Lessons
Class Introduction
03:56 2The 3 Sets of Conclusions
05:37 3Personal Conclusions
05:48 4Social Conclusions
08:40 5Life Conclusions
07:19 6Life Perspective
04:38 7How Your Conclusions Shape Your Personality
08:32 8You Are the Saboteur
07:37Lesson Info
The 3 Sets of Conclusions
Alright, to really give you some power with this and give you some real insight, we have to take it back all the way to the beginning of your life. So, as I said in the earlier segment, this is a philosophical point of view. And the philosopher that I'm going to reach for here is Aristotle. But it's also another guy called John Locke. And they both insisted that you and I, we were born a blank slate. So, what does it mean to be born a blank slate? Well, it means that in your early childhood you were lots of different ways. That is, there were no specific ways that you had to be. You see, I've got a three year old son. And if you observe him, you'll see him switch emotional states from second to second, to moment to moment, from minute to minute. He can be joyful. He can be upset. He can be serious. He can be intense. He can be adventurous and he can do all of that in five minutes. And that's because he is still, for all intents and purposes, a blank slate. Now, here's what I want you t...
o understand: as someone who's watching this right now, you're no longer a blank slate. There's a very definitive way that you have to be. Now, I'm gonna explain to you why that's the case. You see, your life, you as a human being, the blank slate that you started as has become indelibly marked. Now, what has it become indelibly marked by? It's become indelibly marked by conclusions that you've come to over the course of your life. Now, these conclusions are unseen by you. You can't see 'em. In fact, you're too busy living them to see them. Now, these conclusions can be broken down into three categories. The first category is Personal Conclusions. That is to say, at the very heart of you are a small group of conclusions that you've come to about yourself. These conclusions show up almost every day. Now, when do they show up? They mostly show up when you're pressed or when life isn't going your way, you'll be reminded of what you concluded about yourself. Now, in later sessions I'm going to deepen this whole conversation and you're going to see what you've concluded about yourself. The next group of conclusions are what I call Social Conclusions. That is to say, at the very heart of you, are as a, sorry, as an opinion that you have or a conclusion that you've come to about other people. And again in life you'll notice when you get pressed, your conclusions about others come to the surface. Now, you don't notice these conclusions just like your Personal Conclusions. What's happening is, you're organized around them. You take actions based on them. Now to round all of this group out there's what you've concluded about life itself. Now remember, all of these conclusions, what you've concluded about yourself, what you've concluded about others, and what you have concluded about life, this all comes together in approximately the first 25 years of being alive. After that, your life becomes about living what you've concluded. Now as I said, all of these conclusions together give you a very distinct experience of being alive. You'll notice every day when you get out of bed, you're always you. You don't wake up being some other way. You wake up being yourself. And what I'm pointing to here is that that self that you've become is fundamentally based in these three groups of conclusions. Now, in the next session we're going to start deepening this. We're going to start uncovering your personal conclusions. Now remember, already you might be comparing what I'm saying to something that you already know. So, my request of you is that you set that aside and visit this conversation newly. You also might find yourself disagreeing, 'I don't agree with this tabula rasa blank slate thing.' I get that. I invite ya just to try it on for yourself. To see what you see here and actually see what opens up for you when you start to view yourself as someone who started this life as a blank slate. I'll see ya in the next session.
Ratings and Reviews
Merrily Bjerkestrand
Gary, thank you for sharing your insights and building our understanding by "connecting the dots" of life and living as human beings. Your message and words are powerful and thought-provoking. More importantly, life-changing for those who wish to get out of their box, over their barriers, and live an authentic and genuinely free life beyond the velvet rope. These lessons were paced well and I appreciated the flow of connected thoughts and reasoning. Your message and points are both simple and complex at the same time. They create knowledge and understanding but are only useful if applied and put into action. Just like most of philosophy! You did a great job of identifying steps needed for personal change without reducing the need for individual action. Your bonus message of keeping one's promises to oneself sealed the deal. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
a Creativelive Student
I loved this talk! Much to ponder about our conclusions driving our lives. Our choices. How we can end up on autopilot. And how we start out with so much possibility and by bringing in awareness to our patterns we can begin to open up to operating from possibility instead narrow minded repetition. The multi universe perspective! Love that! I would love a longer more in depth class with Gary. Would be great! Thank you!
Glenys Morgan
I love that Gary is straight to the point and didn't delve into who screwed us up before we reached mid-20's - each of us has a distinct personality and challenges to deal with in our present life. The shortest course on behaviour change but I got so much out of each short segment, read the transcript as well and spent time in self-analysis. Life is one long lesson and often difficult to work through. Staying stuck in a rut is far more difficult. Thanks Gary, excellent class. And thanks to Creative Live for all the amazing classes that expand my gray matter!