Christian

A great book that covers what emotional Intelligence (EQ for short) is is emotional Intelligence 2.0. It will reveal the different pillars of what emotional Intelligence is and give you tools for how you how to develop it. So I reccomend you buying that book for further information on this topic. There are lots of great suggestions in the book that you can follow. It is also important to meditate as it is directly related to EQ. Meditation can make you more aware of the present moment; this includes your feelings and thoughts. So you will be more aware of emotions and thoughts which obviously increases your emotional intelligence noticably.

The fact that life is emptiness is in itself meaningless. There is no negativity attached to it. Life has no point and that is how it should be because that is how life is in direct experience. There is no need to change reality and in fact you can't. You are an illusion. Take a leap of faith and create an actual experience of this and find your true self.. And you will not need to answer this question.

@Aamir King It is natural to be a bit lazy sometimes. Especially if you are doing something that you personally are not used to do that takes a lot of willpower. Expect that and act in the face of laziness and be aware of the consequences of engaging in lazy behaviour. But again, life is a grey area; there are times where it is best to take a step back and relax (be a bit lazy) and there are other times where it is better to work in the face of laziness. I find that times when it is acceptable to be lazy is after a huge success in a area of life like you just sold a business or if you have worked for a really long time and need time off because otherwise you will become stressed and have burn out... There are also times where you should work in the face of laziness is when you want a result because you care deeply about it and it has long term value and you have the physical and psychological ressources to go for it. In that case, give it your all and prepare for the desire to slack off and fall back to your old ways. That is just a natural response that your subconscious mind has to change and is there to be expected. So be conscious of that. But it is not the complete picture. Another part of it is to motivate yourself. Find out why you want these changes and ground yourself in that. Also, commit 100% to what you want and realize that YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE . So make the most out of your DAMN LIFE and think about the regrets that you will have knowing that you did not change earlier when you should have done it. Do it now if you feel you are in a position where it is the right move for you: Most of the time, it will be...

I am curious to know your view of what thoughts actually are to use that knowledge in my favor on my path to enlightenment. Therefore, I have a few questions I hope you can help me answer as I am struggling to do so myself.. What is a thought existentially? To what degree are thoughts true? What is absolute truth? What is the distinction between thinking and awareness?

You basically answered the question that the title consists of by yourself; that to control thoughts we shall try to not resist them or engage in them. Well, sorry to tell you, but there is no "way" to achieve control over your thoughts. No technique can help you. Why? There is no self to control anything. But you as this being can still increase mindfulness over thoughts. Not to stop them, but to become AWARE of their illusory existential nature. When you are aware, you can experience reality - raw perception - literally and you will avoid taking your thoughts too seriously. The problem is not thoughts, but the meaning we give them and the actions we take as a result. Focus on becoming aware of that. Know it has been said 1 million times, but meditation can help you here. Watch Leo's videos on meditation for more info on that and start doing it daily.

This quite means that if you want something extraordinary, you can't take shortcuts (the elevator). Because it leaves holes in your ability and it cannot bring sustainable long-term success. There has to be a harsh process of trial and error because it is this process that leads to success over the long term and gives you fulfillment because you actually worked for what you achieved...

I have recently realized that positive affirmations might not be as positive as they May seem: I mean they take one out of the beauty of the present moment like thoughts do and create a self image. And the self image now needs to be defended so now you take action to do that. And I can see an issue there. When the self image needs to be defended, the activies that do that feel like an obligation and looses most of its flavor - at least that is my experience. You are not doing the activity for the joy only, but also to serve the self image and that is selfish action which creates suffering. Also, Leo said in "10 things you want, but don't know that you want" that you want to be a nobody - a blank. You have no intellectual position to defend. And that directly goes against affirmations because they make you a somebody. A person with certain characteristics like: "I am a millionaire" "I am smart" "I am a songwriter" Or whatever else alting the same lines. And in the video called: Awareness alone is curative - how to stop any unwanted behaviours, Leo said that if you want a deep change in the system of beliefs, build up your awareness. So: Should one focus on just awareness in this case? Would love to hear your opinions on this and positive affirmations in general

