Awareness Alone Is Curative?

[Vinsanity]

Hi guys I am a high schooler and I am having a hard time practicing the part in the "awareness alone is curative" video when he said to continue doing the "bad" thing, for example watching T.V,  even if you feel like manipulating the experience after you gain awareness. When I felt the manipulation to stop watching T.V, however, it made me feel like if I was to continue watching T.V I would be forcing myself to watch T.V. because it feels bad for me to continue doing watching it. So in the end, I just stop watching T.V instead of doing what Leo said, and continuing with what I would naturally do, keeping watching T.V. Sorry if my explanation was bad I was having a hard time describing my trouble  

[ULFBERHT]

It sounds like you're doing the right thing to me.

Not manipulating the situation works both ways, I think. If after your awareness realizes that you'd like to drop the thing you're doing, which you authentically don't want to be doing, then turn off the TV and go do something else more in alignment with what's right.

You get into trouble when you fall into patterns of behavior without realizing the larger mechanisms at work.

So, turn off the TV when you realize it's time to turn it off. Or, before you turn it on, sit in front of it and pay attention to what's arising in your mind and body as the impulse is hitting you. So you want to waste two hours and watch a family guy marathon? notice that. Maybe you're distracting yourself from homework with the TV? notice that. Maybe you feel like giving into the impulse? notice that. You're confused about what to do in the moment? notice that too. Awareness is all- encompassing in this context. It's very easy to forget that.

Just remember to do it again when you go to sit in front of the tube. That's where the rubber meets the road. It sounds a lot like bringing your attention back to your breath when you meditate, huh?

[ULFBERHT]

I think the exercise is more about absorbing resistance and letting it move through you than it is about deciding what to do or not do.

[Consept]

I think the point behind it is that you do cetain things specifically to make yourself unconcious. So for example if you watch tv it lets you 'zone out' which effectively makes you unconcious as you get lost in the tv show, youre no longer aware of yourself watching the show you are basically in it. 

So the practice is to just remain conscious while watching tv or doing anything. So you watch it but youre aware that youre watching it. If you do this properly in life as a whole youll find you dont need to stop doing things youve heard are bad, you just naturally wont want to do certain things anymore. 

I dont think you should aim to stop anything you should just aim to raise your consciousness and what you dont need will drop off. Sadhguru said one time, when you were a kid you didnt aim to stop playing with toys, one day it didnt resonate with you and you stopped. 

My personal experience with tv, i used to watch a lot, i still watch it but i find it very difficult to watch fictional series or dramas or anything like that. I find myself only able to watch interesting docs, but ive noticed a definite shift and i never said to myself ive got to stop watching tv. The thing is if you just quit cos thats what you hear is good to do, you never have first hand experience of consciously knowing what is best for you 

[Vinsanity]

@Consept@ULFBERHT  Ahh ok, I think I kind of get it. So during the experience, for example watching T.V, if I am able to become aware and have the feeling of turning it off, I could just turn it off. But if I have the awareness of watching T.V and I still want to watch it, I should just allow it and let myself watch T.V while being aware. Then eventually my brain will realize that watching T.V, at least cartoons or something, isn't good for me and I will naturally let it go, instead of using brute force to stop myself. Is this somewhat correct or am I missing something? Thanks guys. 

[Shin]

You got it, but I would recommend to meditate too (20 minutes every day).

Right now, after months of meditation and awareness work, I just can't play more than 90 minutes of video game, per day, my mind doesn't allow it anymore,

If you really want results fast, you can also do some affirmations, like 2x10 minutes a day.

I don't know what your goal is right now, but just repeat it for 20 minutes a day outloud, and it will be so anchored in your memory that you'll feel bad, very bad not to do it (so unless you're very sick, you won't fuck up).

 

 

[Leo Gura]

@Vinsanity This technique is a bit challenging to apply to watching TV because TV sucks you in for hours and you lose awareness.

The key to this technique is to maintain CONTINUOUS awareness of how the activity is damaging you.

At the very least you can apply it to the start and end of your watching session. Notice how dirty it makes you feel.

[Vinsanity]

@Shin Yeah I've been trying to develop a meditation habit. Have you seen Leo's guided mediation video? I really enjoy it. At the end, I'm left feeling less judgmental about my thoughts and more accepting. But for the efficiency of awareness should I attempt another mediation technique or just stick with my guided one? Thank you!

@Leo Gura Ah I see. I guess I will try other easier things to be aware of for the time being, just to build up my awareness. But definitely my goal at the end is to able to sit through at least a 30 minute episode. Thanks for replying.

[Shin]

1 hour ago, Vinsanity said:

@Shin@Leo Gura Yeah I've been trying to develop a meditation habit. Have you seen Leo's guided mediation video? I really enjoy it. At the end, I'm left feeling less judgmental about my thoughts and more accepting. But for the efficiency of awareness should I attempt another mediation technique or just stick with my guided one? Thank you!

Don't try, do it, it is the most important habit to practice, don't skip days, and incrementally add minutes every months.

The peace of mind, the clarity, and the presence you gain in the long run is priceless.

You really can't value the importance of it untill you see the effects taking places.

