Nick_98

Hello , I'm recently unable to Gauge the direction of which I am going to within my spiritual practice. I live in a third world religious country so attending ceremony and meeting other people who practice this stuff regulary is not an option. The problems I'm facing are regarding Orienting towards the right spiritual direction or falling into another delusion or a trick , I sometimes find it hard to Gauge if my meditations are straight forward , or not. This post requires someone with direct experience to answer so please speak from Experience. If I played music and challenged myself to not feel emotions while the music is playing , is that considered a spiritual practice ? , How would you alter its description so it can be simplified to a better spiritual practice from your point of view ? What I mean is when you play music , especially when is it a music you already knew ( for example a music that triggers your memories , or your simplest simplest emotions ) , if you let yourself alert enough to not feel and fall into these emotions , is that considered a valid spiritual practice or Bullshit ? Again if is it the latter , how would you reorient this to explain in a better way a spiritual practice. Do your best through explaining , I will not try to "understand your answer" , I will just listen to it , that will help me adjust my orientation. 🐔Thank you 🐔

The Question assumes the average human stage of consciousness.We normally perceive thoughts as some voices coming inside our Skull. This question rose to me from thin air, and I believe a study should be done on this. I am curious about the answers.Even the answers might reveal some deeper questions. Enjoy thinking about it . Important Note : this question is not pointing towards knowing a fundamental truth. This is more of an intellectual/Psychological Hypothesis. Imagine we run this experiment in the real world, we told the students that what exist in their head is the liver, which is responsible for metabolism, and then The feet has a dual function , to let us walk, and to protect our two hemispheres, which are responsible for our thinking and action, and even before they got to school their parents always were careful , to make sure that they know their feet is where thoughts come from , instead of their heads/brains. Again, these are all concepts, and the point of the question is not to examine some fundamental truth. The question is , Will the kids PERCEIVE thoughts as they are coming from their feet ?. My Answer is No.

Notice: All the answers down here are based on my experience , what "I" think & believe. What's the ideal balance? -Create a little bit more than you consume, Only creations make me feel like a robot, only consumption makes me feel useless. Should most of our time be devoted to being a creator? -In my opinion yes. But that doesn't include beating yourself up because at times you are consuming more than you're creating. Does being a creator make us feel more fulfilled than solely being a consumer? -I think it makes you a better human, and it elevates how you think about yourself. I think most people who create something they believe is meaningful think way higher about themself , than most people who don't.

Designing your life by Bill Burnett This book is for you. I know this is not a specified answer, but while reading the book you will find the answer for yourself , and the answer that you going to retrieve for yourself would be way more useful than any answer given in the forum. Brief summary about the book This book implement you with the mindset and thinking strategies, and the action you need for building your career and having a fulfilled joyful career life. This book works on your beliefs and assumptions about whatever career, job image you have. This book Gives you examples of people who had career problems , and how they managed using the book's advice to go through them ,tackle them, and win in the longterm. I'm currently a student but I'm following every bit , and taking action. Remember this book is about taking action , not just fancy theories , it's mostly a practical book. Goodluck buddy. To make it even more luring for you there is a concept in this book that talks about similar situations to you. to keep it short , and i'm not quoting from the book directly i'm just ranting. The story basically was a girl fantasizing about having a restaurant , and believed it would be the best job for her , she loved the idea and her imaginations went big on that. Years gone and she opens a restaurant and then realize it's not really for her , she just didn't like the work. The solution that the book suggests is a concept called "Prototyping" , You don't jump in the pool right away, you test if the water is too cold , or too warm for you, You do that by either asking people who had similar job you're aiming for " What do you love and hate about your job?" , and then put yourself in their shoes, and see if you would enjoy that. OR you could do that by actually doing small jobs related to the field, that can give you a little bit of an idea of what you like and what you don't like. The book talks about approaching life like a designer , a designer gathers data then do the action , repeat the process gather more data and repeat another action , look at the result , gather more data, and so on. When you're designing your career you kinda could go through the same process if you look at it in that frame , you want to gather data about yourself, what you like and don't like , do an action , see the result , Did u like it ? Yes/NO , Do another action , Gather data about yourself , etc..etc.. NO one has figured himself completely right when he was 5 years and said I wanna be a doctor, and it goes on when we grow, we need to test ourselves , instead of falling to imagination loops and when you actually go to work you feel stuck. Anyway , this book can't be summarized in this thread , It's HUGE and has so many juice in it , Read it , work with its concepts , do the actions , then report back to the forum. This is just one concept of ALOT I haven't shared from the book. Goodluck. Just one more concept I would like to share I'm just editing this reply one more time because there is this concept that I really love in the book. Well, to keep it short and simple, there's something called an anchor problem, and this is usually how people get stuck in their lives , and even waste more energy on problems that won't get them unstuck. People could get stuck for days, Months, years, Decades, on anchor problems. The book talks about a concept (again like a designer) called Reframing. Which means when you have a problem , that's not actionable , you can't do it for some reason , you have to come up with ideas (also covered in the book how to come up with ideas) To turn the anchor problem into another problem that could be actionable , and that will move you forward , instead of being stuck. This concept is really lovely, it tells you how simply by reframing the problems that you create and get stuck on , you could simply get unstuck. Top of that , There are examples about how people applied that concept into their lives and produced change, this will make the concepts get really understood and practical in your perspective. That's it, No more edits.

