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@thetrut11 I helped my boyfriend overcome this problem with sex addiction. His was much worse it sounds. We ended up figuring out that the hardest part about recovering for him was the moments he was alone and bored. After a while he ended up doing a lot of reading and researching when the cravings were at their worst. He would come home with a lot of "did you know" facts. This helped him distract his mind and also he was researching the pain the sex industry can cause women and young girls. This really helped him get a different perspective on his prior limited view of what used to turn him on. Now he doesn't see the sex industry as the same so it doesn't trigger him the same. I hope you find what you are seeking

You know yourself better than any of us, do you feel that this is really stepping it up or is it more of a gradual move? Do you have a backup plan if the changes start to feel like too much? I know for me I am slow to bring change and I take tiny baby steps all the time because I can be quite rebellious haha I have always been the one to stick it to the man, including myself haha Whenever changing things in my life I try to never over step because I used to get abusive at myself for faltering. If you aren't like that then make big goals. But beware if you tend to beat yourself up, one step forward with two steps back usually makes for more frustration in my history books. It can be hard to change because of the self awareness we may not have quite yet. Just be prepared to allow yourself to make mistakes. The way I stopped myself from the self abusive pattern was I started listening to my minds nasty little comments about myself when I didn't meet expectations. I would ask myself if I would say this to a small child learning to walk every time they failed momentarily. Children are so magical, nobody has convinced them to talk down to themselves yet. I hope we all can one day relearn what it is to be childlike to ourselves and eachother

@Anirban657 I used to feel that when interacting. Think of it this way. Your self perception can be viewed only one way at a time the ways are from your POV, it can be from others POV, or it can be your opinion of others POV. Usually when people are in this state they are viewing themselves through their own judgmental eyes how you believe others see you. This is a very disruptive energetic pattern because it is so confusing internally and is almost impossible to maintain with balance. So in essence this is not who you are. You are allowing fear to direct your energies and if I was you I would adopt a "fuck it" attitude for a short while to see if this helps. Care not about what a single other person thinks, feels, or does unless it directly impacts you. I did this for myself years ago and haven't really looked back. You should research this neuron in our brains called "mirror neurons" these neurons are the cause for your concern about others opinions of you. This is just an evolutionary trait to keep humans in groups and to help us cooperate without all hell breaking loose. Saying fuck it tells this neuron to effectively shove it. Believe me when I say it feels good

I believe lust is an illusion of the primitive mind. As far as love I have felt love in my meditations for years now. To be still and feel the present without any distraction is love to me. To do that with another would be an even greater love. I believe love is all around us. Sometimes when I am not feeling so loved, I sit and look around me. I begin to imagine how much time went into everything around me. The house I am living in, the car I drive, the computer I am typing on. Think of how much thought and energy went into this world around us, from man and the universe. I could do that all day. It never fails, by the end of doing this I feel so much love it amazes me. I am so grateful for all of the things that happened before me to give me this moment right here right now Could you imagine how many hours of peoples lives were spent just so that we could have what we have???? To me this is love, self sacrifice to provide a fruit for future generations. This is the love of a parent. Its all around us, I find these realizations wonderful!!

I just use my intuition and track progress in a journal. I review the journal to keep me focused. I study something if it makes me feel curious and full of wonder. I enjoy that energy and try to keep it close most of the time

The book of secrets by Osho did this for me It is all about Tantra. It covers 112 different meditation techniques that were described in an ancient book called Vigyan Bhairav which I cant remember the translation haha

Yes it will happen. It takes time though. I used to think I would be battling this mind for a very long time. You will understand what your mind is better if I just explain this. Your mind is a tool which evolved for survival. Therefore it seeks out any kind of danger, physical, emotional, psychological. If it cant find danger it will imagine it (preventative). Now this can be useful, but mostly it drives us crazy. As you start to turn the mind around it will slowly start to reflect what is being put in. If negative is allowed to fester it will continue the negative as it is geared toward the negative. It is designed to scare you strait. But as you master meditation and clear out the beliefs you have that are inaccurate the mind will change. Be patient. Remember as a baby you didn't learn to walk in a day. It took months and months of constant practice. One thing at a time. You will get there. Only worry about now and before you know it you will be amazed at the progress

@harisankartj The only truth I allow myself to "know". I am and always will be a seeker, not a knower the more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

That is what I do whenever I am having low energies. I expand myself out to become aware of the infinite reality and see what a gift this life truly is. Sometimes I will imagine I am in nothingness and imagine how consciousness made reality and started with sacred geometry. I love getting lost in these imagination adventures, often times it leads to some kind of new awareness, curiosity or wonder.

Oh BTW for all of us in the U.S. who are interested, we are going to have an amazing front row seat to a solar eclipse visible from East to West coast on. August 21 this year I am getting work off to meditate on that day. I remember my first solar eclipse, I was amazed. Cant wait!

