Pelin

When I'm listening to an old song or watch an old film, I feel that I get the clues of enlightenment that I didn't get before. I think the high quality art has layers and it has something to offer for everyone. When I am more open I can get deeper. I watched the TV series the OA and loved it. Also felt the layers there. This quote, among many others, is very powerful: We need to invest a lot in our invisible self.

@ElenaO I'm low-carb for 3 months, with cheat days in and out, and I got to my desired weight 6 weeks in (from 130 to 120 lbs) and my belly got flatter. I'm pretty fit now so I'm maintaining the diet for a healthier lifestyle. I never count my macros but I'm pretty sure I consume more fats than the daily recommended amount some days. I don't feel as much hunger as I'd feel it while eating grains. Eggs are an excellent way of feeling full without getting too much calories. With my full breakfast I have around 7 am, I don't usually feel hungry until 1.30 pm. and I teach for 5 hours in the morning so I practically don't even sit down from 8:30 to 1:30. When you feel really hungry, nuts are helpful but it's great if you just wait until lunchtime. my typical day: full breakfast 2 eggs, soft-boiled or as omelette (parmesan/mozarella omelette is great) (if I'm busy, I just stick to eggs and tea) one diced tomato (if in season) with a tbsp olive oil cheese, any kind, as much as I want 3-4 olives tea or coffee occasional walnuts, peanuts or almonds (raw) some lunch/dinner options: mix & match avocado salad with olive oil, lemon and tomatoes (love this) beans salad (white beans, garbanzo beans etc) (beans have more carbs but I didn't have any problems) yogurt, pickles etc. meatballs/ steak/ chicken breast bone broth soup/ chicken broth soup / vegetable soup like broccoli or pumpkin boiled veggies with raw olive oil and lemon I think you got it by now, but I almost always use extra virgin, high quality olive oil with nearly every meal! I love it, along with butter. And I still lost weight, more importantly, I got to my desired weight/shape and keeping it.

@BobbyLowell why don't you just be authentic? It's the easiest thing you can do, right? I don't see how spending more time around people is going to help you with that. If these people are inauthentic, think about you're spending time with friends who shop and spend mindless hours in coffee shops/pubs/bars, it's definitely not going to help you. You'll feel you need to fit in all the time. If you don't have real people around you, I suggest you turn inwards for sometime and try to understand what real you is like. When you are authentic you will have no problem meeting more authentic people. Also, take a look at this talk:

@emind "Go on and be with other girls" seems like a very, very bad advice to me. Maybe because I'm female. The reason for chasing this girl could be sexual, or not. Either way, another person will not cover for her. You need to find the reasons for this crush. Self-contemplation could really work: Why this girl? What is so special about her? Why does your body and mind crave her? What is lacking in you that you think she might complete? Also: Why is she manipulating you? It's clear she's manipulating you, and you fall for the bait each time. Maybe you're vulnerable in her eyes, maybe she's not even aware of the signals she's giving. It's happened to me, I had a couple of friends, whom I had no interest other than being a friend, but they thought we might have something special and then got disappointed. Truth is, I never got close to them, we talked about books and music and stuff but their mind completed the empty places in the puzzle, thinking I'm interested in them. By the way, do you really know her? My suggestion is, don't invest your time in someone who's not willing to grow, and raise her consciousness. She doesn't seem that type to me. A relationship should lift you in every aspect of your life. With all the drama before even the relationship starts, how can you expect growth out of this relationship? Identifying your weaknesses, and not falling for the games your mind is playing is the key to freedom.

@zenjen First of all, I don't think this phase will last quite long, so hang in there I think what you're experiencing is similar to the fear that people experience after their third eye opens(call it awakening, enlightenment, you get the point). It doesn't have to come very peacefully. If you're not quite ready, it might come as a shock, and sleep deprivation may be the brain's way of reacting and trying to make sense of what's happening. Letting go of fear, is easy to say but hard to do. When you let go of fear, you'll be much more open and you won't need the drugs anymore. I hope you'll get there in a short time.

