Toby

@zazed it is actually not true. If you break it down, trauma is something that is stored in the body, here now. Ok, maybe the story is not important, maybe it's not important what something is or isn't called or defined as but what arises is what arises. And certain "symptoms" just are trauma symptoms, e.g. if you meditate and there is uncontrollable rage/anger or fear or spacing out/dissociating or collapsing/depression or freezing or overwhelment or if something releases maybe shaking/trembling. It is good to know some signs and how everything fits together on that level. Edit: there are a lot of people that meditate for decades that have not resolved certain traumas in them. And there are even a lot of people that are awake and they also haven't dealt with or resolved most of their traumas. Believe it or not.

I would say feelings are more like sensations and emotions are interpretations of feelings, but I'm not an expert.

No. I wouldn't do anything. Just relax.

Depends on the animal.

You sound exactly like women in the video.

One teacher I know joked even about starting "thinkers anonymous".

Maybe. Maybe not.

You could also read a few things in the Bible and discuss with him what certain things mean to him and mean to you. I wouldn't throw advanced christian mystics at him like Meister Eckhart or Bernadette Roberts as they are overwhelming even for people on the path.

I love the hiking scene in "Peaceful Warrior" where "Socrates" shows Dan "God".

Everyone is. Edit: 99.99% is

Yeah, as I pointed out, Esther is more in the "hey man, you gotta raise your vibration" department and other teachers have a different approach.

I'm not a psychologist or scientist, I can only speak from my experience. For me, seeking out situations to "conquer" fear was driven by fear and not wanting to be weak. It was a pushing trough or over fear or even an attraction or excitement by the "fearful" situation. For me, it is based on fear and maybe I'm a bit too "shy" or sensitive, but in some ways it was even retraumatizing or counterproductive because the situations like pickup-mass-approaching were too overwhelming that I pushed the fear more into my system or dissoziated. I could do it, but the fear wasn't really met. The only way I found to meet the fear was and is in a meditative way, in formal meditation or even in situations. That's just my experience, but hey, maybe you are hooked up differently and it is beneficial to some degree. Edit: it's a bit like people who are constantly angry. In reality they are avoiding feeling angry and so the have to act out on it. It's the same with fear. It's avoided and you have to act it out by either withdrawing or seeking out the situations. Both based on avoidance.

Sorry, I don't get what you are saying. She? Do you mean Esther Hicks or Gangaji?

I don't understand. What should I quote? Do mean what teacher talk about layering of emotions veiling our true nature? Gangaji & Eli, Leonard Jacobson, Adyashanti. But they all have different approaches. But I can already pick up that you seem to like Abraham hicks, right?

Really difficult to tell if this is more like depression or negative symptoms of schizophrenia or a spiritual dark night (disappearing ego-drives, lack of will, motivation...).

What I'm saying: There is this one teaching of "hey man, you gotta raise your vibration, man" with scales like SedonaMethod, David Hawkins or Abraham Hicks. Then there are spiritual teachers that almost turn that around and describe a layering of emotions which veil your true nature, e.g. you have anger on top, underneath that fear, underneath that despair/sadness, underneath that maybe a layer of "dry deadness" or a "morass" revealing a "black hole" and if you enter that your essence is revealing which than show up as different qualities which then reveal truth. So, this "apathy" could be repressed anger and more on the surface or it could be relatively close to the source.

Can you please describe this apathy a little more? (just to clarify, because it is possible that it is just "depression", but it is also possible that you are feeling a layer that is kind of dry and dead but is actually very close to what you are and on the brink of awakening).

Counterphobic behavior is not the same as fearlessness. It is actually the same as fear.

This is "normal". Don't worry and let it play itself out. You don't have to do something about it imo.

One woman told me that she lay in bed with a guy and cuddled and then was surprised that he wanted something more. She really thought they were friends. She was like 28 and he was like 35 or something. Really funny what women think sometimes.

I still recommend the "End of your world" audiobook: velcro thoughts.

If you are interested in a retreat that is based mainly on inquiry (not formal sitting meditation), there is one near Utrecht (May-June): http://www.isaacshapiro.org/index.php/schedule3, you can find videos of him on youtube to see if his style and approach resonates with you.

Where in Belgium do you live?