▶️ Leo’s Blog: Videos, Summaries and Interviews ▶️
(Most blog videos are 45-60 mins, some are 2 hrs (of course )  Videos are listed in reverse chronological order, for the most part.)
 
                Epistemology ⁉️ 🤔 💡
• Apr 21, 2021:     Sherlock Holmes' Brain
• Mar 21, 2021:    Why Debates Don't Work
• Feb 25, 2021:     Learning From Partially False Perspectives
• Aug 23, 2019:    My Critique Of Zizek's Critique Of Buddhism
• Aug 19, 2019:    Why Are My Videos So Long?
• Aug 15, 2019:    How To Test For Self-Bias
• Jun 27, 2019:     Sense Organs Are Imaginary
• Oct 22, 2018:     Skepticism & Nonduality
• Sept 16, 2018:   Metaphysics vs Epistemology
• Sept 4, 2018:     All Understanding Is Metaphoric
• Oct 3, 2018:       All Understanding Is Metaphoric - Part 2
• Dec 21, 2017:    Changing Perspectives Destroys Reality (note)
• Dec 9, 2017:      Understanding Better Than Academics
 
                Enlightenment 🤯
• Feb 29, 2020:   What It's Like To Smoke Salvia Divinorum (note) 
• Feb 5, 2020:     Explaining God For Dummies
• Dec 17, 2019:   Miracle Awakening
• Dec 15, 2019:   Ego-Collapse Awakening
• Jul 17, 2019:     Infinite Love Awakening
• Jun 21, 2019:    DPT: The Other God Molecule  (Summary)
• Jun 11, 2019:    Total Omniscience Awakening
• Nov 29, 2017:   Absolute Infinity Demo (10 mins)
 
                Life Purpose 💪 😤
• Aug 23, 2021:    Extra Insights About Good Intentions 🤯 (Summary)
• Feb 28, 2021:    Guerilla Business Advice   (Summary)
• Jul 22, 2020:      Requisite Variety & Creative Laziness
• Jul 11, 2019:      Tapping Into Collective Consciousness 🤯
• Oct 8, 2018:      How I Started My First Business
• Sep 10, 2018:    Why Get Rich Quick Schemes Don't Work
 
                Society & Politics 🌎 🏛️
• Nov 26, 2020:   Conscious Capitalism BS
• Jul 8, 2020:        Deconstructing Property Rights
• Apr 17, 2020:    Why Bernie Sanders Lost (note)
• Aug 21, 2019:   Rethinking Human History
• Oct 23, 2019:    Why The Media Is Corrupt
• Oct 7, 2019:      The Big Picture Of Global Politics
• Jan 23, 2019:    My Political Awakening (Essay)
• Sep 6, 2018:     Inside The Mind Of Trump
• Jan 10, 2018:    Life Lessons From "Life Below Zero" (note)
 
                   Yoga 🧘🏼
• Mar 6, 2018:    Sitting Posture For Yoga & Meditation (9 mins)
• Mar 6, 2018:    Don't Half-Ass Yoga (note)
 
                Leo’s Health & Life 🍎 🥗
• Feb 18, 2022:   Explaining Take-Down & New Awakening
• Apr 9, 2021:     Water Fast Ends, Carnivore Diet Begins
• Mar 17, 2021:  14 Day Water Fast
• Feb 5, 2021:     Back From 2 Month Break, Updates   (Summary)
• Jul 21, 2020:     My Health Situation
• Jul 7, 2019:       Do I Doubt Myself?
 
                   Retreats 🏝️ 🧘🏼 🍄
   Leo’s Retreat at Home: 🏡
• May 31, 2018:   May 2018 Solo Retreat - Part 1
• Jun 4, 2018:       May 2018 Solo Retreat - Part 2
• Jun 8, 2018:       May 2018 Solo Retreat - Part 3 💪
 
   Leo’s Retreats in Hawaii: 🌺
• Apr 26, 2018:    Second Hawaii Retreat Intro (19 mins)
• May 1, 2018:     Hawaii Late Night Insights 🌃
• Apr 22, 2018:    Conclusion: Mindfucked In Hawaii 🍄
 
• Feb 25, 2018:    First Hawaii Retreat - Feb 2018 (8 videos) 🌴
 
   Leo’s Retreat in Arizona: 🏕️ 🏜️
• May 7, 2017:     Solo Retreat Videos & Insights (10 videos)
 
                Interviews with Leo 🎙️
• Sept 20, 2021:   The Theories of Everything Podcast interviews Leo
                             — Ego Death, God, Reality vs Dream, TOEs, and an "Ask Me Anything.” (Part Two)
• Sept 7, 2022:   The Theories of Everything Podcast interviews Leo
                             — Infinite Consciousness, God Realization, Free Will, and Love (Part One).
• May 7, 2021:   The Charlie and Ben Podcast interviews Leo
                             — Deconstructing Reality, Psychedelic Enlightenment and Spiral Dynamics.
 
• Nov 20, 2016:  Leo Interviews Martin Ball - Using 5-MeO-DMT To Become Enlightened. (ep.#283)
• Nov 9, 2016:    Leo Interviews Peter Ralston.
• Nov 2, 2014:    Leo Interviews Tripp Advice - How To Be An Attractive Man. (ep.#176)
 
                Articles ✍️
• Leo’s “20 Dream Killers” article.
• Leo’s "Personal Development Blueprint.”  (covers over 100 Self-Help concepts)
 
                   Viewer Compilations 🥳
• Incredible, Powerful Concepts on Life & 5-MeO-DMT 🤯 
• Building a Passionate Life 
• The BEST Strategy to Attract SUCCESS 
 

"It is best not to be born at all; and next to that, it is better to die than to live; and this is confirmed even by divine testimony."
- Silenus
 
"For humans, the best for them is not to be born at all, not to partake of nature's excellence; not to be is best, for both sexes. This should be our choice, if choice we have; and the next to this is, when we are born, to die as soon as we can."
- Silenus
 
"To Never Have been born may be the greatest boon of all."
- Sophocles
 
"Nothing is better proof of how far humanity has regressed than the impossibility of finding a single nation, a single tribe, among whom birth still provokes mourning and lamentations."
- Emil M. Cioran
 
"I long to be free—desperately free. Free as the stillborn are free."
- Emil M. Cioran
 
"If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence, or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood?"
- Arthur Schopenhauer
 
"If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery, pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course, you will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little as on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life; and if, here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state."
- Arthur Schopenhauer
 
"So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 4:2-3
 
"I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."
Ecclesiastes 1:14
 
"Look, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!'"
Luke 23:29
 
"It is curious that while good people go to great lengths to spare their children from suffering, few of them seem to notice that the one (and only) guaranteed way to prevent all the suffering of their children is not to bring those children into existence in the first place."
- David Benatar
 
"The idea of bringing someone into the world fills me with horror. I would curse myself if I were a father. A son of mine! Oh no, no, no! May my entire flesh perish and may I transmit to no one the aggravations and the disgrace of existence."
- Gustave Flaubert
 
"A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung out into the cosmic brutality without hesitation."
- Peter Wessel Zapffe
 
"Parents have a child, and in doing so they bring into the world a monster that kills everything it comes in contact with."
- Thomas Bernhard
 
"It is not the case that one can create new people on the assumption that if they are not pleased to have come into existence they can simply kill themselves. Once somebody has come into existence and attachments with that person have been formed, suicide can cause the kind of pain that makes the pain of childlessness mild by comparison. Somebody contemplating suicide knows (or should know) this. This places an important obstacle in the way of suicide. One’s life may be bad, but one must consider what affect ending it would have on one’s family and friends. There will be times when life has become so bad that it is unreasonable for the interests of the loved ones in having the person alive to outweigh that person’s interests in ceasing to exist."
- David Benatar
 
"Not having children derives not from dislike, but from love too great to bring them into this world, too limited, too vain, too cruel."
- Michel Onfray
 
"And when I think my thinking rouses me to blame he who created me, and I gave peace to my children for they are in the bliss of the abyss which surpasses all the pleasures of the world, and had they been born they would’ve endured misery."
- Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī
 
"The argument that coming into existence is always a harm can be summarized as follows: Both good and bad things happen only to those who exist. However, there is a crucial asymmetry between the good and the bad things. The absence of bad things, such as pain, is good even if there is nobody to enjoy that good, whereas the absence of good things, such as pleasure, is bad only if there is somebody who is deprived of these good things.
The implication of this is that the avoidance of the bad by never existing is a real advantage over existence, whereas the loss of certain goods by not existing is not a real disadvantage over never existing."
- David Benatar
 
"Depressed, negative, and pessimistic people were often treated like lepers in this world. It was as though people feared catching what they had. Perhaps because what they were saying made sense?
Hell, if everybody would see the world as it truly was, we’d all be depressed. But if that were the case, there wouldn’t even be any people. For nobody would want to bring a child into this fucked up world if they truly understood the sorry state of things. The fact that we kept on breeding showed that delusion was necessary for the continuation of the species."
- Keijo Kangur
 
"In all our actions, including those that appear selfless, we are in search of some kind of pleasure, even if it is only the pleasure of self-esteem. But while our desire for pleasure is infinite, our mental and physical organs are capable only of limited and temporary pleasures; and this mismatch between desire and capacity dooms us to perpetual dissatisfaction. There is no pleasure big or total enough to quench, even momentarily, our thirst for pleasure.
But since the absence of pleasure is pain, it follows that we are always in pain, even when we might believe otherwise. And if life is nothing but an unbroken experience of pain, it would be better for every human being never to have been born."
- Giacomo Leopardi
 
"Her reaction had not been unusual. Anti-natalism—the idea that humans should not breed—was not a popular view. Not even amongst most green freaks. This despite the fact that all the troubles that existed in the world existed solely because of human beings.

Despite the obviousness of this idea, admitting this to the average person was like confessing to a murder. Even in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where all that existed was misery and squalor, humans, in their never-ending capacity for delirium, would without a doubt still continue bringing new people into this world instead of realizing that doing so was both cruel and insane. That was how strongly the delusion that life was good was embedded into us. It had to be since otherwise there wouldn’t be any humans around. Life was like a pyramid scheme that had to be constantly shoved down the throats of new victims in order to keep the scam going."
- Keijo Kangur
 
"What foolishness it is to desire more life, after one has tasted a bit of it and seen the world; for each day, after each endless day, piles up ever more misery into a mound. As for pleasures: once we have passed youth they vanish away, never again to be seen.
Death is the end of all.
Never to be born is the best thing. To have seen the daylight and be swept instantly back into dark oblivion comes second."
- Sophocles
 
"There was also the church where my aunt’s funeral had been held. I remembered standing over her open casket and looking at her lifeless body. She had looked so peaceful. Although it was a great tragedy for the people at the funeral that she was gone, some of them even openly weeping over her, in truth, death was only a tragedy to those left behind. For her, all her problems were over. For the people weeping over her, something valuable had been taken from their life without their consent. Their tears were born from selfishness."
- Keijo Kangur
 
"Life is a vale of tears and all human beings are miserable creatures, so I cannot take the responsibility for bringing yet another unhappy creature into the world."
- Etty Hillesum
 
"One naive pro-natalist assumption is that because death is a bad thing, procreation, which can be considered the antonym of death is a god thing, but the naive defect in that assumption is that it ignores the obvious fact that procreation is an essential (and the ultimate cause) of death."
- Jiwoon Hwang
 
"As soon as the child is born, the mother who has just brought him into the world must console him, quiet his crying, and lighten the burden of the existence she has given him. And one of the principal duties of good parents in the childhood and early youth of their children is to comfort them, to encourage them to live, because sorrows and ills and passions are at that age much heavier than they are to those who through long experience, or simply because they have lived longer, are used to suffering. And in truth it is only fitting that the good father and the good mother, in trying to console their children, correct as best they can, and ease, the damage they have done by procreating them. Good God! Why then is man born? And why does he procreate? To console those he has given birth to for having been born?"
- Giacomo Leopardi
 
"This is not to offer a general recommendation of suicide. Suicide, like death from other causes, makes the lives of those who are bereaved much worse. Rushing into one’s own suicide can have profound negative impact on the lives of those close to one. Although an Epicurean may be committed to not caring about what
happens after his death, it is still the case that the bereaved suffer a harm even if the deceased does not. That suicide harms those who are thereby bereaved is part of the tragedy of coming into existence. We find ourselves in a kind of trap. We have already come into existence. To end our existence causes immense pain to those we love and for whom we care. Potential procreators would do well to consider this trap they lay when they produce offspring."
- David Benatar
 
"Killing a person does not lead to nearly as much pain as creating a human being."
- Mokokoma Mokhonoana
 
"We celebrate life and mourn death. Yet life create death, and death create life. Every cradle is a grave. Why not celebrate death and mourn life?"
- Pelle Skogsberg
 
"There is a further (non-distributional) consideration that can affect an assessment of a life’s quality. Arguably, once a life reaches a certain threshold of badness (considering both the amount and the distribution of its badness), no quantity of good can outweigh it, because no amount of good could be worth that badness. It is just this assessment that Donald (‘Dax’) Cowart made of his own life—or at least of that part of his life following a gas explosion that burnt two-thirds of his body. He refused extremely painful, life-saving treatment, but the doctors ignored his wishes and treated him nonetheless. His life was saved, he achieved considerable success, and he reattained a satisfactory quality of life. Yet, he continued to maintain that these post-burn goods were not worth the costs of enduring the treatments to which he was subjected. No matter how much good followed his recovery, this could not outweigh, at least in his own assessment, the bad of the burns and treatment that he experienced."
- David Benatar
 
"On all of us was forced life; and, on almost all of us, the desire to remain alive."
- Mokokoma Mokhonoana
 
"To bear children into this world is like carrying wood to a burning house."
- Peter Wessel Zapffe
 
"Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself."
- Philip Larkin

You are asking the right questions and following your intuition, you can't really do anything else. In order to really feel in allignment in your life, you gotta experiment and sometimes fail. I've dropped out of college 4 times and had many more persuits that I quit eventually. That's just how it goes. Not everyone knows exactly what their purpose is in life from the age of 5. I distracted myself unconsciously out of fear for years and years. In hindsight, my LP is so so obvious. But it was behind walls of deep supressed emotions. 
What worked for me was stop lying to myself and admit my fears to myself. I could not hide anymore because the emptiness kept building up inside of me. 
I just stopped looking for meaning anymore. I let it come to me. I accepted that there was nothing in this life for me that is worthwile persuing. This acceptance can allow you to become inspired and find your more authentic self. 
The motivation needs to be a very personal one that entagnles with your values so well. You'll know it when you find it. Is is a deep intuitive knowing that you are on the right track that will arise eventually. Try not to put so much pressure on yourself and that you have to figure it out right now. It is a proces that sometimes can feel like climbing a mountain. 
Don't take it all so serious. Relax. Go travel, go dance, go listen to music and express yourself. Feel the motions of the music and feel yourself for a bit. Or whatever does it for you.
Allow yourself to be lost. Allow yourself to feel empty. Stop the compulsive seeking for meaning in your life. The pressure really traps your creativity and authentic inspration. You'll make choices out of lack and desperation, rather than that authentic intutive inspiration and knowing that is you.
Discover what is really important to you. Learn about yourself, your emotions, your desires, values, strengths. 
Don't stop growing yourself in other areas as well. The more you develop yourself, the closer you are to your LP. Sometimes, self-development is like digging into the soil with a shovel, maybe if you dig deep enough, you'll find your treasure. Just don't let the uncertainty of how deep the treasure is burried below the ground hold you back. Accept the proces. 

