Mondsee

I've tried and failed many times to consistently wake up at 6am. Some times I succeed for a few days in a row, and then something comes in the way, and it isn't always insufficient amount of sleep. Some days I go back to sleep after putting my alarm off, some days I wake up and stay in bed for longer than I had intended distracting myself with my phone or whatever, reasons and circumstances vary, but at the end of the day, I fail to be consistent. I feel like this is one of the main hurdles that is currently keeping me from succeeding at other goals I have, to those who have reliably conquered the early mornings: how did you do it?

@Hojo And do you manage to do so consistently? because sometimes I manage to wake up immediately like you describe as well, but I fail in the long term. @Rigel Thank you, I'm not really into coffee, but I may be able to find something equivalent that I really look forward to (more than a bit of extra sleep). @BipolarGrowth Thank you, I never have breakfast hehe let alone breakfast in bed! But the shift in identity/self image may be good to explore...

@ExplorerMystic Thank you for your reply & book recommendation - I'll check it out! @QVx My job is not what is causing me to have lack of consistency in my sleeping pattern. I am supposed to work Monday to Friday full time, ideally this would happen from 9am to 5pm, but nobody is micro-managing me, and nobody cares at what time I decide to work as long as the work gets done, which means that if I start working at 11am, I will be done around 7pm, with no time left for much more than commuting back home, cooking, having dinner, and going back to sleep. If I woke up early and started early, then I would have much more time left during the afternoon to do things that I like. I would like to do that consistently, and not sporadically as I do now.

@ExplorerMystic My job is very demanding, but very flexible with working times, which makes it extra problematic, since I will often start late, and end late. Practically speaking, how did you go about creating "discipline" for yourself?

Traps in spirituality: Feeling superior than others / being arrogant because you are following a certain practice. Related: believing that a spiritual practice will make you "special" - no, it won't make you anything... if you're lucky it will end you. Being convinced that you're following "the right practice", and looking at other paths as inferiors (judging others). Underestimating the amount of work and level of seriousness required to be a sincere seeker. Turning spirituality into your identity, ie. picking only the superficial "cliché" type of behaviours (changing diets, outfits, ways of speaking - but no serious practice) Related: Going into spirituality to belong to a social group. Taking on a serious spiritual practice when you're too emotionally unstable, or don't have your basic needs in life figured out. Failing to question even your favourite teachers and gurus. Related: failing to seriously consider the advice you receive from teachers and gurus. Believing that a small progress on your path is the end of it. Imagining progress. Getting derailed in entertaining occult practices. Failing to recognise ego backlash for what it is. The devil is sneaky, and it will often convince you that you need a break from your practice. Related: overdoing things, brute-forcing whatever practice to the point that is damaging in whatever way. Half-assing any practice: being convinced that by reading a tiny bit on it or watching a YouTube video you totally know what to do.

SWAG

This is what you are fantasizing about looks like in reality. Is this what you really want? Be realistic about it.

Hello everyone! I am going to try mushrooms for the first time this weekend together with an experienced friend. I am re-watching @Leo Gura video on mushrooms (The Amazing Power of Psychedelics - Leo Does Magic Psilocybbin Mushrooms!) for guidance, but he uploaded it in 2016, ie. four years ago. Since then maybe there is updated information, or other than the info there, what tips do you think are missing for a total newbie! I am all ears and hope this thread will also help other newbie psychonauts!

@fridjonk nice! thanks

Thank you for your tips @fridjonk! Did you set an active intention for your trip before taking them? Or did it happen naturally for you?

Please share here natural remedies you've found for asthmatic cough. Share only if: - It is a natural remedy ie. herbs, teas, routines, specific diet modifications, etc. (no drugs or medications) - You are very certain of its effectivity because it either helped you personally or you witnessed someones improvement and are sure it was because of that - The effectivity is significantly noticeable, it's not a simple makes-you-feel-better-temporarily type of remedy Thanks in advance!

@Michael569 I'm not asking for myself, but for someone I know... It seems to be a condition in the entire family

Mind sharing how the experience was? I'm considering to apply and go after graduating from college.

My point here is that a certain spiral stage alone won't necessarily keep you away from God. Let's not confuse the spiral dynamics with other types of development (such as Maslow' Hierarchy of Needs) and simple open-mindedness and honesty levels, which IMO explain a much bigger part of this phenomenon.

A reminder that the higher you are on the Spiral Dynamics stages is not proportional to the closer you are to grasping the Truth. Enlightenment can happen at any stage. I've recently been reading St. Teresa of Avila's Book of Life. That's a blue stage Enlightenment right there. Veeeery blue, and very enlightened. The kid praying may be closer to God than the rational materialist... just to God in the form of Jesus Christ in heaven, but still God, nonetheless.

