Dan502

I liked EQ 2.0 because it is full of examples and comparisons of real-life situations and how emotionally unintelligent and intelligent people might handle them. I tend to categorise my own emotions into six groups: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, shame and disgust. There are many subtleties within each group.

@Norbert Lennartz I've been agonising over your comments for about an hour now. I'm looking forward to the conscious politics content. I expect Leo will do some good research and I've no doubt he will give God his due.

It's really interesting that you're not sure what's causing the suffering. Are you eating enough and the right kind of foods while you're at work? Is the temperature in the office and ventilation consistent? Are there any circumstances at all that are different when you have bad days? Does it happen at a certain time of day? The amygdala is the part of the brain that's associative but not in a logical way so one possibility is that something seemingly normal and unknown is triggering this however sometimes with a bit of detective work, it can be solved. And then there's my initial reaction, which was to write "You're suffering at work and you think that's unusual? Dude, have you never worked before? :)" I'm just kidding with this last point although you never know.

Thanks, friend

I hope the therapy goes well.

I would ask why you worry so much about getting cancer. I hear that sometimes the mind can create health fears as a way of subconsciously dealing with something entirely different. However unlikely and counter-intuitive that may seem. To the extent that you feel able to apply a different perspective to a situation or a thought, what perspective you apply (e.g. the "it's a test" perspective) seems up to you.

If a child expects to catch a glimpse of Santa at Christmas, he or she may be disappointed to find out Santa isn't real. We can grow out of our expectations.

Guacamole is pure devilry!

I suppose from a survival perspective, energy is a word we use to communicate the sense that something is in a state or configuration that may facilitate processes that enhance our survival.

It's true that self-actualizing could be something that a person might try and get into in order to support their ego, either consciously or unconsciously. With the marathon analogy, I was trying to explain that if a person wants to grow and develop, they generally have to put in some work. And that work is self-actualization. I suppose if a person tried to run a marathon and failed for whatever reason, or succeeded but didn't feel fulfilled, or was feeling philosophical, or arrived at some profound insight, then they might conclude that the experience was in some sense bullshit. @Nahm that's a lovely message you just posted by the way.

In the world right now, there are thousands of people who have the goal of running a marathon. Is marathon training bullshit? Have you seen Leo's video "Mankind is the bulshitting animal"?

Absence of human connection was the thing that stood out for me most in your story. I like what @Truth Addict wrote: "Ultimately, I think you will have to find a job that doesn't bore you, probably start with a job that is easy and simple, and from there on, you let life guide you."

Really really difficult. Really difficult. - Sometimes focus on the work not the people although when focusing on the people, try to understand why they are the way they are - Form strategic alliances if possible - Plan your escape - Get clear on how you got there - When working with an angry person, if you bring awareness to the interaction itself, it's possible to develop the ability to catch lightening bolts like Yoda does when he fights Dooku (metaphorically speaking).

When it comes to giving advice, I suppose one way would be to take a more therapeutic or coaching style approach and to ask questions or offer up suggestions rather than giving actual advice. This is just a suggestion! I'm probably coming at this from quite a green angle. I've just realised the question was mainly about language. I think it's a good point. Hard to completely eradicate. I guess forum users and mods can look out for it. And gently check what sort of answer people are looking for.

Really glad you're sharing these summaries

You tell her that's a good question can I answer it directly with you after the talk? With an added wink for charm

Have you ever taken an autism spectrum test? You can find them online for free. I'm not saying you might be autistic, I'm just wondering what you'd score. I could be way off with this comment, it was just my initial reaction. Or maybe try a personality test. I'll assume your IQ is fine since, for one thing, you write well. Also are you tired a lot or anything like that? Any lethargy, apathy, trauma, stress? I'd be interested to hear what other people think about this.

1) That I'm the most important thing in the world 2) That I will probably suffer horribly and die one day 3) That my life is unfair in some ways 4) That I'm, potentially irrepairably, inadequate in some ways, even by my own standards and that I have an uncompromising dark side 5) That the pursuit of certain comforts and pleasures are desirable/necessary/worth it. 6) That some of the pleasures I pursue bring too much shame and judgement to be mentioned in public. 7) That I'm happier these days than I've ever been 8) That sometimes I can help people 9) That physical things exist 10) That I prefer cats to dogs in general 11) That I don't know what colour is

When a child is five, the parent might say "this is how to tie a shoe" and show the child an easy knot. When the child is seven, the parent might say "this is how to tie a shoe" and show the child a harder knot. Was the parent lying to the five year old? In a way, yes and no but it's the wrong question. The right question is whether they were telling the right kind of truth at the right time, which is whatever is most loving and helpful.

