Waveenergy

Dar 6: Over the weekend, I practiced meditation as well as yoga daily and felt great... although, on Monday night, I watched one episode of a TV show on Netflix that I had been following and that seemed to change things. Over the next couple of day, I procrastinated much more, didn't meditate, watched TV shows that I have already seen before... It seems as if just watching one show turned things around back to the way they were. A part of me definitely likes to become passive and watch TV but when I do, the day feels wasted. I feel less creative, and more lazy. Maybe I should challenge myself and stop watching Netflix again cold turkey? Or maybe replace with some personal development videos?

For years I have had thoughts pertaining to my health which I think are actually unhealthy. For example, this pain in my throat must mean I have cancer (I didn't have it)... or other things not as serious. I understand that humans have a time span alike any other human beings and no matter how hard I may think about my health and take preventative measures, I am ultimately not in control of nature. Does anyone have any advice that would help convince myself that there is no point ruminating and obsessing over health? I have a healthy lifestyle already so I think this is mostly in my head. Do any of you have similar thoughts?

Day 1: I woke up in my room which was cleaned yesterday, feeling as if I were off to a fresh start. Took a cold shower and then meditated for 20 minutes. My thoughts were scattered but that is ok.. I found a few moments of clarity and to me, sitting there in silence with eyes closed is a successful meditation. After a light breakfast and some green tea, I began writing a paper that is due soon. I had no urges to watch any television... although, somewhat habitually, I opened up Facebook to see if I had any notifications. That reflexive opening of facebook is somewhat unsettling to me and makes me question why? Why do I let such low quality information involve itself in my daily choices? I also had the thought today of trying to adopt an ecocentric value theory, extending moral value completely to the natural world and all life. Went for a walk by the river near my house as I was getting restless at home. I am planning to do some yoga during my next break... Overall, it's been a good day. I hope to keep it up.

Hello, I've decided to start keeping an online journal of my experience of behaviour and habitual changes that are in-line with my innermost passions and goals. I have tried making similar changes before but believe that I have matured recently and have done more actualization work in order to determine the changes I want to make are the right ones. I think that support from our community will be beneficial for me and will hopefully stop me from backsliding. The habits I want to eliminate from my life are.. 1. TV and Netflix: I have spent hours upon hours upon hours watching TV series on Netflix to the point where I have tried stopping many times. The thought "I will stop watching Netflix altogether once I have finished this..." has been frequent and repetitive. I feel a distinct urge to watch TV when I have free time. My problem with it is that watching the screen is a passive activity which wastes so many hours of my life. I am going to try and go 30 days without watching any Netflix (I am not sure if I should try cutting out movies and un-educational videos as well?). 2. Watching pornography: I find this problematic because of the way it portrays something so fundamental to human existence as a male-dominated entertainment industry. I believe there are definitely negative psychological effects of engaging with this material.. I think an alternative could be erotic imagery or literature. 3. Social media: I have found social media to be quite addictive and time wasting as well. I have deleted mobile applications (facebook etc.) from my phone before... For me, Facebook and Twitter are the biggest culprit because of the constant stream of short and mostly low quality information that is constantly fed to the user. The only reason I rationalize using facebook is to access university facebook groups. I have less of a problem with instagram as I care little for the amount of 'likes' I receive on photos, rather I use it to post photography as a creative outlet. I have also downloaded and deleted my Tinder account numerous times ! I feel like redownloading it has become almost inevitable as social media has utterly changed the way that young people like myself (19 YA) interact. 4. Procrastination: I am a big procrastinator and want to start doing things now instead of putting them off or waiting until I am 'better' in some way before starting them (perfectionist thinking...). The good habits I want to implement throughout my life are... 1. A daily 20 minute meditation habit: I have tried implementing this habit before but have only made it to around two weeks before school or another time consuming event let me rationalize missing a day. I find meditation to be very beneficial and would like to start with a 30 day challenge. 2. Reading: When I was a kid, I used to read fiction novels all the time as my parents had been against TV (we never had cable growing up) from the start. Over the last couple of years, I have been struggling with my vision and so reading can be uncomfortable for me. I have recently begun therapy for my eyes and the doctor is hopeful. It is not that I cannot read, I read text all the time (mostly digital).. It is just that reading can cause discomfort. I rationalized watching TV recently because it did not cause as much discomfort... I want to start reading much more as a way to replace TV. 3. Writing: I have always enjoyed writing and have excelled in it. I have recently been inspired by poetry and want to start reading and writing it. 4. Yoga: I am an athletic person and spend time in the gym, the pool, or biking outdoors, on an almost daily basis. I have always wanted to start doing yoga but I live quite far from any yoga classes and have always thought that I should initially learn fundamental techniques from an instructor before starting my own practice. There are more that I could add to either of these lists but I think that even this undertaking would yield massive results in my life. I would really appreciate any feedback or thoughts from our community as I embark on this journey that I have been wanting to dedicate my time to for so long! I know that many of you are struggling with the same things and that is why this community is so beneficial... I will do my best to write regularly in order to keep myself dedicated and motivated.

