Forestluv

Many forum members are native English speakers and, as you suggest, could probably clean up some of their grammar so their posts are more easily understood. Yet for many forum members, English is their second or third language. We have a globally diverse community here. Learning proper grammar in a second/third language can be really challenging. I'm at an intermediate level of Spanish and my grammar is no where near optimal - I make a lot of errors. I'm very grateful for the patience and understanding that native Spanish-speakers have had with me. And I can't even imagine trying to communicate self-actualization and nonduality in a second/third language. I have a lot of admiration for those that do.

@Kushu2000 I've had a recent case of tinnitus that I think may be related to pyschedelics. It's only been 9 days, so I hope if I go "all-natural" for a while and allow my body to reacclimate, it will dissipate. From what I've read, I would say I have a moderate case. It can get loud in quiet settings (e.g. during meditation and yoga), yet is quieter in a work setting or outdoors (yet still quite annoying). Here are a few of my experiences: 1. I've tried to see some type of positive in it. For example, during meditation it can be a source of grounding that can immerse into the environment. If I ground into it, it can help me reach thoughtless states of being. 2. Last night I discovered that the below audio can help immensely. During my meditation, a swirling high frequency appeared (8/10 volume). I grounded with it and found a place of stillness and beingness in the moment. I then played the below audio and the vibration immediately changed from a high frequency siren to a gentle background hiss. I was amazed. Most of the masking audio just cover-up or distract, yet this audio literally changed the vibrational dynamics in my mind/brain. The background hiss frequency in the audio perfectly matched the hiss in my head. I lowered the volume so the volumes matched. I then couldn't tell whether the hiss was coming from inside or outside of my head. I could direct my attention to separate the hissing sounds (I could focus so the hiss was coming from outside my head or focus so the hiss was coming from inside my head). Or, I could allow there to be One hiss. Ironically, this turned out to be a wonderful dual / nondual system. With the One background hiss, my inside / outside sensation dissolved and served as grounding for my other senses to dissolve - allowing a type of nondual experience. I find such nondual states of beingness difficult to attain, so I was grateful for this ability to do it at will. . . I've been playing the video periodically and the high pitch sound is starting to dissolve into a more gentle background hiss (which I find much less bothersome). I'm hoping with enough reconditioning, it will fade away with time. . . 3. I have read many reports that Gingko helps for about half the people who try it (I haven't tried it). This is a quote that I read from Dr. Bauman, a specialist with tinnitus. "One herbal is Ginkgo biloba. Just be sure you take a proper therapeutic dose of 480 mg per day. To be effective this dose should be standardized to contain a minimum of 24% flavone glycosides, 6% terpene lactones and 2.6% bilobalide". 4. As a general comment: psychedelics can be very taxing on the mind and body. One can temporarily expand multiple conscious levels and then get condensed back to their baseline level. That is a lot for the mind and body to absorb. As well, psychedelics hyper utilize the serotonergic system and can induce neural plasticity. Make sure to give the body time to recover and reacclimate. Take some time off after a trip, relax, meditate, spend time in nature, journal, get grounded and enjoy life. Be kind to the body.

@MezzoAria Why get so complicated? Just get a standard dry herb vape that goes up to at least 428F. Sprinkle some in and press a button - it's so simple. Perhaps a simple vape is all you need (as it is for me). Or perhaps you might want to pursue advanced gear in the future. Yet it doesn't make sense to me to start off so complicated where you need some fairly advanced skills to pull it off.

And also Ayahuasca

In saying “look around”, I mean both “inside” and “outside”. The same principle applies.

Look around right now. There is nothing to prove. You would need to come up with an idea of something to prove. That is one step away from pure Beingness.

Of course logic is limited. Logic itself can show us this. . . Obviously, logic is not everything. If logic was everything, it wouldn't be distinguished from anything. We distinguish logic into a category within everything. Thus, logic is limited in that it is a subset of everything.

@JustinS That’s a sweet space ?

