Used the Video Highlight to summarize Leo's How Happiness Works video, here is the result:
00:04 Introduction
The speaker introduces the topic of happiness and explains that he will be discussing practical ways to achieve true happiness.
00:30 Understanding Happiness
The speaker discusses the importance of understanding what happiness is and how it works. He emphasizes that happiness is not obvious and can be counterintuitive.
What is Happiness?
00:36 Happiness is a tricky and counterintuitive thing.
00:58 Pursuing happiness in the wrong ways can lead to misery.
01:09 Not all people are made happy by the same things.
Philosophy of Happiness
01:33 Understanding happiness is a feature of doing proper philosophy.
01:54 Wisdom appreciates that the good life is not obvious or default.
02:20 Counterintuitiveness is an important aspect of achieving true happiness.
Unconditional Happiness
04:14 The notion of unconditional happiness is a ridiculous ideal in practice.
04:56 Human happiness is highly conditional and fragile, even for spiritual people.
03:29 Practical Ways to Achieve True Happiness
The speaker provides concrete lists of things that will make you happy and things that will not make you happy. He emphasizes the importance of setting up your lifestyle in a way that allows you to achieve true happiness.
Things That Will Make You Happy
02:05 Having meaningful relationships with family, friends, and community.
02:36 Engaging in activities that challenge you but also provide enjoyment.
02:58 Helping others through volunteering or acts of kindness.
03:50 Cultivating gratitude through daily practices such as journaling or meditation.
Things That Will Not Make You Happy
02:20 Pursuing materialistic pursuits such as wealth or status.
03:18 Comparing yourself to others and seeking external validation.
03:29 Engaging in activities that provide short-term pleasure but long-term pain, such as drug use or excessive drinking.
00:00 Conclusion
The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding what true happiness is and how to achieve it. He encourages listeners to apply the practical tips provided in this episode to set up their lifestyle for true happiness.
05:34 Proper Living and Happiness
In this section, Leo talks about the importance of living properly to achieve happiness. He explains that there is a right and wrong way to live, and that conservatives and liberals both have half-truths when it comes to this topic.
The Importance of Proper Living
05:53 Proper living is crucial for happiness.
06:16 There is a right and wrong way to live.
06:40 Conservatives stress that there is one proper way to live, while liberals believe that everyone has their own right way to live.
07:02 It's easier to make yourself miserable than happy.
Virtuous Living vs. Chasing Pleasure
09:02 Happiness comes from living virtuously, not chasing pleasure.
09:26 Aristotle said "happiness is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character."
09:46 Success does not equal happiness; success achieved through unethical means will not bring happiness.
Success vs. Character
10:09 Our culture conflates success with happiness, but success achieved through bad character will not bring happiness.
10:24 Many successful celebrities lack good character.
11:00 Finding Your Purpose
In this section, Leo discusses the importance of finding your purpose in life. He explains how having a purpose can give your life meaning and help you achieve fulfillment.
The Importance of Having a Purpose
11:18 Having a purpose gives your life meaning.
11:36 Without a purpose, life can feel empty and meaningless.
11:54 A purpose can help you achieve fulfillment.
How to Find Your Purpose
12:12 Finding your purpose requires self-reflection and introspection.
12:30 Ask yourself what you're passionate about and what you want to contribute to the world.
12:48 Experiment with different things until you find something that resonates with you.
13:45 Overcoming Fear
In this section, Leo talks about fear and how it can hold us back from achieving our goals. He explains how to overcome fear by facing it head-on.
The Problem with Fear
14:03 Fear can hold us back from achieving our goals.
14:21 Fear is often irrational and based on false beliefs.
How to Overcome Fear
14:39 Face your fears head-on.
14:57 Take small steps towards overcoming your fears.
15:15 Recognize that failure is a natural part of the learning process.
11:06 The Pursuit of Happiness
In this section, the speaker discusses how happiness is difficult to achieve in modern society due to the lack of natural forces that force people to live virtuously. He also explains how capitalism has distorted our idea of happiness and incentivizes seeking quick solutions rather than genuine happiness.
The Importance of Natural Forces
11:30 Our ancestors had natural forces that forced them to live in proper ways.
11:55 These natural forces cultivated good character and work ethic, leading to true happiness.
12:18 Modern society lacks these natural forces, making it easy for people to fall into an artificial lifestyle.
Capitalism's Distortion of Happiness
12:36 Capitalism distorts our idea of happiness by incentivizing seeking quick solutions rather than genuine happiness.
13:18 Market forces prioritize selling fake solutions over helping people find true happiness.
13:45 Advertising a solution for developing a great character won't pay off as much as advertising a get-rich-quick scheme or rapid weight loss solution.
True Happiness Takes Time
14:09 True happiness cannot be purchased; it is the result of a well-conditioned mind and lifestyle that takes years to cultivate.
15:04 Neglecting personal investigation into what makes you happy can make it harder to start cultivating true happiness later in life. However, it's never too late to start.
16:21 Pursuing Happiness
In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of pursuing happiness and how to go about it.
Contemplating Happiness
16:21 The pursuit of happiness involves contemplating two questions: what is happiness in general for all humans, and what specifically makes me happy.
16:40 It's important not to just speculate or read books about happiness. Instead, observe how happiness functions in your own life by learning through observation.
17:02 Observing what makes you happy and what doesn't is an exercise that will help build your character and lead to virtuous living.
Importance of Observation
17:12 The observation process is crucial for deriving answers that will reshape your mind, change your priorities, desires, and value system. This process will ultimately lead to your happiness.
17:33 By observing yourself being miserable through old values and behaviors, you'll eventually develop the motivation needed to change those things.
18:28 Empirical testing is required to distinguish between the idea of doing something versus how it actually makes you feel.
Avoiding Traps
20:33 You can fall in love with the idea of something but not enjoy it when you actually experience it. For example, working at a big game development studio may seem like a dream job but may not be enjoyable in reality.
20:16 It's important to be honest with yourself about what truly makes you happy because investing time and energy into something that doesn't make you happy can lead to denial due to sunk cost fallacy.
21:01 Working on Indie Games vs AAA Studios
In this section, the speaker shares his personal experience of working on indie games versus working at a big game development studio.
Personal Experience
21:01 The speaker fell in love with the idea of working at a big budget game development studio, but when he actually started developing his own games and got hired by a big studio, he realized that working in a big studio environment was not enjoyable.
21:28 He found more enjoyment working on his own indie games before getting hired to work at one of these AAA studios.
22:09 Customizing Happiness
In this section, the speaker discusses how to customize happiness based on an individual's personality type and level of development. The importance of taking into account one's genetic temperament, talents, skills, strengths, and weaknesses is emphasized.
Discovering What Makes You Happy
22:28 Meditation may not make everyone happy as it depends on an individual's personality type and genetic temperament.
23:12 It is important to consider an individual's personality type and level of development when determining what makes them happy.
24:26 Spiritual teachers may have a different level of development and maturity than their followers, which can affect their advice on happiness.
25:15 Taking personality tests such as Myers-Briggs, Big Five, or Enneagram can be helpful in identifying an individual's strengths, weaknesses, temperament, and core personality preferences.
Importance of Ambition
26:37 Ambition is a crucial factor in determining whether spirituality will make someone happy or not.
26:48 An individual's genetic temperament and personality influence their level of ambition.
Conclusion
Customizing happiness requires taking into account an individual's unique characteristics such as their personality type, level of development, genetic temperament, talents, skills, strengths, weaknesses and ambitions. Personality tests such as Myers-Briggs or Enneagram can help identify these characteristics.
27:27 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Spiritual Path
In this section, Leo Gura discusses various factors that one should consider when choosing a spiritual path.
Ambition
27:35 People have different levels of ambition.
27:51 Ambitious people require an active lifestyle with more goals and materialistic seeking.
28:15 One should decide how ambitious they are before choosing a spiritual path.
Temperament
28:26 People have different temperaments, which can be liberal or conservative.
28:45 Conservatives need order and regimentation while liberals need variety, adventure, experience, and spontaneity.
Artistic Inclination
29:05 Some people are extremely artistic and cannot live without making art.
29:12 Others do not care about art at all.
Risk Tolerance
29:21 People have different levels of risk tolerance.
29:42 Risk-takers make risky investments and take big risks in business or adventurous sports.
30:02 Others hate taking risks as it stresses them out.
Masculinity/Femininity
30:20 One's level of masculinity/femininity plays a huge role in choosing a spiritual path.
Solitude
31:05 One should consider how much solitude they need before having children.
Other Factors to Consider
How much time do you need in nature?
How much success do you need to be fulfilled?
How much work and career do you need?
How much impact do you want to have in the world?
How much of a leadership role do you need to be in?
How much autonomy do you need in your life?
How much learning and intellectualism do you need?
32:48 The Importance of Self-Knowledge
In this section, Leo discusses the importance of self-knowledge and how it relates to happiness.
The Role of Spirituality in Happiness
32:48 Most humans don't need spirituality because they're not very mature or developed.
33:07 Doing spirituality without being ripe will actually make you miserable and unhappy.
33:19 The key to happiness is having a deep knowing of yourself, which comes from observing yourself and amassing life experience.
Exposing Yourself to More Experience
33:39 Young people may find it difficult to know themselves due to lack of life experience.
33:56 To hasten the process of self-understanding, expose yourself to more experiences.
34:11 Older people should reflect on their life experiences and draw conclusions from them.
Pleasure vs. Satisfaction/Contentment
36:09 Chasing raw pleasure will not make you truly happy.
36:22 Your brain has two different neurochemical systems for pleasure (dopamine system) and satisfaction/contentment (serotonin system).
36:54 Dopamine provides short-term motivation for raw pleasure, while serotonin provides long-term satisfaction/contentment.
37:16 How to Design Your Happy Life
In this section, Leo discusses how to design your happy life by understanding your personality and values.
Understanding Your Personality
34:52 Older people tend to be happier because they understand themselves better and put themselves into situations that suit their personality.
35:25 Young people often do things that don't make them happy because they're trying to fit in or conform.
35:31 It's not possible to be happy when you're fighting with yourself.
Identifying Your Values
37:29 To design your happy life, you need to identify your values and what's important to you.
37:43 Your values should guide your decisions and actions.
37:55 You can identify your values by reflecting on what makes you happy and fulfilled.
Creating a Vision for Your Life
38:10 Once you've identified your values, create a vision for your life that aligns with them.
38:24 Your vision should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
38:38 Use your vision as a guide for making decisions and taking action towards creating the life you want.
37:51 Pursuing Happiness
In this section, the speaker discusses how chasing material possessions and short-term pleasures is not a sustainable strategy for happiness. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of cultivating one's character and living virtuously as a long-term game.
Short-Term vs Long-Term Game
37:51 People often jump from one new thing to another, never truly satisfied.
38:05 Cultivating your character and living virtuously leads to long-lasting stable happiness.
38:31 Chasing material achievements will not lead to true happiness.
Success vs Happiness
39:05 Basic needs such as food, safety, shelter, sex, rest, and money are necessary but not sufficient for happiness.
40:00 Massive success does not equate to happiness because it often neglects the development of one's character and mind.
40:33 Developing one's character can be a limiting factor in achieving massive success because it requires being less ruthless.
Cultivating Happiness
40:48 Happiness requires cultivation through long-term investment in oneself.
41:08 This investment generates meaning and makes you feel good about your life.
