The TLP Triangle

So I just got back from the Conscious Growth Workshop in Las Vegas, by Steve Pavlina. I’ll post a review of it in another blog post but this one will be an explanation of his truth-love-power principle powered paradigm of personal improvement.

Two Planets

Steve asks you to consider two planets. I think it’s more clear if you consider two universes: Universe A and Universe B. Universe A is the universe in which your current situation exists. Universe B is the universe in which your desired situation exists. In both universes the laws of physics still apply – they just reflect two entirely different realities.

I’m going to use my current weight loss goals to illustrate the principles.

Truth

The principle of truth asks you to define everything about Universe A, and everything about Universe B.

So for me, the truth about my current situation is that I weigh 212 pounds, and have about 22% body fat. I have a BMI of 26.5 (overweight). I rarely work out in the gym. You can kind of see my upper 4 abs, but just barely, and if the lighting is right. I’m 6’3″, btw.

In my ideal world, I would weigh about 185 pounds, with 8% body fat. I would exercise regularly. I would have a visible six pack. I would eat more healthy, involving a diet with less processed food.

It’s healthy to lose about 1 pound a week so in order to lose 27 pounds, it will take me 27 weeks. That’s 6 months. According to this calorie calculator (http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm), I need to eat 3000 calories a day to maintain my weight. If I want to lose 1 pound a week, that’s 3500 calories reduction per week or 500 calories per day. That means I should limit myself to 2500 calories per day.

Love

Love is the degree to which your environment reflects you being in Universe A versus you being in Universe B. The word love is perhaps a bit confusing here, but understand it as how much does the universe support you being in Universe A instead of Universe B. Your social circle, where you live, what you interact with on an everyday basis… those are important parts of Love.

Social support is a key element of Love. In my case, it’s important to hang around people who eat good diets, and who support my goals. So I would want to make friends with raw foodists or people who won’t make me feel uncomfortable if I don’t drink when I hang out with them (alcohol leads to putting on weight). I need to stock my kitchen with healthy food.

Power

Power is the speed with which you get from A to B. If you are strong in Power, then you will accomplish your goals very quickly. In this case, for power, I need to work on: learning new recipes (so I can eat healthy and not have to eat out), learning which foods I can eat that will be conducive to fat loss, begin a high-intensity interval training program (perhaps the most effective workout program for burning fat), and improving my willpower so I stick to the diet.

Now the meta-principles:

Oneness

The principle of Oneness says that the universe will support your transition from A to B if you take on a helper mindset: that is, if what you are doing is good for the greater whole. A brief aside into social mindsets is useful here.

• Criminal mindset: you are selfish. You think about your needs above anyone else’s.
• Neutral mindset: your actions are good for you, but not necessarily bad for anyone else.
• Martyr mindset: your actions are good for humanity, but bad for you.
• Helper mindset: your actions are good for you as well as humanity.

The criminal and martyr mindsets are not sustainable. The neutral mindset is fine, but the universe (and humanity) tends to lend its support very willingly along your journey if you are truly being helpful, so why not catalyze your progress with a helper mindset?

So with my weight loss goals, if I just lose weight, it’s pretty neutral. It’s not necessarily selfish of me but it’s not really helping anyone else that much either. But perhaps if I blog about my progress and encourage others by setting a good, public example, then the universe will be more supportive. I’ll also be motivated by something bigger than myself, because I would be letting other people down, not just myself.

Authority

Authority is the principle that we are the authors of our own lives. It’s the principle that we control what Universe B looks like. Shakespeare says, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players.” So why not be the playwrights of our own life and have authorship?

This principle involves the mechanics of the transition. I will be trying different exercise techniques as well as different diets, and I will be posting about them on the blog. I’m thinking that it would be cool to do a 30-day trial of low GI foods and a 30-day trial of raw foods. Then I can post on the blog about which generated better results for me, with respect to weight loss. I think that low GI would be easier than raw so I will start with that.

Courage

Courage is following the path with a heart. Coraticum is Latin for heart, and you may also recognize corazón from Spanish. What path has a heart for you? I think that “with a heart” is kind of a fuzzy term and not well-defined so I prefer to think of it as: What path gets you excited; isn’t boring; challenges you? For me the path of getting to a lean body weight is definitely exciting.

Intelligence

Intelligence is Steve’s overarching principle. An intelligent life is one lived with truth, love, power, oneness, authority, and courage. It’s intelligent for me to take this step in my life; I will live longer, be happier, and grow stronger. Moreover, others will benefit and be inspired by my progress.

Concluding Notes

Remember, the idea is to go from Universe A to Universe B, not just to change one thing or achieve one goal. The economics principle of “ceteris paribus”, or “all other things equal”, does not exist in the real world. Everything must change. It would be impossible for me to suddenly gain a sixpack without also changing my diet and exercise habits. It would be impossible to maintain my diet without social support or I’m not going to be able to go out to eat with my friends. If I can’t go hang out I’m going to feel bad, be lonely, and experience stasis in Universe A. That would be lame.

The good news is that if you want to get to Universe B, there are some neat shortcuts you can take. For example, Universe B is really a buzzing Universe. Since it’s a real place, you can work to implement subtle details about Universe B into your immediate experience in order to expedite the transition process. For example, if I have a six pack, I’m probably going to feel sexy and confident about my body. So why not start that now? I won’t be carrying around extra weight, so I’m going to feel more energized, and need an outlet for my energy. So I need to find productive helpful things to work on to channel that energy. Then I’ll feel motivated to keep up my new behaviors, because the work I’m doing is so perspective. Or, I could consider that when I’m 185 pounds, I’ll only be eating 2800 calories/day to maintain weight, so I will need to restrict calories to only 2300/day instead of 2500/day!

So now, it’s time to begin: 6 months to a 6 pack!

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