMAZIN G

NEW APPROACH

ACHIEVE

YOUR LIFE'S MEANING AND SUCCESS

PH.D.

HUDSPETH,

LONNIE

Copyright 2012 Lonnie James Hudspeth All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1470078485 ISBN-10: 1470078481

DEDICATION
To my mother and father, Louise and James, both of whom have passed on to the next stage of their process.

Table of Contents
DEDICATION ......................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 10 This Books Purpose .............................................................. 11 The Process Brings Us Together Through This Book ........... 12 What This Book Can Do For You ......................................... 13 This Book Could Help To Improve Our World ..................... 14 Imagine How Different Our World Could Be If. ............... 14 PART I THE PROCESS: HOW IT WORKS AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE TO KNOW ABOUT AND USE IT .............. 16 CHAPTER 1 TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING VERSUS MINDFUL LEARNING ............................................................ 17 Personal Story: Little Lonnie - Superman! ............................ 17 Mindful Learning ................................................................... 18 Mindful Learning and The Process ........................................ 19 CHAPTER 2 - HOW THE PROCESS WORKS................. Error! Bookmark not defined. The Basic Idea Of How The Process Works Error! Bookmark not defined. Feelings Defined .....................Error! Bookmark not defined. How The Process Works In Detail........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Story: Cheryl and Jenny ..........Error! Bookmark not defined. Psychological Projection .........Error! Bookmark not defined. The Bottom Line .....................Error! Bookmark not defined. Definition Of The Process ......Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #1..... Error! Bookmark not defined. BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISES: HOW YOU CAN BEST LEARN FROM THEM .....................................Error! Bookmark not defined. You Should Journal Your Experiences And Reflections Error! Bookmark not defined. The Value Of Your Journal Exercises .. Error! Bookmark not defined. This Book Appeals To Different Learning Styles .......... Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #1: YOUR CONSTELLATION ................Error! Bookmark not defined. 4

CHAPTER 3 - EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED EVENTS YOU EXPERIENCE DAILY ...............Error! Bookmark not defined. Your Ego Conscious Defined .Error! Bookmark not defined. The Unconscious Defined .......Error! Bookmark not defined. Visualization Exercise ............Error! Bookmark not defined. How Is This Related To The Emotional Events You Experience? .............................Error! Bookmark not defined. Superior Intelligence Exists In The Unconscious ........... Error! Bookmark not defined. Source Of Most Problems .......Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 4 YOUR BLUEPRINT FOR SELFACTUALIZATION ....................Error! Bookmark not defined. The Process Is Arranging Your LessonsError! Bookmark not defined. Its About Self-Actualization ..Error! Bookmark not defined. Your Self-Actualization Blueprint ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. The Seed Contains Its Self-Actualization Blueprint ....... Error! Bookmark not defined. The Impact Of Nurture (Environment) On Nature ......... Error! Bookmark not defined. Your Conditions And Choices Matter .. Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #2 DISTURBING YOUR PEACE........................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 5 - THE MIRROR OF RELATIONSHIP ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Its Easy to See Flaws or Talents in Others . Error! Bookmark not defined. Preconditions to Learning A Lesson From The Process . Error! Bookmark not defined. What Kinds Of Lessons Can Learn You About Yourself? .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Emotions: The Glue Making Human Relationships Sticky .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #3 - YOUR MIRRORS .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 6 - THE ENCOUNTER WITH MY FRIEND BILL .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Scenario: Bill (not his real name) And Lonnie (Me) ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 5

