lmfao

@Argue My list of things: Working out (weight lifting) Getting vitamins and minerals, but ZINC in particular is quite important. Eating a clean diet Sleeping well Nofap Anything which reduces you overall level of neuroticism and anxiety. This is one of the main goals of consciousness work.

@MM1988 And men are just attracted by looks. Looks matter for both sexes. but men care more.

@Spiral From what you've said it sounds like you hate small talk with people, and so I can't be bothered to put mental effort into these sorts of conversations. I am like this as well, and there's nothing wrong with this in my opinion. I'm not the most emotionally normal or compassionate person either. People could simply see you as cold because of a mismatch between your temperament and theirs. I am like this as well, but I don't feel bad about it at all, it doesn't mean that there is something "broken" about you. I don't think the solution is to seek meaning from relationships, as it doesn't address the root cause of your negative feelings. By all means, try and learn how to make and maintain good relationships, but don't let your relationships be the source of your happiness and satisfaction.

@Leo Gura what's the point of the tribal drumming music?

@Cudin good question, I've thought about joining freemasons when I'm older, just for the kicks. I mean as long as I don't get murdered in some concspiracy level shit I'd be fine with joining them.

I've got my A-Levels (which are exams) in 2 months from now, but I've been lacking motivation to study. I feel like I'm going crazy with boredom since I have to read through large amounts of information in textbooks in order to make my own notes. I find subject syllabus' to be annoying since they always simplify concepts to the point at which the material being taught is just sometimes factually wrong. I like studying maths and science when I'm free to go about learning these subjects in the ways I find most satisfying and fun. Studying for maths isn't as much an issue, as there isn't that much to learn. It's studying physics and chemistry which is the problem. The problem is that for me to go to the university I want to for studying physics, I have to get really high grades, so winging the exams and just getting "good" grades wont be good enough. I have to find the discipline to sift through lots of reading material and then be able to determine what the appropriate exam responses are (the determination of what an exam response is is not too difficult), since the definition you have to give for a scientific term in an exam will differ from the more accurate definition you'd get from Wikipedia. I'm not trying to sound arrogant here, this is simply the truth of the situation. Here are my thoughts on what a solution for my situation might be: I have to focus all of my attention on taking in new concepts as accurately and quickly as possible so that the process of studying is less boring, since I will be exposed to more novelty. Of course, this will require motivation to get this process rolling. I'm anxious about the situation I'm in but at the same time I'm so undisciplined that I get nothing done. It's a horrible feeling, since you are watching yourself fail and ruin your life when you know you can prevent it.

@moon777light cool. I'm sneakily replying to this topic so I can get a signature.

@onacloudynight I'll get temporary bliss and peace of mind from meditating for 40 mins, but for most of the day I'll feel apathetic and bored in a depressed sort of way. In a "I've given up on life" sort of way, and you just go along with the daily grind. I find music to be a good way to tap into my emotions though

@John Lula I can relax provided I don't have something stressing me out. I'm 92nd percentile in neuroticism, which doesn't couple well with exceptionally low conscientiousness.

@RichardY I think INTP's are low in conscientiousness and ENTJ's would be high on conscientiousness, most of the time. The two different dimensions of measurement, P/J and conscientiousness, probably don't overlap 100% so there might be some room for leeway. I myself am in 0th percentile for conscientiousness, apparently.

I'm probably gonna read this book since Leo mentioned it in his awareness video but I just want to hear from anyone who's read it how they found it. I tried pirating it but the file on my kindle is in an annoying format. I'm probably gonna buy it.

@VictorB02 Avoid him like the plague. This may be a slight exaggeration but you get what I'm saying.

