smurf88

Notion is quite nice, I've used it for work before and it's great for sharing workspaces. Although personally I like to use everything offline so I use OneNote, or Outline when on MacOS. The idea of using it to schedule out your day is really cool though, I don't think the other apps would work as well for that.

To be honest, it's never made me feel worse. The only way that's happened is if in cases where I uncovered new levels of awareness and it freaked me out, temporarily. But the regular outcome of meditation is I'm more relaxed, more focused and less stressed out. And as a bonus it helps me break out of rumination, when it happens. As far as self-awareness goes it certainly makes you more self-aware, but you should also be getting more relaxed at the same time. I would try exploring other techniques (especially Vipassana), as there are a lot of different ways to practice, each with different effects.

1 or 2 cups a day does cause some physical dependency, but having done numerous month-long "cycles," I would say it's fairly benign. In fact as others have mentioned the polyphenols found in coffee have a net positive effect on your health. You just want to keep in mind the strength of the coffee. I've found that using a pourover results in far stronger coffee than a Turkish coffee pot. I actually prefer the latter - With a pourover the effect is a little too strong and leads to worse withdrawal. That being said, always listen to your body. If you start getting symptoms of chronic fatigue then it's time to take a break. That risk mainly happens if you're overworked, or if your sleep isn't in order.

Taking a break can be considered part of the process. Sometimes you're so deep in the details of problem-solving that you aren't leaving any time for relaxing and letting your brain go into diffused learning. There's not really any risk of losing the goal, if it is important to you then there will always be time a week or even a few weeks from now to re-engage. https://blog.usejournal.com/how-we-think-and-learn-our-brains-two-modes-of-thinking-860355983fff

As an FPS player I've been enjoying Left 4 Dead 2 recently as they just released a new update. It's a refreshing break from PvP games to work together towards a common goal. Looking forward to the next CoD Zombies as well, haven't kept up with the franchise at all but that looks like it's shaping up nicely. As far as single player games go, Nier: Automata was gorgeous. The music and art style make it. Story wasn't bad but the art was the main draw for me.

Placing blind trust into public health systems is almost as bad as being balls-deep in conspiracies. Human error, randomness and even greed can be a factor. It's better to take your health into your own hands before someone messes up and you're drinking lead. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/us/brain-eating-amoeba-texas-water-supply-trnd/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water_quality_in_the_United_States#Substances_for_which_there_are_no_federal_standards Now I'm not saying a filtration system is going to make you enlightened, but one thing it will do is make you healthier and happier, with more energy and mental clarity that carries over into your practice.

In most cases, you can avoid Stage Red simply by ignoring it. In the case that you have to use Red, you use it. There’s no esoteric secret, you use whatever stage is necessary for the given situation. Of course higher stages are preferable but they won’t always work. Dealing with a psychopathic child however is a special case, it might be a question for a child care professional.

I can see where the perception of martial arts being Stage Red comes from. Getting into a fight is a Red activity, as it involves disputes over status, or in extreme circumstances a life-and-death fight for survival. (This shows how Stage Red is still valuable for those at higher stages. There is no way to help the world if someone murders you. But at the same token, very unlikely to happen in developed societies.) What is really important is how you approach martial arts. There are many who tie it in with philosophy like you've mentioned, including Shaolin monks and samurais. Despite training for Stage Red (or possibly Orange in the case of competition), they gain higher insights that can be applied to other areas of life. Likewise, there are many martial artists who don't view it as a spiritual or philosophical practice, but as a means to exert dominance and gain power.

For software development purposes, MacOS is very close to Linux. Personally I like it better simply because of the fact that Apple is a for-profit company, which comes with nice things like high DPI support, great UX/UI design and support for any modern programming or video/photo/audio editing applications. It's worth repeating that high DPI support for MacOS is light-years ahead of both Linux and Windows. If you have a 4k or above display then it's a much better experience. Windows is the best for graphic-intensive applications like games or video editing, and is more cost-effective than MacOS, but the downside is it's far worse for anything involving a terminal.

