Due to personal circumstances, I sometimes find myself alone in a small room for extended periods of time - with very little human contact. In these circumstances, I experience a gradual sense of numbness and lethargy. Then when this period ends, I find myself relieved when I talk to someone - like I am myself again. I will not lie, I am a loner - I find it difficult to make friends easily, and it is just getting harder as time passes and I find myself increasingly isolated due to various personal reasons. Thus, I find it surprising that I am not good with solitude (at least not as good as I thought I was). I know that there is a fascination with going out of society for the spiritually minded person. Moving out of the artificial constructs of society, the false sense of security, can sometimes induce feelings of euphoria that is outside the realm of ordinary consciousness. I have experienced these feelings myself. But these things are temporary, a symptom of the cognitive enrichment that occurs when one goes outside their niche. True solitude, like a solitary confinement is much more difficult to bear, almost like we are part of a hive mind and going outside it causes pain and suffering. But I know the stories - it has been done. And I also know that its not as good as it sounds - nothing is ever as good as it sounds. 
So I would like to ask this question - how can one live a life of solitude without losing oneself? And should one even try to attempt this? 

That's a serious question.
Why can't you just awaken right now ?
What's stopping you ?
Do you think more meditation is necessary ?
Do you think you need to clear your mind more ?
Do you think you need to activate a specific chakra ?
Do you think it's necessary to self inquire for months ?
Is it because your teacher told you only a saint can do it, that it is reserved to an elite ?
Is it because you think you need to fix "X" problem first ?
Is it because you need that right insight from a specific books ?
 
BULLSHIT, ALL OF IT !!!!!!!!!!
 
The only thing you need is to stop seeing that thing you call reality, REAL !
Just stop it.
 
Start looking at it the same way as a dream !
It's not because it seems more constant that it is more real, remember dreams that lasted FOR YEARS ???!!!
It's not because it seems realistic that it is more real, because every dream you ever had seemed LOGICAL AS FUCK when you were in it …
It's not because it seems you are a real person that it is more real, YOU DREAM ABOUT BEING AN INDIVIDUAL ALMOST ALL THE TIME !!!!!!!!!!

 

You are still thinking in dualities.
Maya is none other than God, Brahman, and the Absolute.
You cannot get rid of Maya. Nor should you want to.
Maya is all form. But form is not other than formlessness. Nonduality means embracing both, not elevating one over the other.
Relative and Absolute must be ONE. God's creation is not seperate from God, it IS God!

Always been like this
Those fantasies of a nice society are just fantasies.  
But is worst if someone thinks bad and smiles instead of being plain and direct with the insults. 
So, beware more of those who fake love they are the most dangerous. 
Like the saying: "a barking dog will not bite you".

Procrastination is a dangerous habit of yours ?
You often say to yourself "damn I had all days to do it, and it's 23 " ?
The spiritual grillfriend often act passive agressive when you skip a day ?
SAY NO MORE !!!!!
HERE IS THE NEXT REVOLUTIONNARY ULTRA MAC 9001 MEDITATION TECHNIQUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok.
So you just wake up from a restful night.
You put your legs as if you wanted to do abs, with the arms layed down along your chest and hips.
You have your eyes open in the pitch black dark.
Now you just stay there focusing on your breath, either on your belly or your throat/nose.
VOILA !!!
You have meditated even before the day begin.
EVEN BEFORE YOU GET OUT OF YOUR BED !!!!!
How easy and practical is that !
 
... Of course it doesn't work if you're still tired when you wake up ... 

What are your pointers, opinions, and experience in this social taboo mindset that death is a fact and there is no way one can hack this?
I say, why not? Why not have the possibility inside, as Planet Earth has, a virtually eternal of death and rebirth cycles.
Remember that in the bone marrow of every human being we find stem cells and not to mention Kundalini being the key, etc. 
 
From full body regeneration to the infinite, this is for me Enlightenment in its full splendor. 

