NariusV

I had a spontaneous peak state experience that I did not anticipate or plan on when using Morty Lefkoe's Occurring Process technique. This lasted about 2 weeks and was coupled with some mind bending experiences of precognition and non-duality. Sadly Morty has passed on, but his legacy remains. I recommend it highly if you like the path of increased self awareness and contemplation in the midst of acting in the world. Its stated purpose is to dissolve negative limiting beliefs and emotions, but It has a much deeper significance than that in my experience.

No you can't become enlightened. What you 'can' do from a human action perspective is to hone your concentration and self awareness (both habits of mind) to the point where you can directly observe the functioning of your own mind's thoughts and emotions. Then observe the distinction between what actually happens 'in reality' from the functioning of your own mental machinations and emotional responses, judgements, etc. Through this direct expereince you can see that you don't exist. At least, not in the sense of existing as a 'sense of self' when you can observe that the components of yourself (individual thoughts and emotional responses operating in habituated patterns) are simply not you. They feel like you, and operate though you, as you, due to a lack of self awareness.

I'll post an alternative view. Another way to proceed is to keep searching, and in addition, let go of whatever you become aware of, noting that anything within awareness is a movement within consicousness and not the 'self' which perceives it. Letting go of even that self, since it is also a movement in awareness, an object within attention, that of couse cannot be the self either. This is the active method, of stopping searching through the act of searching.

A good place to start is with Stephan LaBerge's books. He has several. Having researched and practiced the topic I kept his material as a reference as it seems the most in-depth as well as easy to understand with step by step instructions, as well as coving what to expect.

I tried it for a couple weeks. Some issues: 1. You can't focus on a project for more than a few hours then you'll start getting tired, and ready to sleep again. 2. You'll be awake all hours of the day, so if you're in relationship or living with other people it can be challanging to schedule things with them. If you're in a house with others, then you'll be up when everyone else is sleeping and then its kind of a challange if you want to be up and about and not interefere with others (or wake them). 3. Scheduling meetings or seminars etc. or most normal jobs can be a real problem since it intereferes with your sleep. It's good if you're alone and need to get a mass amount of work done and won't be interrupted, and don't need to interface too much with others. I can't speak to long term health effects.

Change to using the affirmation constantly all day long, whenever you can, as much as you can instead of limiting yourself to a few minutes. Also try changing the format. If you say it silently, say it out loud. Say it into a mirror looking at yourself. Write it out on paper, fill out one side of a lined paper every day. Another more advanced technique is to use first, second and third person when writing your affirmation. For example, 'I Bob, am naturally positive', "He Bob, is naturally positive', "You Bob, are naturally positive." The theory behind this is that, much of what we hear and pick up is from others talk to or about us, or even about other people. Using all these different perspectives when using affirmations can address these different sources. Those are some things that I've tried and they helped boost my affirmations to the next level.

I've tried various things; Self Develpment hypnosis audios. Just going to sleep naturally. Doing affirmations. Repeating mantras. These days I use a specific visualization sequence coupled with physical relaxation and open my mind to new insights related to my current life goals.

One thing you can do to boost energy that can also help with some blood issues is breathing deeply. Deep abdominal breathing. If you're healthy you can try some yoga breaths like the 'skull shining breath' that can boost your energy very quickly. I have experimented with these for a while, including using breathwork to help stay aware and awake for several days a time when I was younger. These can give you a way to push through slumps of energy that you could not otherwise do, inducing clarity of mind, or physical strength, even during periods of extreme fatigue. Something to be aware of is that using these breathing exercises can trigger headaches or sweating, etc. due to direclty changing your own bodies functioning. This can be used to your advantage, but can take some period of adjustment. Be careful and good luck

I use them and they work for me. I have found that the real effect of them like Frako says is that, affirmations are one way to use your consicous mind to affect your subconscious mind. So over time when you use affirmation with sincerity, your attention will shift more and more towards what you're affirming. Things you didn't think about before related to your intent will start to show up in your awareness. You'll be able to take actions that move you forward due to these new awarenesses. And if you keep going long enough, the world seems to miraculously align with your affirmation. You could use them in a right or wrong way. In effect every thing you think more than once is a kind of affirmation. Thats all affimations really are are thoughts you consicously decide to repeat more frequently with express intent for a result. But really, all thoughts have this effect, and so people who complain and ask such things like 'why does this happen to me all the time?' prime their mind to give them the answers they asked it, refocusing themselves on problems instead of solutions. But I would say go test it out for yourself. Even if a hundred people say it's great, you won't benefit until you do it.

I've been there. As someone mentioned earlier, listen to some people describe their expereinces of no self. That gave me a context in which to relate, to realize that yes, life goes on even when the you that used to care is gone. I can only describe that somehow the human personality can become an autonomic/automatic expression of the authentic self, and that ultimately, it doesn't matter. Of course a lot of people will be worried if you just sit down and stop living, but I found my survival instincts or some biology kicked in and I could continue living my life, and slowly re-build a 'self' to live in the world with. The no self state can still do all the day to day actions, and yes, if you truly don't care, then it's easy to do. Not caring is much different than aversion. If you're actively avoiding things, that is something else to look at entirely. It's a fine line to distingush between intuitional guidance to not do something, and a memory program of the past. Expereince and introspection are really the only way to go on with that that I have found.

