Ayham

@Forestluv do you like your job? who would you say it is for? what sort of person would enjoy it?

To be honest, a lot of them hold Islam in bad regard, the key is to think of Islam as something that evolves over time. Check out Mufti Abu Layth on youtube Check out Progressive Islam on Youtube, And check out my long reply in another thread: In general, I would say the western culture is better for most people, but if you wanna use Islam for real spirituality, this is the way. Or if you want to use it to integrate blue, also helpful.

And for your information, even though I don't know you, I will get very sad if you actually kill yourself, because you are relatable in many ways, and you have a lot of potential, just don't waste it man.

This is frustrating, I understand, extremely frustrating too, in Iraq 12th grade is like this, people repeat many years in it, it is very competitive. Have you tried seeing material on learning how to learn, how to correctly study? that would help if you decide to continue college. Listen man, there is probably something, something you have been into since you were young, what is it? figure out something related to it, a job, or a college major related to it, or something far you also like and can connect with it, and while at it, work on making your life purpose work on the side, using the expertise you gain. Think of men that inspire you, how would they behave in this situation? Try to be positive, I know it is hard, I know it sounds fluffy and repititive, I know you don't feel like you want to get better, you just want to end it. But try, see the positive side, all hardship makes you stronger and molds your character, you get epic character development, experiences, and stories to tell after you make it. Be thankful for it. Listen to some Eckhart tolle maybe? that could help

I literally saw a self improvement thread on another forum of a guy starting at 24 and fixing all of his life within 2 years and being far ahead, you aren't wasted and you still have a lot of chances, as long as there is time, there is a chance. I am also from a very academically focused family, got into gifted schools and all, sucked at them, I don't know anything besides studying and this self actualization stuff, I still have time and so do you. Follow your heart, sign up at a course in something you like, you can continue your major on the side if you can, you can drop out, switch, I know it is scary, but it is only because you have so much expectations on you, if you had no family or friends, if you were alone in this, it would be much easier. But this is your life, imagine yourself at age 80, it would be cool as fuck to say how you fucked up everyone's standard exepctations, did what you love, and got success that way. And you have the work ethic, I can tell, since you care so much about your grades, that means you have a sense of responsiblity, it is just the field that you aren't suited for, once you find your field, you will be able to work hard enough to make it work. if all your close people died today, what would you do in terms of your next steps? (besides being sad of them dying)

@Husseinisdoingfine You are still hoping to solve this problem by comitting suicide, I understand, but be aware you are not in a good state of mind right now, don't make important decisions in a bad state of mind. Do you want to talk privately? You literally have a lot of potential from seeing and knowing your previous posts, don't waste it brother. It will be alright, trust.

