Matt23

Have you watched John Vervaeke "Awakening From The Meaning Crisis" series? Might help. Like, it's quite long and covers a lot of stuff. But it might ignite some new direction or ideas for you. I haven't watched them all. John's a professor at the University of Toronto and is a cognitive scientist. He also teaches Buddhist studies.

What are you really after and wanting? Why? Consider improving other areas of life may improve your motivation and make your true goals/motivations/desire more clear. Also, having new experiences may "enlighten" you as to what you might desire more, from the heart. Also consider other perspectives on your issue. Like a more physical, external, or material solutions or blocks. For example, heavy metal toxicity affecting your motivations, or living in a de-motivating place, etc. Maybe mix things up a bit if you've be trudging down a road for a while. Also, taking breaks and getting rest may help in regenerating your passion. Learning how to not simply motivate (to me implying a more grinding sort of effort) ,but to inspire yourself (to me implying a more heart-centered or spiritual and deep desire/connection to something).

Maybe if you've brought it up with them several times (maybe the rule of 3 works) in a respectful, truthful, and honest way (and taking responsibility for the feelings you have and not attributing your feelings to them, but maybe saying "When you do X, I feel Y"), but they keep doing the behaviors you feel bad about after telling them about it. Not that this example is the same as your situation, but it might help. I've noticed that I often feel put down by my roomate, and I've brought it up with her 2 times in a respectful way. But, I've noticed she still acts and communicates with me in ways where I feel negative and hurt or triggered. So at this point I just realized that I'm not going to pursue trying to open up to her much or maybe at all. I'm not going to treat her like crap though, it's just me not opening up when I feel I'll just get hurt etc.

Or... ...And there's no in-between! I hope it's the second one.

"...prove just how much he values the lives and wellbeing of ALL Americans. " hahaha man... I dunno about that. Yaaaaa... I dunno about that. Firstly, what are her motives, agendas, biases, values, etc. Secondly, all the things she listed that Trump supposedly did, I have no knowledge of, so I can't speak to that. Thirdly, consider that cherry-picking successes can be done, and even within those successes, did Trump do those from the bottom of his heart? Or for some personal profit? My guess is the second. Speaking from my own biases and snap judgments,.... "...a world order of international institutions ultimately puppeteered by a caste of technocrats, oligarchs and international bankers... By pushing their marxist-socialist progressive agenda for years, they set out to destroy your fundamental values and divide you I don't think that Orange SD types of people would have marxists-socialist progressive agendas Personally, if there was a secret plot to instill a progressive new world order, I'd be up for that hahaha. Through the Spiral lens I hear a stage Blue person (hence the demonization of "technocrats, oligarchs and international bankers" (i.e., stage Orange) and "marxist-socialist progressive" (i.e., stage Green) trying to keep Trump in office for some personal reasons. Personally I don't know why she wrote it specifically, but that I felt a bit triggered by it. Like "she's my enemy" sort of feeling. Probably since I just don't like Trump or the less progressive agendas. I may have also felt a bit of fear when reading the parts where she described Trump's "successes" since I knew I had no confirmation on those, and that "hey, for all I know, she could be right and I might have been manipulated this whole time." But I still look at Trump like "Yaaaaa... he's not doing anything for anyone but himself. Let alone having strategic competence." I kinda liked reading it as well though, sort of challenged some things in me and thus helped me see some of my own biases n such. .... but please, God, don't let Trump win haha.... I'm not even American. Obviously, I have no way to prove or falsify anything she said. I just don't know. Even if Trump did do some things that turned out to help some people, A) cherry-picking B) what were his true motives for that? C) ... I mean, cmon, it's Trump.

Might not be black and white. Sure, there's cons, but pros too. Most important is do you feel it's what you want and what will be most beneficial for you and others? Cuz, yea, you may be supporting destruction in the world. On the other hand, you could save lives, or even grow yourself to the point where that self-growth is a benefit in and of itself. There's probably no "right" or "wrong" answers either. Whatever choice you make is fine (but choose the hardest one;)). Even if you regret your decision, you'll still learn from that.

https://www.cheetahhouse.org/ Wiiloughby Britton is a meditation research from Brown University who's done some great work with issue relating to meditation. She also runs the Cheetah House which is a one-stop-shop for resources relating to issues with meditation. Here's a podcast as an introduction.

Just in case you want to vote for Brian Rose, here's a series (there's a handful of videos) that Rebel Wisdom did on him and what seemed like an apparent money scam. Seems fishy to me.

