COVID-19 Quarantine, how should I spend my free time?

[Insightful27]

For reference, I'm 15 years old and our school has been cancelled for 4+ weeks and I don't have much to do. Aside from journaling, meditation, healthy eating, enlightenment work and exercise I don't really know what to do. I would hate to waste the whole time on video games or other low-level entertainment. I've looked over Leos list of habits and techniques to start doing but I feel as though many of them are too advanced to do at my stage of development. I've started to try a few of them like yoga. Any advice on what I should do would be extremely appreciated!

[GrowthPilgrim]

@Insightful27 Awesome, that you starting this young and have the desire not to waste these precious weeks!  First, I would say go with what comes most natural to you: What do you like the best? What could you do for many years to come? What interests you most?  You have your whole life in front of you and you should definitely aim for stuff that you can see yourself doing for many years. Especially when you are young it is easy to jump around a lot. But persistence is key! Choose anything and do it continuously for the next 10 years; then you are pretty awesome on that one thing and you are only 25. Maybe you can then even make a living off that. Secondly, there are definitely things that have more impact than others, and these are – from my point of view – sleep (renewal in general), nutrition, reading, exercise, journaling, meditation, productivity and finding your life purpose. If you get these right, you have an awesome basis by the age of 20 for whatever you want to do with your life. 

[mmKay]

Hey, I'm sure you can come up with hundreds of ways to make good use of the time yourself. That's my recomendation, it's called " self- coaching ". It's pretty self-descriptive, and if commit putting effort into this, the results will be huge, both right now and over time.

So you are getting coached, by yourself. You ask the questions, and tap into your inner intuition and brainstorm the anwsers ( or go directly for the one anwser ) .  The more seriously you take it, the better the results.

 

Nevertheless, this below is just a bonus: 

 

You most likely have much of Leo's free material to absorb. Besides that, there is Leo's Life Purpose course, which I'm personally doing right now (only took the whole world to get on lockdown for me to sit down and push through the resistance lol )

 

What I found to work these days to optimize happines: ( Use intuition to assign priorities depending on how you feel throughout the day .) 

 

Have some creative outlet , If you have a skill already developed thats a plus, otherwise look for something where you could get in the flow zone ; drawing, storytelling, dancing, speaking out loud, singing, writing, both on paper and digital ( my fav since it's really easy access flow), instruments, video editing, photoshop, create music online, coding . . . Decide to do small projects, or have a big one, whatever this means for you.

Work out your mind. Read books, articles, leos blog and his posts on the forum, try to memorize what you think is worth memorizing, learn a new language. Read fiction if you want to.

Do some kind of light exercise daily, whenever your boody feels it would prefer  ( after sitting for a long while, first thing after waking up, after a nap, after a cold shower . . .) this may be some short jumping, shaking, dancing, wrestling with siblings, punching your pillows or screaming into them, stretching, or streight up calisthenic workout, or just get creative with your body movement, ( my favourite is Osho dynamic meditation, warning, it's somewhat extreme )

Having some kind of practice to disconnect mind chattering, either plain do nothing and observing meditation, mindfulness with labeling, focusing on mantra, direct experience focused looking at your hand, mirror gazing . . . or just visualize your future life, how it may end up, or how you would like it to be.

Meet your social needs, chat with your family, jump on some random groups on discord, omegle, or other chatting areas, videocall your friends. . . wrestle someone . .  ( yeah I like this one the most lol ) I prefer this to be a vibing - goofing around activity to disconnect and rather not have it too serious, unless you want to. Also shamelessly take care of your sexual desires from time to time, if you have any.

Try to get some sun, walk your dog! chill on the balcony, chill by the windows. . .

Take care of your emotional needs. This is actually more advanced since it requeires a certain baseline of awareness to be able to properly feel feeligns.

If you feel like crying, do it, if you feel like yelling, do it. Laugh out loud shamelessly, get angry and let it go . . . etc

And almost forgot, take breaks with completely nothing planned and just doing what you feel like, maybe watch some quality cartoons, funny videos, a cool movie . . . you name it, but notice where is the line between it being "time off" and where you zone into unconsciousness, laziness and adiction. 