@moon777light If you want a legit measure of personality look into the "Big Five Aspects Scale". You can take free online tests if you want, or take a legit one from here https://understandmyself.com/ by paying $9.95 where you get told your percentile ranking with the overall population and some good descriptions. There are five dimensions of personality measurement: "Openness to experience", "concientiousness", "Extraversion", "Agreeableness"and "Neuroticism" . Each dimensions is made up of two smaller dimensions, e.g. for extraversion you have "enthusiasm" and "assertiveness". I took the test and got the results, here's what you can expect your results to look like if you take the test: Jordan Peterson has a series of lectures where he talks about the Big Five Aspects Scale for some of his videos. In this playlist look at videos 12 and 14-19 [I personally found 14 hard to understand]. If you decide to take an official test, make sure you try to be fair and objective. Answer with responses which reflect how you act, rather than with responses related to how you would like to be. Don't put yourself down either and be harsh. Also, reliability of mbti depends on your age. If 5 years ago you were 15 or something then its completely feasible that your personality can change since you're young. Whenever I take it, I consistently get INTP, and pretty strongly. Look at the cognitive functions and cognitive axes for each type to determine what you are as well. Read type descriptions, and see if anything resonates with you. When I first read the INTP description I felt shocked at how accurate it was for me. You can also briefly read into the theory of mbti. It is my theory that mbti and the Big Five Aspects Scale have dimensions of measurement which overlap: I/E corresponds to extraversion N/S corresponds to openness to experience F/T corresponds to agreableness P/J corresponds to concientousness

@egoeimai I've been exposed

@egoeimai

Whenever I'm doing meditation by sitting on the ground (or bed, in my case) one of my legs will end up going numb with "pins and needles" since the weight of my body will cut off blood supply to my nerves. I've had times when I'm meditating but I've been paranoid about the numbness in my legs, and it distracts me. When I first started meditating I tried going cross legged, and that was quite bad for me. I have nowhere near the flexibility required to do a full-lotus. Right now I position my legs as show in the image I've uploaded. Although this position causes less numbness, it still causes trouble. I'm not sure what I can do with my legs, since they are quite inflexible, but perhaps I have to try and change that. What is the best way to position legs for meditation?

Take this forum here for instance. I've noticed that part of what attracts to me to this site, at least on a subconscious level, is a desire for company and human interaction. Sure, there is a lot of good information here that is useful, but I have to make sure I don't waste time browsing here with no real benefit. Is human connection/interaction a requirement for being "actualized" and developed? And if so, to what degree? There are a range of human temperaments out there as well, so I'm sure that the answer to this question is different to everyone. Good relationships will develop you, but toxic relationships will drag you down. I'm an introvert and I'm relatively low in empathy, but I still feel the need for human connection. Am I deluding myself if I think it is necessary to have friends? My current stance is that if you have the chance, take any good relationships you can, but you are deceiving yourself if you think you NEED "meaningful" human relationships to be happy and developed. You shouldn't fall into the trap of neurotically clinging to toxic friendships, or the trap of rejecting good relationships. I'm referring to the psyche of someone who is 16+ for simplicity's sake, since babies and children who don't socialize can end up with all sorts of psychological/mental problems. Complete social isolation is considered a punishment for criminals, and I don't know in what way it could be compatible with self improvement and happiness. I imagine that being socially isolated in nature where you meditate and etc and being socially isolated in a prison cell where you are constantly neurotic are two completely different experiences. Perhaps human relationships act as an important crutch for lesser developed psyches when trying to self develop. If you try to crush the million things your ego clings to at once then you will likely fail the process.

@moon777light hmm a few things to consider. I don't think you've necessarily provided enough information for someone else to give you what their "judgement call" would be in your situation, so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but I'll try anyway. What do you think is good about the relationship you're in? Do you enjoy the conversations you have with this person? What is it you want from this relationship? (are those) /(can those) wants be met? You should try to think about your relationship, in all its individual parts and as whole. Consider what you want for your life, and whether this relationship has a worthwhile place for your life. This advice can be generalised to many things. I don't have much to say about his belief in witchcraft. From what you've written, they could just be his genuine belief. Something like this would only be a problem if his belief in witchcraft led to him being narrow minded and bringing it up constantly when you don't want to hear about it. BUT, if the two of you enjoy having these discussions with each other about whether witchcraft is real then it's not a problem. Philosophical discussions can be fun if you're into that stuff. This witchcraft thing is one thing to consider, I guess. Now, if this person claims that they know you from a past life, they are almost certainly (99.99999...%) trolling or are just deluding themselves. A belief that someone met you in their past life is just unsubstantiated nonsense (I don't think this is the time for me to dive deep into epistemology or some shit here lol). If it is one of those cute beliefs they have like "wouldn't it be cool if we know each other from a past life?" then it's probably nothing of concern. You can ask them if this is a genuine belief of theirs. But from the way you described them talking about karma, it maybe isn't just a cute idea that they have. Perhaps this belief doesn't cause that many problems, only you know that yourself. Okay, so you're wondering if this person is manipulating you. From what you've mentioned so far, there are not enough signs for me to be confident in making a call either way. Spotting the ulterior/unpleasant motives of people requires you to take a look at your interactions with him in their totality, and your intuition should give you a sense of what's going on. The few things that you've mentioned sound a little bit dodgy on his part. Although you didn't bring this up, consider whether this relationship is something beneficial in your life as a whole. Could you be doing other things with your time? Is this friendship valuable? I've had "online friendships" before, and I've found that it's very easy to waste your time on them when it isn't worth it. As a general rule of thumb, interactions in person are far better.

