caspex

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Posts posted by caspex

  1. Posted

    21 hours ago, EugeneTheSage said:

    I've had a similar problem. Before I liked cooking. But then I moved into the room with an awful common kitchen. I really didn't like to appear in the kitchen and also I needed to run 100m back&forth between the kitchen and my room, so after some time I stopped cooking at all. Actually, I had similar situations for the past 4 years - I never had a kitchen which is clean and neat and had enough space for me to cook. Because of this, my eating habits worsened. Also besides this, the cooking process became irritating for me, I just couldn't wait before the food would be ready.

    However, after initiation into Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya, I started liking the process of cooking. Sadhguru said that when you do Shambhavi, I start liking making "precise movements" and your movements become precise. And it was so for me.

    I am facing the exact problem. Thanks for your input. I'll do spiritual practices that make you love precision.

  4. Posted

    On 16/8/2023 at 3:35 AM, universe said:

    What makes you feel this empty?

    It could be wise to investigate and feel into this more as it seems to be at the root cause of your problem.

     

    You are doing good. Just keep being curious about what that emptiness feeling really is.

    And then find ways to do more valued work, eating out shouldn't break the bank.

    I feel lonely, as if my life is too meek and simple if I don't spend it. Although I have seemed to fix that to a large degree now.

  5. Posted

    On 15/8/2023 at 0:13 PM, Lila9 said:

    Some ideas that come to my mind (from my personal experience, perhaps you will find it helpful):

    1. Maybe make a plan, decide about a realistic amount to spend each month, an amount that will be sufficient enough to meet your needs on one hand, but not to high so you can save some money.

    2. Decide how much of it would be spent on any unhealthy food that you crave, it can be 50% of the money, 70% or 20%, whatever you feel comfortable with at this moment.

    3. Write all your expenses in an excel sheet or anywhere you can document it in a simple and convenient way for you, so you can see at any given moment where you stand at financially.

    4. Find and write down simple and tasty recipes to prepare, there are many simple, tasty and healthy recepies that require you to be only 10-40 minutes in the kitchen. 

    5. Think how you make the process of preparing the food more fun and interesting, maybe put some music or podcasts in the background.

    Cooking and preparing food can be a sensual, creative and meditative process, maybe try to put your attention to the smells, the texture and the feeling of the food against your skin, the sounds of preparing the food, experiment with tastes and various food combinations. Maybe make it more like a play rather than a chore. 

    6. Whatever your goal is (reducing unhealthy food, spending less money, eating more cooked meals per week), start from simple and easy steps that you feel comfortable with and are easy to follow, then gradually and slowly when you get used to it, set bigger goals.

    For example, strat from cooking for only one day in a week, in this day you restrain yourself from buying any unhealthy food, it's helpful to plan during the week the exact dishes that you will cook at that particular day so you will know exactly what to do.

    Do it for as long as you want, it can be for 3 weeks or 3 months, until you expend to two days of cooking per week and so on.

    When you have a good simple and realistic plan that is easy to follow, your chances to succeed with making the changes you wish are highly increasing.

    7. Write down all the obstacles that make it harder for you to make the changes that you wish. Be very specific, it can be internal, psychological and emotional issues or external reasons that you have or don't have control on. Once you write all the obstacles and bring them to your awarness your mind naturally will try to tackle them, you can write down the solutions that come to your mind.

    For example, I found that one of my biggest obstacles is feeling unmotivated during the say. I found that my lack of motivation stems mainly from tiredness and lack of a sufficient sleep so I worked on improving my quality of sleep.

     

    I took your advice and combining it with the previous one, the only obstacle I face is a dirty home and a dirty kitchen. Due to reasons, I am in a home that can house about 5 people but I am living here alone with my little sister. This home is old, requires renovation and frequent repairs, which I don't have the money for. It gets dirty real fast and it would take me maybe 2 hours a day to clean this home. Cleaning just the kitchen is feasible but it's also in need of repairs and gets dirty quick. Furthermore, almost all the lights have died in the kitchen to cooking there are night is simply uninviting. The sewage system is too disgusting for me to do anything about, and I don't think I could do it even if I decided to.

