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Thanks, Tom ... loved all the miscellanea and added all three quotes to my collection (which is now up to about 6,000, collected over last 40 years). As for your book idea ... absolutely! although I am almost terminally triggered by the word manifest. It has been so misused. Reading Mark Manson about radical responsibility makes me think we are "manifesting" all the time ... understanding how we can shape that manifestation is, or should be, a learnable skill. Looking forward to more.

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Hey hey Tom,

Glad to see you're still chipping away at the 'self'. I'll send an email shortly for a call, it has been a while.

"being conscious of what you want will determine your potential" = is that a causation relationship? Is some sort of internal affirmative articulation of your desire linked to your ability at it necessarily? I guess this depends on how you define "potential" - is it the agent's assessment of themselves - ie do they feel they're living their best life?/ do they feel great at they do?

"you can't fully become yourself [] without being conscious of what you want" - then, those who aren't being conscious of what they want, and are (presumably) aimlessly wandering about, are they not their "self"? are they a half 'self'?

I would think even that limbo space is still their 'full self'. I think these ideas work fine without the addition of 'self':

You can't express an ideal version of yourself (as defined and aspired to by the agent itself, not any external audience) without having a clear idea of what you want, which is founded on what you believe has value. Once this clarity is achieved, your thoughts and actions increasingly fixate on the goal, allowing you to achieve your own defined potential.

on the note of manifestation, i agree, spending more time in the space of your desires, both mentally and physically, will yield more associated experiences in the world. They may not manifest in any necessarily envisioned way, but they will be connected nonetheless.

But I have to ask, overall, what insight or problem is being surfaced here in this train of thought?

Knowing what you want (and working towards it) as a route to happiness / potential / well being / your best life / a greater sense of identity is consistent with conventional wisdom.

We can talk of this more on our call, excited in any case you're working on the skeleton of a new book.

Cheers!

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