@Strikr Like Leo would say, Read books! Read forbidden archives, read leaked gov docs on wikileaks etc! Do your research, stop nodding your head like a zombie and realize that even Leo said in his video titled ; Jacques Derrida, Deconstruction, Post-Modernism & Nonduality , that actualized.org is a mountain of shit, you were drowning in shit before but now you're still on shit. At least you're not drowning! Instead you're sitting on a mountain of shit. So Leo did help you/us but he's still a gatekeeper. You really think he's going to spill the truth on fucking youtube?
 
Now it's time to use the www to it's full potential and realize that there's a way out, there is a key.
 

@LiakosN
Mind=bondage to something.
The mind is an energetic parasitic system.  The content of experience is the mind.
The mind is like a vampire that is sucking the life energy out of the body for it's own survival. It stores the energy in the body in form of some tension. When the right time/environment factors are triggered the stored emotional energy manifests as a reaction that moves the body in a certain direction.
Behind every reaction there is a thought. These thoughts are subconscious but when we bring them to the surface, to our conscious awareness then we can analyze them and write them on paper. Then after that the content cycle repeats but this time, there is more wakefullness of the thoughts that manifested the experience and then one can use empowering statements to self-correct (speak out loud) and then the fundamental crystals that store the memories are transformed to be more in alignment.
This is a process of waking up from dualistic egoic living, it's based on awareness, self-correction, transformation, transmutation, transcendence and integration. 
 

Hehehe...
That's where you went wrong.
All THINKING is self-deception. The mistake you are making is trusting your own rationality.
If humans are as SUPER susceptible to hallucination and wishful beliefs as you claim, then by your own logic YOU (as a human) are currently hallucinating, and all of your rationality and justification and "critical thinking" is also hallucination precisely because you fear death.
So you're half-right. The mistake you're making is that you're not applying your own skepticism to yourself.
Classic stage Orange.
You are barking up a tree the depth of which you haven't even begin to fathom at your stage of development.
Thousands of years of indoctrination is why you are rejecting the things I am telling you.
Supernatural views exist because paranormal phenomena are easily experienced by millions of people all around world, and have been for all of human history, including today. This doesn't make sense to you because your consciousness and experience is so limited, and you're a dogmatic materialist. Of course you tell yourself you're openminded, but that's just your ego playing a trick on you. You are not openminded. You're not conscious of your closedmindedness yet.
You have to understand that what we're talking about here are EXTREMELY advanced insights which are outside the realm of your current understanding, or society's understanding. Your standard rationalist and skeptic lines of argumentation are not going to cut it here. I've heard them all. There is no rationalist or materialist objection you can raise which I have not heard a hundred times before. What we are talking about is way beyond all that.
It's sort of like you're trying to teach 8th grade algebra to people discussing post-graduate calculus. We already know your algebra backwards and forwards. We are interested in something orders of magnitude more advanced.

Concentrate on Nirvana (meaning blowing out the breath). Exhale listening to the sound until you literally empty the lungs and let the body inhale automatically, you don't have to necessarily watch the inhale. There are various techniques per example: in how to make the sinuses have a high pitch Si note on exhaling (one hears this in the ears), but that is for advanced mastery or specific works. 
Letting go basically, in a nutshell, is all this: exhaling and letting the body inhale as if you went underwater and is something automatic. Don't cling to breath, let go of the breath. 
Use foam earplugs, it's easier, until one becomes so sensitive that he/she can hear own breathing and ear pitch sounds above environment. 

You can meditate 24/7 while doing your things. 
Meditation is not only sitting with eyes closed, that is for the relaxation of the body in a certain way or working on something very specific. 
Meditation is attention on the breath and knowing how to channel that consciously in the entire body. 
One can achieve full relaxation and peace of mind while running per example or doing paperwork, doesn't matter. Is like having a brand new racing motorcycle, what matters are the skills of the pilot. 

@gilded_honour As long as you want to stay alive for more than 5 days, life forces you to do things. So your only choice is: do nothing and die, or do something. And if you choose to live, then the question is, what should I do with my life?

Embrace your inner pain. In hopelessness, you will find bliss. To be mindful all the time you need to have attention on the breath as second nature. 

Don't look for comfort on a spiritual teacher people. Usually, those who make you uncomfortable will help you in the path. 

