starsofclay

We probably just need a few more thousand years of evolution. In other words, don't hold your current incarnation's breath

Of course, I am no expert at this, but my answer is that it would only be better to meditate 5 hours every day if you can sustain it and don't have too many responsibilities in everyday life. Otherwise you may get burnt out, and loose your dedication much sooner than if you stick to 30-60 minutes per day. 30-60 per day is a huge dedication in itself, and anyone who does this should already be pretty proud of themselves. If you are a monk who lives on a mountain and have 5 hours per day to do this, then yes, it will probably bring inner peace and mastery much sooner. But for most of us, it is not feasible.

@Elisabeth This is exactly what I'm going through right now. From the junk food, to smoking, to being irritable. You were spot on, haha. It's like you were channeling me or something . Junk food is easy for me to give up. When I do eat it, it's not an addiction, and I can use mindfulness to stop myself. With cigs, I am growing to hate this nasty habit, but I can't (or don't) stop myself. So I have just been observing it, and observing what it does to me and how it makes me feel, which is usually pretty yucky after a few of them. I think in time I will have no desire to do it any more. but mindfulness doesn't help me just quit cold turkey. Also I work in a very high stress environment and do get snippy sometimes. I usually end up embarrassed at myself and try to contemplate how I should have responded better. This is mindfulness, and am trying to train myself to be mindful when it is actually happening instead of getting embarrassed after the fact.

how about this one? I haven't read it, but I might because I have the same problem. its called "Clear Your Mind: Stop Overthinking, Tune Out Mental Chatter And Worry Less" https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clear-your-mind-steven-schuster/1126496893?ean=9781547038442&st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Shopping+Books_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP78860

@Justin Evans I have had "astral projections" within a dream. The sensations are kind of hard to describe, but include being ripped from my body and thrown several feet or long distances. These dreams aren't lucid so I always end up thinking "Oh my god, I'm actually doing it! I finally had an OBE!" But it always just turns out to be just a dream. I had a question, do you lucid dream? I think being lucid in a dream and then intentionally sitting or laying down to meditate within the dream would be an interesting experience. I feel like the mind would open up way more than what we are used to experiencing. Although what you have described which came spontaneously in your dreams is really cool too. I think dreams are pretty mind-blowing. Our own little pocket-reality where we literally create everything we see. Once you realize that, it kind of puts a new light on this waking reality.

@Hardkill you may have to quote what they say in naruto, because I ain't going through a million episodes to know what you mean... lol ... I've tried to get into that show but the countless episodes turned me off

"God" or "The Father" is the one who programmed the simulation that we are now living in. "He" did it because he could never find "God" himself, so he created a program that would do it for him, and gave the "humans" in his program all the right tools to do it, including a computer type brain, free will, psychedelics, and the drive to find the truth behind our reality, and "his" reality. Nah, I'm just kidding, but it's fun to think about.

@General 2 I hear high pitched noises a lot (which sound like high frequencies) There are theories that have to do with tinnitus, or losing a part of your hearing, but I don't know. Last night it happened while journaling with a sort of twitch in my right eye (but more like a twitch in focus, not my actual eye)... and then some automatic writing immediately came through, although I've been practicing with automatic writing anyway. The noises usually last anywhere from a half second to a couple of seconds for me. @cle103 I have had a few experiences that I call "false OBE's" where the exit feels like I am literally thrown or ripped from my body from my body. No gentle exits for me I guess. I call them false OBE's because they usually just end up being lucid dreams, with the only thing in common with OBE's is the exit. I think they come about because I have been trying to astral travel/OBE for years and have never had a successful one, and usually only happen when I am actively trying to learn to do it. Many times I have woken up to a face looking at me (behind my eyelids, not in the room, and not sleep paralysis) or words being spoken. One time I woke up from a creepy nightmare to the face of a freckled boy that could have been in the little rascals grinning at me. I was like... ok... but I didn't let myself get scared.