There could also be a difference between Spiral Dynamics stages and other personality factors, like degree of open-mindedness or a youthful idealism.

I'd just straight up ask them. "Before we do this, do you have an STD?" or some such. Health first.

Having said that, I still benefit from other P.O.V.s on healing and emotions. Like more "bottom-up" approached which have more biological/physiological rootz in changing states. Like putting my body upside down, hugging myself and rubbing my arms together, changing my breathing patterns, using peripheral vision to relax, etc. Mixing between different perspectives has helped. Like from the physiological, meditative/mindfulness, contemplative/psychoanalytical, imaginary-felt-sense/IFS, feeling feelings, and even using distractions skillfully.

Yeah. I've been working with a therapist who I think has certification or experience with it. It's not like we do "strictly" IFS, like "Ok, A-B-C...". It feels to me like a more natural and fluid thing. But I definitely have gained so much from this in integrating different aspects of myself. Before I'd being doing lots of mindfulness and such, which is great for developing concentration and seeing your mind more, but it doesn't really deal with things as they arise (all the time, especially with large emotional upheavals). I've found mindfulness without other emotional/psychological strategies is like having a metal-detector without a shovel. Sure, you may unearth and see lots of stuff under the surface, but it's hard to unearth and deal with it. Of course not always, sometimes I've done a lot of just observing and letting go. But for me there's limits to that with certain issues. IFS has really shown me that if there's an issue I face, even with external relationships, I can go inside and become the "Observer" or "Self", try to face each aspect as it is, integrate and understand it, and then not get overwhelmed by it. Made me realize how much of a mess my internal aspects were, and then gave me a way to systematically deal with, communicate, and understand them. Not just like "Oh, I'm having this emotion and I'm going to suppress it, or mindfulness it away." Instead, it's like giving each aspect attention, healing, and understanding which heals things wayyyy more and almost like gives more permanent and deeper psychological healing. Like learning how to "self" myself haha.... like relationally, instead of looking at myself as a single thing, seeing how I'm many things and all these aspects need attention and understanding and healign and compassion to resolve them and not have them be in conflict and allow them to be as they are without having backlashes and outbursts etc. Super good stuff IMO.

I wonder what this guy's story is and what made him. Seems like he's from the south (and I assume thus a larger conservative social context), but his ideas make me think he bucked the trend of his surroundings. Spittin some serious southern soul-food.

I've been using it for about a year maybe once every 2-3 weeks to contemplate at night. I don't usually do it and just watch TV or chill. Seems to have gotten me some decent insights (conceptual) and changed my ways of thinking. It's mostly Sativa (more "heady"). I like it for those purposes, but I can see how abusing it could be easy as well.

You could try working a well paying, yet tough, job in the summer and make lots of money. Working on oil rigs comes to mind, construction can sometimes pay better than entry level jobs, forest fire fighting, ... ... How crucial is going to school? Is there another alternative?

I just watched the first few minutes, but in it I thought Russel made a good point and probably fair analysis of Trump's use of language and narrative. "The tools used to undermine Trump are the usual rational, logical, material ... that may appeal to people who already dislike Trump, but it will anger those who do like him. So in a sense, this is the wrong approach..." I also think this is an area where Russel has a decent degree of expertise, innate strength, and knowledge. "this area" meaning: narrative, use of language, messaging and advertising, influencing, etc.

HAha... just posted the same thing...

Is this book only about mercury toxicity? Or does it cover a generalized heavy-metal detox (if there is such a thing)?