Lesson of the Day: How to Optimize Your Day Pt 1.

So I do want to get these out of the way actually, my 2 posts are about to get locked out from being edited and I hate deleting anything really, so let's just split this lesson up into 2 parts here!

So one of the questions most people always have, is how do I learn lessons without having to learn them the hard way.

Let's talk about what is the "ideal" daily schedule is.

The Rock for example wakes up at 3:45am, then 4am he's doing cardio for an hour, then he workouts and basically from 4-7 he's just working on his body. Then there's research out about some people being night owl's- Tony Robbin says he gets his best thoughts at 1am-2am.

So let's just lay it out in a way where you can make the schedule for yourself, because without a doubt there is no real perfect schedule.

So, one of the best ways to do it is eliminate the things that just CANT be right.

So for me personally, i've tried for months to be a morning person. I had months of waking up at 3-330am and i'm telling you guys, while I CAN do it... my brain personally just works a lot better towards night time... just always in my case.

So that's the principle of inversion. Look for the things that can't be true. If you want to be rich... well look through all the ways that you're not going to be rich.... this is inversion based thinking.

Like what is going to make you poor- and avoid those.
If you want to get married, narrow it down to all the things within yourself and someone else that isn't going to make that work.

But anyways back to the schedule thing... let's talk about this.

I've been TOO strict before... narrowing things down the entire day to 15-minute intervals for several months. Being too strict just does not work for me and it isn't sustainable. When you do this, basically you do the Pomodoro method of the entire day- you either lose adherence or momentum.

I'm very good at once I get a habit- I stick to it, that's adherence, but what I noticed is if something randomly threw me off my schedule of 15 minute intervals, I'd be scrambling to cram in the things I miss and it would actually be counter productive to the whole day.

What's better than be too strict is groupings.

Masterclass | Chris Voss- Bending Reality

So fear of loss is actually synonymous with the word bending reality- fear of loss is so deeply ingrained into our psychology that when you play on that trigger appropriately you can completely bend someones reality. What you have to find out is how they feel- because that will be the single biggest factor on decision making. How they feel is never rational, it's always bent, but it's a strong dynamic at play nonetheless. 
 
You can either say to people- choose to work with me and I can help you gain 23% more revenue... or you can say, choose not to work with us... stay right where you are, and it's going to cost you 23% ... every single day- while you sleep not working with us... is going to cost you 23% day in and day out. 

Fear of loss is what keeps people up at night.
  Appeal to their sense of fairness- it's the F BOMB. It comes up in every single negotiation. People use it to manipulate people, to back people into the corner- but fairness comes up all the time because it's fundamental to the human condition. 
  People will intentionally destroy deals if they feel like they are being treated unfairly- people will take bad deals or less than optimal deal as long as they feel like they were treated fairly too.
  If you say- I've given you a fair offer, they accuse you of being unfair in a very subtle way. And its a great way to manipulate you shortterm. How you respond to this tactic is saying, I'm happy to hear how I've been unfair... show me the information, I'm open to learning- let me see what it is.
  How do you use Fair positively- you can start off an interaction by saying- it's my intention to treat you fairly, if at any point in time you feel like I've been unfair, let me know, and we'll go back and address it. This makes you proactive and puts yourself in a position where they'll deal with the problem.
  Deadlines are meaningless- very rarely are deadlines true hard deadlines. It's usually a situation put into place by one side to kick some progress into gear.

As a side note I personally believe that when I give deadlines- I mean it. I treat every deadline like a hard deadline... just want to add that in here.

Just be aware that deadlines are nothing to stress over- your mind should be more focused on how do we make progress to move towards the actual goal.
  If you have people working under you and they're stressed over deadlines say- it seems like you're working very hard... it seems like the world is coming to an end...

And most of the time they'll say well its not like the worlds going to come to an end, but they will give you a response to reopen communication with you.

How do we get back on track if we fall behind schedule. How to we pull a victory from this if we don't meet the deadline-- people will begin to look at success and thats their overriding goal anyways.
  When you're feeling attacked, the things you really want to say are probably wrong. People like to put in cheap shots. But the last impression is the lasting impression- the last impression SEEDS the next interaction, and when you make the last words positive.

As a side note- generally speaking, if people are very rude to me- like genuinely they act like a shithead- I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go SUPER POSITIVE to them, and then cut them off. This is kind of a pro tip, i've been doing this for years... I can count on probably one hand people I'm actually extremely rude to because I choose never to forgive them... but that's far from everybody... for the most part if I get somebody thats just consistently rude to me-- I just go SUPER POSITIVE and then I try never to engage with that person ever again.

When you get into a deal that somebody is already upset with your business over something, you talk to them earnestly like- look we're here because we want to make a positive impact and we care about our long term prospects and business, and please.... let us know how we can proceed  .

Make the last points you make as well inarguably positive because it seeds a lasting positive impression with people in general.

Masterclass | Chris Voss- Creating the Illusion of Control
Use calibrated questions to make the other person you talk to feel in control of the situation. 
  Avoid asking why- but start asking what to do and how to do it because people love being asked those things. Avoid why because why triggers defensiveness. Why makes you feel accused, its hypothesized that when we're young- regardless of culture we did something stupid like knocked something off a table and we get asked WHY DID YOU DO THAT. So it gets drilled in our head that the word why is often an accusatory question opposed to just a question word like how or what.
  In business people are told to "find out somebody's why", and often times when you attempt to find out somebody's "why" you interfere with your relationship. It interferes the rapport.

Instead of why do you need delivery in 3 weeks?
You say- What makes it necessary that you need delivery in three weeks?

By switching to what instead of why it takes the sting of accusation off of it.
  Forced empathy is when you force empathy from the other side by triggering people's proclivity for reciprocity. A classic phrase to force empathy into a situation is saying- how am I suppose to do that?

Example- you start up on a project and people start demanding additional add ons to your initial deal that wasn't included- and you say, politely, well... how am I suppose to do that?

The point is that this has an impact on the other party and then they realize that this situation is not necessarily a win win scenario for both parties.
  How am I suppose to do that forces empathy, triggers a relationship based thinking, and creates a space for more in depth thought about the circumstances.
  How am I suppose to do that, what's going to happen if I do that, how am I going to overcome the challenges that I have here?

And these are all basically asking the same question in a different fashion.

Done correctly, people will appreciate the fact that you helped them think the situation through.
  Ask legitimate questions- that you're in a good faith negotiation and not dealing with looky lous- How do I know you're just not looking for free consulting? How have you worked with people like me in the past? How have you made a deal like this in the past?
 

Can’t explain it better than that.

Lesson of the Day: Factors that Make Up Happiness

There is something you typically learn when you study economics- they call them the 3 classic factors of production.

There is:

Land- In the modern this world this is a positional advantage-- can be connections as well (who you know)
Labor- your skill and the skill of the team around you
Capital- free cash available to you to invest into things to move your business forward

And this brief lesson on business actually directly links into your day to day life if you think about it.

You're trying to get into shape-- okay what land do you have- are you in an environment where working out is just what you and the people around you do? 

Labor- the things in your head, the things you know about dieting- how educated are you on this subject.

Capital- it takes cash to eat well- to eat quality food, or to invest into supplements and different training programs. It's funny too when you really audit your life because you might be big into drinking coca-cola or something only to realize that the cost of a 12 pack of coca-cola is enough to get you 2 dozen eggs.

Jonathan Heidt had an equation in the Happiness hypothesis that H(happiness)= S + V + C

S is your set range
C is the circumstances in your life
V represents factors und your voluntary control

Expanding on these:

S is your genetics-- it's your set range-- about 40% of your happiness is out of your control because it depends on your genes... It doesn't mean that you can't learn to be happy or anything like that. What it means is each person is given their own unique genetic makeup of what actually makes them the most happy- and you're going to have to do a lot of trial and error to find out what that is.

Are you naturally just happy.
Are you happy when you're socializing with a lot of people.
Are you happy with just smaller social circles.
Is there a mix of the two you need in your life.
Are you happier living on a farm- are you happier living in a big city

So anytime you get drives to do a lot of these kinds of "crazy ideas" what it really is, is your subconscious mind highlighting "new experiments" for you to try in order to see if it's something you naturally will enjoy more.

It's the same thing with occupations- are you happier being a programmer or a sales rep... that kind of thing.

C: This is the Circumstances in your life that also play a very large roll in contributing to your day to day experience.

Are you surrounded by true assholes.
Are you the type of person that even wants to get married.
Are you living in a wealthy democracy.
Do you understand how to process your own negative emotions so you don't get stuck in them
Do you have a social network
Are you religious.
Are you making about 60-70k a year.
Are you staying healthy and working out
Are you acquiring more education

V: Voluntary Variables

Now this is very interesting and it actually becomes MUCH more important as you get older... and this is really cool in my opinion.

Large parts of your happiness - especially in your older age actually comes from positive emotions about the past. So are you proud of how you lived your life, are satisfied that you did your best every day, do you feel like you fulfilled your purpose. 

So think about-- travel, friends, relationships, vocational pursuits... do you feel like you really changed yourself a lot- and got to be the person you wanted to be.

Positive emotions about the future- are you still even in your old age, optimistic, hopeful, do you have a sense of trust that maybe your kids or grandkids are moving in the right direction. Just saw this guy yesterday-- I've talked with him a couple of times- he's this old guy that lives in my area, he has about 5-6 cars worth $130,000 apiece easy... Anyways the first time I saw this guy he was driving a Bentley and then the second time I saw him in a McClaren and thats when I started to talk to the guy- would just bump into him at a gas station really, and he loved the attention haha. 

But we started talking and he's now in his 70's heading to his 80s... and I asked him some very odd sounding question but it was appropriate at the time-- like didn't come across weird-- it was something like- what's your viewpoint on work in general and retirement.

He looked at me and said ya know... I went to a family reunion last summer... I see my niece and nephew in law... and they're mid 40's already talking about retirement... and I said to them-- retire? What's there to retire from? How can you even be thinking about retirement right now at your age? 

And that was his answer-- so for him-- he's probably not too happy about his niece and nephews life decisions so-- haha probably not that optimistic about the future.

Lastly this variable is positive emotions about the present- are you naturally calm, feeling pleasure, in flow, have joy, in ecstasy-- I think most of my day I'm "fIlLeD wItH jOy" as cheesy as that sounds. I'm quite happy most of the day- even when I'm working on difficult projects.

So anywayas:

Question for you: Where do you need to improve the most for the most happiness when you get older- Land, Labor, Capital? What can you do right now to move that are forward today?

There is relative love, the opposite of which is fear.
And then there is Absolute Love, which has no opposite because it encompasses everything, including relative fear.
The duality is only present when you are stuck in relative, dualistic consciousness. When you are fully awake, you only see Absolute Love with no duality.

One of my friends gave me a really good definition of a gentleman that I really liked. Multi millionaire dude, 8 kids, had a best selling book on Amazon. Really down to Earth guy.

He said a Gentleman is a man that can lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, and if the situation asked for it kill. But out of intelligence, education, foundational moral practice, foresight, empathy, and consideration chooses never to engage in those behaviors.

A pushover to me is guys that end up getting stepped on by shitheads. So this begs the question what is a shithead. A good example I can give is with dating- You know how there's this whole simp thing right now? So I was seeing a girl that LOVED having this one guy take her out on dates and just buy her food.... 

That's all he did- he would go on "dates" with her every week sometimes twice a week... and literally all she did was make him buy the food... and then she'd go home hehehe. She told me she had zero intention of ever sleeping with the guy ever.

Now in that case this guy is a pushover because like-- he is allowing this kind of behavior. Now that said I've gone on repeat dates with girls a few times that have gone kind of nowhere... I really genuinely enjoy female company-- probably moreso than almost all men to be perfectly honest-- ever since I was like 21 and I could talk to more women at bars and it was considered "normal" this was the case for me... I value women a lot... I'm so so so pro women... My guy friends HAVE to be educated- THEY CANT play video games-- something about that bothers the fuck out of me- (old roommate ptsd), THEY HAVE to have some kind of edge to them- like they have a backbone basically- but the problem here is as a man if you're letting some girl basically use and abuse you--- that's kind of your fault... like yes she's kind of a shithead of a person for engaging in that kind of misleading behavior anyways.... where it's like she's using some guys and fucking others.

