Saarah

@Huz88 I think once you're enlightened you abolish the idea of self-esteem altogether and yes it's made redundant, having a sense of esteem is a game of the ego

Intention: (see post 1) Addiction: Junk food Meditation method: Do Nothing for 1 hour a day *************** Day 2: 19/04/16 Levels of motivation upon waking: I was feeling like I'd be able to not eat any junk food today but my motivation to meditate wasn't there, I don't mind doing 10 mins but an hour feels so long, just shoved it to the 'later' pile, when later came, I was close to just saying I'll do it for 20 mins but I stuck with an hour Meditation time (complete?): 20 mins then 35, got distracted by people twice, didn't see the point returning for the remaining 5 mins Feelings during and after meditation: Resistance at first and then just got into it, more alert this time but not at the point where I'd enjoy it over doing something, felt like a spoilt kid realising how many different types of activities I have to do in my time, have listed this out before but by just stopping I felt it in my bones how much I actually do, feel like this should be my default state and first thing in the morning to do so when it comes to doing I'd be less likely to be in a state of just consuming stimuli but would be more mindful and slow about it. Didn't feel any physical effects or cravings Thoughts/struggles throughout the day: No struggles, junk food maybe entered my mind for a moment and left, found out my mum ate my chocolate I'd been leaving but wasn't annoyed, just found it funny how it got snapped up while I wasn't around. Dad had brought some junk food after work but was easy to avoid, no cravings, I think junk addiction may not be there while it was in the past, but addiction for convenient outside food and eating beyond hunger may be something to look at next Triggers for addiction: Didnt come across anything triggery ***************

@Selena Your motivation is probably a longer term issue then, you need to think about your values and life purpose, and start finding what you love about life and would love to do with your time

@Kizro Jones I can understand that from a psychological/sociological perspective, for example, you have people in the UK such as Katie Hopkins who judges children by their names because she doesn't want her kids to hang around someone called 'Tiffany' for example, because she pictures such a child to have parents she finds disagreeable Of course, most people probably do this subconsciously, without realising, for example employers who see a particular name on a CV From a philosophical perspective though, I don't understand, is it about fate?

@OhHiMark It might be a habit of having that victim mentality that is so prevalent these days, maybe you like to feel like a victim of things and try to find anything that isn't right so you have a reason to complain about everything meaning you don't have to take responsibility for things these sorts of things get subtly instilled into us through experiences and people so we don't even realise, keep looking, you may find more things in there you never realised you were doing! Whenever you change things like this it's like a mini paradigm shift ?

@charlie2dogs I don't understand, what are you suggesting?

@BHL_20 I think willpower is about resisting and on the surface level it certainly feels like doing nothing is resistance by willpower because you're intentionally avoiding the addiction but with the doing nothing there's an added layer of being mindful I suppose, and it's not resistance it's more conducting the feelings, there's also the addition of looking at the emptiness that you're avoiding as opposed to distracting yourself which is what's possible with willpower alone, with doing nothing you're actually looking at the root cause which is the emptiness Also, Leo said in one of the videos how willpower gets stronger the more you exercise it so doing that can be effective too

Intention: I want to be emotionally mature and to feel that sense of freedom from outer experiences that I use to fill the empty void inside me. Only when I'm happy without my crutches can I be emotionally free. This will give me more speed to move forward in life for bigger growth. Addiction: Junk food Meditation method: Do Nothing for 1 hour a day *************** Day 1: 18/04/16 Levels of motivation upon waking: I feel like this is going to be easy, don't really have a desire for it but it's only early, this is really a litmus test to see if I'm addicted and I think I've gotten better at avoiding junk food lately but we'll see. Meditation time (complete?): 6-7pm completed Feelings during and after meditation: Super tired and sleepy, didn't feel like doing it wanted to get up and do something, accepted it after a while, most of the time was doing the do nothing, some of the time I was trying to assure myself that there's no need to do anything, doing is just busy-ness for no salient reason other than to avoid feeling empty, afterwards now it's finished I feel sort of slowed down in my tracks, whatever I do for the rest of the evening just doing it one at a time instead of jumping around activities like a flea... Thoughts/struggles throughout the day: Nothing in particular, popped to the shop on a super empty stomach but glad to say I avoided the junk Triggers for addiction: Some that I'm already aware of are procrastinating on uni work, unsure of what to do/boredom, watching tv but I don't watch it much ***************

@Argue Nice thread! Im going to start this challenge tomorrow with eating junk food, anything that comes packaged like crisps, chocolate etc. I've already had a little chocolate today so I'm not doing it today For now if I drink juice (not a big fan of juice so nothing to worry about) or tea or eat fruit when I want something sweet I'm going to allow that but nothing that can be classified as a hardcore actual piece of junk food One thing I'm confused about is if you do the exercise after you get the desire for your addiction or if doing it at a set time is fine too

@Shab-e Ma_araj same, I remember some weeks back I was just listening to all the enlightenment vids in a row, they get to you

I'm a student and single so I have a lot of time to myself to work on personal development. I have a family who expects women to get married early and have kids, but I'm planning on leaving them behind because if they found out I was atheist I don't know what would happen. This frees up my future from their expectations and I've learnt that marriage and kids is not something that needs to happen for you to be living a 'full' life and certainly not in your 20s, i think the rush for having children stems from the idea that women have those best child bearing years earlier on than later on, but I wouldn't even mind adopting a child instead Whatever happens in the future, personal development will not be something to compromise, since the work is never complete, you'll be growing your whole life, there's no point waiting to 'complete' it before having a family, certainly though don't go into it from a place of desperation or loneliness etc.