@integration journey Thank you brother. Sufism is hard to understand, because it is a secret thing, like most of the Sufi knowledge is to be taken from a lineage, and also Salafism takes all the online presence. I don't have a lineage, I am not into orders because from what I observed, it becomes very Cultish, though I plan to take initiation, and continue on my own. Going into Sufism is not easy at all, you will have to learn a lot, read a lot, practice a lot, but I can tell you it works very well once you get it, it is a form of Bhakti yoga in Hinduism, the four yogas in Hinduism are: Bhakti Yoga (devotion and love type shit), Jnana Yoga (self inquiry type shit), Raja yoga (meditation type shit), Karma yoga (being a good person), these are the 4 pathways to union with god according to Hinduism. Now, Sufism is easily Bhakti yoga (divine love and devotion to Allah), and Karma yoga (Perfection of character and purifiying the self) Add in some sort of meditative practices (Buddhism maybe) for Raja yoga, and Self inquiry for (Jnana yoga). Sufism actually has meditative practices in itself, which is Dhikr, or rememberence, similiar to mantra chanting, you just repeat a phrase like "Allah" or "La Ilaha Ila Allah", for long, which quitens the mind, you probably know this, and it is stronger than any mantra chanting because it is accompanied by feelings of love and devotion, and a focus on the meaning of the words. As for Jnana yoga, the prophet himself used to do something like self inquiry before getting "the message", which is asking about what is god, rather than what is self in traditional self inquiry. So you can quite literally use Islam to fulfill all of those, couple it with Fasting, Khalwa (Islamic version of retreats), daily prayers, and other stuff, and you are good to go. My approach is to use Kriya yoga + Self inquiry in the calm state after Kriya, while doing my daily Islamic prayers and rememberence of god whenever able, and sticking to Islamic rulings. I chose Islam just because I am from an Islamic culture so it probably suits my subconscious conditionings. Now if you want to practice Sufism, Sufism is concerned with Ihsan, the perfection of worship, and there is steps to religion according to a funny Hadith Islam: Practing the 5 pillars of Islam, which are daily prayer, giving charity, fasting, beliving in god and prophet, and primiliage to mecca if able Iman: the practices above induce faith or Iman, so they are no longer just practices, you grow in belief in god. Ihsan (what Sufism is concenred with): The perfection of worship, worshipping allah as if you see him. The end goal of Sufism would be Fana', which is like, ego death. So basically you can't have Sufism without Islam as it is built on it, though many in the west do that, so you can try that too. I know believing in Islam is hard, because a lot of it seems like dogma, but I just *choose* to believe in it, for now at least, Ibn Arabi held the belief that the Quran's meaning changes depending on how spiritually developed you are, and the more spiritually developed you are, the more you see wisdom in it, some Sufis have taken a lot of stuff in Quran is metaphor, and are considered heretics lol, other Sufis were very strict, so find your ground. Ibn Arabi also believed in Wahdat Al Wujud (nothing exists but Allah sort of stuff, and we are all a reflection of his existence, sort of like god standing in front of a mirror, and the whole world is a reflection and embodiment of god's existence, but not exactly god) To actually practice, do your 5 pillars, do all of them with a feeling of love and devotion, do Dhikr, extremely slowly, focus on every word and letter, read Sufi poetry, stick to Islamic rulings, maybe join a Sufi order, also I will share some good resources. https://www.reddit.com/r/Sufism/comments/1cn1kah/tassawuf_without_a_sheikh/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Sufism/comments/gmcljv/general_resources_for_learning_more_about_the/ https://youtu.be/a-fzYJcpuyI?si=iFmWjUXt3-_0s_0l https://youtu.be/Yc9k9nvIHOU?si=MXxqZtoIKmjH7rd8 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTgDm4XwxaRIJCWyAO-isyCku250Q4mTd https://youtu.be/0Y6N2e4ED10?si=uRbXN4O-QjJfa4T6 As for books: Anything by Rumi Secret of Secrets by Abdul Qadir Gilani Beginning of Guidance by Imam Ghazali Revival of religious sciences by Imam Ghazali (huge book, actually books) Bezzels of Wisdom by Ibn Arabi (way too advanced, I couldn't understand this to be honest) Or read watered down western books on Sufism, you know Arabic from what I remember of your posts, so it would be better to read in Arabic, not translations, a lot is lost in translation. Yes it is too much, these will take years to tackle lol, so go slowly if you choose this path, just focus on the basics and feeling divine love, stay away from "sins", but don't repress anything, let the divine love melt your bad desires away, slowly tackle material and you will be well. For me, the main difference between meditation practices and Sufism, is that Sufism makes me feel extreme feelings of love, to the point of wanting to cry, meanwhile the eastern practices just make me very calm and concentrated, so they work well with each other, and actually there are certain sufi methods to do Dhikr in a pranayama like way, in certain orders. I don't consider normal Muslims Muslims even if I go by their definition, because they are simply brainwashed into it (the ones born into at least), they don't actually use it to better themselves in anyway.