@Nahm I'll try that second picture yeah, and maybe sit on a cushion. Day 10 of nofap be like:

@OnceMore I have the exact same problem myself. I've been meditating consistently for three months, and it's only recently that the problem has slowly started to change for me. I constantly walk around my house with my phone and headphones. Whether I'm eating, cooking, sitting, lying down, on the toilet, I'll want to be on my phone. I used to even listen to YouTube when falling asleep cuz I feel that addicted. When I try to address the problem, you start to realise just how messed up and jumbled up your mind is. I'm going to reference some of the ideas in these videos, I think they are really worth your time I want you to test something. Unplug from your stimulation, and pay attention to how your feeling. You'll probably notice that you feel low, depressed, maybe anxious, empty, completely unmotivated and etc. All these feelings are present, even when you're sucked into your stimulation. You're compulsive behaviour is motivated by these negative feelings you're trying to bury, and you might not even realise that you're doing this until you develop mindfulness. Now, these sorts of feelings are extremely deep-rooted. Perhaps you have chemical imbalances in your brain due to the effects of your destructive habits molding you over time. Exercise. Intense cardio and weightlifting can get your mood up. I exercise in the morning so as to get a good start to the day. It will improve your mood, and make you less neurotic and dependent on stimulation. Try practice mindfulness when exercising, by being at peace with the pain. And another thing, FIX YOUR DIET (if you haven't already). Makes all the difference to your energy levels and mood. Same goes for sleeping routine. If I eat loads of unhealthy carbs I get a food coma and I get sleepy as fuck, and I can't be bothered to do anything. I don't know if you do this already, but practice meditation. If you have a focused meditation session, you can feel your neurosis melting away. You become satisfied with the present moment. I meditated for over one hour today (more than I usually do) , and near the end of it, my legs were in intense pain. But I felt my ego dissolve, and I came to peace with the pain by appreciating the present moment. By meditating and exercising, hopefully you're mind is in a positive enough state that you can start more good habits and hobbies, and fix the various parts of your broken life. If you really are 24/7 addicted, your life is likely a mess. This is where your "life purpose" stuff can come into play. For example, I'm a guy in school right now and I've got exams in a couple of months now, and I need really high grades to get into university. The only problem is that I procrastinate a lot, and its something I need to overcome. You likely have problems in your life which you put off facing due to your low mood and addiction. By fixing the circumstances you find yourself in, you'll only find it easier to grow. The advice I'm giving comes from personal experience.

Rip. The problem of suffering is a tough one.

I've started a habit of meditating for a couple of months now. I usually mediate in my bedroom, with my windows open at times (I leave them open cuz I like to practice mindfulness against external sounds like the wind or birds). Whenever I meditate, I don't wear a shirt or any trousers. And I've found that most of the time when I meditate, I feel warmer, even when I leave the window open and the weather is cold (like around 7 degrees celcius or something). I end up sweating more the normal.

The "biggest thing" I've done with intuition is to derive some physics formulas myself, without looking up what they were. Most of the intuition I use is focused on doing maths for fun.

@How to be wise I suspect that psychedelics will get the job done, at the very least. I'm skeptical that there would be some ultra super secret ritual that's going to guarantee that you will "experiencing hell", but wouldn't it be cool if there was (provided the ritual didn't involve mutilating and severely damaging your body or some other shit).