Key Elements

Let's say you're trying to master something - like the piano. So, you practice for 10 minutes and every note you press is an annoying mistake. That's perfect. That's totally ok. Eventually, you'll get good at it, especially when you increase the time. However, what's not ok is when you completely quit just because of your emotions. Emotions are just something that come and go. The path is made by walking. The more you walk, the more you take baby steps and learn from the pitfalls, the more positive things you will attract into your life. This is what they call The Law of Attraction.

@Prabhaker Yes, I understand that. Sometimes we find truth because we are alone with nature or somewhere by ourselves. However, we're always alone. Everything is "you." If you are lucky enough to be living with a joint family, like a sangha, or any family that is detached with healthy boundaries and giving you enough space, then truth can happen there too.

What you said here is very interesting. I have thought about it, and it's not wrong to do this. It's your choice. However, I noticed that you are a fan of Osho, and that's ok too. Osho did mention the 10 Ox Herding Pics, and as you know Riding the Ox Backwards is the full enlightenment. It means we are one - non-duality. There is not a distance between everything. If you can find your life purpose that can express this in some way, it creates / triggers more peace in this world. You're not doing it for "survival" or "money" or any objects anymore. You're doing it cause you don't want to see others suffer. You're doing it because you want to show others that ego is only a fiction, and we're all living in infinite abundance - this means so many opportunities are there in our physical world, etc. etc. It's just that with your own life purpose, people (your own fans) take you more seriously. They will ask themselves, "What is driving this person to do all this? Money? Nope. That can't be right." Why was Sai Baba a guru, and he used to build hospitals and universities? For his own well-being? For the money? Nope. Ppl do try to figure it out - what is the message here? Sai Baba went beyond being an entrepreneur/philanthropist. More ppl will get it since the message is spread in a different way - not Osho's way, not Leo's way, not anyone else's way but your own unique way. Here you said something interesting too. We're not snakes or birds. We're not cookie-cutter animals relying purely on instincts. We're unique. We discover ourselves. We have different professions so that we could help each other live through life more peacefully. We have a long way to go because not everyone is living peacefully. Btw, are you using Baba Ramdev's products? Are you using Dant Kanti, his toothpaste? I am. I don't have toothaches anymore because of Dant Kanti. I used to use other mainstream toothpastes - it didn't work. It'll be interesting to see what happens on my next visit to my dentist.

Hairs are not that valuable to be sold in the black market. There is a famous place called Tharupathi where hairs are donated for charity.

I took some action steps (baby steps) to figure this one out. For example, I love art, but it's not so easy to market art all by itself. I love making things, so I made these colorful, decorative, small baskets wrapped with chocolates inside and sold them as birthday return gifts (goody bags) at children's birthday parties. Of course, sweethearts also bought them to give to their bf/gf. The demand grew, and I couldn't keep up with the demand. I was making at least 30 baskets a day and staying up till 3 AM sometimes to meet those demands. It wasn't working out - too exhausting. I had to change this art path slightly. After much thinking, I decided to incorporate language into my art. So, I decided to learn Mandarin, a pictorial language. I made a website and wrote a book in both English & Mandarin and did some networking. I met the founder of a school, who was also an investor and my mentor and he hired me as a bilingual teacher. I teach children in crafty ways. That's my career, but I'm still working on my life purpose which will also involve non-duality in both languages. This will be expressed in my website and book. It's a journey. In other words, my value is to teach language and non-duality in fun, creative, and easy to learn ways. Additional recommended readings:

@IVONNE That is very unfortunate. I think every workplace has someone like that. I would just try to remain calm and still be friendly toward the colleagues you get along with. Is this a reoccurring behaviour? Try to work with the team members you get along with. I would continue working on my life purpose so that one day I'll gain financial freedom from all this.

I'm interested in making fun YouTube clips in a professional manner along with my life purpose. Any recommendations of books, YouTube channels, clips, resources, etc., that are easy to read and follow? I like how Ralph does his clips (also Leo too) - simple and professional. He disappears in the middle.

