kyle barnett

Hey guys. When I was a teenager I really loved leos video on quitting tv. I had some issues with family and felt I wanted to disconnect from mainstream thinking. However I made an error of giving a lot of things up but losing the desire to continuously study, so instead of educating myself. I tricked myself for years thinking I was being productive by spending most of my life just in my head overthinking instead of reading and educating myself. I know contemplation is great too, but I procrastinate or put off studying anything or I have all these channels on YouTube and self help books but study none of them and instead just think in my head. Anyone else had this issue?

Thanks man I completely agree. The problem I think is it is so much easier for me personally to just contemplate then to seek help from books and people. But I fall off studying very easily.

Yeah. One insight I had was that my minds state has an impact on the story it tells.

Is this hindering me spiritually by keeping my ego and all my problems more alive? I feel like it is but at the same time I feel it helps me contemplate. Yet ai do it and end up more frantic in life. I always go for solo walks and do this. Is there a way to keep it at bay without going over board? Note. I'm currently unemployed at the moment so have a lot of free time. But struggle to get the develop to find videos to study or read without getting into distractions. However I always feel even if I wander outside and get lost in my head. I also manage to refrain from a lot of distractions so I take that as a win. What are your guys thoughts?

Nice! I gave up smoking with mindfulness. I mean our government overly taxed cigarettes to the point they are ridiculously priced. But I loved the practice of pulling a cigarette out and just sitting with and then putting it back in the carton and each time it got longer and longer. But I was never a heavy smoker.

Yeah. I feel for me it can be a habit. Always going for walks. I end up contemplating all the drama in my life instead of watching videos or reading.

Hey guys I've been following Leo since highschool. I'm now 26. I've been meditating for many years and following spiritual practices but also I consider myself someone who wants to be somewhat successful in life. While I've had great benefits on my spiritual practice in life. I've had a lot of struggles in my productivity and what I want to do career wise in life. I also struggle to get myself to study basic self help now and continue my meditation practice because of this. I am married and live with my wife who also has a health condition. She is quite happy on her own but we're both unemployed and can't drive however we live with her mother/my mother in law. I wanted to work full time and drive. I hate not being able to drive. It really puts me off life in general. I feel stuck because of it. I've been chasing the ability to drive for years only to keep failing due to my epilepsy.

Yes since 2021. It's complicated but it took a long time for me to be diagnosed

Ever since I got out of highschool I worked really hard on trying to drive and get my license. I got turned down by jobs for not having a full license and legally it takes over 3 years in my country to get a full but at the same time, I got diagnosed with epile in 2021 (beforehand I had symptoms but they were considered not real seizures it's complicated.) so I was driving but if I had a full seizure I'd have to wait a year again to drive. But I felt like If I couldn't drive I was screwed in life. I'm starting to undo that belief more and more

Hey guys. I've been vegan (with exceptions) for about 7 years now. For ethical reasons predominantly. But, veganism gets a bad wrap, and for a lot of good reasons. I used to be with a partner who was vegan and their family was vegan, I did a bit of vegan activism and while I was on board with supporting activism. I also do not like ideology and fundamentalism. I am no longer with that partner and have a new partner in which we are married. But now I'm practically the only vegan. I still support the idea of moving towards veganism or reducing animal suffering as much as possible. I believe that we do have the potential to move towards a vegan world in the sense of moving away from factory farming and animal exploitation. Of course nothing set in stone. There's always going to be exploitation. I see veganism similar to other areas of life such as politics where one end, people are defending of older values and sceptical of moving on and the other end of the spectrum people are ignorant and dismissive of older values that worked for generations. Vegans using terms such as "animal holocaust, slavery" etc. But this is seen as extreme. I assume... That slavery or black rights, immigration etc. in the times had similar issues. Because those systems were dependant on conserving one group over another hence survival. Both in terms of self and community. You had this polarising effect of left and right. But as time goes on society evolves and it becomes easier to be more independent and in turn provide more for the outside world. Eg. Countries working in conjunction, cultures coming together, traditional standards lowered. I think veganism is a great example of spiral dynamics green and how on one hand it's moving past human race as important and animals as inferior to animals being just as important as humans... It's also a matter of dismissing older traditions that have kept the human race functioning . Those older traditions in the sense of lower stage colours red, blue and orange etc. are what the vegan extremists so to speak would dismiss or not consider as much. Of course evolving through green can appear in many ways, not just humans vs animals. Now for me. I agree with alot of the science to veganism environmentally, nutritionally, ethically etc. Hence I am vegan and also feel if someone can't fully be vegan that doing their best to work towards it is an important value. I know there is the argument that "everyone's body is different" but as far as I am personally aware (feel free to point out some objections, I'm open minded) ... If you're getting a blood test, aside from B12, it should be pretty simple to find a plant alternative for any nutrient or energy source. So part of me agrees with promoting it and consider that veganism is something we should strive towards as a society, but it's always a question of "where do you draw the line?" What are your guys thoughts?