Bruh I always end up with walls of text

@Sabth you mean your mom used to have pictures of people in her room, even as a practicing Muslim? Yes there's a Hadith about not hanging drawings of living beings, I wonder why to be honest, there doesn't seem to be wisdom in this, I am a "Muslim" whose main focus is using it as a path for self purification and perfecting of character, which is the Sufi concern, being mindful 24/7. Sufism is basically Ihsan, worshipping god as if you see him, and worship doesn't mean just prayer, but your whole life. Just like if you were in a car driving and you saw a cop, you will act more mindfully and carefully and be better, the same is with Sufism, the concern is to develop a feeling of love to god and mindfulness of god, and yes that's still duality, until you basically annihilate into Allah. But I consider it disrespectful to the tradition to rip it off it's islamic background, so I do that too without falling into the Dogma. And the thing about paintings, many modern scholars argued against that, as with anything Islamic, legal rulings are always fought against, which is why I think following intuition is the best, and the obvious things, but not the intuition of your corrupted self, the intuition of yourself when you purify more and more, it will become clearer, and of course if you want to remain Islamic, follow the legal rulings of your chosen school of Fiqh, I choose Ashari Maliki just because why not, I don't consider it absolute truth but I choose to believe in it. @Ramanujan Thank youu! Well, I get complete obsession about a topic every few months, and sometimes I remain obsessed over a topic for years. When I was 11 I got obsessed with topics like relativity and pyramids. At 12 I got obsessed with new age spirituality and chakras and Eckhart Tolle, for like 2 years, it becomes my main thing I think about all time and look up/read on, at 12 I was also obsessed with the learning how to learn and maximizing productivity stage orange stuff. At 14/15 I discovered actualized which was a game changer, I started implementing some habits, and basically watched all video's on the "start here" section, and watched the new ones based on intuition, stalked probably hundreds of topics on this forum from many years ago, it's useful for research. Then I got obsessed with Buddhism and meditation for a year, then Kriya yoga and Hinduism for a year, got obsessed with writing and commonplace books for a while too, for the previous months my obsession has been Islam and Middle Eastern history. I probably have ADHD actually lol, I can't focus unless I'm interested in something, I fought myself every day for years to study as I am in an extremely competitive school, I get good grades but studying is extremely hard, and good grades are bad compared to the standards in this school. About time to get into business and career stuff. Each person has a thing that's unique to them, mine is a thirst for knowledge, even when I'm obsessed about a topic, I still think about and research many other topics, it usually shows from young, like someone might be fascinated with tech since they were young, or art, or sports, or something very unique and weird @PurpleTree Yes exactly, stage blue structure, Islam is the religion that reinforces stage blue the most, it outgrew stage blue until Salafism returned it. Here in my country, fighting against disbelievers is taught in school lol, it's installed onto kids but most kid's don't act on it, but of course there's always people who grow into radicals. With online culture nowadays, kids here are seeing the west too, so they aren't completely shelled and brainwashed. And still there are big radicals, most of my friends are Salafi muslims, we used to debate a lot.

Awesome share and great work. What would you say about implementing new changes and habits in a way that you can stick to it?

