ZenMonkey

In the end it only matters what breaks through your conditioning. And because everybody has a different conditioning, different spiritual paths/methods/master will appeal to them.

That's one reason why I love cycle touring. I have a tent and camp for the night. No cost for accomondation, only thing is food. And because I went east (from europe) that's so cheap. If you want to travel longterm also sell your car and cancel your apartment etc. If you do it right it's a whole lot cheaper than staying at home. Hitchhiking is also a great way to safe money. Some people went around the world with no money.

I think you could do it from a physical standpoint. When you run against a wall and every partical does a quantum jump to the other side. The chance is very low though. One second to every second since the big bang is high compared to that. But you can try out and test it. Please report back if it worked.

I too come from a background of depression and social anxiety. Actually this is was what brought me into personal development and spirituality. So today I am really grateful for both. Those experiences where like a wakeup call and taught me soooo much! So even though you did't ask for advice I would like to share how I went through both. Maybe there is something beneficial for you in it. So first depression: After four month in a clinic and half a year of therapy there was not really a brake through. That was when I came across Eckhart Tolle. I watched a lot of videos and read his book. Long story short: eventually I realised that my mind was creating my depression. I was lying in my bed thinking: "Everything is so bad", "I hate myself", "I am so sad" etc. But non of these thoughts were really true. They were just imaginary stories I was telling myself. As soon as I realised that my depression was gone. I even put off my medication what made my doctors go crazy. But nothing serious happend. There were still feelings of sadness left though. But I just felt them, accepted them and didn't judge them as bad. Because I didn't put any energy into them they couldn't last as well. There is one guy on youtube who does a great job in explaining this. He is called Noah Elkrief and well worth watching. Social anxiety: I still had my social anxiety. That was when I came across a video of Noah Elkrief for the first time. It was about social anxiety and he explains it very well. You believe in the opinions of other people. But in the end those opinions are just that. Opinions. They don't tell you anything about yourself. He uses this example: If somebody likes a song, is the song god or bad? Neither of them, it's just preference. Secondly you have a self image. And other people could disprove it. That's what we are afraid of. That we don't get proof for our self image. But in the end our self image also is just an imaginary story. Noah's example goes like this: if I ask you where is your nose, you can show it to me. But when I ask you where is intelligent, good, stupid, cool etc. you can't show it to me because it's just some story in you mind. But he probably explains it a lot better. It's well worth watching. (As well as all his other videos): And it's also about going out and "fake it till you make it."

In the end it doesn't really matter which position you choose. For me full lotus is just the most comfortable in a sense. My legs are in a fixed position and they can't move easily, three points of my body touch the ground. So I have a very strong and stable foundation. And if I move my hip a little bit to the front it's fairly easy to maintain the position. So if you are able to do a full lotus it's actually easier to keep a good position. Just because it supports you more.

What is your experience with intuition? How do you listen to your intuition and do you base decisions upon it? Or do you just think it's nonsense? I would love to hear some experiences of you guys! Personally I find it very often very hard to catch this gut feeling because thought tends to interfere very quickly.

There is a Tedx talk that really inspired me. A guy called Jon Jandai tells how he quit studying and went back to his village to life a simple life similiar to how his people lived some decades ago. He now growes his own food, builds homes basicly out of mud, dirt and clay and only has to work 2 month a year. The rest of the time he teaches how to build dirt houses. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to just settle down like this and focus on the "important" things like realising who you are/enlightment. But maybe it would also be a step back. My community would be vegan and we would grow most of our own food. In other aspects really free. Anyways. Because I am cycling around the world at the moment I have the unique opportunity to be in Thailand and visit Jon Jandai in a few month. I look forward to how that goes.

Why shouldn't you be able to integrate both in your life? I think you can grow in relationships. You enjoy. You struggle. And you learn about yourself. At least if you live it mindfully. A partner can be your mirror. Why does this particular behavior of her bother me? What does it tell me about myself? Find somebody who is on the same page with you. For sure there are some people who like to create drama and all that stuff. But it can only affect you if you let it affect you. Meet somebody who is already a bit deeper. If you are interested in meditation maybe meditation retreats are a good place to find a girlfriend.

I don't know if the attraction is really in the DNA. Because what about homosexual and asexual people. Do they have a damaged DNA? But I think in the end it doesn't really matter where it comes from. It's there and makes life together with all the other experiences to that wondeful thing it is. About relationships: Even so it sounds totally, totally unromantic I think there isn't such a thing as a relationship in reality. It is merely a concept in our minds. But that doesn't say you can't have an deep and intimate connection with somebody.

If I am right here we are taking about women being shaved etc. Just think some years back and everybody thought completly different. Like our parents or grand parents generation. But nowadays we stumple across this topic in a different way again and again, very often in porn. If it would be kind of a belief in parts of society that rocks were attractiv it could become social conditioning I think. Sorry, I didn't get that question. English isn't my native language even so I understand most of it but that was just a bit too high

I am currently cycling around the world and it has been a blast so far! Started in my homecountry Germany, then through Europe, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Sri Lanka and right now in India/Rishikesk listening to Moojis satsang. Especially Iran is just such a lovely country. The landscape is beautiful and the people are the most hospital I've ever meet. I got invited so often by strangers I just knew for less then 5 Minutes (!) to stay for the night. Probably my favorite country so far. India on the other hand was very hard to cycle. On a bike you are in remote areas 95% of your time. And in those areas you are this weird green alien for the locals. And Indians are curious. Whenever I stopped there was a huge crowd gathering. I will continue to Southeast Asia and probably China. But I am open for everything that comes on the way and don't have a particular plan. I love to cycle without a plan and just go where ever my journey leads me. I could post pictures endlessly haha North Korea is also a country I would love to visit. I think nothing comes closer to time traveling.