Hello? I'm askin'!

I sometimes doubt this. I have had quite deep conversations with a muslim friend who is incredibly trapped into Islamic dogma, and have had him grasp much better how a piece of garbage in the woods is God (we were literally walking out in nature, and I used that as an example) than other hyper-scientific and "progressive thinking" friends understand that different religions are all referring to the very same thing, in the same ways that different languages all serve the same purpose of communication. "Oh no no no..." they'll say... "some religions are way worst than others, and by no means are they about the same!!! the only thing that they have in common are the stupid people who follow them"... well, haha there may also be a little bit of truth in that, but we never get passed an evasive response like that because they're literally allergic to anything that gets remotely away from their materialistic rationality. Their minds are just as paradigm locked for the rest of their lives, never to find God. Edit: the fact alone that I have this muslim friend (and other super religious friends) is something I attribute to the fact that I can understand them. My "scientific" friends are absolutely incapable of this, and thus they will "tolerate" religious people, but they are unable to have an actual close friendship with them, as I can.

Welp, what I see is all of my very best friends from college being deeply deeply locked in the scientific rational paradigm, having no understanding or tolerance whatsoever for anything that comes slightly close to religion. They weren't brainwashed into religion as children, but that didn't end up any better... I am able to fully empathize with both worlds, and that's because I've experienced both of them fully, and transcended them.

Don't judge so quickly. I was born and raised in an extreme Catholic society, I also used to do catholic prayers before lunch since kindergarten. Didn't attend a religious school later, but I would have catechism every Saturday for years as a kid to prepare for the first communion. My parents would remind me to pray before going to sleep, my grandma still does that to the day . We would also often pray before meals at home. Now I'm thankful for those experiences. They allow me to understand much better how religion works, empathize, and have a healthy sense of compassion for those who weren't able to see beyond, and did get trapped in the dogma. Also, I find it very funny how decades after learning lame religion songs for children, those stupid songs actually give me chills because I grasp the Truth that they were trying to convey. One of them goes (translated): God is here, yes He is here, as true as the air I breathe, as true as the sunrise in the morning, as true as when I speak to you, you listen to me. Another one: Start by looking for Gods kingdom, and its divine justice, and everything else will come on its own Aleluya

What was the trigger of your awakening? What exactly was the straw that broke the camel's back?

The first part of this episode is really good. It shows how climbing up the spiral (dynamics) is not as simple as it may seem. Also: consider how much your current spiral stage (presumably rather high if you are around this forum) simply depends on having been born in the right place. It definitely makes you feel humble and grateful.

It is an obvious fact... to you... to me... but not to everybody out there, and precisely for that, when there's scientific evidence showing that, it can serve as an eye-opener for many people. May I ask if you even watched the episode?

@Matt23 no, not at all

So, yesterday I was reading on my bed and fell asleep with the lights on and half dressed. I woke up at around 4am, noticed the mess, put on my pajamas, turned off the lights and went back to sleep. I did not fall asleep immediately, so I started asking myself what happens to consciousness when we fall asleep. I thought I would become really observant of awareness, and see if I could follow what happened with it the moment I fell asleep. So I started half dreaming, I was walking up some stairs, and every step felt more and more "wobbly", I don't know how else to explain it. Everything was moving from side to side with each step, until I was reaching the final steps. There was a door with a void on the other side, like outer space. I rushed the last two or three steps or so, and without stopping to think about it, I told myself, "just jump!", and I did. I rushed, because I knew that if I stopped to think about it, I wouldn't do it. As soon as I jumped, my entire body disappeared. I am not talking of a dream, physically, all I could feel was a tingling sensation all over the place... Like an energy rush everywhere. The best way I can think of to explain it is that everything felt like TV interference, like this: I felt fear, but quickly told myself, there's absolutely nothing to fear, and I should enjoy the free fall. I knew nothing was going to happen to me. Keep in mind that for all this, there was no identification of myself with a body, I was the whole thing, and then quick little insights came up such as "I am my own mother", and "I am the whole thing, but I can still play around, and do some back flips while falling". And then, at some moment, the whole sensation started to disappear, and I started feeling my body again. I remember vividly how at some point I was sure that I was stretching my arms up with the hands wide open, and when I started feeling my body again, I had them in fact close together over my belly. Does anybody know what this was all about? I didn't take (nor have I ever tried) any substances whatsoever, and I haven't done any spiritual practices for a few days... I'm thankful for any input!

1) how old are you? 2) what methods were the most instrumental for your awakening? 3) how long were you "on the path"? 4) and one more that may seem unrelated, but I'm truly interested in: from the perspective of "enlightenment", what is procrastination?