seeking_brilliance

@abrakamowse oils could be fun but that's a long way away for me.... Plus I don't know how I feel about working with paint thinner... I'm already messy enough ?

@abrakamowse that's great! If you have some marijuana, smoke some and sit with the memories. More may flood in.

@abrakamowse thanks! I use acrylics.

Painting started : Sunday November 8, 2029

@abrakamowse there's a lady in my throat chakra? Hmm I need to learn this elevator game and go meet her!

Masks and Hats Chapter Seven: 11-20 7:11 Within society, we are not only encouraged, we are forced-- to adopt a persona that is best pleasing and serves the society. (Which is funny, and not surprising, because as we learned earlier, persona literally IS society. So this is some kind of self-feeding loop.) To be accepted and approved-of is a driving goal in all of us-- even those that act directly against it in rebellion-- is this perhaps because the persona is seeking communion with itself? Which is funny to say because it makes it sound as if "persona" is a real, alive being. When its really just a byproduct of Society itself. Society lives through Persona(s). And society is a concept itself. (I took alot of liberties in this paragraph, interpreting in my own words what is being said. Perhaps someone will get a different takeaway.) 7:12-13 During a growing and expansion phase, (which ironically can be during a time of great pain) we adopt and 'try on for size' many different attitudes, expressions, mannerisms, moods, etc. ---and kind of experiment with these, testing them out in various situations we may encounter. But over time, we become accustomed to the ones which stick. We get so accustomed to these behaviors until we begin to believe they are part of our nature. The author here calls these our many "masks and hats." 7:14 We try on so many hats and masks over the course of the first 30 years or so, that we get good at taking one on and putting on another, sometimes without even noticing. For example, I carry a different persona at work than I do at home. Sometimes so different, I'd be embarrassed if the two worlds ever met. The same goes with how I act alone compared to how I act with my husband. There's a blending of that, because lately I just don't care anymore, but I still completely let go when alone. Its an amazing feeling to do so. 7:15-16 Main takeaway: " "Doing" something is not the same as "being" something." 7:17-19 Since we are not taught to build a clear distinction between all the mask and hats we put on, and the underling being, our conceptual self dominates our lives, thoughts and feelings. It's a full time job to maintain this "adopted-self", and every person becomes confused and identified with it. Frustrations which arise from this identification put us in a bit of an imagined hell. 7:20 We must learn the distinctions between what is conceptual and what is real about ourselves, so that we can learn to work with our conceptual selves more consciously. Anything conceptual about ourselves can change.

@Mindflow never underestimate the adventures you can have in the bottom of a crevice ?

From one lazy seeker to another.... I feel ya! Now get off your ass and put in some work!? I can't tell you what blocked the ability, that's where your homework comes in. I can only try and direct you towards success. Psychedelics are said to blast open people's abilities to lucid dream or other spiritual gifts. However many experience a closing of the valve, so to speak, after a while and it's important to open up these gifts naturally. That's where your homework comes in. Once your natural ability has been rediscovered, you can go back to being as lazy as you wish. That's a great question. Well, I don't know. How about you get lucid, summon a dream guide, ask them, and report back! I'll be waiting. ? My two cents : if you believe in love and grace, that's my answer...

@Judi hey judi, thanks for calling ? If you are waiting around for your dream self to question if you are dreaming from a certain scenario, yes that would be your hindrance. It's not a bad method, but it's not best to rely on it. If you'd like to supplement this method, I recommend affirmations before sleep (MILD method), something like "when I experience a sudden life change, I will know that I am dreaming." There's a great app in the Google app store called mindwire, which lets you record your own affirmations and play them back on a loop to the music of your choice. Let me know if you have trouble finding it. Do you practice reality checks? If so, are they done with reminders?

Nothing is lost! Only hidden. I'm wondering if you've attempted any practices that people typically do to attract lucid dreams? (reality checks, mnemonic affirmations, etc)

Haha sorry about all the storms lately ?

@DrewNows where you at?

No, it's just that the hot witch girlfriend also...oops.... turns out to be from outer space. It was her advanced technology that was mistaken for magic...

Why does it have to be anything?

An update : I am so happy with my decision!! The first few days were like 'uh-oh', because she was real quiet, but then she opened up and it's been great. I know she was just quiet because she was nervous and absorbing everything. She's very smart and was great work ethic. I'm very happy ?

This post is mostly a pat on my back and a bit of encouragement... I have owned this salon for five years and have never had to hire someone through a formal interview before. All of my hires have been people with job related skills and I was nearly desperate for them. Now I finally have a chance to add a member to my team who is of my own choosing. I have about five interviews scheduled for the next week and am so nervous! I just wrote out my questions, and I'm not really nervous about how the interviews will go--- but what if I really like more than one applicant, like to the point where I don't want to choose between them? Has anyone ever dealt with this stuff before? I know I'll be looking for a matching energy and level of sharpness, but theres that bit of worry that I'll either make the wrong choice, or not find a good fit at all! But that's just me being dramatic, as I do.

Take all you need ?

@electroBeam if you could understand electroBeam 100000%, how long would that take, and would there be enough time to turn that understanding towards seeking_brilliance or leo, before the memories and personality is reset? Sure, I think Intuition is what remains after that hard reset, but it could take a lifetime to expand it enough to full godhead. Also, I'm making all this stuff up in any hopes to work it all out. I'm also content knowing that it's not necessary to work anything out. Now leo might come on here and tell me that the hard reset is merely imagined. And that's OK! I'm OK with that.

@lmfao I hope your brain recovers from this major triggering experience.

@electroBeam when you start to have more lucid dreams.... One of my favourite things to do is to have conversations with dream characters. Many people gloss over this as something trivial, but it's not at all! Just as you can't directly put the words into Leo's mouth, you can't with dream characters either! Would you say you are separate from them? Yes there's a wall of imagined separation, otherwise the conversation wouldn't take place. In a state of high lucidity, you can even imagine that wall doesn't exist. But you ARE the dream characters as well. Even the 'you' in the dream is a dream character.

Oh I agree.... But Republicans don't feel that way of course. They'll just cite what I said

To be fair, we raised a big stink when trump won.