41:56 The happy life is about having your life well put together by aligning with your highest values and cultivating a spiritual connection.
Material Possessions vs Meaningful Actions
42:34 Physical objects do not produce much happiness compared to meaningful actions that align with your values.
42:58 Pursuing physical objects such as fancy watches does not lead to lasting happiness.
43:40 The Importance of Material Possessions
In this section, Leo talks about the importance of material possessions and how they can affect our happiness.
Material Possessions and Happiness
43:40 To change your mindset, you need to go through the process of realizing that material possessions won't make you happy.
44:05 As you mature and develop, less material things will make you happy. Spirituality will become more important.
44:41 If you get into spirituality too young, you may think that material possessions won't make you happy but deep down crave them due to karma.
45:33 Pleasure is not sustainable or dependable for happiness. A meaningful life generates gradual stable happiness.
46:44 Creating a Meaningful Life
In this section, Leo discusses how to create a meaningful life and find true happiness.
Finding Your Values
46:44 Building a life of happiness requires maturing and evolving your priorities and desires.
47:22 You need to know what your top values are in order to create a happy life.
47:47 People have different values such as truth, love, companionship, family, tradition or power.
Developing High-Quality Desires
48:09 Actively engaging with your lower conscious desires can help improve the quality of your desires.
48:30 Burning through Karma is an episode that explains how to consciously engage with lower conscious desires in order to bootstrap yourself towards higher set of desires.
Manipulation vs. Authenticity
Pay attention to manipulation as it's easy to manipulate your way into happiness rather than being authentic.
48:47 Conclusion
In this section, Leo concludes the video by summarizing the importance of finding your values and developing high-quality desires to create a meaningful life.
Happiness is Aligned with Your Values
48:47 Ultimately, happiness is about living in a way that's aligned with your highest values.
47:12 The Life Purpose Course can help you find your top 10 values and figure out what kind of life is most meaningful to you.
00:00 Pursuing Short-Term Goals
Pursuing short-term goals that don't build long-term capital in your life is a sure way to make yourself unhappy.
Pursuing Short-Term Goals
00:00 Watching a comedy show or playing video games without investing anything into building a meaningful life will not bring long-term happiness.
00:00 Transforming short-term goals into something meaningful can help build long-term capital and meaning into your life.
00:00 Chasing pleasure, dopamine hits, material objects, fame as a substitute for love, approval seeking, trying to be cool and fit in are generally things that will make you unhappy.
00:00 Being Unhappy
There are many things that can make you unhappy.
Things That Make You Unhappy
00:00 Fitting in and being cool doesn't make you happy.
00:00 Lying, cheating, theft, deception, exploitation, fraud and criminality all these things will make you very unhappy.
00:00 Being forced to do immoral things at work or hurting others will also lead to unhappiness.
00:00 Doing work you find meaningless will ultimately lead to unhappiness.
54:56 Factors that Make You Unhappy
This section discusses various factors that can make a person unhappy.
Overworking and Cheating
54:56 Being overworked, overstressed, and overly busy will make you unhappy.
55:07 Trying to create success through cheating, fraud, and shortcuts will also make you unhappy.
Desperation and Neediness
55:19 Building houses of cards through get-rich-quick schemes or investments will lead to unhappiness.
55:43 Desperation, neediness, slacking off, being lazy or in a rut will all contribute to unhappiness.
Stagnation
56:07 Doing the same thing repeatedly for years without change leads to stagnation and misery.
56:28 Being stuck in a dead-end job or relationship that is going nowhere contributes to unhappiness.
Lack of Ambition
56:48 Working menial jobs with no ambition towards higher things leads to mediocrity and an unfulfilling life.
57:28 Not having any ambitions in life is hell for some people.
Disorganization and Gluttony
57:34 Having a dirty house or being highly disorganized contributes to unhappiness.
57:50 Gluttony and bad health are sure ways of being miserable in life.
Helplessness and Addiction
59:51 Feeling helpless or powerless with your emotions leads to victimhood mentality which makes you unhappy.
Addiction such as porn, sex, drugs, alcohol weed food whatever your thing is doing things compulsively will make you unhappy.
01:00:27 How to be Happy by Avoiding Unhappiness
In this section, Leo talks about the things that make people unhappy and how to avoid them.
Toxic Family Situation
01:00:27 Tolerating a toxic family situation will double your misery.
01:00:49 Leaving a toxic family situation is the ultimate solution for happiness.
01:01:06 Being completely out of a toxic family situation is not necessary for happiness. Taking action towards leaving it will make you happy.
Cults
01:02:42 Joining a cult is enslaving and controlling. It's going to be very toxic.
Conflict and Fighting with People
01:02:58 Constant conflict with someone close to you will make you unhappy.
01:03:17 Find peace with people close to you or leave, even if it's your closest family or children.
Abusive Relationships
01:03:29 Abusive relationships (verbal, emotional, physical abuse) have to change. You can't meditate your way through them.
Negative Friends or People
01:03:57 Hanging out with negative, abusive, unconscious, and immature friends or people will bring you down with their depression negativity.
Not Setting Boundaries
01:04:11 Not setting boundaries with people makes you a doormat which is a surefire way to be miserable.
Naive Selflessness
01:04:33 Naive selflessness where you sacrifice yourself for others won't work. You need to be appropriately selfish.
Inauthenticity
01:05:01 Being inauthentic fundamentally makes you very unhappy in life. Find your authentic self and play it out to the hilt. Stop sacrificing your authentic self for the sake of others in the name of selflessness or compassion.
Trying to Change People Who Don't Want to Change
01:05:15 Trying to change people who don't want to change is hell.
01:05:50 Factors that Affect Happiness
In this section, Leo discusses various factors that can affect happiness and lead to unhappiness.
Unhappiness Factors
Lack of education, dogma, ideology, conformity, bad philosophy such as nihilism 01:05:50
Mental illness such as bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorders, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder 01:07:46
High emotional volatility and drama 01:07:12
Judgment criticism and blame 01:08:01
Perfectionism 01:09:04
Online Toxicity
Arguing debating and trolling on social media platforms will make you unhappy.01:09:18
Negative Emotions
Hatred anger intolerance and bigotry will make you unhappy
Narcissism arrogance and ego will make you unhappy
Emotional immaturity will make you unhappy
Regret guilt shame and self-hatred will make you unhappy
Lack of love fear and security anxiety and paranoia will make you unhappy.01:10:02
Responsibility Management
-Taking on too much responsibility can lead to unhappiness. You need to know how much responsibility you're capable of handling at any given point in your life. This varies depending on how strongly developed your mental resilience is.01:10:34
01:10:56 Living a Happy Life
In this section, Leo talks about the things that can make us unhappy in life and how to avoid them.
Factors That Can Make You Unhappy
01:11:04 Living life too strictly and regimented.
01:11:28 Tolerating bad or wrong situations instead of changing them.
01:11:40 Sweeping things under the rug, running away from things, and avoiding challenges.
01:12:04 Not taking care of your hygiene or hating your physical appearance.
01:12:35 Obligations that you don't believe in.
01:12:54 Marrying the wrong person or having a miserable marriage.
01:13:06 Foolish speculative investments that lose all your money.
01:13:24 Chronic loud noises and acoustic chaos.
Dealing with Unhappiness
01:11:40 Change bad situations instead of tolerating them.
It may be painful but it's worth it in the long run.
Avoiding change will only make you more miserable over time.
Don't let self-doubts hold you back from making changes.
01:12:04 Take care of your hygiene and accept your physical appearance.
Acceptance is key to being happy with yourself.
Don't let societal standards dictate how you feel about yourself.
-01:12:35 Avoid obligations that don't align with your beliefs.
Doing something just because others expect it can lead to unhappiness.
-01:12:54 Choose wisely when getting married.
A good marriage can bring happiness while a bad one can lead to misery.
Invest in your marriage and work on communication.
-01:13:24 Avoid chronic loud noises and acoustic chaos.
These can cause stress and anxiety, leading to unhappiness.
01:16:08 Unhappiness Traps
Leo talks about different traps that can lead to unhappiness. He explains how some of these traps are unrealistic and impossible, while others are self-destructive.
Random Loud Noises
Living with random loud noises for months or years can drive you crazy.
Your nervous system will never adjust to it.
Wearing earplugs and headphones may not help.
Unrealistic Expectations
Promising unconditional happiness is a fantasy.
Making promises that you cannot deliver will make you unhappy.
Pursuing impossible things is a recipe for failure.
Doing Impossible Things
Some projects or activities are simply impossible, but we keep doing them anyway.
Recognize when something is unfeasible and move on.
Sometimes we do two things that are contradictory with each other, making it impossible to succeed at both.
Low Spiral Development
Low spiral development generally leads to unhappiness.
Being Petty and Small-Minded
Being petty and small-minded will make you unhappy.
Selfishness vs. Selflessness
Being selfish is the ultimate way to make yourself unhappy.
Naive selflessness where you sacrifice yourself for the whole world will also make you unhappy.
Find a balance between selfishness and selflessness.
01:21:17 How to be Happy
In this section, Leo Gura talks about things that make people unhappy and happy.
Things That Make You Unhappy
Excessive materialism
Comparing yourself to others
Fear of failure
Excessive spiritual seeking or trying to escape the material domain
Things That Make You Happy
Anything aligned with your top values
Putting your talents and strengths to use
Being useful and productive
Developing new skills
Anything that makes your mind stronger
Doing excellent work
There's a difference between just work and excellent work. Excellence brings joy.
Doing innovative and impactful work
Big projects if you're very ambitious then big projects will make you happy.
Being Your Own Boss can make you very happy if you're entrepreneurial and very independent-minded.
Being in a leadership position can make you very happy if you want to be in that kind of position.
Helping others and contributing to the Improvement of society.
Proper time to rest and relax and to de-stress is crucial for happiness.
Human intimacy companionship, friendship, deep conversations, building your own family (if it's meaningful for you).
Socialization if you're a social kind of person.
Charity giving gifts, being nice to people. It's one of the easiest ways to make yourself happy is just be nicer to people be more charitable to people.
Setting boundaries with people will make you a lot happier.
Personal Experience
Leo shares his personal experience on how he found happiness by being his own boss instead of working for someone else. He also emphasizes the importance of finding out what makes us happy as individuals.
Time Alone
If you are an introverted person, lots of time alone is necessary for happiness.
Flow State
Anything that puts you into a flow state is your key to happiness. For example, for Leo, driving puts him into a flow state.
01:27:09 How to be Happy
In this section, Leo talks about different ways to be happy in life. He emphasizes the importance of taking control of your life and exercising your power instead of being a victim.
Exercising Your Power
01:27:09 Listen to good music and face difficult challenges.
01:27:34 Develop confidence by exposing yourself to massive experience in whatever field you're insecure in.
01:27:57 Explore life and have new experiences, but be careful not to turn travel into an escape.
Patiently Cultivating a Hobby
01:30:07 Pick one or two hobbies that you patiently invest into over years and decades.
01:30:28 Building some kind of mastery and expertise in this hobby can give you a lot of joy just doing it.
01:30:59 Getting good at something and then exercising that mastered skill is a source of deep happiness.
Simple Ways to Be Happy
01:31:22 Being out in nature is a simple way to be happy.
01:31:48 Physical exercise can raise your happiness by changing your brain chemicals.
01:32:10 Consistently eating tasty but high-quality healthy food can make you happy.
01:32:12 Taking Charge of Your Health
In this section, Leo talks about how taking care of yourself can lead to happiness. He discusses the importance of healthy habits, deep solitude and solo retreats, passion and enthusiasm, humor, and building your own space.
Healthy Habits
01:32:16 After turning your toxic lifestyle into a healthy one, executing unhealthy activities or healthy habits can be rewarding.
Resisting unhealthy food and opting for fruits and vegetables can make you feel good.
Juicing fruits and vegetables can be more satisfying than eating pizza.
Deep Solitude and Solo Retreats
01:32:59 Deep solitude and solo retreats in the middle of the desert or rainforest can be a source of happiness.
Spending time alone in nature can help you connect with yourself.
Passion and Enthusiasm
01:33:27 Living your life with passion, enthusiasm, and inspiration takes effort but is rewarding.
