Ayham

I agree with what Yimpa is saying, about listening to yourself. Why argue who's awake and who's not? do the practices, contemplate, deconstruct beliefs, etc. and all will be well. I am not even qualified to talk about this subject (nowhere near enlightenment or god realization), but as much I really love Leo, I don't think this approach he's using is working. I just wish Leo could explain his reasoning for this approach of saying he's the only one awake, how could he even know that and how does saying this even benefit those here? @Leo Gura

@Leo Gura

@Leo Gura cool story bro. It actually might be true, but still, cool story bro

Meditation + self-inquiry + kriya yoga + appropriate lifestyle (good material foundation, eating healthy, being grounded, etc.) It is almost guaranteed if you do all of those, plus some retreats once or twice a year.

Hey I relate, my I have friends with better grades and also better social experiences, meanwhile I am at home meditating, reading books, contemplating, some even read more books than me, it used to bother me a lot, I am okay with it now. So you feel like you are missing out on both academic life and social life. I suppose you would need to solve this internally (like seeing what exactly matters for you and doing your own thing, building self-esteem, etc.) and externally (fix grades, enter a major you like, go out, do pickup, etc.) What do you think is the best internal and external solution? how would you do it?

Note: if you are gonna try to offer advice, please give something that you tried and worked for you. Basically I have terrible social skills, I don't know how to be reactive in conversations, I have bad body language and this causes me to lose friends or repel people. I respond but its not natural, I am always trying to come up with a good response, and I succeed, but it sounds fake. I don't initiate contact much with people unless they are really close to me, and lately, I have lost all my close friends (2) One of them befriended other people, and my relationship sort of faded with the other one. I am neither able to rebuild new relationships nor get new friends, thus I have been all alone, whether in school or other times. Also, I think I have a weak character. My list of possible solutions: Just live like a monk in solitude lol, but I think it's an execuse I am using. Read self help books on how to deal with people (I have not read self help books on this specific subfield) Read body language books Use the pickup approach but to make friends with guys in school (guys because where I am from, high schools and middle schools are only one gender) Use radical honesty to its extreme to develop strong character Anyone fixed their social skills? how did you do it?

Thank you everyone! Really great answers, I don't have time to respond to every single one of them, but I assure you I read them all and will be doing stuff mentioned here.

Here's Tiago Forte's approach to choosing a second brain. 3 types of note takers: The Librarian: They enjoy collecting, building a catalogue of resources and need a note-taking tool that allows them to easily retrieve their ideas The Gardener: They enjoy exploring, connecting various thoughts together, and need a note-taking tool that allows them to easily grow their ideas. The Architect: They enjoy planning, designing processes and frameworks, and need a note-taking tool that allows them to easily structure their ideas You can identify which one you belong to just from reading them, I am personally a Librarian Best choices for each: Librarian : Evernote Gardener : Obsidian, RomResearch Architect : Notion I am personally a Librarian.

So, you lived my life?

its my favorite meditation technique, though it is really open to confusion due to the lack of examples and demonstration .

Make a strong commitment, commit to read daily until you die. For the first month, track your progress, then it will be easy, let reading become a spontaneous activity afterwards. Also, read stuff you are interested in.

Iol, I mean to say this, means you know and have talked seriously with every single person in this forum. Don't worry I am not claiming enlightenment, far from it, but I am curious how exactly do you know that? Or is it simply a play of words? are you referring to god when you say "me"?

"I've been somewhat of a hardass" Definitely. Good to know you are aware lol, so it was all just filtering the people who are not serious?

Hey Leo. I forgot how amazing you are in real life as opposed to text, since it's been long since you uploaded. I remember when I first started this work, everything was glowing, literally, I was in awe by everything and everything was extremely beautiful, every meditation session was extremely rewarding, every book I read was something I was proud of, every time I ate healthy or exercised I felt very good. Everything now is mechanical, it has lost its initial touch, don't get me wrong, I love it extremely and won't ever give it up, but I have become too goal oriented, I am planning what I will achieve 10 years from now in these fields and other life stuff, yet feeling empty now. sometimes the good ol' Eckhart Tolle idea of being present does help. I will focus more on the small stuff and change my attitude, so thank you

