nistake

I own two pots of venus flytraps. They're fascinating in my opinion. This plant lures its preys by discharging an enticing smell which flies and other insects find pleasant. As soon as an insect gets onto the leaves and triggers one of the mini hairs, the leaves instantly snap shut. Then, the digestion can begin. Now that's what I'd call tricky

One of the best memes in this thread, that's for sure

My signature has never been more relevant Anyway, I'd say that's progress. You may have shaken the foundation of your ego. So keep going!

Mind-blowing video. It may look like a scientific representation, but it pretty much proves that the whole universe is infinite and we're a part of this infinity.

Really enjoyed this conversation. They tackled topics like enlightenment in general, spirituality in everyday life, spiritual bypassing, etc. Lots of insightful gems in this one!

@Hardik My pleasure! The more people know about this, the better

Listen to your intuition. If you feel like you'd rather engage in politics/philosophy, feel free to do so. Although those things and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. You don't need to consume spiritual books, videos and meditate for 4 hours a day, but a daily meditation practise (however long) is always good imo.

A healthy amount of self-discipline, patience and persistance.

@Preety_India Send a PM to Leo about the ignore function (if you haven't already). I'm sure he'll listen. Anyway, now that you've explained it, I totally get you. It's good to see that you're not suppressing your emotions and you stand up for yourself. It's a good practise which comes in handy IRL as well.

@Preety_India Yeah, it makes sense with that backstory. Well, just a word of advice: As soon as a random guy starts harassing you and you obviously don't want to talk to him, ignore him immediately. I'm not sure this forum has a specific button for that, or something, but I mean it in a literal sense. Or maybe report it to a mod. It's just not worth to get triggered by such random dudes on the internet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell you "oh come on, calm down" in a belittling way. I'm just saying that you're ruining your own well-being by getting triggered that much. Or if this whole situation is okay with you, then by all means, go for it.

This question can be interpreted in many ways. #1: "Are you enlightened?" as "Do you really think you're enlightened? Do you honestly think you need to watch videos about after enlightenment?" This one is obviously heavily sarcastic and mean. #2: "Are you enlightened?" - Just a simple question with genuine interest. No harm whatsoever. Knowing this forum, one can easily presume that the guy asked the question with the intention of #1. In that case, @Preety_India has every right to be upset. However, if the guy meant no harm (case #2) and was just simply curious, than the whole outrage is completely unjustified. Just something to think about.

Kinda related, one of my favorite videos:

Maybe check out Adyashanti's book about this topic: https://www.amazon.com/End-Your-World-Uncensored-Enlightenment/dp/1591797799 I only read some of his other books, but they're brilliant. I'm sure this one is also spot on.

Self-inquiry tends to be quite tricky because the mind likes to get involved in the process and make the whole process much more complicated than it actually is. At first, it's okay to use the mind (asking the usual questions, who am I?, what am I? etc), but after that, the mind should be set aside and the attention should be directed to the sense of "I". Just keep a relaxed focus on it. No need to figure out anything, no need to analyze it. There's a pointer I like to remind myself when I get lost in monkey-mind: The mind cannot provide an answer to this question and eventually the answer won't come from the mind.

Nope. Haven't had a drink since March. I'm planning on keeping that way. I realized I don't need to drink to have fun in social settings. For years, I thought I needed to drink just because all of my peers drank. They're drinking and having fun, so it should be the same for me. That's what I thought. Though I did have a few nice memories of drunken parties that were great, but I realized it's just not worth it for me. I also didn't like that my awareness became cloudy and the alchohol made me tired lots of time. Not to mention the hangover. Although there's nothing wrong with drinking in moderation. I'm not demonizing drinking, so if you enjoy it from time to time, go for it.

Intention is really important, but in my opinion, try to view meditation as a lifestyle, not just a practise that you do everyday. If you think about it, there's no difference between your meditation sessions and your everyday life.

You understand it intellectually, but ultimately you can't figure this out with your mind. That's the beauty of it. Meditation and self-inquiry are the best you can do.

Check out the book 'Not Nice' by Aziz Gazipura. He addresses this very issue in the book and provides lots of great insights and practical techniques to remedy this. I used to be a people pleaser, just like you. I read the book, did the work and I feel like I pretty much shed my nice guy behavior.

I want to find out who I really am.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who's interested in enlightenment work. This is basically a short, non-bullshit practical guide to spiritual awakening. It describes the right attitude towards this work and details the 3 most important tools. No lenghty chapters about theories and distracting monologues. It gets straight to the point. What's more, it's available for free on Adyashanti's website.

@CVKBT Yeah, you don't need to go overboard with it. If the food in your mouth is completely soft and you can't chew it anymore, then you're good to go. It's so obvious and yet I need to relearn chewing

This guy knows what he's talking about. Good stuff!

@JosephKnecht You know it.

@zeroISinfinity