Cultivating ways to re-inspire yourself is important.
Humor
01:33:52 Developing your sense of humor can make you happy.
Exercising humor every day by being playful in communication makes life lighter and more enjoyable.
Building Your Own Space
01:35:21 Cultivating the space where you spend most of your time is important for happiness.
Decorating it, cleaning it up, putting in infrastructure like plants or water fountains makes you feel invested in your space.
Creature comforts like lamps near the bed add convenience features that enhance comfort.
01:37:17 Sources of Happiness
In this section, the speaker discusses various sources of happiness and how to cultivate them.
Philosophy and Self-Actualization
01:37:17 Doing philosophy properly is a source of happiness.
01:37:38 Being aligned with truth, avoiding self-deception, and developing oneself up the spiral are sources of happiness.
01:38:06 Self-actualization work is challenging but satisfying and pays dividends in the long run.
Spirituality
01:38:47 Spiritual practice and connection to God are deep sources of happiness.
01:39:32 Meditation can be a source of deep happiness if developed sufficiently.
01:39:54 Falling in love with oneself can bring profound happiness.
Being Good
01:40:14 Being good is what makes you happy.
01:40:30 Being selfless is a source of deep happiness.
Love and Beauty
01:40:47 Love and beauty are some of the highest forms of happiness.
01:41:17 Appreciation for the beauty of consciousness and reality can bring profound happiness.
Speaker's Personal List
In this section, the speaker shares his personal list of things that make him most happy.
Specific Things That Make The Speaker Happy
Family
01:42:12 Spending time with family brings immense joy to the speaker.
Nature
01:42:21 The beauty and serenity found in nature brings great peace to the speaker.
Learning -01:42:33The process of learning new things brings excitement to the speaker.
Helping Others -[]( t =6162s) Helping others brings a sense of fulfillment to the speaker.
01:42:54 Sources of Happiness
Leo talks about the things that make him happy.
Things that make Leo happy
Creativity and exploring his own mind 00:00
Learning new interesting things 00:00
Being in integrity and championing truth 00:00
Driving and road trips 00:00
More things that make Leo happy
Sitting down in solitude and being unhurried 00:00
Being his own boss and having creative autonomy 00:00
Working on a meaningful project or doing serious work 00:00
Exploring consciousness via psychedelics 00:00
Even more things that make Leo happy
Contemplating God and being aware of God's presence in his life00:00
Music, especially curated lists of music he loves00:00
Rain, snuggling under a warm blanket during rainstorms, contemplating for hours in the rain[](t= 14626 )
Deep intellectual conversations[]( t = 14643 )
Final thoughts on what makes Leo happy
-Leo is happiest when he is innovating, discovering new aspects of spirituality, personal development techniques or ways to do something differently from others. He also finds happiness in exercising humor and playfulness as well as making positive impacts on society through his work. Planning for the future also makes him hopeful about life while putting in a full day's work productively gives him satisfaction.
01:48:01 Finding Happiness in Life
In this section, the speaker talks about what brings him happiness in life and how people can find true happiness.
Pornography as an Art Form
The speaker appreciates pornography as an art form and consumes it like a connoisseur of art or fine wine. 01:48:11
He believes that most people consume porn in a compulsive addictive way, which is not what he is talking about. 01:48:11
The speaker suggests that finding the 10% of good quality porn online is a journey that provides enormous happiness. 01:49:03
Simple Pleasures
Organizing, optimizing, and putting things in order bring the speaker joy. He loves to organize his room and label things using a label maker. 01:49:16
The speaker believes that chasing party highs or drug/alcohol binges does not lead to true happiness. True happiness is found in simple pleasures such as organizing your documents and folders. 01:49:39
Sharing Wisdom with People
Speaking on deep topics that he finds meaningful and sharing wisdom with people is one of the greatest joys for the speaker. It feels effortless and enjoyable to him. 01:50:20
Doing research for videos can be challenging but sitting down to talk about topics he knows well feels effortless and enjoyable like riding a bicycle.01:51:14
Investing into Infrastructure
Building infrastructure investing into infrastructure in your own life can be very meaningful and rewarding, paying dividends over time according to the speaker's experience.01:49:59
Buying Your Own House
Buying your own house adds an additional layer of meaning to your life because you are invested in it; you have more reason to treat it with respect, develop it, and upgrade it in the ways that you want to make it truly yours.01:52:06
Reminiscing on Life
The speaker finds joy in reminiscing and reflecting on his own life, past experiences, memories, lessons, and work. He sometimes scrolls through his own videos, blog posts, and work to appreciate the excellent work he has done.01:52:58
01:53:33 Sources of Unhappiness
In this section, the speaker discusses various sources of unhappiness in his life.
Health Problems and Productivity
The speaker has changed his diet and done everything he can to optimize his health, but there is only so much he can do given his genetics.
His health problems affect his ability to be creative and productive, which is a great source of misery for him.
He cannot meet his own standards for productivity on some days because he does not feel good in his body.
Being on a strict schedule makes him very unhappy.
Work-related Issues
Doing things just for money goes against every value that the speaker has.
Doing work that he does not believe in makes him unhappy as well.
Having a boss tell him what to do is something that the speaker hates.
Fear of running out of money is a persistent source of suffering and unhappiness in the speaker's life.
Personal Preferences
Wasting money makes the speaker unhappy.
Socializing and being around people for too long makes him miserable and unhappy.
Managing people is something that the speaker dislikes because it takes away from doing creative work.
Realizing when he has behaved in a bad or egotistical way makes him unhappy.
Emotionally hurting others also makes him unhappy.
Being lazy without any project to work on also causes unhappiness.
Miscellaneous Issues
Arguing, debating, yelling, conflict, violence make the speaker very unhappy.
Smartphone addiction causes unhappiness as well as chronic loud noise.
Overeating junk food also leads to unhappiness.
01:58:49 Happiness and Personal Preferences
In this section, Leo talks about his personal preferences for happiness and how he discovered what works for him. He also shares some of the most advanced points about happiness that are more existential, metaphysical, and spiritual.
Meditation and Creativity
01:59:13 Leo's mind is not wired for meditation because he has an extremely creative mind.
01:59:24 Contemplation brings Leo joy, but sitting still like a dumb animal leads to deep unhappiness.
01:59:47 Meditation techniques like breath counting or chanting do not suit Leo's personality style.
02:00:04 Leo advises being careful with meditation and figuring out whether it really makes you happy or not.
Personal Preferences for Happiness
02:00:31 Overworking, grinding repetitive work, bad investments, losing money, and drama make Leo unhappy.
02:00:52 Drama is one of the reasons why Leo keeps himself pretty solitary because it's the best way to avoid all the drama.
Advanced Points About Happiness
02:01:31 Spirituality has reduced Leo's overall happiness because creativity puts him into flow.
02:01:52 For Leo, happiness is founded in creativity which requires variety to generate insights.
02:02:23 The mind demands variety to be creative; sitting in samadhi for 10 hours straight doesn't generate new ideas.
02:03:07 Double-check if spirituality actually makes you happier.
02:04:05 Spirituality and Happiness
In this section, Leo talks about spirituality and happiness. He emphasizes the importance of finding ways to do spirituality that resonate with you and not getting too preoccupied with the idea of escaping suffering.
Different Ways to Do Spirituality
02:04:05 Leo emphasizes the importance of finding ways to do spirituality that resonate with you.
02:04:23 He suggests finding ways that are suitable to your genetics, talents, skills, and temperament.
Escaping Suffering is a Trap
02:04:37 Trying too hard to be happy will make you unhappy.
02:04:54 Realistically, you're never going to escape suffering; there will always be suffering in your life.
02:05:11 Becoming a professional hardcore Buddhist monk who meditates 10 hours a day for 20 years is possible but not realistic for most people.
02:05:49 Instead of trying to escape suffering, stop caring about it so much. You can have suffering and pain in your life without resisting it.
Focus on Building a Meaningful Life
02:06:10 Rather than trying to be happy every moment of your day, focus on investing in developing a great life and living virtuously according to principles.
02:07:10 Focus on building a meaningful life instead of maximizing pleasure or escaping all suffering. The joy will come from doing things for their own sake.
Highest Grade of Happiness
02:08:54 The highest grade of happiness is consciousness itself - the appreciation of being alive.
02:09:39 Understanding Ecstasy
In this section, Leo talks about the concept of ecstasy and how it is not just a state of extreme pleasure but a transcendent religious mystical experience that comes from becoming conscious of God.
What is Ecstasy?
02:10:01 Ecstasy is not a drug but a state of being where one becomes conscious of God so deeply that they are drowning in an ocean of infinite love.
02:10:12 It's a transcendent religious mystical experience that is metaphysical and not material pleasure.
02:10:25 Humans barely comprehend what this is because so few have experienced it.
Attaining Ecstasy
02:10:35 Realistically, ecstasy is something you experience rarely here and there. It's pointless to talk about being in perpetual ecstasy as most people won't become professional full-time monks or yogis.
02:11:16 Although temporary, ecstasy transforms you and has a purifying effect on your psyche which changes you subtly and makes you more spiritually attuned throughout your life.
02:12:06 Finding Happiness in Everyday Life
In this section, Leo talks about how happiness should come from appreciating simple everyday things in life rather than achieving big goals. He encourages cultivating the mind to appreciate ordinary things around us.
Appreciating Simple Things
02:12:29 Cultivate your mind to appreciate simple everyday things like sitting down to relax and read a book after work or looking at nature before driving to work.
02:12:55 The majority of your happiness should come from this kind of appreciation rather than waiting for some big payday at the end.
Enjoying the Journey
02:14:00 Happiness is not about achieving some big goal but about deriving happiness on your way towards building your big business or pursuing your ambitions.
02:14:22 Enjoy the day-to-day process of building a business rather than just grinding through it to get to the end.
Sitting in Joy
02:15:00 Ultimately, Leo challenges listeners to develop themselves to the point where they can sit on their couch doing nothing and be welling up with joy and tears at the beauty of consciousness and existence because they are so conscious and spiritually attuned.
02:15:36 Creating Your Happiness Journal
In this section, the speaker assigns a homework assignment to create a happiness journal. The journal is meant to help individuals contemplate what makes them happy and what holds them back from happiness.
Homework Assignment: Create Your Happiness Journal
02:15:57 Contemplate what makes for happiness in general and specifically for you.
02:16:14 Keep a log of things that make you happy in your commonplace book.
02:16:47 Keep a list of things that make you feel unhappy.
02:17:24 Grow this list over time by observing your activities throughout life.
02:17:39 Eventually, you will have a big picture of what it takes for you to be happy and what are the things that are holding you back from happiness.
Additional Resources
02:18:00 Check out the episode called "How to Contemplate Using a Journal" which will help with this exercise.
02:18:46 Exploring Your Own Mind
In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of exploring one's own mind and not getting caught up in dogmatic beliefs or ideologies.
Explore Your Own Mind
02:19:08 Test these teachings and find the ones that work for you.
02:19:31 Remember there is self-deception going on, so be careful when validating certain spiritual concepts.
02:20:19 Validate these teachings through direct experience rather than relying on external validation from books or experts.
Avoid Dogmatic Beliefs
02:18:46 Don't get caught up in brainwashing or ideology.
02:19:00 What matters is exploring your own mind and seeing how it works for you.
02:19:50 Treat this work as a non-dogmatic set of teachings grounded in direct experience, not in speculation.
Additional Resources
02:20:40 Check out the episodes on self-deception part one and part two.
02:21:11 Understanding the Mind
In this section, the speaker discusses how emotional blockages and self-deception can prevent individuals from seeing things clearly. The mind is tricky and can prevent individuals from letting go of old values and habits.
The Mind is Tricky
02:21:15 Emotional blockages, self-deception, and carelessness in using consciousness can prevent individuals from seeing things clearly.
02:21:35 Old ways of living, values, and habits may become untenable if individuals see things clearly. However, surrendering to karma requires maturity.
02:21:56 Direct experience should be the foundation for everything an individual does.
 

