Why I'm Challenging The Entire Personal Development Dogma
- Brainz Magazine
- Apr 29, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: May 2, 2022
Written by: Alicia Rios Wilks, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The personal development world today is a mouse trap. Don't get stuck.
I’m working toward a world where everybody has the power to experience Radical Freedom. What I’ve learned is that most of what we've been taught in the personal development world will never allow us to get there.
You see, we have a personal development junkie epidemic that is trapping people in a pattern of failure. It pulls people in with the promise of a "better" life and a "new and improved" Self. That is precisely the problem.
We have created a "never enough" culture.
When you label the future as "better", what are you consequently labeling the present as? Worse, right? What does that cause you to feel? Unsatisfied with your current life.
We're never not living in the present. So if the present is labeled “not good enough”, you will always be waiting; you will always be putting off your happiness. In this pattern you are trapped forever, running on a treadmill staring at a painting of a "brighter future" and finding yourself exhausted and frustrated in the exact same place.
We are setting ourselves up for failure.
That pattern has an even more insidious side-effect. We tell ourselves that the person we want to be is "better" than our current Self. It's just like putting someone on a pedestal and thus finding it impossible to live up to them. We idolize our future Self, and by doing so, we put up a wall between us and them. We are silently instructing our consciousness that we are not that person ‒ they are better than us.
How does your mind interpret that? As a command.
"I can't have the success, the health, or the happiness that the future Self has, because that's not me."
That command installs an instruction that says we are not the person we want to be, and so our mind ‒ under that instruction ‒ works hard to make sure that stays true. Because in case you haven't noticed, your mind likes to be right.
We are unconsciously creating our own limitations by trying to outrun them.
That’s the real damage of the old dogma. It traps us in the reality we’re trying to escape by reinforcing our current identity.
We will always have an identity because it's how our mind understands who we are. Our view of our Self creates our identity. What identity do we create when we say that we want to improve? We identify our current Self as not good enough, not successful enough, not rich enough, not fit enough, not satisfied enough. Always not enough. Always not yet complete.
And it goes further ‒ we also attach an identity to that desired future version of us. We label that Self as finally good enough, successful enough, rich enough, fit enough, satisfied.
We create two separate, unequal identities. They don't match up. They cannot co-exist.
While one lives, the other cannot. We have just pitted them against each other. We have set up a battle between our current Self and our future Self.
So what happens when you try to change and "better yourself"? As soon as you start moving over towards that new Self - when you start to feel better about yourself, start creating some success, some wealth, some more health - your current identity goes "hang on a minute... If we choose them, if we turn into them, then I lose this battle, and I don't want to die." So it fights back.
That's when things take a turn for the "worse" and we start moving in the wrong direction. The doubts kick in, the fears rise up, the distraction appears, the emotions go haywire, things start to go wrong. And we lose the satisfaction we had gained. That’s the cycle that traps us.
The old dogma creates a pattern of yo-yoing between happiness and dissatisfaction.
Because we keep ending up back in the "I'm not enough, I'm not complete yet" boat. That next personal development course or new affirmation or fresh guru gives us a temporary hit of "I feel better now"... until it wears off.
Why do you think people keep going back for more personal development?
We've lured ourselves into a trap. And we'll never get what we want in life, or feel as we wish to, until we escape the trap, get off the treadmill, and step fully into Radical Freedom.
An addict is never truly free. You can't live in Radical Freedom, being the person you want to be and experiencing the deep satisfaction you desire, if you're addicted to personal development highs. That's why I teach how to break free from the trap of the old personal development dogma and actually create that brighter future you’ve been seeking all along.
Were affirmations one of the things you learnt in the old dogma? Here’s a new take on that as well.
P.S. Want a FREE Radical Freedom gift? Get yours now!
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Youtube, or visit my website for more information on how you can escape the mouse trap and step into your power to live in Radical Freedom.
Alicia Rios Wilks, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Alicia Rios Wilks is on a mission to spark a Radical Freedom Movement. She is an innovator in combining human consciousness, mind and body transformation, and breakthrough performance. Like many of her clients, Alicia had spent much of her life feeling powerless, unsatisfied and limited.
To create her own transformation, Alicia brought together top research on the nature of consciousness and the structure of reality and pioneered a revolutionary method designed for the most powerful and rapid transformation humanly possible. She has since dedicated her life to helping others harness their innate power to release emotional blocks, live as the fullest expression of their true self, and intentionally create their dream life. She is the founder and creator of Radical Freedom, creating heart-centered spaces for others to learn how to live an unlimited life, connect to their unique superconscious genius and live their true nature and purpose.
