Christian

I have tried, but I think people interpret it as me saying "you are not good enough as you are" and they shy away. Typical ego defense mechanism. And they almost never listen. But if they do, they just watch one video and that's it. The lesson I got from it is that ignorance is a very strong force -- and if it is that strong in others, It's probably just as dominant within me.

In one word my biggest fear is probably experiencing a deep feeling of inadequicy as a result of abandonnent. A lot of my actions are motivated to prevent this feeling from resurfacing. Basically, all my actions. I deal with this fear by allowing it and experiencing it. It's a slow and grueling process, but I feel like I'm not as afraid anymore. Meditation has helped a lot.

If you were playing a game like Fall Out 4, you wouldn't spend all of your time reading the manual. You would simply get started and play the game, see what works, what does not work, adjust, improve. The same here; it is not that you are lacking the method.. It's that the method comes to you as a result of right action. Action --> know-how. No one can tell you how to accurately question your own beliefs. This is where taking responsibility is crucial. If you want to become better at questioning your beliefs, set aside 10 minutes per day to do so. You probably want to start off dismantling non-threatening beliefs. If you are a muslim, in the beginning, questioning your belief in the Quran and muhammad the prophet is probably not sustainable.

If I were you, I'd do the following: 1) Break the task of writing the application into smaller steps. If it is a big project, it doesn't help to visualize yourself completing the whole thing at once. Much better to break it up into smaller pieces and work your way up. 2) Visualize the process of writing the application; contemplate how the structure shall look and maybe go research all the common elements that good applications have to give you an abstract idea of how you can apply these elements to your case. Good luck

My ultimate abstract objective is to die with no regrets. And the way I try to actualize this goal is by listening to self help videos and try to understand my ego and its deceptive nature. I understand that the ego is a tricky bastard and some of the wants I have are neurotic, where as others come from my higher self. My strategy is to sort out the authentic from the shit and make my life as much about what is authentic and true to me as possible. Whatever that means 10-20 years down the road, I still don't know, but I am working on it. Recently, for instance, I discovered that one of my neurotic desires was to become fit, where as an authentic desire I have is the desire for truth. I want to understand reality at an existential level and that hinted that I should take my meditation/self inquiry more seriously. So I am constantly adapting my concrete goals and lifestyle to match. Another authentic desire I have is a desire to impact others through music, writing, speaking at the moment. Hope that answered the question

There is nothing "evil" about the ego. The ego is just your sense of self and calling it evil is just going to give it a greater sense of self. Do you realize that you are just engaging in this game with your post. You are talking about your ego as though it is some separate entity from you. No, the ego is the thing that wrote the post right there. You want to transcend the ego, but in doing it, you want to be gentle to yourself. You can imagine that calling certain aspects of yourself "evil" will lead to building a shadow-side. Real growth is about accepting the aspects of yourself that you have been suppressing, even the so-called evil stuff. But doing it in a mindful way, not a dogmatic or forceful way. Intention is important when transcending the ego. Do you want to transcend the ego to experience truth or do you want it because your ego is "the devil" and there is something to conquer there? If you want to conquer something, what is the entity that wants to conquer the ego? That is the thing you should REALLY be worried about. That is just more ego right there for ya.

You go experiment with different interests that you have. If you have a desire to play music, see where it takes you. If you want to do some art, go do it and listen to your intuition. The intuition is a subtle voice inside of you -- it is quiet in nature and finding out what it has to tells you comes from trial and error. Let me give you an example. In the beginning of the year, I insisted that I should exercise every day. That was a neurotic desire I had, and my intuition got louder and louder the more I got engaged with daily exercise. It kept telling me, NO, NO, you are going in the wrong direction. I realized what I should really be doing is growing my consciousness through meditation. That's what the quiet voice inside me was trying to say and I now understand that so I change. But had I not experimented and taken action, my intuition would've not told me what it preferred. So take action, go explore, see how your intuition reacts and adjust. This is a subtle point, but it is important. Listen to your intuition, but take action at the same time. Do not just sit on ur ass all day listening, act and then listen.

