Violina

Alex, are you a single? If yes, do you consider to having a girlfriend, wife in the future? I ask just our of curiosity. I am curious if enlightened people feel need to be with someone. Did your parents, friends noticed your change? Can you still live, work like everyone? Very interesting topic BTW.

Welcome everyone here. I wonder purchasing one of the Peter Ralston’s book but I’m not sure for 100% and don’t want to be disappointed. Before, I read a lot of positive reviews about Ram Dass book which disappointed me, because I have already known everything what he said. I’ve always interested in meditation, mindfulness, Huna (because it says about subconscious, conscious and superconscious mind), conscious breathing etc. I try to improve my focus to remember about this stuff. I need some book who could inspire me and guide. Or... I don’t need any...

@Gabriel Antonio Great text! Are you still practicing this? I agree with everything, it's very important to have a great relation with our subconscious mind - inner child within us. Maybe that's why during our spiritual journey we feel sadness and emptiness. We observe our thoughts, feelings, but forget about inner child within us. Maybe our inner mind doesn't want to be ignored by observing? On the other side every conscious breath connects us with our subconscious mind...

Someone posted this link “It is important to note that all four styles of meditation will take a person to the final goal of Spiritual Enlightenment. No method is superior to the others. Different people will find different methods more harmonious with who they are. In addition, a person may find themselves naturally moving from one practice to another. But it is important that the chosing of meditation practices is not a decision of the thinking mind. The mind will continually jump from one practice method to the next and never will the person make deeper progress. This is why the person should feel/intuit which method is appropriate to practice or have their teacher select the appropriate method (only a qualified teacher can effectively chose the technique). Then the person should continue to practice this one method, and not be persuaded by the doubting thoughts in the mind” https://channelhigherself.com/blog/types-of-higher-self-meditation-practices/

How is your work? Writing to your inner child or using EFT is really helpful.

I’m wondering if people who want to be enlightened can be successful in any fields? What if I want to be for example successful dancer? Should I still exercise my mind, be aware of my thoughts etc.? Do you guys have any goals which are not relate with enlightenment?

''When we do not indulge our thoughts and do not judge them, they do not re-enter the feedback loop system. When we stop feeding them, they stop growing, and will eventually shrivel and die. Since this is the source of Ego, the Ego will also shrivel and die, so long as Self Awareness is practised with sufficient diligence. The most important part of this practice is to NEVER JUDGE our thoughts since judgement is the gateway back into the feedback loop system'' (https://trainthemind.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-subconscious-mind.html) So I can't use the positive affirmations to motivate my subconscious mind to practice? (violin). So maybe it's better to keep Ego, don't allow it to die if I want to play, dance better?

It's not easy path. For me. Hopefully I will overcome obstacles.

You are absolutely right. How about following the dreams? I read that enlightened people don't really need dreams, and pursuing success. They are happy with themselves and we also should do that. However not everyone can or wants to leave everything what has already achieved and be the ''Buddha''.

It's just concentration on chest? That's all? BTW I practice concentration on my breaths. It is not deep breathing exercise, but observing natural breaths.

@Solace Thank you for the link.

I have never had problems with depression before (I mean sadness with no reason) sinceI have truly started observe my thoughts during the day, listen to my inner mind, focus on my inner silence, on breaths. And I'm really surprised that I started to feel emptiness, I'm sad every morning (even though I've got a good life and lovely partner), I've got a lot of doubts. I also feel failed when I realise that my mind is somewhere else and I can't focus on the present moment. I read that ''Depression after spiritual awakening is common''. I'm not even awaken. I just want to develop my concentration on the present moment now. Do the others also feel like that? I'm worried now.

@str4 So what is the point if we feel worse than before? However I think it's too late to come back. On the one hand I don't want to come back because I used to get lost in my thoughts , on the other hand I don't want to feel dissatisfaction because I am more aware and probably bear in mind the negative thoughts. I didn't know that this path will be so tough....

Thank you for you all answers. I follow Vipassana, ''Observe your thoughts, do not cling to them, observe everything''. I really like idea to observe my breath and develop concentration, I like idea to see the thoughts and don't allow negative thoughts to stay in my mind, but because I also should not even allow to ''think'' positively, the reality loses colours. For example I can't be emotionless being in relationship. I liked when I used to be a happy person with no reason (and I don't have and no one in my family psychiatric problems). Hopefully. :-) You are probably right, however I found a lot of posts from the others about negative effects of meditation. Maybe they don't know this forum?

