RobertZ

In a practical sense, I find bullet journaling (https://bulletjournal.com/) to be helpful for daily strategy. “Stop worrying about everything you have to do—with bullet journaling!” Systematically list tasks every day. Write down everything you have to do in one journal. Then check things off. Action identification and accomplishment supports flow between capabilities and objectives. This practice develops a dynamic strategizing capacity. Gradually you can see your advantage. Objectives Strategy identifies the objective. An objective is not a general goal. An objective is a specific action to support a goal. An objective is a SMART action (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). Advantage Your competitive advantage is your strategic essence. What needs can you satisfy that other people do not satisfy? How are you better or different at doing that? Time? Quality? For example, you might analyze, implement or control supplies, resources, desires, or environments (e.g., socio, cultural, economic, natural, tech). Scope Another part of the strategy is scope—identify the operational environment. What are the boundaries beyond which it will not venture? What are you doing, for whom? Do you make use of other people or internalize skills?

Maybe for something to be infinite, it is satisfying. For example, scientific accuracy (like heart surgery) and human governance do not need to go infinitely deep. These realms only need to penetrate deeply and accurately enough and integrate dynamically enough with flowing systems. Perhaps exploration and subtlety satisfy the craving? Perhaps I can satisfyingly touch people's lives? An old Psalm says, "Deep is calling unto deep." There is a surging roar of everything-that-might-be-but-is-not, to everything that is. It is not necessary to penetrate infinitely deep because it is incredible to hear the sound of creation and become it. I took a passive approach to the source being. I emphasized, "given-ness" (that I happen to be here). I sometimes woke up in wonder and awe, that I would exist (with arms and legs). Maybe I can make life a little less confusing for the people around me. Here is an example of depth in progress: Doctor Matt Lewin is developing a general nasal spray antidote for the paralysis and uncontrollable bleeding caused by snake poisons. People have invented antidotes for particular venoms out of venoms (and that is deep right there). Snakes bite five million people per year, and 94,000 to 125,000 die. But, Dr. Lewin tested a more general antidote on himself. He poisoned himself with deadly venom (so paralysis set in), and then applied his generic no-refrigeration-needed nasal spray. He got ethical approval to publicize his self-experimentation by calling it 'nasal spray for muscle relaxation.' He is still working on research and funding.

@PenguinPablo Sorry, no advice. But you are not alone. At least one other person is overwhelmed by life. Frequent feedback, that my work is inadequate, is paralyzing me. I spend hours on what should take minutes. I try to catch up on my inadequate work by skipping nights. I also miss sleep because I am anxious. Crying makes me feel better. I also tell myself affirming narratives like, 'I am safe right now,' and 'It's going to be okay.'

I also heard that HEXACO has significantly more academic consensus than some other popular personality testing that became popular through marketing. I took a HEXACO assessment a few years ago. For each score, I got lots of information about what the scores meant in populations. I reflected empathetically and critically on each point, in light of my own life experiences. I developed a comprehensive plan to respond. I understand that personality is generally set by age 30; but can be developed through deep work. Honesty Humility - 63% Emotionality - 70%. - 81% for “Modesty”. - 56% for “ Fearfulness”. - 81% for “ Anxiety”. - 63% for “ Dependence” (on emotional support) - 81% for “ Sentimentality”- - 88% for “ Social Self-Esteem” - 75% for “ Social Boldness” - 56% for “Sociability ”. - 81% for “ Liveliness” - 63% for Forgivingness. Extraversion - 78% - 88% for “ Gentleness” - 63% for “Flexibility” - 63% for “ Patience” - 63% for “ Organization” - 81% for “ Diligence” - 50% for “ Perfectionism” - 69% for “ Prudence” - 88% for “Aesthetic Appreciation” - 69% for “ Inquisitiveness". - 69% for “ Creativity” Agreeableness - 66%. - 92% for “ Unconventionality” Conscientiousness - 69% Openness to Experience - 80% - Altruism dimension 94%. - 31% for “ Sincerity” - 94% for “Fairness ” - 44% for “ Greed Avoidance”.