I've realized and experienced that, whatever path you take, you need to be consistent and you need to keep to your standards. People who live by standards become freer actually, because these standards help them to say no more easily. When you don't have any standards, you just live your life like everybody else, and it's pretty lame. These standards can be about food, shopping, exercise, books, meditation, anything. Building a healthy habit is more important than most things.

@Time Traveler Where did you read it was unhealthy? What are the risks? I have done tons of reading on nutrition and the only people trying hard to disprove the low-carb diets are the same people who started the "low-fat for weight loss" fad, which in turn caused obesity, heart disease and sugar-carb addiction. Lots of doctors from all around the world (even some mainstream doctors) are now transitioning to high-fat diets for especially long-term health, not only for weight loss. And I'm sure there are hundreds of articles about the possible side effects of beer fasting as well. Besides, as @ajasatya mentions, if you want long-term results, you need the discipline. Not only for weight loss but also for personal development. I'm not judging you, don't get me wrong. I hope you will come back with good results, whatever path you choose. edit:typo

For six months now I've been making my own yogurt with raw milk and added probiotics, and I've also been making sauerkraut and fermented pickles. But this summer I wasn't at home much. I went to Japan for two weeks, where I had to eat junk food from time to time, and I couldn't eat probiotic food (maybe some pickles as side dish, I'm not sure). I experienced constipation there for 3 days for the first time in my life. It got better but then I visited family and stayed there for like 5 weeks and constipation kept returning. Now I'm at home, eating fermented foods regularly but as I'm concerned I messed up my microbiota I've also started taking probiotic supplements. I'd like to ask you, do you think just fermented foods are adequate for a healthy gut? Should I take the supplements everyday, or only when I can't have access to fermented foods? Can I stop taking supplements when my gut is healed? Or is it just good to take them everyday?

Several times in a day I feel my body, my senses, and my consciousness (or mind?) are detaching. I feel like I'm watching a video, for example, and my eyes see it, my ears hear it, I'm following and understanding it, but at the same time I'm separate. The hands are my hands, but when I touch my hand, I feel like not me, another person touches it. I'm here and now, but at the same time I'm like nowhere at all. It's all blank. It's quite subtle though, but very weird and I don't know what to do with it, or is it something good or bad. Anyone experiencing anything similar?

@egoless I've been trying to live a minimalist lifestyle for 3 years, and actually I came across Leo's channel through his Lifestyle Minimalism video. I think mindfulness and minimalism go hand in hand. I still work a day job (teaching) but I'm moving abroad next February. I'm not sure if I can find a job there straight away, but I've gone debt free and also saved a lot of money (together with my husband). So I'll be fine for a few months, even a year but I'll probably want to work even as a part-time barista or something like that, not for the money, but to get to know the country and make some friends. I started a blog about minimalism a year ago, and just started putting ads there but I don't think it will pay much. Blogging is going out of style and vlogging is becoming more common. But I think writing is a part of my life, and I'm not ready to put myself out there in a video, yet. Sustainable energy, farming and fishing are not available to me at the moment, but I'd definitely like a lifestyle which encourages both minimalism and ecology.

@Natasha I was waiting for Sunday to do the salt water cleanse and I did it this morning. Two hours in, I went to the bathroom twice but still feel a bit full. Haven't peed yet, is this normal? Maybe I feel full because of the water?

@Time Traveler Good luck, but I'm hoping you've researched well and it won't harm your body. Here in Turkey a popstar was doing it (people are guessing she was anorexic, given she went from 60 sth kilos to 40 sth and still want to lose weight). She went into intensive care for a week or so cause her organs didn't respond well and now she's recovering. Have you tried a low carb, ketogenic diet?

Is he though? Everyone knows what (and who) he is after, even Sansa (who's usually referred to as the most stupid Stark, but later proves she's smart af) realizes his plan and executes him. Anyway, I don't think what Leo means by strategy is related to this kind of egoistic strategies. But you're right in that when we observe these people we can easily unpuzzle their plans.

@krazzer most serial killers are like that. @egoless I think, being able to act strategically to the Littlefinger degree requires some evil (=egoistic) agenda. He's a slave to his ego, and does everything to feed the ego. His long term goal is a great manifestation of his ego, he doesn't ignore it, he just feeds it with every move. I think it's pathetic, not smart.

