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@At_Giza See how it plays out over the next days and weeks - it may only be a temporary experience. Do what feels most authentic to you - it is your experience after all. Follow your intuition. If you feel you want to meditate and contemplate more then do that. Be equanimous. Don't resist and don't crave the experience.

@Sleyker It's very old and the questions are far behind what Leo teaches/talks about now. Still entertaining to watch though.

Yes it can be a very frustrating process. I applied to nearly 100 jobs last year and finally managed to find one in October. I worked with a career coach and the main thing she said is to tailor your CV extremely specifically to each job. You can't be sending out the same CV to every company. You need to write a brief personal statement at the top which is very tailored to the job and its requirements. Adjust work experience, skills and other stuff in the CV to match the job requirements as well. Another big tip my coach gave me was to apply to jobs through recruitment agencies rather than apply on website like Indeed or LinkedIn where you can be competing against >1000 other people for one job. Tailor your CV for a particular job and then contact (literally phone up) recruitment agencies that are specific to that industry telling them what you're looking for. Remember its a recruitment agents job to find candidates for every job position.

Be carefull with your projections and assumptions. There are plenty of highly valuable contributors to this forum, and a lot of great posts and discussions. Just because there are a handful of toxic users doesn't mean that everyone is. This forum has helped me enormously and I would not be where I am today without it - i've just learnt to ignore and filter out all of the unnecessary low quality discussions. Also don't forget that everyone has to start off somewhere. People are at different stages of learning and growing here so try to be more tolerant of people's lack of understanding - unless it becomes toxic/against forum guidelines etc. Also, I can guarantee that most people who use the forum do not even comment very regularly, if ever. I'm sure there are lots of people working hard and taking action but just sit silently on the side lines. So to assume that people here are not serious about real growth is just straight up false.

@Matteo I think the biggest issue when asking Gurus or other spiritual teachers about psychedelics is that in 99% of the cases they have either never done them or they have a few mild trips under their belt, usually with mushrooms or LSD. So their knowledge and understanding of psychedelics is massively incomplete. Nowadays, unless someone has had a breakthrough dose of 5-MeO-DMT I have stopped listening to their advice. If no traditional practises are working for you, high dose 5-MeO will. 10mg is not enough, but its good that you started off slow and careful. 10mg doesn't really do much. 20mg and up is were the magic happens.

Work in digital advertising

Whilst this virus is seriously affecting a lot of peoples lives in a bad way, i'm kinda loving life at the moment. Getting to work from home is a joy - no commute, much more relaxed work day, I can focus much more easily when needed, no unnecessary work-socialising stuff, and of course i'm still getting my full salary. I feel so fortunate and grateful for my situation. I hope that going forward companies will be much more lenient and flexible about letting people work from home. It's given me a taste of what it would be like to be a freelancer and now thats definitely something i'm gonna work towards. I have so much more energy and motivation to put into other things, like my artwork, meditation and exercise because it hasn't all been spent with going to work in an office all day which can be extremely mentally and physically tiring. You can't properly relax, where as at home its so much more chilled. I can take a 15 break if I want to. I can draw in my sketchbook for 10 minutes if I have an interesting idea. I can also do micro meditations, for like 10/15 minutes throughout the day - something you obviously can't do in an office. I can do all that and still deliver the work that I need to do. In fact my productivity with work has increased significantly. London is also so quiet and peaceful. Obviously i'm not going out much but its lovely when I do. The parks are beautiful at this time of year as well - made even better with the lack of people about. Imagine if it was like this all the time but just without this terrible virus. God bless those who are being affected by it. Anyone else loving the self-isolation life?

I don't think Elliot understands what it means for men to be in touch with the feminine. It doesn't simply mean becoming more feminine haha! For me it means something along the lines of what Chris Bache talks about in his recent book. Through his sessions he lived and experienced the lives of thousands of women of all ages in many different times. He developed a profound level of compassion, understanding and love for the feminine. You could say he fully integrated the feminine. This doesn't make you less masculine, it makes you an ever greater and more consciousness man.

