United States of You E-Book

Kathrin Köster

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 298

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

The United States of You is a game changer: it enables you to align your mind, body, and heart in a systematic way to gain sustainable access to your source of infinite energy. With this self-leadership book, you'll learn how to be balanced and constantly in touch with your creative power. You'll gain inner clarity by being aware of yourself and others. How? You see and manage yourself as a team of four: the four Mes or Formies. Each Formie represents a vital part of you: your mind, your body, your heart and your consciousness. You will become familiar with the language and the needs of all Formies, enabling you to be in command of yourself and your life. You will gain stamina, inner strength, wisdom, and joy. Especially in times of disruptive change, you'll benefit from an increased awareness level with which to master life. But be aware: beginning this journey means buying a one-way ticket. You only can move ahead - there is no way back. Embarking on this journey means changing yourself, regardless of how tiring the trip gets. To smoothen your journey, you get a navigation system, the L-Loops which you can follow through each part of your inner map to locate self-limitations, let go of mental and emotional patterns, learn more about yourself and your issues, laugh about your quirks and the funny side of life, leverage your insights to changed behaviour and love what you do and who you are.

Leseprobe

THE UNITED STATES OF YOU

Kathrin Köster

Publisher

tredition GmbH, Halenreie 40-44, 22359 Hamburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 Kathrin Köster

Layout by Sina Georgy

Illustrations drawn by Sandra Bach

Creation of The Formies by Kathrin Köster

ISBN 978-3-7469-8296-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-3-7469-8297-7 (E-Book)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher or contact the author: koester@ koesterpartner.de

Limit of Liability / Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy and completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. The advice or strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any health issues, be it physical or mental, or any commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

In ancient times, those who wished to bring harmony to the whole world would first bring order to their states. Those who wished to bring order to their states would first regulate their families. Those who wished to regulate their families would first cultivate their own moral character. When the moral character is cultivated, the family will be regulated; when the family is regulated, the state will be in order; when the state is in order, the whole world will be pacified.

From the king down to the common people, all must regard the cultivation of the self as the most essential thing. It is impossible to have a situation wherein the essentials are in disorder, and the externals are well-managed.

Kongzi, aka Confucius

The Great Learning

In modern times of disruptive change, those who wish to pacify the world need a deeper understanding of themselves. Those who want to gain a deeper understanding of themselves need to recognize themselves as a composition of mind, body, heart and consciousness. Those who recognize themselves as a composition of mind, body, heart, and consciousness need to cultivate each of these parts. Those who cultivate each part, need to establish respectful coexistence between the parts. Those who establish respectful co-existence between the parts gain inner balance. Those who gain inner balance bring harmony to the world and contribute to solve its issues.

Kathrin Köster

The United States of You

A FEW WORDS FROM YOUR TOUR GUIDE

About pioneering

Why set out for self-exploration?

What is the self-exploration journey for?

The purpose and design of this book

About journaling

Chapter 1 end reflections

IT’S TRAVELLING TO YOUR CORE SEASON

A long-lasting WOW feeling

Communication en route

About your personal navigator

What to do when you get stuck?

How your journey can look

Chapter 2 end reflections

THE LAND OF MIND

Have you ever thought about thoughts?

What are the shaping factors of thoughts?

About thought patterns

How to identify thought patterns

How thought patterns are related to your journey

How culture shapes expectations

How expectations put you on autopilot

How expectations are linked to roles

What’s special in a multicultural setup?

About your discoveries in the Land of Mind

How to proceed to the Land of Body and Heart

Chapter 3 end reflections

THE LAND OF BODY

Where is the entry to the Land of Body?

What does Buddy Body know?

Why it’s worth listening

How to explore pre-determined breaking points

How Mr Mind cooperates with Buddy Body

How to find hidden trails through the Land of Body

Rewarding paths through your Land of Body

How to align body and mind

Chapter 4 end reflections

THE LAND OF HEART

The power of emotions

Why is the heart important?

How to approach emotions

How do I understand the entire wealth of emotions?