You need to introduce new habits like reading and meditation into your daily life. Try to stay away from TV, social media, videogames for 30 days while introducing new habits. Your brain will want to go back to the stimulus as that is where it currently feels safe and has established equilibrium. It will not be easy to make changes right away but you will need to recognize that your brain will want to go back to stimulus in order to successfully change habits.

@JevinR Would you care to explain biohacking? Sounds interesting.

@Mohsinuddin I agree with you that stress is a major factor in hair loss. I have definitely noticed a correlation between hair loss and stress associated with school. During a certain stressful period, I had noticed my hair falling out significantly. As I have gotten stress under control, I have not noticed my hair falling out anymore at all, although I am still hoping it will grow back and thicken. I don't believe that chemical products are the answer to hair loss. If there were a magic pill solution, you wouldn't see balding people everyday. The best solution out there is acceptance of the natural process that is hair loss.

Hi Arik, Thank you for sharing your experience. I experienced a similar heightened awareness today after swimming a kilometer, meditating on the train ride home, and mindfully walking slowly through the rain to my home. I think that the aerobic exercise involved in swimming may have contributed significantly to the phenomenon you have described. I personally believe that exercise is as important, if not more important, for the brain than for the physical body. @Leo Gura I'd be interested to here your opinion on aerobic exercise and heightened mindful awareness.

@SkyPanther Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will look into the resources you provided to learn further. I try to keep up a regular meditation practice as well but have not tried a teacher. You mention that desire (egoic attachment) comes from wanting or not wanting things to be a certain way. Could this idea explain our tendency to be bored and constantly crave stimulation? The way I had rationalized this tendency is through the idea of equilibrium and the human brain craving situations in which it is not in danger. This explains what Leo terms "backsliding" and the difficulty to change old habits and behavioral patterns. With little progress in trying to muscle my way through this equilibrium through criticism, I have taken an alternate route beginning with acceptance of self... So could you say that acceptance is the key to the destruction of ego? P.S., I am not against ritual and religious overlay, it is something I may still investigate further. Thank you for providing a secular version though.

In our waking life, certain chemicals in the brain (seratonin) inhibit the vividness of memories. This is an evolutionary advantage because if we conjured up a vivid memory of a predator (for example) when there wasn't one there, it would result in confusion in a woken state. Although, when we sleep those chemicals in the brain are not inhibited, allowing us to have vivid dreams. You should look into lucid dreaming. It is achieved when you realize that you are dreaming within a dream, resulting in control over your dream world. There are some TED talks available on the subject if interested.

@SkyPanther Do you have any advice for someone who has identified the ego and is working towards confronting it and the goal of "ego death"? I am not religious but have been interested in Budhism for some time.

I have deleted social media in the past but recently ended up installing Instagram again. I think an issue with social media is craving 'likes' and having that fluctuation affect your emotional wellbeing. I am also against Facebook for all of the useless, low consciousness, scrollable information. I only keep Facebook to be active on University class groups.

The theory behind the video gave me a new holistic perspective on actualization which I found to be very inspiring. Did you find the visualization exercise to be helpful? Searching memory and experience for a tangible feeling of love is fundamentally different for everyone as the word, love, is only a symbol. Once we have located and visualized this moment of love, Leo instructs us to propagate this feeling onto different facets of our life. I'm interested to learn what form this propagation, this giving love to the self, takes for other people during the visualization. I'm not asking about what the word love means to you, but rather how it is you project it upon your existence in the moment of a meditative visualization. Is it a visual manifestation? Or maybe a worded rationalization that each part of you is ok?

Toronto, Canada