Okay so, this is kind of my current obsession as I usually have an obsession with a topic every few months, so I am researching this topic. This is related to a lot of history, and particularly the Salafi/Wahabi movement (I will be referring to them as Salafi as Wahabi is used as an insult sometimes, but they are almost the same). When Islam first divided, there was shia and sunni (and at first it was a political stance not a religious one), sunni has 4 schools: hanafi, maliki, shafii, and hanbali. Now the Hanbalis were most extreme but are still not like the Salafis of today, Hanbalis believed in Allah having a physical body for example too, which is the Athari theology, they believe in literal intereptation, avoiding philosophy The rest of the sunni schools were Ashari/Maturidi in theology, which are largely the same we won't delve into them, but basically, they believed in Kalam, or using philosophy to understand things, they also had other methodologies other than literal and complete adherence to Hadith and Quran, they also believed Allah doesn't have a body. Won't delve into Shia's as it is not my expertise much. Fast forward to the Islamic golden age, the mainstream of Islam is literally Sunni Sufi Ashari Theology, Sufism, it doesn't have a clear origin but there are theories, in the Islamic golden age, a sufi is someone who practices purifying the heart, by a lot of rememberence of god, inducing and drowning in divine love, strict adherence to Islam, and following a Tariqa, or Sufi order. A Sufi order, has a number of disciples centred around a Sufi master, whose lineage goes back to prophet Muhammed through Imam Ali usually (Naqshbandis are the only order who go back to the prophet through Abu Bakr), each person who joins the order gets blessings and initiation of the Sheikh or master, and also gives a pledge, it is an initiation, and this Sheikh or master guides you to reach the end point of Sufism, and he also appoints his best student as the next master afterwards. Now Ibn Taymiyya, A hanbali scholar, the first Salafi, emerged in the 12th century I believed, he spread the Salafi Ideology but he wasn't taken seriously by scholars of the time, he was thrown in prison a lot, but he also had a lot of students. Salafi Ideology is characterized by: Literal intereptation of the Quran and Hadith, causing extremism and also believing Allah has a literal body Believing that vising tombs or shrines or praying there is forbidden Consider the Sufi practices as innovation Consider themselves the only true Muslims Meanwhile Sufi mystics believed that the Quran is ever changing, that its meaning changes depending on how spiritually advanced you are. Now the first belief is the same as early Hanbalis, but, the Salafis claim to follow the "Salaf" which are the first 3 generations after the prophet, who he declared are the most rightous according to a Hadith, but here is the thing, the early hanbalis aren't even in the first three generations. The whole Salafi ideology is based on going back to the Salaf, the first 3 generations after the prophet (even though their beliefs such as believing in god having a body or considering vising graves as Haram are not from the Salaf). And despite Ibn Taymiyya's attempts to spread his thought, they didn't work until the 18th Century (excuse me if I am wrong with the dates), where Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab came in, a very famous scholar and Jihadist who used Ibn Taymiyya's books as a resource, he declared all muslims who don't follow him as Kuffar and disbelievers, he killed thousands as "jihad", and he allied with the Saudi royal family, and also some people say he got financial support from the UK. Due to the big financial backing, the ideology spread, and even though, majority of scholars today are not Salafi, if you google anything related to Islamic rulings, you will only find Salafi scholars, that's how big their online presence is. and look at this short article, in which the Saudi prince says that the west asked them to spread Wahabi ideology after the cold war to counter the Soviet influence: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/03/243388/spread-wahhabism-done-request-west-cold-war-saudi-crown-prince In my opinon, the real reason was to kill Islam from the inside. Also Sufism in the islamic golden age was much different from Neo-Sufism in the west today, it is much more rooted in Islam. (I could have wrong facts here so i don't mind correcting)

Hey I'm a bit late to the thread and my post will probably be lost in between all those posts here trying to stop you or convince you otherwise. I want to say that I'm in your situation and I understand how you feel, I grew up from a family of doctors, got accepted into a gifted school, then the best high school in my country, people in my country all shoot to be doctors because it's the only job with government job guaranteed, I got brainwashed with the Idea at some point, a lot of my pairs from this school went to be a doctor. I fucked up my grades in 12th grade which are the only basis for where you get accepted, I have always been the worst student in this very prestigious school I am in, the work load is insane, I never developed enough work ethic because I always relied on being "gifted" and able to do well without studying, I tried a lot to work on that, but I just can't make myself focus about something I am not curious of. I understand how it feels, trying so hard for good grades and all, and no matter how much you can't do what you are supposed to, especially when your self esteem is built on it. I destroyed all my family expectations, I am going into another thing for college, something that actually suits me and encourages self learning, or I'm trying to make it so at least. I read this yesterday but I was busy, I wanted to write some useful advice like the others did but you got that already, I tried to share something that might make you feel not alone. Take some time in solitude, nature, and figure out what suits you and your strengths, where you need to go. You got this brother, have faith in yourself. You will come out well, this too shall pass.