    It seems my spending habit would be fixed if I just fixed my eating habits.

  6. Posted · Edited by Swarnim

    11 minutes ago, Osaid said:

    Interesting, caffeinated?

    I find the cold and carbonated nature of soda to be very neutral, and at times causing bloating and burping (although I haven't had it in a very long time). 

    Something like tea is generally very warming, makes my body itself produce lots of warmth, and makes the digestion feel smoother.

    I also find that if you consume soda alongside something else, you will pretty much always feel it "interacting" or "fighting" with whatever you just consumed, whereas tea seems to just seamlessly combine itself with most foods (but definitely not all, depending on what tea or food you consume).

    I find that any warm beverage like tea or coffee tends to speed up digestion and make it much more smoother and efficient. Coffee, in particular, has very potent energetic effects, which are completely unrelated to just caffeine. For example, it is proven to significantly increase ketones for those practicing ketosis.

    But, your body might actually just be different. I mean, in my case, caffeine doesn't have much of an effect on me. I also heard that carbonation (CO2) can actually have certain health benefits, so yeah, test it yourself.

    I definitely see what you mean! That's very interesting and I agree with you on the soda fighting part. Tea(chai)(without sugar) kills my hunger so I drink a bunch during fasts.

    Caffeine has the expected effect on me. As described, it wakes me up and I can't go to sleep if I take it within 8 hours of sleeping. It lifts up my energy which helps me focus better on contemplation.

    And yeah, I just checked and it does contain caffeine. 8.3mg/100g.

  7. Posted

    6 hours ago, Osaid said:

    Find foods that are simultaneously all of what I list below:

    -Filling

    -Comforting

    -Nutritious

    Foods with fiber will keep you satisfied for longer.

    Also, REALLY pay attention to how food makes you feel. Seriously weigh out what IS and ISN'T worth eating. Certain foods will make your stomach feel heavy and agitated (if they are overly spicy or low quality). Like, if you pay attention, certain foods will LITERALLY taint your consciousness. It will make your conscious experience, and thus, your conscious reality, dull and agitated. This should be taken very seriously. Pay genuine attention to HOW bad food is ACTUALLY bad, don't just intellectually tell yourself "oh this is bad because my doctor told me" or something of the sort. Notice how it is bad in your own experience for yourself.

    On the other hand, certain foods will taste really good and make you feel full at the same time.

    Really, if you just master your diet and health, you won't need to spend anything for comfort, easier said than done of course, but I've kind of given you basic and practical ideas as to how to start doing that quickly.

    I did this and saw that a glass of Soda actually makes me feel more aware like tea, that's why I drink it in the first place. It doesn't feel bad to me if it's only a glass, yet I want to avoid that much sugar. Maybe I am just not aware enough yet to see the subtle effects it has.

    I'll do what you said for a week and give you a report. You don't have to read it I am just doing that so I can commit

  8. Posted

    Yup. I had it one day in the later afternoon just sitting and chilling. I call it lucidity. I took it deeper as time went on. I thought, "What- How am I here?", then it evolved to, "Wait, why am I existing?", and then, "HOW'S ANYTHING EVEN GOING ON?". It literally feels like everything has just suddenly started existing, and it's the weirdest thing ever that anything is at all.

    If this feeling was a bud, then Leo's guides exercises to realizing you are god bloomed it.

  10. Posted · Edited by Swarnim

     

    1 hour ago, Princess Arabia said:

    I love you dearly, and you're a sweetheart, you provide a lot of wisdom on this forum and your YT channel is great. But what you just said just sounds mechanical with no indepth meaning and sounds moralistic. You didn't really think this through and just sounds like the right thing to say. Sex is just sex. It was invented so our selfish asses would have an incentive to reproduce. If it weren't for the feel good aspect there would only be one person in creation, all alone waiting to get screwed.

