r0ckyreed

Just a few resources that helped me meditate. Nothing too special. Feel free to share your own resources that help you so others can learn. Meditation is so important and is a good habit/skill to development. https://meditationspark.com/how-to-meditate-while-working/ https://www.inc.com/matthew-jones/7-easy-mindfulness-meditation-ideas-to-try-at-work.html https://thedailymind.com/how-to-use-your-work-as-a-meditation-tool-to-change-your-life/ https://zenhabits.net/work-as-play/ https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-to-reach-flow-state-using-10-flow-state-triggers-473aa28dc3e5 https://collegeinfogeek.com/flow/ These are only the beginning. What sources help you?

Hello all! I am new to this health section of Actualized.org Forums. The reason why I am posting is that I am concerned about my diet. I will just get to the point. I am eating really unhealthy and hardly exercising. When I do exercise (which varies from one day per week or every 2 weeks) I typically run, do push-ups and pull ups. I do not work out as much as I need to. My main concern is my diet and the long-term effects of it. I think the shit I am eating now will affect me years down the road. I still live with my parents, and they spoil me with a bunch of stuff that I know is bad for me. I eat a lot of sugar (ice cream, cheezits, oreos, etc.), and somehow, I am on the low end of being underweight. I am about 6 foot tall and weigh around 145. I think I have a good metabolism because I eat a lot of crap and don't gain weight, even with my lack of exercise. I used to play tennis and do cross-country, but now during COVID, I am sitting around meditating, contemplating, and working on school work. I do not notice any negative health side effects, but I do want to prepare for the future. I watched Leo's video on health already, but do you all have any recommendations on food? I am mainly concerned that if I continue on this road, I will have long-term problems and I may already have them. Here is my diet so far: Breakfast: I eat Apples, bananas (sometimes eggs and sausage) Lunch: I some times snack and skip lunch. But sometimes I will eat chili, quesadillas, tacos, pizza (some times vegetable soup), spaghetti, broccoli, corn, fruit cocktail Dinner: Same thing as lunch in terms of food My ideal goal: Exercise (Run 3-5 miles, push-ups, pull-ups) 4 times a week or every day Breakfast: Eat apples, bananas, fruit smoothies, eggs and sausage (which I already do) Lunch: Chili, vegetable soup Dinner: Fruit salad, Chili and vegetable soup I think if I can stick to just the fruits, vegetables, and protein (chili) then I may have a good diet. I am just tired of being addicted to sugar because I realize that my bad diet is a like a drug that will harm me later on. EDIT: I think part of my problem is that my parents eat like crap and buy the crap and then I eat it with them. This is a consequence of living with family. My parents will buy me ice cream, cereal and a bunch of crap that make it hard to avoid junk food. If you all have any questions (personal or not) please ask away , I won't be offended at all. Thank you all for your help! <3

I mean. Yes and no. Trump is a house on his own, but I think he fits well with Slytherin house in general, as well as with characters like Voldemort, Pettigrew, etc. who are manipulative and egotistical and stage red. Here’s how I may use spiral dynamics with Hogwarts: Slytherin: Stage Red/Orange (Individual) Hufflepuff: Stage Green/Blue (collective) Gryffindor: Stage Orange (Individual) Ravenclaw: Stage Yellow/Orange (Individual) Of course this is an overgeneralization, but I don’t know. From my observation, Hufflepuff societies seem more like a cooperative, collective, whereas the others seem like they are individual and competitive. I don’t know. What do you all think of this?

That’s a great idea! What kind of meals do you recommend that I prepare that are healthy and taste good?

Thanks. That’s a good point. You are right!

Yeah. I told them. My problem is that I feel guilty if I refuse to eat their prepared meals because they spent time and I know people in other places are starving in the world.

I was, but I wanted the hat to choose for me without my influence Lol! I guess Slytherin? There is nothing wrong with Slytherin, except Voldemort and Death Eators, and Donald Trump. Swag! That's a good point. This explains many evils that occurred.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your insight!

True dat.

Lol. Did you get Hufflepuff as your result? I don’t think a Hufflepuff would be hating other houses, but rather try to work with them. I am Ravenclaw because I am a lover of Wisdom and Truth. But I do love the warm heartedness, compassion and empathy that Hufflepuffs bring. The point is that we possess the traits of each house, but what are our strengths and which traits are easier for us to embody? I am trying to understand what you mean by how Hufflepuff is the only true house.

Already failed. You, blind, and eyes are illusions. You don’t know what blindness, eyes or you are.

Title says it. I love questioning reality deeply. Some of my most profound insight have come to me when I was observing something and wondering about it. I have question and critically think or contemplate it. I was on the verge of grasping something like infinite or eternity, but then it slipped away. I have tried meditation and I have found it highly useful for stress and concentration, but as far as insight goes, I haven’t found meditation as useful as contemplation. My favorite contemplation is distinguishing between actuality and concept. I have done this exercise to the point in which the distinction between concept and actuality itself is just more concept. But I am not sure what this means quite yet. Any pointers? What do you all think about contemplation vs. meditation? Why meditate at all when we can contemplate?

So I usually meditate by looking at my hand or closing my eyes. I also use have been using The Waking Up app at times by Sam Harris. He recommends alternating between meditating with eyes open and eyes closed. What do you all think, or find to be most effective for you? I think eyes open may be easier to find the no-head that Douglas Harding and Sam Harris seem to be talking about. I am going to start meditating by using the Headless Way by Douglas Harding and Richard Lang. I think it is very interesting way of attaining enlightenment. It helps you see yourself as the entire world and everyone in it as part of yourself.