There is no solution to discipline other than discipline.
You must set a clear goal and then work towards it every day, building momentum over time. For this, vision is very important.
But in the end, you must....
JUST DO IT!
Start small and ramp your way up over the weeks, months, and years. If it was easy, everyone would be mega-successful. No one else can do it for you and there are no shortcuts or magic pills. You gotta have the courage to bite the bullet and endure some emotional labor and discomfort.
The key is consistency. You must chip away at it every day and not bite off more than you can chew.

Survival has always been, and will always be, a brutal endeavor.
People are selfish for a reason: because it's essential to survival.
Even the most enlightened master still has to contend with survival demands if he cares to live.
It's very useful to adopt the following attitude: no one is ever going to solve any problem for you in life. It's all up to you. If you cannot solve a problem yourself, expect it to go unsolved. This is the principle of extreme responsibility.

There is so much in this quote that makes me feel very excited and almost uneasy as well. Where is this enlightenment thing taking me; that this one quote and obscure guy from India is making me unable to ignore.

@Viking I have good news and bad news.
Good news: suffering exists to help teach you your lesson.
Bad news: you'll have to suffer to learn your lesson.

@SoonHei Yup
That is also known as Sahaja Samadhi.
That is our ultimate goal.
But still, do not forget about development. You can be in Sahaja Samadhi but still be at a low stage of Spiral development.

Is this self-actualization work, self-inquiry, trying to percieve the perciever, direct consciousness work, is this merely a next attempt to try to fill your void inside? 
Are you running away from feeling shitty, or are you diving into WHY you're assuming such a thing in the first place? 
 
I'm not accusing, I'm just asking to see your perspective because it popped into my mind while watching this video that this may be another chase, a deeper and more mystical one though.. 
 
Also, what do you think his stage is on spiral dynamics model? Green? Turqoise?
Would love to hear your thoughts, especially Leo's.

Holy shattumz
On weed
Understood that say if I am in a room, theb that is literally all my experience! 
 
It's like if you still that room
It is a single substance made of thought/consiouness!!!
 
It's like if it were to be shown in a computer software that gives you a blank black sreen as default start. That is what you are, that default start. It is fully consiounes  and aware of  it's self. you are it. And  you  fill that nothingness with "experience" as an objects to it. 
So what your experience is LITERALLY 100% represented by what you are thinking including your past and future!!! 
 
And which next frame or object of experience gets placed in the next second of your experience??? 
 
What you expect to happen!
What you are projecting and thinking about the future!
That's what happens!
 
 
I am.in no way awakened I am just Sharing a deep insight! This can be used to change your life around!!! Literally. You are what you eat! Except "eat" fucking means... You are what you THINK OF YOURSELF TO BE!  You get what you EXPECT TO HAPPEN
 
 
Finding it very hard to type at the moment
 
But thank you leo for your what is love video!
 
It effin showed be this beautiful insight
 
Thank you ME I AM THANKING MYSELF!
FOR SHOWING THIS CURRENT SOONHEI UNIT TJAT I AM OPERATING FROM HOW TO TURN LIFE AROUND AND LOVE YOUR FUTURE INTO EXISTENCE
 
WILL IT INTO EXISTENCE BY LOVING/WANTING IT TO HAPPEN SO DEEPLY THAT IT DOES
 
This is great insight to how to lead a ego life
And manifest what you want . So sure u can live a great life and be at a better place
 
However main thing is loving it. Each and every moment because otherwise you will be drawn to attractions like money, wealth , sex etc only
 
Those cannot be the only things which give you "dopimine" 
 
Each and every moment of your life should be and IS CAPABLE OF DOING THAT!!!
 