Great resources here. https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/dont-go-to-art-school-138c5efd45e9

STEM degree? Yes. Otherwise, probably not worth it. Since you have a year to decide, there's no reason not to start working on your life purpose now. A year from now, you should have the experience to know whether your life purpose is more important to you than a professional career. There's no right answer, it's all dependent on your personal experience.

Of course. In Thailand, a majority of workers use Kratom to overcome the burden of manual labor and a mundane existence. In other countries, those drugs are typically coffee and/or alcohol. Personally, I see nothing wrong with responsible use of soft drugs. If you know what you’re getting into, and have reasonable self-control, it can be very helpful in dealing with the slog.

I would keep in mind your end goal, and make a plan for each route. If your goal is the business degree, then how will you study philosophy with a 9-5? Would you just do it in your free time, or do you want to save up money in investments to retire early so that you could do it full time? If your goal is the philosophy degree, what job will you get with it? Or, if you wanted to start a business, what service would you provide? If you're really on the fence, one way that I like to make hard decisions is to use a basic Pros-Cons comparison. In this case, you would have two charts - One for the pros/cons of a Philosophy degree, and the other for Business Management. After filling them out as thoroughly as you can, you should have a better idea of which choice appeals more to you. It may sound stupidly simple, but just the act of writing it out helps.

Ideally no, since you will be going into debt for it. Always start with the end in mind. If you see an opportunity at Google that you want, by all means get the credentials you need. But don’t just put yourself in substantial debt just for the sake of learning. You can learn everything you want on your own for the cost of an internet connection and a few textbooks.

You could do one or the other, or find a way to balance both. In most cases the middle route is the most sustainable.

Your very desire to attain happiness may be preventing you from having it. Desire is a duality; there is the idea of a cup that needs to be filled with something. But that is only a mental construct, another object of meditation. As far as your health issues, there are certainly benefits to meditation, but physical health problems often require physical solutions. If you broke your arm, there is no amount of meditation you could do that will set it back into place. The same goes with many neurological issues that could be caused by heavy metals, lack of sunlight, lack of omega 3s, eating fast food, no exercise, etc.

Well, you could try it and see if it works. Just be careful, if you notice your mental health taking a downturn, consider whether the money is worth it.

No, it’s physical pain that is explained by the fact that the sun burns holes in your retina. When you cut your wrist and feel pain, is that a detox reaction? Or do you feel pain because you just cut a hole in your flesh?

The thought of staring at the sun reminds me of when I tried it as a child and felt immense pain. The thought of drinking urine makes me want to vomit. These are natural reactions, they are not the result of the media. The fact is that you overrode these natural reactions until you became desensitized. There are people out there who became desensitized to slitting their wrists, and will tell you it makes them feel better, but that doesn’t make it healthy.

No job is worth sacrificing your health. I would quit and drive Uber.

I’ve gone through this a few times, sometimes I was too scared and sometimes I was willing to die. I’m still here typing this, so maybe it’s just the mind playing tricks. But who knows.

Hell no. There are high-protein plant foods, but almonds ain't it. As an immediate measure I would recommend that you download the app Cronometer, get a $10 food scale and start tracking your calories and macro/micronutrients. Then, you can Google what a good amount of macro or micronutrients to have is, and adjust accordingly. That would be the fastest way to learn how nutrition works.

What if an AI programmed for the betterment of mankind came up with the perfect chemical that could enlighten you forever and automatically sent out drones to spray it on everyone?

That game is a classic. Although Kojima has the most insanely convoluted method of story writing I have ever seen, the themes in MGS2 were fascinating.

There's not much point in ruminating over it. You could use your free time to start a Youtube channel, learn Ableton and make some music, learn how to draw, etc, and find out if you really enjoy those things, or if you're just fantasizing about them.