It was a very interesting and well thought out narrative. It does not stop on a surface level but continues to reflect on how things might play out, Then reflect on the meaning, as if it happened. Why learn one life lesson by living it, if you might learn multiple life lessons in advance, through reflection? And, based on these reflections, in what way might a person create a retreat centre, if they had lots of their own money, and passion? The narrative also avoids some extremes, like “evil-big-pharma.” What do “investors” and “money” mean? What does it mean to own land or a facility? The world of value means different things to different people. Great post. Thanks for sharing.

How: Understanding involves increasing synaptic connectivity (e.g., 5ht-induced neurogenesis), together with sufficiently functional organization or integration. Understanding means really ’getting it,’ and why it matters. The potential to understand: Once a person’s other needs are satisfied—like needs for social stability, measurement—a new need and desire emerges: to interpret and reduce filters toward brilliant forces of life within and without. Personally, I recommend developing understanding by (a) being honest about what you want, and (b) being kind to others. Why: Understanding is desirable because it is a higher order connection with desire. Understanding means perceiving human needs at a visceral level, including the level of the heart. The value of understanding ties into the desirability of perfection in existence. To know a person--to really know them--is to love them. And a person cannot properly be understood without love. Speaking then of life and survival: A person may not even be aware of what they want or need! Survival is not only contingent on higher brain processes or pet-theories. Survival runs on deep forces, of which a person may not be aware. A person’s values frame the way they see reality. Perceptual filters and hermeneutical interpretations of reality are fundamental to cognition and experience. Desires (and desirability) can develop independently, as it were. Values skew perceptions and serve needs to live and thrive. The word ”understanding” means, ‘to stand in the midst of’ something, or to ‘be in its intestines.’ A person (and people) can gradually “understand” their perceptions of [contextual] needs. Understanding is hallucination (rumination) on views, information, categories, powers, and other means of knowing, like cultic abandon. Agency: Understanding is also about exploring forces outside the human brain. Some people suggest that understanding is not only informed by human agency and other properties of the universe.

This is a perspective you may not have considered: ”The weirder, the better.” What is esoteric? Explore what is most weird and esoteric. What is arcane? What is peculiar or bizarre? Like I said, it is a random point. A less open-minded person might write off a lot of weird stuff without understanding why. There may be a lot to explore that other people have presumed to ignore. For example, I am not sure how much info is available on ancient mystical rituals of dance and song—but some, I am sure!