 

Only use guided meditation to discover new meditation techniques, but not daily, otherwise it will be very difficult for you to do it alone.

Wouldn't be cool to be able to meditate surroundings by nature all by yourself ?

Edited December 19, 2016 by Shin

[Vinsanity]

@Shin lol yeah it would be cool to be able to meditate with just my surroundings. In that case, do you think doing the "Do nothing" technique would work well then? Or maybe perhaps the guided meditation then follow that up with a 10 minute "Do nothing", so that I can slowly transition from guided to eventual non - guided meditation ? I would really enjoy your opinion on this.  Thank you. 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Vinsanity

[Shin]

3 minutes ago, Vinsanity said:

@Shin lol yeah it would be cool to be able to meditate with just my surrounding. In that case, do you think doing the "Do nothing" technique would work well then? Because besides the guided meditation, I really enjoy the "Do nothing" one too.  Thanks  

You mean the do nothing where you let your mind loose and don't control anything ?

Yes it's a good meditation.

 

[Vinsanity]

@Shin Aight sweet. I think I'm going to incorporate that more then. Thanks for all your feedback, it means a lot .

 

[Saarah]

@Vinsanity For me what also has worked with all habits is doing a higher consciousness habit and then if the urge came to do something lower consciousness I would do it, basically switching back and forth according to your wants, you begin to feel the stark difference, over time the amount of oscillating between higher and lower consciousness activities reduces and the desire for it reduces so most of your time ends up being activities that are less brain rotting, just remember there's no rush to change, it's just an organic process of feelings and behavioural patterns that comes over time 

[Shin]

Higher-self "Come on bro, not that shit again !"

Lower-self "But I like it, LOOK it's AWESOME !"

HIgher-self "But we have serious shit to do, like, self-help and studying"

Lower-self "SELF-HELP, STUDYING, ahah, ahahahaha, AHAHAHAHAH"

Hummm, no, I'm going to eat that snickers, AND THEN I'm going to watch The Walking Dead,

PEACE OUT"

Higher-self "No you won't.

Lower-self "What are you gonna do, KILLING ME ???!!! XDXDXD"

Higher-self "No, but I started to meditate"

Lower-self "YOU WHAT ???!!!"

Higher-self " "

 

 

Lower-self :

Edited December 20, 2016 by Shin

[Vinsanity]

@Saarah I see. Yeah, that's something I have been trying to work on. I realize that sometimes my "push" to fix things is from a place of narcissism and insecurity. Currently, I am trying to listen to Leo's guided meditation every day to practice letting go of this need to fix myself. I have a question though. I think i might have been doing some form of your switching technique. And after I do that I feel a sense of guilt for doing the lower conscious activities, is this how you feel too when you do it?

And whenever I engage in low conscious activities, if I was aware in the beginning, I have an incredible sense of resistance because I know it is bad for me and I end up not even doing the activity. People have given me great responses to this question but I also wanted to hear your view on it.  Thank you  :).

 

@Shin lmao  thanks man hahaha 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Vinsanity

[Saarah]

@Vinsanity Nooo I don't feel bad about it I let myself fully immerse in it,  just see it as a normal part of life, sometimes I'd just want to take a break and not try to be so involved in any practices but I'd notice in the end I'd always gravitate back towards it anyway and there's a quiet confidence in the back of my mind that this will always be the case no matter what

all your so called failures and falling off track are a part of it 

I'd basically allow myself to deliberately go completely off just so that I'd notice that it doesn't do anything for me, I'm engaging in nothing, so it'd catch up to me, I'd get bored of it, and there'd pop up that nagging voice in me saying, go towards what really counts 

hope that helps! Just keep that quiet confidence in you:) 

[SFRL]

Just the awereness that I am a normal person living in a dysfunctional world makes a lot of things just slide off my back. 

[Vinsanity]

@Saarah Ah I see, so in a sense you are saying I should not worry because all of my failures are part of my path, and no matter how far I stray I will always come back. So i should really not see "watching T.V" as something to get rid of, but really sometime that is necessary for me, and maybe along the way of life I will get rid of it. But for now I should accept it. lol correct me if I'm wrong but that is how i interpreted it.

Also if you don't mind, do you have any resources or links to information regarding information such as self-acceptance (I already saw all of Leo's vids on this) or other things that would help me with my questions on this thread? It would help a lot. And thank you for everything

[Saarah]

@Vinsanity

Well when you feel like doing it, all you can do is accept that it's what you feel like doing. Then you attempt to raise awareness around it (this can be helped by doing higher consciousness activities which will highlight the difference in experience for you more easily). If you don't accept, you will notice you are using certain thoughts to change or use ineffective action. Like moralising (I shouldn't do this), judging, or over-analysing and reasoning. 
Basically too much thinking about how to change habits and it ends up not changing any habits:) 

I haven't really dealt with guilt after doing these things so I don't know of any resources but the activities in those videos on moralising etc. and meditating like shin mentioned is what to do to begin letting go of these thoughts you have that lead to resistance, they'll help you to let go and observe more, trust the process-less process! lol  

[Vinsanity]

@Saarah Ok sweet thanks! I appreciate all your help