sleep

"There is nothing to achieve, nothing is true"

I take antidepressants too. Don't know if they affect my meditation progress but I do know that without them maybe I couldn't even bring myself to meditate. What I'm saying is even if sometimes they make progress slower they're still a necessary component for having a practice in the first place, so don't stress too much over their negative effects on meditation if you wouldn't even be able to meditate without them.

@Rilles oh well that's a shame, i've derived benefit from some of his advice as a psychologist so I kind of looked up to him.

@Rilles Is the person he is interviewing really a neo-nazi? Not too familiar with her work, but it seems you're exaggerating things a bit in order to make your argument seem more compelling

I don't know what's with the reply box, or if it's a problem on my end but it's giving me formatting issues and not letting me tag people correctly. Anyways, thanks for those who have answered, I'll take your advice in count. Also, thanks for the video, matt. I'll see if I'm still having issues later and try to give a more in-depth response.

I have multiple friendships, some of which have lasted for multiple years but I'm not sure they're genuine. I get the impression that all the people I'm friends with are just in a mutual "just for entertainment and to pass the time" relationship, not what I would call a true friendship. Ever since I was a kid I would always feel alien to other people, like there was a barrier between me and them and I could never quite cross it. I'm not sure why it is like this and I would like it to change but I'm not even sure how to approach this problem, or if it's even possible for someone like me. So I guess what I'm asking you is, how do I form a genuine friendship? I want true friends, not just shallow relationships with people. Also not sure if this is the right place to post this as it seems to have a focus on romantic relationships, so sorry if I'm mistaken.

i dont get it, how is he being hypocritical

what's the best way to make instant noodles

Things I already know but want to bring more into attention: It's good to make people feel heard and loved and to be able to open up and be vulnerable to some people, it's an important part of forming genuine friendships. Be genuine with people if you expect to have genuine relationships.

@flowboy I would say I'm pretty genuine but it's not as if I'm completely genuiene either. @Megan Alecia Yeah that's kind of what I'm after, never been very interested in having a lof of friends or being popular. Also for everyone who has replied with advice thank you a lot. Some of it has been spot on.

@bejapuskas It's not that I think I'm unworthy of friends, it's that certain aspects of my personality make it hard to get along with people. For example, I'm rather introverted and have difficulty feeling a sense of connection with other people.

@Nahm can you elaborate? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

@Gesundheit yeah the stoics are pretty cool, I was reading some stuff by epictetus but kinda stopped to read other stuff. I took a look at the site and think I noticed a couple of my faults in friendship, thanks.

Yeah that's a problem of mine I've noticed some time back but also I believe I've somewhat solved it in the past couple of years. I'm a lot more open now that what I used to be.

God I hate it so much when people use the ";)" emote. It just fees so smug and narcissistic. Leo if you are reading this please stop.

Couple of things I've learned today: If you people to act a certain way towards you, you should start by acting that way yourself. Preconceptions of what relationships should be like can actually be counterproductive in forming worthwhile ones.

Thanks for linking your thread, I'll take a look a the replies. Kinda makes me feel better I'm not the only one struggling with this.

I haven't been in a single relationship and I'm a virgin but I like the idea of keeping a special bond like that for a single person than have my sexuality be a thing shared with multiple people. I'm a very sexual person, even though I take SSRI's and they usually give you ED and turn a lot of people's libido completely off, but I have self control in things that matter to me.

"I am a physical nervous system meaninglessly quivering in response to stimuli while I ride a planet across the universe. There is no intrinsic meaning to anything and no stories are true and no one is in charge and nothing at all - not anything - is wrong or needs to be changed. If my mind stops making up stories, This is exactly what it is and thats all that you can say about it. One, undifferentiated or bounded, being. Perfect and at rest." Post from some guy on reddit. It seems very true. I know most people here would disagree though, so I wonder what my stance of it should be.

Oh also I realized I want to dress like an ancient roman. I don't know what I'm trying to achieve with these posts.

Does enlightenment/jhannas feel as good as hard drugs? I heard meth feels so good some people just straight up orgasm when consuming it. I wonder if the same has happened to someone realizing no-self or whatever enlightenment is supposed to be.

thanks, apparently some serial killer aficionados took a look at it and i have traits of one

some shitty drawing i did a while ago

Everyone has already given advise on what to do with the guy but I think the real issue lies with your mom. Unless you have a talk to her or something then a situation similar to this will probably happen again in the future.

@Nahm I mean like how to deal with the feelings of being stuck and how not to let it affect your practice. The problem with working with delimited paths like those is that a lot of times people feel that they are not advancing as quickly as they'd like or not advancing at all, which creates feelings of frustration and a loop of diminished progress as a result. I've seen this happen with a friend and meditation, he was following a ten-stage progress path, and since he felt like he was not advancing at all he was frustrated, which in turn resulted in an even more slow progress. Not to say that having a system like that isn't helpful (it is), but it can also be counterproductive in certain cases. As much as it is helpful to know where you are in terms of progress, that awareness can also come with many problems. And as to whether to create another version or not, I don't really know. I mean, stuff like vibrations and whatnot can be off-putting for people who don't have a background in spiritual stuff like me, but if it serves a function and is true then I don't think it should be omitted. Maybe just the clarification that even if you're ambivalent about the mechanisms which make the scale work, it can still improve your life if applied. As for the humor I don't really have a problem with it. Maybe rather than a stripped down version, you could create something like a cheat sheet? Like some kind of infograph that you can use throughout the practice to remind yourself of key points for progress without having to read the entire article again.