@Ramanujan An empty one where you can sit and contemplate those questions in it Back it up with well regarded books every time you need one in an area (habit building, law of attraction, productivity, marketing, etc.) And you are good

Hello, folks. I present to you a challenge I will undergo with you. From August 27 until August 30. 3 days (27, 28, and 29) I will spend all my time in solitude and contemplation with no form of technology or entertainment. This isn't hardcore or changing too much, it's just a 3 days reset. Now, I want YOU, the one reading this to join this challenge, to join, write below: What you want to get out of these 3 days Your duration (default 3 days but you can change that if you wanna do more or if you see this tomorrow you can do 2 days) For me, I want to regain clarity, introspect and contemplate, not philosophical questions, but rather purpose related question. Who am I in the human realm? Where do I want to go? What's holding me back? What are my biggest fears? What impact do I want to make? What principles should I live by? Where am I wrong? Where am I falling for self deception? I have taken the life purpose course and did the exercises but everything is hazy, I have an idea but I want to come out of those 3 days with crystal clear vision, so clear that I become unshakable, no human bullshit can put me off course. Other stuff you might wanna do: Do a lot of deep work Figure out a philosophical question or questions that are bugging you Meditate, become yoda and achieve Samadhi Spend time in nature Figure out how to deal with a specific problem that you are having Do Kriya Yoga Do hardcore exercise Read books Anything, or a mix of many things, key word is solitude, from others and distractions I will shut down my phone and not open it even once. I will use cold turkey blocker on everything in my laptop except a specific thing I need to use for a short time daily. I won't fap, I won't eat junk, I won't stay up late, I will talk to people as little as necessary, I will use a physical journal for all the work I am going to do, and digitalise the worthwhile stuff after finishing, I will do my Kriyas. Inspiration: David Deida's book Join me, let's see who ends up doing it, each person who joins will write a report after the period is over about what they got out of this.

I am finished, here is a report: Day 1 There was restlessness, I procrastinated even though I didn't have any distractions, and that was by daydreaming a lot, it seemed like my mind wanted to get that out of its system, especially since all daydreaming and mental distractions stopped from day 2. I was able to contemplate a lot of the questions going on in my mind, I didn't come to any conclusions on day 1, but I started getting clarity and ideas I didn't think about. In addition to that, I was doing my daily prayers and doing dhikr after each prayer in an extremely slow way, taking the meaning of every word. I was also doing Kriya pranayama and sitting afterwards doing nothing, not trying to meditate or anything, just sitting still for a minimum of 10 minutes, after already calming my mind by slow breathing techniques. I noticed that a lot of negative emotions come up during those calm still 10 minutes or more, which I took as a positive thing, as it felt like unconscious stuff were coming out of my system. Day 2 Productivity got shot up the roof, I was able to work 8 with little breaks and extreme focus. I did not intend to read books but I did, I read a bit of Stephen hawking's the grand design, the materialist scientific lens is extremely interesting. So I started questioning all my beliefs on paper, I ended up in an existential crisis, I felt like I don't know what to believe anymore, so many different paradigms, I questioned everything I was convinced of, and got myself in a state of not knowing, I decided to embrace that state as it puts me in radical open-mindedness to beliefs and ideas. Then I returned to questioning stuff about my life, I came up with a list of principles to live by, written principles, written values, and a written contribution I want to make. And it was centered around creating a stage yellow society, a society of people who don't hold ideologies, who embrace questioning beliefs, who use their knowledge to develop themselves and spread good, people who are lifelong learners and wanting to make a change. Or maybe... make a secret society.... I am having ideas. Also did breathing exercises and stuff I am combining Sufi Islam + Kriya Using Islam as a path of Devotion, even though it is dualistic for now until I have the actual experience of non duality, adding the Sufi practices to add the spiritual aspect. And the Kriya practices to actually work with energy and concentration and get in contact with spiritual reality, current goal is to just: perfect pranayama and achieve tongue thing, I wasted a lot of time confused between different Kriya variations. Why Islam? because I grew up around it and still live in an Islamic culture, and I believe that makes it fit my subconscious dispositions formed during growing up, of course I don't believe in it as absolute truth, I just choose to follow it as one valid path out of many, until I transcend it. Day 3 I cried during prayer from an overwhelming feeling of divine love penetrating my heart, I was feeling height of mental clarity then, my perception of the divine was beyond time and space, beyond duality and non duality, it was an interesting experience, hard to describe. During the pranayama + meditation, I felt immersed in a state where I lost track of time, and felt reborn afterwards. I read more Stephen hawking and a book on ancient yogic breathing A studied for 8 hours focused I ate processed food sadly I ended up coming up with step by step goals towards where I want to go, and making a way to check if i violated my principles and values every end of the day. I noticed that I'm perfectly happy without technology, I did not even miss much during when I was gone Biggest benefit on day 3 was losing interest in human bullshit, noticing how much of my attention goes to meaningless things, and being determined to let go of anything that does not move me towards my purpose or align with my principles --- i did not reveal private info or too much detailed conclusions about my own life, I gave the general idea, but yes the clarity I got was astonishing, amazing experience.