Yes he does, I just went to check on kindle!

Eat sleep rave repeat jk but I'd say these are some of my common habits: - mindlessly walking to the fridge when I'm not doing anything and feeling like I need to eat when watching tv - start watching soaps on tv then can't be bothered and start missing them all then the cycle repeats - Sleeping later and later then forcing it to go earlier then slipping later and later and repeat - recently swapped out cows milk for almond, haven't gone back so far, almond tastes and feels better - Always spend a few hours on YouTube before bed switching between personal development related videos and just typical YouTube vlogs - Listen to a podcast or two in the mornings I have free while I eat or do some chores Just a few I can think of, everyone here has given a daily routine ? I can't think of my typical routine though ever since semester 2 of uni I've had more flexible days

You should put this in the book review section

In bed? ... Breakfast of course But I'm guessing you're talking about dessert ?

There isn't a point, I went through this phase and found existential nihilism to resonate with me, maybe it'll resonate with you too

I think this has more to do with your self image of yourself. When you have a big ego and someone hurts your shiny self image that you have you want to work on building up that image of yourself to others so it's even stronger Its like that kid in school who has to have the best grades, if they don't then they'll work harder to make sure they best everyone else because they have this image of themselves as being the best, super clever academically and to be proven wrong sucks so they make sure they're proven right Theres a video by Leo on the self image and another one on how you lie which sheds some light into this I experienced this the other day when I felt embarrassed about something, I was only feeling embarrassed because my self image was tarnished in front of someone else, being aware of this funny little ego guilt trip can make you giggle a bit inside

This is why I wish my bus journey was longer, I never want to get off at my stop I just wish I could sit on the bus all day, but I ain't got that kind of money lol

Yeah people into this stuff have a low locus of control because they're palming responsibility for everything in their life and the decisions they make onto some outer thing, these type of people are likely to say luck has a big part in their life and some people are luckier than others that's why they're more successful etc. However, if you watch Leo's video about I think it's the human knowledge one, he says science is on par with religion, they're both a type of belief So even though pseudo science and religious stuff is easy to mock, it's hypocritical to do so

I always expect to come across some alien thing I've never heard of on these forums

They probably are compatible because a spritiual person would know not to attach a judgement to a substance like money, and that anything is whatever you make of it, all meaning is subjective Some people see wealth as evil and greedy and others see it as a means to live a quality life because you have more freedom that way And just like how spiritual people would not judge someone for being rich or poor they can't judge themselves for being rich or poor and so if they were rich they wouldn't feel guilty in any way because spirituality is all about the inner work regardless of the outer circumstances so they'd be happy to continue on being rich and spiritual This is something I've needed to clarify for myself too, I've recently been very focused on creating financial freedom as early as possible for myself for when I leave my family it feels like life or death but at the same time I felt like i was heading in the wrong direction if ultimately in my life I stayed stuck on that goal

You should personally email Leo about it from his website

So... Life purpose is something which gives you the motivation to wake up and work and Enlightenment is the ultimate route to happiness and getting out of this ego trap world, it might even obliterate your life purpose goals But at the moment and for quite some years I will have neither of these things, and all this week I've been feeling the pointlessness of everything, all the plastic of the world that I'm working towards like money and lifestyle and relationships, I got worried at a couple points that I was going to give up on life altogether because nothing makes sense anymore to live for (not in a depressed suicidal way), but I do want to live life... Just how do I muster up the will to wake up and do stuff when the stuff feels pointless? I keep postponing plans to go out and do things, I skip a few uni classes, I can't be bothered going over to cousins when they invite me, didn't do any uni work this week etc. But I want to maintain focus and motivation for living, even though it's currently a life without life purpose and/or enlightenment I'm trying to 'be' a bit more, mindfulness wise, I sort of feel better today as a result, so should I give myself lots of space for doing nothing, solitude, meditation and mindfulness to connect with the world again? Will emptying my mind be the best way?

Yeah I should probably try that, I think I saw that as novelty seeking and at the time I was thinking what's the point of pushing boundaries when all the boundaries seem pointless to move, and social interaction felt pointless too but now I feel less like that I can start taking action

It wasn't uni that was the issue it was life in its entirety, simple things like why do we learn stuff and do jobs and go out to eat on a weekend, it all feels like the majority of people do the same basic things in a cycle where decades later they're still in the same place in life I enjoy my subject at uni and the autonomy and need a degree anyway, there's only so much the current system of academia can inspire you, and we have to work in the systems placed upon us to get out of them sometimes or to move on to better things