quantumspiral

Is an intense curiosity about the world, knowledge and ideas themselves, rather than just seeking out knowledge that will advance yourself- a pretty good indicator that a good portion of your psyche is beyond orange? Of course, there's a lot more to it than that- but this seems to be a difference I spot quite regularly.

I've ignored taking meditation / mindfulness very seriously as I still need to handle my foundations before pursuing higher levels of consciousness / mystical states etc. I believe this was actually a pretty big mistake- and may be a common trap some of us are falling into. I say it's a trap as the practical benefits of meditation are enormous, and may actually be critical for some of us to get our foundations handled in the first place. I wanted to make this thread for people to share benefits of meditation (specifically maintaining a heightened state of awareness / acceptance throughout your day) that are have improved your life in a concrete way. Here are the benefits I've noticed: Increased ability to take deliberate action (things I've made a conscious decision to do) over compulsive action (things unconscious emotions are driving me to do) Observing and dissolving the driving emotions (both negative and positive) behind compulsive action and emotional resistance to doing work that needs to be done Maintaining a process focus, rather than fantasizing or obsessing over the results (which of course, leads to better results in the long term) Derive more enjoyment from the process itself Better subjective moment to moment experience of life- each moment feels fresh, new and vibrant Be emotionally unaffected by negative results- just process the information and use it to course correct Able to avoid auto pilot- as each moment feels new my actions are more connected to what's going on in reality. I can make the decision to change courses of action and think outside the box at any moment Ability to maintain a state of high concentration for many hours Become aware of resistance within myself and drop it Able to be disciplined and work hard in a more effortless fashion More engaged with life and more detached simultaneously Improved cognition generally I think the practical benefits of meditation don't get enough attention here. It seems sports psychology has really noticed and tapped into the performance benefits of meditation, but the applications are pretty much endless.

@NightHawkBuzz How about becoming a tyrannical despot of some obscure tropical backwater banana republic? All hail El Presidente!

@CARDOZZO Chris Williamson is a sycophantic, highly conceited, smug repeater of quotes he'd read on the internet. Would definitely propel Leo's brand though which would be cool.

Of course, mindfulness can be cultivated to an extreme degree. But are some people naturally born more mindful? Naturally talented musicians come to mind as someone who could fit this description. How much does mindfulness vary between children (who haven't been formally trained in meditation)? Are there examples of kids born freakishly mindful and aware?

How about Conor Murphy? Just for the lols

@Lyubov I think there is a clear distinction between negative emotions / physical sensations can flow naturally from certain activities and your own resistance to them. On some level- yes your own psychology may be setup in a way that is creating those negative emotions which can be uprooted. But can you stop the feeling of physical exhaustion when doing an endurance run? The feeling of fear when starting a new endeavour you're not sure if it will succeed? The discomfort of having a tough conversation with a loved one? Negative emotions and sensations will always arise in certain situations. Do we resist them, try to escape them and grasp for more pleasant, comfortable experiences? Or do we turn towards them and embrace them fully? That's really all I'm trying to say. In the state of heightened awareness, I then like to clarify some intrinsic driving factor. This could be an intrinsic motivation, a mantra, a deep personal value, my own impermanence and expendability in the pursuit of my goals or spiritual purification. I like to imagine this as a 'flame' that is physically located in the chest region of the sensory field. I used this to reach levels of extreme endurance running quite a few years ago after reading "The Power of Now", but didn't have the awareness or conceptual understanding to clarify it. The difference with this driving factor is that it's inherently intrinsic, not extrinsic (like winning a competition, making money etc)- intrinsic tends to be much more powerful. This is just playing with awareness in the context of challenge- not pursuing higher states of consciousness.

How do you differentiate resistance to your own emotions and experiences vs resistance you feel naturally to engaging in some kinds of activities (like working or exercising)? It seems there's two levels to resistance- a naturally occurring emotional resistance, and then a resistance on a more meta level which you can have to emotions. When the resistance is resisted it grows- when the resistance is accepted it diminishes. Is there a way to distinguish these experientially? How similar are they? Perhaps they are completely different and I'm just using the same word to describe both

@Little Aurobindo are you the restful cube? That's what my ESP is telling me bro

@Jannes My friend has quite severe ADHD. The symptoms began to arise after he got the MMR vaccine. I've always thought that meditation could really help someone with ADHD- observe and liberate themselves from the constant compulsions to focus on this, do that, say this etc. If you have tried meditation please let me know if it helped

@Butters This. Online freelancing and maybe get out of Romania lol. I didn't know salaries are so low in Romania- you should be able to double your salary quite easily if you choose a suitable field for online freelancing. If you can understand Leo's videos, you can do this (if you want)

@BlessedLion Of course. I'm just interested in how much of consciousness can come about naturally- either from nature or nurture, without formal practice. For example, was there an environment, perhaps in ancient history, that was extremely conducive to the development of consciousness? Such that the people in that environment naturally developed high levels of consciousness without formal meditation practice. Maybe this would be a tribe that was not war-like in close contact with nature.