Hello there, I couldn't awaken and I'm absolutely out of this. Story I've been on and off doing direct experience work , trying to get to the bottom of this direct experience , and what we call life.. I've been approaching since a long time the process every now and then , but every time I did the work , I did it with 80% intention , not full intention. However , How the process actually went is , I sit there on my bed , and try to be present as much as possible , then start contemplating , or focusing on an anchor like my breath , questioning and so on .. then what naturally happens is that the process start showing into the body, contractions , extreme blood flow to the head, sweating etc.. I eventually get tired and scared a little bit , the mind gets hold on .. and I quit the experience. Let's talk about yesterday, and why I'm actually done. Yesterday Story I've came there into my room yesterday with full intention.. I AIN'T GONNA QUIT , till Awakening/Enlightenment or whatever what people call occurs. I was there with 100% intention. my mindset is set.. I'm here for Totally Surrendering and Cleaning The whole Egoic/Life/Thoughts Dilemma. Directly present I put my FULL INTENTION and focus on the present. During the process I had a small insight.. " The mind really doesn't want you to do this" , The process is all about PUSHING , PUSHING , PUSHING, against the mind till you eventually get more Leverage than the mind and don't fall through its distractions again. I've showed full intention yesterday, everytime the mind tries to pull me again into distractions , I push AGAIN and anchor my focus on Breathing,Contemplating , Focusing more .. and More.. and More.. As a side effect , My body is getting Knocked out on the floor, I Feel weird contractions, Blood flows through my head and so on , and so on,.. But I'm not letting these excuses make me quit or surrender My FOCUS, MY Intention to get to the bottom of this. After a painful experience of constantly getting knocked out , body getting tired ,contractions ,etc .. I decide I won't quit again, I'm going full force.. And this kept happening for like 4 times during a process of 2-3 hours. Now I finally quit.. Awakening isn't happening for me.. I've pushed against the mind , and surrendered for a lot of time.. I've done everything I can possibly do to reach what other call Awakening. Whatever it's I'm sure my intention/focus were on the right direction towards Actuality , and not towards an imaginary goal somewhere else . Now I woke up in the morning with kind of red dots on my face , from the blood flow that was going through my head during the process of yesterday.. "Oh shit what I'm gonna do now ?" ? the Mind thinks. Whatever... all i wanna clarify here is this , I'm done. I'm out. You guys have a good luck during your spiritual journey, For me it's done here. At least for a while. Cheers!

This really sounds wise from you. These cats can't even make a sense of the mirror. Wouldn't be surprised if they had no sense of self.

