TheAvatarState

Wow, this was very mature of you! Good for you. It's important to recognize that you're human and that we all make mistakes. The only real mistake is to beat yourself up too much over making them. That is to be in denial of your nature, which can cause uneasiness and anxiety. The first step is to love and accept yourself for who you are, flaws and everything. If you think about it, it is how we act after our flaws that really defines our character. Take a good look at anyone you admire and respect. Do you look up to him/her because they seem perfect? If you're honest with yourself, you'll see that you respect them for how they handled their weaknesses. Their humility, and their ability to move forward and learn. If someone is able to handle a fall with grace, then know that they could only do that after MANY not-so-graceful falls. A perfect human being doesn't exist, and honestly that would make them really boring! Learn to laugh at yourself. You are asking the wrong question. You cannot control your emotions, realize that first. So, you might ask, what can be done? It is actually your identification with this emotion, and your labeling it as "bad," that has caused this suffering. Labeling your emotions as "bad," again, is to be in denial of your true nature. It is to label yourself as "bad" and that obviously has led to a downward spiral. This is simply not true! Hating yourself for things you can't control is quite neurotic and counter-productive. Instead, what if you were to fully feel your emotions without this projection of negativity? Without attachment? What might that look like? Right now, you identify with the emotion and you say, "I am sad. I am depressed." When you do this, you allow yourself to be consumed by it because you believe you are this emotion. This emotion doesn't seem to go away BECAUSE you believe you are it! Do you see how this works? Instead, try to shift your perspective to, "I am that which feels sadness in this moment, but this too shall pass like a wave." Imagine yourself in the ocean during a storm. Your perspective right now is of someone swimming at the surface, and the experience is quite violent and energy draining. You don't know how much longer you can take the huge waves and the torrential rain... The mental shift I'm talking about is to dive under the surface a few feet. You can hear the rain and feel the undulating waves, but it's much more peaceful. And don't worry, in this magical ocean metaphor you're able to breathe under the surface. This doesn't mean all your emotions are subdued, and that you'll never be able to feel the good ones with the same vigor... Quite the opposite. The surface you were swimming at was rage, anger, and anxiety. A struggle. The ocean itself, you'll find, is love and consciousness. Surrender to it. You're doing it already, more than you're currently aware of. Remember what I said about the people you admire... It is how you handle yourself after your mistakes that define you. And please don't do this for your friends, do it for yourself so you can feel good. I understand the instinct to worry about how your friends view you. But it turns out that worrying backfires, because what you and your friends really respect is someone strong, independent, and not needy. Focusing your attention outward to your friends for confirmation actually causes a downward loop, because your friends are looking at how you view yourself. Really think this through. The people you'd like to hang out with lead from the heart, lead from within.

@Alex Whenever you can feel comfortable doing consistently. Morning is probably "best" on paper, but that doesn't mean it is the best for YOU.

@Sagatarius I didn't see a goal for your NoFap journey... Are you shooting for 60 days? 90 days? 180 even? Don't discount the necessity for your ego mind to have a set goal. What's going to happen if you don't, is that your ego will easily be able to convince you to relapse, because it'll go, "But I'll NEVER get this pleasure again? You're an idiot for even starting this!" A goal helps you to keep on track and to help with a vision. And a clear, strong vision is what will keep you on the path.

@ShugendoRa if you were fully conscious of all the ways you judge, you'd stop. You've barely scratched the surface here; your ego is still hiding a lot from you, and that's why it has been able to convince you to not take this as seriously as you should. Every judgment is an act of separation which serves to strengthen your ego. So every time you do, you give power to the very thing you're trying to stop. Can the cycle be broken? Yes, over lots of time and energy. Consciousness is the key.

First off, the country of North Korea will certainly not be around for a millenia. It will probably collapse within 100. As the rest of the world evolves around it, it will become harder and harder to maintain strict control of the people. At some point there will be a violent revolution of some kind. Violent because the stage red/blue government will not give up its power without a fight. So it won't be pretty, but North Korea will eventually catch up on the spiral. It's completely inevitable.

