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Hello Everyone,

I'm about to start reading the Act of Will by Roberto Assagioli and welcome reading buddies with whom to exchange daily commentary.

I'm also going to do a serious re-read of several personal development books that include:

1. How to Think like Leonardo Da Vinci
2. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
3. Awaken The Giant Within (anything NLP)
4. Visioning: 10 Steps To Designing the Life...
5. Write It Down, Make it Happen
6. WishCraft (any Barbara Sher books)
7. Train Your Brain to Get Happy
8. The Power of Now
9. Break The Habit of Being Yourself
10. The Art of Conscious Creation
11. Transcending the Levels of Consciousness
12. Your Soul's Gift
13. A Course in Miracles

Hope everyone's reading adventures and challenges are going well... :)

Sandy, you can actually read the Act of Will online at no charge. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to be available at the Toronto public library or Chapters/Indigo.

I started reading it today and skimmed over all the theoretical, academic "fluff." I'm going through a particularly difficult period and am in need of practical exercises to conquer extreme apathy. Assagioli suggests treating the will like a muscle which we should regularly and frequently exercise with "useless" acts.

I was thinking of nominating this for the non-fiction group read along with Break the Habit by Joe Dispenza. Let me know what you think when you get a chance to look them over.

I've read The Act of Will once and it is well worth reading it again. I don't know if I have time to leave a daily commentary but I will try to take part.

Will, I'm so pleased that you've decided to participate in this buddy read! Hopefully, Sandy will decide to join us...

We could focus on reading one chapter a week, allowing us to read and make annotations at leisure. Since this is a re-read for you, we could skip the intro for now and go straight to chapter 2 - The Existential Experience of the Will.

Personally, I will be paying special attention to techniques and exercises applicable in daily life without spending much time on explanations of research or theory. For instance, every hour on the hour (I set my alarm), I perform a "useless act of the will" -- like journaling or drawing for 5 minutes, with great mindfulness, in order to train and condition my sorely neglected muscle.

There are twelve pages in chapter two -- less than two pages a day. We can exchange notes on our thoughts and progress by tomorrow evening. Or a smiley is good enough, too.

Hi Sandy & Wil, a quick

Oh and I'm about to do my hourly "useless act of will": walking.

Sandy wrote: "Angelique, I have found a number of websites where one can download a pdf of The Act of Will. Would you recommend one in particular?"

Sandy, I downloaded the copy from NEOALCHEMIST.FILES.WORDPRESS.COM onto my tablet. I used to read it on my cell phone but it's very difficult to navigate.

Let me know how you find it. Chapter 2 following the intro is very short, 8 pages.

Sandy wrote: "´¡²Ô²µÃ©±ô¾±±ç³Ü±ð wrote: "Hi Sandy & Wil, a quick "

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I'm sure this message was here in its entirety yesterday. I just wanted to report that I had read the first couple of pages and was progressing well with my performance of Useless Acts. :)

´¡²Ô²µÃ©±ô¾±±ç³Ü±ð wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Angelique, I have found a number of websites where one can download a pdf of The Act of Will. Would you recommend one in particular?"

Sandy, I downloaded the copy from NEOALCHEMIST.F..."

Actually, if you have an iPhone, you can open up the file in Safari and then in iBooks.

I really thought I replied already. Do post when you get to Write It Down, Make It Happen. I bought is but haven't read it yet. I can't join in anything else right this moment, I have 2 books from the library to get through regarding my baby's development while he is still approaching these phases!

I got to start reading the other day. As I read the introduction I remembered why I originally got excited about the book. Assogioli's bit about what would happen if one of the world's great thinkers of the past came to the present, really struck me when I first read it. Assogioli is exactly right that we have advanced greatly technologically but have made no progress with regards to our personal development. That idea sets the tone for the rest of the book.

I will try to read the second chapter this weekend.

Just finished chapter 2. What I like about Assogioli is him bringing spiritual, high self, transpersonal will to psychology. He mentions vertical growth in chapter 2. That is a wonderful concept and I feel is overlooked when people talk about personal growth.

Sandy & Wil, forgive this belated post.

It is pitiful and ironic that my will is weak concerning the reading of a celebrated book on the will. I'm inspired by the fact Assagioli was a colleague of Freud, Jung and Maslow but think it's the scholarly nature of The Act which makes it seem like I'm reading a psychology textbook for University. I'm going to take your advice Will and make this reading experience fun and interesting.

I also love that Assagioli considers the "vertical" dimension of the Will/ Transpersonal Will as a valid aspect of the Will embodied by our Higher Self. As an avid spiritual student, I have been struggling to achieve mystical union with my Higher Self for a year, with great difficulty.

I'm urged forward by the following quote by David R. Hawkins, world renowned physician and author: "In transcending the levels of consciousness, the importance of the human 'Will' is emphasized because it is the most critical of all functions in spiritual work. Relatively little attention has been paid to the Will in proportion to its extreme importance, for the Will is the invitation to DIVINE INTERVENTION."

Have a wonder-filled weekend!
Happy reading...

Oh and Sandy, I hope you and your dog are healthier and happier these days! I have a Golden who also suffers from extreme storm anxiety so I can empathize with you. And reading Assagioli is definitely not ideal when your mind is mush and your body is wracked with flu.

Hi Sara,

I'm planning to read chapter 15 of Write it Down, Make It Happen this weekend, if you don't mind skipping ahead. It's a relatively quick read and very interesting, especially if you're familiar with the concept of 'automatic writing.' Don't be put off by the author's mention of God if you are an atheist or agnostic.

Of course, your books on baby take precedence. My brother just had his second baby last month; his oldest is 18 months. It's an exciting, precious time. :)

I finished chapter 3 earlier this week. It was about the different aspects of the will. It is interesting to break the will down to different parts and think about what parts you have under relative control and parts that need work. The part that sets Assogioli apart from many others is bringing the concept of the transpersonal will into the scope. Understanding that more is one of the reasons I wanted to reread this book.