Breaking the coffee addiction to self-actualize?

[Yannik]

Hey guys, hope you had a great week so far! 

I was just curious what your thoughts about coffee are and especially about my individual situation. Some context: I drink 2 cups everyday, one in the morning and one after lunch together with 10 grams of cocoa power (also has caffeine). I love the taste of it, I "cling" to the feeling of wakefulness it gives me and I am also EXTREMELY productive after I drink a coffee. It creates a certain disease when I think about leaving out the coffee in the morning as I feel like I would be very tired and I also do intermittent fasting which could be more challenging without caffeine.

I'd like to ask you if you think that this is an addiction (a habit) worth breaking to get to higher levels of self-actualization or to attain higher states of consciousness in the long term?

What would you do in my situation?

Have a great rest of the week and thank you very much!

[Wyatt]

@Yannik Good question! Coffee is not necessarily unhealthy, so no major health risks here. But your coffee habit is, most likely, a short-term solution that masks the long-term problem.

You might want to investigate: what are the deeper reasons that you don't have enough energy without coffee? Is your diet not giving you the energy and nutrition you need? Do you workout almost every day? Are you meditating and relaxing to restore your energy? Are you not getting enough sleep or is it low quality? Are you doing everything you can to promote your health? Are you developing your concentration abilities to focus without the need for stimulants?

[Yannik]

@Wyatt Great questions to ask, thank you! And I learned the follow: All those points are on point except the last one. I always tried to find shortcuts to problems and my resistance to sitting on a problem without getting the solution in the next five seconds is very high. It even makes me very angry. That's probably the biggest factor. Do you have tips on that? 

And that's the deal too: I resist not drinking coffee because I do not see a single negative downside of drinking coffee and so many upsides. It' like a magic potion for me, espcially together with l-theanine.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Yannik

[Arcangelo]

Scroll back, there are some great threads at the health and fitness sub forum.

 

 

I gave up coffee, i used to drink 2-3 cups a day. Now i drink 5-2 cups of green tea a day.

It was a good move. I didn't give it up entirely though, I drink 1-2 cups a week.

It's an ace under my sleeve.

 

[Hellspeed]

13 hours ago, Yannik said:

Hey guys, hope you had a great week so far! 

I was just curious what your thoughts about coffee are and especially about my individual situation. Some context: I drink 2 cups everyday, one in the morning and one after lunch together with 10 grams of cocoa power (also has caffeine). I love the taste of it, I "cling" to the feeling of wakefulness it gives me and I am also EXTREMELY productive after I drink a coffee. It creates a certain disease when I think about leaving out the coffee in the morning as I feel like I would be very tired and I also do intermittent fasting which could be more challenging without caffeine.

I'd like to ask you if you think that this is an addiction (a habit) worth breaking to get to higher levels of self-actualization or to attain higher states of consciousness in the long term?

What would you do in my situation?

Have a great rest of the week and thank you very much!

Coffee is a tool. If you feel it empaira you, quit. If not, use it to grownd yourself and boost kundalini with it.

[Michael569]

15 hours ago, Yannik said:

It creates a certain disease when I think about leaving out the coffee in the morning as I feel like I would be very tired and I also do intermittent fasting which could be more challenging without caffeine.

Is there any chance the IF is keeping you in hypocaloric state which leads you dependant on caffeine to make it through the day? 

Try a week going cold turkey no coffee and then the real benefits / costs of IF will be revealed to you. It can be very easy to deceive oneself in a state of adrenal stimulation and sympathetic dominance. If a diet is not able to keep you up throughout the day without a stimulant, it is not a good diet. 

Not hating and not judging, just a food for though

[Gili Trawangan]

36 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

Is there any chance the IF is keeping you in hypocaloric state which leads you dependant on caffeine to make it through the day? 

Try a week going cold turkey no coffee and then the real benefits / costs of IF will be revealed to you. It can be very easy to deceive oneself in a state of adrenal stimulation and sympathetic dominance. If a diet is not able to keep you up throughout the day without a stimulant, it is not a good diet. 

