ajasatya

@Empty there is no other alternative. you have to go towards your fears. find the proper dosage for you and face it everyday. gradual exposure is the best strategy.

i'd go for it first. becoming financially independent is hard enough. engaging in a relationship requires attention and energy in order to overcome your emotional barriers. since you have a deadline (next summer), it's totally worth waiting.

careful here. concepts are bs if you're sabotaging yourself or if you're seeking Truth. concepts are useful to live a healthy and happy life. a disciplined mind is a powerful tool.

that's the typical story of every awaken (or in the path to awakening) person that i know. i just recommend that you be careful with the words that you tell yourself everyday. instead of calling people boring, as if the problem were them, i'd simply say that i'm no longer interested in such activities. as time passes by, you'll see some of them immersing in their own awakening experiences. it's a matter of time and everyone has their own rhythm. until then, you won't be able to connect with them through relationships, but it doesn't mean you can't love them. every human being is the face of god, and that's already beautiful enough.

@Ika are you financially independent?

what happened to you for you to realize that you were living a "boring life", as you call it today? did you think of yourself as a boring person back then or were you just trying your best to be happy? when i remember how i used to feel about life 5+ years ago, the first feeling that i remember is struggle. a LOT of struggle. i was trying to be happy and i didn't know how. i can't say that i was boring because that feels like lack of respect towards the fact that i was suffering. and for this reason, i find it disrespectful calling people boring or using any depreciating term towards those who suffer on the materialistic paradigm. that's why i'm pointing to the old version of you. investigate why you were the way you were and you'll understand others.

@George Fil you talk about judgment and you call me "forum guru". very interesting, indeed. i am not saying that you are a shallow and egocentric person. i am saying that you sound shallow and egocentric when you complain about the superficiality of others. those are very different things. and it's not just you in particular. i have nothing against you. people do darken themselves when they start to throw out labels onto the world. why is that? because we, humans, can only talk about ourselves. so if i feel anger or any kind of anguish towards "people being materialistic", i am actually in conflict with the materialistic part of myself. if you can't forgive the old you, you won't be able to understand and help those stuck on the same toxic patterns as you were. and all you'll be able to do is complain and feel isolated. what the heck is an "advanced being", even? i am a human being, born from mother and father, built upon 26 years of deep ignorance and 4 years of some relief, who will die within 70~80 years. are you trying to become an "advanced being", whatever that means?

when you talk like this you sound shallow and egocentric to me.

i am here to dig deeper, since nobody else is playing the role of the grounding partner. how do you imagine the real thing happening? what exactly happens in classes and how will people feel motivated to take action and practice? this is not anywhere clear to me.

then prove me wrong!

@George Fil people are not boring. they're just scared of going deeper and we have to respect that. that's why we notice ourselves in a spiritual path after some kind of accidental ego breakdown. doing the first move consciously is something that cannot be conceived by the mind. people suffer until they've suffered enough and instead of bashing them for their vices, the best we can do is feel and show some compassion. if you get to really really listen to people (and i'm not talking about a particular type or people... just people in general), they will tell you all sorts of peculiar and extremely interesting things about their lives. but you need to be an advanced listener to reach this point with ease.

even though i exaggerated on those 300 years, i am being realistic in a serious way. some people take years just to learn how to make eye contact. personal development is not something that can happen under the pressure of an academic environment. everyone has a very particular rhythm and improve in different aspects in a very particular order. when i think of an "actualized academy", i imagine an extremely theoretical body of knowledge and pools of ego trips.

it's called Life. a diploma in personal development would require 300 years of study and practice.

no. meditation is a dismantling tool. once you realize the illusory nature of your self-image and deconstruct your personality, you're free to build a new one. there are several ways to build your persona and it's not the hard part in my opinion. destruction is the hard part.

@Divingdeeper meditation is the best one, hands down. it will make letting go a lot easier for you. if someone mentions psychedelics here, i recommend that you do not touch them unless you've developed a solid 1 year long (at least) meditation habit. also, drop bad low quality culture. don't listen to songs that promote emotional attachments like jealousy, neediness, vengeance etc.

this is not true. the vast majority of people are 95% of the time scared, anxious, nostalgic, neurotic, angry or needy.

@Anton Rogachevski amazing practical video. i had this insight about 2 years ago and it felt so relieving. how does it feel to live as an open book, without any secrets? it feels like floating gracefully throughout life! @bejapuskas @Devi Shanti we've got some diamonds here. check these out.

i am simply amazed. the following video should speak for itself.

@F A B excelent idea! i love walking alone on the streets.

the wim hof method works exactly the opposite. it's about increasing your oxygen levels and decreasing carbon dioxide levels, thus elevating the pH of your blood. i bet you've already heard about the benefits of a more alkaline blood.

@Manjushri i asked you what is your schedule like and you said that there's no schedule. tell us at least what you did yesterday and today. how do you deal with the small details of life? i am sure that you are more than just a "sleep depraved person". tell us everything that makes you suffer besides your sleeping issues and their consequences.

@Emerald the struggle to become more popular is the exact attempt to look better in the eyes of others. i am here to talk from personal experience and from what i see in the experience of others. everyone (me included) who's ever persued popularity simply fell out of energy due to frustrations not compensated by real feelings of fulfilment. i was able to get out of the black hole of sadness really quickly because i was lucky enough to be told that seeking popularity was an infinite stair of sadness before. when someone comes up and say that he/she wants to be popular, i always dig deep to see the real motivation behind it. what are their practical plans? are they willing to get drunk in parties or share creativity on instagram? you never know how low or high they're willing to go.

i disagree. when i was weak and distracted, i used to crave for the most shallow desires. and even though i could achieve some of them, i didn't feel happy and ended up falling back in the same shallow circle of desires over and over. then i decided to communicate my desires (pretty much like the OP did) and people helped me investigate the nature of what i wanted. i found out that most of my desires were just as weak as i was and they didn't survive the inquiry process. one day i had the desire to dance shuffle. and after communicating my desire, i could make it survive the inquiry process with ease. so i started to practice and practice for months. i got so good at it that i became popular (check it out if you want). and that's how i overcame my first huge depression when i was 19. people that really know what they want will know why and how to defend their desires. and they will figure out a practical way to do it. read the entire conversation and you'll notice that, in the end, he did have a clear vision of what he actually wants to do. btw, this is how life purpose courses work. they're supposed to make you question your desires from every possible perspective. the final result is a polished vision and practical plan.

you become popular when people believe that they will benefit from their relationship with you. it's that simple. becoming popular and then using it for whatever reason sounds like a scam... as if you were lying just to be someone else later. instead, do what you want to do before you become popular and keep up the work after you become popular. your popularity may even be a termometer to tell you about the quality of what you offer. this is how i think about popularity. what will your practical actions be?

his popularity, or the popularity of anyone who shares high quality content, are straightforward consequences. the fact that you aim to be popular as a goal is stinky. it smells like spiritual poverty.