Tistepiste

Amazing. I will read this post a couple of times to really let it sink in and carry it with me. Thanks a lot for this. Have you reached the state of being "enlightened"? "one day I sat down on the cushion and laughed and cried for a few days, completely relieved by the knowing (felt like I remembered something I already knew) that there is only one thing." Would you describe this experience as reaching that state? And "there is only one thing" - Referring to a specific entity or being?

That is actually not true. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-624-x/2013001/article/c-g/11855-c-g-01-eng.htm Edit: This is only Canada, but look for proof / graphs online you will find the same pattern.

Thank you very much for this elaborate response. I am planning on doing daily morning meditation. How is this helping you in your daily life? Do you still every really worry? I have been diagnosed with mild-OCD so I have a tendency for being very sensitive to impulses and over-thinking in repeating patterns. I am sure I can cure myself of this though. Also, addressing the increased heartbeat and shortage of breath, you think these are normal occurring symptoms? Nothing to worry about? However I am very aware that I have unwanted and intrusive thoughts going on, I acknowledge them but I have a hard time of letting go. Certainly when there is no closure. That is my main problem. I try to make sense out of something that doesn't make sense to me. And it can be very very exhausting. There was this one specific thought - criticism and I carried it with me for years, until one day I decided I found a good enough counter argument which enabled me to refute any energy I gave to these thoughts and it went away like *bam*. But this makes me dependent on very exhausting cognitive power in order to try to convince myself of the unimportance of certain thoughts. They pop up like parasites.