Thanks heaps for your input guys. Appreciate it alot.

Hey guys. Just started to come back to these forums after some time so pardon me if I haven't seen this posted already. But I love with my wife and I am always telling her that I am going out for walks, during the day and during the night. I love the night sky, I love to get exercise, but at the same time I also do most of my obsessive thinking. For years I've had a half hour meditation morning practice but been stuck in alot of situations where I am not working. Been dealing with some personal issues so been unemployed for a while, But at the same time, I get into ruts where I stop watching videos and instead try to think my way around every problem in my life. Am I normal? The problems in my life is my negative views of the world and I had a realisation that all thought is essentially problem solving (or trying to leave the current moment you're in for some other experience) ... Hence if you're thinking all the time. You're inevitably looking for problems or escaping reality by default. I have recently started doing the odd hours long meditation... And I've realised that meditation can change your perspective on time. For example a boring job is only suffering because with an unstable restless mind, time drags on. But having a more concentrated mind, situations that are unpleasant you are able to tolerate and even embrace. Sometimes I follow spiritual teachers and get a vibe that they key to enlightenment is to just give up thinking. But I also noticed that me contemplating so much. I find more problems with the world, that even my associates who would smoke weed, watching tv and play videogames all day long are more positive then me since they're less stuck in thoughts. Love to hear your guys thoughts. Cheers.

I see. Il check out more of on the forum. Thanks for the input

Just beat rellana. But may have overspent my time trying to beat her. Talking 3 days straight fighter her lol

Hey guys. Just a quick note. This is a topic I feel should be explored. If what people are saying is true about veganism in regards to the environment and health aswell as the cruelty in regards to animal agriculture... Shouldn't we open our compassion towards animals aswel as humans? Why are humans so inclined on helping humanity but putting animals as secondary? It sounds silly, but what makes a human different or have superiority over animals? Why should we help humans but not animals? Are animals less sentient than humans? Want to hear your guys thoughts? Note. This is a topic I want to explore in this post, I am not here to push my views on anyone else, but to investigate. Personally (and this is just me) it never made sense how we consider it okay to exploit animals but not humans.

I understand your point of view and I agree to an extent. To me it's more moving in the right direction instead of doing nothing. I am vegan but even I think it's excessive to push everyone to go vegan. But it is a direction I believe humanity should be working towards it. The argument that we may aswell not bother is coming from a place of ignorance. I know in new zealand it was seen as the dummest thing ever to move plastic bags to paper and cotton at grocery stores. But times have changed and we have adapted. People say it's the circle of life. That breeding billions of animals in factory farms and brutally killing them for production is life is a cop out. We find it highly disturbing what happened to the jews but reaply what's the difference? The nazis considered the jews inferior and we consider animals the same. I'm not saying we have to let insects infest our houses because they have the same rights as us in that sense. But factory farming is a result of culture and sense pleasure rather than that of necessity. Before disagreeing though. Being open minded the possibility that maybe we don't need to do this is the right thing to do. Even if I am wrong and for some reason we NEED to do it. Nobody wants to consider alternatives. I see a disconnect there. My fundamental question. What makes a distinction in regards to rights to live between humans and animals. Key... Its not intelligence

I would love leo to look into this subject as it is a deep contraversial topic. But it has many aspects. Such as health, Ethics, Our views upon animals and sentiency, Discrimination, Animal agriculture and influence on the planet., And others.

Good point. I feel ethics is a big compenent though. I find our views on animals vs out views on all humans from an equality stand point are untenable.

I have been meditating for four years now. But I feel like I am not improving as much as I want to be. I usually meditate 30 or 20 minutes. It has been so long and still I even find 30 minutes challenging. What is going on? Am I just not committing hard enough? At some points I increase my meditation up higher to like 50 minutes, but then I have lazy days, with very foggy mind, and it just becomes way too difficult and I get too restless. I understand that as part of my practise I have to learn to accept even those states, but I don't feel I am growing at all. Other distractions come into my life and pull me back down. So I end up not improving but barely just maintaining my practise. I see people wh have very sharp minds like my maths teacher. He used to take part in zazen. He mediates 2 hours a day. I jusr dream of getting to the point where I can sit for long periods of time and be happy. Not attached to distractions. I mean I don't have to be some kind of monk. Bu t at least I want to be on the path of mastery with my non dual practise. It is what I value the most as a self help apprentice. I just can't seem to get more conscious or more content or lose more of my ego or whatever. I can't improve. Does anybody have any advice, or is anyone else struggling? Do I just need to surrender all my other distraction attachments? Work harder? I know time is not as important as quality of mediation, but at the same time. I feel being able to be okay sitting and not doing anything is very important. Because I am losing the need to have entertainment and all that shit. I want to be fulfilled and happy without it. But I just keep getting sucked back down

Yeah haha the part we missed is that just because you are enlightened or whatever. You still have things you would choose to do or respond to.