My Assessment At That Time Error! Bookmark not defined. My Hope For You ...................Error! Bookmark not defined. Aha! Things Arent Always As They Appear! Theres More To This Story than Meets the Eye! ....... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 7 - THE PROCESS TEACHES ME A BIG LIFE LESSON WHILE I THOUGHT I WAS TEACHING BILL AND OTHERS .....................................Error! Bookmark not defined. How Can You Begin Learning The Lesson?Error! Bookmark not defined. A Big Lesson For Me Mirrored By Bill And Others In Past Events ......................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Stage 1 Being Unaware Of The Mirror..... Error! Bookmark not defined. Stage 2 Becoming Aware Of The Mirror . Error! Bookmark not defined. Key To Discovering The Mirror: The Common Theme Of Meaning ..................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Key To Discovering The Common Theme Of Meaning: Two Guiding Principles ..................Error! Bookmark not defined. Guiding Principle #1: Let Your Feelings Be Your Guide. .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Guiding Principle #2: The Action Is In Your Emotional Reaction.................................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 8 DISCOVERING THE MIRROR ............... Error! Bookmark not defined. Using The Common Theme Of Meaning And Guiding Principles.................................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 9 ITS YOUR TURN! THE FIRST SCENARIO: A COMMON RELATIONSHIP DRAMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. A Familiar Situation Illustrating The Process Operating In Ordinary Life ..........................Error! Bookmark not defined. Scenario: The Story Of Kelly And Ben Error! Bookmark not defined. Exercise ...................................Error! Bookmark not defined. How The Guiding Principles Help ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Asking The Relevant Questions Help ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 6

CHAPTER 10 THE FUNCTION OF YOUR ASSUMPTIONS .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Assumptions, Perceptions, Thoughts/Thinking, and Behavior .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Typical Reactions To Emotionally-Charged Mirroring Events .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 11 - ITS YOUR TURN! SECOND SCENARIO: SOMEONE DIRECTING HIS ATTENTION INTO OTHER PEOPLES BUSINESS ..............Error! Bookmark not defined. Guiding Principle Three: Pay Attention To What You Pay Attention To! ...........................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 12 RECOGNIZING THE DEEPER LESSON .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Discovering And Decoding My Lesson-To-Be-Learned Error! Bookmark not defined. Personal Story: The Birth And Suppression Of An Open Emotional Wound ...................Error! Bookmark not defined. I Forgot About The Emotional Wound; It Never Forgot Me .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Bio-feedback Experienced When You Become Conscious Of The Processs Lesson ..............Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 13 ITS YOUR TURN! THIRD SCENARIO: A COMMON BUT OFTEN UNSPOKEN WORKPLACE DRAMA BETWEEN TWO CO-WORKERS . Error! Bookmark not defined. Jennifer And Jane, The New Girl ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 14 LEARNING THE LESSON . Error! Bookmark not defined. Stage 4 - Learning The Lesson-To-Be-Learned ............. Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 15 ITS YOUR TURN! FOURTH SCENARIO: A COMMON DRAMA BETWEEN CLOSE FRIENDS ....... Error! Bookmark not defined. Scenario: A Common Drama Between Close Friends .... Error! Bookmark not defined. (Core Idea #2 This Symbolic Communication, Encoded Others Behavior, Is About You) ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.

(Core Idea #3 - But You Improperly Interpret The Others Behavior As Being About Them When Its About YOU) .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Commentary About Part 3 of the Scenario .. Error! Bookmark not defined. Guiding Principle #5 - Think About What You Often Think About .....................................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 16 ADVANCING TO THROUGH THE STAGES OF LESSON-LEARNING..........Error! Bookmark not defined. Strategies For Advancing Through Each Stage Of LessonLearning ..................................Error! Bookmark not defined. PART II GOING DEEPER INTO UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS WITH SOME ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS ..... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 17 UNPACKING THE PROCESS INTO ITS FOUR CORE IDEAS IN DETAIL ........... Error! Bookmark not defined. Core Idea #2 This Symbolic Communication, Encoded Others Behavior, Is About You ....... Error! Bookmark not defined. Core Idea #3 - But You Improperly Interpret The Others Behavior As Being About Them When Its About YOUError! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 18 - INVISIBILITY YOU MUST LEARN TO SEE THE PROCESS AND THEN EACH NEW LESSON .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. The Process is Invisible ..........Error! Bookmark not defined. The Process: Your Inner Guide To Self-Actualization And A Successful Life ........................Error! Bookmark not defined. Each New Lesson Is Invisible .Error! Bookmark not defined. The Natives Could Not See The Pirate Ship ............... Error! Bookmark not defined. Todays Natives Cant See The Process .................. Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #4 PERPETUAL THINKING LOOP..................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 19 - WHY IS THE PROCESS IN YOUR LIFE? .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. The 4Cs Of Lesson-Learning ..Error! Bookmark not defined. Lesson-Learning From The Process Leads To SelfActualization ...........................Error! Bookmark not defined. 8