@Leo Gura Ok thanks for clarifying, I was using them synonymously

I've started 3 hours of zone 2 cardio per week. My brain feels much sharper and more creative- the blood flow benefits are really quite noticeable. It's just 3 x 1 hr light jogs per week. As someone who has experimented with a lot of supplements, I'm not sure why I didn't do cardio earlier. I guess it's beacause they were recommending not doing steady state cardio a few years ago in favour of HIIT workouts, but it seems to have reversed now.

@Keryo Koffa Thanks a lot for your elaboration. I'll have to spend a little time digesting all that- are there any teachers / books / resources you've found particularly helpful in understanding these concepts? "The overall best (unspecific but universally applicable) meta-approach is to deeply understand the source of all conflicts." This is particularly profound- I've heard Shinzen Young talk about how awareness and equanimity erases micro-conflicts in each of the six senses, letting them flow freely instead of like viscous liquid. It makes a lot of sense. With awareness, everything seems to flow much more effortlessly.

@Wisebaxter I'll have to look into his stuff- I think the practical benefits of awareness are staggering and really not talked about much. "Life as Sport: What Top Athletes Can Teach You about How to Win in Life" and "The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus into Your Life" are in a similar vein to this book I'd assume. I'd recommend them.

Essentially, I feel like awareness, presence and detachment are transformative when applied to performance- and I'm trying to clarify that as best I can.

@Keryo Koffa Interesting analysis, perhaps! Not sure I understand enough about meta-psychological counterbalance and cognitive dissonance at the moment to say. I'm really trying to come up with a model for acting effectively in the world- one which produces a high level of performance and results, while minimizing emotional friction. The model I have right now is to focus intently on the process itself (rather than the results) while maintaining a heightened level of present moment awareness which can both be used to immerse yourself more fully in the process and 'metabolize' negative emotions that come up along the way. Most people act in completely the opposite way- obsessing about the result and resisting everything every single step of the way. This leads both to poor performance and emotional burnout.

@Rafael Thundercat lol very colorful illustration haha. Pleasure and pain are certainly fundamental to the whole thing- I guess I'm just trying to get my internal mental framework sorted out for the 'resistance' that is encountered when doing various activities. I think this resistance can come in 2 different flavours: 1. Negative emotion- This is any kind of emotion that naturally arises that tries to oppose action. It could be fear, physical pain, fatigue, doubt etc. These could be described as resistance, as they do 'resist' the action- but it's confusing to label them as such. It's better just to label them as negative emotion. The best way to greet these emotions is with acceptance and not resistance- then they tend to lose their power over you and dissolve. But the resistance to these negative emotions is a more meta level of resistance within a person 2. Resistance to the task itself- this is a more primary form of resistance. You're resisting the doing of the task itself, rather than the emotions it evokes. You can't accept your present reality of engaging in this particular activity. This usually comes from excessive focus on the results of the task- which can then lead to avoidance, either in the form of daydreaming / fantasizing about the result or trying to white knuckle through the task to get to the result. The best way to dissolve this kind of resistance to focus on the process intently with present focus and acceptance. Merge with the process if you will. In essence, I do think these 2 categories broadly define what could be described as 'resistance' when doing any task. I think it's important to clarify this as unconscious 'resistance' is what stops people doing what they want actually want to do in life. Instead they act out their compulsions- which are just the reverse- unconscious positive emotion driving them towards it and unconscious negative emotion driving them away from something towards it. I've explained this very poorly I think- I'll come back again to it when I'm better slept.

@Keryo Koffa Interesting- thanks for sharing. I can't say I've noticed these qualities

@Romer02 I'm pretty sure Leo has episodes specifically for contemplation. Maybe watch those? It's just contemplation applied to the activities of a single day.

@Lyubov Awesome- I've gotta visit sometime. I'm just not sure how much work I could get done living in such a chaotic place however. But I'm speaking out of my ass as I've not been. Have you visited Fortaleza? Seems a bit more chill but still great weather. Btw- the book I mentioned above has a great account of the origins Comando Vermelho in the prison on Ilha Grande. Great read if you're interested in that sorta thing.

@Recursoinominado My practice sucks- I need something much more rigorous and structured. I often just try to maintain a state of mindful awareness throughout the day. Useful- but unlikely to improve my skill. Truthfully, I'm still a novice in meditation. Most of these benefits are only just blossoming- I'd like to cultivate them as much as possible

Nice, wanna link the doc? I've watched quite a few on Bukele. Those who criticize him for human rights violations probably have no idea about even a single one of the many insane prison riots throughout the continent. Only just last year there was a riot in a women's prison in Honduras where 46 died. Central America is a particularly interesting region, as those countries (along with it's Caribbean neighbours) have consistently being ranked as the world's most murderous countries for a long time now. There is a lot of value in seeing how gnarly life can get. City of God and Elite Squad are good films for seeing the brutality of gang violence in Rio de Janeiro For a comprehensive overview of crime in Latin America, I'd recommend Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America by Ioan Grillo.

I'm kind of baffled how some people can sink so many hours into games and remain excited for upcoming releases, year after year. While I enjoy games, something about sitting there playing them intuitively feels wrong and I end up uninstalling everything. Most likely the feeling I'm wasting my life. I'm trying to pinpoint the psychological reason that drives people towards hardcore gaming. If you think they do lack maturity, what exactly about their psychology is it that makes them so?