Bill W

I think the vast, vast, vast, vast amount of us are on the scale somewhere. I think the key is to keep it as low as possible. I'm on the scale. It's a bitter pill to swallow. You don't come across high on the narcissist scale to me. That you are referring to yourself as one helps reduce your narcissist score and hopefully stop it climbing. The below helps me come back to the reality of some of my problems and why I am the way I am sometimes (i.e. the narcissist in me). This video helps ground me, at least for a while!

I don't think science fiction had been invented yet, at least not for Buddha and Jesus.

That's nice and also true. Like it.

I always thought fear was at the route of most, if not all emotional difficulties. But perhaps underneath fear is a default lack of Faith setting. I'm not lumping Faith and Religion together necessarily. One thing I've learned about fear or I think I've learned, is that it can be helpful looking at specific fears to a degree, but there is a danger of just wasting so much time because fear will just repackage itself again and again. I wonder what percentage of emotionally sick people are walking around believing that their problems are external and caused by something other than their own internal settings and dare i say it infection/illness. The external world is probably more likely to help solve our problems than cause them. Life throws lessons and teachers our way all the time. The most dumb people can still teach you something tomorrow. If anything they always teach you tolerance. The external environment can be a playground for developing mastery just like the internal world of the mind and body can. Proper work on internal dysfunctional programming PLUS pragmatic use of interacting with the external environment equals best chance of serenity for me. We need to road test all our techniques and practices. It's fine being all Zen and Christ like in our bedroom or down at the gym but most of us have to also expose ourself to the insanity of the outside world. Outside world triggers internal dysfunction. Outside world including other people are seemingly not interested in changing to suit our internal rancid state and faulty processing. Result??? Mass delusion as a way of suppressing and coping. So the ones who are not 100% deluded search for the cure. A treatment for the infection that has diseased the ego in the same way 1 litre of vodka a day diseases the liver and 20 cigarettes a day diseases the lungs.

It's probably the first thing you get rid of when you wake up. I bet he gave up snap chat as well.

I believe concentration and focus are skills. They require practice. Some people need it more than others. I am the same like you. What has helped me is mindfulness meditation. I pick a sound to focus on. What helped me was the amount of times I did this and not the amount of minutes per day total. For me, doing this 5 times a day for 5 minutes was better than one sitting of 20 minutes in the morning and one sitting of 20 minutes at night. I found that practising outside of work gave me the best benefits as the benefits then transferred to my work where I was having problems like you. You can practice concentration even in 30 second intervals if you want. In my experience it all adds up. Monkey mind needs daily training. Think of it like going to the gym for the first time in your life. Slow and steady. Build it up. Don't search for a profound breakthrough. As for pills, I wouldn't go there personally. There is way too much content, teachers, practices to access for free and with less risk and less fucking around with your brain chemistry artificially. Unless a doctor thinks there is a medical reason.

If locking down threads cripples people from growing then not much can be done for them to be frank. They can easily get advice from a moderator or Leo. Actually most of Leo's stuff I don't resonate with, but he does do a good job of helping stop people from festering in their own mess, as do the other moderators. Look man, lets see what others say. I know this won't happen anyway as Leo states he already tolerates a lot of low quality stuff on here, he will not be inclined to trigger more of it. If anyone feels crippled in their growth, then use the resources around in this place and the main site and work on that issue and fear directly. Work out what's really going on. I doubt the real problem is not having a place for low quality or low consciousness content. I'll leave this now and see what others reckon. I might be in the minority. And then there is the whole debate of course on what is low quality and low consciousness etc.

That will mean the mods and Leo have to spend time monitoring it. It would still need moderation. So I don't think so. I say carry on locking threads. If your thread gets locked or your post/content is critiqued for being poor quality then people can just learn from that and try to improve. Leo could rightly say that if you want low quality content go somewhere else.

Is that to do with David Hawkins? I recognise some of it

I love this thread. It should be pinned on that cream of the crop thread Leo has for all the high consciousness content ??

We have a saying in AA..... "self-will run riot". I was going to write a bit about that tonight, but I will just leave this post with the term/saying and expand later. It applies to me and it relates to my emotional sobriety! It might also be a good time to remind myself of the Lords Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Thy will. Not my will.

@Anna1 Thanks Anna

think of sleep difficulties as a sign that I haven't worked on enough of my day time shit. I used to fall into a trap that if I just have a good routine 1 hour or 2 hours before sleep that all will be right. Wrong. Speaking as an ex sleeping pill addict the best thing I've ever done for my sleep is two fold and in this order of importance. 1. Mindfulness meditation on and off during the day and evening. My specific technique is to bring my attention to sound in my immediate environment. This has really helped my monkey mind. 2. Once in bed I slow my breathing right down. Especially the out breath. If you ever listen to how someone breaths when they are in a deep sleep, and model your breathing on that.

My main 12 step fellowship is Alcoholics Anonymous. The actual 12 steps are virtually identical regardless of fellowship. Some of the more well known fellowships are alcoholics, cocaine, narcotics and over eaters. Of course there is also Al-Anon for family and other loved ones of addicts. My alcohol and drug sobriety is very strong right now. Next Friday 11 October I celebrate one year of total abstinence from alcohol and sleeping pills. No slips. No relapses. Anyway, I wanted to share the first 3 steps. I have gone for emotions anonymous as they swap the word alcohol with emotions and that is where I am at right now. Step 1 We admitted we were powerless over our emotions — that our lives had become unmanageable. Step 2 Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step 3 Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

You might find this useful as well. As painful as I find this to admit, it's a sense of entitlement that gets me angry with how other people treat me, interact with me, or judge me. This short clip is great about entitlement and the flip side of that coin (humility). Enjoy!

I love this. It's about the futility of judging others, but you can spin it around and appreciate that if others judge you it is equally futile. Therefore it's not worth the attention and worry you give to what others think. It's worth 10 minutes of your time this clip I think.

I wouldn't have enjoying conflict as a goal lol. Yes maybe coping with conflict better and even being comfortable with it but if you start enjoying it then question the enjoyment lol. As for what people think I am going to send some stuff in a minute

I think of sleep difficulties as a sign that I haven't worked on enough of my day time shit. I used to fall into a trap that if I just have a good routine 1 hour or 2 hours before sleep that all will be right. Wrong. Speaking as an ex sleeping pill addict the best thing I've ever done for my sleep is two fold and in this order of importance. 1. Mindfulness meditation on and off during the day and evening. My specific technique is to bring my attention to sound in my immediate environment. This has really helped my monkey mind. 2. Once in bed I slow my breathing right down. Especially the out breath. If you ever listen to how someone breaths when they are in a deep sleep, and model your breathing on that.

@Anna1 Nice one. Yep you got it Anna. I never even knew you could do that on Google to be honest.

@Mezanti You are most welcome brother

I don't know man. I try to make sure I have sensible contributions on here but every now and then one dumb ass post will slip in sorry! Yeh I suppose I don't understand but instead of saying that I threw some justin bieber your way!

I missed this. So the issue is poor discipline and some obsessive tendencies? Fucking join the club man! That's what needs fixing. Leaving the forum won't change anything. I bet these tendencies and traits will just follow you around until addressed. Google the term AA Geographical. I think it applies here. Or look at this. https://alcoholrehab.com/addiction-articles/addiction-geographical/