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Most definitely. What about just do nothing? No coffee, no fruit. I know some people really love their coffee, but from a health perspective, I don’t see it as necessary. If your concern in energy, there are better ways to get energy IMO. Alternatively, you could start swapping coffee for tea that has no calories. This way you still get something warm to drink and possibly caffeine, but does not break your fast.

@Mada_ I wouldn’t bother counting calories. I got obsessed with doing that in college, really just isn’t necessary. There are far, far better ways to lose weight. For instance, what’s your eating window? Are you regularly fasting and eating low glycemic foods? How about practicing heat / cold exposure? Functional breathing patterns? If you’ve got all that down, you’ll never have to worry about counting calories or your weight again.

@rnd That is how it works. I don’t know about your recommended time of 8-10 hours though. I’d say that’s a hotly debated topic with a lot of nuance. David Sinclair, for instance, usually does a 2 hour window. I’ve personally been on somewhere around a 2-6 hour window for the past couple of years, seems to work amazingly well for me.

@integration journey Loud night clubs are just always a variable when it comes to game. You can improve how you handle them but they’re part of the terrain. You have to adapt. Speak closer, even directly into her ear if you have to. This can also build intimacy and could be considered a mild form of physical escalation, which is good. But you also have to be aware of her reaction to you getting close and see how she responds. Speaking in a higher pitch also helps a lot. The higher frequencies cut through the noise easier. And you want to practice projecting without letting your voice get caught in the back of the throat or feeling like you’re straining. If you strain, you’ll blow out your voice in no time at all, especially if you’re new to night clubs. Last thing you can do is use your body. If the night club is super loud, most people won’t be talking much anyway. And using your body can be more powerful than verbals. So communicate with your whole being, not just one narrow channel (mouth).

No I won’t. Maybe respecting gurus has more of a tradition in India, but to me it looks like you’re in a cult. No they don’t. Non-duality predates India, hate to break it to you. You can find non-duality in every major religion and culture. That’s the exact same logic the west would have used to colonize India.

This dude sets off my fake guru alarm like crazy.

Not true at all. All kinds of girls go to night clubs. It’s extremely common. Especially in Vegas, she could just be there for a friend’s birthday or bachelorette party. Maybe she doesn’t even like clubbing but she’s there for the same reason Leo is there: clubs are where people go. So the fact that she’s at a night club, especially at a young age, says little about her. You really can’t make the assumption she’s some sort of low conscious club rat that will never grow out of it. That may be the case sometimes, but most times it will not. Speaking from experience, I met my last LTR at a bar/night club setting. I think we only visited a bar twice the entire time we were together.

I wouldn’t necessarily seek integrity. That can backfire and turn into you moralizing yourself and creating a shadow for not being more selfless. That’s sort of the stage Blue “pious” trap. Integrity and selflessness are really just the product of spiritual development. I would commit to awareness, healing, contemplation, authenticity and discovering your “true self” instead. From there, integrity naturally arises because you’ll be in alignment. You’ll no longer be in conflict with yourself.

You already do, in a sense. “Everything is possible” includes that it’s possible that somethings are not possible. You don’t. This is how it should be. You want limitations.

That’s not a joke. Your first example was a joke. This is just you coming across as too forward / direct. A statement like that can work sometimes with the right girl at the right time. But obviously that wasn’t it. In general, different social contexts mean different kinds of humor are more appropriate. In some settings, you might be able to get away with more crass, dirty humor. In others, not so much. You have to always read the room and the person you’re talking to. Ask yourself: what is “normal” right now? And allow “normal” to be fluid and change at any moment. You can sometimes dictate what is “normal” in a group if you have a strong enough frame and people see you as a leader. But even that I find usually only goes so far. So pay attention to how people act in different contexts and get a feel for what is appropriate.

That doesn’t sound right to me. No reason boiled water should be turning white unless it’s just bubbles. You don’t need or want kilograms of minerals, just some. I’d definitely look into that. Couple of points here. First, don’t do it directly after working out if you’re interested in hypotrophy. There is some research saying a cold water immersion will essentially blunt hypotrophy due to the decrease in inflammation, which is probably what you’re referring. Keep in mind hypotrophy is not equivalent to strength, it’s more about muscle size. So it might be a concern if you’re seriously interested in bodybuilding. Either way, just wait a couple hours. Hit the sauna instead, that will actually stimulate HGH (growth hormone). Second, you’re not going to be building muscle if your cortisol is high and you’re stressed. The cold helps with that. That same reduction of inflammation in the right context is incredibly good for you, as just about all ill-health can be boiled down to some form of excessive inflammation. It’s also going to train your vascular system and challenge a lot of important processes in your body. So indirectly, it definitely can help you build muscle. With regards to your personal experiment, how long were you in the shower and how cold was it? There is sort of a minimum effective dose, and if you don’t cross it, you’re not going to see much effect. Likewise, if you go too cold or rewarm too fast, that can also reduce the benefits. Either way, cold showers are not the equivalent of shooting steroids. It’s not like you take them and then suddenly your biceps get a 1/3 bigger. Most of the benefits are less superficial than that. You can’t necessarily see how strong someone’s vascular system is just by looking at them. And the psychological / spiritual benefits can be subtle as well. You got to stick with it consistently over time to really get it.