I went back to university to start a new career. I ran into a financing difficulties but made it through Part 1: My suggestion, whether you are young or old, have kids or not—whatever: make a Microsoft Excel/spreadsheet and get data about 1) Costs, and 2) Funds available. This is a NO BULLSHIT approach to reducing financial uncertainty 1) Costs (a) Make a spread sheet (unless you know you can afford bullshit). List all your monthly costs of living. Add all the bills, and food. Use Microsoft Excel/spreadsheet. “=SUM(amounts)” so you have a number that summarizes your monthly expenses (in case they change). (b) You need to Find how much tuition will cost semester by semester (see your University website). You may need to estimate the cost of books, like $450 per semester. (C) Make a column in your spreadsheet: List months into the future (schooling). Put =(monthly cost of living cell) beside each month. Then add a thid column, with the tuition and books beside the correct month. Note: Spreadsheets can make it easier to compare or paste different cost scenarios—like cheaper rent. 2) Income and loans available In the spreadsheet (also), List funds and Income that might be available. For example, say you have $12,000 saved up. That could go in month +1. Governments and banks have information about how much money they will lend for various university programs. Look both up. Go ahead and read these documents. Phone the phone numbers and wait to talk to a Government student loan worker. Meet with a banker to get a theoretical estimate. You are looking for information—get the best information you can, such as the month that the money would be available. If you’re nursing program includes spring and summer courses, make sure to figure out if government student loans will cover those spring and summer courses. And what is the maximum amount you can receive each year? 3) Finally, I would make another column called “Running total”. Look this up on YouTube or google if you don’t know how to do it. Running total = (monthly Income) - (monthly Cost) + (the cell above). You drag this cell down, you can see how much money will be in your bank account in any given month. Note: Excel can also help looking at different Income scenarios. Maybe you cannot find a Summer job for 1 month in May 2021. Does that make all the difference? Part 2 loans: Distinguish (a) inability to get loans, (b) reasonable caution of loans, and (c) illogical fear of loans. Inability to get loans Financial Resources may depend where you live. For example, I live in Canada, and the Federal/Provincial governments gives student loans to young and old quite easily—if a person gets accepted to the university program. There are fairly simple rules (Province by Province) if people want to get student loans in Canada. You have to live in a province for a certain amount of time, And get excepted to a University. It also depends on Taxable income. This is not a big secret. I am sure a government student loan worker could give some basic information about eligibility. That’s just an example, from where I live. Another example is that My bank would not lend me money for school. The bank was not interested in my retired parents co-signing on a student line of credit, because of their income levels. A different bank might have given me a loan because A number of my classmates were able to get a loan from a certain bank. Anyway, I only wanted the bank line of credit to do another university degree on the side. So I ended up working (for money) at night to do the extra degree. It was Either that, ask my brother to risk his savings by co-signing , or drop out of school. Loan fear: A spreadsheet should reduce financial uncertainty about loans. If you have loan fear, then I think you need to look further into the future. You might need to gather a few more pieces of data. Compare your month by month financial future in school, versus retail (using your spreadsheet). Add some future years below the months. How much money will you make each year in retail? As a nursing intern? As a first year nurse? Again, you can add costs. Add costs of loan repayment. Information about nursing income might be hard to find. Go on forums in your area. Ask people you know. Be Careful about outdated or geographically irrelevant claims. Your university almost certainly has good statistics about post-grad income. How many grads get jobs in nursing? Do 90% of grads have a nursing job within a year after graduating? 75%? How many are still working in nursing 2 years out? That way, you can add your nursing salary to your spreadsheet at the right time. I recommend talking to an admissions person from the university, in person. They might even show you standard deviations, so you can see exactly when you are likely to find a job. In any case, they are likely to answer your questions and concerns in more detail. Conclusion: Putting numbers in a spreadsheet is not the same as money in the bank. However, it can reduce uncertainty. The better the data, the better the information. The better the information, the better the knowledge. P.S I would get my eyes on at Some PhD dissertation on nursing education—or whatever area you want to go into. Your application should stand out. Peace.

Great thought about art in subcultures—and impact. I don't know much about art. However, I hear and observe that appreciation and positive response is elusive. I am guess people navigate limited acceptance in various ways, like enjoying their own work and communicating for a particular purpose.

Principles, functionality, and understanding meet different kinds of needs. Understanding speaks to my heart. I saw a man exercising/stretching on the Downtown sidewalk yesterday—he seemed simple in His thoughts. His skin was covered in a dozen large gaping bleeding wounds. He told me that he had just been to see a doctor. I do not know if truth does anything for me. My existence astonishes me. I do not know why I am the way I am—including my love and my hate. Knowledge brought me the suffering of my ignorance. I said I would be a wounded healer. Prophetic words heal, like crying heals. Maybe knowing people is chasing after wind; maybe it is something good and necessary Hamlet said, “Words, words, words.” Qoheloth said: “The more the words, the more the vanity.”

Are you struggling with shifting values? fortitude, or effectiveness? 1. Consider if you have a sense of purpose and good habits. If not, consider what you need. Be honest with yourself and with others. 2. If you feel good with that, maybe you concentrate on verifiable effects. As an Angel told Descartes in a vision when he established modern science: ”The conquest of nature is through weight and measurement.” So, maybe you could take notes about what you are doing. What works? What does not work? Sorry--all this is just a shot in the dark. But if you will focus on what you desire, go easy on disastrous thinking.

