[Help] Figuring out what to do

[Magpie]

I used help prefix, but that is not an urgent help request.

Magick created an opening in my life that let me question many life choice, from the country I lived in, to career, relationships and more. It is easy to discard options which are clearly not beneficial, but what about picking the right ones? I feel like lots of people are sitting in their starting blocks, not doing much in life, sort of waiting for a calling.

I know a big part of magick working is figuring yourself out and finding ways to adapt, so I don't expect simple 3 step lifehacks. I expect general thoughts and reflections - how do you figure out what to do in life? Figure out a life mission in a sense? I know there are magick practices aimed at that goal, like vision quest.

 

[wizard003439]

3 step lifehack:

1) Analyze how you feel about your life up to this point, not taking into account your Current Situation. This will tell you how to feel about everything that happened, give you emotions, opinions, and stir you. Let that settle. Solve...coagula. This is vital information: it gives you a pretty good representation of your current You, versus your more intense/changing life experiences. Make sure you have eaten and are rested and feel "alright" or "okay" (arguably not too much better to prevent pink glasses bias).

2) Feeling who you truly are from your analysis, you'll realize have desires, needs, wishes, hatred perhaps - good.
Now think of your current situation. I think you'll immediately resort to "this has got to stop" or "God I fucking love cats man" or...anything along those lines. The first thing that pops up has got to go/be embraced. If it cannot go/be embraced, accommodate into your life a Distance from (or closeness to) that which ideally has to go (or come closer).

Note: We love hyperbolism being human, so all tugs you feel internally "e.g. this has to go, this is awesome, this sucked" are all "horizons" of the thought directions you think in. Aim for the horizon, land where it feels good: aim for complete detachment of the "this has got to stop" thing, land on "I have more time and space for "me-things" while also having more psychological and spiritual distance from which hurts/limits me".

3) Keep on doing this whenever you are searching. Literally look around...in time. Take averages of how you feel about things. Repeating this will compartmentalize the ocean of your experiences a bit for you into logical grouping that works with your head. Allowing you trivialization and handling it to the extent you can word it more easily, share it with others and get their opinions, perhaps.

And as always, don't take load/yourself/emotions too serious, just be aware they are nudging-factors that you may not wish to adhere to.

It may be good to note that this process to me is like putting an = sign after a lot of life's 12 + 34287 * 8457 - 23487 - 23487 etc... It's okay to "summarize" (put an equal sign after a big sum) your experiences to yourself. It doesn't mean discarding details. It means taking from it / focus on what currently is more important to you about it all. It's not permanently overwriting your thoughts.

Big tip for all readers: WRITE SHIT OUT/DOWN ON PAPER

Edit: this it merely a chronological process; it does not say anything about timespan/duration/"having to do it all in one sitting" or having to complete the 3 steps. Can always start at any step at any time. Stop when you had enough reflection and reflect when you notice your head is wanting to/needing it/started to subconsciously.

Everything, especially this stuff, needs time to sink in and often comes to you. Or it Should(c), as you said yourself...this may be a good way to stimulate/provoke it

End of rant


Edit: add spam

 

[duager]

To some extent, magic implies freedom, but also a certain level of responsibility. Ideally, it shouldn't impact your life so drastically that it forces you to leave your family or your home—if that starts happening, it's usually not a good sign.

To ask about your purpose, you could use tarot cards, an obsidian mirror, or a crystal ball for scrying.

 

[HoldAll]

It may be a controversial opinion but I think that an overreliance on feeling and intuition is often caused by a lack of facts. However, in this context you have no other choice, there are just too many unknowable variables involved.

It's a good idea to do some soul-searching first and use cool reason to determine your future course. What are your ideals? What do you stand for? Which is the way do you wish everyone behaved? Or goals of personal development - who do you want to become? What are your strengths, your weaknesses, and what would you like to do about them? Are you able to detect an overarching theme, for example 'liberation' or 'individuation'?

I think such musings can be helpful but they're just a starting point. The next step may be called 'ways and means' but frequently, it may not be even necessary anymore. Those way and means will very often suggest themselves in the process of the rational thinking stage described above but there'll also be instances where you might say: "It looks good on paper but what I don't like about it is…"

Here's one of the most popular quotes by fraudster guru Carlos Castaneda:

All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. [...] Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

Feeling and intuition as the main deciding factors again but what I find so interesting here is that Castaneda thinks that all paths lead nowhere. For me, it's not a nihilistic statement and more like a rejection of linear approaches to life planning. On the face of it, there may be a plethora of spiritual paths but there'll be only a few you'll really feel drawn to. Another mistake linear life planning approaches make is that they frequently don't allow for wrong turns and periods of confusion which are very much part of the game.

