Hansu

Lately I have been deconstructing my thoughts and trying to see what they really are, and as a result I have began doubting if there is subconscious and conscious mind altogether When I have an impulse for food or alcohol, they are really really easy for me to spot. Why? Because a second or two before I get that impulse, a vivid image flashes before my minds eye. When I want greasy food like McDonalds, I see my local provider flash in front of my eyes. Then I focus on my thoughts, a second or two later the impulse hits me, I feel the impulse, feel the need to get McDonalds, deconstruct the thought as impulse, become aware of its root cause(s) and immediately lose my hunger for fast food. But a few days ago, I was not aware of my impulses. I was not aware that when I focus, almost every thought have a vivid mental image linked to them that flash during or just before that thought. I thought they were in my subconscious mind! I thought I cant see them! Is subconscious mind just a bunch of thoughts you are unaware of? Is it just a fancy term for thoughts that are really hard to notice, but which you can if you focus enough?

Ill be looking up this

We want to change the world. Ye. We self-actualizers have the best tools, means to speak with other actualizers and the best material to lead our society to the right direction But isn't it a little early to think about this problem? Why not let it fly and be off our minds? Shouldn't we focus on problems that lead to a society where we can weed this problem of fakery out?

Ah, alright. Makes sense now, thanks!

I got to experience a glimpse of this as I realized that I don't have a food or alcohol addiction, but I have a childhood vow that if I have money, I MUST go to the store. As soon as I began to work on my "I must go to the store" vow, my food and alcohol addictions vanished. All my life I was told that these addictions come from subconscious, a place I cant reach, and all my life these addictions came from my own conscious mind. I thought it really was food and alcohol addiction, but now I realize that my mind simply took "You must go to the store and... Buy food and alcohol because you are __________" and filled the blank with a bullshit excuse for hurting itself. I feel like this is some of the most important basic things of self-help/spirituality to understand and be aware of, but I dont recollect reading about this anywhere. Have I just been blind? @Markus This makes sense. As long as you dig deep enough and look for the things, you'll discover them. For me, term subconscious is practically dead now. Its like a term you throw around so you have an excuse not to probe and question your mind and thoughts

This kind of policy is legal in USA? Im not saying that Leo is hoax, because I know he is a great teacher but some random jury doesen't know that. Im just wondering how this kind of refund policy is legal unless its outside the time windows according to law regarding refunds

I have diagnosed ADHD and the "Do nothing" technique is by far the most effective and most relaxing meditation technique I have tried. My most spiritual and "ego versus being" disconnection experiences have come from this technique, so I doubt a racing mind is in any way major cause for this technique to be unproductive. Now this is pretty accurate depiction about how you learn to observe your mind and thoughts EDIT: Quote by @Nahm Wait what, really? I thought do nothing is more like suitable for beginners and the more advanced meditators, most suitable for those who yet haven't practiced it no matter whether they are veteran or beginners in meditation?

I tried the exercises for a little over a month, but I just found them tedious and not really helping. My self esteem has gone up ever since reading the book though, but it has not been thanks to the book but thanks to being mindful on my lacks of self-esteem and tearing down mental blocks. Meditation has been a big, big part of this. Many swear on the name of this book, but I guess the technique did not work for me because my lack of self-esteem developed when I was teen and were based mostly on big mental blocks, while the book seems to focus on smaller mental blocks and training your overall subconscious mind. Im not saying its a bad book, but it just didn't work for me

This actually sounds really promising since it takes out biggest reason for my procrastination; "where should I start?" I'll definitely try it out, thanks!

Its been long known technique to increase productivity by setting earlier than due times for your work. For example, if you are a writer and you have contract for a book and contract says due time is in 12 months, then setting an artificial due time of "I will have this book done in 4 months" has been shown to greatly increase your effectiveness and quality of your work, helping you to write faster, polish the work more and avoid procrastination I have tried this with my schoolwork, but it doesen't seem to work. I have tried to set goals for projects a week before they are due, but still I tend to procrastinate and push through the project a day or two before it is due which creates unnecessary stress and lowers the quality of my work. So, how can I trick my brain to think the artificial due times are as real as the actual due times are?

What I meant was to not take advice with face value and take everything with a grain of salt. As you said, to figure nuance and context. Its newbie self-developement realization I made a few weeks ago and just felt like sharing. 100 pages was intended overkill

If an advice is less than 100 pages long, take it with a grain of salt And yeah Im aware of the irony

The first half of this post is about my experience with ego stereotypes, and the question Im looking for answer to is in the last paragraph I had an eye opening experience as I revealed to some of my friends that Im bisexual. While most of them were all fine and dandy with my outcome, a few persons were not. One, female, asked me whether Im actually bi and not "flaming homosexual" which I assume was an assumption made because I don't flirt with people in bars. Her asking me whether I am full on homosexual was all fine in my books, but adding "flaming" in front of the term makes me feel like her understanding of homosexuals is that homosexuals are dumb, raving oversexual feminine men who's lifes revolve around their "flaming homosexuality" identity. First I was offended by this, but then I realized that in our western culture, normal every day men who are homosexuals are really under-represented and media is always making fuzz about those who represent the stereotypical feminine oversexual homosexual who's identity in fact revolves around their homosexuality, and not around their true self. Another person, male, questioned why Im not acting the way I want to act. I asked what he meant with that question, and he said that I should be free with my personality and not care about what others think or say about me. Clearly what his ego saw in me was a stereotypical closet-homosexual and instead of accepting me as the person I am, his ego attempted to persuade me into changing my personality to fit the media created stereotype of "closet homosexuals suddenly being freed from social pressure and turning into the flaming homosexuals" because you know, only men who are feminine and oversexual can enjoy another man's love right? While these moments were pretty enraging when I experienced them, they are a blessing in disguise. I got to experience and extreme case of ego's stereotyping power and how the collective ego works in harmony to turn members of our societies into stereotypes, and how it could be very harming for individuals in our society who do pick up these ridiculous identities instead of discovering their true self. Problem is, its easy to be aware of how my friends stereotyped me. Its difficult to understand how I am myself doing this to other people and how Im stereotyping people based on their social standing, outlooks etc. Of course I can continue observing other people and myself, staying aware of the possible stereotypes I and others make in our everyday life, but what Im looking for is experience in form of books or video. Something that can give me a boost as I begin to build awareness around this problem. And it would be really great if someone with likewise story could share their experience in this thread Thanks!