Why ‘negative’ emotions are vital

How do heart and body collaborate?

How emotions are related to needs

What are typical emotional patterns?

Chapter 5end reflections

EN ROUTE WITH THE L-LOOPS

Getting ahead with the L-Loops

1. Locating

2. Letting Go

3. Learning

4. Laughing

5. Leveraging

6. Loving

Travelling the L-Loops

Chapter 6 end reflections

IN TOUCH WITH THE CORE

About advanced coring

The nature of the CORE

Indicators for proximity to the CORE

Being beyond

Keeping contact with the CORE in normal life

My story about my story …

Chapter 7 end reflections

APPENDIX

Toolkit

Glossary

Further Reading

WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Times are changing — as they always do. Heraclitus had this insight 2500 years ago when he stated that everything flows (panta rei) and nothing stands still. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there seems to be a massive acceleration of this flow. We are facing a plethora of disruptive changes in nearly all spheres of life. New questions arise, such as, will human beings soon be accompanied — and even replaced — by robots? Will we run out of jobs? How will our societies sustain themselves? What forms will future energy supplies take? What will happen to those industries dependent on traditional energy sources? Will the planet survive with all the environmental burdens the industrial world has placed on it?

The wind of change is blowing right in our faces and many of us begin to feel overwhelmed or even paralysed. But are we really just helpless observers of circumstances? Is it true that we can’t change anything because these changes are overwhelming and we don’t have any way of stopping them? We are right to ask whether we have the power to solve any of these burning issues and turn the world around.

But things look different when we rephrase the question to: Can I make a difference at all? Then the answer is most emphatically yes! Isn’t that contradictory to what I said above? No! Every individual is powerful. The key lies in the direction of change. Do you attempt to change external circumstances or do you address changes primarily to yourself?

If the main focus of change is directed towards the internal instead of the external, then everyone can make an impact. And the beauty of it is this: it is in your personal realm. If you want to change yourself, nobody but yourself is holding you back. You don’t have to ask anybody for permission and it’s entirely within your area of control. By effecting inner change, you’ll also make a huge difference to those around you. It’s like throwing a pebble into a lake.

Interestingly, more and more people are embarking on a journey to find out about themselves and to explore new terrain, consciously or not. They begin by moving out of their comfort zone because it somehow no longer feels right. It’s like a wake-up call on a global scale. Although these travellers come from all age groups, it’s members of Generation Y (born between 1980 and 2000) and Generation Z (born after 2000) who make up the majority of pioneers on the self-discovery journey. They question the values of industrialized societies, such as work ethic and performance orientation, and feel a strong need to find meaning in what they do. Many grew up in abundance. Because they live in industrialized countries, material wealth is ‘normal’ for them and they question whether they really need what their parents have. They (re)discover the value of non-materialistic needs such as self-esteem and self-realization or the need for tranquillity and recreation in nature.

All these individuals are in the process of breaking free from orienting themselves towards the external world and turning towards their internal world. Knowingly or not, they begin a journey to discover their true essence, their CORE. It’s not always obvious to the outsider when someone has embarked on the journey. But if inner change results in behavioural change, everyone can see who is en route. Look at the people changing their lives. Who is doing things differently? Chances are you’ll find travel companions among them. Check it out, talk about it. Create your own support network. It’s easier and more fun to travel with others. There are many around. Now is the best time to start your journey. And you’re just in time to have a positive impact on disruptive change. You will make a difference — starting with yourself.

ABOUT PIONEERING

I am a pioneer. I have broken free from many self-limitations and others’ expectations. How? By exploring my mind, body, and heart, and gaining access to my CORE, my inner compass for authenticity and resilience, the source of joy and creativity. I began my journey with tiny steps, followed by bolder leaps. Over time, I acquired deeper insights and developed tools, making the journey faster and safer. I was lucky enough to travel with my partner and best friend. We were each other’s tour guides. Travelling together is so much easier and more joyful than travelling alone.