LOVE IT
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
 
 
 

If you want to become productive as a beginner of self actualization, you should start with a simple rule of productivity.
This video provides you with an engine of productivity.
AMRAP is an acronym for "as many reps as possible". Modern life is filled with technological distractions. However, you almost never find your mind wandering from the present moment when you are in the middle of an AMRAP workout. When you are trying as hard as you can to raise your chin to that bar just one more time, you are completely focused on the task at hand. The level of shear intensity involved in AMRAP round makes it impossible to focus on your weekend plans, video games you played last night, and so on.
Here's 4 step process of using AMRAP mentality
Identify your areas of focus. Make sure each has a strong internal "why". You should only have a few of these. You should do this for micro goals as well as macro goals. Each day, write down a few things you want to accomplish, and apply AMRAP mentality to them. Choose one area, focus on it with all of your attention, and work hard at it. When you are riding a bike, your only focus is on where you are going. If you want to get where you are going with any amount of speed, you're going to crank those pedals hard. Switch gears deliberately with good reasons to do so. Switching from one task to another task is like going from an AMRAP set of push-ups to another AMRAP set of pull-ups. Your focus calmly switches to the new thing, and all of your attention becomes fixated on it. After switching gear, go back to step 2. Do frequent re-evaluations Sit often, and ask yourself "Do my areas of focus still make sense?" Your time, attention, and energy are all limited resources. Even if you apply AMRAP mentality to your life, your attention will fall off when you are exhausted or when you switch gears. If you worked hard yesterday and waked up today, your brain would still be exhausted. This is a warning that you should work a bit less or sleep more. Your brain accumulated too much waste material through metabolism yesterday.
This video helps you with backsliding. This video contains a lot of points, but the relevant point from the video is that when you find the right things to change strategically, you got to make 100% commitment. No wiggle room. You first have to experience what it means to give yourself wiggle room. And then, you need to try to be more aware of wiggle rooms. Wiggle rooms start their lives in your mind. They don't just exist in your behaviors. Wiggle rooms infest your mind long before they manifest in your behaviors. You tend to give wiggle room to distractions. For example, I used to be obsessed with trying new bistros in my neighborhood. I thought it was not a distraction. After I went back from new bistros, I became widely aware that it was just another distraction and yet another manifestation of addiction. You should build up distraction database so that you can identify distractions long before they manifest in your behaviors.
You should deal with distractions long before they create wide wiggle rooms in your mind. To do that , the following video helps.
According to this video, meditation is not just going back to breaths when your attention falls off your breaths. Being aware of being distracted from your breaths and going back to your breaths is a metaphor for the rest of your life. Going back to your work whenever you are distracted is also meditation. Your entire life is meditation. Meditation is your entire life. Thus, you should always meditate while you are awake. Apply this meditation mentality to distractions. When distractions create wiggle room in your mind, remember to go back to your work before mental wiggle room manifests in your behaviors. It is far easier to resist distractions before they manifest in your behaviors. Always remember to go back to what you could be doing while you are awake.
Another relevant point from "How To Stop Backsliding" is that you should negotiate workload with yourself when your ego is about to over-react. When addictions are trying to distract you very hard and cause ego backlash, you should consider taking a walk, working a bit less, and being more aware. Working a bit less is better than losing an entire day. Over time, you will develop focus muscle and be able to resist distractions far better.
Even though you can fend off addictions and distractions to a degree by walking outside, you should still resist addictions. There is no way around. But, it's up to you to make it easier for yourself to resist addictions. To make it easier to resist addictions, you need to improve your self image so that you will use less will power to resist addictions.
Your self image controls your actions subconsciously. If you subconsciously went to bed early, woke up early, and worked hard, you wouldn't need as much willpower to resist addictions. You can change your self image by working on your beliefs, your self image, and doing deep introspection from time to time.
The following videos help you with working on your self image.
This whole process of developing productivity muscle requires more awareness because you should be aware of when you become distracted mentally and behaviorally. I strongly recommend making it a habit to meditate for 20 minutes every day.
I can't be thorough with this because my productivity techniques are still far from perfection. But, those techniques helped me burst out of my slump immediately. Leo's videos tend to conceptualize a lot. A lot of conceptualization often leads to paralysis. I needed to scramble a simple system of productivity for myself. I'm quite confident that my current system of productivity will not kill my productivity. I'm seeing a way out of inaction. For the first time in my life, I'm confident that I am accelerating escape from inaction.

@11modal11
Practice empowering affirmations and reviewing your goals every morning. That's it.