As many reminders as possible to bring awareness back to Now. Over time, the unaware stretches will get shorter and shorter and the aware stretches longer and longer. One will catch themself falling asleep faster. Yet the ego want like it because it will lose control.

@Aldo There would be enlightened presence revealed within the stage Orange businessman. Yet he still has the same human form with the same conditioned mind and body. The same neural pathways in his brain. His interests and desires may change a lot or not much at all. It’s not like he would suddenly undergo 20 years of development, integration and maturity to stage Turquoise.. . Awakening is along the vertical axis of Now. SD stages are along a horizontal axis of development over time. And the person doesn’t get enlightened. The personality construct is illusory. There is no thing called a “person” to get enlightened. From the perspective of personal self preservation, enlightenment is personal death.

@Nahm I imagine the phrase “I aint ‘fraid of no thought. ThoughtBusters!!”, with a picture of a cowbell in a circle and line though it.

@chudders Thought impulses are no more dangerous than bird chirps. It is the attachment and identification to thoughts can have a negative impact on the body.

@chudders This is just what comes up for me: my mind loves to create problems and drama. It may create an irrational scary recurring thought pattern that seems like a monster. What I find helpful is to first stop feeding the beast. If I have an irrational fear of having a stroke, I shouldn’t be online reading stuff that will enforce that irrational pattern - such as reading about the Law of Attraction and stories about how thoughts of having a stroke may attract a stroke. Not helpful. Next, during meditation, I would observe and label thoughts and practice detachment and identification. I would not beat myself up about it. I would treat myself with care and love, just as I would a child that has an irrational fear that a monster is under their bed. I would also try scrambling the recurring thought into nonsense. I have found that rational thinking is not always a cure to irrational thinking. Sometimes it’s helpful to match cra-cra with cra-cra. For example, if the recurring thought arose and I couldn’t seem to let go of it, I might make silliness of it. For example, imagine pulling back the curtain to the source of these disturbing thoughts. And behind the curtain is. . . The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. It’s really hard to take The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man seriously. If he keeps it up, tickle him and make him giggle - and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

I’ve found spending a day immersed in nature with no cell phone or human contact is helpful to recondition the mind and body. A weekend or week, even better.

Very nice. I immersed myself in nature yesterday and my self dissolved into it. Similar to what you wrote, I was amazed by how strongly my mind and body resonated with nature. Nature is a profound teacher and guide. It holds no expectations or agenda. Nature is absolute genuine. . . I can let go and go much deeper in nature than with other humans. I can be hyper sensitive to human energies and awkwardness and anxiety may arise. Yet in nature, that dynamic is not in play and layer after layer can dissolve without anxiety. . . It is so healing, it’s as if nature baths the minds body in healing energy and drains out unhealthy conditioning. I spent several hours laying in nature yesterday. Thoughts, worries and stories dissolved and simply Being arose. And simply Being nature is wonderful ♥️

These are internal issues arising. You are creating a thought story in your head about how you were hurt. And you believe the thought story is true. Seeking an external remedy for relief is a self fulfilling prophecy that will fuel the thought story and keep the mind immersed in the story. . . It boils down to a story of “who I am” and trying to maintain and protect that identity. To grow and expand, I would look inward. Deconstruct the thought story. What feelings are associated with it? From where does it arise? What are my attachments to it? How is my identity grasping at this story? In terms of self development and actualization. It’s not about the other person, it’s about what is being revealed about your personality structure. The identity of gender and sexuality is one of the deepest for the psyche and can be challenging to observe and deconstruct. I would first observe how the mind has assumed this is a “problem” and that “I have been hurt”. If the mind holds onto those two assumptions, it won’t be able to observe the underlying dynamic.

❤️ ?