1) Build positive habits. Keep meditating and take cold showers, read books on self help too. 2) Cover your basic needs. Check out Maslow's pyramid of needs. 3) Contemplate what brought you into this particular situation. Analyze your life systematically and become more clear about what your challenges/sticking points are. Let those guide you to potentially creative and profound solutions you hadn't thought of. And get to the root cause of your problems which will likely be psychological. 4) Be open minded and let your heart guide you

I had the same realization. Life contains no joy, no happiness, none of all that shit you stated above. These are all illusory constructions of your mind. And seeing these constructions for what they literally existentially are is a scary thing. But it shows that your consciousness is growing, that's good. When you are having these emotional spells, that shows whatever techniques you are using are effective. Stuff is getting purified from your psyche and you are experiencing the aftermath. Be mindful of that going forward and ideally avoid getting discouraged by these thoughts.

I think there is an exponential growth curve in every area of life. What you focus on is what you will get exponentially more of in return over time. This means if your focus is improving your happiness levels and you of course use the right techniques, your level of happiness will grow rapidly. But it will be slow at first. It might take 5-10 years before you can really see the real results. So be patient and learn to love the process - especially when you hit a plateau. Most people quit on the plateau because it is boring and hard to stay consistent when you are not making progress. The reason why 90% of people fail at accomplishing their goals is because they lack patience. If results do not come in quickly and easily, they simply quit. Furthermore, they get discouraged and rationalize their decision to quit before they hit the growth-curve. Growth happens in small bursts followed by long plateaus. Sometimes, these plateaus can last 3-6 months and when you hit a long plateau, being mindful that it is part of the bigger picture always helps.

I just watched Leo's new episode on paradigms. And it got me thinking. Is enlightenment really a paradigm? He made lots of examples, but he did not adress these higher spiritual truths. I mean enlightenment is a perspective as it is forunded upon a radical empirical investigation. And the statements and perspectives enlightenment takes surely come from biases and a certain hierachy. Direct experience is really King when doing self inquiry and doing enlightenment work. But what if there is something out there that is missing? Maybe there is an alternative. And enlightenment is a way of looking at the world. Despite how correct it is, it is still a perspective, right?

I would say that in my opinion a description of enlightenment is a perspective. But actual enlightenment which reveals what reality is is NOT a perspective. I have listened to dozens of videos and red many books on enlightenment and the existential fact that these sources point to in my experience is true. But the language that is used to communicate these spiritual truths such as reality is nothingness, you are god, god is nothing, thoughts are illusions. All this is observable and discoverable through enlightenment work. I have gotten taste of these experiences so from my little view, I can arrogantly say that what is communicated between the lines in enlightenment teachings are literal facts. But I just don't know if I'm in deep delusion or on to something. I can with 99,9% certainty say that the ego is false. But is that still a paradigm if that insight was realized based of an empirical investigation? Are metaphysicsal truths supposed to be placeres in a different category than paradigms? I don't know. Hope I'm making sense here, shit this stuff is nuanced.

You are probably right to some extend here. I would say your post carries a good slice of the truth. But depression can stem from many sources, not just self victimization. What about a bad breakup, a divorce, death in the family, bullying? These outside factors also have great influence on our mental health and the fact that these things happen is outside of our control. But the way we react to these circumstances -- even that -- is outside of our control because the self does not exist. So there is no reason to be a jerk to someone who is depressed because the individual did NOT cause the depression or some other mental disorder. When there is NO SELF, there is no free will. But telling a depressed person that either would also be a mistake probably because that can make them into even more of a victim. I just imagine they would think "well, if there is no free will, then I can't change. It is "out of my hands" and up to god. That is a wrong approach. But understanding the enlightened truth that they do not have free will without communicating that to them can help you to accept their condition. If you believe they have control over the depression, you can use that to justify all sorts of evil behaviour. So it is best to have compassion and understanding for these people, but also have the flexibility to sometimes kick them in the butt when it helps them. But this requires being context sensitive -- knowing when to pressure someone and when to be more laid back and understanding. Life is nuanced and complex.