A Lifetime Of Lesson-Learning............ Error! Bookmark not defined. The Three Types Of Lessons You Can Learn About Yourself .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Learning Certain Lessons Takes Time . Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #5 SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU IRRITATES YOU ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 20 THE FOUR MAJOR QUANTUM LEAPS IN GROWTH FROM LESSON-LEARNINGError! Bookmark not defined. The Quantum Leaps In Growth Along Your Life Path .. Error! Bookmark not defined. DIRECT EXPERIENCE EXERCISE #6 HAVE YOU EVER BEEN EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN THE PERSONAL BUSINESS OF SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU? .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. PART III - YOUR INVITATION TO ENGAGE THE PROCESS, SUMMARY OF MAIN IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS TO ADVANCE YOUR LESSON-LEARNING AND CONCLUSION ...........................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 21 - YOUR INVITATION AND ENTRY REQUIREMENTS TO ENGAGE THE PROCESS ........... Error! Bookmark not defined. This Is Not About Belief .........Error! Bookmark not defined. The Key Question To Ask Yourself ..... Error! Bookmark not defined. Lesson-Learning Readiness Checklist .. Error! Bookmark not defined. Use The Five Guiding Principles To Learn Each Lesson .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Conclusion: The Deeper Meaning And Purpose Of Your Relationships ...........................Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 22 - SUMMARY OF MAIN IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS TO ADVANCE YOUR LESSON-LEARNING .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Summary .................................Error! Bookmark not defined. How The Process Embeds Your Lessons In The Dynamics Of Your Everyday Life ................Error! Bookmark not defined. 9

Lesson Learning Requirements And Assumptions ......... Error! Bookmark not defined. Lesson Learning Readiness Checklist .. Error! Bookmark not defined. The 4 Types Of Lessons You Can Learn About Yourself .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. The 4 Stages Of Lesson-Learning......... Error! Bookmark not defined. The 5 Guiding Principles Advances Lesson-Learning ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Advancing To Through The Stages Of Lesson-Learning .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Strategies For Advancing Through Each Stage Of LessonLearning ..................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Specific Strategies And Activities During And Following The Trigger Event ..........................Error! Bookmark not defined. An Emotionally-Charged Trigger Event Occurs ............ Error! Bookmark not defined. Let The Learning Begin! .........Error! Bookmark not defined. Strategies When In The Present Moment Of The Trigger Event: ......................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Strategies For Discovering The Mirror When Alone After The Trigger Event: .........................Error! Bookmark not defined. Strategies For Discovering The Deeper Lesson When Alone After The Trigger Event: ........Error! Bookmark not defined. Conclusion ..............................Error! Bookmark not defined.

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INTRODUCTION
If youre trying to make sense of your life, this book is for you. This book is about one core idea: the process. The process is an invisible force manipulating events in your life. Through the people and situations it brings into your life, the process seeks to teach you lessons about yourself. For each lesson it wants you to learn, the process arranges several different events involving different people doing different things at different points in time. Yes, this book will teach you to recall several past experiences and discover their interconnection. That interconnection is linked to a lesson that the process has be trying to teach you. The process prods you to discover your lesson through these related events. Once you discover your lesson at stake, the process baits you to learn it through additional events that will follow. Whether or not youre aware, the process does this purposely. The process wants you to self-actualize, which means: to realize your potential to become the person youre meant to be1. Self-actualization is a major life milestone for you to achieve. Along the way towards self-actualization, youll make sense of your life. Towards this end, the process influenced your past events. The process wants you to answer questions like, Are

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, vol. 50, p. 378.