I'll give you a better example-- I have a friend that has a Seeking Arrangements account--- he's a pretty baller guy, but he actually uses it like he would Tinder lol. So 99.999% guys on there are straight up sugar daddys, he gets girls out on dates- and just because he's young and actually fucking cool these girls end up basically becoming his girlfriend without the whole sugar daddy dynamic.

In any case, he told me a story where he was fucking some girl over a stove, and her hand accidentally switched on a burner where her $5,000 purse was sitting.... This caused the bottom of the purse to char. 

So what happened next was she got on her phone and called one of the 5 sugar daddys she only saw like once or twice a month (allegedly) and was like oh that bitch so and so from the clubbbb remember me telling you about herrrr yeahhhh well I'm so certain she stole my purseeee.... and I'm so upset with her and I can never see her again--- do you think you can get me a replacement?

Within 2 days she had a new $5,000 purse shipped to her.

Who's fault is that there--- like OF COURSE this girl is a fucking shit head lol.... but... As a man that's not inside your control at all.....

If you're worried about being manipulated just know that you get better at figuring out what is and isn't manipulation based on the more people you expose yourself to-- at least in my experience.

If you tolerate this kind of behavior from people-- of letting them cross obvious boundaries... that's YOUR problem. 

And I like to think a gentleman has a few more qualities than just what I mentioned- You obviously want to be socially intelligent, well educated, well spoken (not like a fucking butler) you can still cuss and shit-- like Elon Musk's favorite word according to his employee is Motherfucker... But I don't think any one would argue that clearly he is a gentleman, you're fair and try to be unbiased that sort of thing.

So a gentleman is someone who is smart, caring, sensitive, and nice and sweet but is also badass and can add value to her social situation. 

There are some really bad mainstream role models of what "players" are and that's because of bad movies and mainstream media in general... I'm telling you man most girls are just DTF and they don't take much THATTT fucking seriously like at all... And it's finding and screening for those types of girls in general, but also being mature enough to establish the frame work where they also understand that stuff for themselves just in case they aren't aware of what your intentions are. I mean I'm talking to two girls right now and low and behold I investigate and both of them have boyfriends.... didn't tell me that-- I didn't know any of that- they still wont bring it up... So kind of another rule is - a gentleman never remembers either.... 

Which sounds immoral because it probably is.... but if you go around bragging about girls you sleep with you'll find out that the girl you thought was single literally most likely is already in a "happy relationship" the hard way. On top of that too don't try to be some white knight and be like OH YOUR PRINCESS MAIDEN IS ARRANGING AN AFFAIR I THOUGHT AS A GENTLEMAN I WOULD INFORM YOU to her boyfriend... like all you're going to do is cause drama and she's going to win the argument AND you're going to have two enemies now lol.

All of this said too there is so many aspects to human dynamics- Some girls literally will like NEVER cheat like EVER EVER. And believe it or not I really think it MIGHT be a majority of girls... they worked too hard for that and they have social circles usually keeping them in check...

But man do I have stories... I have a handful of stories of making out with girls WHILE THEIR BOYFRIENDS BACK IS TURNED TO HER.... or fiances JUST ENGAGED THAT NIGHT IM PULLING BACK TO THEIR HOTEL ROOM.... And between some of my friends and I man.... It's like... you see behind the curtain I have and it's like.... it's just like its still national geographics out there where while the male baboons are out hunting, the females are going over to the enemies territory and sleeping with the other tribes monkeys lol....

Lots of great quotes from me in here... but what is a rant without a resolution right.

Here's my advice-- 

Make a visionboard of the TYPE of girl you want in your life... like literally-- you don't have to know them-- but this will give you a good focus point on what kind of person you yourself are going to have to "become" to be that kind of person... Remember what I said earlier though-- you're not really becoming anybody or doing anything new... all you're doing is embracing THOSE aspects of yourself that you already have-- and wallah you have the chance at that point to see if you even like those types of girls....

All of this is just advice-- DO WHATEVER THE FUCKKK YOU WANNA DOOOO lol

Gentleman = Polite, high-spirited, likes to do things for other people and expects nothing in return BUT has boundaries, able to say no, able to speak up, able to defense himself if it's necessary, authentic and honest.
People-pleaser = Also polite and high-spirited but is not able to say no, not able to speak up and basically does anything to avoid discomfort. Plus fears what others think of him and rejection therefore not authentic and honest.
@Carl-Richard Pretty much this.

We're all a bunch of narcissists and egomaniacs. Especially the so called "experts",,,,
We're all this and even more! ?
 
The Self of the Average Individual is Deeply and Fundamentally Narcissistic
Narcissism is a very general, basic element of ego life. The self of the average individual is deeply and fundamentally narcissistic. The complete resolution of narcissism will elude us until the achievement of self-realization. All that conventional psychotherapy can do is alleviate symptoms resulting from severe disturbances of narcissism, and, when successful, can help the individual to reach the level of the narcissism of everyday life. To proceed further and address this fundamental narcissism, only spiritual development will make a real difference. We also believe that understanding the spiritual nature of the self can help us to understand even the severe forms of narcissistic disturbance. This perspective can help us to see that we cannot separate our psychology from our spirituality, our psyche from our spirit, for we are fundamentally whole. Our self is one self, and cannot be dichotomized into a spiritual or “higher” self and a psychical or psychophysical self.
The Point of Existence, pg. 46
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissism
 
Approaching the Dimension of Essential Presence We Inevitably Confront the Narcissism Inherent in Our Disconnection from that Presence
When a person is working on self-realization, this narcissism is increasingly exposed; in fact, it is usually aggravated for some time. When we approach the dimension of essential presence we inevitably confront the narcissism inherent in our disconnection from that presence. The success of the work on self-realization depends, to a great degree, upon successfully resolving the arousal and intensification of narcissistic manifestations. The narcissism of everyday life is much more ubiquitous, much deeper, and much more significant than we usually allow ourselves to see. However, it dissolves steadily in the deeper stages of self-realization. Full self-realization completely eliminates this narcissism, for it is not natural to the realized self
The Point of Existence, pg. 27
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissism-everyday-life
 
The Gap Between Encountering True Nature and Being True Nature
This is the gap between encountering true nature and being true nature, between recognizing that spirit is and recognizing that spirit is what you are. It is a movement from a dual encounter with true nature to a nondual one. It is also the movement from experience to
realization.
The Alchemy of Freedom, pg. 38 
 
Characteristics of the Narcissistic Constellation
We will present this group of states and experiences in the reverse order from the sequence one encounters in the process of working through narcissism, assuming that this reverse order is the order in which these states arise in the process of alienation. We call this group of states, conditions, and structures of the self, “the narcissistic constellation” :
1. The disconnection of the self from its essential presence manifests as a profound and deep wound to the self. It is as if the very core of the self is yanked out from within it. This is the specific narcissistic wound, the hurt that expresses the pain of this fundamental loss, and
reflects the actual state of loss .....
2. Alienation from the Essential Identity leads to the loss of the profound sense of value and preciousness intrinsic to the sense of one’s identity with Being. Value is a quality of Being which, when lost, leads to a loss of self-esteem. When we are in touch with Being, self-esteem is experienced as an intrinsic feature of the self, as part of one’s inalienable human inheritance .....
3. The alienation from the Essential Identity results in narcissistic emptiness. This feels like a deficient emptiness, the specific deficiency being the feeling of absence of the sense of self. It is the loss of identity ..... 
4. The emptiness and the wound make up one structure, the emptiness wound. The emptiness and the wound are intertwined elements of narcissistic alienation. The emptiness-wound is where the hurt and vulnerability are felt .....
5. Reactions to this injury include narcissistic rage, envy, and depression. The rage has specific narcissistic features, such as lack of empathy and a sense of entitlement ..... 
6. The narcissistic injury, that is, the emptiness-wound and its various associated affects and reactions, is covered over by the self-identity, through the identification with self-images and their associated affects. The overall structure of self-identity is sometimes experienced as a shell around the deficient emptiness. This shows very clearly that the experience of being an empty shell—which is reported frequently by individuals suffering from narcissism—refers to the psychic
structure of self-identity, and that the emptiness inside this shell is the direct consequence of the alienation from the Essential Identity .....
7. One does not usually experience the shell directly as a shell; if she did, she would be aware of the deficient emptiness. The more she becomes aware of the truth of her identity, the more likely she will become aware that she is a shell, and the more aware she will become of the emptiness. The usual experience of what we are calling the shell is the sense of self characterized by a specific feeling of identity. Because of the normal feeling of identity, the ordinary individual is
not directly aware of her fundamental narcissism. As she becomes aware of her fundamental narcissism, she will recognize that her feeling of identity is based on a structure which she can perceive directly as an empty shell. This will usually make her feel phony or fake.
8. The more narcissistic the person, in other words, the greater the distance from the Essential Identity—indicating greater narcissistic injury in childhood—the more her identity is based on the grandiose self.
The Point of Existence, pg. 216, 217, 218
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-constellation
 
Disconnection from Being
Narcissistic emptiness involves disconnection not only from the Essential Identity, but from Being as a whole. It is the absence of self-realization. It is the gap between our essential nature and who we take ourselves to be. It is the great chasm separating our experience in the conventional dimension of experience from the fundamental ground of the soul. It is the emptiness of narcissistic alienation itself. 
The Point of Existence, pg. 334
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-emptiness
 
Cause of the Narcissistic Impasse
The narcissistic impasse is caused by confusing a phenomenological difficulty with a psychodynamic issue. The fact that experiencing the self through a self-representation alienates it from its ontological truth becomes confused with conflicts about separation involving a certain object relation. Understanding this situation is important for self-realization. Whether one can work through it determines whether one moves from dual to nondual experience of essential presence. The student may start feeling that what he truly longs for is just to be himself, merely to be, without even caring to conceptualize what he is being. He just wants to simply be, and that is all. This clarity leads to greater realization of the Essential Identity, and greater differentiation in the properties of this experience. He experiences his essential nature in many ways now, expressing the various functions of this true identity. Sometimes there is a sense of completeness. The act of being himself, which is not an activity, feels complete. The presence has no gaps. The center has no attitudes. It is just a complete existence, which is a perfect act of being. There is no familiar sense of self or no self, no sense of size or quality. At other times he feels he is nothing, but a wondrous nothing. No characteristics, no perspective, no position, and no attitude. It is total freedom. This nothing feels like a fertile nothing, a potential for experience, any and all experience. In other words, the soul recognizes itself as pure openness to experience, the actual possibility for experience, the free potential for experience.
The Point of Existence, pg. 350
 
Cause of the Narcissistic Impasse
The narcissistic impasse is caused by confusing a phenomenological difficulty with a psychodynamic issue. The fact that experiencing the self through a self-representation alienates it from its ontological truth becomes confused with conflicts about separation involving a certain object relation. Understanding this situation is important for self-realization. Whether one can work through it determines whether one moves from dual to nondual experience of essential presence. The student may start feeling that what he truly longs for is just to be himself, merely to be, without even caring to conceptualize what he is being. He just wants to simply be, and that is all. This clarity leads to greater realization of the Essential Identity, and greater differentiation in the properties of this experience. He experiences his essential nature in many ways now, expressing the various functions of this true identity. Sometimes there is a sense of completeness. The act of being himself, which is not an activity, feels complete. The presence has no gaps. The center has no attitudes. It is just a complete existence, which is a perfect act of being. There is no familiar sense of self or no self, no sense of size or quality. At other times he feels he is nothing, but a wondrous nothing. No characteristics, no perspective, no position, and no attitude. It is total freedom. This nothing feels like a fertile nothing, a potential for experience, any and all experience. In other words, the soul recognizes itself as pure openness to experience, the actual possibility for experience, the free potential for experience.
The Point of Existence, pg. 350 
There is No Total Freedom of Mind so Long as One is Depending on Mind for Identity
This can become a trap—what we term the narcissistic impasse—in which the student isolates himself physically or psychologically from situations or individuals that may be useful to him. This position indicates the absence of complete understanding of self-realization, the student thinking of it as a kind of mental autonomy. He is not seeing that the issue is not the influence of others, but how this influence is carried to the self. Regardless of how free his mind is, its very foundation—its concepts and words, its language and way of knowing—are all learned from the collective psyche. So there is no total freedom of mind as long as one is depending on mind for identity. More important, one must come to understand what Krishnamurti says above, that the problem is thought, that it is the mind that is the channel of influence. So freedom is not a matter of having one’s autonomous mind, it is not a matter of freedom of mind, it is, rather, a matter of freedom from mind. Mind as knowledge from the past is the barrier, even if the ideas and insights are totally one’s own. Seeing ourselves from within and through impressions from
the past is what separates us from the purity of simply being.
The Point of Existence, pg. 349 
Plus more,,,,
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-issues
Provocation of Narcissistic Rage 
The narcissistic individual, or the normal individual at this phase of development, is prone to intense anger, an irrational rage, which may take the form of acute explosions or be chronic and vengeful. This narcissistic rage is provoked by the slightest—real or imagined—narcissistic insult, such as not being seen, understood, or appreciated, in the way one feels he deserves. Narcissistic envy may arise; one hates anyone who has (or seems to have), a rich inner life or external acclaim and feels pain about not having what the other has. 
The Point of Existence, pg. 327
 
A lot more here https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-shame
and here https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-supplies
as well as here https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-transference
Also,,,
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-vulnerability
https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-wound
 
 
 

Everything is imaginary, but that does not mean you get to imagine whatever you want.
By your silly logic I should be able to turn into a dragon on command and shoot fireballs out my ass.
What you're missing is that Leo's ego is not in control. I could die tomorrow of cancer and none of that would contradict my metaphysics, since God is a tautology, God -- paradoxically -- cannot change anything about himself, and is perfect no matter what happens.
It is the ego which thinks it can control reality and have all its wishes fulfilled. Awakening does not grant you control over reality. It merely surrenders you to whatever reality happens to be.
If an enlightened person breaks his leg, he must go to a traditional doctor to fix it. He can't just wish it away. And yet, that broken leg is of course imaginary. Just because something is imaginary does not mean that ego gets to control it.
Make no mistake about it, when your health deteriorates enough, your entire life will crumble. Doesn't matter how enlightened you are. Your ability to live is 100% contingent on good health -- which could go at any moment for a thousand different reasons.
You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. And enlightenment will not save you from that.

