Leo Gura

There is one very important thing you can do, which is to sit regularly and cut out all the distractions in your life that keep you from contemplating your own existence. Just as in poker, you can't control if you will win the hand, but you can certainly improve your odds a lot.

Common traps: Taking any of your thoughts seriously Experiencing withdrawal symptoms or emotional upheaval during self-inquiry/meditation and taking this as a sign of something being wrong or you failing Looking for the true self as an object located in space Looking for the true self inside your skull Looking for the true self outside your skull out in the external world Trying to look for the true self without first generating a state of not-knowing Trying to answer the "Who am I?" question logically or verbally Looking for something mystical or hidden (nothing at all is hidden) Getting lost in your personal story, thinking it is you Trying to think your way into enlightenment Trying to fake-surrender your way into enlightenment Reading more books or watching more videos about enlightenment Distracting yourself from sitting down and doing the work Talking about or debating enlightenment with friends/family Confusing enlightenment with a peak emotional state during meditation Trying to become enlightened at any time other than NOW Thinking there is someone who will become enlightened (there is not) Assuming enlightenment will solve all your practical everyday problems like paying rent or your crappy relationship Thinking you've found a secret, rapid process for becoming enlightened Believing you do not exist because Leo talked about no-self Creating a spiritual identity as the hero on the quest to kill the ego Acting superior and judging people who don't know as much about enlightenment as you've read about. Believing that there is a way, technique, or method to become enlightened (there isn't) Tricking yourself by saying that you'll pursue enlightenment when you're older, after you're successful Thinking you're enlightened when in fact you've only had a glimpse Getting distracted into the "power realm" of spirituality, trying to acquire special powers Thinking that you've discovered all there is to enlightenment and nothing more remains.

It's normal to experience setbacks and backsliding. Just keeping slowly plodding ahead, especially what you've been doing has worked in the past.

They are cool but I've never used them with my clients. Yes, I sometimes lose motivation temporarily. It's not really about motivation so much as it is about commitment and persistence. You just choose a field to master, you decide to commit and never waver. The secret behind my motivation (honestly) is that I think I am naturally passionate about life in a way that I see few other people are. I can't really take credit for it. Maybe it's genetic. As I do more consciousness work I am starting to see that all my deepest motivation in life has a spiritual source. I have always been conscious of life's sacredness and awesomeness in a way that few other people are. How can you development this? Go have a few enlightenment experiences and all of reality will become sacred to you. Right now I go to bed at 4am and wake up around noon. But I will be correcting this. Yes. I don't remember his approach to meditation. Yellow? Not sure. Maybe, although he's got a bit of an ideological bent. Like he's crusading for science or rationalism. It's not a problem in practice. Coaching is not like a motivational speech. Good coaching is about helping your client become more consciousness of their life choices, which inevitably leads to more awareness of their egos. Awareness of the ego starts the path of unraveling the ego.

It's a great course.

For me the hardest thing has been getting better with girls and stopping caring what other people think about me. American, but generally I see all cultures as silly and deluded. Not much differently other than that I know that nothing else can ever make a human being happy besides Truth. My hard work during high school and college to educate myself Deciding to start my own business and becoming financially independent Living in modern times with such many modern liberties. I don't really coach people at ground zero. I would screen that kind of client out. I like to work with already-successful people. In reality I don't get to see the transformation. Coaching is more like planting seeds in people which may or may not sprout years later if they keep watering them. I give you way too many answer already. Time to think for yourself a bit. I don't know. Do you need one? What is true for you? Yes, I vote. Most things are distractions from finding truth.

Keep in mind there may be more than one cause. In fact it would be astonishing if it was that simple. There are probably dozens of different chemicals that could cause ADHD.

As far as your second problem goes, the solution there, more realistically, will be to ditch those friends and make higher quality ones. Lifting everyone up around you as you try to develop yourself is a huge uphill battle. You gotta get a bit cold-hearted and just have the courage to go your own way. In the end it will all work out great. But in the short-term it will feel like you're being disloyal or selfish.

It's the difference between jerking off, versus having an actual human connection.

