Kamo

Focus on the basics. Learn about how your mind works. Integrate Leos earlier videos. I posted an answer similar to how I would answer this question in another post. If you want to check that out. Its kinda a prerequisite way to prepare you for the deeper work.

Love the honesty here, most authentic post i seen in awhile. This work is called "Advanced Personal Development" because it is advanced. So watching the advanced stuff wont help you much until your ready for it. It may help to start with Leos older videos, mainly the ones before he started using the cool thumbnail images. So the ones where its just Leos face. I wouldn't move onto the ones that aren't his face until you've understood all those ones first, which will start to change your thinking. Give your mind time to integrate all those lessons and work from there. They have high potential to pull you out of your depression and transform your mind. Leos "Start Here" tab gives a really great order in which to watch the videos in as a beginner. But ideally you want to be constructing your own process, so watch them in the orders in which are relevant to your life. You need to be taking notes and meditating. It seems the structure of our minds have to have those actions being carried out to gain traction in shifting the mental patterns. My recommendations for order of certain videos to focus on for awhile would be these ones... https://www.actualized.org/articles/grasping-the-illusory-nature-of-thought https://www.actualized.org/articles/build-your-infrastructure-for-success https://www.actualized.org/articles/awareness-alone-is-curative https://www.actualized.org/articles/mindfulness-meditation https://www.actualized.org/articles/meditation-techniques-do-nothing https://www.actualized.org/articles/how-to-master-your-emotions https://www.actualized.org/articles/how-to-deal-with-strong-negative-emotions https://actualized.org/articles/the-35-subfields-of-self-help https://www.actualized.org/articles/how-to-be-a-strategic-motherfucker So to help shift your mental patterns and allow changes in your thinking which is contributing highly to your suffering in its current state, you want to watch each video in order and take notes as you go. You can also watch each one all the way through with focus. Then go back and take notes. Your going to catch things you missed the first time through. One time watching the video wont be enough to integrate it all until your mind gains that traction it needs. First you need to be gaining awareness of your own mind and thought process, those videos should facilitate that to happen if you truly listen to them. This can begin changing the way your mind functions, through applying the teachings and doing the activities and contemplating about them during your day. A growth mindset needs to comes online, and it starts to be able to absorb information more effectively. When it does, you'll notice that your not thinking about your depression and other stuff as much because your gaining interest and understanding of your own mind. Then learning how to use that newer thought process to begin structuring a new way of living your life will put you in a different position of how you think about life and help you make progress figuring out what you want to do with it. You might find that an interest in understanding reality more will begin to grow. Simple additions like diet change and exercise will help you physically feel better and alleviate depressive symptoms and is simply basic healthy self care that will be necessary to integrate moving forward. I hope this advice helps put you on a good trajectory. Myself and others will be here on the forum to assist you if you need it. What you seek can be found here with Actualized.org, just gotta learn how to utilize it to then create it in your own direct experience.

@PurpleTree I tried anirecitam. thats similar to piracetam, It was too stimulating for me too. Like chugging a gallon of coffee lol. Noopept is another racetam but not as stimulating but great for information absorption. I find im able to recall what I learned while on it more effectively than when not using it. its super subtle and but you'll recall the finer details of things, which can be useful when your focusing on retaining specifics.

@Ry4n CDP, Oh yeah? Ok cool yeah ill check that one out! Thank You! What have you experienced, quality wise from it?

@Forza21 Since most of what we fear never happens anyway, you still wanna do it on a day that your not worried about it. The only indicator will be how serious you get about giving it too much importance. How much you focus on the actual idea of the fear. So Set and Setting are highly important. You can trip with a friend to keep your mind company which may facilitate the insight or distract you from it, but also keep someone there to monitor your wellbeing, It seems to me that solo tripping wont show you insights about solipsism easily because it helps to have a person there in direct experience in order to validate it for yourself. So like you need that "other" element in your direct experience to witness oneness to make certain observations about "other" if your taking 2 hits of LSD. At least thats my current understanding of how to see it. But you dont want to sit there tripping in a thought loop by yourself about what you think it means either, if this happens lay down and surrender into it. Open up your body and focus on your breathing, it will pass. Most likely you may even forget all about the idea and have a completely different kind of trip and new realization about something else. Make sure you feel grounded first thats the main thing.

@Forza21 Right and thats pretty much it, there is utility to ego. Then I would assume our thinking about it would change as we progress into our own understanding. Then maybe we will understand what exactly it means from Leos perspective, Leo is at a level that his mind comprehends it in a certain way based on all the experience he has with this work. I think understanding of that kind is incommensurable so you have to experience it yourself at ever increasing degrees. Hearing someone talk about it is not the same as seeing it for yourself. The mind processes it differently.

