playdoh

With quite a bit of green or nah?

Yes this exactly would be my problem. I neeed my healthy dose of sunshine.

Original Austin sounds glorious. Where or where are you original Austin? We know you still exist somewhere out there in 'merica. Big ups to the first person who can name me a verifiable city that's still like original Austin.

Man there's some really good reads on the www. For instance " Home 1 Answer Spaces Notifications Add Question City Comparisons Austin, TX San Diego, CA +3 I am from NYC. Should I move to Austin or San Diego? Answer Follow· 22 Request 1 10 Answers Akshat Vaidya, Traveler Updated Jan 13, 2015 · Upvoted by Virginia Moher, lives in Austin, TX From someone who grew up in Austin, but went the other direction (Philly/NYC/DC and abroad): What is Austin and why do some of us care so much? Forgive my fellow native Austinites for their (seemingly) hostile replies. But there's a backstory to all of the "Austin is full, but I hear Houston is nice" t-shirts and "Austin Sucks, don't move here" bumperstickers you see nowadays. Austin's culture has been all about down-to-earth individuals with independent souls doing what they want to do without judging each other. Whether that's playing a Japanese boardgame at a local cafe for hours, or getting dressed up for a Star Wars party, or being lifelong musicians just because they love music (and not because they want to be stars), or pondering the world in the hills at night with a beer as being part of your weekly routine, Austinites live genuine lives. Austinites respect anyone/everyone regardless of social class, income, race, and other man-made designations, and will have a real conversation with anyone willing to let down their guard. Since growing up in Austin and leaving to go explore the world at age 18, I've had humbling and informative experiences in the North East and abroad that have taught me...most of the rest of the world does not live such a genuine, spiritually intact existence. There are lots of materialistic and homogenizing pressures, as well as cliques and segregation, that lead people to people live internally conflicted, almost fake lives. And usually, they aren't even aware of it. It's harder to have real conversations, and society is segregated in ways I didn't even know were possible from my naive, idealistic Austinite world-view. Obviously there are quirky, misfits everywhere in the world (and I encourage them check out Austin!), and of course not everyone in Austin fits this description 100% (eg. good chunks of UT's population). But generally speaking, Austin's culture disproportionately embodies this sort of...hippie, nerdy, different-thinking, genuine lifestyle and way of looking at the world. Or at least it has. Hostility to Outsiders Austin has historically been enriched by good people moving to the city - whether it be misfits from other southern cities, or misfits from large, anonymous cities up north - who let down their guard and find themselves. The problem is that ever since Austin's and Texas' economy have taken off while the rest of the country has suffered, droves of fratty, homogenous yuppies have been moving here from both coasts because of jobs, lower cost of living, and/or "party culture" that's limited to just a few streets. They treat it like some kind of French Quarter (New Orleans) almost. Which is disgusting and disrespectful. The Austin that I see now, has worsened in so many ways. The city has also become notably more flashy. Along with highrises under construction left and right, have arrived wealthy elites bringing a culture of insecurity to the city, and suburban 9 to 5 types "here for jobs" bringing a culture of apathy and consumerism. Many of the outsiders don't take ownership of the city that they live in, nor do they take the time to understand and respect what it is they are experiencing. This makes me and other Austinites incredibly concerned about Austin's future from a cultural standpoint. And then on top of that resources have become strained, with both traffic and prices worsening significantly. All of these factors are driving out the people who made Austin...Austin, and slowly making Austin just like any other big city. Hence, our reservations to outsiders moving in. It's not about general hostility to outsiders or frustration with prices/traffic alone, it's about a loud and influential (hopefully) minority of outsiders, fundamentally changing Austin for the worse."

By the way everyone thanks for the tips on other greenish cities, I'll definitely look into them. We should compile a list of all the U.S cities with a lot of green. Or is there a thread where this already exists? Grassy ass

Yeah I would love Washington and Oregon but I can't do all that rain. Btw what color would you say San Diego is?

I so know what you mean. Living in a third world blue country. Really hurts to be here.

@Apparation of Jack I know what you mean. But in the end if one can afford it I think it would be better to be in a holistically green city as you say. If your looking at it in a cost effective manner, then yeah you can move to an orange/blue city with pockets of green. But no matter who you hangout with and what you do with your day in and day out, we are products of our environment and will be effected by those pockets of orange and blue. So best be in a holistically green city I think! I'm looking at Austin and so far I like what I see... And by the way when I said California I mean San Diego, I guess it's quite green no?

@Leo Gura Precisely. Is Austin a known Spiral Dynamic's green city or is that your opinion? Any other green places in the US besides Austin, Oregon, Seattle, California and NYC? Been looking into Pittsburgh, don't know enough about it yet but seems to have some green potential https://realestate.usnews.com/places/pennsylvania/pittsburgh

Thanks I've looked into these cities but as I mentioned Colorado is known to be quite conservative, so don't think it's green.