How would you put it into words if you observed a dog consciously while it's crying ?

That's a brilliant picture. However, It's really tough for us to become like dogs.

No matter what he says ,This sound like a man who doesn't know how to communicate with people. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Don't be hard on yourself, just drop him. If he was really good at what he does .. then why we would be having a conversation here ? It's OBVIOUS.

Who doesn't feel confused and lost ? Specially during that phase of lock down/pandemic that we were in. Almost most of the people I know are praying to god one way or another because of how lost and confused they feel. It's normal. Everybody has this. Many many people have suicidal thoughts. That is normal as well. Thoughts are just thoughts, they come and go. Whenever you notice a suicidal thought say to yourself the word "Impermeable", this is a strong reminder that no thought /feeling stay with you forever, it comes, and goes. If you watched a thought deliberately you will realise it has a point it starts and point where it ends "where the f** did it go ?" .. Intense Visualization will do the trick. Give yourself a reason to believe in it. Notice that when you don't believe in that trick, it comes from the same Bias illusion that make you believe in it. So what is the reason to stick in not believing in visualizations ? THAT IN ITSELF IS A BELIEF THAT IT DOESN'T WORK. So believe in it, and it's going to do the trick, it will change your life. I had days when thoughts are like this "I'm dumb, Wtf I'm doing,I hate my life..etc" , and days where my thoughts are like this " I love myself so much, My life is so amazing, Omg I'm living my dream life". So who am I Really? , am I the one from that day or this day, in fact I'm neither. This could open the possibility for awakening, but requires much work and consistency. But for now.. let you focus on visualizations/ affirmations. Jason stephenson Channel on youtube is a really good one, It changed millions of lives if you have trouble getting started. Give this child (mind) a little training. Leave it with no training one day and see how it acts different to what you wanted (which of course are positive thoughts). Completely normal.

Well, Here's my grasp of what Leo told us. From watching dozens of videos/reading blog..etc.. Feel free to correct me. Leo says Hey It's Leo from actualized.org: " I want you to stop watching the video right now, and wake up ". " WAIT ? Do you still think that this video will wake you up? " "I want you to notice that you still haven't woke up" " WAKE UPPP! You moron I've been doing that for tons of videos and you still don't get it" " Are you for real ? Still watching my videos?, Do the work!!" "I AM YOU. Doesn't this statement buzz you to start waking up!" " I don't know what else to tell you, if you haven't woke up till this point just sit and enjoy maybe one day you will entertain the possibility of you waking up"

I'm not sure what you're pointing at.

Well, Sleeping is good anyway.

Yeah , for sure. Chasing Ideologies is a big trap. It's always helpful to remind yourself that truth doesn't exist in your mind answers,thoughts , images. Well, I don't know about that really. They say that.

I'm 21, I would be surprised if you're younger. I wouldn't say I meditate or do breath work, I just contemplate for the sake of awakening. But, I don't have a place to do that without distractions. That's why I'm always On and Off consciousness work.

I've been having a lot of discouragement lately. Specially , because things are going well. So I be like.."What I'm doing this for"? . Then I read statements like "You're wasting your time if you are not using psychedelics."..

First of all, you're in a good position because you've done the first step, which is realizing it's the illusion. Realize , that you have no mind that's different from Einstein's , Bill gates, Barack Obama, Eminem,Prostitute,Homeless , Whatever. The mind is a powerful thing, it's able to knock you down your whole life, or let you invent something great, which are both powerful outcome. Play with your illusion, to add more to the self.. Have a happier life, love yourself,chase your ideals, and hopefully have the life you always wished for.(This is what I do mostly).. So what can you do ? Visualize the impossible and make it possible, affirmations,etc.. etc.. Visualizations got me far in life to be honest with you. I don't know where I would be in life without it. I feel like the mind is like child, that you gotta teach him to behave accordingly. And when you don't teach your child on how to behave, it acts incredibly random regarding to the circumstances. You shouldn't blame him when that happen. Set a time each day for like 30 minutes, and do conscious visualization.