What needs to be realised with the error in this thought process is that you’re holding God as other. As in God is doing, or allowing these things to happen to you, or someone else. Like it’s punishing another. You need to understand that God isn’t allowing these things to happen to anything else, it’s allowing it to happen to itself, and only itself. It’s not watching on from the sidelines. It is 100% directly involved, as the whole act, every part of it, thinking it, watching it, suffering it, being it. It is all the emotions of it, it’s the actual physical manifestation of it. Of anything and everything. It can also allow for it because it’s eternal and indestructible, therefore whatever it goes through in a human form, in its purist state of total awareness it is fully aware that whatever experiences for itself is in a sense no different to you going to bed at night, dreaming a horrific nightmare, and just waking up in the morning, completely and utterly unscathed, lying there in the exact same place, in your bed, never having actually moved, or done anything, experienced anything in the way it might have seemed, other than in its/YOUR imagination. It also has all the highest highs, but for some reason people don’t like to concentrate on that part of the duality. They constantly point out the lows, as if even searching for the negatives in the relative domain. Plucking them out, knit picking at the negative end. You must understand that to have the highest of highs, the lowest of lows must exist, high can not be experienced without low being a possibility. It’s the nature of duality. And the only reason you can experience this world in this form, is because of that.
The set up is absolutely perfect to the nth degree. The intelligence is 2nd to none. Reality is ultimate perfection