    Outside of porn many people are having unhealthy sex which lacks deep connection and bonding. What is twisted is relative to you and your agenda in life. You only find it twisted because it doesn't suit your taste. There are a lot of sexual perversions happening outside of porn and it's not just horny teenagers that consume it. There are lots of things people find the need to do that isn't moral or ethical. Porn isn't the culprit, it's just a means to an end. I could probably list a dozen more twisted things people are doing to fullfil their need for love other than porn. People are ashamed of their own sexual fantasies so they demonize porn as a way to compensate. The same way they like to demonize gays. And just to make it clear, I'm aware of the sex-trafficking involved, but that's not the issue I'm addressing here.

    Feeling the need to 'watch that shit' is equivalent to feeling the need to finding love outside of you in whatever way, shape or form you have chosen. We are the ones collectively creating this so-called "shitty world" then criticizing our own creation. Showing people love and compassion goes a lot further than judging and criticizing. Love you

    my bad, I see now that I was complaining instead of taking responsibility

  11. Posted

    There's something inherently fucked up with mass-producing sexual fantasies as if it's some sort of work. It would take a bad toll on the actors even if they weren't being exploited. Sex in its healthy form is when both the recipient have deep respect and emotional connection with each other, which is not present, and can't be, in most porn. A lot of it is perverted and you'll find way too much that's simply twisted.

    I understand if you are very horny teenager who can't control their hormones watching this shit but you must leave this at some point. It's not about you contributing to this industry, it's about why you feel the need to watch this shit at all.

  12. Posted

    I don't get much money each month and it's not regular or guaranteed. I don't have to pay my bills really but I do have to use the money to buy essentials of living. Even so, I spend my money everyday to buy things to eat. I spend so much on these things while I can just buy a ton of Vegetables (very cheap in india) and cook them on my own each day (I have the time). This would reduce my costs by 40%-60%. The problem is that I feel empty if I don't spend on a certain. By the end of the day, there's a massive urge to buy something to eat. I feel lonely if I don't spend on a particular day. I don't know how to fix this. This compulsion is genuinely eating into my money and even my savings right now.

    It's really hard, I stop for a while but then get back into it. I have the time but not the energy to cook food for myself, I just want to buy this cheap-in-short-term and unhealthy instant foods and get that dopamine hit. It's so shit for my health as well.

  13. Posted · Edited by Swarnim
    spelling

    15 hours ago, ZenSwift said:

    Yeah I'm going to abstain from watching a movie like this. My mind is way too sensitive, a lot of times I notice that my mind really can't separate reality from fantasy. I'll lose sleep, and get terrible dreams. And I sure as shit don't want it to show up in an LSD trip. 

     

    As funny as it sounds, to this day I cannot shower in peace because my mind is imagining M3gan on the other side of the curtains ready to kill me. It's been months since I've seen the film. 

    Yeah man it's the same for me but only when I do spiritual practices. My sensitivity only drops to what's normal to others when I completely abstain from all forms of spirituality and go completely materialistic.

  15. Posted

    1 hour ago, Buck Edwards said:

    That's a good explanation yet from a pragmatic standpoint, being compassionate to people and being honest and humble is not as easy as it seems to be. 

    In fact in the past, being compassionate to people resulted into huge financial and personal costs to me. I felt like a fool. 

    There's a heaven and earth difference between wanting to be the best person for the world versus actually going about doing it. The field work when it comes to such things might leave you with a sour taste in the mouth. It can be incredibly draining, frustrating to be this "saint" of a person yet not be completely ripped off and damaged by people who take a mile when you give them an inch. 

    Actually the field work is quite rewarding. After all, it feels good to be good. What you said seems more of a mechanical process. I tend to stay within my limits in what I can tolerate when it comes to things like this. I am very vary of exploitation.