I can definitely relate. I want to do one thing, and then I find a different mind deciding, "Nope. I am going to do something else." I am helpless against myself. "Oh higher self, I invoke thee." 1) What are some things that make me feel better when I feel like shit? a) A hot bath; b) A topic-of-interest I developed to cope with stress--like an esoteric novel about psychedelic magic. c) Burning time online. 2) Challenge myself a bit! Just do a bit. I will start to enjoy it when I start doing it--and I will appreciate it later. 3) What is my lack of insight? a) looking back at a personal journal (or old writing) might help me to identify patterns in my life that I would not otherwise recognize; b) A cultivated relationship (like with a counsellor) can provide insight into patterns--and how they connect to my current attitudes. 4) What is my place of inspiration? a) Read PhD dissertations. b) Love the people around me--kindness and compassion.

The following argument seems to lack evidence: 1) Impermanence is defined with reference to permanence. 2) My mind applies the category “impermanent” to an egg. 3) Therefore, something permanent exists. This concludes that something permanent exists, without experience. Along similar logic (without experience or evidence), I could say, “an egg is permanent!”

1) band-aid help (in a pinch): I take 25 to 50 mg of diphenhydramine HCL (Benadryl). Even 75 mg on rare occasion, if insomnia started. -This remedy does NOT support good-quality sleep! - this remedy can cause a groggy-hangover! The higher the dose, the worse the grogginess, for me 3) boil milk. 4) Sometimes I take 3 to 5 mg of slow release melatonin. That supports falling asleep if insomnia has not kicked in. I still feel a bit more tired the next day if I take melatonin, but that tiredness might also depend on total sleep hours. 5) 15+ minutes of unstructured time (e.g., journalling, walking, or sitting). Unconscious material comes up outside of bed. 6) eye shades and ear buds help if external stimulus might wake me up right when I am falling asleep. Caffeine keeps me awake. Intoxication keeps me awake (e.g., a tiny bit of high CBD-low-THC-cannabis gives me terrible insomnia).

How to respond to feeling inadequate? Dealing with mistakes.

The desire for greatness is--as @AlphaAbundance says exactly--a motivator. The desire for greatness has been critical in sublime hedonic pleasures, ethics, and faith (such as mine is). Even St. Francis of Assisi did not lose himself in the greatness of reality until he seduced many women as a valiant knight. Self-actualization requires both limitless aspirations and ongoing recognition of reality. Soren Kierkegaard suggests that becoming a valid 'self' means persisting in aspirations toward unlimited greatness and--at the same time--staying grounded in our limits--whether in faith, ethics, or sexual seduction. To become a "victim" of circumstances and conform to the crowd, is to lose oneself. To live in delusions of grandeur also misses the point. Jesus said, "Let whoever would be great among you be a servant." The words and actions of a great person amaze. They speak prophetically to unspoken vulnerabilities of others. They support and sustain with substance. Think of Leo's example of telling strippers that he has a small penis. There is a paradox in the experience of glory. A person merges with transcendental beauty--they become glory and dirt. An artist is loved, recognized and applauded for creativity; but they are also humbled to know that they receive everything.

Maybe one reason why a person might suggest which system is ‘best’ without defining what is best, is because self-determination is at stake. People have their own processes in asking, ‘Where do we come from?’ ‘What are [our] values?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ Polycentric systems allow communites and groups more freedom in defining what is best for them. Self-determination is a mixed bag, naturally.

When I was "supposed to" study but I did not, maybe I thought I did not really have to study and that I would be alright cramming later. I have also wasted time trying to start too early, before covering class content. For me, it was not so much 'snapping out if it' as 'snapping into it.' I found that when I got engaged it my work, I began to enjoy it. It is my work. So it may feel boring to start, and sometimes very hard to press on; but once I got into it, I found it enjoyable and interesting.

