Have self-actualization path decreased your stress level?

[Amilaer---]

I am super curious about your experience with stress after months/years/decades of self-actualization.

When I started this path I was full of anxiety (90% of each day was filled by stress), after 2,5 year I experience it from time to time and I am extremely aware about this feeling and where it is located in my body.

What about u? Do u still feel nervous to speak in front of big audience or you have a wet hands after conversation with hot girl?

What about your awareness during these moments? Which practice allowed you to get rid of it? Meditation, self-inquiry, both?

Stress is emotion which I am contemplating the most and I would really appreciate your answers.

[Ether]

No, I dont know if you will feel better in a decade.

[Amilaer---]

If for 20 years I'd been building my web of belief and then discovered meditation, started self-reflection practice and had a few glimpses of ego death I assume that anxiety level on a daily basis would lower due to meaninglessness of past ego assumptions.

In my contamplation I am looking for the best practice to heal this anxiety, then to suggest someone close to me this practice.

 

[Arkandeus]

when there is stress its super intense, so when I relax, I can really really relax

stress is so intense, like a boiling pot of madness, it cannot be ignored, and it guides me properly

if I am stressed, I know something is fucked up and needs to change asap, a mental concept or an activity needs to be corrected

stress is a hundred times more uncomfortable but at the same it serves it helps me weed out bad activities and mental concepts

it now serves its proper function as an emotion

Edited April 27, 2018 by Arkandeus

[Amilaer---]

Thanks @Arkandeus. Powerful.

55 minutes ago, Arkandeus said:

stress is so intense, like a boiling pot of madness, it cannot be ignored, and it guides me properly

 

you are saying that stress is guiding you. Sometimes these "stress instructions" are not very apparent. They are lying deep down in our psyche.

What is your way to pull them out? Long contemplation? or u have some specific technique. 

[Arkandeus]

8 minutes ago, Amilaer--- said:

Thanks @Arkandeus. Powerful.

you are saying that stress is guiding you. Sometimes these "stress instructions" are not very apparent. They are lying deep down in our psyche.

What is your way to pull them out? Long contemplation? or u have some specific technique. 

gradually stress intensifies, joy, anger, sadness, fear,excitement, all our emotions are one jewel

what helped me get here is regular meditation, 5 minutes a day,and a willingness to be honest

to feel your feelings you have to be honest, as much as you can with yourself and others

honesty and meditation, that's my recommendation

you seem to have made amazing progress, it will only get better, isn't that exciting

[Timotheus]

There is more and more acceptance of what is. Therefor less need to be anxious or fearful for whatever reason, which are the emotions that underly most stress.

[Nahm]

4 hours ago, Amilaer--- said:

If for 20 years I'd been building my web of belief and then discovered meditation, started self-reflection practice and had a few glimpses of ego death I assume that anxiety level on a daily basis would lower due to meaninglessness of past ego assumptions.

In my contamplation I am looking for the best practice to heal this anxiety, then to suggest someone close to me this practice

https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/17747-nonduality-meditations/#comment-181291

 

Breathe Awareness Meditation

Stress is an extremely unhealthy condition. It causes the body to release the chemical cortisol, which has been shown to reduce brain and organ function, among many other dangerous effects. Modern society inadvertently encourages a state of almost continuous stress in people. This is a meditation that encourages physical and mental relaxation, which can greatly reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind. 

Sit still and pay close attention to your breathing process.

Take a reposed, seated posture. Your back should be straight and your body as relaxed as possible.

Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breathing process. Simply notice you are breathing. Do not attempt to change your breath in any way. Breath simply and normally. 

Try to notice both the in breath and the out breath; the inhale and the exhale. "Notice" means to actually feel the breathing in your body with your body. It is not necessary to visualize your breathing or to think about it in any way except to notice it with your somatic awareness. 

Each time your attention wanders from the act of breathing, return it to noticing the breath. Do this gently and without judgment. 

Remember to really feel into the act of breathing.

If you want to go more deeply into this, concentrate on each area of breathing in turn. Here is an example sequence:

    1. Notice how the air feels moving through your nostrils on both the in breath and the out breath. 
    2. Notice how the air feels moving through your mouth and throat. You may feel a sort of slightly raspy or ragged      feeling as the air moves through your throat. This is normal and also something to feel into.
    3. Notice how the air feels as it fills and empties your chest cavity. Feel how your rib cage rises slowly with each in breath, and gently deflates with each out breath.
    4. Notice how your back expands and contracts with each breath. Actually feel it shifting and changing as you breath. 
    5. Notice how the belly expands outward with each in breath and pulls inward with each in breath. Allow your attention to fully enter the body sensation of the belly moving with each breath.
    6. Now allow your attention to cover your entire body at once as you breath in and out. Closely notice all the sensations of the body as it breathes. 

Repeat this sequence over and over, giving each step your full attention as you do it. 
Suggested time is at least 10 minutes. Thirty minutes is better, if you are capable of it. 

If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. For example, on the in breath, mentally say to yourself, "Breathing in." On the out breath, say, "Breathing out." Another possibility is to mentally count each breath

 

That’s good for relaxation and letting go. Learning to let go of the concerns we carry reveals to us we added them. Practicing mindfulness is practicing not adding them again. Anxiety is a false understanding and view of one’s self. It is chronic “serious person & serious reality ness”. That would take more intense practices. 

[NoSelfSelf]

When you figure out that your attention gives power to anxiety and you are the knower of it you dont mind it because you know you create it with your attention plus thought...

[Amilaer---]

5 hours ago, Arkandeus said:

gradually stress intensifies, joy, anger, sadness, fear,excitement, all our emotions are one jewel

 

Personally, I was not prepared for such intensity of emotions, I guess girls are more prepared for that or not.

5 hours ago, Arkandeus said:

honesty and meditation, that's my recommendation

 

Lately, I've been working on authenticity as Leo emphasized this part. Just waiting for the results.

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/17747-nonduality-meditations/#comment-181291

 

Breathe Awareness Meditation

 

Perfect for my close friend. 

As I'm a quite a bit on self-actualization journey, I am searching for tool to increase my awareness during daily struggles. Currently, for instance, is quite hard for me to become and stay fully present during long conversations or while presenting something in front of big audience. 

However, I will stick to meditation and self-inquiry, should be enough for now.

Thanks guys for answers. 

[Guest Quanty]

No.

I use the stress and convert it into bliss. 

Depressed people are just people stuck in their minds with a huge opportunity for growth.