    The reason I asked you to develop other aspects of integrity is because having a strong character gives you confidence and courage into who you are and what your life truly is. Surely what I said is not the best way to go about it, but the solution is having a strong character, however may you achieve it.

    It may seem unrelated to your problem but feeling that safety and certainty in your heart actually makes you so much more honest. I have experienced it many times. I see this as the only permanent solution and speculating about what lies are and why we lie is a waste of time. This is because it's such a nuanced topic that it's way better to simply develop a strong character.

    Deeds make the person. 'Person' not in a societal sense, but in a self-esteem sense. If your deeds are such that you believe on ALL levels of your being that your deeds are 'pure', then you have unparalleled confidence akin to a mountain.
    Because how we view ourselves is based on our deeds. And whether we like it or not, we all know deep down how pure the deeds we did were.

    This is why I think one should start purifying their deeds if one wants strength of character.

  17. Posted

    You still need to dissolve your identification though. You misunderstood what the self is and started destroying things essential to your psychology. Sit down and contemplate who you are before you try to surrender anything.

    Of course what you think is the self right now will still remain, and it will evolve and get better at withstanding the energy and openness of higher states of consciousness, but there will be no self.

  18. Posted · Edited by Swarnim

    I have never traveled outside my country so take my advice with a gain of salt. But I believe, and what I want to personally do, is to visit the country and stay there for a good while soaking the culture. I seek the same thing as you in the post and I believe that to truly understand and soak in any culture you need to actually be present there for some time. Visiting a mimic of the actual place would not influence you as much as the real deal. When you physically travel, your mind really says that you are truly in a different country and not some copy of the actual culture. I don't think that it is possible for a copy of the culture inside another, to remain unaffected by the larger country.

    Although just traveling inside your country with many different cultures would still open your mind, I see traveling the actual globe as far more superior.

  19. Posted · Edited by Swarnim

    You know all the moral stuff like helping others, being kind, being considerate and compassionate, donating, etc.? Do some of those things out of the goodness of your heart. Like start helping others more often, go out of your way to help out homeless people, donate to charity. These are very physical tasks so you can just go and do them without thinking much. Keep doing such things, all the while comparing yourself to the most compassionate humans in history, noting how selfish you are in comparison. (Do this for humbleness.)

    What this will do is build character and integrity in you. At some point, you would literally feel as if you are an immovable mountain. With such strength and courage within you, being honest would be child's play.
    You're scared about being honest because internally you are not strong enough, you are not brave enough.

    The solution is to build character. Which also means slowly leaving all the petty shit you do everyday.

    Honesty is just one of the good values to have. But these values don't come individually, they always come in a bundle because they are all interdependent on each other.

  20. Posted

    There is definitely some truth to your critique. Leo's teachings seem to not put forth the dimension of 'action' and 'doing' in the listener as much as they do with 'mind'. While Leo's teachings not working for you has to do with who you are, it's not merely that. People here should be less biased and see that maybe there's some truth to what you say.

     

  21. Posted · Edited by Swarnim

    Don't practice this shit if you are not doing spiritual practices, it's a lot more harder that way.

    Bhramhacharya would give you the same benefits + more. If you are going to leave ejaculation, might as well get over sexual attraction altogether.

    Bhramhacharya done properly(with spiritual practices) is nearly not that hard.

    Semen retention seems like constantly dangling your favorite food in front of your face while you are on a water fast. It'd be easier if you remove the food.

    Counter-intuitively, letting go of all orgasm opens you up to even better states of pleasure. (Through spiritual practices)

  24. Posted

    I mostly use the world 'realization' instead of 'awakening' because that's more accurate in most contexts. I only use 'awakening' when the state in question literally feels like waking up from a deep sleep, becoming more lucid. Awakening seems to me like a very literal word.

    Using 'awakening' to describe simply peering through some relative illusion, or discovering a new way of life, is not using it literally, which I think one should. In such cases 'realization' is more accurate.