I wrote this book for people setting out on their self-exploration journey and who might like a companion by their side: a companion who shares new insights and gives useful hints; a companion who encourages and helps accelerate your own journey; a companion who lets you know you’re not alone; a companion who shares her story, as well as those of other pioneer travellers. And last but not least, a companion who helps you to always see the funny side of life.

To where exactly are you travelling?

You’re travelling to the lands of your mind, body and heart. These are the three parts that make up all human beings. By using this book as your travel guide, you will learn that each land is an equal component on your journey towards yourself. You will hear the voice of each land calling for deeper exploration. You will gain precious insights and end up in a loving friendship with the representatives of these lands, Mr Mind, Buddy Body and Her Highness Heart.

In our modern society, we are most familiar with the Land of Mind. And that’s why we’ll start the journey with a ‘mind safari’. When you follow the travel guide you are led to learn more about your body and your heart. It is an important goal of the entire adventure to be aware of what’s going on in any of your lands at any given moment.

But shouldn’t you know yourself? Shouldn’t you be familiar with these lands? Only in theory, if you have a fully developed consciousness. In practice, your lands are shaped by the experiences you’ve had since early childhood. You have been exposed to influences from your parents, extended family, teachers and friends. They all have left their traces in your lands. You have been shaped or ‘informed’ (made into a form in the literal sense) and yet you are unaware of all this. The shape you find yourself in after this ‘information process’ differs from individual to individual, depending on factors such as the society you live in, your gender, family background, educational background and personality.

The goal of your journey consists of (re)discovering these shapes and forms. You bring them to light. You bring them back to your consciousness. The path is not as cumbersome as you might expect. It’s even quite simple because it is mapped by the L-Loops, a navigation system comprising the six steps of consciously Locating, Letting Go, Learning, Laughing, Leveraging and Loving. You locate and let go of so-called issues that are casting dark shadows on your lands. This is the main preoccupation at the beginning of your journey. You will oscillate between the Locating and Letting Go loop, amazed by the discoveries you make. With the help of tools provided in your travel guide, you will be able to deal with the issues and proceed with your journey, entering into subsequent loops.

The more issues you identify and deal with, the clearer you can see your CORE. I call this process coring. Your connection to your CORE will become increasingly stable during your journey. You will be better connected to yourself. You will learn to ‘listen’ to what the lands’ representatives say and feel: this process nurtures your consciousness, Conscious Me. Conscious Me is the fourth member of team YOU and takes an increasingly active part in navigating you through your self-discovery journey. When you have gained some travelling experience, Conscious Me will align all three lands in the same way a team leader coordinates his or her team members.

During your journey you’ll discover and develop all four major parts of yourself to make sure that they are aligned and working together as a high-performance team: your mind, your body, your heart, and your consciousness. I call this team the Formies. They form the individual. They are your four mes. The Formies are YOU!

Once the Formies are fully aligned and harmoniously collaborating, you are well connected with your CORE. If we go back to the analogy of lands, you become the United States of You.

When you experience this kind of teamwork inside yourself, you are in contact with your travel destination. Whether you call it inner source, inner knowledge or intuition, it is the fountain of your energy, your creativity, your joy and love. It is the realm of your passion, the fuel that drives you. It is the place to be. It is the CORE.

Because everybody is different you might have preferences regarding the stopovers during your journey, the speed, the comfort of accommodation etc. However, it’s essential that you take responsibility for moving forwards — nobody can do this on your behalf. You are in the driver’s seat.

A word of caution before you set out. Beginning this journey means buying a one-way ticket. You only can move ahead — there is no way back. Embarking on this journey means changing yourself, regardless of how tiring the trip gets. So, take a deep breath and jump into the adventure!

WHY SET OUT FOR SELF-EXPLORATION?

Why leave everything behind and set out towards new frontiers? Here are some of the motivations that have proven to be common triggers for your fellow travellers.

Inquisitiveness and pioneering spirit

Inquisitiveness was my main motivation. What does life have to offer after all has been achieved? Isn’t there something more, I asked myself, having successfully mastered the normal course of life: a great relationship with my partner, good health, my own house in a good neighbourhood, a solid career, a decent and regular income, a well-regarded profession, good looks. What was the problem?