@Orange I think the essence of why the first ego was created was to understand and make sense of the unexplainable field of nothingness that objective reality is constructed out of and to gain a false sense of certainty and aliveness. And to create a false idea of a self to improve itself and create certain boundaries upon what is right and wrong to serve its self agenda. And this has then let to the spreading of more ego's and since our parents have these, they program us with a very alive-feeling illusion that makes us 100% believe that we exist as people in the real world. To what? Serve us; it is not ideal to live in a society with no boundaries for the ego and to prevent this, they give us these norms that we shall live up to make us more aware of how the world works to make us survive in "the matrix" and possibly even thrive if we get really good at understanding the dynamics. Pretty crazy to think about..

Nobody can give you an accurate answer to that question. It is different for everyone. The thing you can control is practicing self inquiry daily so do that and stop worrying when you are going to be enlighthened. It will only slow you down...

There are lots of areas in life that you should be spending time working on every day - yes I said should Meditation - like you said you are doing. That is great keep that habit up every day. Maybe even add a self inquiry habit some time in the future to help you reach enlightenment. Life purpose: Find your life purpose as soon as possible and align yourself with it every day. Leo's life purpose course can help with that. Relationships/dating: You need to learn how relationships work and how to date girls if you have an authentic desire for this and or want the benefis of what relationships can bring you. But if you do not really care, focus more on the other areas, but still work on it to an extend - it teaches you communication skills that are important to know in life.. Studying: Become a life long learner and learn how to learn. Take notes and study those notes to remember what you learn and improve your writing. You are still very young - 14 years old - so lucky. So take your time. Build good habits (one at a time) that support you in these critical areas of life and you should be good..

If you want to make more friends, I would reccomend that you get involved in social activities that you are interessted in. And when you get there, take the pressure off yourself. "When I say hi, I have already won" is a great mentality for this. Have that in place and try to talk to as many people as possible; think about it. If you talk to 100 new people in the next month/quarter/year, you are pretty much guranteed to make friends and that will be great for you. Because I think you feel you lack friendship currently and your old friends do not want to hang around you. Tough solution, but it will be worth it if you have the courage...

@Hardik jain Activities that build awareness: Meditation, self inquiry, practicing open mindedness, reading books (if you are wise), slow deliberate mindful action, being. Activitiesthat destroy awareness: The modern school system. Internet browsing Toxic environment Religion Eating Unhealthty foods can lead to a decrease in awareness Thinking and Building models - then thinking they are reality itself. Relationships Social structures and norms. Parents over the course of your life. Video games Falling in love with a girl/boy - and constantly thinking about them. This second list is just scratching the surface. The activities that we engage in that destroy awareness is incredibly comprehensive.

After deep contemplation, I have come to terms with the fact that honestly... Everything in reality exists as an empty field of nothingness. And that the answers to all of these questions is nothingness. Nothing is everything paradoxically. And therefore, any rational explanation for any of these questions is just more pure nothingness that gets a model created that is also nothing (but is believed to be something) that belief is also nothing. This goes fucking deep and the ego's delusions is the main thing that has been seperating me from seeing this. This is how best I can describe my own direct pursuit of answering these questions and get to truth. Still open to what you think though

@heeaffes If you let fear control your life, you will be miserable when you realized you wasted your life not having gone for what you should have. Do not live with regret and take action despite the fear. Do not quit and do not give up. Take action despite the fear and set an example for others who cannot do that. That would be very inspirational and something you probably something you would look back on and be proud of when you are on your death bed... Rather than sitting there like "fear got the better of me and feel like a Little bitch". That would suck and be an absolute Waste of life. Life is hard and that is how it should be. Through the greatest challenges come the most amazing experiences and feelings. Life would not be satisfying if it was all easy ;)

In the video called " advice for highschool students" Leovsaid that it is important to develop a strong work ethic while you are young. And that for me is a sticking point that I want to change. I feel like I am too much of a mental masturbator because I watch lots of videos, but I want to take more action and actually practice more of what Leo preaches and build this strong work ethic. I know this would make a difference in the results I get from this work and would make me more fulfilled as a person overall. I can also transfer this ability into my life purpose (when I find it) and that will lead to a greater chance of me realizing it. Any suggestions for how I build a strong a strong work ethic? Thanks guys

@Will Bigger School and the information is valueable and important because when you try to learn it, you teach yourself how to learn. And with that, you are prepared for all of the learning you will do later on in life.