Austin has gotten quite expensive with the droves of people moving in. I'll still keep it on my radar though. Anymore feedback about other cities would be appreciated, if it exists. Thanks in advance.

Thankssss. I'll look more into Austin. Considered Portland and Seattle but they rain more than half the year. Didn't mind rain before, but moved to a city in Asia and it rained for 4 months straight. Was miserable. Never again!

@David Hammond @David Hammond he mentioned that but I suppose he means less identified with his ego than the people mentioned in his post.

@David Hammond

@Leo Gura How so? Please do explain.

So is it normal after meditating for so long and practicing living a conscious life one forgets how to lie? Even in situations where a little white lie that would benefit everyone, I can't even think of a lie, I'll pause for a second and then say the truth. Then afterwards I regret knowing it wasn't the best response.

Thank you

So none of you have this problem? Wouldn't it make sense if you didn't use your mind as much anymore (& start feeling instead of analyzing everything) one would inheritly lie less

@Leo Gura huh so I guess you are still able to? I thought this would have been common among meditators.

Amen

@Serotoninluv @Serotoninluv @Leo GuraGuraGuraGuraGuraGurGGGuraGuraGuraGuraGuraGuraGurGGGura Wow, some great replies here, I intend to get back to them soon. Sorry for the tags, it doesn't let me delete ^^

I've watched all of Leo's spiral Dynamics videos a few times and I'm pretty certain I'm at stage level yellow. I immediately get to the core of a problem and nothing seems black or white to me. Whenever someone asks me a question it's hard for me to come up with a single definitive answer. I'm ALWAYS reading and learning, I'm like a sponge absorbing everything. I remember being at stage green in about 2014. I was all about welfare to help the disadvantage, democracy (strongly advocated freedom for all; vs a socialist regime for example), and remember I was really into world politics (again really against socialistic regimes). I remember when I moved into yellow. It was 2017/2018, 2017 I spent time smoking a lot of pot and really went inside, became really introspective. Got super into Joe rogan podcasts, started reading books like 1984, and my overall research and reading intensified by 10. Then I remember one day in November I was reading some self help book and made a huge discovery about myself, that was a massive blow to my ego, I remember feeling a physical manifestation like a ton of bricks hitting me. The next day I woke up and wasn't the same, I felt super ungrounded, everything seemed ambiguous to me (can you explain what happened to me?). Come January 2018 I watched Jim Carrey in an interview saying he really wasn't there which led me to watching Leo's brain doesn't exist video and enlightenment video, joining the actualized forum, and soon after started watching Eckhart Tolle's videos on youtube and read the Power of Now and thus started the spiritual path, followed by an increase in my daily meditation practice, 10 day silent meditation retreat, read Osho's book of secrets, 6 Ayahuasca ceremonies, 3 San Pedro ceremonies, started yoga again, and a bunch of mystical experiences. Somewhere along the line I became a master of getting right to the heart of things, seeing the big picture and nothing being black and white to me anymore, I see an never ending number of possibilities to any situation or problem; and once I make up my mind, I'll still be swaying back and forth between the alternatives. Anyways, I think that's around the time when I turned stage yellow. HOWEVER, One of the things Leo says in his videos about stage yellow is that you understand all the stages below you. I can't say this is true for me. I'm living in a third world country right now where there is a lot of deep unconsciousness. I'm always cringing at what I hear people say and do, people are so reactive, judgemental, closed minded, and a lot of aggression in the men for example (mind you this is coming from a guy who used to be pretty hot headed himself, although much better my temper still gets the best of me sometimes). So in the end I am judging them. Does this make me not stage yellow? What can I do to not be like this? I don't feel good when I get into this constant state of judging and critiquing people's level of unconsciousness. Thanks.

@Shanmugam cool thanks

Should there be a wait time after finishing one book and then picking up the next? I recently finished Power of Now and only about 10 days later started reading Osho book of secrets. I'm wondering if I should have let the first book set in a while more and practice the techniques more. Like Osho says, if something feels right practice it for 3 months. So I'm wondering if I moved on to soon. Getting a little frustrated bc I liked PON so much but feel I'm losing my thought and practice in it because you really have to give Osho all your attention. Leo says to eat up as many books as possible. Not sure that's thats the right technique. Reminds me of someone I know, has read so many great books but I notice they don't seem to practice any of it in their life. Also on another topic- in Oshos book he says to practice each technique for 3 days and then if it resonates with in do for 3 months. If I did each technique for 3 days and possibly 3 months it'll take forever to finish the book. So is that how it should be read anyways? And he doesn't give precise directions on the techniques. For example, the first technique follow the breath coming in and out of the nose.So should one be every waking hour following his in breath and out breath or do 1 hour a day or what?

Uh anybody?