One way to escape the dilemma of analysis paralysis is to take the first step in any direction that feels good, ideally one with heart, but even taking a wrong decision may sometimes feel less painful than making no decision at all. Another insight I've found to be true that sticking with a path will require a robust emotional investment - which may only arise once you've spent some time exploring it, another argument in favor of just beginning to walk without any expectations whatsover. Personally, I don't like the 'drawing board approach' and think it's better to treat life as a journey of discovery instead of a package tour with a fixed but unrealistic itinerary.

 

[wizard003439]

It may be a controversial opinion but I think that an overreliance on feeling and intuition is often caused by a lack of facts. However, in this context you have no other choice, there are just too many unknowable variables involved.

It's a good idea to do some soul-searching first and use cool reason to determine your future course. What are your ideals? What do you stand for? Which is the way do you wish everyone behaved? Or goals of personal development - who do you want to become? What are your strengths, your weaknesses, and what would you like to do about them? Are you able to detect an overarching theme, for example 'liberation' or 'individuation'?

I think such musings can be helpful but they're just a starting point. The next step may be called 'ways and means' but frequently, it may not be even necessary anymore. Those way and means will very often suggest themselves in the process of the rational thinking stage described above but there'll also be instances where you might say: "It looks good on paper but what I don't like about it is…"

Here's one of the most popular quotes by fraudster guru Carlos Castaneda:

All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. [...] Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

Feeling and intuition as the main deciding factors again but what I find so interesting here is that Castaneda thinks that all paths lead nowhere. For me, it's not a nihilistic statement and more like a rejection of linear approaches to life planning. On the face of it, there may be a plethora of spiritual paths but there'll be only a few you'll really feel drawn to. Another mistake linear life planning approaches make is that they frequently don't allow for wrong turns and periods of confusion which are very much part of the game.

One way to escape the dilemma of analysis paralysis is to take the first step in any direction that feels good, ideally one with heart, but even taking a wrong decision may sometimes feel less painful than making no decision at all. Another insight I've found to be true that sticking with a path will require a robust emotional investment - which may only arise once you've spent some time exploring it, another argument in favor of just beginning to walk without any expectations whatsover. Personally, I don't like the 'drawing board approach' and think it's better to treat life as a journey of discovery instead of a package tour with a fixed but unrealistic itinerary.

A great additive point of view to supplement my findings. Kudos

 

[Ziran]

how do you figure out what to do in life? Figure out a life mission in a sense?

Answer the following questions:

1) What do you love more than anything else?
2) What do you hate more than anything else?
3) What is your deepest darkest secret?
4) What secrets do you know of others?

After answering the questions, imagine yourself in love, in hate, in shame, and in power over others. Whatever it is in the list which produces the strongest reactions in the heart, chase it or run from it.

 

[Magpie]

Just to be clear, the change I mentioned before was neither drastic, nor irresponsible. I am not talking about leaving a pregnant wife with 3 kids to go live in the woods because of a weird "magickal" dream. More like changing a career I knew before was going nowhere, because magick gave me strength to make a move.

I've been asking myself questions and I can see how my life was taken by the social construct built from experiences and how the authentic self, more clearly visible as a young child, was neglected. It still begs a question - so what? Most people, myself included, can't just change their lifestyle overnight. However, as you also pointed out, there are some obvious things to run away from and create distance from. This can be done immediately and positive changes should follow.

wizard, you gave me an interesting idea by bringing up solve et coagula... I experimented before with writing down a compartmentalized "story" of my life, just very basic, couple of pages. After have the first draft, I rewrote it to give a different "vibe". I did not think about it in terms of alchemy, but perhaps it can be taken further. Makes me wonder, if something that seems to be very much set in stone, our past, is in reality plastic and can be shaped to serve our current will better... Not super innovative, I know hypnotists, NLP folks and more have been doing that.

Ziran, why are you asking about secrets? Mine and other people's? How does that help with soul-searching?

 

[Keldan]

A lot of people sit in the starting blocks because they assume a life mission will arrive like a dramatic revelation, but magick amplifies whatever you choose. If you’re waiting passively for something to choose you, you’re missing half of what magick is for.

Another reason people stay stuck at the starting line is that they want perfect certainty before movement. But magick favors action. You will not figure out your mission by contemplation. You will figure it out by trying, failing, succeeding, and observing who you become in the process.

Your mission at 20 will not be your mission at 40. And that’s not failure, it’s progression. As you deepen in practice, new capacities emerge. That doesn’t mean your life has been off track up to now. It means your path is unfolding.

Magick gave you the opening. Your job now is to step through it and start making choices. The clarity you’re looking for tends to appear after movement, not before.