I'm at a turning point in my life where I have to relocate. So, lots of things are going on with me now. I would like to share two more passages from this book because I want to make these two passages part of my "morning prayer" when I wake up in the morning followed by a brief meditation of maybe 10 minutes. This will help me stay focused during my day. You may also do the same if you like, but it doesn’t have to be the same two passages. I may even decide to change the passages later to something else depending on my situation. Here they are: Have a Living Funeral When I was doing research for 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari', I came across the story of an Indian maharaja who would engage in a bizarre morning ritual: everyday, immediately after waking up, he would celebrate his own funeral, complete with music and flowers. All the while, he would chant, "I have lived fully; I have lived fully; I have lived fully." When I first read this, I could not understand the purpose of this man's ritual. So I asked my father for some guidance. His reply was this: "Son, what this maharaja is doing is connecting to his mortality everyday of his life so he will live each day as if it were his last. His ritual is a very wise one and reminds him of the fact that time slips through our hands like grains of sand and the time to live life greatly is not tomorrow but today." One's sense of mortality is a great source of wisdom. While on his deathbed, Plato was asked by a friend to summarize his great life's work, 'The Dialogues.' After much reflection, he replied in only two words: "Practice dying." The ancient thinkers had a saying that captured the point Plato made in other terms: 'Death ought to be right there before the eyes of those who are young just as much as before the eyes of those who are very old. Every day, therefore, should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives.' Having a living funeral will reconnect you to the fact that time is a priceless commodity and the best time to live a richer, wiser and more fulfilling life is now. Stop Complaining and Start Living Stop complaining about having no time for yourself and get up an hour earlier. You have the option, why not exercise it? Stop complaining about not being able to exercise given all that is on your plate these days. If you sleep seven hours a night and work eight hours everyday, you still have more than sixty-three hours of free time every week to do all the things you want to do. This amounts to 252 hours every month and 3,024 hours every single year to spend on life's pursuits. There has never been a more exciting time to be alive in the history of the world and you have the choice to seize the boundless possibilities that everyday presents. If you are not as fulfilled or as happy or as prosperous or as peaceful as you know you could be, stop blaming your parents or the economy or your boss and take full responsibility for your circumstances. This will be the first step to a completely new way of looking at your life and the starting point of a better way to live. As George Bernard Shaw said, "The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." Make wiser choices about the thoughts you will allow to enter your mind, as well as the attitude you will bring to your days and the way you will spend the hours of your time. Stop complaining and start living. In the words of the poet Rudyard Kipling, "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it." After reading these two passages, I may also add the following before the morning meditation:

Detachment (on friendship): This song, the lyrics, reminds me of Leo's video on detachment (below), except not on intimate relationship, but on friendship.

A multi-purpose song: for enlightenment, for intimate relationship, for achievement, etc.

A Zen devil song (with paranormal abilities):

What science is saying about time...

@jimrich Why should I? I'm only defining the ego. I was answering the original post. I didn't say that I want to become a counsellor. Even if I did, that's not what a counsellor would say to a victim. A victim is not ready to hear such a definition. Do you look at yourself as a victim or do you feel empowered? The first step is to work toward feeling empowered. Sooner or later the victim will have to let go of the past and move on. Believe it or not, some people don't look at themselves as "victims." They could move on immediately, as if nothing happened to them. This is an exception, not the majority.

@Loreena The ego by definition is fiction. It is something else other than peace/peacefulness/peace of mind because you are the peace/infinite peace/a whole person already and nothing else. Anything else is just a "fiction." For example, an emotion such as sadness or anger or excitement is considered ego. It's a fiction. It's only temporary. If the emotion (ego) comes, just let it pass by like a train. Don't hold onto it and go for a ride. Just see it passing by. Yes, the human body is also the ego.

Have you narrowed it down? Is it marketable? Is it profound with a mission?

Well, this is a different. It depends on location, and you will have to research and visit there to see if you want to live like that. My concerns are hospitals and securities, like a gated community - because it's in a remote village. Of course, they have fresh air, food, and a very clean environment, which can mean excellent health and long life.

@Lou7 I would say, the one thing to most people may be the combination of 2-3 things put together. Something is created in the multiple interests. For me, I discovered that it is teaching language/art/non-duality put together. This makes it unique and hard to quit because you could be flexible and adjust to it as you go along.

What happened to Black Eyed Peas? Where is the love?

I didn't say that Bill Gates is unhappy. I'm saying that they have different degrees of happiness. That is the best I could describe it and put it in words. Now, what you think of them is up to you. I could tell you that Leo kept on saying that Trump is a stage orange according to the Spiral Dynamics, and Gates a stage yellow. I thought I saw some info out there that mentions Gates as a stage yellow. But, hey, you see, all this is me telling you. It's up to you to go out there, research, and form your own opinions about them.

What I meant by think about that is, please go and read, research, and contemplate on that. They are both rich men, but they are very different from each other. Sai Baba was a very famous guru who started hospitals and universities. He has passed away, but still very famous. He was also very "rich," but rich in a different way.

What's the difference between Bill Gates and Donald Trump? Think about that.

@Prabhaker The truths are not easy to hear. They are usually misunderstood when communicated, esp. if it's a deeper truth, but even shallower truths are misunderstood if a person lacks the experience along with the understanding. When spiritual gurus communicate, they don't go into extensive details. Like, for example, you understood what I meant when I spoke of weddings. It must also be true of the fairness cream commercials. It's probably because some people are not ready to learn the lesson. We cannot skip steps/foundations when learning lessons in life. Otherwise, deeper lessons will be misunderstood. And, as you know, in this life we cannot skip steps because life is a school. It's here for a reason, and we need to learn all our lessons. I do realize how important this quote is on our journeys: "The world is a great book of which they who never stir from home read only one page." -Augustine