I note mixed use of the word "discrimination." The word discrimination has broadly accepted technical meaning that I found to be analytically useful. "Discrimination" means a legally protected characteristic is a factor in harm that an individual suffers. "Human rights" are almost entirely synonymous with limits on discrimination. Three points about this definition: (1) First, discrimination is based on a legally protected ground. So-called "human rights" are defined on these consensus human characteristics like family, heritage, race, religion, disability, gender, and so on. (2) Next, discrimination involves adverse treatment. Effects measure harm. (3) Thirdly, a protected ground is a factor in the adverse treatment. Significant literature discusses this factor. It does not mean cause or intention. An example from Canada: a librarian in a lawyers only lounge approached the only black person in the room, sitting with some white people. The librarian demanded identification from the black lawyer only. The race did not cause this adverse treatment, but the context indicated that race was a factor. The librarian might have had had good intentions of doing her job and checking ID's, and perhaps the black person sat closest to the librarian. Discrimination is distinct from justification. For example, a community centre might not have a handicap ramp because they cannot afford to install it. So, there might be good reasons for discrimination. However, distinct justifications support recognition. Finally, discrimination scales to systems levels. For example, in the United States, prohibitions on cocaine and crack indirectly but disproportionately impacted groups of black people. Meanwhile, the vast majority of cocaine and crack users were white.[2] Popular ideologies linked drugs and poverty. Not widely recognized is that people's race is a factor in US incarceration for drug possession. An older analysis might look like this: (a) Drug prohibition genuinely and verifiable disadvantages detained individuals; (b) Incarceration disproportionately targets racial minorities [statistically proven] (c) Therefore, drug prohibition violates equality. A newer, comparative analysis might look like this: (a) Drug prohibition imposes a disadvantage on incarcerated people; (b) Racial minorities get detained at disparate rates [statistically proven]; (c) Race played a factor in disparate detention [statistical causation inferred]; (d) Therefore, drug prohibition violates equality. [1] Anita Kalunta-Crumpton, Race and Drug Trials: The Social Construction of Guilt and Innocence(Brookfield, Wisconsin: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 1999) at 51-52.

I have carefully shared it with about 3 or 4 people. My wife started watching it on her own--which was kind of cool. I think she got curious. So she watched quite a few and we like listening together sometimes. I shared it with 2 brothers. I think one brother might take. He's a philosophical type. 1 cousin and 1-2 friends. I

I try to distinguish my desires. I try to pull apart and identify the depth of my passions. My starting points are • physical existence, health, • learning and • the ongoing existence of the human race (like charity to the human family). So then, I try to observe how I feel. Am I really starved for affection? I am very fortunate to have so much good in my life. I recently heard an alarming account of a traveller who rescued a very young girl from a hell-hole of sexual abuse in a place in India. The traveller opposed the desires of these lecherous men through a kind of...providence. The traveller brought this girl to an old Tibetan couple whose daughter had died--and the Tibetan couple adopted her as their long lost daughter. Nevertheless, I am not a fan of scapegoating pleasure. I don't think desire is the enemy. The desire for the ongoing existence of human life undergirds human kindness, from my perspective. By honestly looking at my own desires, I hope to make the world a better place. Finally, social supports might be helpful if desires prove circumstantially problematic. It is amazing how talking to another person can draw desires through a sort of reality-tunnel.

