This is my first time posting with this new laptop! Got it for cheap because there just so happened to be a 4-day Tech Fair at Suntec City when I thought hmm maybe I should get a new laptop. Hah. I do hope it accompanies me well for a long time to come! Welcome!!
Anyways, I’ve got a topic for this week’s article already. The funny thing was that I slept at least 1h+ later than usual last night because I couldn’t stop theorising it in my hand welp. Anyway, here goes.
So basically, when you’ve got a full, whole 100% self-concept around any activity or related series of activities you are doing, bam! Your routine will flow smoothly like a torrential tide, for it’s here to stay.
Well, I suppose the most mainstay longstanding example of this to date would be me posting on the philosophy of elevated embodiment here as well as on that Facebook page. It’s been unending and smooth thus far, with narry a legit obstacle as even a fever of a few days couldn’t let it budge an inch.
The reason for this: Well! My self-concept around this activity is whole! It’s fully, truly me from my perspective. This self-growth thing is just inextricably tied to my personal identity. This wordsmith thing is also thoroughly easeful to me. Thus, this activity just feels so completely me!! And it’s here to stay, albeit with possible slight modifications when I get more things on my plate and just have to adjust my schedule a bit, ofc…
But on to the next item of self-concept for me, which is thoroughly astoundingly remarkable because it just clicked for me yesterday.
So basically…
What’s the point of earning money for me? Why would I want to get rich? Yesterday, I found that the answer was…
To eat nice food. Food that I personally love. Lolz. Yeah, basically live to eat.
However, this living to eat of mine follows a particular framework. It is really not the type of live to eat where I’m super fat. Not to say that that’s wrong or anything but it’s just not me. Rather!! I’ve ascertained that my own style is to eat low-key like cai fan with 2 veg in the normalcy of daily life. However, every now and then, when I really feel like it!
I’ll go eat something I really love, and I won’t hold back then!
See, if you asked me before whether I was live to eat or eat to live, I suppose I’ve known for a very long time that I lean much more to the former as opposed to the latter. It’s been readily apparent! already so to speak.
However, at the same time I’m a healthy lifestyle camp of person. I track my step count everyday. And I would like to be fit enough for my liking.
However, if you see some people who have a good physique talking about eating they might even dismiss it completely and say that it is a mirage or such. I mean, everybody has their own daos and truths for them so ok.
So yesterday, I finally stumbled upon my own.
So apparently, I do live to eat. However!! This is not live to eat all the time, in every meal. Rather! I ‘indulge in decadence’ every now and then only. In the remaining time! I’m super low-key with minimal bad food intake and a strong exercise routine!
Ya know, previously I couldn’t commit myself to a very strong exercise routine beyond the step count because I totally didn’t see the point. Like, I didn’t really identify myself as a super on go-for-exercise person. But now… heh. I see it now! So in my daily life, I am strict to myself (masculine). And, when the glorious day arrives, yeahhhhhhh! It’s good food day! I totally indulge myself (feminine)! And rotate. I work it all off back in the other phase.
So basically, it’s a cycle, it’s balance! I ‘work hard’ on my normal days with an extra-healthy lifestyle so that I can really let loose when it’s food day! Yeah!
…So I went to the supermarket, Giant, yesterday. And do you know what I bought?
Basically for drinks, I got Vitagen for my main special non-water drink. And then I got Vitasoy for days I really want to indulge. Huh, what about milk tea, matcha or whatever other favs of mine?? Hah, those can totally wait till F-Day, or Food Day arrives for me! Beyond that!! You lot will suffice, hah!
So for food. I mean, if it were before, I might even have bought some green pea snacks or god forbid, potato chips even. But now! No, no. I know that sometimes I will want to sneak in a bit of nice food even in ‘daily strict’ mode. Thus I got a packet of biscuits and a packet of mini chocolate bars. Mini!! One cannot deny themselves, intuitive eating yo.
And beyond that, I simply aimed to acquire some nice baked cashew nuts (because nuts are healthy!) as well as fruits that I actually like such as honey dews, which would then actually motivate me more to eat fruits (which are healthy too!!). Like in the past I would have totally ignored this and let my parents go buy whatever lame fruit thing and just eat it then… Fruit be a chore! But now!! It’s actually something I play an active role in and aligns! much more with me.
I won’t go into more about my own food routine because I want to leave myself with some self-respecting decency/privacy hehe.
But anyway, a self-concept!!! about living to eat solidified, cemented my personal healthy lifestyle mechanics. Gave me motivation to add in more exercise to my life when otherwise I would have been too lazy to, because there simply wasn’t enough reason/push/desire and alignment to.