According to the accepted social norms, I was leading an ideal life. But my heart spoke a different language: I felt I was standing still, captured in endless repetitions, day by day, with the curve of excitement and joy flattening out. Boredom was lurking on the horizon. I felt increasingly that I was being buried alive. I longed for something different, unfamiliar insights, the exploration of new feelings and the thrill of the unknown.

Although I was usually happy with my life and had nothing to complain about, my curiosity would not allow me to stay in my comfort zone — and it was clearly a comfort zone, a quite luxurious one at that. But an inner voice was driving me on to discover new terrain. I could have gone to live abroad, to explore the world, but this didn’t appeal as I had already lived in other countries and experienced different cultures. Rather, I was attracted by a terrain I knew I could only find inside me, not out there in the world. There was a whole new universe to discover.

And so it was to be. I found an exciting wealth inside myself as soon as I caught glimpses of my true self, my CORE, diligently digging through layers of beliefs and emotional patterns that were hiding my inner world from my consciousness. I became fascinated by this journey, which made my life so smooth, deep and rewarding. There were fewer conflicts in my day-to-day encounters, waves of bliss, new bodily sensations, strengthened mental power, increased emotional clarity.

Everything comes at a price. The cost of this self-discovery journey was to let go of everything I was familiar with in order to create space for the new. It was a cumbersome endeavour that took much self-discipline and perseverance. It also required a lot of courage as I wasn’t sure whether I was making the right decisions. I don’t want to gloss over it. This journey brought me the darkest moments in my life, but I did it anyway. And I persevered, because I realized that there is no way back. And even if there had been, I wouldn’t have retreated. I did not want to return to the creeping boredom.

Search for a meaningful field of activity

A typical point of time for people to begin their self-discovery journey is right after university or at the end of a similar period of formal education. It’s like a fork in the road of their lives. Coming from a structured, familiar environment, they face uncertainty and the need to take decisions. The lucky ones know what not to do — but what should they do? This is the big question for many of us.

Zebib recalls the abyss she looked into after finishing her studies: ‘I asked myself, what should I do with my life after graduation? For a long time, I had this clear picture about my professional career: I wanted to work in sales, because I liked people. I wanted to earn a lot of money. And I wanted to work for a strong brand in order to learn as much as possible and to have an employer with status. After a sales internship at a prestigious company, I changed my mind. Working there did not FEEL good. My heart said, don’t work for a company when you don’t feel that your work is meaningful. And my mind said, you’re lacking the experience to establish your own start-up. So I was kind of stranded after graduation.

I had a lot of career opportunities, including rolling out corporate values as a member of the CEO’s office at an IT company. But I didn’t want to brainwash people with something I hadn’t developed myself, something that had been imposed on me as well. I was also offered a job as a sales representative in a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland. From the minute I walked into that office I felt I was pushing against an invisible wall. Nobody talked. People walked around, hunched over, as if they were carrying heavy loads. Everything was grey. Just grey. I felt like an alien and immediately knew I couldn’t work in such an environment.’

So there she was, with her excellent qualifications but no ambition to seize the opportunities she was offered. She was puzzled, to say the least, and decided to start her self-exploration journey in order to find out what she really wanted to do.

It doesn’t have to be that clear and dramatic, though. Young professionals or mid-career people often gradually discover that they are not fulfilled in what they do. They start to hear a little whisper that rises to an inner cry for re-orientation towards new areas of activities.

This happened to Burak after a couple of years in his first job at a retailer: ‘People suffered. The business had exploded and the legacy IT landscape couldn’t cope with the new requirements. The staff had to make up for it with workarounds, muddling through the mess. Everybody was exhausted, and I felt compelled to help with a new IT solution I was developing and rolling out. Over time it dawned on me that it would take years to fix all the problems,and I lost interest in working for a company that did nothing to support their people. One morning I lay in bed and just couldn’t motivate myself to get up. Horrible. I just couldn’t. I knew I had to do something — not only thinking about what I could do, but I had to change things. I decided to get my act together and change the whole situation — by changing myself.’