T bel
I think dopamine addictions have multiple factors. But the fundamental root of addiction is generally trauma. 
Having trauma in your body makes you feel icky and uncomfortable inside. To get away from the unpleasantness of trauma, people try to fill their time with things that give them pleasure - food, sex, TV etc. This is what causes dopamine addiction fundamentally -  needing that pleasure stimulus to get over the pain your body is in.
Keep in mind trauma doesn't have to be major like rape or abuse. Your friend being mean to you all of a sudden could be a form of micro-trauma. Micro-traumas happen every day.
I'm not sure if you have noticed, but on days that you feel happy and light, you are less likely to resort to unhealthy addictions like junk food, masturbation etc. 
 

All identity is relative, subjective, and self-constructed.
Whatever you think you are, you're imagining that. Whether you think you're a human, a 30 year old male, or whatever.
The reason you feel some of these identities are more real and less constructed is because society happens to reinforce your imaginary identity.
So, for example, if you were born into a society/culture which believed that all humans are aliens, you would identify as an alien and you would feel that this is your true biological identity.
Your actual identity is Nothing. Which allows you to pretend to be whoever you want. But the added wrinkle is... since you are addicted to the approval and authority of your culture, you only tend to take seriously those identities which your culture says are valid and real. So when some college kid tells you that she's a unicorn, you think that's stupid. Because your culture tells you that people cannot be unicorns.
Who is right? No one. It's all relative.

VIP Call Notes with Tai Lopez | 6/19
 
Every morning visualize your ideal Health, Wealth, Love, and Happiness scenarios Health- physical: what you want your health to be like Wealth- financial: specify your financial goal Love- Friends/ Family/ Romance: Imagine that Happiness- your relationship with yourself- peace within from not attacking yourself. Rules of Visualization Don't think logically about your dreams- thinking logically is organization not visualization Tai believes that any time you don't EMOTIONALLY put yourself into a space it hasn't been effective for him He just imagines (positively) not negatively like positively is like fuckkk I really want a condo like that I really want a car like that I really want xyz.... and that's it-- it's good enough. But people tend to also do weird shit like--- I want to work on a beach because I hate my office job so much- So you're feeling a negative emotion and it isn't serving you-- only keep your visualizations positively. Tai says he visualizes in the morning, really imagines it (during meditation)-- but he'll also actively visualize when he gets stressed out.

So basically feel it without logic
Feel what you want not what you don't want 
  He recommends watching Michael Jordan- The Last Dance. And especially the last 10 minutes of the documentary where you keep hearing him say- I had faith, I had faith, I had faith, I had hope, I had hope, I had hope- he hit a game winning buzzer beater shot and what he was saying to Phil Jackson was-- he visualized the ball going in the basket.
  Get the book- The Power of Positive Thinking- Norman Vincent Peale  Side note- my friend that had a former US president send a helicopter to his front lawn to ask him to do digital marketing recommended I read that book about positive thinking too.
  If you want to make more money, you should really study the skill of copywriting. Recommends joining copywriting groups on Facebook. Look at what big businesses are doing on their website to dial in their value propositions.
  Good copywriting basics
  Don't use a lot of words Make logos minimalistic  Dumb down your vocab to kindergarten Your copy should be seductive-- aka don't be too blunt Like don't be like Michael Scott from the office... don't be professing your love on the second date Be the flame not the moth- Casanova | (aka get people excited-- but either with a good pace or with smooth marketing) Really stresses how being blunt is typically very bad Cites a time where he said he was watching a video of a girl on twitter who was like- I only date entrepreneurs, he has to make x more money than me, and bah bah bah-- and all he thought during that was AHH I am that guy and I WOULD NOT want to go out on date with you if you act like THAT.... be. the. flame. not. the. moth. People don't want to be chased---- create an emotional presence where people chase you. Elicit emotions more than you do logic-- nobody needs too much info, they just need to know how can they do business with you - recommends checking out Apples iPhone 11 funnel on their website right now-- and pay good attention to the copy- (very seductive and intuitive marketing) So again BE THE FLAME don't be the MOTH He learned copywriting the same way I did-- for the most part he just studies big businesses and what they do / marketing and advertising wise-- and also just watches good public speakers / listen to music.  Tested Advertising Methods- by Caples-- recommended reading book

So That's Twice Today I've Gotten Private Messages From People Asking Why Am I So Motivated All the Time:

Figure I'd share an answer with you guys... a guy contacted-- wont mention who and this was pretty much his question:


Hey man I was wondering if I could get some advice, any thoughts or insights are greatly appreciated.
So I recently dropped out of school, and i'm kind of at a low point right now tbh. I'm living at home right now, and my parents are very supportive, financially and timewise, so i'm kind of free to do anything at this point but i'm kind of lost as to how to proceed. I know I want to start making and get financially free from my family, but I just have no real direction or idea of how to proceed here.
I would consider myself pretty smart, but I've realized being smart doesn't mean shit unless you have the drive and wherewithal to make stuff happen in the world and focus your mind on something important.
I was wondering how you got started as an entrepreneur, and if you any tips or thoughts on someone starting out trying to get myself going to make money and be productive. You seem so driven and motivated to do what you do, and I'm curious how you got like that and what you think is the key to your success and drive. Were you ever at a low and kind of depressed and managed to get inspired and get some positive momentum?
Thanks man.

______________________________________________

My answer:

Of course.

Yeah my background is actually incredibly depressing lol.... 

Sexual abuse from distant family members, verbal abuse by parents, and physical abuse... I got to the point where I hated my family so much -- my plan was to move away from home and never talk to any of them again.

They isolated me a lot from other people-- so I was really lacking socially too-- kind of like one of those weird kid types which is odd to say because I LOOK like a jock alpha male type lol.- but just so much -- hate to call it PTSD but for lack of a better term PTSD.

I mean fuck man... heavy shit... I mean then my dad got brain cancer and I remember being so happy-- like FINALLY DIE MOTHERFUCKER JUST FUCKING DIE. Had to take care of him for several months as he died-- in the time learned he scammed his best friend out of $80,000.

During this phase of my life too I was a drug addict. 

I took adderall every single day.... but I was basically like Adolf Hitler Jr (without the antisemitism). Just high performance-- would work 2 jobs, 1 internship, went to school full time, workout everyday and go out literally almost every single night of the week to improve my social skills--- in 2011-2012 for example I missed 5 nights out total.

So pretty obsessive-compulsive. 

My lowest point came Christmas Eve- I was with my mother who still at the time I had a horrible relationship with (Now we're honestly BEST friends and I'm eternally grateful we both love each other now).... but I remember just thinking wow... she doesn't understand me... she basically neglected me my whole life... and now we all have to pretend like we're a family? That we cared about each other?

That night I drove from New York State to Las Vegas-- well it took 2.5 days but I mean I virtually didn't sleep. 

A lot of crazy shit happened along that trip to Las Vegas-- I almost died coming down a mountain in a flash ice storm... swerved to avoid a car that broke suddenly and I smashed into a rail.... got into vegas now homeless mind you... and 3 of the brakes on my car break at once ... so I had to drive with 1 brake to the back of a closed down mexican restaurant and set up camp there while I worked myself out of that shit.

That means sleeping (illegally in Nevada) in my car for 3 months, while I showered at the local gym, and took 3 tests to get certified to be a nightlife worker in vegas. Sure enough I became a night club promoter at the best venue in Las Vegas-- after one other place that hired me but wasn't the best place.

Anyways during this time I threw out my drugs and decided to go cold turkey--- couldn't get much worse huh? Also cold turkeyed a smoking habit I picked up.

Started rebuilding my life.

And it was a lot of fun-- one of my most treasured memories-- including the times where I didn't have any money for food so I would go to the top of hotels in Las Vegas and eat whatever people left out on their plates outside of their room for room service and work my way down the levels.

Anyways fast forward three months...

I was finally on track to doing 100k a year as a club promoter when I get a phone call from New York State that they want to hire me to be a court officer (basically a bailiff) because I did so well on the civil service tests I took.

Starting pay was $55,000 and I was conditional hired with 5k a year raises until 80k,  full benefits, and a labor union. 35 hours a week-- I thought this was a deal.

So with my car repaired, I headed back to New York. But something had changed in me.

I thought to myself holy fuck... I have a lot more going for me than I thought.... I got through ALL OF THAT SHIT... (my whole life up until that point)... to settle down for a $80,000 a year job?

I walked out of the hiring room during my medical exam...

Literally no explanation-- just walked out. Even had phone calls saying I should finish the physical... 

But fuck them.

I move back home with my mother- get in another argument with her... leave again... my car blows up LITERALLY in Texas... knock knock BOOM the engine block fires off and my car is on fire....

I take a greyhound back to New York State again.... and start over again.

The good news... my mother finally understood at this point that I was fucking serious and there's nothing she or anyone could do to control me. From there I swear to god I have the healthiest relationship with my mother than I even thought would be possible. I truly love her at this point in my life.

So now what.... I'm 23... but I have an idea... I'm going to start my own business.

I get a student loan for $2,000 while taking classes again at school- and instead of paying the school the $2,000 I buy an online course teaching me how to start my consulting business.

Failed that-- and then got into debt collection services (I had no idea about how credit works now but I was lucky the school didn't report me to the credit bureau)

But that $2,000 course was worth about $10,000 to me in real money.

Failed my first 2 businesses with it.... but that's okay.

Finally found a course that was about $8,000-- bought that.

Did all of this while working in a gas station--- LOOKING like the biggest loser in the world to all the people that knew me from highschool because everyone (despite my own anxieties) knew I was one smart guy.... but now i'm just this fuck up.

We'll see who has the last laugh-- go ahead-- abuse me.

I spend 2 years piecing it all together.... And from there I finally had a service that was better than the marketplace.

In truth there was no need to get THAT OCD over what I did-- I could've started selling in 2-3 months if I was the man I am now today... but growth... and I mean DEEP LEVEL PERSONAL GROWTH is A SLOW INGLORIOUS PAINFUL PROCESS.... IT SUCKS. IT'S VULNERABLE. AND IT'S HUMILIATING. 

But once I got the successes under my belt... it became straight forward to me--- 

Oh got dentist clients lets make them 15k a month
What next
How about 100k+ a month
What next
Lets do something harder in my field how about Loan Keywords
Ranked almost all of the loan keywords in the US
What next
Lets rank for the keyword Bitcoin
What next

I'm now working on big brand deals-- 20k deal in the pipeline including businesses that want to share their revenue with me.

During this whole process too I grew a lot--

Last year I visited 13 countries, made a lot of friends, made a lot of money, and even got accepted into a Harvard program.

The reason why I'm so enthusiastic about my business and about my life is one simple reason.

I'm waging WAR with myself.

I remember what it's like to be that shy fuck up schmuck of a no good piece of shit lazy entitled foolish fa***** I was.... and I HATE HIM.

So any time I impose a limit on myself I remember there's always another level.... and to get there you often have to do things very uncomfortable.

I will not be a victim to myself.


Go watch David Goggins interviews on Joe Rogan... do yourself a favor... that's the reason why I'm driven. Also listen to EVERY SINGLE Jocko Willink podcast he puts out-- starting from episode 1

Thank me later.

________________________________

All of that said you guys still don't even know half as much about me as you think you do. Not at all.
 

Lesson of the day: The Most Valuable Skill to Create Wealth

Alright, what you MUST know to make money- it's extremely simple.

There is a great book out there if you want to read this book- it's called The Self Made Billionaire Effect,

The Self-Made Billionaire Effect says the number one skill, when they did a study of the wealthiest people in the world- it's sales. So not only should you be consistent, you should also be a selling machine. Mark Cuban, worth $3 billion, owns a basketball team, star of Shark Tank- when asked- if you had no money and you had to start all over, what would you do?

Mark's answer was- I'd hit the phones, I'd go door to door, I'd start selling something.

If you're broke, like truly broke go into sales, and try different things. Try to sell vacuum cleaners, try to sell real estate, try to sell simple things. I had a friend selling solar energy packages, like solar panels- and I mean there are kids out there making 10,20,$30,000 a month in commissions. 

If you don't have a great college degree, if you don't have any money to start, you need to go to commissions-- sell anything- sell cars! There are 21-year-old girls in LA making 50k a month selling cars. And even if you don't want to be in sales forever.... the richest people in the world consistently had a sales job at some point in their life-- it's a stepping stone.

One caution, don't just do something super complicated to sell- like real estate is okay, but you have to get a license and understand insurance and investments, but if you're a little bit scared, go into the newspaper- they're ALWAYS hiring for sales-- because there's not that many good salespeople.

And even if you only do it for one month, six months, one year of your life- you'll make some money in the short term but you will build skills that will build you millions.

You do 5 years of cold calls...everything else you do from there becomes a piece of cake.... if you're stuck, go out there- get a sales job. If you already own a business- pick up the phone, start talking to your customers. Even as you evolve in your business, you will NEVER outgrow your sales skills... never.