@Joel3102 go to https://www.transparentcorp.com/, download the trial version of neuro-programmer 3, which is a two week trial, so you can test if you like it. It comes with several isochronic and binaural tracks, ranging from gamma to delta, so you should work with the tracks that are gamma and beta, (**in my opinion**), or ones that bring you up from alpha to beta, to balance the affects that the lower frequencies did to you . I uploaded a screenshot of the track list... as you can see there are several that do not have anything to do with relaxation or meditation. also you can find many videos on youtube that have the same effect

@WaterfallMachine Why? because no one actually knows what they are talking about. This website and others like it is just a melting pot of ideas and stories, and you have the option to pick and choose which ones resonate with you. That's literally all we can do. We were all dropped into this "whatever it is" with no instruction manual or a light to shine in the darkness. The light has to come from within. You have to find your own way in the darkness. Some people on here may have a flashlight for you, but they've dropped the batteries and you still have to fumble around a bit to find them. Was that too vague? ha

@Joel3102 Some people's brain-type can't spend too much time in alpha and theta waves, without balancing with beta and gamma. It causes you to stay in an alpha dominant state while going throughout your day which is not conducive to getting things done. Again, this does not happen to everyone, and even regular meditation may have this affect on people. This is what I have gathered from my personal research on binaural beats and isochronic tones. I have been using them for years now.

We are artificial intelligence but then again, we don't exist, right?

@Ryan_047 well, thank God for internet! you can share your feelings on here (in the serious emotional problems section), and if anyone gives you a hard time for it, then they need to go practice some self love themselves. I won't say I know exactly how you feel, but I felt very similar about a year ago, even would say up to about a few months ago, and then I finally started accepting. It took a lot of hard work to get here, and I still even have moments where I wonder if it is helping at all. Yesterday, I realized that I still haven't fully accepted myself, and will be working on that now. I think the self-love comes first. Or self-love, then acceptance, then more self-love. Who knows? We are all in this without an instruction manual. Don't give up... if you are really interested in beating this, it does take time, as someone else on here said... unfortunately depending on how bad off you are, it takes more time than some people are willing to invest, so they just take the easier way and wallow in their suffering. The things you mentioned that you are doing will help, just keep doing it. Getting distracted is easy, that is your ego. Think of it like a toddler in it's terrible 2's and clinical ADD. It doesn't understand why you want to change, because it worked so hard to get you to where you are. It doesn't realize that all the work it put into making you "happy" is actually making you miserable. You say you write down your feelings... try talking to your ego. Give it a name if it helps, just to be able to direct your awareness on it, then tell it what would actually make you happy. That you are tired of being miserable. That you it doesn't need to block your emotions and feelings anymore because you are ready to feel them again. Tell it that you love it as much as you love yourself (because it is you), and that it doesn't have to fight you anymore. You can figure this out together. Sure, that is not the path to enlightenment, because that includes absolving the ego, but you are probably not ready for enlightenment yet. You have to fix yourself first. One day, after suffering a whole night with suicidal thoughts, I woke up and realized that I have a whole life to live... at least another 50 years if nothing kills me first (and I'm not going to kill myself), and I realized that 50 years is an awful long time to feel this way. I think that when you finally come to this understanding and actually feel it, then you are on your first step of this journey. Perhaps a meditation on that idea would help. If you can't sit and meditate yet, then just keep this idea on your mind as you go about your day. Try to feel it, the best you can. If you can make yourself feel it while going to your crummy job or at school, then you are on the right track. If you love your job and love going to school, then use those as motivators to help you feel it.

@AleksM Lately I have been practicing channeling with automatic writing, and have limited it to aspects of my self and higher self. It's really rewarding, you should try it if you haven't before. Lots of insights and questions about myself bubble up from this. It's also a good way to train ego and subconscious. I figure that at least If I am only channeling myself, then all information is valid. It may be misleading, especially if ego gets in the way, but still valid nonetheless.

@Mad Max @egoeimai Thanks, yeah I agree, that makes sense. My ego is struggling for it's own version of survival. Waking up is fun, isn't it?