It also can happen to people in retirement age who find themselves in a vacuum. They start to reflect on what they have been doing their entire lives. Jerome remembers: ‘I had been selling Christmas decoration fordecades and had built up a prosperous business. And then I beganto doubt the meaning of the whole business: All this stuff — who needs it? Isn’t it just waste in a preliminary stage? I sold my business, which I wanted to do anyway because of my age. But then I wasn’t a happy and wealthy guy sitting in the Caribbean enjoying life. I felt empty, with filled pockets — how ironic. I wanted to do something meaningful. But what?’

Increase self-esteem

Many travellers suffer from a negative bias towards themselves, or even an outright inferiority complex. They tend to focus on their deficiencies and weaknesses, always seeing what they don’t have and cannot do. They are very harsh towards themselves. This phenomenon is especially prevalent among people who feel peripheral to the society they live in, e.g. for reasons of culture or ethnicity. It’s also common with unemployed people or women who have not worked for some time.

Maria from Russia is an example: ‘Back home, I felt invincible. I knew the ropes. Nobody could offend me. But here in Germany, I need to be careful. I don’t dare wear colourful clothes. I don’t want to stand out from the crowd. I feel judged all the time. In the market or shops, when I get my groceries, people ask me where I’m from. My accent tells them that I am not a local. When I say “Russia”, I see the disappointment in their faces. Were it France or Sweden, it would be charming and thrilling. But Russia? We are second-class citizens. I don’t want to be judged because I have a different passport. I want to inspire people as an individual, as ME. And for a long time, I wasn’t aware of how much I wanted to be seen as myself, not as a representative of a group of people. All of a sudden, I felt I needed to break free from that kind of life.’

Maria regarded her environment as hostile and suffered silently without being aware of it. In order to change her situation, she consciously changed her perspective.

Aimée from Western Africa, studying in Central Europe, had a similar starting point. She felt like an outsider in her cohort of fellow students even though it was a multinational group. She felt marginalized by the others who tried to avoid her in teamwork assignments: ‘The professors told me that I was not engaged. Some of them even asked me whether my English capabilities were sufficient to follow their lectures. I was desperate. What was wrong with me? I didn’t dare speak up and join in discussions. When I tried I felt a lump in my throat and stayed silent. Where did it come from? It was like self-sabotage. And then the truth dawned on me: I felt intimidated by being the only black person in the group. I couldn’t believe it. And I set out to end this belief with my self-exploration journey, which started by going beyond the colour of my skin.’

Struggle for appreciation

We all struggle for appreciation. In all spheres of life, we have a strong need to be heard and seen, to be appreciated. And we relish acknowledgment, even if it’s only the two words ‘Thank you’. This becomes especially obvious in a family and workplace setup. Sibyl was very engaged at work but felt increasingly exploited: ‘The more I give, the more my boss takes — and he takes it for granted. I’ve been working overtime for so long that it’s become normal. Now he also expects me to answer emails in the evenings and at the weekend. I have applied to be paid for more hours. He says he doesn’t have the budget. At the same time, he has established a new hierarchy and hired a team leader no one really needs. I feel like I’m being tricked.’ Her frustration fired Sibyl up for action. She decided to end this unsatisfactory situation. She was determined to become more assertive and decisive. And she knew that she had to become stronger from inside.

Cedric felt helpless: ‘I couldn’t get my point across. We needed to change our strategy to cover new cloud solutions. We needed to jump on digitization. If not, our company wouldn’t make it in the long run. But my boss wouldn’t listen to me. He thought I was a loser. He didn’t even make the effort to talk about my arguments. I was so furious after a meeting that I smashed the mouse of my PC against the wall and couldn’t help crying.’

This incident kicked Cedric out of his comfort zone and put him on track of his self-discovery journey towards becoming stronger from inside and starting to live a self-determined life.

The struggle for appreciation often starts with the assumption that we have to get it from people around us. This assumption changes during your journey as we discover that the source of appreciation resides on the inside.