@Leo Gura yeah. I’ve been mostly observing my hand and just being with my hand, along with contemplation about hand, visual field, actuality, concept, etc. Another practice I have been doing to quiet my mind is breath/sound awareness meditation (noticing breathing and sounds as they arise and dissipate). Another meditation I have done is to just stare into the darkness of my close eyes and watch the movies of my mind that play. I will try Do Nothing meditation.

This is me. I have been a contemplative for quite a long time. I questioned God and religion since I was like 4 or 5 years old after my dad told me that Jewish people don’t believe Christ was son of God, and some people don’t believe Christ existed. I have been contemplating for pretty much my whole life, but not on nearly as deep as I do after I studied philosophy. Meditation is something I learned 2 years ago when I took Eastern Philosophy. So it doesn’t quite come naturally. Also I do have ADHD so it is a challenge to sit in stillness, but I think it helps improve concentration. The longest I have ever meditated was one hour. True. I typically incorporate contemplation into my meditation. I use this analogy in that contemplation is asking God a question, but meditation is listening to God (or stillness) for the answer. I think one of the things that has held me back from doing a retreat is the belief that meditation is a waste of time, but I realized that all the times that I don’t meditate are waste of time. Thank you all!

Where do you all get your research information from? Where and how did Leo find out about spiral dynamics? How can I use google or other sources most effectively to help facilitate my research on personal growth? Any advice would be highly appreciated!

“If you wanna be an archaeologist, you need to get out of the library.” —- Indiana Jones

I agree Thanks. Very good. The only thing is that I don’t think he went into the details of research, but rather the mindset you should do research. I am talking about Google scholar peer review journal or something like that or PsychInfo or whatever engines. I recall that Leo said that he would make a video about how to work Google in an effective way, and this is kinda what I meant in research. So I get the theory of research, but the actuality is something else.

Nice! Thanks! Some of the gold mines I have found are Stefan James (Project Life Mastery), Jason Capital, David Lion, Dan Lok, Actualized.org of course, and Lee Wolak

Hello! I am considering being a life coach. Do any of you all have experience or know any useful information about life coaching. Right now, I am pursuing my masters in mental health counseling, but I realize that the field is so regulated. For instance, after I get my 2 year masters, I have to get extra supervision for many hours (I forgot, but it’s a lot), and even after I complete my degree, I will have to take a test and present background checks, and do a bunch of legal work to get approved by the state to become a counselor. If I decide to move to another state, I would have to go through same process! Is life coaching this tedious and demanding? Could anyone with knowledge explain to me a little bit more about the field of life coaching? I may want to choose this as an alternate career path. I plan on taking Life Purpose course over winter break after this semester in school.

@Leo Gura Oh wow!! thanks! I just found that you already have videos about this lol! Yeah, this is a common critique in our mental health counseling circles. Nice! I just watched your video! Is this the link where you got your training from: https://www.ipeccoaching.com? Thank you so much for your help! If you have any other information, please let me know You are such an inspiration! Thank you!

Awesome thank you so much!! I really appreciate it! What are the gold mines that you have come across besides Actualized.org and Real Social Dynamics? Have any tips on being a good skimmer? Thank you for your detailed response! Thank you! Personal/spiritual development.

Go to a cemetery. I find rock climbing helps me contemplate death, although, I am not contemplating, but rather being immersed into the present moment. You cannot be screwing around in your mind when you are hundreds of feet off the ground. One false move and you're done.

The biggest threat to our country is ourselves. This election just proved how divided we are. Biden is going to try to restore the soul of the nation so that we can spread our consciousness and love to other countries.

That’s unfortunate. So with that logic, if Hitler or Kim Un or Stalin or any narcissistic sociopath that knows what policies serve your ego, you would vote for them? The character determines their policy and their willingness to carry it out. A higher consciousness person will have higher consciousness policies. Trump says stuff to please your ego. He lies about many things. He only says what you wanna hear, but I guess that’s how you vote. If you were an employer and had an interviewee who is sociopathic (doesn’t care about others and uses others for their gain), has allegations of sexual assault, knows how to manipulate the law in their favor, would you really hire this person? If you would, that would ridiculous, but if you don’t, then why do you think Trump could be president if he cannot even work at a restaurant? Character is everything. As soon as you throw character out, that’s when crap hits the fan. Character is fundamental and policies are next. If someone is a sociopathic liar like Trump, why would you believe in any of his policies? So you liked the Muslim ban, the Trump Wall, the end of Paris agreement? Notice that character and policy are one. It is Trumps character that has brought out the crazies, violence, etc. it is his character that is making America look like a fool. There is no boundary between policy and character. If Trump were a good person, he would side with science and logic and wear a damn mask and tell his Trump supporters to stop their bull crap. Instead, he praises what happened to Biden campaign in Texas and praises people not wearing masks. The problem with Trump supporters is that they care so much about economy that they forget that health is wealth. Go into a hospital and ask a Covid patient “how well the economy is doing.” Ask the 234k people who died how well they think the economy is. Think. Think. Think. Don’t just believe in Fox News or Alex Jones Infowars or Qanon and even Trump himself, you have to really think and open your mind to the possibility that you are deluding yourself by following him. Plot twist: you are The Evil Demon and you are deluding yourself. We all are. Self-deception is at the root of reality, but that doesn’t mean we cannot evolve and be less full of crap.