Do one thing at a time and know you are doing it. A tremendous secret of right action is to do one thing at a time and to know that you are doing it. When you do that, there cannot be any resentment of doing an unwanted task, such as the dishes, for example. You do it because it has to be done.

One way in which we can create understanding is to make connections between ideas. Here are examples of how two ideas that don’t seem to go together can be put together, and your part is to see how all ideas are connected to each other.
Connect:
Demands with a dull life. Dizzy thinking with cunning. False values with confusion.

No one is nice unless he can be so without nice possessions and nice advantages. May heaven help you if you cling to your supposed advantages, your securities, your comforts. Anything you look forward to will destroy you as it already has.
Time is my thoughts, my physical body, my attitudes. They are not part of my real nature. Neither are my past and future. When I understand that, then the sensing of nowness, which is eternity, takes its place. Nowness then directs the present time-nature intelligently without conceit or self-centeredness.
Eternity can understand time but time cannot understand eternity. Nothing changes in time. Things change in the absence of time.
Deliberately rob yourself of the pleasure of making that remark. Go through the hell of not saying what your old nature wants you to say.

@Jon_Bundesen
Focus on the meta. 
How you approach tasks, what you mindset is, whether you're procrastinating, and when. 
Not least, setting yourself up for a more energized and focused day, which means a good day and night rhythm, getting to bed in time, sleeping enough, sleeping well, eating well, being mindful about partying and how much and the effect of your own drinking. 
We need rest and fuel to function well.
To add structure to your life. 
And, to add structure to your school experience. 
How and when you study. 
Having a clear plan for the school week, shorter and longer plan. 
Focusing on priorities, getting to things early so that things get a chance to sit, but also so that important things don't end up competing too much with eachother, resulting in sacrifices. 
Helps with not putting things off.
If you have structure, the content of the classes is going to be easier, and better results are going to be more easy to achieve. 
Lack of structure makes every day a struggle - not just school work. 
What you learn in high school is essentially a waste (except language and math) and the real learning happens in the real life, around real experiences, in a direction that is directly connected to the doing. 
What you should learn in school, but most don't, and it's not taught, is how to approach learning as a structured phenomena, learning to lead yourself through learning with a positive mindset. 
Learn this and you are setting yourself up for a much easier ride in life.
With this kind of outlook, school simply becomes a playground for building self-awareness and experimenting with getting structure into place.
Schoolwork happens in that process, but you're dedicated in investing in yourself and not focused on unwanted experiences, or possibly, worthless learning. 
Even in adult life, people in general don't have a clue about how to approach life with structured thinking; aspirations, visions, goals, goals  breakdown, intentful pursuit, visualization of progress, utilizing social support systems, and so on, that's the structure "how we approach something" - whatever the goal might be, that's not important here, that's the content, "what we do and what we accomplish". 
Nail down the structure and you will accomplish a lot, a lot more effortlessly.

This, lol. 
The question is, we may like the crazies, but is that for temporary fulfilment, or can you see yourself settling down? 

actualized.org moment

This is a good description.

This. No one can want it. No-one would ever want it. There’s very literally absolutely nothing to get.
i would not use the word “self”. I would use the word “appearance”. Self implies awareness in some sense so may be misleading. 
“God” is also a word I might use. It does seem to have some baggage though.
”Infinity” seems like a very apt word also.
Of all the most misleading words, “awareness” would be top of the list.

There is You. You are God. Here you are!
Events and surroundings are not just being played out. That is YOU being YOU! God is playing out.
Why does death cause fear and sadness? Death is not bad. Death is Love.
What's the problem with impermanence? Impermanence is beautiful.
You're sorta doing spirituality wrong here. Rather than fantasizing about death, sit in do-nothing and satisfaction meditation, enjoying the beauty of the present moment.
See my video: Satisfaction Meditation
You gotta stop overthinking. Connect with the beauty of consciousness.
The only point of life is to observe its beauty. So get to work on that! NOW! Stop thinking about death as you walk and start looking at all the beauty.

This is actually incorrect.
"Bodies die all the time" is your dream. No body has ever died -- you are imagining they did.
But this requires a level of consciousness which few of you here comprehend.
If you are deeply conscious enough, there literally is no such thing as death. Will this help you at the human level? No. Not at your level of consciousness. You are stuck in a dream, and your dream involves the death and suffering of bodies. But actually none of this has absolute reality. It is an elaborate illusion which you call life. And your mind clings to it.
Have you never died in your dreams? What happens?
Death is a dream. The reason this doesn't help you is because you're dreaming and terrified of the dream ending.
All this may should theoretical, but actually it is the opposite. Death is theoretical.
If you were conscious enough nothing could kill you. But you are not conscious enough, so you will die, cause that is your dream.
Realizing this is the whole point of spirituality. But it requires levels of consciousness which almost no one is capable of. From the POV of your current state of consciousness, you will die. But only from that limited POV.
As much as it might pain you to hear this, but terminal illness is still a dream. You cannot escape the fact that you're dream just by dreaming up something horrible. The most horrible shit in the world is still nothing but a dream. In fact, this is where you find salvation.
Notice that what I'm saying is actually very positive: death isn't real. And what materialism and the ego says is very negative: death is real. And yet people get upset when told the positive news that death isn't real. The reason this twisted reaction occurs is because the mind is so attached to dreaming that it would rather die a real death than admit that everything is a dream. It has to be that way because this is how your mind constructs reality. If you didn't honestly, fully believe that death is real, you could not have reality as you know it. Once you realize death is an illusion, all of reality falls apart and nothing at all matters. And this is what you're really terrified of, perhaps even more than death itself. You are terrified of losing the construction we call material reality.
The highest levels of awakening are so conscious that you are too conscious for even reincarnation because even that is realized to be a dream. At the highest levels of consciousness there is no past or future. There is only Absolute Now, which never ends. But this is not something your mind can comprehend or imagine unless you directly experience it. An integral part of what it means to be human is to be incapable of letting go of the imagination of your death. If you stopped imagining your death, you would stop being human and you would become immortal. But you are not conscious enough to do this through your will power. Hence you are stuck inside the human dream and you will remain stuck until some day you break out of it. This breakout will either happen via awakening or what you call death.
Yes, all this feels like a slap in the face to your mind because your mind needs to believe that suffering is real. Telling the mind that all suffering is just a dream, does not please the mind at all. Even though this is the greatest news. The mind is in the business of dreaming, not Truth. The quickest way to piss someone off is to invalidate all their suffering by telling them it's imaginary. That being pissed off reaction is the defense mechanism against Truth. Truth is much more radical than people expect, so they are not capable of accepting it. This is the very core of how selfishness works. The finite self cannot accept itself as an illusion.

Sorry to sound like a broken record but:
High doses of psychedelics Exposing yourself to massive and diverse life experience Facing the things you fear, looking them deep in the eyes It's not complicated but it also isn't easy.