Steve Jobs, one of the best sales people in the world, Elon Musk is getting on the phone- hey invest in Tesla-- trust me sales. Start low, build up to it. Simple jobs, if one sales job doesn't work for you, move onto another, don't get stuck in your ways. If you guys stick into these lessons and I'm still writing on here, people are going to wonder where you got all this information from, you're going to learn so many different sales tactics.

So here's a quetion for you: What can you start selling more; and how can you start selling more?

5/19- It's not who you think you are that holds you back it's who you think you're not.
Song of the day: Greatest- Sia

I'm Grateful For:
1 - My youth
2 - My luck
3 - My friends & families health

Schedule:
Charity
Affiliate SEO
Client Pitch
Email Marketing
PR

What Would Make Today Great:
1. 
2. 
3.
Current Projects:
1. Charity
2. Brand expansion
3. Affiliate
4. Client acquisition
5. PR for Dante

End of Day Review:
Wins-
1- 
2- 
3- 
How I'll Improve-
1- 
2- 
3- 

Final Thoughts:
 
Lesson of the Day: Building Discipline

Okay, next lesson. 

How much money should you save?

Should you be saving 10% of what you earn? Should you be saving 50%, 30%, I'll tell you what I believe- there's different opinions on this but I'm going to give you guys a very educated one from a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) that had 6,000 clients. And his answer to you is- you have to be realistic.

Remember that.

And then, you have to stick to it with an absolute military discipline. So let's say your number is 5%, then stick to it- for at least 2 months, and adjust it up and down and see how the next 2 months go with that. 

It's more important to build the discipline mentally, even if it's a lower amount, than it is to bounce all over and save "at a whim". Build the mental discipline to save something, and be realistic about it.

So let's say you're hardly saving ANY money- almost EVERY penny you make, you need to survive or feed your family, and pay your rent- then literally start with a $1 a month.... I hope you can do more than a $1 a month, but the discipline to just do it robotically.... THAT is the skill that will change your life.

The next point is the practical mechanics on how to do it. Your BEST BET is to open up another bank account. Like what I have is a local bank for a main bank, and I have Charles Schwab for a secondary bank- with a savings, investment, and checking account in there (I use my Charles Schwab bank when I need to pull out cash in different countries because of no transaction fees plus I even put like "vacation funds" in that bank account so if I did lose that card, or it gets stolen, someone might only hit me for like $1,000 or something before I claim fraud on the card.)

Try to aim for every month on automatic to either wire or ACH, or automatic check, do something automatically where your second banks savings account is automatically getting deposits.

The goal is you need to have money you forgot about... seriously...

So say you make $5,000 a month, your main bank- your checking account, atm, credit card, you pay bills from that one everything.... so say out of that $5,000 you need $4,700 to survive... you set up $300 to get an autowire or an auto ACH- set it up for 2 months or 3 months... and wire it over to your other bank account that you've basically forgotten about.

Now let's say you're making $100,000 a month- I just talked to one of my best friends a couple days ago that needs $20,000 a month to get by, but is grossing around $120k a month. So he's making good money, he should be at least saving $3,000 a month for the next few months-- you can even go a little further and lock up the money in CD's.... but you should try to build discipline financially.

Disciplined people, make and save and keep money, and have money for rainy days, and money for opportunities- broke people have no discipline. 

I'm not even talking about investments or strategies, I'm sure I will in the future, but I'm just talking as of right now- pick a number % you can save every month and don't give up on it.

@Stretch   I feel ya man, went through the same thing in life.  However there is growth in accepting part of the human life is trying and failing or not getting to where you wanted.  Happens all the time and thats just that.  You can sulk on it, understand it and be fair and honest about what you learned and didn't or you can just forget about and move on and never look back, and hopefully without malice or a knotted grudge in your heart... 
And you never know what will happen once you've moved on.  Maybe a new interest will take you somewhere, maybe you'll do outwardly nothing for a while, or who knows, maybe like me, once I dropped looking for this enlightenment stuff, awaking started to happen on its own revealing everything I was trying to pursue before but wasn't really getting anywhere.
Cheers mate, keep on trucking and do your best to keep a smile, it will make a difference in this chaotic and adventurous world.

You do not know the degree of awakening of any human beings. Just keep that in mind. That is what is true for you. Anything else are beliefs you have picked up from hearsay or your own speculations.
You have no idea how awakened Ekhart Tolle is, or Ramaji is, or anyone. And even the notion that you could know is highly suspect.
Assigning numbers to teachers is a dangerous game.
It's extremely important that you admit to yourself that you don't really know these things. Otherwise you fall into a delusion of thinking you know something which you actually do not know.
If Ramaji's mind is corrupt, then his scale could be corrupt and you have no way of knowing that. You cannot just assume that his scale is accurate. To assume such a thing would violate the whole thrust of our work here.
FYI, Ramaji's numerical rating of me was immediately incorrect. He rated me too highly and wasn't aware he did so.
You cannot trust anyone in this work. No one! Not Ramaji, not Buddha, not Christ, not me.

Nonduality is the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and fundamental intrinsic oneness.
For thousands of years, through deep inner inquiry, philosophers and sages have come to the realization that there is only one substance and we are therefore all part of it. This substance can be called Awareness, Consciousness, Spirit, Advaita, Brahman, Tao, Nirvana or even God. It is constant, ever present, unchangeable and is the essence of all existence.
In the last century Western scientists are arriving at the same conclusion: The universe does indeed comprise of a single substance, presumably created during the Big Bang, and all sense of being – consciousness – subsequently arises from it. This realization has ontological implications for humanity: fundamentally we are individual expressions of a single entity, inextricably connected to one another, we are all drops of the same ocean.
Science and Nonduality is a journey, an exploration of the nature of awareness, the essence of life from which all arises and subsides.
What is nonduality, anyway?
There are many shades of meaning to the word nonduality. As an introduction, we might say that nonduality is the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and fundamental oneness.
Our starting point is the statement “we are all one,” and this is meant not in some abstract sense, but at the deepest level of existence. Duality, or separation between the observer and the observed, is an illusion that the Eastern mystics have long recognized, and Western science has more recently come to understand through quantum mechanics.
Dualities are usually seen in terms of opposites: Mind/Matter, Self/Other, Conscious/Unconscious, Illusion/Reality, Quantum/Classical, Wave/Particle, Spiritual/Material, Beginning/End, Male/Female, Living/Dead and Good/Evil. Nonduality is the understanding that identification with common dualisms avoids recognition of a deeper reality.
So how can we better understand nonduality?
There are two aspects to this question, and at first glance they appear to be mutually exclusive, although they may be considered two representations of a single underlying reality.
The first aspect is our understanding of external reality, and for this we turn to science. The word science comes from the Latin scientia, which means knowledge. The beauty and usefulness of science is that it seeks to measure and describe reality without personal, religious, or cultural bias. For something to be considered scientifically proven, it has to pass exhaustive scrutiny, and even then is always subject to future revision. Inevitably human biases creep in, but the pursuit of science itself is intrinsically an evolving quest for truth. But then quantum mechanics turned much of this lauded objectivity on its head, as the role of the observer became inseparable from the observed quantum effect. It is as if consciousness itself plays a role in creating reality.  Indeed, the two may be the same thing. As quantum pioneer Niels Bohr once put it: “A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself!”
The second aspect is our inner, personal experience of consciousness, our “awareness of awareness.” We have our senses to perceive the world, but “behind” all perception, memory, identification and thought is simply pure awareness itself.  Eastern mystics have described this undifferentiated consciousness for thousands of years as being the ultimate state of bliss, or nirvana. Seekers have attempted to experience it for themselves through countless rituals and practices, although the state itself can be quite simply described. As Indian advaita teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj said: “The trinity: mind, self and spirit, when looked into, becomes unity.”
The central challenge to understanding nonduality may be that it exists beyond language, because once it has been named, by definition — and paradoxically — a duality has been created. Even the statement “all things are one” creates a distinction between “one” and “not-one”! Hardly any wonder that nonduality has been misunderstood, particularly in the West.
Excerpt above from: https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/about/nonduality/
Other resources, explanations, & pointers to nonduality:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_KhOnJ62o
http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/what-is-nonduality/  ,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism
https://endless-satsang.com/advaita-nonduality-oneness.htm
 
 
Meditation Preparations & Considerations of The Temple (The Body)
Make changes in accordance with listening to the body via feeling. Let go of assumptions about what you know, what you can & can’t do, and who you are & are not. Be mindful of the distinction between what you directly experience, and your thought about something. Be mindful the term direct experience does not refer to a past, a now, a present, a future, or a self (these are thoughts). 
Be conscious of breathing, and breathe from the stomach. Notice the increase in awareness of feeling in the body when you do so. 
Maintain toxin free care & hygiene, such as with: preservatives, fluoride, aluminum, mercury, & neurotoxin free products and water. 
Get a routine physical & full comprehensive blood report, and review it with your doctor (preferably a Holistic Dr).
Eat clean. Food is mood, mood is clarity. Listen to your body & educate yourself about food; calories, nutrients, vitamins, supplements, etc. Your second best friend in this whole world, should be your stomach. Try several approaches to eating. Realize you only know about food from direct experience and let assumptions go. Listen to the body, put habit & preference of taste secondary to energy and clarity. Put direct experience, of how you feel, first. 
Exercise to the extent you are able, as early in the day as you are able. Don’t eat after 8pm, drink water instead. Be mindful of honesty, humility, & compassion. Pause to allow the presence of love when creating responses, vs mindlessly reacting.  
Get 8 hrs of sleep.              
Meditate early in the morning, before eating, and before any thought engaging activities like;
    - All screens, reading anything, listening to any thing or anyone, talking to anyone, etc. Instead, step outside and express gratitude. 
    - Thinking. Develop letting thinking go from waking up until after meditation. Every thought that arises, let it go by being aware of breathing & feeling. Use ”not till after meditation” as needed.
Love yourself enough to do this, your quality of life will be greatly enhanced by your commitment and followthrough with daily meditation. This is putting your inner well being first -  and then going about your day. It is a total game changer. Get up as early as needed to make this possible for yourself.  You’ll only fall asleep earlier as a result, and get a better night’s sleep. 
Maintain a dream journal. Every morning when you wake up, write any recollections of dreams in the journal. If there were none, write “no dreams last night” in the journal. Doing this daily develops connection and communication. After writing a dream down, let it go completely. Revisit it after meditation. Consider that in between the pure peace of sleep and awakening, the dream is the reconciliation of those two states. After meditation, contemplate the dream message. Consider it from the perspective that you are dreaming right now, and the message is that everything is fine, even this (whatever the dream was about). You will notice perspectives you’re believing, as to how ‘everything is not fine’. Those, can be let go in meditation. 
Maintain a journal for writing about how you feel. If meditation is overwhelming, don’t persist against the grain, write about how you’re feeling in your journal. Expressing in key. It is a ‘getting it out’, or emptying, by which being fills in. This is the same as saying misunderstanding is let go, and understanding arises.
Add creative expression in your days with what feels right for you, such as; creative writing, drawing, learning an instrument, singing, sculpting, building, carving, dancing - any act of creating and expressing, which feels good to you. Sign up for a drawing or painting class, etc. 
Clarity, emotional intelligence, understanding, focus, patience, and more feeling / connection, are natural outcomes of this. 
Regarding meditation, loving yourself, journaling, expressing, and making changes:
Do not ask others to accommodate you so that you can do this. Accommodate them, if needed, so that you can do this. Do not create conditions or contingencies which “allow” that you can do this. Refrain from entangling any other person in ‘enabling’ you. Simply get up earlier, and be patient when tired, you’ll be falling asleep earlier soon enough. 
Past trauma may be deeply entwined in the body, with regard to perspectives, and unknowingly suppressed, held out of the light of understanding. It is important to be humble, and be smart. Take advantage of all resources available to you. In addition to the things mentioned above, experience assistance bringing things to the surface, into the light, out into the open. That is relief. ’Getting it out’ is the key. Schedule time with practitioners of well being; massage, reiki, therapy, yoga, liberated experienced meditators, etc. Making the choice to directly experience is 99% of ‘the work’. Choose to experience the combination that feels best to you, but do not rule anything you have not experienced out. You will be glad. 
 
Proper Foundation
The quality of tomorrow’s meditation is impacted by all of the above. Recognize those as the basics, your foundation. This is - first “cleaning the house”, “emptying the cup”.  If you are not yet finding peace in meditation, the things above are likely insightful and actionable. Use them as a checklist, add to it what you learn works and doesn’t work for you. Understand why. Be mindful of the direct experience always, not the goal or outcome. Never do practices for the sake of getting them done. Never do practices with the intention or expectation of attaining, achieving, or becoming. Let go of these in your practices. Never force pracitices, and never guilt or shame yourself regarding practices. Let go of these in your practices. Likewise, never pride yourself on or claim the benefits of your practices. A phone which knows the truth of wifi, yet claims it as it’s own, is no longer listening to the wifi. It is always about letting go, and feeling the inner being, the source, within. 
 
Posture, Balance & Relaxation
Sit with spine straight, entire body equally balanced, head tilted slightly forward. 
Scan for any muscles in tension - from balancing the body, and reposition in better balance. Repeat until seated in balance; drop all muscle tension, and see if you lean; if so, adjust again / reposition for balance.
Relax every muscle, from crown of head, through body, to the toes - in waves of letting go, over and over. If you struggle to ‘find the particular muscle’ to be able to ‘let it go’, simply tense that muscle with the appropriate thought, ex: “tense the right shoulder” - this is to locate it specifically - only to relax it / let it go, specifically (only needed initially, if at all).
Stay with each muscle until you feel it release: Feel the crown of the head muscles release, feel the temples release, feel the eye sockets release, feel the cheek muscles release, feel the neck muscles release, the shoulders, the upper back, the lower back, the arms, the hands, the fingers, the chest, the stomach, the hips, the thighs, the knees, the calves, the ankles, the feet, the toes - all tension pouring out through the toes. 
*Stay with each muscle until you feel it release, then move to the next. Be mindful, vigilant of any habit forming. Feel every step. Feel each specific muscle release. 
* Repeat this, from crown to toes, over and over, feeling each “pass” more deeply relaxing each targeted muscle than the pass before.  Notice the entire body unifying in relaxation. 
 