@Kimasxi In the video called awareness alone is curative - how to stop unwanted behaviours, Leo says that awareness alone is curative. What this means is that awareness of an unwanted behaviour can stop you from doing it. So develop your awareness. Start with a 20 minute daily meditation habit to do that and apply constant awareness when you are shy. If you do these things, you will stop being shy eventually and over time find yourself more extroverted in social situations... Good luck

I think you can at least try, but I do not think he is going to be engaged because personale development work is not that exciting compared to video games and it takes wisdom to see the potential it can have to continue due to the fact that that it is emotionally difficult. But if it works out and he gets on the journey, he has an amazing opportunity to influence his mind which is still very maluable with very high quality info and get a very deep mastery of life in the long term. Definetly worth a try ?

It really depends. It depends what values you have as a person and what you really want in life. But I would say that if you are stuck in this area, value intimate relationships and are 27, I would take this area extremely seriously if you really want to figure this area of your life out. Maybe look into RSD. They have great advice on how to attract women. But don't do all of the manipulative stuff that they preach sometimes because that can cause suffering. Be authentic and honest when you talk to people. And if you do not want to fix this area because you really do not care, then do what you find valueable to your life and do what can bring you true fulfillment.. Lots of meditation might help with that

I have a few ideas. Pick the one you see can make the most meaningful change and turn it into a habit. Then, add another habit every two months to your list of daily tasks until you come to the point where you have installed all of the habits you feel add value to your life. Here is the list of ideas: Exercise Meditation Journaling Shower Riding on your bike to cool new places Talk to people about yourself and your vision Contemplation

When I was building my meditation habit, I decided to write down all of the excuses I would tell myself and the distractions that hindered me from meditating every day. And that helped me be aware of the excuses when they came up and I was noticing the ways I was distracting myself. I used that as a trigger to take action and meditate and I had the mindset that if I just get through today, I have succeded. Most people do not plan like this and when resistance shows up, they give into it and backslide unconsciously. Then, they beat themselves up and get frustrated when they fail to do what they said they would. fail to prepare, prepare to fail

@LadyfaceLou Well, there is no self controlling thoughts so you have 0 control over what thoughts appear. They simply show up out of nothingness and return to it. But you can become aware of thoughts and learn to observe to realize their illusory nature. They will then no longer be a problem to you. And getting to this point takes serious work. So you have to work to get there. I reccomend that you do daily meditation for 20 minutes every day or more if you desperately want to not get affected by these thoughts and take away their power; learn to love the process... Give meditation time to take effect and do it for the rest of your life...

This is only one session, but it is pretty long - around 40 minutes or so - so I hope you can get value out of it It is not part of a series, however, it is still a great session with amazing questions coming from the coach...

I think that when you are taking massive action correctly, you are putting in your all. You're 100% commited to do what you got to do to achieve your goal - whatever it is. You will stay up late if you have to, you will cancel meetings with your friends, you will do whatever it takes. The reason why this is even possible is because you are in some way deeply motivated to do the work and get the outcome. You have a burning desire and all you see are opportunities to learn and grow and that is inspirating! So you take action. And the process of achieving your desire is emotionally difficult because you are leaning into unknown territory and doing things that are outside your comfort zone to grow into the person that you want to be. And it takes around 30-120 days to get used to your routine - it is different in every case. I know this description is kinda abstract, but I hope it gives you a clear picture

@electroBeam Thoughts simply arise out of and dissolve into nothingness and there is no you in there at all to control thoughts. This means that you have 0 control over your thoughts during meditation. So why waste so much time controlling thoughts? What I think you should spend time doing is SETTING THE HABIT. Make sure that you meditate every day and fucking do it! Also, try not to manipulate the meditation. This means that you should let go of control and just let the meditation do its thing. Do not worry about what happens even if your monkey mind goes crazy! That is great, actually. Your worst days are your best days