I found LSD to be a starter friendly substance. Because you can have microgram-precise dosages (I suggest to start with 50-100) and you have enough time to contemplate your consciousness (6-12 hours). 
My biggest tip for beginners would be: 
Clear out your Karma. Everything that bugs you in some way work on it beforehand. 
Like cleaning your flat. Having a difficult conversation, that needs to be addressed. Do your taxes. Whatever. 
You want to have a clear and satisfied mind for the ideal experience. 
Good luck

@Leo Gura truth seeking is masculine energy
Love seeking is feminine energy
Most men/women here like feminine energy more. It is just more sexy

Pain, oh how we loathe thee. Pain oh how we avoid thee. Pain oh how you spoil everything. Pain oh how joyful I am when you are gone but how much I hate when you are near. Pain why can't you just leave me alone? You torture me, why are you even here? But then you notice, that wherever Pain is, it always follows a revelation. Pain always seems to be wherever there is a wrong turn, that Pain always seems to be connected to Ignorance.
When you are sleeping if you experience a sharp pain in your body you awaken. When a person goes through a Dark Night of the Soul what follows is an "awakening." So the purpose of pain is to wake you up. To wake up to be taken from darkness, from the unconscious, and into the light of consciousness or what can be called "Enlightenment."
Without Pain, the pathway to truth cannot be found. You cannot awaken without pain, you cannot raise in awareness without pain. Notice that all growth has always been forged through pain. Anyone who has ever succeeded in anything long enough has all dealt with pain. At a certain point, you need to accept pain as necessary. Pain is your alarm clock to wake up and pay attention. Its the alarm to say LOOK you are not seeing what is actually there. Pain also lets you know when you are projecting. If you are ever in pain emotionally psychologically it is all projection. Pain is there to let you know.
Pain....it is a communicator, that is too often misunderstood. Pain is there to tell you....that is not real. Between every false belief is pain. You only learn of its falsehood because of the pain. Those who embrace pain, embrace expansion. Your entire life you have always desired to expand, but each time you try to, you experience pain. Pain is a necessary part of expansion. So embrace it, forgive pain and accept it. 
If you can do this, you will awaken, if you awaken enough times you will discover you created pain, and that the pain was there to test how bad did you want to wake up?

Epistemic — relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation.
Naivety — innocence or unsophistication.
Pitfall — a hidden or unsuspected danger or difficulty.
Here is my rendition of the most common approaches to knowledge and their pitfalls. Usually, one leads to the next:

Naive realism
takes things at face value believes in one's conditioning lack of introspection It's the default mode for most people and is the most naive framework. It tries to label the world accurately, but it fails to become aware of its own constructions. These people think that their view of the world is like looking through a clear glass window, and that people who disagree with their view is either stupid or insane.
When you see through the naivety of naive realism, you will usually move on to skepticism, where some of the pitfalls can be described as naive skepticism:

Naive skepticism
skeptical of most claims to knowledge extremely self-critical hyper-exclusive relativism The naive skeptic is skeptical of all labelling of reality and is pulled down by cynicism and unconstructive behavior. They discard everything that isn't patently self-evident. An example is a person who goes into a philosophy seminar and asks "how do you know that?" until they get kicked out.
Seeing through naive skepticism will usually lead you to pragmatism, where some of the pitfalls can be described as naive pragmatism:

Naive pragmatism
"everything goes" lack of criticism hyper-inclusive relativism There is an openness to all views, but there is a lack of structure or hierarchy, and it therefore struggles to prioritize different claims to knowledge. For example, it will easily place an equal sign between pseudoscience and science (e.g. "astrology = physics").
Seeing through naive pragmatism will usually lead you to metatheorism, where some of the pitfalls can be described as naive metatheorism:

Naive metatheorism
takes a wide perspective has a systematic approach to knowledge becomes lost in its own grand theories subtle realism The naive metatheorist is open, critical and also realistic, and tries to synthesize a coherent system which integrates many types of knowledge.
The pitfall happens when one becomes a bit too optimistic about the universality of one's theories. You start believing that because a theory is "meta" and is able to zoom out across large perspectives (cross-paradigmatic, cross-cultural etc.), it somehow escapes or transcends the limitations of your own cultural and paradigmatic conditioning (i.e. the things that made you arrive at those conclusions in the first place). An example is believing Spiral Dynamics to be the infallible word of God.
That is of course a bit naive, and the way out is to counter that impulse with the earlier lessons of skepticism, and remind yourself that the better the model, the easier it is to get lost in one's own constructions.
 
Who is not naive in any way?
One who has experienced all of these pitfalls first-hand, but who doesn't let that fact curb their ever-expanding thirst for knowledge, and who doesn't pretend that naivety is something one can ever transcend.
 
Did anything I just wrote sound familiar to you? Be honest

Hello everyone! This is my first post and I just wanted to share an amazing experience and express my gratitude for the amazing people and insights that I have been given that had changed my life completely.
    I’m 19 years of age and I’ve been using psychedelics for a couple years now. It started off just wanting to have a fun experience with my friends; however my first trip radically opened my mind to new possibilities as anyone who has taken a psychedelic would know. 
 
    Ever since I was a kid ( still am one) I always had existential questions and a burning desire for truth. After finding Leo’s channel I fell in love with learning. That was 3 years ago. 
 
  Yesterday was my first trip I had in a while. 5 grams of lemon tekked shroomies that I had made from a tea. The love was so powerful. I saw everyone in my life and felt the greatest sense of love. I wasn’t able to contain it and i bursted out crying; remembering also how grateful I am to be alive and experiencing this great wonderful world and all that comes with it. I feel like I’m finally free as well and I can act accordingly to whatever I feel in any given moment. It feels like true freedom. I’m not sure how to describe it. Every experience feels like the first time it had happened including music, food, sex etc. I wish I could give this to the people around me.
 
    I am forever grateful for everyone on this page including Leo. You guys have helped me build a life that is truly my dream. Music has always been my passion and I’ve fully realized I want to be the best version of myself that I can and pursue my dreams to my best ability because that’s what I truly want. I just wanted to express this somewhere as I don’t have many people I can talk to about this kinda stuff. So Thankyou again:) have an amazing life

@DefinitelyNotARobot
I would start with recognizing that your are not you perspective.
You already have, you said it yourself, by deliberately stepping away from your depressed perspective and "entertain" a different perspective, your frame of mind changed. 
Recognize how important this statement is. 
If what/how you experience changes with shifting perspective, then you are not your perspective. 
You are not your perspective, so why holding on to it so dearly?
That's a first step towards something new. 
I'd say, instead of desiring a different perspective, try working on having a loose connection with perspectives, to such degree that perspectives are not ours, they are tools that are more of less favorable towards producing some outcome. 
If you are clear about the outcomes you want to create, i.e the effects and impacts and not the output generated in that process, then it will be much easier to see what works and what does not work in moving you closer to that outcome in a more efficient way. 
This mean, if you would drop desire, then no tool is needed. Perspective becomes entertaining but inherently useless. Judgment, assumptions, conceptualizing can still be done, but they are more of a separate thing to yourself, than a part of you. 
Building up this ability makes shifting perspective not only less personal, but shifting is personally beneficial when looking at those outcomes you want to generate. From defending existing perspectives as part of self, to welcoming exchanging ineffective tools, as more effective tools show up. 
You recognized your perspective as that of someone with depression, you switched that as the ineffective tool it is, to another tool that rationally makes sense it would be more efficient, and it was. 
That's a pretty easy example, most would replace depressed with happy, but don't know how to do it.
What if you think you know your perspective is efficient and maybe even the only right perspective. 
The emotional attachment to that perspective as part of the definition of who you are will prevent you from replacing that perspective. 
How can you become more perspective-fluid, so that we accept and drop perspectives as they are useful? 
This requires being comfortable with change, and perspective change is the ultimate personal change, shifting part of who we think we are into something else. 
The more comfortable with change we are, the less resistent to change we are, the more practice in flowing we get, the less perspectives will matter to us from the point of view that they define who we are. 
Curiosity is important in this process - to not reject but to explore curiously the perspectives of others, to see what they see, and appreciate with that perspective, their desire outcomes, and what deficiencies that drive them. 

@Vido  It's not a skill.
It's a shedding of outer layers.
Trying to incorporate it as a skill, something you 'add', will just lead to more fakery that girls will not trust.
Your high-energy persona is fake.
This has to be seen.
There is something deeper behind it, something that was unacceptable in the past.
But it is there.
It's always there.
So stop trying to add things.
Start listening to your body.
Especially your gut and underbelly.
Breathe deeply into your belly, this is essential.
Many people can't even do this, so pay extra attention to your breath.
When do you feel strong/when do you feel weak, when you say things?
To become authentic, you will have to say a lot of things that you expect to be shamed for.
The high-energy "charismatic" persona (I have one too - quite painful to think about) probably feels like you're in your head, tension around your head.
No feeling the lower body.
It says "Please accept me, please accept me"
And that's what others feel when you talk to them.
Say things that you are afraid to be unaccepted for, while breathing deeply.
Experience that that is safe.
If that as an exercise works for you, great.
You might want to add some shadow work to that practice.
 