Recently finished this book. Well worth it in my POV. Author: Bessel van der Kolk. It talks about trauma, mostly developmental, emotional, abuse, war, and childhood traumas rather than specific shock traumas (like car accidents). Covers the neuroscience and brain quite a bit, but not overly (mostly as adjuncts to case studies and therapeutic modalities). He also cover attachment. I found the start to be a bit slow. But towards the end he goes into some depth in regards to several therapeutic approaches that seem to have tremendous positive results with trauma (even childhood trauma which he states is far more difficult to treat than traumas that occur later in life since one doesn't have an underlying basis of safety and security to draw upon). With all of these methods, he provides some stunning research he himself has done, along with research done by others. Yoga IFS (internal family systems) The idea here is that each person has an entire internal family or community of selves within, and that they can have conflicts among each other. Working with your imagination, you can speak to, lead, heal, and communicate with these separate selves and even help various selves interact with each other in more positive ways. Just before learning about this, I had seen in myself the same thing and come to basically the same idea independently. When I read this, it felt like it was using the exact same language I used to describe what I was experiencing. Psychomotor Al Pesso's work This one really intrigued me. The essence of it is to take the relationships you have inside of yourself and transpose them into external reality via objects or other people. Then you can see them more clearly and play around with them. Even swapping your parents who may have abused or neglected you, with your ideal parent. Ex: You pick someone to play your father. You then position them at the distance and location from you that feels most appropriate. You can do this for everyone in your life. Then, you can interact with him, ask him things, tell him things. You can even swap him for the ideal father you wanted and interact with that person. In the book, he claims that this can heal and alter very early and fundamental feelings of insecurity by replacing those older memories (and the feelings associate with them) with newer and more helpful feelings. Theater Neurofeedback EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Seems to be able to integrate and heal many traumatic memories without the need for A) much talking B) feeling safe with your therapist. There were some other benefits as well which I forget. He also discusses the psychiatric side of things. He started of in psychiatry, but throughout the book he seems to lean towards favoring other approaches besides psychiatry and medications (at least for most people. He does suggest that some people do benefit from medications). I think his main critic of Western psychiatry is how we over-prescribe, and how often medications don't solve the core issues and often have negative side effects. Points Trauma disconnects Trauma and mental illness, at their core, are about feeling unsafe and disconnected from others and oneself. Trauma is fight-flight and freeze responses that don't shut off Trauma is not the event, but how one responds to events. Though fight-flight and freeze responses can be healthy and crucial survival responses, in trauma they become chronic and don't shut off. This leads to overflooding of stress hormones, which then can lead to all sorts of mental, attentional, developmental, and physical ailments and problems. Feeling safe is king The first step in healing trauma and changing one's nervous system is safety. You can't help someone, even yourself, if you don't first feel safe. Once you feel safe, then you'll be open and able to help yourself and others. Bottom-up & top-down approaches Top-down approaches are when people use their will, mind, and conscious energies of mind to change, analyze, and observe their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Mindfulness and CBT are examples of this. Though, when people are too overwhelmed, top-down approaches can be difficult. This is where bottom-up approaches can help. This means, instead of using your mind to change your physiology, you use your physiology and biology to change your mind. Breathwork, yoga, cold showers and movement are examples of these. Dissociation Depression, being "space out" or "out of it", not feeling your body, all of these are dissociative experiences. Contrary to how someone might seem on the outside (shut down, lethargic, depressed, too calm and unexcited), their inner world and physiology is actually pumping stress hormones. This is when the freeze response becomes chronic. All mammals (maybe even animals) have this response. If an animal feels it cannot escape its prey or danger, it will freeze. Evolutionarily, the prey may come to see this limp animal as sick and disease, thus leave it alone. But, even though it's limp and motionless, internally it's heartbeat is heightened and stress hormones are coursing through its veins. My main takeaways A renewed sense of excitement and curiosity to explore different techniques and modalities. I think the thing that really impressed and excited my the most was how many different approaches he covered, and included studies, evidence, stories to back them up. I really felt excited and empowered since I have been dealing with a lot of severe mental health issues over the years, and this really opened my world and hopes to try more and see what happens. One size doesn't fit all & use a handful of approaches. Even though this book gave a lot of information, he still mentioned that humans and trauma is complex and one thing may not work for everyone. I also like the idea of being able to draw upon many modalities to heal traumas and deal with daily hiccups and life. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone dealing with mental issues and trauma. It's a great way to introduce yourself to many areas of thought on mental health, as well as an introduction to several types of therapies and solutions. It comes from someone who started out in the traditional and culturally accepted systems within psychiatry and mental health, but seems to now be moving towards alternatives. If you want something that falls somewhere between mainstream psychology and alternative psychology, this is probably it. Though, he does seem to poo-poo the mainstream more or less, he still is a scientist and comes from that background, so he's not "wayyyyy out there". Practical Insightful Theoretical Maybe leans towards the neuroscience, physiological, and biological side a bit. But not overly. Good introduction or book to read if you want many sources and avenues to explore. 8.5/10