@Forza21 Yeah I dont think its gonna be something of a way of living. Your not gonna sustain viewing the world like that, Like you cant really function as an individual in that state if other people just mirrored your every move. Imagine driving and everyone wants to turn left when you do. lol. So like its state dependent. Tripping is the only way to fully recognize it. Then you just understand what it is and continue your life normally. These realizations dont have to dictate any differences in how you live your life its only learning something about how reality is. I think our minds seem to attribute more to it than they need to. Thats why Leo had to take the video down which I've listened to, because people are going to attribute a whole lot more than they need to about an insight like that.

Those thought loops can be pretty crazy I been there before, lol Do you think it was actually your mind that was in the thought loop of seeing that? lol

@Forza21 Right, exactly It is solipsistic. Its only after you conceptualize the meaning of the word do your personal feelings about it come online. We gotta stay with the exact moment which is timeless to see it for what it is. Its almost like a still frame or image. In that singular timeless moment all is one. But this moment is infinite, There is No other or Yourself, its before the mind can identity or create those 2 ideas, The mind immediately misses this because we perceive movement and duration of experience, then conceptualize or think about it, but this timelessness is the always NOW which is singular with out the addition of mentation of any kind.

@Kksd74628 I also have watched both of those videos. Thats how I learned about some of the nootropics mentioned, but i been taking some nootropics for years before Leo came out with that video. I rarely drink coffee and my diet is based exactly on that video as well. lol. I have 3 Kriya Yoga books from Leos list. The one is quite in depth but I have not set a good routine with it yet. So like I mentioned im not deficit in these areas your advice is aiming to improve, I have the information about them, I guess what I am truly seeking is a conversation with someone who also has tried these nootropics and hear what they think about them. So I came to the forum for personal reviews by people who I know are doing development work like myself, which i think is more valuable to me than reading something online under product reviews.

@Forza21 Notice that "0 control point." of that experience. That sense you had in that moment, That understanding right there. You'll noticed there is no other and there is no you. There is only the totality of that one moment. Pure Existence! Leo is Identifying with that Pure Existence. Thats what he means implicitly, that is his reference of Identity, the Pure Consciousness, which does not include the ego at that level which is second order. Us listening to someone say it the way he says it will immediately place us one step past that point into conceptualizing our self/ego. Which is exactly why its so difficult to understand.

If you want to prove it to yourself LSD will certainly facilitate. I once was a trip guide for my friend who was new to psychedelics and at one point we mirrored each others movements identically. As i moved my head and arm his was moving exactly like I was looking at a mirror. It totally freaked me out and I had to step away for a sec, I Immediately understood it to be oneness,so then I cam back into the room and things were normal again. So we talked about it and it was cool to share that moment, as freaky as it was, It was never that he wasn't real or an empty suit. "I" didn't have control nor did 'He" have control of our bodies as they mirrored, movement simply happened identically to us, Its more that other people are different versions of yourself. Under certain conditions the difference of versions will collapse.

@Kksd74628 Thank you for the site link, I actually already have an app that does exactly that on my tablet! lol Doing it on my laptop with that site will be put to good use. As I mentioned though, Im not specifically looking to read faster. Just opinions on the nootropics, But I have alot of books from Leos book list id like to finish, they seem like high quality. I find that some of the nootropics help with mental fatigue, as I get tired of reading for long periods of time, as well as they help in retaining the information I read. That was my experience with some of the ones I mentioned.

@Kksd74628 Thank you for the advice, I seen that video before, and use that advice. I have actually done all the things you mentioned. Concentration is good, no issues there. Daily meditation and diet helps with that already. Audible is a great app, I listen to many books on there often, mainly while Im driving or in the gym. I don't struggle with my reading and need to supplement to fix a deficit, I was just wondering what nootropics would enhance it even more than naturally, to take advantage of potential benefits they can provide, So I was just looking for second opinions on the nootropics themselves in regard to reading. I know I don't actually need them but I enjoy taking advantage of using tools. I do however, notice the subvocalizing of the words in my mind as I read, I have heard Jim Kwik mentioned something about that before, it doesn't seem to slow me down reading that way so I haven't tried to not do it, lol. It seems quite automatic as if its not something I can actually influence? Do you know how to reduce subvocalizing?

Theres no way to answer a hypothetical question like that. But to play around with the idea, it seems like consciousness can only change its state. So upon physical death of the human form a state change must occur, You can be in one state, go into another state and come back from that state with absolutely no memory of it. If you ever "Whited out" on 5Me0 this can happen. Or ingest Datura. Thats with imagining being the same "avatar" or "person" across the changes, So chances of recollection of any memory seem highly unlikely if the state change was to completely imagine a new avatar. How ever the opposite may also be accurate because God realization understands the whole thing to be imaginary. So from that state there is only witnessing of consciousness changing states. We dont know if that God realization forgets again in order to realize again, or if the degrees keep expanding, hard to say until you are Fully God Realized.