@chudders You are not these worrisome thoughts and feelings. These worrisome thoughts and feelings are arising in your mind and body due to conditioning. There is identification with the worrisome thoughts and feelings as being “me”. I would recommend putting in effort to dis-identify with the worrisome thoughts and feelings. This can be very difficult when the mind and body is deeply immersed in thought stories and feeling anxiety. The mind and body may desperately want relief and try to repress or escape, which can perpetuate the recurring pattern. It takes time and effort to deconstruct and dissolve this conditioning. I would try to relax the mind and body as much as possible - via yoga, running, a bath, meditation etc. and observe. If the worrisome thoughts and feelings arise, observe from a neutral viewpoint. There will be desire to identify and engage with the thoughts and feelings, yet you are not the thoughts and feelings. Having detached awareness of the “storm” appearing and disappearing gives a very different perspective. One can then start the process of uncover, discover and discard - allowing letting go and reconditioning the mind and body.

@SageModeAustin I didn’t phrase it well. I meant that you are not avoiding personal responsibility.

@SageModeAustin This probably revealed surface level stuff, yet I think it’s good it was exposed and that you aren’t avoiding or blaming her. You are open to looking at it. That’s huge. I would be careful tho about spiraling into a place of “see I’m too insecure and can’t be confident. I’ll never be able to have a healthy relationship”. My second Ayahuasca ceremony went into the depths of my deepest insecurities - how they formed and how they were subconsciously directing my feelings and behavior. Later I was shown everyone else’s inner insecurities and deep empathy and love arose. This could probably be revealed in other settings, yet an Aya ceremony is a great atmosphere due to the love and support there. One of the keys I’ve found is to stop identifying with the insecurities. Rather than “I am insecure”, it becomes “A feeling of insecurity has arisen in my body”. It is a totally different orientation.

Awesome progress. I would call this Law of Attraction, rather than nonduality.

I just wanted to chime in that ime, it doesn’t work out well by trying to repress and hide insecurities and act secure. It just causes more internal problems. I found it much better to work through inner insecurities through introspection, contemplation and discussions with others. Insecurity can be expressed in immature ungrounded ways and mature grounded ways. We all have insecurities - when one person expresses it in a way that grasps for validation and attention in a “please don’t leave me” way - it doesn’t transmit a sense of well-being. The other person has their own insecurities and the last thing most people want is to take on someone else’s insecurities. . . Yet there is also a mature way to express insecurity. Once a person has worked through it, they can sit with the feelings without clutching for another. When the timing is appropriate, one can have fearless vulnerability and speak from a place of experience and grounded confidence. There is no longer fear of rejection. This can come across as being sturdy as a rock. This can allow a safe space and the other person may sense the other’s maturity and stability in this area and open up with some of their own insecurities. . . Yet one has to work through their own issues first - one can’t fake it, they will get exposed if it’s not genuine. Plus, timing is crucial. One doesn’t bring up the topic to relieve their own insecurity by grasping or to try and look fearless. One doesn’t need to raise the issue in a needy way because they are grounded when the feeling of insecurity arises and they can deal with it without seeking and clutching. Occasionally it may come up in conversation, yet in a grounded way that can be helpful to the other person and relationship. Almost like a role model for the other person’s insecurities. A role model as how a mature, stable person deals with insecurity within a relationship.

As a neutral example of repetitive thought patterns and the Law of Attraction: Imagine someone is pursuing their dream to write a book. The writer has repetitive negative thoughts that he is unworthy as a writer, he fears that other people will see his deficiencies, is defensive to feedback from others and worries that he is investing too much time into something he will likely fail at. He worries that no one will buy his book and how embarrassed he will be to face his family and friends. . . It is highly likely that due to this orientation, his book writing journey is not going to turn out well. Imagine another person is highly excited to write her first book. Her recurring thoughts are about how passionate she is about her topic and how much her book will help others. She is open to feedback because she sees editors as experts that can help her develop writing skills and produce a better product. It is much more likely that her book writing journey will turn out better than the guy above - even if they started with the same skill set and resources, because their mindsets will attract different realities to unfold.

Too far off the topic of self actualization.