A few months ago, I came to the realization that I have been self-sabotaging pretty much my whole life, in various levels. It seems to have exploded when I purchased my own business 2 years ago, but perhaps it just made me more aware of it than actually increasing. I tell myself not to sabotage anymore, but I keep doing it, when "I'm" not looking. Why do I do this? How do I break the cycle? Is this ego? Does everyone go through this to some degree, or is it tied to a type of mental condition? (chronic self-sabotaging, not just occasional) I thought that the more I became aware, it would decrease... but it's hard to tell sometimes.

I've been contemplating this recently myself. Of course someone on here might tell us to stop worrying about it because we don't exist anyway I think there may be as many selves as we want really, just split your consciousness into something different, give it a name, and start talking to it. Perhaps that's is what "God" did in the first place. but seriously, I feel like there's a "me" which is the current observer, then there seems to be a self that is behind the curtain, building my dreams and sending me images during meditation/auditory hallucinations. "Me" the observer doesn't conjure up these things, but some part of me does. Or parts.

I wish there was an app developed just for this purpose... color therapy is another thing that VR could be used for. Also eye training, whether to strengthen the eyes or to learn to keep them still for meditation, learn focusing techniques, etc.

I was going to mention walking meditation, but didn't... I moved into a house recently without knowing that it was next door to a 90 acre water preserve full of hiking trails. I feel really blessed to have that, and walking meditations + marijuana are one of my new favorite things to do on the weekends. Perhaps my most favorite. I agree, the insights just pop out of thin air while doing this, anywhere from how to run my business to subconscious work to spiritual growth. @ValiantSalvatore I tend to do "meditation" with binarual beats or isochronic tones, and I love doing walking meditations. I would love to train my mind to be able to do traditional silent meditations, but I am not there yet. I do love to "meditate" with marijuana as well, although it is different, and I call it "Power Thinking" because my mind goes into overdrive.

I may get some flack on here for this, but I only use Marijuana for spiritual work and subconscious work. It is almost like it helps join the two together, whereas sober, I can only focus on one at a time. It really makes blocked subconscious thoughts bubble up to the surface. I love to smoke a hit or two and write in my journal. The insights I get are sometimes overwhelming, to the point where I can't write them all down. In this case, I really feel like it raises my consciousness. I also feel my energy body awareness gets amplified too. But weed is kind of an adaptogen, so if you are doing low level consciousness activities, then yes, it will probably keep you somewhere on that level, yet you still enjoy it. That being said, I have the tendency to get addicted to things, and have to really make myself wait until the weekends to do it, otherwise I want to do it everyday. read @pluto 's response to see why that is a bad thing. Eventually I want to make it two weeks and then perhaps once a month. So that's my problem to overcome right now.

@Max_V The earth, where it will return when your consciousness leaves it.

May not be what you are looking for, but I have decided to be mindful of not starting any sentences with "I can't", but to replace them with "I don't", or "I haven't yet."

@momo look up Tratak meditation.

I keep a journal by my bed in case I want to write a dream down, although I never do and it would be way too dark to do so anyway... (I like to sleep in total darkness, and by the time I get up in the morning the dogs want to go pee and woosh, there goes the dream)... But I do try to write in the journal once a day, being thankful for the day and for certain things that happened that day (gratitude), reviewing what I was lazy on and could have done better (self improvement), and I also do some subconscious work with automatic writing. It's a lot of fun once you get into the flow of it.

@TimStr Conspiracy theories can be fun and I do agree that they help expand a closed mind to more possibilities. In fact, I think they had an impact on me going from strict baptist christian to where I am now, believing in more of a universal consciousness type God and reincarnation. My whole belief system changed (which can be a huge shock on the mind and on ego), and I accredit much of it to listening to coast to coast and Art Bell. I don't cement the conspiracy theories to my belief system, but they have definitely cracked open the door to new understandings and possibilities. So, I don't think they are a waste of time at all if you enjoy listening and reading them. Just do it with an open mind and a grain of salt.