Not a joke but me and my friend used to have this interpretation of how a monk would act. Some guy walks up to an Enlightened monk and punches him in the face. The monk just says "oh it is just sensations in the body'and smiles. The guy starts punching the shit out of him. The monk is just letting him punch him, saying "oh it doesnt matter, it is just feelings inside the body". Then the guy grabs a baseball bat and starts wacking him, Then the monk just sits there smiling and letting him beat the crap out of him. Lol we had very silly assumptions about enlightened people

You are not supposed to fall aslepp at all that is the thing. You keep watching until you ge ttransported so to speak

Ahh get jad t jones ebook, or trippadvices ebooks

Uh... dude, all this is anxiety. Far too much judgement. For the social phobia, you wouldn't have any of this shit if you weren't anxious. Why does your body do this? Because you trained it too. How do you stop it? Experience. You can not stop your fear of people simply by trying to think differently. What is really going on is a strong sense of resistance. For example, when in social situations, how do you feel? Your body shakes, you get nervous, you get anxious. Well let me tell you, you don't have a choice but to allow yourself to feel all of that. You see, you are trying to get us to help you stop feeling a certain way. But that itself is an attachment. You really aren't scared of people. You are scared of your emotions. This creates a vicious cycle. I've been there. Social anxiety comes from resistance to social situations, mainly negative scenarios. Because your too scared to let go and embrace your authenticity. Don't believe me? Ask yourself, why you feel this way. What you are really doing is holding on way too much to your self image. For example, what will you feel when someone does something against your ego? What happens when you don't act the way, you want to infront of people. What happens when you get rejected. What happens when people don't like you. What happens when nobody wants you? Most people in this situation assume that I need to fix who I am so this does not happen. I need to be confident so none of this happens. NO !! YOu hold on to far too much expectations. And in a school or closed environment where you are surrounded by the same people constantly, it is hard because if you fuck up, you lose your dignity. But ahh... thats what you are holding on to far too much. Surrender. You see, with your current state, you probably will screw over. You probably need therapy. But you need to accept and embrace it. Why are you not okay in situations, but other people are? It is not because they logically know how to act. It is because they are constantly around people and used to it so that their minds know how to act and respond accordingly socially. Nobody who is socially isolated is going to suddenly go infront of people and be a master. It is experience that matters. Same with woman, same with anything. Is this a mental disorder? maybe. Does it matter? no. If your body isn't doing what you want it to, it is trying to tell you something. Emotions are like signals. So if you are feeling a lot of this. You either need to let go of expectation and just stop thinking. Just act. It doesn't matter whether you screw up or not. Stop trying to run away from it. It is a good pain. On the other hand, you may have to get medication, change your diet, your negative habits, and be more healthy. But for now you need to adress your fears of social situations. This goes for everything else you said. You are worrying too much. Which means you need to start becoming less attached to outcomes. Stop trying to prevent things from happening. Take right action. But don't cling to outcomes. Stop looking for results, start becoming okay with what is. Let life be life is the best advice I can give you. Stop trying to worry about making things the way you want them to be. You can still put right effort into things without worrying about them. Do you mediate, do you apply mindfulness? If not, do that. If so however, you can still be prone to this. Because I been there. But your forgetting to use the practise so you can realise, that no matter how life wants to be, you adapt and accept and love it. Don't try to force life to be the way you want it to be. Of course still work for what you want. But ultimately, you need to practise so you can be okay no matter what happens. Remember, it is normal to feel like this socially if you haven't socialised. JUsrt slowly work your way up. Don't hold on to your ego. Don't hold on to making impressions. Dont hold on to anything. Just surrender. Learn to become more authentic. That means you accept your fuckups and flaws. You can still work to fix them. But while they are still with you, you embrace. That means, when you get too nervous you own it. You say to people "hey sorry this is just how i am feeling" you are not afraid to own your flaws. Also I know you may have social desires, such as wanting friends, love, or maybe to attract the opposite sex. But again, put the work in, but stop worrying about that results. OUr bodies do stupid things that ruin our results, but we must accept it along with our flaws. For example, I went thought hell because I have an unknown disorder where my body collapses. This made me exremely anxious. It ruined my life. I would talk to girls and collapse infornt of them, it was terrible. But now I own it. When I collapse, or whatever, I just let people know. The truth to being authentic, is to let people know about your problems, so they can understand you

It comes down to decisiveness and commitment. Really on action, and don't get distracted by your thoughts of doubt