#1: My Belief in Otherness I usually keep this to myself. Still, eleven years ago, I heard a person say that alterity is the ultimate truth of love. That is my God-of-Otherness. May our relationships be like Their unknown relationships. #2: I saw a glorious secret, but I forget what it was! The proof of knowing that God-is-real but different-than-you-think eluded me as I tried to remember a glory I momentarily glimpsed. It reminded me of Anselm's argument, 'a being than which nothing greater can be conceived.' I tried to hang on to the proof, but all I could say was, "God is real, but it is not what you think." #3 My Vision of Strange Obedience The next secret of my life is that I once saw a vision in my imagination. I was looking at a person giving me some symbolic items, and I imagined seeing something on top of what I saw. I mean, my imagination pretended that I saw something else, and the imaginary memory replaced the real memory. In this vision, a man gave me something. He thought God wanted him to give it to me, even though the man could not understand why. I think, "God loves me." #4 My Secret Amnesia: About 4 years ago, I said to myself, "I will never be healed because of my [basically] sexless marriage." That experience of misaligned sex drives really hurt me. I thought it would change when we got married and then I did not leave her after we got married. Earlier today, I looked at my happy wife, my happy son, and my happy daughter--and I said, "I am very, very, very happy." As for about what to do with a sexless marriage--no answers over here! I definitely do not have sexuality figured out, by any means. My sexuality is full of guilt. But I will say this: I can barely remember good things during my times of suffering, and I can scarcely remember sorrow during my times of bliss. And I try to remember sorrow in happiness, and I try to remember good times during misery. Solon also says, "until [a lucky man] is dead, you had better refrain from calling him happy, and just call him fortunate." #5 My Dreams of Anti-Personality: Another secret of my life is that I had a series of dreams about an orange fleshy spider--that was terrifying. The spider felt eerily present even after I woke up. At the end of this series, I had a dream of being among cannibals. The outcome of this cannibal dream bifurcated. Well, nearly 499 years have passed years since Tenochtitlan and the genocide that ended government-imposed cannibalism in North America. By contrast with those psychological projections, I have another secret: I had a dream about a demon. The demon was like a floating ball or a small tornado of lightning. That demon might believe that God is one, but its awareness was more like an anti-personality. I was hugging my knees and rocking on my heels and bum a week later. #6 My Secret Role-Model: About 483 years ago, Martin Ocelotl got punished for healing broken bones and infected bodies. Ocelotl did not tell his secrets too soon. He bided his time. Ocelotl's glory, including vast riches and property, gradually emerged during his "humiliation." Don Carlos got so mad about the ordeal that he started ranting, "Eat, drink, and have sex with your neighbour's wife, for tomorrow we die: that is the orthodox doctrine that we received." So the Inquisition burnt Carlos, but they only whipped Ocelotl and gave him three years in a mine for doing what he thought was right.

“Giddyup.” When I’m not ‘thinking’ much, a voice seems to order me to keep working.

I agree with the comment about bathing in love! I know this is not a religious forum, so I apologize if this content is out of place/dualistic. I had the opportunity to sit down and talk about demons and exorcisms with a Catholic priest who had done a formal exorcism and many informal deliverances. In the Catholic tradition, there is a distinction between the Rite of Exorcism and deliverances. The Rite is a liturgy or public service (not publicized) that includes at its essence a formulary. A “formulary” means a certain order of words. This particular formulary addresses el shatan, the Accuser. Since 1969 or so, only presbyters (with the permission of a bishop) can perform the Rite of Exorcism (the holy order of presbyter subsumed the minor order of exorcist). A bishop would probably rarely apply the Rite even after significant psychological testing showed everything was normal—but something was clearly wrong. There is a rich lore around who and how, but the stories get into some detail that some people might find disturbing. Exorcism is different than deliverances. Those are more informal, often with 3 people (like a support person, the person feeling oppressed, and the person leading the prayers). Deliverances take any form—they are private. Some cycle phases, like -normal conversation, -asking or the experiences of oppression or bad feelings, -some prayers / readings -some silence, - touching and physical symbols (blessed salt, incense, holy water), -leading to more intensive peaks, like saying, “in the name of God, I reject the power of Satan”. This goes in several cycles. Deliverances don't normally enter into dialogue with the spirit. An experienced deliver-er might ask the putative spirit for some info—like its name—but not out of curiosity. Obviously, such practices can bleed into psychosis, delusion, and all kinds of private abuses. However, deliverances also seems to play a healing role. If you do feel something like oppression or malevolent entities—don’t be afraid to say it, even by yourself. You might feel better! “I reject the power of Satan [or the bad feeling you are having] in the name of God.”

Read PhD dissertations. Especially focus on the introductions and discussion sections. Skip methods and results, unless it is interviews. Dissertations summarize areas for a broader audience, and will tell you the current state of affairs of the science—like juicy questions your teachers might be interested in. One place to get dissertations: When you become a student, —> go to your university library website, —>click on databases, —> in and search for ‘dissertation’, or look for a database called Proquest. Then search ‘psychology’ or browse dissertations. E.g., cognitive behavioural, or whatever area. Teachers will also assign difficult material, and half of the battle is paying attention to what you’re reading. However, there is tons of interesting and quite easily accessible psychological materials out there. A lot of dissertations summarize info in an accessible manner