@LfcCharlie4 I actually started doing this a week or two ago. I haven't been doing it every day, but i'm just doing it every now and then for now, usually first thing in the morning. I love the stillness you get after the final exhale and you sit for 2 minutes without any air in the lungs. Such a nice feeling. Is there any clarification on whether you should breath into the stomach or into the lungs? I've yet to find an answer.

Firstly I should say that doing 20 minutes of meditation is not enough. It might be fine for some people, but really its not going to do much for you if you're serious about making significant lasting changes. You need to be doing at least 45 minutes. Second point is, different techniques work differently for different people. There isn't really a technique that is more helpful than others, because it depends largely on the individual and many other factors. Personally I use both techniques, but I generally do more active practises because I tend to fall asleep easily with techniques like Do Nothing. But Do Nothing works excellently for some people and it can be great on retreat when you just need a break but your concentration and mindfulness are very high. Regarding the labelling technique, I have spent a lot of time doing it and researching the different variations. What Leo teaches in the video you mentioned is just one version of the labelling technique, and its very similar to what Shinzen Young teaches. But you also have people like Daniel Ingram, Kenneth Folk, and now-dead Buddhist teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw who teach labelling techniques which differ quite a lot from Shinzen Young's. Daniel Ingram is an advocate for very very fast labelling like you're 'shooting aliens' as he says in his book. Mahasi's primary technique, as far as I understand, focused primarily on noting the sensations of the breath going in and out. All valid techniques that suit different students in different ways. My advice is to read up on the various techniques. Daniel Ingram's book is dense and wordy but also very good. Mahasi Sayadaw's 'Practical Insight Meditation' book is also good. Or find some guided meditations. Kenneth Folk has some good beginners instructions here: https://kennethfolkdharma.com/quick-start-guide/. The most important thing is to find an accurate set of instructions for the technique, and for you to then understand the instructions and then execute them exactly as they are written. The results will follow. Another point worth mentioning is that going on retreat and doing this technique for long periods of time is highly highly recommended. It's unlikely, but not impossible, that you will get far without going on retreat.

Pretty sure Martin Ball has used 5-MeO way more than Leo, or anyone on the planet for that matter. As far as I understand he spent years doing 5-MeO therapy with hundreds of people where he would take 5-MeO at the same time as them. He also smoked his 5-MeO which I suspect had a big influence on his current health issues. And of course you can't just assume that because one person fucked their body up with repeated use it means that everyone else will. Martin probably already had some pre-existing issues. Hardly, no one is forcing you to stay on the forum, or watch Leo's videos, or believe Leo in any way. Regarding the recent bannings, why would I want to use the forum if it was filled with a bunch of junk, ignorant conversations by people who aren't serious about this path and who clearly have no idea what they are talking about. Not all criticism is equal.

I understand why you think it's lazy, but you'd be a fool to not make use of it. 3 of my closest friends have had long term (1+year) relationships through the apps. It's a completely valid method for finding a partner. I don't know how much time you've spent using dating apps, but you'd be surprised at how much time and effort goes into the whole process. You can't really be lazy, unless you're some super good looking dude. It's actually quite a serious commitment. You have to spend a lot of time actually on the app, usually every day for weeks/months depending on how attractive you are of course. You have to spend time in the initial text conversations. And then remember, you do actually end up meeting each other and going on dates. So there is still a strong 'game' aspect to online dating. You just bypass all the hours of rejections, but of course also all the growth that comes from that. Pros and cons of each I guess.

I think the idea is that there are small percentage of men who are having all the sex. So for example you take 100 women and 100 men. Maybe 20 guys are having sex with 80 of the girls. It's not that men are having less sex than women, because you're right that wouldn't work, it's that less men are having sex. At least this is what they think is the case.

Exactly what I was gonna say. The red pill guys are looking at the behaviour of the top tier girls and then assuming that thats all there is. And as you say, they simply ignore the fact that there are millions of normal or average looking people getting together and hooking up all the time.