@RossE That is awesome! I never saw Leo's video about this. I recently started using this technique. I have a lot of unconscious friends and they can be neurotic. I love them but I used to have a very hard time being around them for fear of the negative energies. I have friends that get drunk and argue in front of people, others do a cocktail of drugs and act crazy, everyone I know drinks lol these are my boyfriends friends. I had to find a way to be around them haha Once I adopted the fuck it attitude that was really when this method inserted itself into my social interactions naturally. Because instead of worrying about what was happening, the noise of the negativity became something to play with. So now I am not afraid to socialize anymore because I naturally can deal with any personality type from what I have seen so far I am in the testing phase to see if anything can break this method. I love hanging out now because of this nerdy thing lol I am so happy to see someone else write about it and now that I know Leo has this video I need to watch it! Thanks!

@Random User I am sorry you have this battle coming up unexpectedly. That is when depression/anxiety was the biggest monster for me. Face your fears as visitor says, that is what I did. I wrote every insecure belief down and logically decided if it was true or irrational thought. Over time I had the realization that my mind used self defeating thoughts to keep me down and out of control. It is the battle of the ego and the self. The darkness and light. Osho once said something that always pulled me pretty fast through these rough times. Its a story I relate it to my depression recovery. "a man sits in a blackened room in complete fear he doesn't dare to move because there is a dangerous snake coiled up ready to strike. The snake is persistent and is always ready. All it takes is a split second of light to clear his fears. Because in the moment of light he can see that the snake is just a rope coiled in the corner and the monster has vanished at once. Everything changes once the light flickers" This is your battle. Finding a way to flicker the light, because once you see there is no danger the whole reality changes. The depression is you running from your thoughts. I overcame this by challenging every thought, I wrote things down to solidify my new belief system so I would have something to come back to later. One thing I want to add. The amount of women you have slept with means nothing to anyone except you. Your friends may joke, but they really don't care. When you do find a special lady, she will feel special because you don't go sleeping around like so many men do. It doesn't matter why you don't it just matters that you don't. Any woman who judges you for these things is an unhealthy person to date anyways. I know this because I met my boyfriend when he was 26 and he had slept with no woman. I love him for it, he is so innocent in my eyes because of that. He did have an internet sex addiction but we worked through it. Remember we really are our own worst enemy, depression for me was self created. I was severely depressed at 16 and had to crawl my way out with none of these awesome resources. Use them you may bump around and make mistakes but over time you will start to realize things are getting better. Never give up my friend, pain is only temporary.

Well said @Prabhaker I love how you know Osho so well. @phoenix666 I love how you said that. It took me back to times when I was doing exactly what Prabhaker said. That is too funny, I love that technique so much too. I believe the pain is the body releasing energy blocks, it gave me something to focus on too it can really train the mind to go into a trance while keeping you grounded in your body. I remember right after I experienced a similar event. I did a Kundalini meditation and I had an energy release that was pretty intense. It lasted about 20 minutes and I couldn't move my legs when I tried. It was very scary because I had actually done the meditation and left the house to ride with a friend to the gym and it started in the car. One thing I wanted to add is that in the past when these energies have released for me. I went through a small depression lasting from 2 weeks to 3 months. Its almost like energy was just realigning or something? This is a sign of great progress from my experience I just love hearing about others experiences on their path!

@pluto That is very fascinating, I think I will try my meditation outside more! I find it sometimes chaotic feeling, I believe part of that is the awareness of all of these moving things, the earth is so alive Deep down I am certain the dreams are from the sun, because I habitually wake up right before the sun to get a drink and no dream at all. I go back to sleep and in those 2 hours of sleep I have this elaborate story of a dream! I feel like its telling me something, but I dont know?

@Will We are constantly shifting from one reality to the next. You are shifting now, now, now. This shifting is not noticeable because the changes from one moment to the next are so minute that most of us fail to see the change. You are shifting and as you get higher on this mountain you climb you will soon look back and see the path well traveled. It is a sweet moment just remember one foot in front of another. Blinders on this is the hardest part.

You don't feel you have anything to contribute here? You contribute much! I have enjoyed posting on your posts and your posts warrant deep thought. Remember the mind is a muscle if you don't use it you loose it. While you learn others like myself enjoy pulling our banks of knowledge and remembering for ourselves. So thank you and just remember, one day you will have your interpretations to pass on to someone who needs your voice as well. We are networks of energy, and the magic is what happens between us all as we grow and learn together.

I have felt this I believe? I never called it the universal will. I call it my higher self which I named Wonder, the part of me that is connected to the universe. The part that teases me with enlightenment I love this consciousness I usually feel that clarity after meditation on days when I am in a good mood and not feeling like time or anything is limited. The subtlest of energies can chase it away. I write things down when I am in that mind. I get ideas to do various things like what Leo here has created. I am amazed at this wonderful site still. When Wonder goes away its weird. It feels like I have awoken from a dream and thoughts I had during its presence seem foggy like a dream.....