Curious.

I think he has done a really good job with his work. In my opinion, He's not the best to stimulate you to care enough to know You. However , he's the best at attracting you to listen. Through his entertaining way to engage his thoughts with you. He's the best to trigger you who didn't have any history with spiritual concepts, to engage into spiritual concepts in the first place. Which is a really strong impact to whoever has never been entertained by the ideas. It's a must to entertain the ideas first, and this is what he's really good at. For example: Leo attracts 20 people from a crowd to the concepts of awakening. Among them 5 have disciplined themselves to do the work. Another teacher attracts only 7 people from the same crowd to the concepts of awakening. Among them 3 have disciplined themselves to do the work. Which is a better ratio, but Leo had the bigger impact.

Distractions-The ego's favorite defense mechanism

I don't think I have ever had a single argument in my whole life . I can't seem to quite understand this part.. Usually when someone have a different point of view than mine , I just follow it with an " Ok " . Why do people argue ? What's the point of it ? What does it serve ?

The key to quitting addiction is to quit the addiction there is no key. To not beat around the bush here. that's just it. It could be an extremely heavy emotional process, the urges are going to come and go, there is no rational way to go about it. it's all willpower. I find this extremely similar to the question of , What's the key to getting shit done? How to stop procrastinating ? It's to get shit done. there is no easy way to go about it. maybe an emotional support from people is going to help. other than that you going to have to go the hard route. and certainly , the ego don't like it .. probably will give you shit for it, it would come as excuses to relapse, negative emotions, anxiety, whatever. Source: Quit cigarettes smoking for 50 days then relapsed.

HAHAHA, Love it

Question is So vague. Who's telling me this ? is it my friend ? someone I know ? my parents ? my partner ? Why's he telling me this ? did I hurt him? Is he aiming for a negative outcome ? or a positive one? for mine ? or us ? or him? Let's give a vague example: X: I don't know why you keep doing x/y/z Me: What's bothering you with it ? X:But that's totally wrong you shouldn't be doing that because of x/y/z My default reaction Me (Convinced): You're absolutely right , thanks for pointing it out. (Proceed to fix the problem) Me (Not convinced/ dishonest): You're right , thanks for pointing it out (totally toss out what he/she has said). Me(Not convinced/ honest) : ok (clearly showing that I don't care). To be honest , Maybe I will hit a point down the road where he/she persists , that it would naturally opt for an argument. But I generally try to avoid it at all cost. Like the default mindset is to not get into one.

I am a newbie, and I don't know what to say. I have never believed that what was on actualized.org was true, or what any other spiritual teacher has ever said. So I had to verify it for myself. I would use a question format here. Why Am I making this post ? I need someone to integrate what happened to me, because I can't seem to integrate it myself . What happened to me ? I was sitting at my room contemplating who am I ? in the dark. It was the closest direct experience I have ever had. I remember I've lost my sense of self. I've said " Who am I ?" "I have lost my sense of self" I repeated it a couple of times then..Boom.. My whole body was vibrating like crazy, I had an urge to vomit. And I felt like I was nearly dying. There was three feelings involved : Scared , Excited that this could be what people call an awakening, Worried if someone of my parent entered the room or if am i going to have a panic attack. It was kind like an horror movie, like when the actress has the devil come from her stomach ,through her mouth to the outside . What happened after that ? I remember there was a sense of worry that it might be a panic attack. My ego took over and the experience has ended. ( I don't know if that's true, this is basically why I am making this post ) Where you more conscious during the experience ? Weird as it sound, I actually felt less conscious when my body has started to vibrate. I didn't took another form or had any non dual insight after the fact. The only thing I can assure you has happened was "My sense of self has dissolved" "My body was nearly vomiting and was all vibrating". What is that ? Is this close to an awakening ? What happened in there ? Guys.. I don't know what to say. I remember saying to myself after the fact, What the f**? This whole stuff about spiritual work is true ? , and laughed hysterically.