caesar13

@something_else Using imagination for masturbation is healthy? I thought the first one is less bad. Wouldn't imagining won't hit hard? I mean like if imagination is not so powerful why would athletes extensively use imagination for rehearsals?

Happy birthday Leo!

This is a general question. I do not intend to offend anyone. I see a lot of people here pursuing on enlightenment stuff. How come you guys have time for this? I barely have time to do these - mind you I've got into this stuff a bit. Strong Determination Sitting, lots of times doing holotropic breathwork myself at home (this one really changed me a lot - I think). Do you guys, many of you, have managed to pay your bills? Do any of you work in the IT field? A developer or DevOps engineer or SysAdmin? I'm just occupied, my time is consumed by the things I need to learn to get better at work - honestly I'm not bad at studies, so lot of things I learn are not something that I should've learned instead of wasting time. I know the value of turning inwards - at times I feel "Why am I living? Why do I have to enjoy if not work?", other times I'm just occupied with studying tech-related things. So I just wanted to know how you guys manage? And let's say I want to dive into awakening and enlightenment stuff, how should my attitude be? The right mindset? I apologize if I offended any of you, not truly my intention. Thank you.

Kind of an odd question I think. But is it good to sleep at a the same time at night. Forget about work for now, which would be healthy? Sleeping at a particular time at night? Or only sleeping when I feel sleepy? Would sleeping at night at particular time be not implied as forced sleep, even in the slightest sense?

I learn several things just like we all do. My work gives me the opportunity to study more, basically, I have ample time to study. So I spend my time studying things that will help me at work - to do more at work (of course I am not clear as to what to learn, and I am a bit confused about it). Let's say there are two different concepts. One is related to web development (the one I am also interested in learning, nothing to do with work and a noob in this area) and the other is related to the cloud (servers and all that, no programming here). Now how do I learn these - like split my time? Splitting time equally doesn't make sense to me as I may be switching to the second topic when I shouldn't - to maintain the flow. And so here I feel that splitting time has to be done in some other way. Not sure how I go about this. Any ideas? And do you think I'm multitasking if I am learning two different concepts on the same day? Or do I spend a few days, let's say on web development, then when I feel like I have learned a few chapters and switch to the other concept (cloud things) when I don't feel like I've sort of switched out abruptly from the first concept (web development things) In case you feel like I'm having trouble sticking to one thing, yes. That's right, but I'm trying not to poke my nose into too many things. I still didn't find what to master, and at the same time, I need to learn work-related things to make a living (still a non-committed guy) in the hope that I can use the time to find out what I wanted to master. Then this will be a single path, no diversions, how twisted the path may be. So how do I go about this? How can I split the time so that I can effectively learn instead of multitasking (if I'm doing it)?

Will there be the same coordination between the hand and the mind when I write on ipad with a pencil instead on a physical paper? I do like writing on paper but writing on iPad obviously has benefits - no paper required, and notes are saved in cloud, I can erase and edit text easily. However I am concerned how this affects my study? Rather, am I just overthinking?

In which video did Leo say "first try to pay your bills, then you can concentrate on your work"?

This weekend I want to pleasure myself (haha) by reading a good book. Finishing it is not in my interests, will do so if it is interesting. I fancy reading writings that create an Aha moment. I’ve had some while reading Seneca’s “Letters from a Stoic”. Do you know any books like that? It’s not like I don’t like philosophy. It’s the opposite, I love what philosophers say, the way they say, the wisdom they share. Anything that is rhetoric, entertaining, and containing wisdom is what I am looking for. Thank you.

@Enlightement I used Evernote previously, but since I have access to my student email I got the Notion premium plan for free So I am stuck with Notion now Probably won't switch, no plans at least.

I tend to have problems waking up early in the morning. I can’t wake up even at 7 AM. Let’s say I don’t feel interested to wake up or something else. However, if you say we’d going for a vacation to some very nice place, to a hill station or something, then if you ask me whether I can wake up early. Then I would be 99% confident that I would say “Yes”. And I am also as much certain as that that I will have trouble sleeping at night - probably because I’m excited (or so I think). To be accurate in my perception: Was that excitement or as many people say “anxiety”?

I know something, I feel I’m right. However, it’s not the same feeling I would get when I read the same thought process, and the conclusion, in a book. It always happened with a book, I don’t ask people of what I think, I’m very sure they are not interested in having discussions related to personal developement. So how do I bridge that gap? Is that visible for me as I lack something? Is that “Confidence”?

Maybe it’ll be hard to discuss this stuff with people in real life. I think you are sort of going for a retreat. I feel you’ll come back here very soon. This is the first time I am talking to you, but that’s my hunch. Anyways, get everything sort out mate.