On to the next thing!
So one defining factor from the routines that do work for us as mainstays in our life would be none other than how it excites, energises us. For me a good example would be singing. Going from the external into the internal I would say that the self-concept therein is bolstered to the point of this subtle knowledge of ‘this is me’. And it causes emotions to rise high within!! the heart.
Let’s go to the contrasting end now. For some things, we can technically still do them somewhat competently. Some examples for me would be design or even dance, like because of the moves I’ve been doing for Performance X. Now you see, the thing about said activities is that they don’t truly lead to a feel-good state. A ‘this is me’ relish.
Yes, of course for some other people they do. Yet for me, it feels much more like opening an instruction manual and following step one, step two… all the way to the end. Like cooking by just following recipes without!! any true feel-good states beyond well this is pleasant. Alternatively, this is nice enough.
So anyway, I kinda feel that for these things, it’s kinda really getting your hopes up too high if you really think you can get them into a consistent enough habit in and of themselves. That would only ever work if your activity is enmeshed perfectly with your self-concept, the puzzle pieces clicking nicely together such that ah, you see why you would even do it!
How would it even look like otherwise? Well, basically like this. Maybe a little free time every now and then, and you got nothing better to do. Oh well, why not let’s just slot it in then! …That’s all there is! That’s how it is!!
But if the activity is truly one with your self-concept, if that self-concept is perfectly whole and resonates 100% with you… habitual, to say the least. Obsessed, even. Like how reading fiction was for me up to my teens.
Now? A mild dosage of it daily is enough. Otherwise I have to wait for too leisurely days and well…. not exactly psycho myself to binge read a bit. Hm.
Seasons of life! Anyways.
Look for why you do the things you do. Check how your self-concept!! is in those areas.
I’ll do a couple examples for myself to complete this article.
Being a singer-songwriter. Well I’d say that the songs do fully and wholly resonate with me. However! Some parts of the self-concept are not quite there yet. In that sense, I still identify relatively less with this identity than the elevated embodiment one! Let me expand on this.
So one thing is branding/USP or unique selling point. I don’t really get where my niche is or whatever. I mean for this philo+writing thing I actually can be quite certain it’s more one-of-a-kind. Still, in singing. Where exactly do I stand out? What exactly is my unique branding proposition? Before I attain greater knowledge on all this, I can’t really see where I stand in this area. And so my self-concept is lacking. It’s not far-flung this is me!!! All guns blazing!!! Floodgates open, endless flow and abundance.
Another aspect. So part of the songwriting is really 100% fully truly me. That would be the part where I write the lyrics and get the melody out. However! I still kinda have the imposter syndrom thingy for the other composing part. It’s like following an instruction manual or cooking by a recipe thing analogy kind of thing for me as I can’t really gain much excitement from it at all. It’s not fully who I am. Settling in a sense even…
Anyways, you get the point. Since my self-concept (internal) isn’t whole and unblemished here, it ain’t flowing that great in the external. Ya know actually I think in an ideal world everyone would only! be doing what fully truly sparks their flint, is for them, they were made for, but let’s set that aside for now because reality check so. Moving on to expand on this.
Piano. I do play the piano to a certain degree. However, I must confess that it doesn’t exactly bring out that inner state of fullness in me. So I suppose it’s great that I am able to use it for that okay enough-ish!! composing. Still beyond that even for regular playing of songs in itself, I find that I only get myself to do it once or twice a week at most maybe?
For piano, if you ask about my heartfelt thoughts, I suppose the true pleasure would be able to learn to play and sing at the same time. So maybe that’s where I can explore in the future, and maybe I can even get a powerful slapping resounding self-concept out of it! Alright!
But just so you know, I kinda went for a trial class before where I learnt to sing, and when I revealed that I knew how to play the piano already and just wanted to look for a good way to do accompaniment to singing. Uhhh… well, maybe I didn’t express it well enough. In any case the dude was like: Huh, you know how to play already? Why are you even here then?
Well yep, I suppose I might still try the long full no shortcut route of learning how to play the full piano song before singing to it then. I mean I did kinda learn about the chord chart method like how I used to compose my own songs before… but that’s just too lame for me,,, and doesn’t float my boat. Doesn’t nicely properly elevate my inner state. Welp.
I suppose I’ll just use one or two different examples of this self-concept routine thing to end off the article alright. One or two more.
So first of all. Being a strategist.