I did this with my mom kind of. She is very draining, negative and lacks any kind of ability to really love. I stopped talking to her for myself and we dont talk much. But over time I can stomach her more and more. I think eventually I will decide her negativity is no threat and only a sad thing that is happening to her. If she talks that way she must have a really sad reality she lives in. I feel sorry for her. But I always remind myself that her spiritual battle is her own and it is her right to choose how she reacts and grows from it. I am sorry your mom is like that, I would let the relationship go and see what happens. People change in the face of loosing people they care about, no matter how dysfunctional that caring is. Remember we are all on a spiritual journey and if she isn't growing then maybe some time away will help both of you

Your family sounds like mine! I am 32 years old and am still working out my personal belief systems to accommodate my less than ideal upbringing. I had to realize some important things. 1. Is it more important to punish them or be happy? 2. I chose to be happy. So I moved onto the reality of the situation. My dad was raised in a really crappy place, he actually turned out great. He lacks the ability to love, respect and never tries to contact me. But I realize he is deeply a lonely man. He doesn't contact any of us kids and yet... He raised us all. He did the job and doesn't have the emotional capacity to accept the reward. Loving children that want nothing more than to be in his life. Its hard to be mad after realizing this. 3. Some of my relationships were toxic I made a conscious decision that my sister cannot be in my life. She is narcissistic and is much like my dad with a weird hate for me that she has even told me "I cant explain why I hate you". I hope the best for her but I am happy without her fully. 4. It is what it is I cant change them by feeling hurt. So I just say fuck it in the end. If they want to be in my life they will call. I am tired of being embarrassed. They are the ones who will be ashamed if they never get to know me. 5. I always make more of an effort to contact them than they do me. That way they know the door is open if they want to be in my life on my terms. Unfortunately we cant choose our family my friend, the world is quite the unfair place. I also believe in karma and because of that I believe I chose this life for these exact challenges but I don't want to get religious on ya

Like @Prabhaker said meditation is non-doing. I believe you are asking for something that cant be answered though. While reading "The Book of Secrets" I read Osho's words that said "If you ask what is meditation? I cannot answer you, instead I will give you a method and tell you to go do this method. Come back to me and you tell me what is meditation." This question can bring about many answers, the problem is that each of us experiences things differently. That is why a method is needed for this question. It is the same as if you were blind and asked me what is green? How to describe green? I can't, you must experience it.

I love this because I practice a meditation that says the ego cannot exist in the now. It can only be in the past or future. If you wish to be free of the ego remain in the present. I am lost in my ego pretty regularly, but I play a game to see how fast I can WHIP myself to the present. Sometimes it feels like a roller-coaster if I go fast enough LoL

I just wanted to post on this for a different reason. I am not addicted to online sex. I actually found out my boyfriend was. We dated long distance for 2 years and I moved to Florida after we decided it was that or we split. Dating long distance isn't bad but it gets frustrating after a while. After I was living here for 2 years I discovered his secret. I was so mad, I went through a really rough period. He is a great guy and this was such a shock. Eventually we started working through it. I worked out my personal issues triggered with my irrational insecurities. He worked out his anger and ability to communicate. Somehow we grew from this damage and now we are closer than before. Because what we realized is that him having that secret caused a gap between us, we never worked things out. Only swept them under the rug for later, we got so used to it we didn't even notice the pattern of no interaction... It was disturbingly normal. Now its not. We fight, joke and enjoy life once again. Once you see the benefits that can come from learning to overcome such a difficult obstacle, I believe you will see this addiction as a terrible gift. I hope you guys find what you need in this life and always remember that the world is so full of love, if only you see it.

1. I feel words are very cumbersome so its one thing to keep a thought internal. For me it is much more memorable to take time to verbalize something and send it out into the world. It shows effort (no matter how small). 2. I believe we are all interconnected energetically(100th monkey experiment). Its also implied in quantum physics. So my reasoning is that whatever I send out changes the world no matter how small it is going out there to only do good. That makes me feel good. "Ask not what the world can do for you, ask what you can do for the world" 3. My day goes faster, I just created this account but I am definitely going to do this at work 4. It helps solidify aspects of myself I am still fine tuning. Those small tweaks might not even come up if I didn't come across these posts and respond. Expressing myself whether right or wrong helps me view myself in my own and others eyes better. Then I can decide with awareness, is this right or wrong feeling? 5. I just love talking about these things with other people, it brings me so much joy its annoying lol but that meeting of minds is like pure ecstasy. I am sure there are more that I will remember at the most inappropriate time haha

A big spiritual trap I experienced along with all of my friends some of my friends wont even talk to each-other anymore over this ego driven trap. My friends ended up intellectualizing spirituality without practicing the methods to allow it to actually change their being. The debating became exhausting, monotonous, and destructive in the end. Nothing was learned except that the ego is very sneaky, and debating philosophical approaches is more for the ego than spiritual progression.

Whenever I am in a rut I do two things. 1. Meditate and reflect 2. Do something new that inspires me into a state of wonder. For me things that do this are art (im an artist so I can do art or look up events), nature (kayaking, get dogs out, take pictures of pretty nature stuff), music (I love exploring different music made from around the globe, especially in countries who are in a terrible state, hardship makes for some amazingly deep lyrics.) Remember being happy is not just sitting back and doing whatever. It takes practice, research, dedication, and a focused goal. Look at happiness like a class and it will be done in no time