Not hating and not judging, just a food for though

What about the role that caffeine addiction plays? I'm not able to get through the day without coffee because I'm addicted. It would take me at least a week to drop the addiction and I can't afford to lose an entire week so I just keep taking it. Plus I enjoy it

[Michael569]

32 minutes ago, Gili Trawangan said:

What about the role that caffeine addiction plays? I'm not able to get through the day without coffee because I'm addicted. It would take me at least a week to drop the addiction and I can't afford to lose an entire week so I just keep taking it. Plus I enjoy it

If you enjoy it keep it up, just make sure that "I enjoy it" is not masking "I have so little energy that I can't survive the day without relying on external stimulant to drain energy from my body to keep me going". It can be hard to admit and coffee being so tasty does not make it any easier 

 

[Yannik]

@Michael569 Thanks for your answer, Michael. I know you're not judging

It gave me food for thought though. I've just been on a diet intentionally (I already track my calories by gram for ages) and I can imagine that this might be a factor for the dependency (additionally to the ~6 hours of sleep I've gotten in the last weeks).

I love IF because along with the coffee, I am very much in the zone until 12, then go to the gym and get a huge energy burst by the cold shower plus my first meal. I guess I would easily get through the day without it, it would just be less fun...  How'd you go about it?

[CreamCat]

Stop drinking caffeinated beverages at least 9 hours before you go to bed.

[mandyjw]

I quit after getting an insight, my very first insight that lead to a series of them that lead to an awakening. Coffee was fueling my fear and anxiety though, I'm really sensitive to it. I'm ok with green tea. 

[Gili Trawangan]

57 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

I quit after getting an insight, my very first insight that lead to a series of them that lead to an awakening. Coffee was fueling my fear and anxiety though, I'm really sensitive to it. I'm ok with green tea. 

@mandyjw Do you mind me asking what was the insight? 

[Michael569]

1 hour ago, Yannik said:

@Michael569 Thanks for your answer, Michael. I know you're not judging

It gave me food for thought though. I've just been on a diet intentionally (I already track my calories by gram for ages) and I can imagine that this might be a factor for the dependency (additionally to the ~6 hours of sleep I've gotten in the last weeks).

I love IF because along with the coffee, I am very much in the zone until 12, then go to the gym and get a huge energy burst by the cold shower plus my first meal. I guess I would easily get through the day without it, it would just be less fun...  How'd you go about it?

@Yannik as long as it doesn't become a NEED but remains a "nice to have" its prob alright You seem like a guy who is keeping it all well together so you will know if it become a crutch rather than an extra kick. 

[JL]

@YannikIf you enjoy drinking coffee and your energy is directed toward self-actualizing, the pros outweigh the cons. 

Maybe one early cup a day instead of two? 

[Matt8800]

@Yannik The real question should be about spiritual purification. Some of the most enlightened beings in India smoked a lot of cigarettes. With that in mind, maybe you should search for what real internal purification really is.

[Yannik]

@JL Yeah, that is probably the best choice which I've also decided to choose! I'll limit my intake to once a day and I should be fine! (actually did that for 2 years until I've broken my iron rule and start drinking two a day two weeks ago which was a bad decision :-)). 

[DavidK]

Mix you're coffee with decaffeinated! Just a bit at first then slowly increase the ratio of decaffeinated.?

[exhale]

^ I don't feel any different if I drink caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee (personal anecdote).  It is more the muscle memory, the smell, and the flavour that I find wakes me up more than anything.  

I find that I am more polyuric when drinking coffee, and it is a distraction for me professionally.  This is one reason that I also desire to get off/reduce coffee. 

[RawJudah]

@Yannik I had a pretty heavy coffee addiction a couple of months ago, but it was making me jittery, anxious, depressed and just generally pissed off all the time. When I quit it was like hell on earth for a week, then all those problems kind of went away...

I suggest you definitely quit caffeine! Life is so much better when you aren't constantly stimulated.

[mandyjw]

On 6/7/2019 at 8:57 AM, Gili Trawangan said:

@mandyjw Do you mind me asking what was the insight? 

I read this book about a clairvoyant doctor who lived near my house, and I had asked my Grandmother where his house was, and I assumed that they had bulldozed over it. But I thought it was in the wrong spot and I saw some pictures of it online. All the foundations are still there, even his old apple tree is still alive. When I went there I was really afraid, I was trespassing, I was afraid I would run into someone, or fall into an old well or who knows. I put my hands on the stones of the old foundation and quieted my mind and asked for an insight. It felt really childish, like I could ask for an insight from an old rock that was part of someone's house. But I got this really strong message that I could not receive insights in a state of fear and I needed to do what I had to do to lessen the fear. I went back and got the second sight that I needed to believe that I had a right to be there. The third time I got the insight that all I had of value to give was love when I was caught in pride.

I've been working with fear ever since, the coffee was a small part of it. I walked back to the place at night in the moonlight a while ago, I was quite scared and that stepped up the game quite a bit. 

Edited June 8, 2019 by mandyjw