Leo has acknowledged this fact, as it's true that a child not given enough love while growing up will become severely disfunctional. Apes who are taken away from their mother and later reintroduced will be shunned, as they can't function in the group. However, this doesn't really say anything about happiness. I have known a few mentally retarded kids who are extremely happy most of the time. They're happy because they're probably not thinking about social crutches and how others perceive them... They're in the now. What this does tell us is that social interaction and love from others is necessary to develop social skills... Well, duh! Just like you rely on a piano to learn piano. But happiness as a qualitatively different thing... It is not reliant or dependant on any outside factors. Ironically, your belief that it does will lead to unhappiness. Happiness is the degree to which you can love and accept the present moment.

@EvilAngel spiritual teachers speak with nuance, you interpret without. "Resistance to what is" is not a physical fight, but a vicious mental circle. You can accept that you have cold feet but still seek to warm them out of respect for your wellbeing.

@Leo Gura I've heard you mention this before, framed as, "What would a yellow or turquoise video game look like?" What are your thoughts on this, and could this be the future of personal development?

Nature of consciousness

Only if you don't surrender

@Enlightened an enlightened person does not ask permission to laugh, he just laughs. An enlightened person does not have a victim mentality. An enlightened person does not ridicule anything, he accepts everything as it is, and only speaks out of love and constructive criticism. An enlightened person asks, "what is thought?" Then proceeds to journal and contemplate for hours and hours until he gets a holistic understanding of what thought is and what could be the point. An enlightened person takes nothing as "a priori."

Stick it up your ass. Comeup is a lot smoother. The sudden rush of vapor could be shocking your system. Other than that, I don't know... I personally haven't tried it yet.

@Charlotte how is that book? I've been thinking about getting it

@How to be wise good insight. Impact is external and relative. Love is internal and absolute.

@Jamesc What if your brain was the size of the universe? You tell me...

@Aakash your thoughts, your level of Consciousness, and your environment are all intimately connected. Changing one can influence the other two, but not equally. Consciousness comes prior to everything else, is fundamentally everything else, therefore, it's the best knob to turn to 11. Trying to focus on your thoughts directly would be like trying to optimize sound quality by only changing the acoustics of the room. Go to the source and fine tune the speaker instead. You are the speaker whose job it is to play music the best it can... don't be concerned with how your sound bounces off the walls.

Obviously can take many forms. Here are ones I highly recommend: Sigur Rós - Valtari and Takk... (Albums) Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland, Museum of Consciousness (albums). Yes - Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Relayer (albums), Awaken (song) John Anderson - Olias from Sunhillow Various other instrumental and world music. There's tons out there. And you should look at the "trip music" megathread, as there's some really good ones!

@kev014 is there such a thing as existence? Do you even exist?

@LoveandPurpose no, not the video specifically, just in general

And yet you're waiting for something... (Don't worry, we all are to varying degrees. Just be conscious of it.)

Yes! Do not fight it. Go deeper. How did this start? What is this rooted in? The best advice I can give you is to observe and study your ego.

Gaming itself is not a sin. It is only your lack of discipline in your life that caused gaming to inflate to its current state. Instead of fighting the habit directly, allow me to suggest a better path: try filling up your time with positive practices and activities. This will be difficult at first, but after a while you'll start enjoying those more and the gaming less. Gaming will start to seem extremely pointless. Every moment you're THINKING about doing the work, you could be spending more freely and happily actually DOING the work. Become conscious of all the ways you try to avoid your work, and I'll bet you that you spend more time avoiding it than you do doing it. This active avoidance causes stress and anxiety, which builds and builds. It's really unhealthy.

In a nutshell, love and purpose. Consider both these terms simultaneously nouns and verbs. In long form, follow the Compass: Happy early birthday!

Undoubtedly the best decision you'll make today ??‍♂️⛰

This is a self-deception and an ideology, based on a simplistic, darwinian understanding of systems and evolution. Ideas don't "win." Science is not a simple process, and it's highly biased without knowing it's biased. Science isn't the best model, nor is it the only model. Only ideas with implied materialist metaphysics will be seriously considered or propagated within science. If you want Truth, if you want answers, then look elsewhere.