It doesn't really matter what you ground your confidence in. In the end, thoughts about the Absolute are exactly that: thoughts.
What matters the most is that you feel it's true, and the conviction that "you are enough"or similar will come energetically ...not verbally or due to some logic you construct around it. Which is precisely why around the time of your awakening experiences, you perceived it to be easier to love yourself and feel confident.
So i guess the bottomline is that the rationalisation or explanation for why you should or shouldn't feel confident is completely irrelevant. More importantly, notice how your "state" can change, and how the thoughts that arise match this state. For instance, when you're happy your thoughts may be more optimistic and hopeful, and when you feel low your thoughts reflect that as well. And this "happiness-energy" or state of peace or Enlightenment or whatever you wanna call it...lies outside of time, space and linear, logical relations...and is thus relatively independent of your thoughts, in that it is not caused by them.
I'd even go as far as to say that in moments where this peace is apparent, it won't matter whether or not you feel confident. You will most likely feel that way, but even if you temporarily don't, it's accepted in the moment and you know that "confidence" comes and goes...and that it's completely okay, no matter what:)

*This is a repost of a post I made yesterday (lost because of the forum crash). Good thing I copy all my longer posts before publishing them lol*
Two days ago I took ~320ug of LSD and literally the greatest fucking joy ensued. I became conscious of myself as God. I have never laughed as much and probably never been so happy in my life. 
I am God. I am EVERYTHING. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHIIIIIIIIING. God-realization is absolute fucking happiness. The funniest thing ever. The greatest joke. Radiant fucking joy + denial in laughter. You won't believe how stupid you've been all this time. You won't believe how this is possible. You won't believe how personal it is. All this time you've been God but you thought you were some human. This is literally so funny you will roll on the ground from laughter when you realize it HAHAHAHAH. This is FREEDOM. ABSOLUTE JOY. This is so fucking beautiful, I was denying it kinda playfully like "NOOOO IT CAN'T BE HAHAHAHAHA. I DON'T BELIEVE IT. NOOOOO!" but it was so apparent it could not be challenged in any way. HAPPINESS. Finally being awake and seeing your Infinitude.... man. Really, you don't know joy until you recognize Yourself as God. Btw, this is "death" and it's amazing. Being EVERYTHING as God is so BIG you are not going to believe it. I was conscious that I am everything around me. I was conscious that I am humanity. I was conscious I am the entire cosmos. I was conscious I am Jesus. I was conscious I am EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! Literally all other is Me. We are all One. Ahh, the Oneness touched me very deeply. I couldn't believe how Everything is One, we are ALL ONE. I felt at Union with everything. The point is to recognize Myself in everything. Seeing Myself in all. I enjoyed it a lot hahah. I will be contemplating "What am I?" FOREVER. This Infinite Source that I am is exactly that -- INFINITE. I am going to explore this question LITERALLY FOR ALL TIME. THERE IS NO END TO IT. This isn't a question you can ever answer fully because again, this Source can generate infinite insight. Endless joy and discovery of Myself in God. I am starting to make the distinction between "normal questions" vs "Infinite questions". Some questions have satisfactory answers (eg. what are my strengths? why do I like X?) and some are bottomless wells (What am I? Who am I? What is Reality? etc.) I am going to expand FOREVER as God. Life of God is ETERNAL exploration of the Infinite Source. The nature of God is such a fucking mystery, it is really MAGIC. How is it possible that I as God am expanding into Myself?! How can you not ABSOLUTELY LOVE this?! Your "life" is Life of God! because YOU ARE GOD. Uncontainable expansion in Myself. I call this insight God is Seeking (Itself). God wants to BE MORE of Itself. I am defining what being God means. My "personal" growth is expansion of God. This is so great because now I can feel TRULY responsible for my life. This is sooo personal. I am God, now how do I want to express Myself? How do I want to expand? I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS. It gives my life new joy and meaning.  Things I've said (and repeated often) during the experience: How could I have forgotten this?! HOW CAN I NOT REMEMBER IT LATER THIS IS FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE I DON'T BELIEVE IT NO, IT CAN'T BE, NOOOOO I CAN'T BE EVERYTHING! Is there something other than me? Is THIS other than me?! IF THERE IS SOMETHING OTHER THAN ME, I MUST FIND IT OMG, I AM ALONE WHO DO I SHARE IT WITH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Reality is a mirror. Just like (most) animals don't recognize themselves in the mirror, you don't recognize yourself (as God) in your personal experience. So I suggest you stop judging these animals for being stupid and first see your own stupidity  Maturing is approaching Godhood. Maturity is taking care of less mature beings. I have to be responsible for everything - because I AM everything. It's funny, but I think a subtle clue was shown to me - I was "suggested" I develop as a leader in this lifetime. I feel like God wants to expand in responsibility and leadership in me. I certainly didn't think of this "myself" because, well, my leadership skills are lacking I think and it's kinda scary to me when I think about how I would have to grow. BUT THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT - doing what I fear, this is growth. I want to expand as God, even if it's scary!! I don't know how exactly I will go about this but hey I am gonna figure it out.  One of the most important questions you can ask yourself: How do I express Myself? This questions presumes that you know yourself and God and asks you: What do you want to do with your Godhood? Tangentially, I discovered the value of the question Who am I? In my view, the Who am I question is like going infinitely inwards, asking how SPECIFICALLY you want to express Yourself as God. Like choosing a point on an infinite plane and drilling it again and again. The What am I question, however, is concerned with understanding the whole plane Simple recipe for a good life: Express Yourself --> Who am I? How do I express Myself? Contemplate Yourself --> What am I? What is Reality? etc. Embrace foolishness. Loosen up. When you realize how you've been under illusion all this time, when you realize how STUPID you are while facing God - you will start to accept yourself as a FOOL. Of course it's important to value Wisdom, but don't think for a second that you're "wise" in some objective sense. You are a fucking idiot, no matter how "developed" you are. And that's okay! Just like children are always children in the eyes of parents, so are we complete fools in the eye of God. So rejoice in stupidity my friends but strive to at least see a thin beam of the Glory of the Source - it will make you a tiny bit less stupid  I won't go into much detail about the logistics of the trip but let me tell you it was weird. For the first time I did LSD in the evening rather than in the morning (I had no other option). But it was fine (besides the fact that I didn't sleep a minute at night).
I made 30 min of video footage - basically me laughing maniacally, walking around the flat talking, looking for something other than me and such. I rewatched these videos so many times already, I laughed every time I did hahahah.
Nearing the end I kinda stopped contemplating and just passionately danced and sang my heart out. God having fun  It was something very intimate for me. I loved it, really basked in the joy of being God.
If anything, this experience made me humbler. Seriously, I can't wrap my head around the fact that I will contemplate myself FOREVER. I have sooooo much to discover hahahah. Also I sense that the insights I've had so far, despite already being profound can go infinitely more deeper. Like the "all other is Me" insight - even though I realized this, I still for example said to myself "Everyone must learn this truth". Yeah, as if there is someone other than me hahahah. I know my awakening is still weak sauce, but it's fucking okay. I AM GOD HAHAHA. I can't wait to know myself more. And best of all - I have all the time in the world.
Anyways, that's all. Discover this shit for yourself, seriously.

Ego cannot die, because it never lived to begin with. Ego is an activity by which Consciousness mistakenly identify itself as concept, a formulation of mind. Becoming conscious of mind activities, rather than being entangled with them, is the unbinding of Consciousness from mind. 
Psychedelics can untie for the duration of the trip much of the ties between mind and Consciousness. However, it usually does not sever those ties for good. This is where contemplation or meditation comes in. If you practice long enough, You will find You are meditating and contemplating whenever you can, and not just when you "sit on the cushion". Over time both practice and mind will erode, just like two stones rubbing against each other. And then, one day, Consciousness will realize that contemplation, meditation or inquiry are sophisticated inventions invented by mind in order to put the mind in a "position" where it can be observed and seen for what it really is, and what is it's source and reality.
The more Consciousness sinks back to itself, the more conscious it will be of mind activities (thoughts, beliefs, emotions, etc) and more freedom will arise as a result, allowing Consciousness to not fall again into identification and ignorance.

So this trip report here was done a lot with Google Voice to Text, and then realizing later it's screwed up many of the words. So I went in and edited it, so now you are getting a rough translation that makes a lot more sense.
I jump around and have a lot of random talk thrown in here in there as well.
Enjoy!
 
 
 
Let me go on a journey.
Music Playlist I put together for this trip. Feel Free to use it on your next journey.
 
 
March 26, 2022.
I was definitely in a rather unique set and setting as I just wanted to get a trip in a few days before a big shift in my life. So I was managing packing all of my belongings and such.
 
