The mental health industry moves $38 billion globally. If we take a moment to look at that figure, we should know it's more money than the entire GDP of countries like Paraguay, more than Starbucks' revenue, and more than the entire gaming industry in Latin America. Yet, over a billion people worldwide live with depression and other mental disorders.

Do you know what that means? Clearly, we're buying solutions that aren't working. The market grew 300% in the last decade, while rates of anxiety and depression are skyrocketing. There's something fundamentally broken in the equation.

The Spiritual Void of the 21st Century

Thirty years ago, 90% of Chileans identified as Catholic. Today? Just 45% hold onto their traditional faith. And this isn't a local phenomenon: In the United States, the percentage of people with no religious preference doubled from 8% to 18% between 1990 and 2010.

What's key is understanding that people didn't stop believing. They simply shifted their spiritual search elsewhere. Astrology, mindfulness, ontological coaching, family constellations, ayahuasca, microdosing, TikTok manifestations. The need for transcendence remains, intact. What changed was the packaging.

Fascinating phenomena are even emerging: adults consciously creating imaginary companions to combat loneliness. It's called tulpamancy, and it's essentially hacking your own mind to create an autonomous entity to accompany you. Sounds crazy? Maybe. But it's less crazy than spending hundreds on monthly therapy without seeing real change.

Imagine your brain like a box, or better yet like an apartment, where over time, tenants you never invited show up: memories of when you got bullied in seventh grade, the time your dad said he was disappointed in you, or that toxic relationship that left you afraid to commit. All those thoughts are there, not paying rent, occupying valuable mental space.

Neuroscience confirms that unprocessed experiences take up neurological space. They block us, preventing new ideas or concepts from utilizing that space. Your brain constantly expends energy to keep those traumas encapsulated, energy you could be using to create, love, live.

Carl Jung called it "the shadow." Nietzsche spoke of facing the abyss. Millennials call it "healing." But the concept is the same: you must integrate those dark parts of yourself if you want to access your full potential.

The Problem with Social Media Solutions

Scroll for 5 minutes on Instagram and you'll find:

• "Love your process 🌟"

• "Everything happens for a reason ✨"

• "Vibe high and the universe will conspire 💫"

• "If you can dream it, you can achieve it 🦋"

Pure nonsense.

Toxic positivity invalidates real emotions and shuts down important conversations. It's like putting a band-aid on a compound fracture. Whitney Goodman, a renowned therapist, explains that this approach makes people feel unheard, generating more isolation than it aims to resolve.

The real inner work hurts. It's uncomfortable. It forces you to look at parts of yourself you'd rather ignore. It makes you question narratives you've used for years to justify your mediocrity. It's not your Scorpio rising's fault!

While we're on the subject, let's talk manifestation. The TikTok version says if you write down your desires 33 times over 3 days, the universe will grant them. The real version, backed by neuroplasticity principles, says something very different.

When you decide "I don't want this problem anymore," you activate executive control circuits in your prefrontal cortex. Your brain genuinely starts to reorganize, forming new connections that steer you away from destructive patterns. But it requires conscious action, repetition, and time.

The ability to choose what problems you accept in your life is revolutionary. We all have problems - the question is which ones you choose to embrace. Do you prefer the problems of building something of your own or working toward someone else's dream? The issues of a deep relationship or the void of emotional emptiness?

Let's Hack Your Mind

After hacking your biology (stop poisoning yourself with junk food) and your finances (create systems that generate value), it's time for the third phase: hack your mind. And here's where it gets really Matrix-like.

In this chapter, we'll learn the Excel of traumas and their consequences, merging ancient traditions with modern psychology. The reason is simple, valuing their simplicity and minimalism. This “Excel” suggests that we all operate from fear or from love. Nine personality types, nine ways of seeing the world, nine foundational traumas that determine how we navigate reality.

But the Enneagram is just a tool. The important part is the process: knowing yourself so deeply that you can consciously choose where you operate from. Stop being an NPC running automatic scripts and become the protagonist of your own story.

In an era when AI can write, program, and create art, what remains for us humans? The answer is simple: authenticity. The ability to know ourselves so well that we can contribute something genuinely unique to the world.

The "spiritual glow-up" I'm talking about is not another new age trend. It requires reconfiguring your mental operating system to function from your most powerful version. It's about stopping the energy drain from maintaining facades and redirecting it toward what truly calls or loves you. When you align every action with a purpose that transcends your ego, you generate "leadership, self-efficacy, communication skills, self-confidence, assertiveness." All those things that $5000 courses promise but never deliver.

Are you ready to face your own darkness? To evict the mental squatters who've been living rent-free in your head for years? To stop consuming spiritual fast food and do the real work?

Because here's the news: Matrix-like superpowers exist. The ability to see through social masks, connect deeply with other human beings, and operate from a place of unshakable inner power. All this is real and attainable.

But it requires the courage to look honestly in the mirror and ask yourself who you are when no one is watching.

In this chapter, we're going to dismantle the specific tools. From the Enneagram to shadow integration, from trauma neuroscience to concrete practices of self-discovery.

Are you signing up for the most important journey of your true life?