ZenDog

@Leo Gura I lol'ed reading this haha, I'm an old apprentice of his

http://www.chenghsin.com/workshop-fall-series.html Peter Ralston has a 4 week retreat this fall. It conists of 4 different workshops: Week 1 Experiencing the Nature of Being Week 2 Pursuing Consciousness through Transformation Week 3 Consciousness Training Camp Final Week Contemplation Intensive It's 4000 USD for the 4 weeks. I have enough money for it and I'm highly considering it. Has anyone here worked with Ralston before, is he the real deal? @Leo Gura you have been to some of his workshops right?

I am 20 years old and I have been doing self actualization work seriously for about a year now. When we go on this journey we will most likely experience some resistance from the people around us. I expected this to happen, so I didn't see it as a big deal. I spend 1.5 hours a day on consciousness work (meditation and enlightenment work). I actually don't get any resistance from my friends, in fact most my friends think it is cool and impressive I am able to be that commited and disicplined, and when I explained to them why I do it and the benefits, they understood and even considered starting meditation themselves. But my family is giving me a lot of shit. At first when I started doing like 20 min meditation a day, they were like "hmm.. yea everyone could benefit from a little stress relief." But yeah I immediately got hooked and bumped it up to 1.5 hours a day, and now they think im fucking crazy, eventough 1.5 h isn't even that much lol. When I told them I am going to a 4 week retreat they not only think im out of my mind, they are worried. I get comments all the time like: "You are getting brainwashed!", "You used to be so scientific and rational and now you have become a religious fanatic." "Are you going to become one of those bald guys with orange robes?" "Why do you have to be so fanatic!!??" I keep explaining over and over again why I do it and that I am just fascinated with exploring the depths of my consciousness, and that it is not religious or a belief system, but no matter what I say they just roll their eyes and don't even pay attention to what I am saying. I couldn't care less if they get it or not, I never bring up the topic or preach it to anyone, but they keep asking me and giving me shit all the time. Now whenever I am going to some family gathering with my grandparents, cousins etc.. I know they are going to ask me "sooee.. I hear you are meditating alot lately?" and I really I don't want to explain myself becasue I know they are just going to laugh at me. How do you deal with this? Don't get me wrong I love my family, they have always been extremely supportive of me, except until now.

The visualization starts at 18 min and ends at 63 min. I just downloaded the audiofile and cut that part out. Could one just use this visualization as the daily self inquiry work? Or was this video intended to just show or give you a hint?

Wondering the same.. most relevant for me is sight and touch, as I feel im behind these eyes and the touch barrier of my skin is seperating me from reality.

@Falk Which position did you sit in? I find that I can easily sit like 3 hours in a comferatable chair. If I sit cross legged on a hard floor I can do 1.5 hours absoloute max! because the legs will cramp and hurt.

As Maslow says, self-actualized people are not motivated by a feeling of lack. I know that desire based motivation is bad, but if I am honest with myself, most of the things I do are pure desire. Since I started doing way more consciousness the last 3 months I have definitely have less desire. But I sometimes also feel desire when I do the consciousness, I desire being enligthened, I desire being mindful and at pease. Is there any way to directly work on the trap of desire? Or is more consciousness work the main way?

@charlie2dogs So instead of sitting down and trying to do consciousness work I should just view it as I am going to sit and be instead? I do 1-2 hours a day

Cool, i will be meeting Peter this fall :D!

Thats fucking dope man! !! But yeah I have looked around the internet for other teachers, but they all seem so hippie'ish and talk in metaphorical language. I definitely resonate the most with Peter Ralston and his teaching, no bullshit straight to the point.

@Toby Isaac has one in Netherlands in may 12th-27th that I mostly likely will be attending. It is only around 1250 EUR including flights,retreat and accomidation for two weeks!

@Toby Yea, cus I don't really know which teachers are good and how to go about paying for teachers. Cool one is in Berlin? I live here atm so that would be great. Isac has one in Netherlands for 1200 eur for 2 weeks, think I might give that a shot! @Argue hmm.. I'm actually trying to make a decision on wether to use the money for money related education, so that I might have more in the future. There are so many teachers I wanna see in all areas of life but I cant afford shit @vizual unfortunately thats exactly the situation lol.. it is a very big investment, im not close to wealthy atm.

So in the video he says find a technique that works and do it everyday, form it into a habit. As we all know installing habits requires effort. So what if you have several areas of your life that you need to work on? Should you find all the techniques and try to make them into habits all at once, or pick one domain at the time for a couple of months?

At this moment I have gathered alot of knowledge about health, happiness, dealing with people, passion etc. But I don't know jack shit about the money game, eventough I am diciplined in keeping my expenses low, I still don't know shit about how the money game works. What are the best books on personal finance and what to do with your money? Highly appreciate all recommendations ;D!

@Consept @Endew Thanks!

I want to do a 3 month meditation retreat but I cant seem to find any online? I find some websites but they seem iffy, is it just cus spiritual people dont care about creating awesome websites or?

This is regard everything he says after around 45 min. He says your intuition probably feels what he's saying is right, yet you don't take action towards it, because you are too stupid. I agree. He says: 'you are not actually sitting down to discover your true existential nature, you are jerking your self around.' Who is he speaking to? The people who don't meditate at all? The people who don't do self inquiry at all? Or does spending 2 hours a day on meditation/enlightenment work so little that it almost counts as not taking action? Is taking real action actually isolating yourself doing nothing but meditation/enlightenment work? Is this the best life strategy? Im 20 years old. Im in a huge dilemma. Should I pursue my life purpose or enlightenment? What is the point of hustling towards my life purpose if its not even gonna make me happy in the end? Is the ultimate strategy just to skip my 20's? forget about sex, friendships, family, travel, creative work etc. and just live in the woods? I've heard dozens of time you don't have to do this, that you can live a normal life and pursue enlightenment at the same time. Can you really?? you are BOMBARDED with distractions from enlightenment when you are living in a normal society, will you ever reach enlightenment with 2 hours a day of meditation/enlightenment work while living normally?

Im trying to work on my people pleasing syndrome. In most situations im way too nice and I let people walk all over me. I've heard this book is good to help you become more coldhearted in order to balance yourself out from being a people pleaser. Is the book good? Does it have any practical exrercises or tips?

@charlie2dogs only for business not life in general?

or a 1 month retreat

Julien did a great review of the book on the "julienhimself" channel.

@Emilio awesome, thanks

Maybe going straight for year is to big of a leap. Think im gonna try to find some 3 month meditation retreat first.

@Infinite im thinking maybe something like this? This guy did it very cheap

I have considered it for a while. I'm trying to figure out how I could do this. Because there are logistical issues like paying for food and rent, cabins in the wood are kinda expensive. also i fear that: - My family is gonna go crazy and think im nuts. - Im cutting contact to all my friends - Im gonna lose all my muscle foundation ive worked so hard for. - My social anxiety is gonna come back stronger than ever. Are there any popular simple methods to take a year in solitude? joining a monastery?