No one's joining?

7 habits of highly effective people by that famous dude (classic but really life changing for me) Atomic habits by James Clear (best on creating habits, but just creating habits won't fix your life, yet it's essential) Power of now by Eckhart Tolle (reading this book is like meditation) A beief history of everything by ken wilber (to navigate life and have success, you need a good map, this is the best) The way of the superior man by David Deida (principles to live by) Synthesis of kriya yoga by Ennio Nimis (if you care about spiritual purification) Meditations by Marcus Aurelies (read it once, then put it near your desk, whenever you need some guidance, open a random page, and read a bit)

What is?

@Raze great balanced analysis, thanks for your answer , you seem quite knowledgeable. I'm curious about the source though, is it some personal connection or a public figure? Lol, Abu Gharib is like 1 hour away from here (I live in Baghdad).

Do you guys think this will be a full blown war in the middle east?

Smoke dmt

Hey, so, I have, like you, asked this question too, I got into a deep rabbit hole of searching different traditions and teachers and asking experienced people for real practical answers. in the Buddhist map, there is 3 things you must master Morality: basically just act right, you probably know those intuitively, don't say wrong stuff, don't lie, don't gossip, don't kill (), don't hate on people, don't steal, etc. Concentration: just developing your ability to focus Insight: using the focus you attained to gain insight into reality and hopefully get Now the Buddhist maps get confusing, but I will give you a Buddhist practice that really worked well for me, it focuses on radiating love and kindness, on soft gentle concentration rather than pushing yourself to focus, the technique is called TWIM (tranquil wisdom insight meditation), and in my own experience this practice is transformative. here is video instructions (I also have a post from a few days ago on this forum explaining it): You can try to find a guided meditation for the first few times, this technique makes meditation really enjoyable (my top recommendation for you) I won't recommend diving into insight or Vipassana meditation on your own, at least for now, save that up for a retreat if you do go one. Teachers to explore if you are ambitious: Shinzen Young, Culadasa, Daniel Ingram. In the yogic path, I would recommend Kriya or Kundalini yoga, but I don't think that suits you right now, it is a bit hardcore. Finally, there is non dual practices, things like self-inquiry, or choiceless awareness, or do nothing, those are the highest techniques once your mind is calm. basically in summary: Find a meditation object, draw a smile on your face (gentle turning of the corners of the mouth upward) Focus on it, not intense laser like focus, but calm gentle focus, are you aware of the fact that you are breathing? that's enough, no need to focus extra hard, it will bring negative results. whenever you notice yourself distracted, drop whatever that is distracting you. relax your mind and body (mind by relaxing wants and cravings of thoughts and future, body by physically relaxing tensions) Re-smile Focus again and shift your mindset, the more you get distracted the better, because that means you have better chance of catching yourself, it is the act of catching yourself distracted that makes meditation work, it is like one rep for the brain every time. At some point you will be able to notice yourself getting in thought loops during the day and let go just like that, it becomes second nature. Be aware When a distraction happens: let go, relax, smile, and focus again. What are you hoping to achieve from meditation? I am giving general tips