What does it look like to you? Reflection: Not saying that it's not an authentic value underneath the negative motivation. But to me, trauma and negativity can obscure truth, authenticity, and clarity and make it difficult to discern things in life. Might help to resolve and heal some trauma and negativity...? What feels good and true(r) or authentic for you in your body when you contemplate different questions and values? When you actually participate and behaviorally align/pursue a value, do you feel strained and put out, or energize and fulfilled (like "I want more of that!" with a smille on your face)? What puts a smile on your face and gives you excited, joyful, and pleasant bubbly feelings in your body? If you can imagine when you were a smile child, maybe see if you can remember or create a memory of feeling totally unburdened by negativity, and just so clear about what it is that makes you happy and joyful. Remember those times? Remember how easy it was to know what you want? Remember how you felt what you wanted, and thus knew it. Remember how what you knew you wanted was an effortless activity when pursued? Remember how, even if it was doing physical or effortful activity, if it was what you truly felt motivated to do and wanted, you would do it since the joy overpowered any laziness since you just wanted it cuz it brought you so much joy? See if you can feel what this would feel like in your body, right now. Now, ask yourself these questions about your life purpose and authentic values. What can you do that is like, the best thing to do on a day off? Something not programmed, but felt, that you enjoy? What if there's no clear distinction between your life purpose and the rest of your life? What if you asked yourself the question "What kind of life would I create for myself if I was God/all powerful, etc.?", instead of only focusing on life purpose? Maybe you can come up with some things that aren't exactly life purpose/career. It seems that life purpose or any other area of life isn't really clearly distinct by itself. Maybe getting rid of clear distinctions between areas of life will help destroy some limiting conceptual constraints and open up imagination and truer desires for you.

Anyone who's experienced non-duality. I've never had an enlightenment experience (as far as I can remember). I've been wondering about possibilities with eliciting enlightenment through technology. Would some sort of room or presentation (maybe with V.R. goggles) which alters people's perceptions and distorts how they experience and see reality be a possible way of experiencing enlightenment? I've experimented with moving my head back and forth, moving my hand from side to side, walking and trying to see things so that my visual field is moving from side to side instead of me moving through a reality, and other visually altering techniques with the hopes gaining an insight. Do you think these types of methods would be valid enlightenment techniques? Or are they simply messing with perceptions and enlightenment is something totally different (it seems like this to me, but some of the techniques on Leo's enlightenment exercises list seems similar in nature)? I was thinking, if these are valid strategies for enlightenment, we'd be able to try to enlighten people on a mass scale. Put them all in a room with screens on the wall, or some such, and alter there perceptions till "click". 50 people enlightened. Next! From my understanding, it probably wouldn't work this way. Though, I'm still open to it might. I think the Mahamudra technique (I think it's mahamudra) makes me think it might be possible since it deals a lot with changing the focus in your visual field.

Another way to go about finding what books to read is to research books that people you admire have read. You can then see if there any common books that most people you admire have read. I've been trying to read other books than on Leo's list. I really enjoyed Bessel van der Kolk's book "The Body Keeps The Score." I find it's hard to balance reading random books vs. highly recommended books. Cons/Benefits of reading random books - Explore new territory. - Be more unique in yourself/knowledge-base -Waste time reading useless crap. Cons/Benefits of reading highly recommended books - Higher chance that the book will be high-quality. - Might lose some niche-information or information that is uniquely meaningful to you personally. Balance

@Thewritersunion I always thought about reading it... just for kicks. Seems like a popular book haha. ... Would anyone actually recommend reading the bible?

You might want to check this out. Jamie Wheal worked with Ken Wilber and Integral in regards to transforming organizations. He's got some interesting critiques and seems to have solid first-hand experiences with using SD (or AQAL) in organizations.

Hey. So I'm seeing how much I need and want to be in intimate connection with another man. I really need it and feel that I am more of a feminine energy "type". I lean that way anyway. I say this since I feel that I need to intimately be in relation with another and be really connected with the other... like "one" with them or feel something like that connection... It's kinda vague but it's the best I got right now. Maybe something like communicating, holding, sure, great sex, but also passionate and love sex too. Something deeper. But not excluding all other "primal sexing" haha. I'm looking for some great resources that really demonstrate the possibilities within relationships to grow, mature, and develop really consciously and in love, connection and intimacy. Like, I can see how I'm writing this and focusing on the intimate connection part, but it's not meant to discard other aspects of relationships. It's just that this seems to be the core or center at how I wish to proceed. Anyways, I'm looking to create this type of relationship and want some great resources to... A) give me food for visioning in terms of giving me more ideas and possibilities for what's in potential for relationships B) give me techniques, theory, lessons already learned, traps, etc., as to how relationships function and more "proven" or solid ways to form healthy and passionately connected and vibrant relationships. Cheers!