@SoothedByRain I used to follow Bobby's videos for a short while as well. But I quickly realised he wasn't really providing any sort of value whatsoever. Exactly! Sums him up very accurately. It's obvious he has some serious health issues and I bet his gut health is not very good either. But of course he just blames it on a vegan diet and then goes criticising and bullying other vegans. Last time I looked he also had a massive swastika tattoo on his arm. I called him out on it and he got all defensive saying it meant something entirely different to what most people think it means. Poor guy.

Hi all, I'm (m27) looking for some advice on first dates (with a girl). I'm fairly inexperienced with this sort of thing so that's why i'm asking. My question is: What kind of mindset should I have going into first dates? How should I be 'framing it'? What should my intentions be? Bare in mind i'm actively looking for a long term relationship and not some random hookups. Any thoughts?

I'm just finishing the book now and it's really quite amazing. I haven't read or heard of anyone else going through some of the experiences he talks about (although i'm not doubting there are). You mentioned you felt like tripping whilst reading some passages, and I too had some subtle changes in consciousness whilst reading it. It's a very inspiring book.

@Gili Trawangan @Ero @Serotoninluv Thanks for the comments guys! Much appreciated.

@Hatfort I watched this last night. Her speech at the end is absurdly offensive and racist. Quite bizarre really. It's almost like she's just trolling everyone, but really she's being deadly serious.

@Flowerfaeiry Nice report! I appreciate your honesty. I will be attending my third 10 day in a few weeks. Super excited and motivated

@Preety_India Yea I love it. The pyramid is the journey, with both a light and dark side. The peak or end of the journey is awakening.

I had a really interesting experience with 5-MeO the other day which I feel is worth sharing. I plugged around 28mg. Had an extremely smooth and somewhat pleasant ego death. After I had taken the substance I lay on my bed and realised that there was no going back. A wave of relaxation washed over me and melted all of the usual pre-trip anxiety. The body and mind just completely surrendered in a way that I've never experienced before. There was no nausea or resistance whatsoever which was really pleasant. However the main aspect of the trip that I wanted to share was around 10 minutes in. I started to violently vibrate and shake uncontrollably. My whole body was moving in bi-lateral symmetry. Sweeping waves of vibrations ran from the top of my head down to my feet repeatedly up and down. It felt deeply healing, like some energy had taken over and was going into each and every corner of the body, scraping out all the crap and shit that had been stored there. It felt like I was vibrating off layers and layers of crap from the body. It was extremely pleasurable and I just let it play out for as long as possible, which turned out to be a solid 30 minutes. The more I let go of any control, the more powerful the vibrations became. It was quite amazing.

Lovely post, thankyou! Can you elaborate on the above point?

Don't be so ignorant! You clearly completely misunderstand what bullying is. 99% of the bullying I witnessed in school, to others and to myself, was not physical. Sure, what you describe is one form of bullying, but more often than not its non-physical. It seems like you're characterising bullying based on what you've see in tv shows and movies. Bullying can be extremely subtle, sometimes not even noticed by people around them. It's often just verbal which in a lot of cases is far worse than physical because it's so intertwined with social dynamics and relationships. If all bullying was just physical it would be a lot easier to prevent. I never advocated being passive aggressive, check your projections. The fact that you advocate 'beating their ass', and 'learn mma' just shows your lack of understanding and compassion here. And it's no surprise either that you use the term 'soy boy' *face palm*. I saw many times people try to retaliate their bullies with violence and aggression, it only made things worse.

Yes well I've heard the environmental arguments a million times and it doesn't add up to me. 1000 calories of beef is going to cause less environmental impact than 1000 calories of plants. Seems pretty obvious to me. However, factory farming is still a major contributor, not denying that. No it doesn't, but it does give me a right to eat meat. This is called survival. Stop ignoring the reality of this. Some people need animal protein to have a healthy functioning body, there is no doubt about this. You surely can't expect people to have unhealthy bodies purely so that we can save a few cows? It can't be both ways, at least for now.