@Emerald @ The Diamond NetThanks. I've had some similar challanges with violent thoughts on a rare occasion, but along with everything else, I now just note them and let go. I used to feel extremely emotional about my own thoughts, and hold myself in harsh self judgement about them. Now I realize that the majority of my thoughts are in response or relation to my memories and expereinces I've had, or environments I've been in. They have little to do with me, paradoxically. I don't find myself defined by my thoughts as I used to , but more as a sense of continual presence. I've come to accept that the current nature of my mind is to think, although as I have done more and more self work, it continues to get clearer and quieter.

I've used affirmations for a while. You can use affirmations to reveal more of the beliefs that limit you. Here is how you do it. Get something to record with, I find a paper and pen works best for me but you could use a recorder or type on a document also. Create your present tense, postive, now-focused affirmation, and then write or say it. Notice what enters your consicouness, and if it's negative or contrary, write it down. Write a new affirmation that addresses the next linked belief. Repeat. The repeat part is the key to affirmation work. Remember to check in with yourself, and see if you are really making progress. When I'm working with an affirmation I generally stop when it's already true and a part of my reality. I don't need to affirm to myself 'I eat three meals a day' for example, since I've already mastered that. I used to use one such as 'I easily recall my dreams and write them down every morning." Since that is part of my reality now as a day to day experience, I no longer use that affirmation. I'm thinking about my next step, something involving dreaming about specific things so I can gain more insight into certain areas of life and continue my self development while I sleep. Just like practicing any skill, move on to the next one once you master it. Use it as a stepping stone and build from there.

My current routine as of this post: I start by dream journaling. Then I drink a liter of water, and do some exercise. Then I eat breakfast a fruit/protien smoothie along with some supplements.

I had an expereince that lasted about 2 weeks or so. I had been studying and applying the Lefkoe Method, a form of self-inquiry specifically focused on distinguishing between thoughts, feelings, meanings (interpretations) and reality. Most of the practice excercises I had been doing were self-reflection on memories. One day I was having a conversation with my girl friends mom. She said something that deeply disturbed me, and I felt an extreme annoyance, a sense that she was totally off base, and I didn't want to listen to what she was saying. But, I applied the technique in that moment. I was able to track what she was saying, my thoughts about it, my judgment and strong emotional response, as well as noting that this was simply a small verbal exchange happening. What happened next was something I could not have planned for, and totally unexpected. I noted how I had the emotional reaction, not to what she said, but to my own thoughts and reflection of that on my own values, triggering a strong emotional reaction. In a flash of insight, I realized that all emotions I have ever felt in my entire life were self created meanings. I realized that most of my life was a complete self deception. I expereinced the truth of what is commonly known as 'projection.' I can only say that my mind unravelled at that point. I had visions of my entire life, a vast re-structuring of my entire personal life history. I was able to percieve the functioning of my own mind, it's creation of thought, the projection of meaning onto events, and the resulting emotional responses. My first coherent thought was 'Oh Shit... I can't trust my own mind.." Then my mind shut off. I was in a state of my senses being fully merged into the environment with no self talk existing for about two weeks. A small amount of thought would spontaneously occur when I would talk to other people, like.. it was necessary to engage in that to communicate with other people. I had some un-explainable events happen in that time also made me question my sanity and the basis of human expereince. I happened to glance at a tv new broadcast about some genocide that was occuring somewhere in the world. I felt a sense of perfect rightness as if this was all occuring as it was supposed to. I saw that violence as a garden of flowering beauty. I can only surmise that the rational human mind was not functioning. I was operating from a space that was so peaceful, that nothing could interefere. I also had some expereinces like walking over to a desk drawer at random, opening it up, taking out something, and then walking over and handing it to my partner, my mind and body seemed to be operating in an autonomic state rather than a volitional state. This was an item my girlfriend was looking for that I didn not know she wanted. A clear action I can only explain as some kind of precognition or deep subconscious memory plus intuition operating way beyond my normal capacity. I had a few further expereinces during that time, where I would think of something, and what seemed like my entire life history of that kind of event, all realted expereinces I had emotions about would unravel or unfold within in my consicousness, and then it would fall silent. For a few months after that I could not justify that I existed as a person. Since I could clearly see all the events and each and every thought and emotion, was all an interconnected web of self - reinforcing thoughts, interpretations, and feelings that were self - generated and then projected out 'as if' they had something to do with reality. But I knew that it was all my own mind, because I could observe it happening directly. I'm still integrating this over a year later. I feel I have a self again, although I know it's only an self deception. I have a much lighter view of reality, and I have an intense compassion for other people, imagining or knowing what they are doing to themselves without any clue as to whats really happening. I feel lucky in some ways. But I also know that without my constant effort at applying other self development techniques for years, like the 'Mirror Technique' of noting when I felt some strong emotion related to someone else, and then contemplating how that was an emotion I was feeling within myself. Without having practiced meditation, and having a somewhat clear mind state to be able to track and reflect upon all that was happening at that time, I most likely would have missed out on the expereince of transforming a negative and unpleasant conversation in the to most important event of my life.

I've used this along with with my partner and had good success with it. I find it a great starting point for understanding how personal values and expectations interplay within a relationship.