I just had the following insight after a few hours of meditation: Let's say you are having a terrible nightmare. An alien is chasing you and you are desperately trying to get away from it. Then I appear in the middle of the chase and say, "Wait a minute now... This is just a nightmare. It's not real." And you reply back, "But if none of this is real, then you're not real either and your very words are not real! Ha! What hogwash! Look at how you contradict yourself!" And you keep running from the alien as though your life depended on it. This is what rational people do when their rationalism is challenged. And so they stay stuck forever. Just a random musing that I felt increased my understanding of man's condition. The mind is so sneaky!

The forum can definitely become a low consciousness thing if you aren't careful.

This! You ain't gonna coach anyone with the kind of thinking you currently have about money. Coaching is a serious business. Not charity work. Ironically, the less money you charge for coaching, the less seriously people take you and the more they slack off on the assignments, and the more they miss calls. Giving away free coaching is one of the worst things you can do for your clients. And if having lots of money is a taboo, then you shouldn't mind paying $10k for the program. The taboo thing would be to keep that money for yourself

My work and daily life pretty much blend so it's very hard to separate the two. I don't work set hours. I probably work 50 to 70 hours per week on average. I generally try not to work Sat or Sun. But I still publish videos and answer lots of comments, sometimes for hours on Sunday.

Ahahahahahahahaaa.... ROFL << That should be your response to him. Give him a nickname like: The-man-who-maxed-out-on-knowledge-after-4-books. "Hey bro, make room in your big brain for a 5th book yet?" Sometimes the best way to meet stupidity and arrogance is with ridicule. Don't let people get away with frame-controlling you with their own ignorance like that.

You really need to raise the caliber of people you hang out it. Go study under someone who is way above you and will make you feel embarrassed for your own ignorance and deficiencies. When I see how much ignorance I still have undo, it makes me think twice before nitpicking others.

Lost Spires, Oblivion

The trouble with that approach is that it's sourced from a deep neurosis. You're basically in conflict with yourself, disowning parts of your psyche, and trying to bull your way through towards some idealized future which -- even if it comes -- will be deeply disappointing because you will one day realize that you whored yourself out for success. If you use this approach, you will become the stereotypical businessman who makes a killing on Wallstreet and then hangs himself one day from the ceiling fan. All your achievements in life are ultimately pointless and produce very temporary doses of satisfaction because of hedonic adaptation. What you need to do is to learn how to derive joy from being, not from doing. A good approach for you would be to do almost the exact opposite of what you suggest. Which means, practice self-compassion, self-acceptance, and a slow relaxed, easy-going pace. Learn to enjoy life rather than enjoying some idealized future. All that said, I don't mean that you don't take action. You still take action. But from a place of self-acceptance rather than a place of lack, as you're doing now. This is another one of those counter-intuitive moves I always talk about.

As the songs goes, "Gangsta ass niggas don't talk much." The loud-mouths of the world rarely accomplish much. It's the silent ones, toiling long and hard in the dead of night who get shit done and change the world.

I've never thought about retiring. My work is my life and vice versa. Even if I go live in a cabin in the woods until I die, I will still consider that my work. I don't ever feel a need to donate money because I strive to make my life and my work my donation to the world.

Normal pace. I can speed-read but I don't like to. 1) Most of them you wouldn't know. Barrack Obama is probably a good public example of yellow. Which is why the right demonizes him. Blue and Orange can't stand Yellow. 2) I don't really seek to change society. I just like sharing insights with whoever wants to hear them. Reason for immigration was that communist Russia sucked balls compared to the US. I liked the US instantly, but it took me many years to learn how Americans think. I know little about him. Blue! I explain that in much detail in the life purpose course.

In the same way you always have, without free will. How does the Earth keep spinning around the Sun? It has no free will. How does your heart keep beating every second? It has no free will. What the heart is doing every second is way more complicated and delicate than whatever you're trying to achieve.

I will at some point, when I get time to experiment more with it.

Learning and practicing mindfulness is the key. This is your opportunity to delve deep into mindfulness practice. I recommend finding a good live mindfulness teacher and going to some retreats. Shinzen Young is one such teacher I know. He's really great and helps people manage chronic pain through mindfulness techniques.

I've been meaning to try one out. I hear they're cool. Supposedly studies have found that half the population, when taking LSD, will experience hallucinations in a tank. While the other half will not.

@Kelley White Is one of your goals to use every emoticon known to man?