@Brimstone thank you for the insect rave, I really liked it. and so I agree with both you and @Key Elements that sometimes childhood state of mind is really precious. But I also see people act recklessly and get away with it saying they "keep the inner child alive". We must be true to ourselves first. I guess I haven't felt this free my whole life. I've started to see things from a broader perspective and I'm not even making an effort to make myself better, as the first picture quote says. But I feel like I've started to see the patterns of life and it's freeing.

@Afonso you gave me chills! even though it's just another sensation...

Thich Nhat Hanh says, enlightenment is the moment the wave realizes it's water. This has been very illuminating to me. Imagine you are the wave, but you must realize you are the same stuff with water. Very simple and clear, yet very very difficult. I guess he hasn't used any psychedelics but he's in a current meditative state, so

Can you decide if you want to quit after you do work&travel? Travelling to/living in another country totally gives you a new perspective. It opens your mind to possibilities you may not see from the comfort zone of your home country, family, bondings etc. Freedom from all that will totally change your life. Maybe you will wanna finish your degree after that, because possibly as ajasatya says, you will need this knowledge to set up a website for your work, or doing some freelance work before psychotherapy starts paying you well. Or maybe life will throw in other opportunities, who knows. Definitely do work&travel

@Natasha thanks a lot! ? I'll give saline water cleanse a try.

I wish they hadn't added the Einstein bits lol.. but the video is really nice and has a simple language. Thanks for sharing.

Your body and my body and a fir tree's body all experience different sensations and perceptions, but we all share the same consciousness. So the consciousness may never die, but bodies (therefore minds) can, that's how I see it. Now if you ask me how I know, I don't know. I just feel this way. and I suppose it cannot be known until it's known. Sorry if this is confusing.

It's true they're both illusions, like the movie Vanilla Sky. But when I was dreaming tonight I had a very different experience. I don't remember the beginning, but I'm brought to a girl who says "look into my eyes and I will show you the reality. then you will believe and start action" something like that. I can't look straight into her eyes, but all of a sudden, my whole body starts shuttering and I see a corridor of people suffering with their children. That moment, I realized I'm dreaming and I recalled my body in my bed, my crawling position. Then my consciousness started screaming "wake up". I opened my eyes. I'd never tried lucid dreaming or things like that before. So what I got from this is even though they're both illusions, we don't have zero control over them because we are conscious all the time. We just don't know how to control it most of the time.

@The Monk You seem really confused.. I think you can't believe that fluoride is bad for your body and at the same time believe in conventional medicine. Because conventional medicine will always tell you that you need it, and will never believe in the calcification of pineal gland etc. So first make up your mind. And water and toothpaste are the biggest concerns if you decide it's harmful. You don't need to worry about fluoride intake from meat imo.

There are lots of controversial opinions about this. Some experts say it's safe, they say you can even use it for frying; while some others only advocate consuming it raw. I personally cook vegetables and omelette in olive oil. It's certainly better than other oils imo. But if you're unsure, the solution might be adding the olive oil raw after cooking the soup with just water. This is how most Mediterranean people cook dishes using olive oil. Here is another version: They cook with as little oil as possible, then add raw oil later. p.s. Extra virgin olive oil tastes best when consumed raw.

@Igor82 16 years on Earth isn't sufficient to make such a big decision. Sweden is one of the best countries in the world. I wished I was born in Sweden when I visited there. Most of the people already have a higher consciousness level (if you look at the spiral dynamics, I believe most Swedish are at green whereas Middle East is like red all over). Having a high school education in Sweden is not a waste of time even if you end up being an entrepreneur. If you have a good quality uni. education, it will open the way for so many things to you, but maybe you don't see it now. I work as a university instructor and although I don't believe the way universities work are optimal, I believe it broadens your horizon as it gives you a chance to meet different people from diverse backgrounds, and there are lots of conscious professors which will be very beneficial on your path. Finish high school for sure, and my humble suggestion for university would be to study departments such as psychology/physics/physiology/philosophy/environmental sciences/astronomy. These will all help you in the spiritualism/enlightenment journey.