100rockets

This model makes a lot more sense!

@Leo Gura Thanks!

@Leo GuraLEO, I heard you talk about being able to experience being a tree (or anything else) in a video. Can you tell me what that phenomenon is called and what exercise should I use for that?

@Aware Hmm do you know what that phenomenon is called?

@Aware I only know from my experience. Is there a way to experience being someone else? I know there is a concept in meditation (I'm not sure what its called) that you can experience being one with a tree or some other thing, Leo spoke about it once. Would that get me any closer to grasping this?

I am. It's actually very frustrating

Still, every illusion is a separate illusion, I cant hear your thoughts or think I am your ego. I (whatever that I is) only experience one illusion

But who, what is going to experience the result of that karma and ignorance being reincarnated?

@Aware I cant really grasp that, it's all very abstract. Even if its an illusion I'm still the only one that experiences the illusion of me. Nobody else does

From my understanding (according to Buddhism or some other spiritual sources) sleep is related to death in that the last thought we have prior to falling asleep is the first we will have when we wake up and so in a similar way the state of mind in which you are in when you die will determine your next life (that is if reincarnation exists). However thought is just a form in the mind. Does the mind go on after death then? It seems quite contradicting and also a form of scare tactic. What are your thoughts on this and reincarnation in general? better than that what kind of direct experiences have you had meditating that lead you to believe what you do about reincarnation?

I know how important self improvement books are and I think Leo said once that fiction books have the same effect as tv but I also read that people who read fiction claim to have a broader perspective and it helps them relate to other people and different times and cultures. Whats your opinion on this? Also can you recommend any specific fiction books that opened your mind? something that served you on your self development journey?

@WarPants Thanks!! I will look those up. Can you recommend something that doesn't include any tragedy like blood, breaks ups or illness? even if the story has a happy ending? I want to stay away from anything negative.

@YaNanNallari I agree, thats why I asked the question I read a lot of self help books I just need some more flavor

@Soulbass Thanks for the suggestions. I didnt watch the movie but I will check it out as well as the book

I havent found anyone yet thats worth following weekly other than Leo. Other then that I read books. There are plenty of great books and a few threads on here already with book suggestions. Is there a specific topic you're interested in?

Do you have a real strategy with goals and how to get there? What do you work on first? I'm all over the place with self development and getting frustrated. When I focus on one thing like my financial issues then I neglect my relationships and my health. If I work on everything at once then I get really slow results and wonder if this the right way to approach it. I just watched Leos video: How to be a strategic motherfucker and I wrote down my goals and created a plan for the more urgent matters I want to fix in my life but it will help to hear some success stories and strategies. Any input will be really appreciated.

@abrakamowse You're welcome

I tried this today Wooohooo what a burst of energy. How long do you do this for and how cold is the water?

You're not alone, I think we all feel misunderstood sometimes. Here's a few things to consider: - Try to appreciate the fact that we live in a time where we can connect with people all over the world, someone somewhere for sure has a similar way of thinking. This forum is a great place to start. - You can try to find some activities or groups in your area with like minded people, maybe look something up on meetup.com or a something similar. - Try to improve the way you communicate and connect with others at all levels there are plenty of books on this subject. I should probably do the same

@Telepresent I really appreciate your response! and I'm happy to hear that you got to where you wanted to be after all that work. Wanting something badly is a good drive, I dont have anything that im so passionate about... maybe I'll take Leos life purpose course. As for my plans the first step on my plan is to increase my current income so I broke that into smaller steps. I need to to be more productive so I can have a good reason to ask for a raise. I took your advice about excel, I'm going to play around with that and see if I can use that to keep myself on track. Thank you so much!! You're probably right, I was searching a bit and found this. I will try to use this as a guide to schedule the most important things in all areas of my life every week and use excel to track my progress.

Ive been starting to realize that my brain is addicted to thinking about specific things like relationships money and conflicts. Relationships is especially a problem for me because if I'm very interested in someone I will be thinking about them all the time which can be great, on the flip side If I go through a break up it will torment me forever even if i worked though the process of mourning and the whys and ifs and shoulds, it's just something that is on my mind constantly like a clump of chronic thought patterns (not assigned to any specific person just the topics) Occasionally I stumble upon something else I'm very interested in or want to look into more such as a specific type of meditation I read about or something in a book or a new hobby but often when my mind starts wondering to places it has already been 10000 times which is completely pointless and I cant get it to stop unless I switch the topic and I get to this confusing place where I dont know what else to think about? So I'm curious if anyone can share.. what do you think about all day? Does anyone else have this problem? What is the solution? How do I train my brain to want to think about something else?

Well at least I'm not the only one..

This example is a bit of a mind twister (color perception is more of physiological thing not a perception based on thoughts) in this case if neither of us are color blind you'd really be telling me that I can't trust what I see and have known for a fact from a lifetime of direct experience. If I were to believe you, that would make me feel crazy. But I understand your point, I would be defending my own perception of reality.

That makes more a little more sense now This really hit home, I have to say this is the deepest topic Leo covered so far (for me anyway), it's sad and liberating at the same time to realize how what I adopted as a beliefs and ideas have been underlying destructive forces that keep me stuck even when evidence of direct experience is contradicting. Some beliefs are so engraved in the mind and many are subconscious it's quite a challenge to let them go.

What I took from that video is that beliefs prevent you from exploring other possibilities. When you believe something any contradicting information tends to be dismissed such as believing in a religion or believing that if you haven't shaved today the girl on the street will reject you, you get stuck because your mind isnt open to the fact that it might be different. I'm having a little trouble with this though because beliefs aren't always fed to us by the environment, some are a result of a direct experience or multiple experiences. If direct experience is truth and you have had the same direct experience many times then can you conclude that this is the truth? Like the sun rising every morning. Does it serve us at all to think we might be wrong about the sun rising every morning?