Meditation
Do not move the body, allow it to relax into deep sleep and disappear from sensation & awareness. 
Mind fully alert & present; awaken every cell, enthusiastic presence,  a tiger at-the-ready to pounce.
Notice all senses are one sense, being.
Being is breathing, being is breathed in, being is breathed out. 
Notice the ineffable spaciousness, the silent emptiness.  It is whole, perfect, calm, peaceful. It continues on in all directions. 
Revel in the perfect peace, in innocence, as you recognize the purity that you have always known.
 
Allow Meditation “Practice” To Become A Meditative Lifestyle
As you go about your day, notice this peace is still present, this silence, this being - is always present, always the soundbed underlying and allowing all sounds, the spaciousness underlying and allowing all objects and activities, the emptiness allowing all thoughts to arise.
Carry this into each day, mindful of the effortless nature of awareness. Conscious of any tension in any muscle, relax it, mindful of the one sense; without identification, without reaction, peaceful non-engagement. 
Notice the arising perspectives of unification & connection. Surrender perspectives of separation by allowing them to pass, and return to the everpresent peace and silence which allows all things. 
When you notice reaction, wether muscular or mental, relax, detach by being again aware, non-reactionary. 
Even as reactions occur, wether physical, mental, or verbal, be aware of, not involved in. Relax crown to toes, effortless awareness is always available & ample.
Notice the sound of a voice, is not the sound of your voice. Be that unattached, and that aware, ‘that’ voice is no longer your voice, it never was. You are all sounds, all voices, all things. Be aware all transpires in the ‘one sense’, precisely where it is seen, exactly where it is heard. One Sense, one awareness. 
Notice thoughts are not your thoughts,  be aware thoughts are things, like trees are trees; there is no mechanism found for justification of  “yours”, that is just another thought; awareness is unconditional and omnipresent, and never appears in pieces, and has never not appeared, it will never let you down. Notice there is one sense, one awareness, notice the body and mind are a body and mind which transpires in this peaceful awareness, notice a body and mind is not your body and mind, notice there is one sense, one awareness, all is transpiring and arising in. 
 
After some practice a couple new things arise...
When you have ‘returned’ home, in the peace of non-reaction, the ‘finite ceo’ / “decision maker”/ over thinker/over thinking - naturally recedes, and well being of infinite intelligence will manipulate the body (it actually is “the body”) , aligning things, stretching things, cracking things, etc, just allow this. It’s difficult not to mentally react to this at first because it’s new, but just relax, it is curative, trust it - notice a person is not doing this, infinite intelligence is. Mindfully revel & appreciate this miracle. 
 
A word of caution regarding thought stories & dualistic narratives
Meditation at it’s most basic level is focusing on breathing in the stomach & relaxing the body, thus indirectly detaching attention from thoughts. Thought ceases in activity, simply from not receiving attention. The body is infinite intelligence, but the thinking dualistic mind believes it’s running the show. This is brought to an end in meditation, in ‘returning to’, or realization of, who you really are. 
When the body relaxes deeply, it releases contractions; tension from emotions created in misunderstanding via one’s forgetting who one is and  “making sense” of self & reality in an apparent physical universe & separate body. These ‘held’ tensions are the root cause of overthinking. The mind keeps churning in an attempt to resolve with thinking, what is only resolved in feeling. 
When the body (infinite intelligence / nothing to know) begins releasing the suppressed falsities (all knowledge & specifically the idea of “me”), the mind creates narratives of the experience to perpetuate “it’s control”. In perpetuating the misunderstandings, rather than relaxing & releasing the suppressed emotions by maintaining focus on stomach breathing, the mind (thinking) weaves & latches onto varies models of duality to control the narrative. (Kundalini, demons, assertion, death, nervous disorders, past “bad” trips, guilt, shame, unworthiness, fear, anxiety & past stories, depression & future stories, projections, deflections, identity, loss, sacrifice, etc)
But meditation is focusing on breathing from the stomach & relaxing the body, and thus indirectly detaching from thoughts. To believe any narrative which arises in meditation, is to sustain and perpetuate the “idea of you”, so as not to ‘directly experience’, you. 
So if you don’t want to awaken, but enjoy the fundamental benefits of meditation, just meditate for twenty minutes a day. Ideally in the morning. 
If you do want to awaken, realize you got caught up in a thought story, and meditation was focusing on breathing from the stomach, and thus indirectly letting thinking go. The truth is the mind is making it all up, and the “fear” is the mind’s label to justify denying the truth “of itself”, the profound love that is, that you actually are.
Write about how you feel and why, in a journal, to understand yourself & develop emotional intelligence. 
Talk to someone who listens, so you can express yourself and your emotions.
Write what you want in this experience of life on your dreamboard, and allow the surfacing of desire & authenticity to help you realize & release resistance thoughts. Live the life you actually want to live, the way you actually want to live it.
 
https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices
Posture Meditation
This body-based meditation is a very effective way to get grounded and centered. It encourages an embodied, calm, and open awareness, and discourages disassociation. If you have a tendency to "leave your body," feel ungrounded, or disassociated, this is a good practice. 
Sit with your spine straight and aligned, and the rest of your body relaxed. Keep bringing yourself back to this condition. 

1. Take a reposed, seated posture. 

2. For this meditation, it is very important that your spine is straight. Your neck and back should be in perfect alignment. Your chin should be down very slightly. 

3. If you are sitting in a chair, do not rest your spine against the chair. Sit forward so that your spine is supporting its own weight. Let the muscles of the spine be engaged. 

4. All the other muscles of your body can be completely relaxed. Allow your face muscles to let go, and your jaw to drop slightly, so that your teeth are not touching. 

5. Let your shoulders hang freely, and let your belly be soft and open. 

6. This is the posture you are aiming for, with your spine erect and your body completely relaxed. 

7. As you sit, keep bringing your awareness back to the fine details of your posture. Notice any time your spine slumps even slightly, your head leans to either side, or any other deviation. Correct these gently and repeatedly. 

8. Also notice if any other areas of your body tense up even slightly. If anything is tensing, relax it in a gently and soft manner. 

9. Keep checking in with the body, using your body (somatic) awareness; the feeling in your body. Mental images of your body will probably arise, which is fine, but these are not what you are concentrating upon. Instead, concentrate your awareness in the sense of your body. The sensitivity in your muscles, tissues, viscera, skin, and so forth. 

10. The more detailed and minute you get with this awareness, the better. Each tiny area of the body has its own sensitivity to contribute. 

11. Every once in a while you can zoom out to cover the entire somatosensory field -- the awareness of your entire body -- to bring the overall body back into alignment. 

12. Keep relaxing every muscle everywhere. Use just enough tension to keep your spine erect, but no more. 

13. Continue this meditation for at least 10 minutes, continuously contacting your body awareness. 
 
CAUTIONS:
If you have any spinal injuries or severe back pain, it is fine to allow your spine to rest in a pain-free position.                    If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. 
For example, when checking on the spine, you can say to yourself, "spine in alignment." 
When checking on the body, say, "body relaxed." 
 
 
Awareness of Thoughts Meditation
By learning to watch your thoughts come and go during this practice, you can gain deeper insight into thinking altogether (such as its transience) and into specific relationships among your thoughts and your emotions, sensations, and desires. This practice can also help you take your thoughts less personally, and not automatically believe them.  Additionally, this meditation can offer insight into any habitual patterns of thinking and related reactions.  
Observe your thoughts as they arise and pass away.  
·       By “thoughts,” we mean self-talk and other verbal content, as well as images, memories, fantasies, and plans. Just thoughts may appear in awareness, or thoughts plus sensations, emotions, or desires. 
·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position.
·       Become aware of the sensations of breathing.
·       After a few minutes of following your breath, shift your attention to the various thoughts that are arising, persisting, and then passing away in your mind. 
·       Try to observe your thoughts instead of getting involved with their content or resisting them. 
·       Notice the content of your thoughts, any emotions accompanying them, and the strength or pull of the thought.
·       Try to get curious about your thoughts.  Investigate whether you think in mainly images or words, whether your thoughts are in color or black and white, and how your thoughts feel in your body.
·       See if you notice any gaps or pauses between thoughts.
·       Every time you become aware that you are lost in the content of your thoughts, simply note this and return to observing your thoughts and emotions. 
·       Remember that one of the brain’s major purposes is to think, and there is nothing wrong with thinking.  You are simply practicing not automatically believing and grasping on to your thoughts.  
·       When you are ready, return your attention to your breath for a few minutes and slowly open your eyes.  
Optional:
·       There are various metaphors and images you can use to help observe your thoughts.  These include:
o   Imagining you are as vast and open as the sky, and thoughts are simply clouds, birds, or planes passing through the open space.  
o   Imagining you are sitting on the side of a river watching your thoughts float by like leaves or ripples in the stream.  
o   Imagine your thoughts are like cars, buses, or trains passing by.  Every time you realize you are thinking, you can “get off the bus/train” and return to observing.

Awareness of thoughts and emotions is one of the areas of focus developed when cultivating mindfulness.  In Buddhism, mindfulness is one of the seven factors of enlightenment and the seventh instruction in the Noble Eightfold Path.  
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment:  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/wheel001.html
The Four Noble Truths:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths
The Noble Eightfold Path: https://tricycle.org/magazine/noble-eightfold-path/
 
CAUTIONS:
Please be gentle with yourself if you notice that you are constantly caught up in your thoughts instead of observing them.  This is both common and normal.  When you realize that you are thinking, gently and compassionately return to observing your thoughts.  
If the content of your thoughts is too disturbing or distressing, gently shift your attention to your breathing, sounds, or discontinue the practice. 
·       Remember that you are not trying to stop thoughts or only allow certain ones to arise.  Try to treat all thoughts equally and let them pass away without engaging in their content. 
·       This practice can initially be more challenging than other meditations.  As you are learning, practice this meditation for only a few minutes at a time if that is easier. 
·       It can be helpful to treat thoughts the same way that you treat sounds or body sensations, and view them as impersonal events that arise and pass away.  
·       Some people like to assign numbers or nicknames to reoccurring thoughts in order to reduce their pull and effect.
 
 
Breath Awareness Meditation
Stress is an extremely unhealthy condition. It causes the body to release the chemical cortisol, which has been shown to reduce brain and organ function, among many other dangerous effects. Modern society inadvertently encourages a state of almost continuous stress in people. This is a meditation that encourages physical and mental relaxation, which can greatly reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind. 
Sit still and pay close attention to your breathing process.
Take a reposed, seated posture. Your back should be straight and your body as relaxed as possible.

Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breathing process. Simply notice you are breathing. Do not attempt to change your breath in any way. Breath simply and normally. 

Try to notice both the in breath and the out breath; the inhale and the exhale. "Notice" means to actually feel the breathing in your body with your body. It is not necessary to visualize your breathing or to think about it in any way except to notice it with your somatic awareness. 

Each time your attention wanders from the act of breathing, return it to noticing the breath. Do this gently and without judgment. 

Remember to really feel into the act of breathing.

If you want to go more deeply into this, concentrate on each area of breathing in turn. Here is an example sequence:

    1. Notice how the air feels moving through your nostrils on both the in breath and the out breath. 

    2. Notice how the air feels moving through your mouth and throat. You may feel a sort of slightly raspy or ragged          feeling as the air moves through your throat. This is normal and also something to feel into.

    3. Notice how the air feels as it fills and empties your chest cavity. Feel how your rib cage rises slowly with each in breath, and gently deflates with each out breath.

    4. Notice how your back expands and contracts with each breath. Actually feel it shifting and changing as you breath. 

    5. Notice how the belly expands outward with each in breath and pulls inward with each in breath. Allow your attention to fully enter the body sensation of the belly moving with each breath.

    6. Now allow your attention to cover your entire body at once as you breath in and out. Closely notice all the sensations of the body as it breathes. 

Repeat this sequence over and over, giving each step your full attention as you do it. 
Suggested time is at least 10 minutes. Thirty minutes is better, if you are capable of it. 
If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. For example, on the in breath, mentally say to yourself, "Breathing in." On the out breath, say, "Breathing out." Another possibility is to mentally count each breath. 
 
 
Self Inquiry
This is a meditation technique to get enlightened, i.e. "self realization."  By realizing who you are, the bonds of suffering are broken. Besides this goal, self-inquiry delivers many of the same benefits as other meditation techniques, such as relaxation, enhanced experience of life, greater openness to change, greater creativity, a sense of joy and fulfillment, and so forth. 
Focus your attention on the feeling of being "me," to the exclusion of all other thoughts. 
1. Sit in any comfortable meditation posture. 
2. Allow your mind and body to settle. 
3. Now, let go of any thinking whatsoever. 
4. Place your attention on the inner feeling of being "me."
5. If a thought does arise (and it is probable that thoughts will arise on their own), ask yourself to whom this thought is occurring. This returns your attention to the feeling of being "me."
Continue this for as long as you like. 

This technique can also be done when going about any other activity. 
 
CAUTIONS:
Many people misunderstand the self-inquiry technique to mean that the person should sit and ask themselves the question, "Who am I?" over and over. This is an incorrect understanding of the technique. The questions "Who am I" or "To whom is this thought occurring?" are only used when a thought arises, in order to direct attention back to the feeling of being "me." At other times the mind is held in silence. 
 