Inspiring leadership

During times of change we are often faced with uncertainty regarding the future. This is positive, since uncertainty provides space for our own ideas. It’s like a vacuum we can fill, a huge playground where we can experiment.

Maria has a leadership role. She is thrilled by the options she has in times of huge changes. She wants to make new things work, although she sometimes feels overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge. She asked herself: ‘How can I do more with the same number of people without going the usual way of increasing pressure? What else can I do, like changing mental habits, helping them to formulate sharp emails and not worry too much about the details? How can I encourage courage?’ She came up with an answer that began to change her life: ‘I think I have to dive into my own fears first and lead by example: formulating emails that are uncomfortable for seniors, asking important questions that no one dares to ask.’

Maria was motivated by gaining experience with new methods for herself before she could pass it on to her team members. She felt she needed to go on the journey first to be sure that her new ideas would work. It was clear to her that shaping a new working environment required a lot of resilience. Hence, she wanted to acquire more insights in order to become more resilient as a leader. Maria definitely did not choose the easy way with her self-exploration journey, but she is certainly going down a sustainable and successful path.

Quest for joy of living

Where is the thrill of life? People with multifaceted experiences in life often reach a natural end of their ‘normal’ life. Seen from the outside, they have achieved a lot. They seem to have it all together. When we look at the world through their eyes, though it looks different.

Adrian has a PhD in computer science and is a licensed patent lawyer; a combination that is rare, in great demand and very well paid. Yet he kept on asking himself why he was doing what he was doing. It didn’t excite him. It didn’t instil any joy. Or, as he put it: ‘I was as bored by the people around me as I was by the repetitive legal issues and the alleged inventions. They offered me nothing new, nothing unexpected. They were neither stimulating nor inspiring. I always wondered, what else does life have in stock for me? Something crazy, something unimaginable? I want excitement. I want to lead a mad, unpredictable life. If this is not possible I don’t want to live anymore.’ Adrian embarked on his self-discovery journey to discover what lifestyle would allow him to express his adventurous personality.

Dorian is looking back at an extremely successful career: ‘I achieved more than I ever expected. I was the CEO of a stock-listed company I created myself. I sold my company just to find myself still doing similar things; initiating projects in different industries. I invest in housing, new technologies and some smaller social projects that warm my heart a bit. But inside I’m bored. The price for success was too high. I feel I’ve wasted time. I feel I’m not living in a self-determined way, which is funny, considering all the money I make.

‘I can’t freely manage my diary as so many partners and stakeholders depend on my investments. I’m lonely and bored with basically two choices: either I quietly end my life, just because I’m tired of it. Or I find something I am passionate about. I still have this need for security and cannot cut all ties with the world with which I’m so familiar. And I admit, I’m surprised at my reluctance to step into the unknown. But I’m determined now. I want to create space, step by step, for the new to come in. This means first cutting down on my engagements in order to have more time for myself and my personal journey.’

Escape from despair

Renate is the mother of two children. During a family holiday, her son was killed by a huge wave. For a long time, Renate was in total denial. She felt betrayed by life, swamped by a gigantic, paralyzing pain. At times she thought she might faint with the pain, which was unbearable. Everything was empty. She tortured herself with questions like, Why me? Why did this happen? What have I done to deserve this? Her thoughts were causing mental fatigue. She could barely carry on with her day-to-day tasks. In these darkest hours of her life, she took a decision: I face my inner demons and get out of this hell. I will not surrender. I will fight to get out of the abysses of my heart.

Renate embarked on the journey in search of a new life.

The role of issues

The motivations of your fellow travellers have been mainly triggered by some kind of incident uncovering an issue. Typically, we think of issues as problems. A problem is perceived as a negative causing suffering. In the cases described above, though, they were the starting point for inner change. They were the trigger towards self-activation, towards discovering an inner strength that would finally resolve the issue.

Issues pave the path of your journey. They might be related to an elusive feeling of something not being right. It’s good to get aware of them as they fuel your journey and guide you through it. Issues tell you, Hey, come here! There is something to discover.