Yes, we are, even if we use it well, most of us in the forum I would guess have a natural appetite for learning and educational content, yet on the internet everything is mixed, sure you may consume good content, but you will still end up in some brain rotting side of the internet at least every once in a while, but most likely, that "every once in a while" is pretty regular. I myself had a googling addiction, I used to google everything, and I usually deceive myself by telling myself it is useful, or educational, I end up in a rabbit hole of consuming, skimming article after article, thread after thread, meanwhile I am not even getting quality info, I realized this, I started writing down what I want to look up, being more proactive about what I look up, rather than reactive, as in being reactive to my impulse to know. And guess what I realized? most of the stuff are just shallow, empty, I look at my list at the end of the day and I think "it is not even worth looking up those stuff" Now there is also another danger, social media, personally I would say this: keep social media, delete the short form social media (shorts, reels, tiktok), or keep them only on a computer device, that's similar to what I do, I dedicate a specific time of the day to check social media, yes I am not always consistent, but I am trying. A lot of people in this forum bypass into letting everything be, not putting effort, letting go, which I am all in for, but you have to fully integrate orange before that, you have to go through the striving and accomplishing phase, of putting your life in order THEN let go of effort, let go of control, be spontaneous. And since you made this post, I can tell you need to integrate orange. I personally use website/app blockers during my work hours that can't be disabled, along with specific time to check social media, I am building a deep work habit and trying to develop a better work ethic, social media rotted my brain for years, and I didn't even use it that much. You have to find something to replace social media with, whether that's work or studying or a hobby or a side business or taking courses or anything. Also meditation is key for learning to let go of impulses, and gradually building up into green.

If a kid were to ask you, "how am I supposed to live life" Or "how do I navigate life with all it's complexities, how do I live a great life?" What's your answer, I'm curious to hear various high quality answers.

Okay so, my meditation stopped working or having effects on me since a while, I kind of plateaued, but recently I have discovered TWIM meditation, basically focusing on a feeling of loving kindness instead of some dry object like the breath. It is making meditation very enjoyable for me, and also curing my loneliness, and also healing my fucked up self esteem. My suggestion is: if you have stopped getting results in meditation, or it is too much of a chore, try TWIMing! Simple instructions Focus on radiating a feeling of loving kindness to yourself, if it helps, you could imagine yourself, say some words like: may I be happy, may I be free of suffering, may I be well, may I be healthy, etc. Once you got a feeling of loving kindness to yourself, just, radiate it more to yourself, focus on it. Your meditation object is this sincerely kind intention of love towards yourself. Maintain a gentle smile, just an upward turning of the corners of the mouth, feel the smile in your mind too. You will do this for the third of the session (20 minutes of a 1 hour session, 10 minutes of a 30 minutes session) For the remaining time, it's basically the same but choose to radiate this feeling to a spiritual friend. Find someone alive who has to be from the same sex as you are, who is not family, focus on radiating this feeling to them. How to deal with distractions Now whenever you get distracted, implement the 6R's "1. Recognize that attention has drifted away from the meditation object and become caught up in a distraction. 2. Release your attachment to the distracting thought or sensation by simply letting it be, and withdrawing attention from it. When you stop feeding the distraction with attention and energy, it will dissipate on its own. 3. Relax any remaining tightness and tension in the body, heart, and mind caused by the distraction. 4. Re-Smile. Restore the small smile to your lips, your eyes, and your heart, and with it the happy feeling of loving-kindness. 5. Return your attention back to the meditation object—the sincere wish for well-being toward yourself or your spiritual friend. 6. Repeat this series of steps whenever the mind becomes distracted and loses its meditation object." Simple enough but it works wonders. The type of concentration is relaxed open concentration, not hardcore one pointed. I am combining this with Kriya Supreme Fire personally. Also fun fact, the buddha mentioned metta over 100 times in the suttas, while mentioning breath focus only 8 times I believe.