It may seem counterintuitive, but our research revealed that one of the most important keys to transitioning to Fundamental Wellbeing is to not intellectualize or study it too much as a topic. The more you do that, the more something becomes an idea in your mind. And, given that you’ve never experienced Fundamental Wellbeing, you can never have an idea that’s so accurate about it that it helps you to actually get there. In fact, the exact opposite happens.

Knowledge can be helpful to provide context after transitioning or even during transitioning. But once you experience it, you’ll realize that what you thought you understood was way off. You’ll have the classic aha moment where what you’ve studied or read suddenly makes sense, but in ways you could have never imagined prior to the experience itself.

The reality is that more you form ideas about what Fundamental Wellbeing is and what it will be like, the further you actually get from the actual experience itself. Generally the deeper you go down those rabbit holes, the worse your chances of reaching a form of Fundamental Wellbeing that’s optimal for you and your life.

We incorporated this into our research protocols by making them practice, not theory based. The protocols are simply sets of instructions for exercises that when followed, produce a rapid, reliable, and safe transition to Fundamental Wellbeing for a majority of the people who use them. This is one of their greatest aspects. They collect the most reliable and effective methods that we found through our research, sequence them in a very precise way, avoid theory and other things that engage the mind, and sets participants on a course that gives them the best possible chance of reaching Fundamental Wellbeing. In fact, we explicitly avoid adding any excess theory or ideas, we generally don’t respond to participant’s questions unless they relate to clarifications of what to practice and how, and so on.

This is exactly how you should think about structuring your own path to Fundamental Wellbeing. Endless books and hours of YouTube videos most likely only getting someone further away from Fundamental Wellbeing, not closer to it. One interesting thing we’ve noticed in our programs is that people who are referred by friends and who come in having no clue what Fundamental Wellbeing is often transition much more smoothly than seekers who have devoted a lot of time and effort to studying about Fundamental Wellbeing. The reason for this is simple, they haven’t built a mental model that they have to escape from so they can transition. They can just come in, do the work, and reap the benefits.