Well, fuck. Its hard to admit it but you might be right. As much as I hate saying that I would like to behave like the said stereotype, I might actually like behaving so. I guess I have to try out being a "flamboyant homosexual" before I know what I actually want. I mean, what can I lose? I might be a jackass for a year, but live happily for 40 years. But if I suppress openness to the possibilities, then there is 99% chance that I live unhappy for 40 years. And who remembers if I am a jackass for a year? Nobody! As for what you mentioned about shadow work, I think Im going indulge the book Shadow Dance as my next spiritual step Thank you, and Nahm, for everything you have written in this thread. This is life changing material

@tsuki I guess stereotyping is just natural and does have its place in our thought patterns, and there is no way or good reason to get rid of them. Its just sad how stereotypes are causing so much suffering in our world. It baffles me how we basically eradicated the nerd stereotype out of our western world while we turned liking the same sex into an identity with set attributes and personality traits. But I believe what you said, that it has its merits, maybe one of the merits is that stereotypes are temporary, and fade away with time just like the nerd stereotype did? I actually do want to try psychedelics, but its bad time for me as Im currently starting out on my dream job which I do not want ruined by having drugs marking on my records. Maybe in a year or two, when Im valuable enough that my company don't want to lose me over a petty trip @Nahm Now this, this is some next level shit. First I thought this paragraph was the regular claim about the entity being one and all and not the ego, but more I think about this more I accept and understand the idea of one being the one and not the ego. Maybe its a preset idea in my brain about enlightenment, Im not sure. But it is something since I cant stop reading the paragraph again and again So I am them, the hatred for the stereotype, and the stereotype? I am one, and all of them? I am the stereotype and I am not the stereotype? The reason why I dont like this stereotype is because I am this stereotype? Am I resentful because I don't accept myself to be this stereotype? Bulk = The ego me Italic = The "true me" I think it took an hour to write this message. Damn.

@tsuki So, I should continue growing spiritually and being mindful when it comes to stereotyping mind patterns?

Deny working from someone who has been working for 8 hours a day for the past 40 years and just see how happy it makes them. They are happy for maybe 2 months. Then depression comes and they have no idea how to deal and contemplate their emotions.

Trap is whatever you turn into a trap "Don't get stuck on the level of words. A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike a signpost, it points beyond itself." - The Power of Now, page 90

This was life changing realization for me. What helped was that I began to think of these negative thought trains and observe as the went for hours or even days, and then I analyzed whether these thoughts are doing me any good. I knew they do me extreme harm because of how it affects my subconscious and slowly I have been able to drop these negative thoughts effortlessly before they had time to grow into hatred and repetition Its surprising to realize how many of your thoughts throughout the day are about reinforcing imaginary qualities of your own self-image. I'd say its about 99%

Learn to sense insecurity. Tone down your confidence with those people and adopt traits that lets the other person feel superior (with balance, you dont want to become the nice guy) this can be adopting humble behavior and being genuinely interested in the other person, making them aware that they are in fact more superior than you in some areas of life like certain hobby. Also its important to not be too present when interacting other people. Being always present makes others feel like they are being watched and judged, forcing them to be on their toes with you around subconsciously creating negative connections with you. Also remember, that some people may hold wild grudges against you that cant be helped, and they will hate you no matter how you treat them. Books that can help you become more likeable and tone down negative vibes overconfidence can bring: The Flaws of Human Nature (Also helps you understand why someone feels insecure) How to talk to anyone, 92 little tricks What every BODY is saying

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Congrats! Its easy to forget how far you have come, but when it suddenly hits you its the best feeling ever

I have the same problem. Im aware of my addictions, but seems like with addictions awareness alone is not curative. But today I found some insightful ideas on this Leo's video: Im planning to try it with my own addictions. In this video, Leo basically shows you how to do emotional work with quitting addictions which is contrary to what I have been trying, which is getting away from the addictions (avoiding emotional work while trying to get rid of an addiction). But the video doesen't only tell you how to get rid of an addiction, but the way you quit your addictions with the technique described in the video also increase your being in the now, bluntly said generating happiness from nothing. And if you get happiness from nothing, why would you use your phone for "happiness" eh? Hope I helped!

Of course some people see Leo as a manipulator, he is a leader! Its easier to see manipulation in leaders than in individuals, because leaders have to do mass-manipulation instead of individualistic manipulation, latter which is part of a follower-type persons daily life and easier to disguise. But to say that Leo is a scammer is just ignorance. If one tries the techniques Leo teaches and does not find improvement in the area that the technique is supposed to help, its more likely their ego's not wanting to change and not taking the practice seriously, or self-sabotaging whatever results they are trying to get from Leo's advice