That’s the mindset of the traveller. He or she looks at issues with fresh eyes: It’s an achievement. Any issue I stumble across on my journey is good because it provides me with more insights about myself. Any issue has the potential to lead me closer to my CORE.

WHAT IS THE SELF-EXPLORATION JOURNEY FOR?

There is an increasingly discernible drive in people for inner freedom. I recall very well the moment when Klara entered my office and said: ‘I want a selfdetermined life. I need to know how that feels. I have the ugly suspicion that I am only doing the things others somehow want me to do — or I want to prove to others that I am capable of achieving things they wouldn’t have expected from me. Now I want to find out more.’

Seen from the outside, people in industrialized countries and advanced emerging markets have a lot of freedom — material freedom. But can they lead a life they really want to? Are they allowed to be who they are? I’m not talking about freedom from oppression, or autonomy of countries, regions and cities. I’m talking about inner autonomy, self-determination, self-actualization and self-realization. I’m talking about the freedom to be a unique individual, fully aware of oneself.

And that’s exactly what the journey is about: to gain a better understanding of yourself by discovering who you really are. You learn to manage yourself as if you were managing a team. You learn to cope with the needs of each of the Formies to make them happy at any given point of time. When you know yourself inside out, you can get the best out of yourself. You function as a high-performance team. You use the full skillset of all the Formies. Under the guidance of Conscious Me, they even develop superpowers. You are wise, with confident access to your intuition; you are resilient because you can master your emotions and your body can balance itself. The journey will turn you into a fully self-aware human being. You will gain full command of your life, which you can lead most of the time in a relaxed, easy-going manner.

We’re taught that the need for freedom can be met with a change in the outside, in the physical world around us. Thus the search for a self-determined life is typically linked to actions in the outside world. Whether we try to fight and change oppressive circumstances with active demonstrations and loud protests or whether we look for another career opportunity, move house, buy a new car, get divorced and find a new partner — we usually try to change our environment. And yes, it’s true that the new environment does usually increase our openness for new things since we have to adapt to new circumstances and situations. Sometimes we even have to question our habits and thoughts.

However, the effect of changing the environment will only last for months, maybe years if we’re lucky. As soon as we become used to the new life, the necessity for a higher degree of openness no longer exists and we end up where we started. It’s just a matter of time until the feeling of something not being right will come back. This is due to a very simple truth: regardless of how fast we run and what we change in our environment, we always take ourselves with us. Some people endlessly repeat this cycle, continuously changing their environment. Others give up after a while and surrender to a life that apparently has nothing more to offer.

But it has!

Life can be an extremely colourful series of experiences, fulfilling, rewarding and addictive, if — yes, if — you embark on the journey towards your inside. On the way you will be excited by new insights I call coriosity; you will find an activity or job that is fulfilling and meaningful; you will discover how to appreciate yourself; you will become more resilient; and you will find your true passion. Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long, and sometimes cumbersome journey. Yet I’m convinced it’s the only way to get closer to your CORE, where true freedom resides.

So this is my suggestion: If you’re still intrigued and want to check out what’s inside you, come with me. Let’s go forward together. You have the freedom of choice. This might be your first step towards awareness. The more steps you take, the more possibilities you will have to take autonomous decisions. They will come naturally and without any force.

But if you feel that this is not your thing or it is just not

the right time, stop reading and pass this book on to a friend who might need it for his or her journey.

THE PURPOSE AND DESIGN OF THIS BOOK

Self-interest and ease of use are my mantras. I thrive on collaboration with open and self-aware people. I want to live in a world with more people who have awareness of their true nature, who can access their CORE and are therefore full of positive attitude, creativity and energy. That’s my vision; and the purpose of this book is to bring my vision to life. I want to live and work with people who are free in what they are thinking and feeling. People who are thrilled by what they find inside them. People who change their attitude towards the outside world with each step they take closer to their CORE. I always find this stimulating and exciting. It gives me energy, drive and joy.