This practice of Self-attention or awareness of the ‘I’-thought is a gentle technique, which bypasses the usual repressive methods of controlling the mind. It is not an exercise in concentration, nor does it aim at suppressing thoughts; it merely invokes awareness of the source from which the mind springs. The method and goal of self-enquiry is to abide in the source of the mind and to be aware of what one really is by withdrawing attention and interest from what one is not. In the early stages effort in the form of transferring attention from the thoughts to the thinker is essential, but once awareness of the ‘I’-feeling has been firmly established, further effort is counter-productive. From then on it is more a process of being than doing, of effortless being rather than an effort to be.
 
 
Do Nothing Meditation
Many respected spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Hindu Advaita just to name two, claim that the highest state of spiritual communion is actually present in our minds at all times. And yet many meditation techniques focus on  creating some special state that wasn't there before the meditation, and which goes away at some point after the meditation. If the highest state is actually present all the time, shouldn't it be possible to simply notice it without inducing some change, or special state? 

That is exactly the purpose of the Do Nothing Meditation. This technique (which is really an un-technique) will allow you to contact the highest spiritual state without actually doing anything. Each time you notice an intention to control or direct your attention, give it up. 
1. There is no need to get into any particular posture, unless you feel like it.
2. Do not position your attention in any particular way.
3. Let whatever happens happen.
4. Any time you notice yourself doing anything intentionally, stop. 
Doing anything intentionally means something you can voluntarily control, and therefore can stop. 
If you cannot stop doing something, then it's not intentional, and therefore you don't need to try to stop doing it. 
So. Anything you can stop doing, stop doing. 

Some examples of things you can stop doing are:
* Intentionally thinking
* Trying to focus on something specific
* Trying to have equanimity
* Trying to keep track of what's going on
* Trying to meditate
Let go of doing anything like this.
5. Keep doing nothing for at least 10 minutes, or as long as you like.
 
CAUTIONS:
It may be difficult for some people to notice any difference between the Do Nothing meditation and gross "monkey mind," that is, the ceaseless, driven and fixated thoughts of the everyday neurotic mind. If this seems to be the case for you, it may be helpful to do a more structured technique. 
 
 
Concentration (One-Pointedness) Meditation
One of the hallmarks of modern life is the proliferation of distractions. As media become more pervasive, and media connections more ubiquitous, time away from distractions becomes ever harder to find. Previously, people were content to sit in restaurants, or stand in line, without a television screen to stare at. Now these have become standard. The result of all this, and many other causes, is that people find it increasingly difficult to focus their minds. 

Concentration is a necessary human skill. It makes proper thinking possible, increases intelligence, and allows a person to calm down and achieve their goals more effectively. A concentrated mind is like a laser beam, able to use all its powers in a single direction to great effect. 

Concentration is critical to many human endeavors. Being able to listen to another person, for example, in a compassionate and connected manner requires being able to shut out distractions. The experience of making love can be greatly enhanced when one is not, for example, thinking about other things. 

Concentration allows a person to stop being a "reaction machine" or "robot," simply responding to stimulii, and instead to become more thoughtful, self-directed, and confident. 
Concentration is an interesting thing. It is a very general ability. That means developing concentration in one area will help you concentrate in ALL areas. So, for example, if you learn to concentrate on a particular idea, it not only helps you think about that idea (which would be very limited), but actually helps you to concentrate on anything, which is very generally useful for everything! It's like lifting weights. It doesn't just make you strong for lifting weights, but strong for anything else you want to do!

Think about one thing. Every time you get distracted, return to that one thing. 
1. Find an object on which to concentrate. This can be a physical object, like a pebble or a feather. Or it can be a mental object like a particular idea. It could even be, say, your homework.

2. Cut off any sources of distraction. These include, but are not limited to, telephones, emails, computers, music, television, and so forth. Turn all of these off during your concentration practice. 

3. Begin your period of by mentally reminding yourself what you are concentrating on. 

4. Now begin to concentrate. If your concentration object is an external object, this may mean looking at it. If it is a mental object, then think about it. If it is your homework, then do it now.

5. Each time your mind (or eyes) wander from your concentration object, bring it back to the object. It is important to do this very gently and without judgment. 
6. Repeat this process of coming back to the concentration object for as long as you wish, or until your homework is done. 
Cultures worldwide have developed concentration practices for both spiritual and practical reasons. 

Concentration is called dharana in Hinduism, and samadhi or shamatha in Buddhism. It is considered to be a key skill for meditation.
 
CAUTIONS:
Concentration can at first seem to trigger a lot of anxiety. This is, however, not the fault of the concentration practice. Rather, it happens because many people use distraction to avoid feeling emotions. Then when the distractions are removed, a tremendous amount of ambient, unprocessed emotions (i.e. emotions you are feeling but were unaware of feeling) are present. So it is not the practice of concentration that is causing anxiety, but instead it is the habit of distracting ourselves from our emotions. This may be the root cause of much inability to focus and concentrate. If that is the case, try meditating on emotions (below). 
Concentration and meditation are not the same thing, although they are related. Meditation (usually) requires concentration, but also requires relaxation or equanimity.
 
 
Emotional Awareness Meditation 
This meditation brings about a great deal of equanimity with emotions. They will not seem to affect us as deeply or adversely. 
Many people have trouble contacting their emotions directly. Even if we feel that we know what emotion we are having, that does not necessarily mean that we are contacting it directly. 

To contact an emotion directly means to feel it in the body. This is the opposite of most people's experience, which is to related ideas about the emotion.

Here is an example. A person asks you how you are feeling. You respond by saying, "I am angry, because..." You then go on to tell the person all the reasons you are angry.

In this example, only the first three words, "I am angry" have anything to do with contacting emotion. All the rest of the explanation is about concepts.

A fuller example of contacting emotions directly, that is somatically, would be to say, "I am angry. I can feel a sort of gripping tension in my belly that is uncomfortable. The tense area feels kind of twisted and sharp. Parts of it are throbbing. It also feels like it is radiating heat outwards." 

Notice that the cause of the anger is irrelevant. The practice here is to feel the physical expression of the anger as completely as possible. 

Extended practice of this meditation will bring about "skill at feeling," that is, a tremendous amount of clarity in the emotional world. Emotional intelligence. 

It will also help emotions to process and release much more quickly and completely, because we are not holding on to ideas about the emotions. The body processes emotion quickly, naturally, and fully. 
Feel the physical expression of an emotion as completely as possible. 
1. Settle into a comfortable meditation posture. 

2. Breathing normally, bring your attention to your emotions. Notice if you are feeling any emotions, no matter how faintly. It is not necessary to know precisely which emotion you are having, or why you are having it. Just knowing that you are feeling something emotional is enough. Guessing is OK.

3. Once you detect an emotion, see if you can find its expression in your body. Maybe there is a feeling of tension, gripping, tightening, burning, twisting, throbbing, pressure, lightness, openness, etc. 

4. If you like, you can mentally make the label "feel" when you detect a body sensation of emotion. Other labels are possible ("emotion" for example). 

5. Each time you detect an emotional body sensation, try to actually feel the sensation in your body, as completely as possible. Feel it through and through.

6. Completely let go of any ideas you have about the emotion, or self talk you might have about why the emotion is arising. Return to the body sensation of the emotion.

7. Continue contacting these emotional body sensations for as long as you wish.
 
Meditating on emotions is a traditional part of Vipassana practice in Buddhism. It is, for example, one of the four main techniques covered in the Vissudhimagga (The Path to Purity), an important Buddhist text.
(The version presented here is a summary of a practice given by American Buddhist teacher Shinzen Young.)
At first, practicing this meditation may make it seem as if the emotions are getting bigger. If they are negative emotions, this may seem overwhelming for a while. This is natural. It is occuring not because the emotions are actually getting bigger, but for two interesting reasons. The first is because we are no longer suppressing them. We are allowing them to actually express themselves fully. The second is because we are observing them (actually feeling them) very closely. Just as a microscope makes small things look bigger, the "microscope" of attention makes the emotional body sensations seem larger than they really are. 

The good news here is that as the emotions express themselves freely in the body, they are being processed. Usually this means that they will pass much more quickly. 

If we are feeling a positive emotion in this way, it may pass quickly, but we will also derive much more satisfaction from it, because our experience of it is so rich and complete.

If we are feeling a negative emotion in this way, we will experience much less suffering from it, because we are not resisting and suppressing it. 
 
 
Equanimity Meditation
The cause of much of our upset and emotional instability is clinging and neediness around people we like, and aversion and negativity towards people we don't like. We also have an unhealthy indifference to strangers, who may need our help, or at least our good will. 

This equanimity meditation helps us to examine our feelings towards people, and correct them where they are mistaken. This leads to a more balanced, wholesome, and helpful viewpoint. It also cuts off a lot of emotional turmoil at its root. 
Meditate on three people (a loved one, an enemy, and a neutral person), examining and correcting your feelings toward them. 
1. Sit in a comfortable meditation posture. Follow your breath until you feel centered and grounded.

2. Bring to mind the images of three people: someone you like, someone you dislike, and someone towards whom you feel indifferent. Keep these three people in mind throughout the meditation.

3. Focus on the friend, and look into all the reasons you like this person. Try to see if any of the reasons are about things this person does for you, or ways they uplift your ego. Ask yourself if these are really the correct reasons to like someone. Then do the same thing with the person you dislike, instead asking about the reasons you dislike them. Finally, do this for the person you are indifferent towards, asking about the reasons for your indifference. In all cases, notice where your ego is involved in the judgment of the other person's worth. 

4. Next, ask yourself whether you consider each of these relationships as permanent. Would you still like your friend if they did something terrible to you? What if the person you dislike really did something nice for you? What if the stranger became close to you? Think about all the relationships in the past in which your feelings about the person have dramatically changed. 

5. Now, visualize the person you like doing something you dislike or that is unacceptable to you. Would you still be their friend? Remember that many people have changed from friends to enemies in the past. There are people who you used to like, toward whom you now feel emnity. Think about how there is no special reason to feel good about a person who is only temporarily your friend. 

6. Next, visualize your enemy doing something very kind for you. They might visit you in the hospital, or help you to fix your home. When you imagine this, can you feel positive emotions toward this person? Can you remember times in the past when an enemy became a friend? Is it necessary to feel that your strong dislike for this person will last forever? Isn't it possible that they could someday become your friend? 

7. Now visualize the stranger. How would you feel about them if they did something very kind for you? Isn't it the case that all your current friends were at one point total strangers? Isn't it possible that a stranger could become your best friend? It has happened before. 

8. Think carefully about how everyone deserves equal regard as human beings. You must discriminate and make decisions based on your knowledge of a person's character, but you do not have to hold strong feelings or judgments towards them. It is very likely that your emotions around a person will change many times, so why hold onto these emotions so rigidly? 

In Buddhism, equanimity means a very deep, even profound, state of mental balance and stability. It is considered one of the seven factors of enlightenment, and a hallmark of the third and fourth jhanas, which are deep states of meditative absorption. 
This is a traditional meditation from Mahayana Buddhism. Its goal is to arouse "bodhicitta' or the mind of enlightenment. There are other equanimity meditations from other Buddhist lineages (e.g., Theravadan), as well as from other contemplative traditions.

(The version presented here is adapted from the book How to Meditate: A Practical Guide.) 
 

CAUTIONS:
It can be upsetting to bring an "enemy" to mind. When working with the mental image of an enemy, be careful not to get lost in negative thoughts and feelings. If you find that you can't handle working with a specific person without getting very worked up, switch to someone less upsetting.
 
 
Body Scan Meditation
The Body Scan is designed to help you feel and bring awareness to the myriad of sensations that occur throughout your body.  By practicing this meditation regularly, you can improve your body awareness and also better work with pain and difficult emotions in the body.  Additionally, people report feelings of relaxation and renewal after this practice.  
Sit or lie on your back and systematically bring your attention to each region of your body, beginning with your feet and moving upwards.  
 
As you begin:
·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position with your eyes open or gently closed.
·       Take a moment to check-in with yourself, observing how you are feeling in your body and mind.
·       Begin to focus on your breath wherever the sensations are most vivid for you.
 
During the body scan:
·       Try to bring an attitude of curiosity to the practice, as if you are investigating your body for the first time.  
·       Notice and feel any and all sensations that are present, such as tingling, tightness, heat, cold, pressure, dullness,  etc.  
·       If you do not feel any sensations in a particular region, simply note that and move on.  
·       See if you can be aware of any thoughts or emotions that arise as you move through the regions of your body.  Note these thoughts and emotions, and then return to the bare physical sensations that you are experiencing.  
·       Whenever you come across an area that is tense, see if you can allow it to soften.  If the area does not soften, simply notice how it feels and allow it to be as it is.
·       Feel as deeply and precisely as you can into each region of the body, noting if the sensations change in any way.  Also notice where they are located.
·       If you notice any pain or discomfort in a region of the body, see if you can practice allowing and exploring it for even a few seconds, feeling the various aspects of the sensation(s).  
 
Suggested sequence of body parts:
·       Begin with your left foot and toes, then move awareness up the left leg until you reach the left hip.
·       Right foot and toes up the right leg until you reach the right hip.  
·       Pelvic region and buttocks, stomach, low back to upper back, chest and breasts, heart and lungs
·       Hands (both at the same time) then move up the arms until you finish with the shoulders.
·       Neck, throat, jaw, mouth (teeth, tongue, lips), nose, eyes, forehead, ears, skull and scalp.  
·       Finally, become aware of the whole body and rest for a few minutes in this expansive awareness.  

The Body Scan is a variation of a Burmese Vipassana meditation practice that involves scanning the body for physical sensations.  This meditation is also done in various yoga practices.  The Body Scan is used in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.  

CAUTIONS:
If you have experienced physical abuse or trauma in the past, it is not recommended to do this practice without a trained professional.  Additionally, if you notice intense fear or other strong emotions related to a particular part of the body, please discontinue this practice.  
It is generally advised to take at least 30 to 40 minutes to complete the body scan.  However, if you wish to do a shorter body scan, spend less time on each region of the body, and/or focus on both feet, legs, and arms together as you move through these regions.  
If you wish, you can practice the body scan in the opposite direction, moving from your head to your toes. 
 