I think that is just some heavy social conditioning gonig on there.

The disadvantage with dinner (in a restaurant): it's very formal, you can't move and sit in front of each other the whole time. So you have to have good communication skills, otherwise it can get akward if you sit there starring at each other and don't know what to talk about. Something with more activities can give you a break. It can also be easier to make a move like put your arm around her if you don't sit in front of each other. And depending on the situation and your age paying for a whole dinner might be to much to much. But doesn't have to.

That's a very tricky one, but well worth it in my opinion. First you should set a proper goal. Leo has a very good video about that. You actually have to write it down. Otherwise it's just a desire. Also don't focus on quitting masturbation. Focus on a new life vision and write it down. Go out and socialize. Maybe find a new hobby. Use that energy and time you gain. And whenever you relapse ask yourself what was the trigger and try to get rid of it. Here are some helpful links: Leo's video about goal setting Here are two links about quiting porn and masturbation, but you can still gain a lot by reading: Long post about how to actually quit PMO Post about habits and willpower when quitting PMO Best of luck!

You are right. If you quit you fantasise a lot about the opposite sex. But only for some weeks. After some time it stops and goes back to a normal level. Many men have reported that they start to see woman as human beings again and not some meat to bang (if had mixed porn in). So it's just about giving time to the brain to reajust. Otherwise everybody who didn't masturbate would have to be horny as fuck 24/7. I don't know about woman though, but here you will find reports: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFapWomen

In which position do you meditate? I like to meditate in full lotus with a meditation pillow mainly because it's very stable. I move my hip a little bit to the front. But even then I bend forward from time to time. I just move into a straight position again. It doesn't seem to have a big impact. At least not as much as let's say moving an arm.

Zero. Rather get enough sleep and eat healthy.

@Pinocchio @jjer94 @Leo Gura Thank you all three! That helped me a lot.

I like to use what's there. If I am sad: who is aware of the sadness? etc. Also when you see that your attention wanders you can ask: "Who is aware of my attention?"

In one video he said something like he has seen the hair of the tail of the bull. (bull=enlightment) He also said there are a lot of more steps until you ride the bull home.

In my home country Germany there are 45 million (!) little baby chicks killed every year right after birth. (don’t know the stats of other countries) The reason: they don’t need male chicken for the egg production. There are also tons of calfs killed every year because they are not needed for the milk production. Cows produce lots of CO2 and have a huge impact on the climate change. Rainforest is harvested to grow food for them. For cows in the milk as well as in the dairy industry. I don’t want judge your way of eating. I just want to say if you are vegetarian because of ethical reasons you should truly consider veganism. And if honey stops you from being vegan you should consider being vegan and eating honey or being vegetarian and don’t eat egg and dairy. Once you get into it it becomes very easy and won’t be strict If you are interested a tiny bit I recommend the movies: Cowspiracy Earthlings Forks Over Knifes

I think both ways are fine. One argument for meditation with open eyes is, that you also have your eyes open when you don't meditate. So it might be easier this way that meditation and "normal" life become one. When I don't move my body I can come as deep in meditation with open eyes as I can with closed eyes.

The problem with fish is this: if you eat fish from the sea you eat all the shitty chemicals and other stuff that floats nowadays in our oceans. If you eat fish from aqua cultures you eat all the shitty antibiotics they feed the fish. And even then I doubt that fish is healthy because of the animal protein which is just too acid when we diguest it.

@Simon Zackrisson I think Ida's recommendations are great. Forks over Knifes is a fantastic movie. What really sticks out for me is that Dr. Esselstyn cures heart disease, diabetes and other diseases with a whole food vegan diet. I never heard that about a LCHF diet. That is what convinces me. And about the food we ate 10.000 years ago. We evolved much longer on plants. Our digestive system still has the length of herbivores. Carnivore have a shorter one because you don't want to have meat too long in your digestive system because it gets to acid. We also have the teeth for plants and instincts etc. etc. For the species it only matters if an individual can procreate. So if a human can live long enough on meat to procreate this is a win for the human species but it might not be for the individual. So in cold areas it was an advantage to eat meat because it gave humans the possibility to survive there. But today we have a choice and can eat what also is most benfical for the individual. On top we just feel better with carbs in our fuel. You can try this. You feel much more energetic on a High Carb diet.

I have been on a NoFap journey for one and a half year now with all the ups and downs. The biggest difference I see is my level of confidence. It's just amazing. After a relapse social situations just become so akward to me. To everyone who doubt NoFap: Try it out by yourself! You can't lose anything by trying. Go at least one month without and test it yourself. I was very critical in the beginning as well but the results were just amazing. About NoFap being a placebo: Once after a relapse I did not judge it. And yes, it was different. By judging you make everthing worse. But there was still a change. Again most noticeable for me in social situations and level of confidence. Not a prove, only my experience. Why no masturbation: It is easier to quit porn if you quit masturbation for a while as well. Just because many people did both together for so long and so imagine porn when they masturbate. On top many guys just notice a drop of energy if they masturbate (and orgasm). To everyone who struggels with NoFap: Watch Leos video about goal setting. If you don't set a proper goal which you actually write down you just have a vage desire. A goal is key. And stop focusing on not watching porn. Focus on a new life vison and again, write it down.