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you meant to be a caterpillar or a butterfly? or Are you meant to be chicken or an eagle? The process will intrude in your future experiences. The process nudges you to evolve so that you soar like a butterfly or eagle. The process doesnt want you earth-bound like a caterpillar or chicken. You must participate in your self-actualization to achieve significant progress. So, self-actualization is as much a life process as a life goal. Thats why I call this force the process. By the way, Im using the name the process as a matter of convenience. This name does not matter. You can call this force whatever you want. All that matters is what the process can do for you. Several concepts in this book help you understand how the process intrudes, communicates with, and guides you. These concepts are like puzzle pieces. When you correctly put together puzzle pieces, you produce the same picture thats on the puzzle box cover. Similarly, these related concepts will help you understand the big picture of the process. Also, throughout this book, youll be asked to do several exercises. These exercises give you a glimpse of how the process operates in your life. Some of these exercises will teach you new concepts. This brings us to the purpose of this book. This Books Purpose Countless books discuss the general themes of selfactualization and divine forces working to assist you. Most of these books offer impressive and helpful insights. This book is different because it focuses on specifics. The process operates in your life every day in specific ways for specific reasons. This book aims to show you how the process works and how to access it. Once you learn how to engage in the process, it will guide you to learn lessons. The premise of this book is: the process has always been present in your life. However, unless you become aware of the process, you cant deliberately benefit from it. The process is not something to believe in but discover. Therefore, this book wants you to be open-minded but skeptical. 12

If the process is real, then youll discover it for yourself. After reading this book, I hope that you at least consider the possibility that the process is real. If you do, then this book will have achieved modest success. Why? If youre open to the processs possible existence, your experiences will confirm this truth in due time. If you do the exercises in this book, youll experience the evidence that the process is real. Once you understand and use the process, you wont need to be dependent upon anyone or anything for guidance. The process is governed by an infinite intelligence. Therefore, by accessing the process, youll have a direct pipeline to the source that knows all things. The process knows you better than you know yourself. It knows your potential, destiny, and purpose. The process knows what is right for you. The process will guide you to achieve your lifes purpose, meaning, and success. The process knows the best ways for you to achieve your destiny. Also, it knows what you need to learn and how your need to develop. Finally, this book stresses active learning. Youre asked to actively apply the ideas in this book. Chapters called Its Your Turn! ask you apply ideas in this book to real-world situations. Also, at the end of other chapters are Direct Experience Exercises. These exercises are designed help you to discover, understand, and use the process. Sharing and interacting with other people is one of the best ways to learn. Plus, such social learning is fun. Therefore, share and discuss the Its Your Turn! stories and Direct Experience Exercises with other people. Ask them for their interpretations of the situations. Youve already noticed that certain terms in italic form, like the process. There arent many such terms in this book. Consider such terms like words of a new language. These new terms have a distinct meaning. Other italicized words and phrases are used for emphasis. The Process Brings Us Together Through This Book Youre reading this book, this page, at this moment, because of the process. The process guided me to write this 13

book for people like you. The process guided you (and others like you) to obtain this book. Quantum theory teaches that each of us is meaningfully interrelated, interdependent, and interconnected2. Life experience can teach you the same thing. The process provides such a way for you and others to discover this truth. What This Book Can Do For You This is Volume One of a multi-book series. This volume focuses on teaching you how to learn lessons from the process. When you finish reading this book, you should: 1. be able to use the process to guide you to learn lessons; 2. experience many pleasant experiences from following the process; 3. know how to advance through each of the 4 stages of lessonlearning from the process; Writing this book has been a joy for me. Im excited about how it will help you become your greater self. However, writing this book has also been a learning journey for me. The process continues to guide and teach me lessons too. Ill share one of these life lessons with you in the next two chapters. The process taught me this life lesson in time for me to use it as an example for you. The first time you see the process for yourself, youll experience an aha! moment3. So, if youre willing to learn from the process, youll get many benefits. Specifically, you will: feel excitement every time you learn a new lesson; look forward to experiencing lifes magic every day;
2

Stapp, H. elementary particles are in essence, a set of relationships that reach outward to other things. (Stapp, quoted in Capra, The Turning Point: Science, Society and Rising Culture, 1983). This means our reality is not fundamentally composed of things but of changing combinations of energies that physicists call the wave-particle duality. More recently, some physicists have refined this theoretical insight to see our reality in more musical terms as composed fundamentally of combinations of vibrating strings. 3 An epiphany is another name for this aha! moment.

