Max_V

Ye this is just a random guy who wants to make fun of someone. Sad he is not actually listening, but choosing to deny everything Leo is saying and making fun of it. Hope this guy eventually finds out how some of Leo's insights are pretty profound and he can look again with an open mind.

I am 17 and I have been meditating since december 2015, nice to see someone my age who has benefits from it too. What I have learned is that you will have to accept that not every meditation will be all beautiful and full of comfort. When you cease to cling to any experience, acceptance hits. Try saying to yourself when you notice you are not focusing on the process but rather the results: "I don't want anything from this experience." and "I don't need anything to change" when you keep repeating this to yourself and keep detaching you will find that you become very accepting of the whole experience and this will get you very deep. Good luck

Happy Birthday Leo, thanks for all the amazing videos and insights you have put out for us!

@HelloThere Thanks! I was already thinking about watching 'How to stop caring what people think of you' The other will be a great help too

Since I was about 12 I started developing a habit where I always laugh at every joke, always try to look happy even when I'm not, always listening to everyone, always trying to please everyone. This mask I have been carrying till right now. December 2015, I started reading and meditating every day, this helped me understand my social anxiety better and overcome it step by step. Most of the time when I'm alone It's not hard for me to become present and mindful and I can feel peace and content with this moment. However when I'm at school or a social situation I slip back into my mask and get unconscious. I have to put so much effort into how I feel like I have to respond to people in a conversation or how I look at people that I can't keep my focus on my breath or my body. My question is: How do I become conscious in social situations and what can I do to feel more authentic instead of wearing that mask every time when people are around. Regards, Max

@salaam For some reason, even the thought of expressing what I really think or stand out makes me scared shitless. When I was reading your comment already the thought came up "You should not do this, this is dangerous, you will feel uncomfortable".

@LiakosN Seems like a real intersting article, thanks for mentioning. I will study it

@egoeimai SoI need to try take responsability for every resistance/ pain I create in myself? For some reason I really have a difficult time accepting peoples opinion about me. Is there any practise to transcend this problem? I am already trying to work on my self esteem issues with Nathaniel Branden's book. That's been a great help to me.

@Arman Thanks you are giving some great tips here, I will try and analize every social situation when I'm alone. See what triggered my uncomfortableness and then grow from it. Also I will try and drop the resistance to this mask, I can really see how this is a big one as I have been meditating with the technique to drop all resistance to the present moment and just be content and ok with whatever is here, not needing anything. @Ludwig Has a video explaining this technique, It has been really helpful to me since I have noticed a lot of resistance to uncomfortable events/feelings in me.

I took initiative last night, emailed a local zen meditation center if I could maybe join in in one of the sessions. I'm meditating 20 minutes in the morning and 40 in the afternoon right now, I have a lot of unanswered questions right now so maybe that community could help me out with that. Thanks for suggesting Wim Hof, I will take a look at that too!

As the title says, I would like to know if intelligence is a requirement if you want to personally develop. Take for example someone who hasn't finished his eductation or has trouble reading. It would be very difficult to understand difficult books regarding important topics or get certain information. I'm 17 right now and I undertstand most of the books Leo has on his book list but some of them, for example: Meditations from Marcus Aurelius, Has some really tough words and sentences in them that I find difficult to grasp since English is not my first language. How do you personally develop if you have problems with reading and eductating yourself? Regards, Max

Yes I would like to do that in addition to me reading and keep developing my english. Do you have to be 18 to attend workshops? I wanna go but I don't really know which ones I should go to though

@egoeimai That's really awesome man, have you ever heard of the bands Northlane and Erra? they are my absolute favorites. More of the metalcore/ djent style though. I really like it

@egoeimai Yo :D, so what kind of metal are you into?

I'd say just do your thing man, the music I listen too is metal too. Northlane is a band I'm really digging right now, their lead singer (now left the band) Is quite the spiritual seeker himself too. His songs are about Life, the spiritual path, life's struggles. It's very heavy music but what he talks about resonates deep with me. Just do whatever makes you happy is my suggestion, unless it is destructive to your progress.

Mhh that makes sense indeed. I am reading Six pillars of self esteem right now but sometimes I just find it really hard to focus on reading those long pages for a while. I am really trying but once in a while I find myself reading a part and thinking "what was this about again?" I need to find a way to be become more focused on understanding the words rather than quickly scan over them.

One of my first books, this changed my perspective on life completely. It led me into becoming really interested in enlightenment and self development. So I'd say read it!