Or don't do any of this, your choice. GL! - remember, self-coaching - 

[Forestluv]

Sometimes I find it helpful to set goals and create new habits. For example, you mentioned yoga. There are lots of 30 day yoga series videos online. Doing one per day sets a healthy habit - and one can learn a lot about yoga. There are also lots of other projects you could start. You could do a 30 day retreat, start learning a new language, introspect about your dreams and passions.

As you said, it's super easy to wander around and default to low=conscious activities like playing video games all day. For most people, extrinsic pressures and rewards are major incentives to take action. Going to school and working toward grades is largely extrinsic. Ime, intrinsic rewards go much deeper, yet it's much harder to be disciplined without other people structuring my life and telling me what to do. Yet if I can tap into intrinsic rewards, the meaning and satisfaction goes much deeper. For example, you can be creative how you want to be creative. You have the time and resources right now to create from your innner being. That is a luxury. Yet it can be hard to get started.  

[IJB063]

Hey @Insightful27

Just made a post yesterday on what habits to make

I'm also struggling with what to do

Just take this time to get your stuff in order for when things get back to normal

Here's a great video of Leo's on this topic if you haven't seen

I agree don't waste the time on low level bullshit

Though you can do that a bit

Make a checklist of important habits to do for the day

And at the start make a plan for your day

And at end of the day, see how many habits you've followed through with, and for how long you've done them

I recommend using google calendar for this

Its free and easy to use and can help you keep track of your time

School at 15 is mostly bullshit, but use this time productively to get shit done

It can be school work, but take this time to educate yourself

Again watch the video linked, and make notes, it'll help give you idea on how to pass the time

Anyways goodluck

[IJB063]

@Insightful27 Here is some Goggin's motivation buddy

Nothing makes you get the shit you need done like some Goggins words of wisdom

 

[universe]

Allright, so you are pretty young. And you already have a big list of useful stuff to do.

Id say enjoy your time and read a book or two. The knowledge in these books is truly something else. Integrate the knowledge in the coming years and you have a nice head start for when you are older.

Maybe you already have some great books lying around or you purchased Leos booklist.

If not Id recommend books like "Power of now", "How to think and grow rich" or "How to win friends and influence people". Depending on which field your most interested in.

 

Edit: Oh and read the book. Not the audiobooks.

Edited March 24, 2020 by universe

[Insightful27]

@universe Reading does sound like a great use of time. I've heard of some of the books you mentioned and have just never really gotten around to reading them. Why would the paper copy be better than the audiobooks? Is it just that the audiobooks don't give you enough time to comprehend information? 

[IJB063]

@Insightful27  

3 minutes ago, Insightful27 said:

Is it just that the audiobooks don't give you enough time to comprehend information? 

Because you actually have to exert effort in learning the information

Audiobooks the info can go through one ear and come out the other

You don't need a papercopy though, you'd struggle to get one with the corona virus

You can get those three books for free - just google them and look for a pdf

Edited March 24, 2020 by IJB063

[IJB063]

@Insightful27 Here are the books if you anyone is interested 

Think and Grow Rich

https://theedge.solutions/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Think-and-Grow-Rich-by-Napoleon-Hill.pdf

How to win friends and influence people

https://archive.org/details/DaleCarnegieHowToWinFriendsAndInfluencePeople_201803/mode/2up

The Power of Now

https://files.shroomery.org/cms/6584522-EckhartTolle-ThePowerOfNow.pdf

Edited March 24, 2020 by IJB063
Wrong Link

[Insightful27]

@mmKay thanks for all the ideas, especially the one about the creative outlet I haven't really looked into to find one of those before. You talked a little about emotional needs and I was wondering what techniques (if any) there are for developing emotionally and mentally?  Those are 2 areas in my life I most want to improve and I haven't found any practical ways to do that other than CBT and waiting for emotional challenging events to take place and then in the moment work on how I respond to them. 

[Thewritersunion]

 

time to learn how society evolves and how this may apply to the future of Humanity on Mars

[Insightful27]

2 hours ago, Thewritersunion said:

time to learn how society evolves and how this may apply to the future of Humanity on Mars

that actually sounds really interesting.