I am also deliberating that. Ok, I don't have to have any desires when I'm a single, alone. However what happens when we are in love, in relationship? We just hurt our partners.....?

From the guardian.com: ”One story in particular prompted Farias to look further into adverse effects. Louise, a woman in her 50s who had been practising yoga for 20 years, went away to a meditation retreat. While meditating, she felt dissociated from herself and became worried. Dismissing it as a routine side-effect of meditation, Louise continued with the exercises. The following day, after returning home, her body felt completely numb and she didn’t want to get out of bed. Her husband took her to the doctor, who referred her to a psychiatrist. For the next 15 years she was treated for psychotic depression”. ? I’m really worried now ?

@Prabhaker I dance a lot (and also perform), play the instruments, spend a lot of time outside with children. @cetus56 If I stop try to focus on now (I don’t do that all the time because it’s very very difficult), my thoughts will overwhelm me. @zoey101 Like I wrote before, I’m a very physically active person. Maybe because I try to observe my thoughts, I realise that there are a lot of negative thoughts and that’s why I feel sadness?

I did not have any opportunities to have retreats. However I observe my thoughts during the day, I listen to my inner mind, focus on my inner silence. And I'm really surprised that I started to feel emptiness, I'm sad every morning after meditation, I've got a lot of doubts. I also became more irritated if I realised that my mind is somewhere else and I can't focus on the present moment.

I wanted to create a new topic but I can accord to this one. I've just read the text about it. Depression after spiritual awakening is common. But who wants to talk about it publicly? You will hear endless accounts of bliss and oneness. But it’s not often that people want to talk about how difficult it can be to adjust. Yes, there is bliss and oneness but there can also be tremendous sorrow or disorientation or feelings of profound bleakness. Sometimes these bleak feelings even happen at the same time as bliss and oneness. People euphemistically call this The Dark Night Of The Soul. Well, that sounds poetic, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t feel so poetic when you are in the middle of it. Especially if you believe that it’s not supposed to be this way and that you are the only one. From https://modernawakenings.com/depression-after-spiritual-enlightenment/ Do the others also feel like that? I'm worried now. I did not have a retreat. But I meditate, focus on my breathing during the day, etc and also started to feel different. More sad and unhappy with no reason.

@AleksM Your posts really inspire me. I’m extremely impressed that you managed to focus on every your breaths. I’m impressed with your determination. I’m impressed with your English (how did you learn this language. At school? English is also not ma native language. Actually I started to speak about 4 years ago). I think we all can try to focus on our breaths because there is nothing to lose. Not everyone will be enlightened, but we can develop an excellent concentration. This is my goal now. Thank you Alex and say something in this forum from time to time. I wish you the best!

Vipassana - just focus on your breaths. That's all. Seems easy, but it's very difficult (for me).

Hi Guys, I'm just reading again ''Mindfulness in plain English'' and more and more doubts become to my mind. Author of this book Henelopa Gunaratana advises you to observe everything, what I've always tried to do that. However when you are angry or in a bad mood, you should still do nothing but observe. I can't even try to change negative thoughts to positive? Everyone knows that we can have impact on our mood. We can teach our subconscious to behave in the different way. I'm afraid that if I start to observe everything, my life will become empty and sad, I will turn into a strange person - I would feel sorry for my partner. Do you have any experience with that? (PS: Sorry for mistakes, English is not my native language).

I'm quite new in this forum however I've been interesting in spiritualism for many years. I started from meditation (I still struggle with my concentration), then read a lot of books, trying to practice mindfulness. A year ago I came across Huna. I liked idea involves our subconscious, conscious and superconscious mind and harmony between them. I liked the 7 principles like The world is what you think it is; There are no limits; Energy flows where attention goes; Now is the moment of power; To love is to be happy with (someone or something); The power comes from within; Effectiveness is the measure of truth. Huna says that with your Higher Self (superconscious mind) your can bring into your life whatever you desire. You just have to pray, using your visualisation, etc and of course breathing deeply in order to gather ''mana'' (energy). Then I encountered this forum and brushed up on everything what I new before I found Huna. And now I have a lot of doubts. If I should be aware of my body, thoughts, everything, can I visualise, dream about something? How about goals? If I want to be for example musician, can I imagine myself as a musician? (PS) English it's not my native language, so I'm sorry for mistakes.

Great! I'm going to try the tapping. I let you know.

@Amilaer--- Oh, yes, this is really difficult. I used to use the app on my phone ''Remindfulness'', now every morning I try to read my notebook about how much focus is important, about watching myself in every situations. And it's better and better.