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appreciate lifes meaningful moments that occur daily; experience positive feelings of well-being, hope, optimism, peace of mind, satisfaction, and happiness; see your life as fun, interesting, meaningful, purposeful, rewarding, and exciting; value your uniqueness; appreciate other people as divinely arranged messengers for you; love your life;

This Book Could Help To Improve Our World This book represents my contribution to helping people reinterpret and solve problems they perceive. My intent is to contribute to the greater good of humanity. I truly believe that the ideas in this book can help people. I sincerely hope this book helps you to improve the quality of your life. Imagine How Different Our World Could Be If. Before you begin this learning and growth journey in the next chapter, think about the following quote that shows how this book could positively change state of our world: Imagine how different our world would be if we appreciated everyone in our lives. Envision a world where we equally value the people we like and dont like. Imagine a world where we see everyone in our lives as a messenger. What if we no longer saw people as objects to be consumed or rejected? Instead, what if we saw people as messengers from God? This world would change the nature and quality of our relationships. Such a world would establish peace on earth. That world would reduce, and maybe eliminate, most of the conflict, harm, and hurt we see today. Today, too many people scorn others because of who they appear to be (or not be). Too many people dont connect to others because they perceive them to be different. They see these people not representing what they believe. Too many people harm others whom they judge to represent whats wrong. 15

We could learn to see our conflicts with others from a different perspective. We could learn the deeper meaning of the disturbances that others trigger in us. Conflict with another person is really about you--not them. When someone triggers a conflict within you, a higher intelligence brought that person into your life to do just that. That person knows nothing about this but was used as a medium by this higher intelligence. Nevertheless, your conflict with him or her points to a lesson YOU need to discover and learn about yourself. When humanity understands this fundamental truth, life will be splendid for all. Such persons triggering the disturbance will be appreciated as divine messengers, not evil victimizers. New Key Terms: The Process; Self-actualize/Self-actualization;

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PART I THE PROCESS: HOW IT WORKS AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE TO KNOW ABOUT AND USE IT

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CHAPTER 1 TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING VERSUS MINDFUL LEARNING

Respond; dont react. Listen; dont talk. Think; dont assume. Raji Lukkoor4

You already learn life lessons by trial and error. Trial and error learning occurs after the fact. When you were going through the experiences that led to learning the lesson, you werent aware that lesson-learning was happening. Trial and error learning occurs while youre unaware that youre learning a lesson, before the fact or during the fact. The process teaches you lessons by trial and error too. When you arent aware it exists, trial and error is the only way the process can teach you. Personal Story: Little Lonnie - Superman! Some trial and error lessons can be learned rather quickly. For example, as a child, my favorite hero was Superman. I walked around the house with my Supermans cape. My cape was actually a towel tied around my shoulders. I even imagined that I could fly like Superman. Such imagining led me to a painful but well-learned lesson. One day
4

Goodreads.com. Quotes About Mindfulness. Downloaded on September 15, 2012, from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/mindfulness.

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my imagination got the best of me. I decided to fly like Superman. I dove off my front porch. Fortunately, the porch was on the first-floor. That day, I learned two lessons and made one discovery. Lesson one, I learned I wasnt Superman. Lesson two, I learned I couldnt fly. My discovery, during my flight, I discovered this thing called the law of gravity. Gravity gave me a not-so-gentle acquaintance with the grounds concrete pavement. Oh well, Isaac Newton had his apple, and I had my painful, concrete experience. Pun intended. Mindful Learning Mindful learning is a better way to learn. Mindful learning occurs, before the fact, and during the fact, that youre learning a lesson. You know that youre going to learn a lesson or youre in the midst of learning a lesson. Mindfulness is a state of mental awareness, openness, and engagement. When youre mindful, you: (1) appreciate multiple ways of viewing a person or situation; (2) are open to new information; and (3) arent a slave to habitual thinking, emotional reactions, or behaviors5. When you learn mindfully, youre mentally awake, aware, and actively seeking the information you want. For example, to learn certain information, you may enroll in a class. In such a class, youre learning mindfully: (1) you allow the instructor to teach you; (2) you willingly participate in the instruction; (3) you actively seek answers to questions you raise. Young children are some of the best mindful learners. Childrens minds are open to new information. If allowed, children naturally ask lots of questions. Children arent selfconscious enough to worry about asking a dumb question. Natural curiosity compels children to wonder what things are and why things happen. Also, young children arent bound by habitual thinking and behaviors. Children tend to be flexible and adaptable, before theyre raised to fit into society and culture. After children are
5