@Roy Yeah JPs trajectory has been rough to watch. He went from making pretty funny and insightful satire on the spiritual community to full right-winger. Reminds me of Elliot Hulse. Not coincidentally, they’ve done some content together recently. I think we like to think of people moving up in consciousness in a linear way, always becoming more aware / spiritual. But it seems that is not the case. People backslide hard and regress as well at times. The scariest part of course is that these same people always believe they are right. And I also believe I am right, so what if I’m just as delusional? What if all the work I’ve put in has pulled me away from God/consciousness instead of towards it? I don’t think that’s the case, but I do feel it can be useful to consider as long as you don’t go into chronic, crippling self-doubt. To answer your question, five years ago I was in many ways a completely different person. I was just getting my feet wet with spirituality and having some of my first mystical experiences. I spent a ton of my time doing pickup. In general I feel way happier with my life and feel like my understanding has grown by leaps and bounds in the those five years. Extremely excited to see how the next five will play out.

@Katerina Riverside Love this thread, you look like you’re having a great time. I’ve been doing cold therapy for years but inconsistent about it. I’ve finally moved to a colder climate and now the consistency has started to come as well. I live in the city so getting to a natural body of water every morning is difficult. More convenient for me is the daily cold showers. Although it’s not quite the same as a full body submersion, I find it’s still more than enough to create environmental hormesis, which is the main goal. I’ve really started to love the cold. It has a sort of hypnotic, seductive element to it even though the discomfort is there. I can’t help but want to go in. The breathing is also lovely. I find it can totally reset me in just a matter of minutes if I’m feeling “off” or stressed. Really looking forward to seeing how this practice may deepen for me over the years.

RO is good but make sure you add minerals back in. If you’re going to spend money on that, you may want to check out Beautiful Water filters: https://beautifulwater.co/ Better than RO in my opinion. But it will cost you a bit. If you can’t afford it, I’d try to get a better quality glass water like Mountain Valley.

Check to make sure that your water has essential minerals / electrolytes. Otherwise the hydrating effects will likely be minimal if at all. And if you’re dehydrated, that’s going to affect your performance in the gym and your recovery after. Reverse osmosis water is usually not remineralized. Spring water is likely best. You can also just add a pinch of salt or some electrolytes. See how you feel. Be sure to at least eat some of your water in terms of foods that are high in water content. Shouldn’t really be a problem for you as a vegetarian. Also, if you really want to boost your gains and recovery, take a daily ice bath and / or sauna bath. Heat and cold is extremely good for you in small doses. Red light therapy is also an option if you feel you’re not getting much sunlight.

I mixed alcohol and game in college and high school. I don’t mix them anymore, but there are some obvious benefits. The first one being that alcohol puts YOU in a party mood. Your inhibitions are lower. You’re sort of in this “I don’t give a fuck about anything” mindset, and you tend to hang out with other people who think the same. You’re in tune with the party culture, doing what everyone else is doing rather than being outside of it. There’s this association with alcohol and poor decisions / partying / casual sex where that’s just kind of what is expected, even encouraged. But in a zen monastery or at a Vipassana retreat, there’s a complete different set of implicit or explicit expectations. Hence why people go to nightclubs to get laid and not the latter. Of course alcohol also has massive downsides, which is why I don’t do it anymore. It can ruin your health. It can be a crutch do avoid doing real inner work. It can make your decision making sloppy. Those “bad decisions” can make for a funny story when you’re in college. But as you get older, they start to get less funny and more consequential. Ideally that’s when people make a change. The good news is you really don’t need to drink. You can game sober and get just as good, if not better, results than being drunk. But it may be more challenging, especially at first.

@Javfly33 If you’re doing strict cold approach, it likely won’t matter much. She’s not going to know you live with three other women until she gets there. At that point, if she sees you interacting with them in a way that demonstrates charisma, it may up how much she wants to sleep with you. But by that point she’s already likely interested in you anyway. Where I think it could potentially really help you is in more of a social circle setting. They can introduce you to their friends or just be around you when you go out. Maybe they’ll invite you events you wouldn’t have know about otherwise. The key is you want them to both respect you and know that you care, kind of like a big brother. That’s when they’ll feel the most comfortable doing all that.

