EternalForest

@Commodent Yes I have noticed that people 65 and older seem to regain the spark again, it comes full circle.

Children have a quite shallow emotional intelligence, it's either the best day ever or the worst day ever, usually for shallow reasons. Adults are pretty emotionally stoic, yeah they occasionally cry or get upset, but they usually don't experience the types of deep joy that they did in their teens. After thinking it through, I tend to believe that teenagers experience the deepest emotions and their lives are driven by emotion the most. Their emotional intelligence seems to be more authentic, and they seem to have a better sense of what they're really passionate about and take life by ear and live much more in the moment. They seem to not only experience the greatest joys but also have much more sophisticated understanding of suffering and pain than I think most give them credit for. What are your thoughts on this, and why do you think it is I have this sense that teens are the most emotionally developed?

@Knock It comes in phases. For a while, you become hopeless and helpless about the state of things, and you feel as if the more you know the more unhappy you are. Then, it comes full circle and you learn so much more that you begin to become enamored by the abundance of it all and actually become inspired by what the whole world has to offer, and you begin to realize that the positive far outweighs the negative. So the solution is actually not to learn less, but rather, more

@Leo Gura Exactly. So in that sense, would the teen years be a sort of "peak" of open mindedness for people within culture, where they're just old enough to know a lot about the world but not too old to have fully conformed? I think that's what I'm getting at here. I'd like to add though that I think that a superbly well-developed adult easily has more emotional development than the average teen. I'm just saying that the average to above-average teen probably has more natural expression and open mindedness than the average adult, simply because the average adult has had their muse silenced for so long.

@Bluebird Sure, but what I'm saying is that not only are they most emotionally volatile, I also think they're most in tune with their emotions, specifically because they haven't yet learned to repress them, and that allows them to more freely feel and express them. There's merit in being emotionally stoic and balanced, but it shouldn't come at the cost of losing the spark I'm referring to. In a sense, one way to put it is that teenagers strike the perfect balance between the childlike sensibilities and adult-like ones.

@Wyze Yeah I think it has a lot to do with identity. That's when our identity was the purest so the speak. I feel like as we get older and are forced to conform to society all of our identities become "ADULT *TM"... That's why I try my hardest to keep an open mind.

@nahtanoj I know what my life purpose is (becoming an impactful musician), but I'll try doing that, jumping out of my comfort zone. Thanks

In a way, the Hacker may be worse than the Dabbler At least the Dabbler is trying a lot of new things along the way and getting experience, learning lessons and may eventually find his one thing. The Obsessive has the work ethic and can eventually settle down and become a master. The Hacker, though, has arrogance from already knowing quite a bit and doesn't have the work ethic or desire to keep improving, yet he also doesn't have the flexibility of the Dabbler, so he remains stuck going nowhere in circles, deluding himself that he's doing alright yet decaying faster than any of the other groups. I've had the epiphany recently that I've become a Hacker in my profession. For the first 5 years I was constantly improving and became great in my eyes and the eyes of others, but for the past 5 years I've stopped trying to improve and although it didn't feel bad at first, over the years I've noticed that I've lost the attention to detail I once had and I've lost that rookie drive to challenge myself, since everyone still looks up to me and I'm better than 80% of people, so what's the point right? Big mistake. There is one person who no longer looks up to me. And that's myself, my highest self. What is the best thing for a Hacker to do to snap out of it and get back on the Mastery path. Is it too late for the Hacker?

I was born into it. I've tried to stop eating it a few times to no avail, it's just too ingrained into my diet. Further, I've seen evidence that a plant only diet is unbalanced for humans and am undecided on really taking the leap to cut it out completely

@Shakazulu Great, then focus on that for now and worry about relationships later

@Shakazulu I mean focusing on your life purpose. Do you know what your life purpose is? Your calling in life?

Try creative writing clubs, book clubs, music festivals and high quality niche dating sites.

Learn to enjoy being alone, enjoying your own company and loving yourself. Develop your passion and a sense of drive. Once you do this you won't feel dependent on a relationship, and it will actually make all your new and existing relationships stronger in the process. Good luck.

@solr You helped 100s of people, why let 2 people stop you? Completely ignore the trolls and move forward. Leo has a video about this too!

Go with her to the mall one day, walk around and talk to her about her life and what she wants to do in it. Don't judge, just ask curiously. She may have more things planned out than you realize and be better off than she appears. But at the end of the day, it is her life and she can choose what to do with it and you must accept that.

Instead of typical self help or "how to start a business" books, I'd focus on reading business books written by legendary businesspeople, or autobiographies of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Mark Zuckerburg, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, etc.

A video about the long term positive effects of keeping a daily, productive schedule would be awesome! (how to make a schedule, how to keep a schedule, benefits, traps, etc.)

Ask them if they watch Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, a few episodes of those is about the length of an Actualized.org episode. Or if they're an anime fan it's about 4 to 6 episodes. Or about the length of an Avengers movie. If you re-contextualize it that way it's not very much time at all.

Free or paid. Could be any category, self help, success, spirituality, educational, etc.

He did this a little bit in his How to Raise Rockstar Kids episode, but a dedicated video would be awesome

Couldn't access any pages on actualized.org from either my studio location or at home all week last week, could finally log in again this morning and it's working fine! Browser used: Google Chrome Number of locations: 2

@Salvijus Yeah, maybe some reading, mindful listening or contemplation beforehand would put me in a better mindset, good idea

I'm having a lot of trouble meditating every day without missing a single day. I'm really good when it comes to meditating in spurts or short bursts. Every couple weeks when I'm in the mood, I'll sit and meditate for an hour and its an amazing, peaceful, insightful experience. Sometimes I'll build momentum for a few days and meditate for 45 minutes the next few days too. But when I'm not in the mood, like the other 20+ days of the month, it's difficult for me to meditate for just 15 minutes sometimes, and even harder to do it daily. I'm just not feeling it, and I know that sounds childish, but its true. If I meditate when I'm not in the mood, I feel like I'm wasting time, what's the point if I'm not vibing with this, this is boring, etc. Is there any solution other than to brute force it (something I don't believe in when it comes to spirituality?) Leo recently said in his latest video that the reason for this may be that I don't fully recognize the significance of doing this. And it's not that I don't realize the significance, I think I do, (I enjoy meditation when I'm in the mood to do it), it's just that significance doesn't translate to motivation or a change in my behavior in my normal everyday.

@Leo Gura Self-discipline is a tricky thing My mind plays tricks on me and I tell myself "Yeah, I'm self-disciplined, look how much I just meditated, I can afford to be lazy now for a little while", and I make myself believe that lie over and over again. It also makes every re-attempt more difficult in terms of self-confidence. Not to say there's anything wrong with taking a break, but I do want to at least see the effects of a non-stop 90-day trial, which I haven't done yet. But thanks guys, I think a retreat would be a good solution. I guess I just haven't really "broken through" yet.

Please suggest any fictional stories which made you question reality for days after you finished watching. Anything that made you philosophize about the true nature of your world and your purpose here is welcome. I'd also love to hear why (no spoilers!) I'll start off with a few late 90s classics: The Matrix - Even more relevant today with the speculation about simulation theory. Fight Club - So many great quotes in this one. I especially like "The things you own end up owning you." The Truman Show - Incredibly relevant today with mass surveillance, and begs many questions about the world in which you believe you live in your direct experience.