Dosage: 4g of B+
The jump from 3.5g to 4g was substantial, also given that I was just alone lying down focusing on my consciousness.
Taken lemon tekked tea at 3:06pm
My intention is to surrender to the playlist, and just let whatever come to me. Have my eyes closed and lie down.
 
Otherwise, the intention is what is imagination.
 
19 minutes in, being scrambling around. I guess I was unconsciously avoiding the meditation I planned.
I notice a shift in consciousness.
Music time.
 
40 minutes in...
These shrooms ain't shit. (You have to say that to activate it.)
 
I basically let go of all fear of the trip at this point. Like bring it on.
 
I need to practice the skill of State change and also letting go. Let it go very quickly and just get to the next state.
43 minutes kicking in.
 
I need to learn the lesson of letting go into experience and Just Go With it.
Otherwise if I can't let go I won't be able to experience things.
Like this trip.
Especially on trips.
I have Massive attachment to writing these trip reports.
 
On another note...
There's a voice in my head saying: "Don't you understand?"
 
How the fuck is anything possible?
 
You know... I think a lot about life. I am so scared to realize that I created everything. Like it's so fucking insane.
 
I mean life is always about the journey, so whatever I'm thinking right now is what I need to go through. But it's like so hard. My mind is a very complex one.
 
I don't really care about my excuses as to why I am unfocused. Being medicated when I was younger definitely impacted my life. I was on ADHD medication for YEARS growing up with my brain developing alongside a daily 72mg dose of methylphenidate.
 
I was born with problems like every other fucking creature on this planet. But those are all the gifts from God to show us to understand and that we need to love it all because we have nothing else to do but to love. There's nothing else to do but to love. I'm just so emotional, I'm an incredibly emotional creature.
 
You know what's interesting? Every object in your fucking room, even if you find an object you didn't know you had, you are going to imagine an entire story behind it. Every, single, object in your life has a fucking backstory to explain why it's there. But who is to say that memory was not imagined on the spot? Right there and then.
The reason why you have a backstory for everything is because if you didn't, you would go fucking insane because if you understood that you are imagining every single object into existence then you would also realize that you were God.
 
God is such an insane motherfucker that he'll experience fucking everything possible.
I wanted to experience everything so I created a puzzle for me to solve.
 
Here's the fucking puzzle. It's YOUR puzzle motherfucker! YOUR LIFE!
Your life is your puzzle that God gave you to solve. Everything in your life is your personal message from God teaching you how to understand everything.
 
Everything that happens in your life is God trying to learn how to love everything. Every fucking problem. Every problem in your life is a lesson of love. Love however, is expressed in a very complex fucking way. Like an EXTREMELY systematic fucking complex way. It wouldn't be love unless it was just fucking COMPLEX.
 
It wouldn't be love unless it was just complex as fuck.
Because you see, complexity and Love are the same thing.
 
God will imagine everything.
God will imagine everything.
 
I'm imagining like my phone having a life of their own. A consciousness of their own. How the fuck do you know your phone is not a state of consciousness?
Imagine being your phone your entire life.
Imagine being a biological cell your entire life.
Imagine all the pain in the World.
I want to understand. I know I'm going to become infinite, like what the fuck. I know I'm going to take 5 Meo, it's only a matter of time.
 
I know I'm going to turn into a fucking amazing person. It's only a matter of time.
I know I am going to become a creature of God that is love everywhere.
 
Let's talk about your body...
Your body loves you very much. Every single day, it gives you life. Because it's God. You should start showing as much respect as your fucking body does. Show your body as much respect in taking care of it as much as it takes care of you in which I mean how it gives you life every single day.
Show respect. Show respect.
 
I want to show respect for your Life Journey. Because you're a very complex mind. God wants you to know that you're a very courageous soul. I want you to know you're going through everything you need to. God wants you to know he is with you every second. He IS you after all.
 
 
God wants you to understand that he loves you. Because he's everything. He also is you dude. My ego doesn't believe it? This fucking State of Consciousness doesn't believe it right now either. Do you need to believe something to understand it? Is believing like a leading towards truth? You have to understand that you need to BELIEVE the Truth exists in order to embark on the journey of understanding what is.
 
 
You know God is teaching you with his creations.
I was teaching you with everything, doesn't matter if you like it or not. You are the greatest teacher.
 
You KNOW you're going to take a fuckload of psychedelics in your life, and I'm going to teach you everything. You are the greatest teacher after all.
 
It doesn't matter if you don't want to read all your trip reports. I want you to read everything you wrote.
You know God will always be hidden in those great moments that you take a psychedelic. When you have that courage to take a psychedelic and just enough stability to keep your life together, because you know you need new understanding from God. Which is yourself. But you don't understand that yet.
 
I think I'm channeling right now. I think I was channeling, don't you understand?
 
You're going to imagine yourself in a room with fluorescent outlines lighting up a Dark Void. You're going to have a nice conversation with another being from another dimension. You will both be on your Merry way because you both understand that you're God. There are beings alive around us, why the fuck don't I see them to be present right here? They're everywhere. They exist as everything and nothing. They're existing right now and they're not existing right now. If they exist, that is you being in the state of Consciousness that they exist, but if they don't exist, your State of Consciousness is that they don't exist.
 
Everything currently present in the State of Consciousness exists, everything else is fucking stories. You don't even know.
 
Everything in your life works this way.
 
You know I'm glad I took a my life ended up being like this. Because I'm going to figure something else out that most people are not going to be able to figure out. I'll give that value to the world, and I'll give love.
 
I'm going to imagine myself creating a massive amount of value to people, because I am God, a creature of Love. Whatever fucking language. I'm going to show my love by demonstrating the story that I write. Doesn't matter how the fuck I got here. I'm going to embrace every fucking confusion I have. Because God is sending you that confusion as a gift. You know God is the biggest fucking retard AND the biggest genius. What the fuck would you do? If you are in finished with everything. I mean whatever your State of Consciousness can understand right now. Because I know that people are reading this are going to be in their current state of understanding. So the laws that govern the universe and reality, those laws are going to be governed by what you understand right now. But you have to understand that God's going to tell you that you are going to be an amazing creature of Love that's going to understand everything. You're going to understand everything.
 
You know I really want to experience flying to astral realms. I want to experience life in the astral Realm where they have their own fucking problems. Because all the problems are just Gifts of love and challenges of love. Everything is infinitely complex and full of love.
You can experience whatever. God is always giving experience. God is always giving you an opportunity to show love, to love your entire life and every corner of it. But you have to be courageous to put that love forward yourself. You see, true courage is taking your entire state of fucking problems and choosing to give regardless.
Incredible psychedelic trips are where the most amazing understanding is.
 
I'm going to live forever in happiness, forever in pain. Until I want to imagine something else. You know I love you a lot, I want to show my respect for you.
 
Whenever you go on a deep psychedelic trip you're always getting experience from God himself. Because she wants you to know that he appreciates you.
 
Whatever experience I fantasize about having. Thinking about having experiences in astral Realms and stuff. Once you're satisfied, you're just going to think of other shit to do.
 
Cry about everything in your life until you learn how to love it. That's shadow work.
 
If I meditate for long periods of time. God will give me very wise quotes like that. So if I show my appreciation for my actions. He will give you more messages of love. And the whole journey of love is going to be a story that can be written for you.
 
With everything in your life, always ask, "What is God teaching me right now?"
 
 
I will show my respect for you by changing myself. That's how I'm going to show my love for you.
 
Not going to lie. This is some fucking good visuals. Like shifting reality. Not like patterning necessarily. But like actually just fucking with the shapes of objects and stuff. Generating and vanishing matter right before my very eyes.
 
I think that this might have been a very high dose for me. Like 4g is a way different realm than 3.5g.
 
Your brain is going to interpret different shades of colour than my brain. What the fuck. We're looking at the same thing and we'll see different shit.
 
You can write a bajillion stories about everybody in your life. But the ones that you are going to believe are the ones that are conducive to your survival.
 
You have to put in a lot of effort to have a good time.
>Put in the effort to create and experience the good life.
 
All of your actions are Guided by beliefs. Period.
 
End of Report.
Yes, the trip was on the more intense side, but not much reality shattering as it could've been if I really focused on a specific point of contemplation.

I personally think there's some kind of flaw in Leo's understanding of solipsm. It's based on truth and there're elements of truth to it. But there's something that smells like fish also. The spreading of that disharmonious smell is what caused a backlash of suffering and pain probably so he had to remove it. (I could be projecting here)
When truth is shared, it doesn't smell like fish it smells like pure love and harmony.  When rupert spira speaks about solipsm it has a certain truth vibration of harmony to it. When false teachings are shared, escpesially on a large scale, the natural consiquence is that of pain and suffering. (According to buddha) but also it makes sense.