Joker

I did a 3 month backpacking trip around SE Asia at around the same age as you and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Also suffered with social anxiety and by the end of the trip was a completly different person in this respect due to being forced to push myself out of my comfort zone repeatedly. In the last week of the trip I experienced a 2 day period of no-self too, which I didn't fully understand at the time. You're at the perfect age for it, so my advice would be to go. When you're older it becomes increasingly difficult to do these trips. Also you don't nesseserially need to spend all your savings on an entire year. Do 6 months initially and decide if you want to continue from there. Backpacking is rewarding but also tiring, personally I think 6 months is more than enough. Enjoy!

I've been living in Taipei, Taiwan for the last three years. I would highly recommend it. Not quite as cheap as somewhere like Indonesia, but I rent a decent apartment with public swimming pool and gym for around $600 usd a month. You could go way cheaper if you are prepared to live somewhere not as nice . Benefits of living here: - Affordable for a big city - One of the lowest crime rates in the world - City surrounded by mountains and nature - Amazing and cheap public transport system. - Very convenient for almost everything you would want (similar to Japan) - Friendly local people and a chilled out vibe compared to most major cities. - Taiwan hasn't been affected much by Covid. Life has been mostly normal here for the last year. Cons of living here: - Food not so great (in my opinion) but some disagree - Language barrier can be slightly difficult at times, but most people speak at least some English. - Small expat community. Maybe this is a positive thing ? I don't know. Let me know if you want any more info.

What was the darkest time of your life? What do you consider to be your greatest personal flaw? How do you see yourself/your life at 70 years old? Congratulations and thanks for everything.

I'd say do what makes you happy. You don't have any obligation. But also, it depends on the reasons why you think you won't feel happy or fulfilled doing your original life purpose. If the idea of following through with this life purpose doesn't at least somewhat excite you, I think it'll be hard to stick with in the long term.

Great film. I loved the moon shot - how did you achieve that?

@LfcCharlie4 PM'd thanks !

@LfcCharlie4 Can I ask how you got started with your publishing business? Did you take a course? I'm intrigued...

Obama - yellow challenging green? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50239261

I dont know what your purpose is but at 17 I would start working on building skills you think you'll need for your LP. Also enjoy your life and have as many new experiences as possible. You have so much time, dont take things to seriously and enjoy your youth!!

You're a great writer. I could relate alot to what you wrote and was inspired by it. So you already have one person you have influenced through your work (me). Keep going !

I like your positive attitude and your action oriented approach to making a difference in the world. You can do it !

You can do it!

@Mirror of Confusion Hi. Can I ask how you organised learning Yoga for 6 months in India? It's potentially something I would like to do.

How to balance enjoying the moment (being) vs. strategizing for future plans, goals or life purpose?

I teach English as a foreign language. I think really it just comes down to speaking practice and building confidence. If you are prepared to invest some money, I would suggest finding an online teacher through a website like italki.com. Lessons are much cheaper than in person classes. You can practice one-on-one speaking in a comfortable enviroment rather than a pressured social situation.

@Byun Sean You can craft a niche for yourself over time and find projects to work on that are meaningful to you. But it might take a while to get to that point if you dont have much experience. So maybe you need to build up your experience level by initially taking on projects that don't feel as meaningful to you. Just keep directing your career towards your vision and in the long term you'll get there.

I'm very similar to you in terms of life purpose. I think for me I'm going to be actually working towards “filmmaking” as a medium rather than just video editing though. Why not do the same? Create and edit the content yourself?

I would like to know how fear and anxiety are linked? More about creative anxiety and how to overcome it? (Big problem for me) How to recognize and stop fear influencing your decision making process? Thanks Leo

Hi everyone. My life purpose revolves around the idea of creating high-consciousness films which explore the human experience. I've been working on my purpose for around a year, but in the last couple of months I have started to take it more seriously. I've set myself the goal of releasing weekly YouTube videos to force myself to create and improve my filmmaking skills. So far, I've kept to my goal. The problem I've been facing in the last couple of weeks is mood swings. Sometimes I feel so excited about the potential of what I'm doing that my heart is beating very fast and I have trouble sleeping. Then on other days I feel very low, I'll have no energy, my passion is completely drained, everything seems pointless. This can sometimes switch within the same day. It's exhausting and is holding me back. I have dealt with mood swings like this for a while now, but things seem to have got much worse since starting to put more pressure on myself to create. Maybe this is normal for someone in the early stages of building towards their life purpose ? I don't know. Basically I was wondering if anyone had any experience in this area, or any advice of how to stay consistent with a long term LP without falling so much into these extreme highs and lows ? Any advice appreciated. Thanks. Here's one of the videos I created:

I'm not enlightened, but sometimes when I watch videos of people describing what enlightenment is like I get this vivid recollection of being enlightened a long time ago, I feel like I remember what it's like , but I cant place where this feeling comes from. I'm assuming it's a feeling that I had when I was a young child before my ego fully developed? I'm not sure, but I think this is the reason that I resonate with spirituality in the first place, like I'm being pulled back to where I was before. Maybe this is something that people here can relate to? Any thoughts ?

I hope so

@Proactive I've read some books on stoicism before, but not for a while so I'll revisit them. You're totally right, the highs do create the lows, I need to focus on finding balance. Not seen that video actually. Sounds like an interesting concept. I'll check it out. Thanks for your help.

Hi everyone. First post. I've been following Leo's videos of a couple of years now but just joined the forum to share an experience. Basically, I've been casually meditating for about a year and a half. Over this period I have noticed myself becoming more conscious in everyday life but haven't had any real breakthroughs in terms of awakening experiences. Until last night... To set the scene, I was in bed listening to music and contemplating myself and reality in a very unformal way. I started to feel something changing in my awareness. I pressed on and tried to go further into the experience. Eventually I entered a state where I no longer identified with just myself but with reality itself (including myself). It was like a sudden shift in perspective and I suddenly realised that the whole idea of me being a human being is just that - an idea - which isn't true. I also began to understand that reality doesn't really exist, in the moment it felt almost like 2D screen to me rather than the 3D world I know. What struck me the most is how normal I felt. My perspective changed but essentially I was exactly the same as before. It felt like I had been looking at everything upside down my entire life but what I was looking at was the same. The whole experience only lasted for about 10-30 seconds and then I lost it (I think I began questioning wether it would last, which bought "me" back.) I know this is a minor experience, but for me it was really shocking. It was my first true glimpse into what I have been studying for the last year. Anyway, I just wanted to share. I'm interested in other people's opinions or similar experiences. Thanks!