I like Notion. I use it for self-development and for study as well. You can go ahead and continue using it if you have no problems with the idea that your data is stored in cloud. I’ve no problems with that because I want that data to be available for a long time maybe for a decade or two. On my local machine, I am not sure I can save the data for more than a year If I have serious personal stuff - tantamount to the 1st or 2nd secrets of the three the popular chinese proverb says - I simply translate it to my own encrypted language. Yes, my own language. It’s hard to encode and decode for me, but that’s okay for me.

@Ninja_pig Even then I’d suffer from the problem of validation, as others have pointed out. So I’d go for a few days trusting what I think. Anyways, I do not have any problems discussing my views on something. It’s that I’m stifled due to lack of validation that’s bothering me. I feel I’m right, but I don’t do it or believe in it until I see or read it somewhere else. This is stupid, I know.

@integral That might be correct, but since I don’t discuss things like these with other people I know I’m not sure there are fools around me.

I sort of feel I am worthless if I stay in comfort zone - of course a little comfort is always necessary, too much is definitely not. By getting out of it I’m not gonna be next Bill Gates (that’s impossible) but I can be someone much better than I am now.

A bit of background: Coming from a third-world country, I currently do remote work for a small company abroad. Though I earn a small amount every month but since I am paid in dollars I would consider it good pay and that's a decent income for me. However, I feel I'm not really exposed to the office-like environment and it's making me feel like I'm in a comfort zone - the comfort of my home. Since it's a small company, with not many employees, I speak only to 2 of my colleagues. Am I really missing something out here by not working in person - by not going to the office? I mean I do not have the chance to work in person. Fortunately, after reading through the blog posts here, and watching Leo's self-help content I understood that I need to keep learning. So I am trying my best to do it. If there's something I need to learn, or if I think that would help me in the future, I'm learning it - regardless of whether I use that knowledge at work or not. And due to the current job layoffs, I think it's not the right time to change my job, and the decent pay I get here (by working at my current company) actually makes me think about whether am I in a comfort zone. Apart from the technical stuff I learn for work, I also read self-help books, and psychology books (currently reading Robert Greene's books) because I thought I need that knowledge to deal with people whenever I have to. Do you have any thoughts here? How would you think, or what would your thought process be, if you were in my shoes? Would you think my not working in an office-like environment is a disadvantage, when thinking in terms of having a better career? One think I can vouch for is I lack the basic knowledge of things like how employees are paid, I mean the money-related things, the interview and corporate dynamics, salary negotiation, and all the things that come when working in groups or a team. I think this is also one of the many reasons why I think I'm in a comfort zone.

Little while ago, I noticed that guys (who were more or less of my age) behave like a pavlov’s dog (I mean they gaze at the girl) when seeing a hot girl on the street or on the highway while riding a car or a bike. Some even utter that “she’s so sexy” or “I want to f*ck her”, although not loud, just with their friends. Wait, I’m not here to judge whether it’s right or wrong. I have a different thought here, and would like your input here. Does venting out their sexual desire like that reduce the frequency of porn addiction and/or masturbation? I mean do they tend to resort to porn / masturbation more than someone who express their desire like that? Than the one who silently do that, to some degree at least, in their minds but do not express it? I’m working on curing my addiction. I thought this is an interesting thought.

Anyone?

How important it is to change the surrounding environment to cure my porn addiction? I almost fap daily (at least once a day). I'm starting to think that I should maybe concentrate on changing my environment. I work from home, so I think it's hard for me change the place. EDIT: Do you think the web browser I use can trigger my addiction unconsciously?

No. However, this idea emerges into my mind so often that I actually want to build my own boundaries one day. This is not really my idea - an idea from Seneca's "Letters from a Stoic", in which he said that a man may not be the same man when he returns after spending some time with a group and hence one should have their own psychological stature in place.

Do you think going to the gym is just a fad? Why can't someone go exercise in nature? Don't you think they're comforting themselves by going to a gym and doing their exercises in an air-conditioned room? Isn't that what's implied when Muhammad Ali said that he's going to count the pushups only after he gets tired? If you think I'm arrogant, that's correct, and that's intentional. I, this time, want to look at both sides of the coin.

@Michael569 Haha, my father does it

I can't comment on your question related to life purpose as I myself am pretty new to the corporate world. However, I would say you go through the life purpose course the second time - maybe in between, you learned something and Leo's LP course may give you novel insights.

As the title says how do you distinguish between burnout and lack of discipline. I do a part-time job for a company that's elsewhere, not in the place where I live. So, yeah, that's remote work. When I'm not working I keep on studying - whether it's computer stuff or self-development stuff. Sometimes I feel like I don't want to study. Certainly, I will get bored with what I'm doing eventually that I definitely need a break. But, how can I not deceive myself? I'm not sure if I'm already deceiving myself. How can I be sure that what I am feeling is actually burnout due to studying or am I just avoiding the work? Is there a silver line between those two states - burnout and discipline? How do you tell yourself what the right answer is?