guys, be original in your porn

@Leo Gurahehe, yeah, I am trying to do that. I actually can't, it is literally what gives my life 80% of its meaning, plus I am at a critical point in my life and I have many goals that I want to achieve before I enter college, and that's like in 1.5 years, things like: Reaching stage 6 or 7 in the mind illuminated Reading a lot of serious psychology and western philosophy books, I also want to read books in math's, physics, chemistry, and biology so that I have basic grasp of science (I would turn to more spiritual books later) And I have a feeling this is wrong, that I should read what I am passionate about instead of science, which I don't even know how much I like, I am doing this partly because I have a sort of FOMO about all fields, even in your videos for example, whenever you mention a name or something that I don't know exists, I just feel like I should be way more knowledgeable and this leads to wanting to consume all fields rather than focusing on specific things, I also have a sort of vision of becoming a renaissance man. Figuring out how to be able to get out of Iraq using a scholarship or something, maybe I might get out after college, but that's not preferred. I don't really have much time to waste. btw, do you remember people here on the forum? or only the most active ones?

@Sultan Al Hind welcome, thanks

@Sultan Al Hind well, if you mean sticking to the stuff I do, sure. For like 2 years, I tried to stick to a lot of habits and failed, until like 1.5 years ago, I discovered Actualized.org, had a sort of existential crisis, then made a 4 or 5 months plan to start a habit each month, these were: Meditation Daily Reading (reading a book month, but now I have been reading more than just a book a month) Eating healthy Exercise Contemplation (On weekends, I don't do it daily) These were a start, I experimented with many things but I stuck to those 100% A commitment to do this until the end of my life really helped. Later I started a second brain in obsidian (or what Leo calls a commonplace book) using Tiago Forte's Para system. and now I have been getting into serious psychology and western philosophy Great resources Robin Waldun on YouTube Healthygamergg on YouTube Hamza on YouTube Jordan Peterson Leo's life purpose course Jordan Peterson's future authoring program Shinzen Young Culadasa / the mind illuminated Daniel Ingram Tiago Forte Robert Greene R/streamentry subreddit Books in general

A vision! which rests upon 3 main pillars: Mental: reading, contemplation. Physical: diet, exercise. Spiritual: meditation. You could find more examples for each but I wrote what I personally find the most important.

@Godhead I will apply things from here, thanks for your effort. @blankisomeone lol i know right. @universe well, I have been doing better in the last couple of days. it is fucked up here lol. @LukeZ seems new to me, will look into it.

I hate this madness, the school system, the grades, everything. I am trying my best to get good grades, getting in flow, in deep work, using active recall, trying not to procrastinate as much as I can. yet my grades don't get better, i need high grades because i want to become a psychiatrist, my grades are ok, but nowhere near where I need it (I get like an average of 90 almost every year, I need like 98+, which I know is insanely competitive) fortunately i need these grades next year, so i have time. I love learning and reading and I am continually doing that, but I fucking hate this unending struggle to get better grades, plus I am from Iraq, people here are like the "Asian parents" stereotype lol, so this is extremely annoying. i mean i don't really care for grades, but a major step for my life purpose is psychiatry, so i need it. This is mainly a rant but would also appreciate advice from people who are/were very good in school.

@Hugo Oliveira kind and motivating words, thank you. I do have a, sort of back up plan but it's really not preferred. @universe can you suggest some resources? I have gotten into this learning and productivity field, i have read books like deep work and a mind for numbers, and watched lots of videos. most of the stuff didn't work for me much.

@EugeneTheSage Notion is bad because it's not locally stored, if it was local, it would be godly. @UnbornTao how do you use obsidian? using a zettlekasten? para system?

@Leo Gura that's like the requirements I would need here in Iraq to become a psychiatrist, it's terrible. like I would need this to actualize my lp, which is in the big picture about becoming a psychiatrist and a life coach at the same time (combining them), and using things from philosophy, spirituality, and personal development in my work. and on top of that, writing books, articles and making online courses. but even if i won't need to actually become a psychiatrist for my lp, it would really help to get some sort of good degree because it will tremendously help in getting out from Iraq, plus I am extremely passionate about it, so it is two birds in one stone.

The mind illuminated book is a very nuanced map of the meditation stages with techniques to tackle each one and advance forward.