The good news is you’re learning what doesn’t work through your own experience. And if you internalize those lessons, it will subconsciously calibrate you in the future. This is why you can’t just blindly follow things you read on the internet and expect them to work in something as complex as socializing. To your specific problem, there is a fine line between insulting people and teasing/flirting. Guys with charisma know how to ride that edge AND pull back if they go too far. It can be a delicate dance because social interaction isn’t a static thing. There’s always different contexts, different people, different subtle nuances. And you’ve got to learn to subconsciously read all that in microseconds. Which is actually extremely easy once you get the hang of it, but can be challenging at first. There’s also the element of delivery. Sometimes what you said was fine, but your delivery (vocal tonality, body language) was totally off. In that case, it isn’t so much about what you said as it is how you said it. I’d say this is actually the more common problem. "you are so dumb that you must have a bean brain" -> did you give a cheeky half smile when you said this? Did you say it aggressively, or with a sort of sing-song tone of voice that would communicate to her “I’m just kidding”? Did you hesitate and look away? All of this, plus way more, matters in terms of how people will respond to what you say. This is why inner game becomes so important. There’s so many subtle variables going on here that it’s impossible to consciously be aware of all of them. But if your inner game is solid, a lot of these variables just solve themselves like magic. You don’t even need to think about it. Which is exactly the place you want to get to. So dial it back a bit. Remember, fun and light. You suppose to actually like this person. And keep working that inner game as well.

The way you get daily practice socializing is by socializing, not by doing crazy social anxiety drills though. Let that be your fear challenge. It’s more than enough. Something simple: approach one girl everyday. Look for girls in your classes, girls in line for things you’re in line for, the library, the bus, etc. That should be plenty fear inducing. If you want to still do crazy social anxiety drills, fine. But be smart about it. Maybe drive somewhere people don’t know you. I wouldn’t do it all day. It’s fine to do it every once in a while. But your intention should be on doing real, solid approaches. Not just saying “hi” to people and running away. That should really only be a warm up. In a way, it can be weirder than striking up a real conversation. Remember, the drills are drills for a reason. They are NOT good game and their end goal is NOT to get you to be like that all the time. Their purpose is just to loosen you up so then you can do real approaches and meet women with confidence. So don’t get hung up on the drills. They’re a means, not an end.

Of course. Those are drills, not something you should be doing all the time. You could maybe get away with it a bit, but there’s a limit. Yes, you need to be intelligent about it. Be more social and less aggressive and direct. Focus more so on making friends. Set up cool things and invite girls you meet to them. ??? Freshmen go to parties all the time. If you have 40k kids then you’re probably at a major state university where freshmen will absolutely be partying. If it’s really challenging and greek life is good where you’re at, join a fraternity. You’ll have an instant social circle and parties to go to. And you can invite girls you cold approach to those events.

You can find truth in what anyone says. I’m sure Kevin Samuels has made intelligent arguments at some point in his life. He may even have bits or pieces of truth. But overall, his content is geared towards stage Orange and “redpill” type dudes. He’s not someone I’d recommend to basically anyone. Maybe some people would find temporary value in it, but lord help you if you get stuck there.

You had it right the first time.

Here is a really nice talk just released by Rebel Wisdom’s Alexander Beiner: I suggest watching the whole thing, but here’s a quick TL;DW of his points: Psychedelics use is in the beginning stages of entering into the mainstream As such, it is at risk of being “captured” or corrupted by capitalism and our overall toxic stage Orange culture. In many cases this has already happened, such as fights over patents in order to corner the market Solutions: create an intentional psychedelic culture that values what we want it to value, as well as seek out alternative economics models. Overall the video gets a lot right. Tools to access God have always been corrupted since the beginning of time, just look at organized religion. And selflessness becomes twisted into acts of selfishness. If we could consciously create a culture that saw psychedelics as sacred and that upheld the values we desired, that would be ideal. My issue is that creating such a culture already requires a population with a certain level of consciousness. Lack of consciousness tends to generate more lack of consciousness and visa versa. As well, the problem with “alternative economic models” is that they tend to get stomped on by the current models, which Alexander acknowledges. I don’t have the answers here except to say that any psychedelic-induced mass awakening is going to take time. Expect backsliding, corruption and general ego mania. What do ya’ll think? How can we better usher in the age of psychedelics? How can we be better caretakers of these tools? How can we create a culture that will allow for psychedelics to be used to their full potential? What do we want that world to look like?

From what I’ve read, it does in fact sound like this guy is a tool. It’s a common thing for guys who were once “nice guys” to suddenly go macho-bro-alpha and talk about they have high standards and they demand this and that and blah blah blah. It’s basically overcompensation from their past. My gut says he is one of those dudes. Maybe has read some Redpill thinking at some point. And it sounds like his arrogance may have triggered your insecurity. You’re a perfect vibrational match for each other. I’d move on. It seems like you fell in love with a fantasy more than a reality. So your work is to discover why that might be.

What did you possibly say? You’d have to say something pretty serious for most guys to drop a date like that. If you don’t want to tell that’s fine, but it sounds bad to me. Or he is bullshitting and has another reason for canceling besides whatever you said. Either way, it’s a lot of pressure you’re putting on a first date. You’ve never met in person and you’re already feeling like he is your dream guy. In my experience, putting that much pressure on in the early stages of dating rarely leads to anything but frustration.