@Crazcass Yes, Leo deliberately left out psychedelics because they are the primary tool for changing your state of consciousness. Following along with his videos you can see clearly that some of his deepest insights require a state change of consciousness to be accessed to realize things like that. These insights come from the use of psychedelics. If you have used them before you will immediately understand that they work and why they are the primary tool used. Your simply not going to be able to change your state of consciousness to the higher degrees necessary through the traditional methods. Psychedelics completely change everything about your perception of reality, especially 5MeO DMT in my opinion. Your basically directly altering the very mechanism of your mind manifesting reality. Its still necessary to keep the basic practices like Meditation and Contemplation because your going to have to be psychologically grounded enough to handle the psychedelic experiences because they can be quite intense. You then have to be able to contemplate what the trips have shown you. I also agree with SgtPepper-Systematic use of psychedelics is the primary approach necessary. Leo simply would not be where he is at with out them.

Yeah, These terms all mean the same thing, Leo mentions that in his videos.

@DreamScapeLeo mentioned in the past he currently is writing an outline for a book. So stay tuned for that. Wont be out anytime soon though

Yes, of course you can. Because your personality is flexible and you can change it with practice. Personalities can also changed based on your environment. You can become conscious of how you change it, and observe your behavior around different people.

@PurpleTree Awesome, let me know your thoughts when your done.

I can relate to what your saying, been doing self help for at least 8 years myself and It truly is highly dependent upon attitude. Also there are 2 fundamental concepts in your mind that your working with. There's the conceptualization of your current experience, and the "outcome" perception. In other words the conception that you think your trying to "Get to" or experience. Basically your seeking a change in the "Quality" of your life. You want your quality to feel more pleasant. You want to "feel" better than you do, Content, Happiness. Maybe even as a child. If you had a good childhood you remember the quality felt better, more vibrant, secure, worry free. If you had not had a good childhood then still your seeking to feel the vibrancy of life, the energy, security, worry, stress free mentality, feel loved and respected by others. So your doing self help to achieve that. Establishing an understanding of what your really after needs to come first, which it seems like you get that but stay mindful that remains as an idea until you actualize it so your chasing more thoughts. Understanding your limiting beliefs about yourself such as too traumatized, or your too fucked up are also thoughts. Your aware of your victim mentality so you know thats exactly all that is. You know this. Its just your thoughts that accompany how your feeling about it make you believe it more. You know how the emotions and the thoughts create these cycles that reinforce itself and create more of the same. Observe this process and begin to disagree with it. Just cancel it out. This is not denial it is seeing it for what it is, Its an "unwanted intrusive thought" and you can see its falsehood. You have to shift your attitude you have to your own thoughts, You want to relate to your thoughts a different way. Mainly the "Unwanted intrusive thoughts" These are the thoughts with the quality of the ones you mentioned in your last paragraph, the ones that dont feel productive, useful, helpful, encouraging. The kind that cause your disturbance and stress. This can be done by practicing a way to relate to your thoughts, it will help you break the habit you have towards them. You do want to have goals and intentions of fulfilling your life purpose, keeping on track with doing things that do bring you joy will impact how you feel, it is only your thoughts that get in the way of this. A practice is as follows that you run on your awareness of your thinking. When intrusive thoughts arise you can remember this acronym: (R.J.A.F.L.) Recognize-Observe yourself experience such thoughts. Notice the quality of them. They are clear and obvious to you that they are not pleasant. Just thoughts-Label as just thought or intrusive thought. Youll get better at distinguishing the quality of each thought as you practice observation and recognition. Accept and Allow-Let the thoughts be in your mind with out resisting them, but dont take them serious, Dont let your mind go down a rabbit hole of exploring the thoughts. Float and Feel-Observe the distinction between thinking and awareness, stay with awareness as the thoughts pass. Your noticing the thoughts are there but your mindful of yourself as experiencing the thoughts and know they are only temporary thoughts let yourself feel them till they pass. Let time Pass-Let the thoughts pass and go back to what you were doing before the thoughts arose. Such as staying on your goals and passions. Youll have to recycle this process as many times as it takes till the thoughts loose their hold over you. Practice deep breathing during this helps as well. This process is a way for you to begin relating differently to your mind and helps to establish more balance in your emotions that keep you from getting dragged down by the unwanted thoughts. This WILL take TIME so you gotta be patient and consistent with it as your learning to relate to the content of your mind in a different way. This has been the most practical and direct advice ive come across in my 8 years of doing this kind of work and I hope it helps you in the same way as it has helped me. I got it from a book called "Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts" and I been able to apply it to my experience of life with direct beneficial results. Nothing is a cure all or immediate fix but something like this seems to be just enough of a shift to be practically helpful.

Yes! theres a book called "Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts". ground breaking for understanding this!

@PurpleTree Yeah it sucks, its weird this kind of thing even happens. But the more you study it and read books about thoughts, it becomes easier to deal with.

@The0Self @Tristan12 Yeah i experienced this at 23 as well. I intuited its the age where most people are naturally evolved enough to facilitate deeper insight into reality/self. But it takes many more years to understand the sights that are experienced at such a young age.

This comment is gold right here, So make sure you assign some wisdom to those words lol.