 
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation is a great way to begin integrating the power of meditation into your daily life. It is the first stage of meditation in action, that is, learning to be meditative while "out and about" in the world. 

It is great to do while, for example, taking a walk in the park, at the beach, or in another natural setting. 

Walking meditation is often recommended for people who are doing a lot of sitting meditation. If you are getting to sleepy, or your awareness is getting to "muddy," walking meditation can perk you up. Alternately, if you are getting to concentrated and mentally "stiff," walking meditation is a perfect way to loosen up a bit. 
Walking meditation is a common practice in Vipassana and Zen Buddhism. 


Pay close attention to the physical activity of walking slowly
1. Before walking, stand still in an open, balanced posture. Bring your awareness to the feeling of your feet touching the ground. 

2. Now begin walking. Keep your gaze fixed on the ground about six feet in front of you. This will help you to avoid distraction. 

3. Note and mentally label three parts of each step you take. The labels are "lifting," "pushing," and "dropping." 
 
     Lifting - when you are picking your foot up

     Pushing - as you are moving it forward

     Dropping - as you are lowering it to the ground

 As you make each label, pay very close attention to the actual physical sensations associated with each of these actions. 

4. After these three components become clear, you can add three more, so that the entire sequence is: "raising," "lifting," "pushing," "dropping," "touching," and "pressing."

5. Your mind will probably also engage in thinking extraneous thoughts, but just allow these to go on in the background. Your foreground attention should stay on the physical sensations of walking.

6. If you find that you have been completely lost in thought, stop walking for a moment and label the thinking as "thinking, thinking, thinking." 

7. Then re-establish your awareness on the feeling in your feet, and begin the walking meditation again. 

8. A typical session of walking meditation lasts a half an hour. 


CAUTIONS:
Make sure to watch where you are going, especially if you are around traffic, other people, etc. 
 
https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices
 
 
 
The Yoda Meditation
https://www.thedailymeditation.com/learning-to-meditate-with-jedi-master-yoda-online-meditation-course/amp
The Neo / Matrix Meditation
https://www.dc-acupuncture.com/lifestyle-personal-transformation/how-meditation-makes-you-more-like-neo-from-the-matrix
F That - A guided Meditation
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY

I realize that depending on what state of consciousness you are, it could mean different outcomes into understanding Leo’s videos. And sometimes it can even take you backwards.
There are four ways of how you can react to his videos:
 The explanation that Leo gave, help you out to understand what you are experiencing in your life, and you take it simply as a possibility without judging it You agree with Leo, but sometimes you feel that he's egotistic and contradictory. You accept what Leo is saying, and you really think he's right, and overall is a better belief than your previous one. You decline what he is saying, you think he's crazy. If you watch him, is only for fun.  You liked more the old Leo rather than the new one.  
If you identify with the first opinion, it is very likely that you are in a yellow stage, where you feel comfortable with the piece of information that was presented, and you don’t deny it or blindly accepted. If you identify with the second opinion, be very careful. Don’t project your way to see the world into Leo’s teachings. It is likely that you aren’t at the same level that he is, you might be projecting how you think someone enlightened (or awaken) should be. If you identify with the third opinion, the stuff that Leo is saying is too advance for you. Even if you think you understand it, what really happening is that you are replacing dogma with more dogma, and you don’t even realize it until someone questions your beliefs. It might be best for you, to go back and study the foundations of self- actualization, or else you could be going backwards. If you identify with the fourth opinion, well maybe what he is saying is also too advance for you. Go back to the basics and work your way up making sure you understand the basics at a deep level. Lastly, I want to say that I identify myself with the third opinion; I noticed how attached I can be with what Leo is saying, and how my ego tends to cling into more beliefs. It is like teaching someone that is at a red stage, that life has no rules. Imagine how he would justify his actions from this "higher teaching".
Sorry for my bad English!!!

How to Raise Your HGH Levels Potentially By 771%
So in one post above, I said my warm-ups are harder than most people's workouts.... this is kind of true, but simultaneously is not.
One of the core pieces of my warm-ups are 8 sprints for 30 seconds, with 1 minute and 30 seconds of rest in between.
But why is that? 
According to research done by Phil Campbell (with two advanced degrees in Sports Medicine), over the course of 8 weeks, when sprinting for 30 seconds and resting for 1 minute 30 you can increase your HGH by 771%. Various methods were tested in addition to this, altering the length of the sprint, the volume of sprints, etc and this seems to be the sweet spot of high pressure, but no overtraining (overtraining leads to cortisol spikes which then stunt HGH).
Another study was done with endurance athletes doing conditioning for sprints, by long-distance running and it seemed like that if you endurance-trained for sprinting, you actually blunt the release of HGH.
I could go on about this subject but I suggest looking into this yourself. HGH is fantastic at repairing muscle and basically keeping you younger for longer.... it sounds counter-intuitive... if you're sore, you're the best bet is actually to run sprints.... because the HGH will help you recover much better.
It's the number one thing I do for pain relief, I basically have a pain free life despite the fact I'm the antithesis of a "chiller".
So if you want to gain muscle volume, reduce general aches and pains, and do over an hours worth of normal people cardio in 16 minutes, while getting a TON of HGH to stay young and burn fat... just run sprints... even in the study I read people lost 30% more fat and gained more lean muscle just from sprinting....
It's the best therapy out there.

 

How to Make Your Instagram go Viral.

 So this information is not of my own wisdom, but it is from my friend who has built 3 accounts to 55k+ followings organically. It's honestly not that hard, but if you don't delegate this it's a massive time commitment.

Now what you do with this information is completely up to you, but I'm really going to try and encompass everything you're going to want to know about this subject.

And this is all almost completely FREE... If you guys know me personally I have some sick vendetta against gurus and paying for some SeCrEt SaUcE
BULLSHIT because all these people are doing is fucking LYING... they are LYYYINGGGG to you all and laughing to the bank.

It goads me quite a lot honestly because I just want to beat these fucks over the head with a chair.... (metaphorically speaking of course). All that said there are some people out there with pretty good stuff, I like Tai Lopez, I think Sam Ovens is NOT right for most people but he's pretty good, Alex Becker is a saint basically because he doesn't even sell you anything but he helps, and yeah Wolf of Wallstreet's stuff is quite good, then there is my role model and mentor Mr. Dan Pena who is on a rocketship to heaven since he puts out all of his stuff for free, you just pay him if you feel like you want to be taught by him in person instead- his mentees have produced over 900 BILLION in wealth. Anyways I digress.

Some people use this information to become "local celebrities", some people use this information to sell products, and some people use this information to get stuff for free... but I will be covering literally all of that. I personally don't really use my Instagram for anything, but I like having it because showing all the photos I took and sharing the stories behind them when you're on a date or catching up with family is just a pleasant routine honestly and makes for better conversation if the person sucks at talking.

Step 1; Identify Your Goals for Instagram

This is the most important question to ask yourself. What is your purpose for this page. I'll give you a few big ones below with explanations:

Local Celebrity: This is the toughest one to pull off for a few reasons. First off you really do have to have an interesting life to grow this account. You only really have a few options to make something like this maintainable.

Now there are a few angles for local celebrities. My favorite because it's the easiest to maintain, is a photographer:

I'm not a photographer, at all- I don't have a $30,000 Hasselblad. But I am friends with people that actually are. I asked my friend who is a traveling photographer in Cyprus this year- "man you're actually brilliant. You're really talented, can I see more of your shots?" He pulls out a folder with 40,000 photos on his Mac. Now he did give me a lot of tips for shooting good photos- but he put it quite accurately on how he became "so talented".... "If you take 40,000 photos, you're bound to have a couple good shots in there". I get messages when I make uploads by random people saying I'm "really talented"... 

Now for whatever reason, people highly value travel. By being a photographer you actually set the bar incredibly low, but you are producing content that virtually everyone enjoys. It gets you a foot in the door in a lot of ways too. I managed to set up dates with a couple of slasher fashion models from "being a photographer".

If you haven't heard of "slashers" its basically people that are something slash (/) an actress. Oh I'm a waitress/model. I'm an actress/dancer. People don't realize it but most actresses/models are incredibly poor lol and go months between big gigs. It really is only the top .0001% that actually make a career out of it.

A nightclub promoter/night life freak: If you can have a table with 30 girls, and have outlandish nightlife highlights this can be super effective for networking. To me this isn't optimal because it's gaudy and rather unsustainable- by being the nightclub person you are polarizing your audience. Also, I often think of the exit in all of this, and what's the exit? You get a s/o and now you have to delete all the photos anyways... unless you are hardcore committed to this lifestyle I wouldn't advise this at all. But I do have friends that are, and it works extremely well for them.

The DJ: I believe this is the highest status thing a normal person can have on Instagram. Being a DJ is actually incredibly easy. Do your homework and play around with Virtual DJ Pro for a year or so and you'll be pretty good. A DJ is like the most high value lifestyle you can import. You can literally just tell people you're a DJ and they immediately think you travel a lot, you have a cooler lifestyle than them, you love music, and you have amazing nightlife experiences. Even though this is a bit outlandish for most people, I think if your goal is to network with people, a DJ is ultimately the most optimal. I actually want to practice DJing for a year, but am unsure when or if I'll ever run this as an experiment.

Fitness Model: This is the last thing I've seen work really well. I actually love this idea since it really incentivizes you to get into amazing shape. 

Bottom Line: I think the highest value thing is The DJ, I think the most optimal one is a photographer. 
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Sell Products: If your goal is to sell merchandise from your webstore Instagram can be absolutely awesome for this as well. There is a huge amount of traffic on Instagram and there are a ton of strategies we're going to get into regarding how to sell products.

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Get Free Perks: This is possibly my favorite subject. There is actually a wave of businesses giving influencers free perks for exposure. From free food at restaurants, free stays at hotels, and a lot of other things- this is possibly one of the most interesting angles you could take.

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Step 2: Growing Your Page to The First 5,000 Followers

Now ultimately it is horseshit if you are spending money on followers or shoutouts. Those just will not work.

You have to get about 2,000-5,000 followers to begin getting traction on Instagram. They also need to be real.

I could explain in detail how the algorithm works but its fairly simple and I'll do that later just in case you're curious....

For now just understand that the reason we are trying to build to 2000-5000 followers is because to hit the discovery page where you start automatically acquiring new followers, you need power- and power is a lot of likes.

How you get this first  2000-5000 is good ole, follow unfollow method. Once you get your page to about 2000-5000 you'll notice your posts will naturally hit the discovery page- even if you arent really doing much of hashtags or anything (but we will discuss all this later).

Once you get to the tipping point where you just pick up followers naturally, you should unfollow to less than 5,000 followers.

How do you get these followers though?

Whatever your niche is, you want to find an authority page in that niche, then go to their most recent post, and follow all the people who liked their post.

So if I'm a photographer- I'm going to look up Hasselblad or like SamEvans on instagram, go to their most recent post, and follow all of the people who liked that picture. It's perfect because its an active audience of people that like the same things your page is providing.

Again- if you're an ecommerce store that markets to Broncos fans, go to the Broncos IG fan page, if you're a luxury hotel reviewer, go to Marriots pages and follow the people that just liked their recent photos.

This is how you find the most qualified people.


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Step 3: Getting 5000+ and Beyond

At this point this all comes down to content distribution. This can really simply be done by posting 6 times a day and then deleting all posts that don't go viral. It's just rinse and repeat at that point and within 4-6 months you can easily hit 15k followers.

Once you have that kind of following, you'll think of a lot of ways to control your traffic. But let's get into other strategies.


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Advanced Strategies, Paid Tools, How Instagram Algorithm Works

So Instagrams Algorithm is actually really simple:

Instagram is a reading machine just like Google. Your username should make sense.... if you are a luxury hotel IG your username could be luxstays and then see if you can buy luxstays.com.

Under the name section you can put in your keywords to help people find you on the search: 

@ luxstays
The Best Luxury Hotels
Website: Luxstays .com
Bio: Luxury hotels bahabhabahbahb

If you are a niche like a store or a free perk person, only following people that are "official (blue ticks)" in your niche will also benefit your IG SEO. So after you have your first 5000 unfollow everyone who isn't official. If you are a hotel IG only follow like Hilton LA, Marriot Miami.... etc etc.

The algorithm also pays attention to how many likes, shares, saves, comments you have.

Also they pay attention to the quality of your likes.

So if you get likes and comments from people with a blue tick, its basically worth like 40+ basic likes. You are much more likely to hit the discovery page if you can get these highly valued likes. Quality doesn't stop there either, a like from someone with 1000 followers is more valuable than someone with 40. It's basically a sheer popularity contest.

There are paid tools to get "power likes" : https://goso.io

Goso is what really big social media influencers use- they have case studies working on some of the biggest names and I think some celebs IG. I personally don't use this shit because it seems silly to me to pay to have your posts noticed but it is effective.

Next there is a tool I actually use called: https://flick.tech 

Flick tech is a hashtag research tool. It finds hashtags that have high viewer counts but low daily posts.

So a hashtag like Hawaii has like 30,000 views a day (just making these numbers up), but they also have 12k new posts a day... so as soon as you upload, your post is buried and no one will find you through the hashtags. But if you a post on something that gets 30k views a day but only 20 uploads a day, you're going to be found. And chances are because you get all the likes on them from your 5000 fans you'll also be the top result in for that hashtag.

Profiting From Your IG

It's pretty simple at this point, you just approach businesses and practice your pitch on how you'll do x for them in return for y.

That said if you're just trying to make money on IG, ive heard of people paying influencers like $40 to make posts, and stories to their online store and having $500 days.

Not much else I have to say on this matter.

Best