I have learnt chess and even Chinese chess to a certain extent before, beyond at least the most basic entry level phase! However! I didn’t really truly find that there were for me? Why? Well, maybe I’ll just say that it is because of the rules. They’re not pure and unadulterated enough for my liking.
And that’s why I wanted to pick up Weiqi or Go! Because it’s truly about pure strategy on an open playing field without having to learn this piece goes where or whatnot. Anyways this didn’t go too successfully but… I would say that I’ve found a suitable alternative that works for me!!!
Now this alternative would be the game Risk which I even bought the board game for tbh. So it’s a game where you deploy troops to territories and conquer one another’s territories. It’s also based on pure chance as dice-rolling is what determines whether the attacking troops conquer or the defending troops successfully hold the fort.
Regardless! From my perspective it’s already kinda pure, unadulterated strategy already, plus the unstable element of chance? That’s why I say it aligns quite well with me! Though of course I can only play it in my OWN style that fully aligns with me!
And anyway, that is the story of how I found something that nicely aligns with my self-concept and integrated it into my routine, as a game I can play every now and then in my own free time just on said app. And yes, from this perspective self-concept is kinda parallel to what ticks yo boxes!!
Anyway, this personal self-concept of pure and adulterated actually seems to go even further if I really think about it. Like you know, one of the elements that I really enjoy seems to be that of reaction speed + precision!!! smooth (chain) response in fluidity of motion.
Like you see, the whole point! of me even having tried to learn some martial arts in the first place was that I wanted to spar. But sigh… I was always stuck at the stage of learning the form first and didn’t even get to fight in the first place!! Orz. Totally! defeated the point of trying to learn ’em.
Meanwhile, this is the exact reason why I like to play VR games like Beat Saber and Holopoint because they draw that reaction speed-response mode outta me. And it even extends to PC games, like some FPS shooting!! games where enemies suddenly appear out of nowhere or even MOBA games where I chain combos and burst enemies down from 100% to 0% health in the blink of an eye. Yep that be my gaming style yo.
And the fact that I’ve always wanted to find a true immersive fighting game where I get to test my mettle for real, one that is totally 3D and not 2D and allows me to freely sync!! combos together without too much restriction from the game itself like needing to level up and acquire the skill first. And being able to fight actual true opponents in arenas without… hey, ya know what, I’ve always hated grinding because fighting mobs was lame… just button pressing no kick to it. And I don’t like fighting games like Street Fighter because I disdain memorising combos. I want the pure, intuitive true reaction-based fighting…
Ah, I ranted. Mb.
Anyway, yeah. Regarding that I heard before that boss monsters need special strategies and stuff to take them down but I’ve only read, never tried that out before irl. Or at least experienced! it to a satisfactory level.
So yeah, that was another self-concept thing. I have tried several things in my life before, all revolving me around the same true self-concept that is able to fulfil me. However, none of those have ever truly gotten me a foot in the door when it comes to the fulfilment and perfect satiation of said self-concept. However. What must I do from here on out? It’s obvious yo!
For everyone it’s the same tbh.
So you reflect. And then you identify the self-concept. And you come to see that all the things you’ve ever tried before was truly an unconscious way to step you a foot through the door of that self-concept. And so eventually! What can you do but finally truly be able to find something that works for ya? And once the self-concept (internal) is whole! The floodgates are flung wide open as a routine (external)!
Consistently being fulfilled, persistently without end!!!
And that basically sums up the bulk of my article together. It was fun lolz.
And finally, I’ve got one thing I wanna say. Well, two.
First of all, excitement. It is said that excitement is the true marker of where you are supposed to go. I, for one am all for that concept yo.
Next, achieving the highest self. It is also said that when one has completely come to (fully?) embody all aspects of yourself, that is when you have succeeded. You have actualised!!! your divine blueprint. Yeah!
So, just think about it for a second. Are there any self-concepts that hey, you now suddenly realise that you’ve been trying to fulfil in differing ways all throughout your life? Spot that pattern? Well, good. You can now go identify it for what it truly is and go work on that today. Or when it’s convenient for you yeah!
As for me, I’ll be feeling full and complete and satiated for having gotten this article out of myself. Yippee! And I also do wish everyone all the best in fulfilling all the different parts of yourself that are there for a reason. I will also conclude with a statement I myself mentioned before not that long ago: For why, this is who I am! And thus, I cannot but do this!
Adios! Well-wishes, sayounara, amigo, bon ami, jibun no tomo!
…Okay just gonna end this here lolz byes!