Well, I would like to say that yes, enlightenment can ruin your life if you are immature and you pursue it. There are lots of dangers to becoming enlightened and I have experienced lots of them. Ever since I started the journey I have had this huge urge to debate and rationalize with others about how enlightenment is the TRUTH and I denied other people's perspective. I have tried and tried and tried and every time, I just get a similar response. You are crazy is basically the theme. Do not go around preaching enlightenment, that is fucking stupid. The worst thing you can do to an ego is tell it it is a fiction. That will make people furious generally speaking. Lead from the ground up and be a living example instead."Be the change you wish to see in the world" like Gandhi said. And even if you do not decide to pursue enlightenment, that is cool too. There is no rush and in the absolute sense, nothing is right or wrong. And I too know a lot of kind people who are not on the spiritual path who I love and care about. My closest friends do not know anything about it, and I will never tell them because friends are for chit-chat, not enlightenment. And to answer the question of whether the spiritual path has improved my life, I would say not a lot. It has made me increasingly aware though of how much of a people pleaser I am. And how I feel like I am not good enough. That is progress, but I do not feel that much happier after all than when I started. But I am still new, and I believe in long-term results so I just keep going.

Who drops out of university, then goes to a forum with complete strangers to ask for advice on what to do next? What the actual fuck Sounds like a bad idea to me..

Stop caring so much about the videos. If you've watched 100's of vidoes, that's great, but now It's time to change your life. Meditate Contemplation (LP related) Eat healthy Develop a strong work ethic Sleep properly Read a lot of self help books Self-inquiry Pick up (if you suck with girls) Visualization/affirmations. This is a short list of different habits you can build along the way. Start with one habit at a time. Focus on it for 2 months straight, then add a new habit and follow the same process. Imagine the potential of doing this for 2-3 years -- what effect it could have on your life. Always begin with the long-term vision and make it powerful.

I think the paradox is sort of similar to the self improvement paradox. The self improvement paradox goes something like this: On thee one hand, people tell you that you are already perfect, but on the other hand you still gotta improve. In this case, both aspects of the paradox are correct meaning you are perfect, yet you should still strive to become better. I think it is similar in the paradox you have described. That means that you there is no goal or objective, there is no good nor bad. But on the other hand, you still need to self actualize and create some sort of meaning to live a fulfilling life. Otherwise, you could risk just becoming a nihilist where you see everything as just pointless. The thing the nihilist dismisses is subjective experience and the importance of engaging with life to create a meaningful life. The meaning is an illusion, but it can ground you in something tangible and be a source of deep internal fulfillment. You are a part of society just like everyone and if you did not give a sh#t, your life would probably slide. Not giving a sh#t and still acing life is a rare thing. That requires giving a sh#t until you have the habits installed that you can kind of "ease of the pedal" and let life carry itself out. Even though there is no meaning literally, you still have psychological and physiological needs. But in conclusion, this is just my perspective. I think you should stay open and let the paradox resolve itself for you by yourself.

Accept it and move on. Keep meditating. Keep going . That resistance is not going anywhere unless you face it head on.

