nistake

Good job man! That's how you deal with depression.

I want to be a 3D artist, so I practise my 3D skills everyday, pay for online courses and learn the necessary softwares. I also needed to buy some gear which makes my workflow easier (if you're really committed, you'd have to sacrifice some money on it, but it's not a must in the beginning). What also really helps is to learn about the industry in general. What is needed, what is required. A decent portfolio is a must. Youtube is your greatest asset, you can find many-many proper tutorials whatever you'd like to learn. If you want to take it to the next level, pay for online courses. These courses are way better than the YT tutorials because they are much longer, more detailed and basically they give you a solid foundation for any specific technique/software. It may seem a daunting task at first, but don't despair. Have a vision, start small and work your way up.

How about getting the best of both worlds? Satisfying your worldly needs and at the same time meditating and contemplating?

When you're working/studying/doing the dishes/etc, can you stay present? In other words, do you practise meditation in your everyday life? Personally, I regularly catch myself getting distracted quite easily when I do an activity that I don't particularly enjoy. Usual daydreaming, random thoughts, desires, etc. What about you?

Seeing things as they are.

Meditation and cold shower would be my guess. Meditation relaxes your mind and the cold shower takes care of your body physically. Although you need to gather some strength for the cold showers. Especially after a long and tiring day. It's definitely worth it though.

Check out this one: It nicely addresses this very question.

Last weekend was great. I could stay productive and learned quite a bit. Also journaled and meditated. Easy and simple. That's how I like it. Also, going through some sort of ego backlash. Feeling a bit depressed, my mood is not great at all, feeling some anger and impatience. Maybe the reason is that I've been contemplating my current growth-process and the direction I'm going. I came to the conclusion that I can't really relate to my buddies and co-workers. My family totally understands my situation and supports me and I'm really grateful for that. But on the friends/social-circle/co-workers front, it seems kinda hopeless right now. I'm not interested in drinking, rumors, complaining, mindless chatters about shallow things and in materialism in general. I'm not judging them and I don't think I'm above them either. It's just I'm heavily involved in self-development and spirituality and growing. They are not. Not even a little bit. I feel like we don't have anything in common anymore. Maybe this is just a phase and it'll pass, who knows. But one thing is for sure: I'm gonna keep growing and learning and chances are they're gonna stay the same.

That animation thing is a pretty cool idea. Good luck with that!

I did pretty good yesterday. Managed to set aside some time for the Substance Painter course. I also wrote a page in my physical journal, meditated and did a WHM breathing session in the evening. This weekend's gonna be a sort of dopamine detox weekend. Only meditation, journaling, contemplation and any work related to 3D are allowed. Looking forward to it.

Yesterday I didn't have enough patience and energy to continue my paid course on Substance Painter (3D texturing software). Found a really great video about non-duality, a few things have been clarified. So much to contemplate.

This morning during meditation I returned to focusing on the breath. My sessions went a lot smoother and my awareness didn't fade into dullness. I'll continue meditating this way. Maybe I'll spice it up with some self-inquiry at the end, but that's it. Also, I should find the time to properly contemplate some stuff. Free will, non-duality, self vs others, etc.

@Dodo Neat post! One of the forum members said this and for some reason it stuck with me: "Don't make spirituality a goal. Instead, make it a way of living."

I feel like I reached a plateau in my meditation practise. My thoughts subside rather quickly and then nothing (with lower case n). My awareness is clear and vivid and I'm observing the nothingness. When a thought appears, I quickly spot it and I can let it go. Then, the nothingness continues. It's not blissful and it's not the peaceful stillness either that you can read about in books. It's just pure blank. If I ask myself the typical self-inquiry questions (who am I?, who's aware? etc), nothing changes, I can't seem to go deeper. I do know that meditation is not about expecting something to happen and there's nothing to achieve and yet, it seems there's a part of me deep inside that's still waiting for something to happen. I'm honestly not sure what's going on. Is this just a phase? Have you experienced anything similar during your practise? Any ideas?

Thanks for your input. I came to the conclusion that I may need to go back to a more basic form of meditation (like focusing on the breath). Maybe "my" awareness wasn't as clear and vivid as I thought.

@Nahm I've been meditating for 4 years. It has worked out pretty great so far. I obviously used possessive adjectives because that's just how language works.

@Toby I don't have a teacher. Not fond of the idea of having one either.

I mean, come on...

You can be empathetic towards them, but you shouldn't let them bring you down. If they truly resent you for growing, well, it may be a good idea to actually move on.

Spot on. That's exactly why I don't really like the idea of letting things go. It can get quite neurotic if you don't know the real meaning of it. You don't need to let go of anything, just accept what is. Observe or even surrender to the present moment and you're golden.

@arlin You're missing the point.

Do you have a proper foundation for psychedelics? Stable meditation practise, emotional maturity, decent knowledge about these substances, etc?

Good-looking guys may have it easier in some cases, but it doesn't really matter. I know a guy who's not exactly that good looking but has a really strong "game" and pulled countless chicks just because he's confident and dares to make a move every single time. Let's say looks do matter and you're not good-looking (which is just a limiting belief). What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna keep watching good-looking guys get with girls on the sidelines and be angry with them? Where does that lead? Playing a victim doesn't really help. If you want it bad enough, you're gonna get it. Forget about looks.

Yeah, this one would be great.