Hi Yahya I'm sorry to hear your parents aren't supporting your interest in this area. That must be hard. Personal development comes in many forms. From reading, to exercising, to how you interact with other people or doing some meditation or breathing exercises while you're sitting on the train for example. In fact, some of the best opportunities to practice wise teachings can take place in very ordinary situations. Maybe you could hand-pick a few of Leo's videos, watch them once at school or the library or something and make notes and then spend more time implementing the teachings than watching more videos. Watching the videos isn't really doing the work anyway. Family, friends and work colleagues for the most part don't necessarily need to know about every self-help book that you read or video that you watch or that you meditate and they also wouldn't necessarily understand the awareness that goes into responding to certain situations in particular ways. So it can be a personal thing. It's usually easier to forge and pursue your own path when you're a bit older and more independent. But in the meantime, I wish you well with finding ways to navigate this situation. Ultimately, I hope you are able to follow your heart, without being overly disuaded by what other people think. Even your parents. Although I also hope you don't fall out with anyone over this. Relationships are important. You might need some patience or to lay low in some ways over the next few years. These are just my thoughts on the matter.

Very admirable the lengths we're going to here to answer the original question

I love this topic.

Hi Sausagehead (I'm not name-calling, that's his name :)) Should you take interest in something you're not interested in just because you feel like you should? Hmm... I don't know. 1) Maybe you could make a pros and cons list of why you should vote or not vote and then see which side is more meaningful to you. 2) Or, if a part of you feels like you should take an interest in politics but you don't feel like voting or reading newspapers and such, you could try to find something that does interest you and then see how that thing is regulated or what policies exist around it. Say you're into skateboarding. There are bound to be laws that affect where you can or can't skate, laws that create environments suitable for skating and safety requirements for manufacturing etc. 3) Also, you don't have to throw yourself into national politics. Maybe start by taking an interest in your town. 4) Or speak to people who have personalities that resonate with you and find out what kinds of parties they support. Political preferences are sometimes driven by personality. If you find out what most of your friends' or colleagues' views are (and some are bound to have some strong ones) it might seem a bit more interesting. I'm being a bit simplistic here but am trying to share the perspectives more than anything. I get the feeling that you posted the question because a part of you does feel like you should take some kind of interest in some kind of politics but you're not sure exactly how. So what I'm trying to do above is to be open-minded about what form that interest could potentially start to take. There will be way, way more options than the four that I've suggested but I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Also take your time with this thought. Politics is huge and actually affects many other things. You don't need to become interested in all of politics over night, you could just stay aware that it's an option and if over the coming weeks or months, you see an article about something political or a book about another subject but which has some politics in it, that does interest you, you could take a look at it. I could be wrong, of course and I'm not suggesting that I necessarily think you should or should not try to get interested in politics if it's just not your thing. It could equally be that you need to find a way of becoming more comfortable with not being interested in politics. Without completely knowing you (or myself, or politics, or life :)), it's hard to tell.

You are old enough I tend to think of "Truth" not as some far-off thing that a person has to reach or decide to pursue but as something far more familiar, which we probably already know intimately but might have lost touch with during the process of socialisation which typically occurs up to and during our emergence as adults. Having said that, there is a wide range of ways in which a person can learn, practise and have insights in order to become more self-aware, happy and mature. The desire and, realistically, the need, for a young person to take care of other things first like getting a steady job and living independently before they even find out or start on this kind of extra-curricular personal development work is understandable. By the way I think it's really cool that you're curious about this kind of stuff. I'd recommend trying a few things. Some of OSHO and Sadhguru's vids, some TED talks, Dan Dennett's work, The Road Less Travelled by Scott Peck. The Brothers Karamazov, Jordan Peterson. Tony Robbins. Gary Vaynerchuk. Psychoanalysis. Spiral Dynamics. The Matrix

I loved the video too.