Hey, I am 18 years old and have been on the PD journey since age 16. I have got a few tips on building habits that might help you. When I started I absolutely sucked at building habits and that is because I did not use my strategic ressources properly. I did not plan for the potential distractions that would sabotage me in developing my habits and I did not consider how my thoughts would trick me. Be acutely aware of these things when you are building new habits. The reason why you will likely fail at this is that you get lost in distractions or your mind says "whatever, I'll just do it later", but later never comes A system that works really well for building habits is the "pre mortem technique". Leo has a video on it -- it REALLY helped me build a meditation habit. That is because it adresses core solutions to avoid project failure. Project here is used in the broader context so a project could also mean a habit like meditation or exercise or whatever other habit out there. So check out that video, highly recommend it

I don't think it will do much for you in the long run. A tatoo is just a symbolic message on your body. If you find the personal development journey challenging, I would consider you slow down your pace and focus on building your soft infrastructure. This includes mindfulness, attitude, your confidence, etc. Do some inner work and fix that first, then the journey will get A LOT smoother. And as you are building your soft infrastructure, be the wise turtoise -not the foolish hare. Take it slow.

I want to share some insights I have had on the journey throughout the 2 years I've been doing. In no way am I claiming my insights to be true and I am just here to share, not to defend a perspective or convince you. So firstly I want to start with a fundamental truth that I have discovered through direct experience. And that is that I do not exist as a separate entity. I exist as nothingness or "the void". This nothingness is both nothing and everything simultaneously. Mind blowing... Another insight I've gotten is that ego and suffering are one. They are two sides of the same coin. And that true happiness is not found in your material possessions, it is found from knowing who you are existentially. When you believe you are this body sitting here, you can't be happy unconditionally. Furthermore, I have realized that in this life, I basically know nothing. That a lot of my knowledge in inaccurate and that I need to be vigilant for self-deception. One self deception that I fell into recently was believing that if I show I am hurt to others, that will make them understand and I will feel better. In my life, that proves to be false. People are generally just as egotistical as me and probably care way less of me than I think they do. The way to deal with hurt is to forgive the person who hurt you and let your feelings pass. That can seem counter intuitive, it did to me, but it is so liberating. Check out "The Sedona Method to learn how to let go. I've also discovered that the greatest strength is letting go or surrendering. Surrender is critical to inner growth and to be open-minded. Another thing I've encountered is that proper habits are essential for personal growth. You are what you repeatedly do. And when building habits, the most important thing is consistency, not the technique you are using. That does not mean that you use an obviously wrong technique, you should still care, but not that much. There is a balance here. What are positive habits? Meditation, reading, study-habit, healthy eating, contemplation, visualization, affirmations etc. Next up is life purpose. Life purpose is critical to living a passionate life and dying with no regrets. If you are stuck at a mediocre job that does not honor your top values and has no meaningful impact, you better believe that will have great effect on your emotions. Find your life purpose as soon as possible. Another thing I've encountered is that life is highly nuanced and that being contemplative is important. Basically reflecting on your actions and behaviors looking at them from a bigger picture, seeing the subtlety in life and disengaging from black and white type thinking. Studying personal development is also important; not because you are doing it to teach personal development through some media, but mostly for yourself. That requires learning from a variety of sources, not just one source because that could be unreliable. This means reading books, watching videos, going to seminars, implementing techniques, etc. There are many more, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, hope you got some value out of it and please share your insights regarding PD below would love to hear them

Watch personal development videos and listen to podcasts. Even better is reading more physical books. That can be a great substutute for the mindless entertaining stuff you watch online. BUT remember that personal development material without any implementation leads nowhere. You want to take action based on the theory and taking action means less cat videos to watch You do not need that unproductive hour spent online -- spend that time growing your consciousness through meditation.

Lose and fail so much it becomes the new normal for you. Staying in your comfort zone is the surest way to suffering.

Stop thinking and start again, but this time, make it a 100% commitment

Find the root cause of your anxiety and eliminate it. The root of my anxiety was feeling exposed and always afraid of being judged. This made me supress many aspects of my authentic self and it was only when I treated the root cause that things got better. The way I dealt with it was meditation, setting goals, keeping my promises to myself, being social, trying to be as authentic as I could. Out of these the most important was probably meditation and socializing in my case. The anxiety is still present, but I've made signifigant improvements in my mood and confidence.