[hyruga]

Go watch Leo Gura's videos. Would take you months to finish them.

[mmKay]

@Insightful27

I'm not sure what your definitions of " emotionally" and " mentally" are.

If by "mentally" you mean beliefs, that's a whole different can of worms. We talking subconscious mind reprogramming, neuro linguistic programming, mantras&affirmations, sleep mantra audios,   CBT as you mentioned, " the work" by Byron Katie which is quite similar ( google it for free worksheet, this would be my recommendation, + book is optional) and last but not least, living in a congruent way so your beliefs end up not just being that, lofty beliefs. ( + many more that either I forgot or just don't know about )

Emotions are the elefant in the room.

They are in THE BODY You FEEL them. SEPARATE FROM THOUGHT. Nevertheless they are both interconnected. Feelings affect how you think. Thoughts affect how you feel.

But,  it takes a certain level of practice and awareness to learn how to FEEL the different shades and nuances in the body. Guilt toes not feel the same as fear, or as anger, or as lust, as sadness, as pride, as gratefulness. . . See leo's vid on mastering emotions.

I also want to mention that the body carries trauma, as in burried emotions. I haven't digged much into this idea but I  realized it was true that time that i corrected my lifelong impoper and shallow way of breathing ( ignoring the whole lower side of the back and mostly chest breathing ), I was struck with three completely irrational waves of crying.

Some ways of releasing trauma would be self-therapy ( relaxing and re-living your past, and accepting it ), Osho dynamic meditation, Shamanic breathing or any other alternatives like Wim hoff breathing and his cold water therapy, psychedelics , sedona method and shadow work.

 

My recommendation would be Mindfulness meditation  with labeling ( See Leos video about it, so simple yet so powerful )and Shadow work.

with the med technique you dissect the whole life experience into : See - feel - hear ( inner and outer ), increases your awareness and shows you how to differenciate between inner and outer feeling , and  the boundies it has with the mind ( inner hearing and seeing )

once you got that down, you can do effective shadow work. Shortly : Something happens, you notice your emotional reaction to it, you notice that you are resisting it, you accept that you are resisting it, and then you accept what happened. OR you make something happen that you know makes you have uncomfortable feelings, IE yelling out loud on a busy street, and feel and accept the whole thing.

Anywhere where you have some kind of emotional reaction or attachment,  is a place to grow emotionally. Once you understand unconditional happiness the reactions become really clear.

Google anything that you didn't understand or that you want to get a deeper understanding into.

this topic is really broad and tricky. The work is very personal and most of the population are completely clueless about this.

I also have a ton to learn here so in no way I have it all figured out.

take it slow and GL bro

 

 

[Cocolove]

There are so many books to read! I'm in the same situation and a huge portion of my time goes to 1 books 2 walks/biking in nature. Great job doing the enlightenment work at your age! no need to be perfect at this time.

[UnbornTao]

@Insightful27 Have you purchased Leo’s booklist?

Read God is Nothingness and SantataGamana’s books for learning real yoga.

Maybe start a blog, post whatever you’re interested in.

Hope that’s useful.

[Aquarius]

Try reading nonfiction, studying Actualized material, taking care of your diet and exercise..

[david1207]

The situation we all are going through could be a turning point for your life. I'm saying this because this is the time when you can focus on solving issues of your life. If you're going through low business revenues then you can build strategies for coming days, you can acquire new skills, learn so many new things so that you can bounce back for sure.

[Annavyney]

I can give you a lot of ideas. Host a games night. Are you bored of yet another pub quiz? Download Disney + Bake cloud bread. Whip up a lockdown bath. Educate yourself on race. Apply on https://brightvisionevents.co.uk/team-building/virtual-team-building/, and to team building activities. Have a go at macramé. Play virtual ping pong. Treat yourself to some champagne pairing. Give your house a makeover. Have you tired of seeing the same old seating/dining arrangements day in, day out? Be a social butterfly—on the phone. It all depends on your imagination and possibilities. I hope you will have fun!

Edited September 2, 2021 by Annavyney