Langer, E. J. (1989). Mindfulness. Reading, MA: A Merloyd Lawrence Book/Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

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socialized and acculturated, they often become less creative, flexible, and adaptive. Finally, young children fluidly use their powerful imagination to view things from multiple perspectives. Unfortunately, as children become more socialized and acculturated, their imaginations tend to become less fluid. Mindful Learning and The Process Self-actualization requires you to learn lots of lessons. If you mindfully learn from the process, youll self-actualize. Youll transform into the butterfly or eagle youre meant to be. The process designed your lesson plan and has arranged many lessons for you. Your lessons are organized and sequenced. Therefore, you must learn certain lessons before you can learn subsequent lessons. If you get stuck learning one lesson, you must learn it before you can learn the lessons that follow it. The more lessons you learn from the process, the more you self-actualize. The more you self-actualize, the more youre able to discover and fulfill your lifes destiny. However, to receive guidance from the process you must pay a price. The price: you must change in three ways. One, you must be willing to discover and learn new lessons. So, being mindfully open to new information helps you here. Two, you must make new or different choices. Mindful appreciation of multiple points of view helps you see the different choices available to you. Holding onto a one-sided perspective disables you from seeing different choices. Three, you must change the ways you perceive, think and behave. Not being a slave to habitual thinking, emotional reactions, or behaviors helps you here. Whether or not youre aware, the process performs three continuous activities in your life. To nudge you to learn lessons, the process: (1) intrudes in your life; (2) communicates with you; and (3) guides you. First, the process gets involved in your life, whether or not youre aware. Mindful learning requires you to be aware when this force is intruding in your life. Therefore, you must learn to recognize when the process is operating in your life. 20

Second, the process communicates with you in multiple ways. Mindful learning requires you to learn the language this force uses to communicate with you. Once you do, you can receive and learn its lessons. Finally, the process seeks to guide you through 4 stages of lesson-learning and 4 levels of growth. Besides learning to recognize and communicate with the process, you must follow it. Following the process may appear to be simple. Its not. There are some barriers youll struggle to overcome. Your free will presents one huge barrier. Your free will gives you the power to choose what you do. Therefore, free will empowers you to follow or not follow the process. Consequently, you can choose conduct that either promote or delay your self-actualization. The process seeks to guide you towards self-actualization but it cant make you choose wisely. Other barriers to following this intelligence include your wants, desires, and emotions. Your mind might be willing to follow the guidance youve received. However, your desires for immediate pleasure could influence you to choose behavior thats against the processs guidance. Finally, there are two creative habits of mind that block your ability to follow the process. The two-heads of this mental monster are: rationalization and imagination. To rationalize means using logical, good-sounding reasons to justify behavior you know is wrong. Rationalization becomes more convincing when done with the creative use of strong logical and persuasion skills. The effect: you persuade yourself that your wrong deed is not wrong. You also rationalize to make yourself or others feel better about such wrong behavior. Your ability to rationalize doing the wrong thing is powerful. Imagination is an equally powerful barrier to following the process. You can use your imagination creatively to see things that arent real or not see things that are real. So, you can improperly use your imagination to avoid following wise guidance. If your desires, wants, emotions, rational mind, and imagination were people, theyd be a team. These team members work together. They come together to persuade your 21

free will to choose to not follow the process but make more selfish and gratifying choices instead. Therefore, your learning journey with the process ignites an internal struggle in you. When the process is guiding you to act, you could: (1) imagine its not; (2) act on your desires, wants and emotions; and (3) rationalize your conduct to not feel shame or guilt. Therefore, to advance your learning journey with the process, youd need to discover and overcome these barriers. Much of the rest of this book addresses the internal struggle youll confront as you interact with the process. These discussions and explanations of this internal struggle will give you exciting new insights about yourself. The next begins this discussion by explaining how the process works. New Key Terms: Trial And Error Learning; Mindfulness/Mindful Learning;

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