Sugarcoat

I like a little vaping from time to time😏 How do cigs make you feel? I only vape for the effect. Although the act of blowing smoke is also kinda satisfying

I mean I recognize my thoughts as just concepts to, but then what the nature of a thought is , is not a concept 🤔

But do you live from that place?

Being conscious and aware is duality to me. It’s this human experience I agree we don’t need to consider enlightenment a pursuit separate from everyday life. It’s accessible always but I think as I wrote to princess Arabia that it’s reasonable to assume it most likely requires intense focus, that may be difficult when you’re genuinely focused on worldly things We think of happiness usually in the realm of human psychology. But yea we can be clueless about different mental states that could give access to a different quality of happpiness , and not know that it’s possible Suffering can be pretty effortless too. I’d say it’s quite natural for human psychology I think it’s important to recognize that your mind is just that, your mind, and anything it comes up with is just a concept. So not taking any concept so seriously, which connects to your point about setting everything aside and investigating from scratch

Saying it’s “just a story and not so serious” is a denial of your humanity. If you were sent to gas chamber you would feel it’s very serious

I think it’s realistic to believe that for most seeing the unreality of the self is very difficult

I guess it’s also quite individual for the person, what causes them happiness

I’m sorry to hear that Some thoughts I have. You said you feel like you’re holding things in. One thing that could potentially help is to speak honestly and directly with the people in your life where the relationship feels unfair. And letting yourself cry while you do it if that arises. Talking freely with honesty but still respectfully could feel like you’re “getting it out of your system”. And it has the potential to affect the other person to change their behavior. I have personally cut people of in my life before in respectful manner and it feels good to speak truth, living a lie can be mentally draining When it comes to your health and physical appearance, if doctors haven’t been able to help you, taking it in your own hands by doing your own private research can feel empowering, like you’re taking control to the extent you feel possible. Connecting with people with similar issues, in for example sub forums of people with similar health problems, could also help. You can feel for yourself, would focusing on bettering these things just increase obsession and neurosis, or would it help it? Sometimes in life we need to focus more on acceptance, other times on trying to change, or both at the same time is possible. When it comes to study, really ask yourself if it’s worth it. If you don’t like it because it’s too hard, there could be flaws in your study techniques making it so you are falling behind. But if you truly feel it’s not for you, try to make a change there if possible, by taking another road in your education/career. You could talk it through with someone, or write privately in your journal all your un filtered thought, give them some structure and come clear to yourself what steps you wanna take next in life. In terms of social anxiety, sometimes it’s too much at once if you try to tackle that too, but it could also be possible that it’s very giving to try to overcome it. A crucial step in overcoming social anxiety is precisely putting yourself in uncomfortable social situations, but one’s that don’t feel way too overwhelming , as that could just strengthen the fear. Something that’s more directly targeting the stress overall could be installing some kind of relaxing practice. Could be mediation, could be exercise, grounding etc I can relate to feeling old haha. I’m 22 sometimes I wish I could stay this age forever

I didn’t know I was an emotion, I thought it was me that notices Maybe that’s why people say “I am happy” 😂

Something that is free is to change your mindset into a better one which can make you happier, and this can be seen as an attitude change partly

You can be devoid of emotion

But for humans happiness tends to arise as response to circumstances in many cases , so you can pursue those circumstances. Many haven’t mastered themselves to the degree to be able to be happy regardless of circumstances

I see those as distinct. Absence of happiness is neutrality not suffering

Even if it’s fleeting it can be worth to pursue

We find it sometimes, sometimes not, sometimes they come, sometimes not.. it’s both

That relief can be felt as happiness! I’ve felt that

Those tend to be emotions people want to avoid, so they don’t seek it out. But technically you could if you seek out situations that trigger it for you, if you know your triggers (we could say it’s still internally generated tho, but we respond to enviroment). It’s a response to a certain triggering situation, like happiness is a response to a different situation. Although its possible to feel happiness for “no reason at all” just existing

Well there is happiness to be found through different approaches. People do it all the time it’s just that it isn’t endless, or permanent, and a lot of the time not very long term either. And the self can be present during happiness (sense of self) in particular when it’s happiness related to the self image, like someone feeling good because they made themselves look attractive

Thanks

It’s funny this summer was first time I was stung by wasp I’ve always been curious how it feels (not bad) so it was kinda fun experience. Shows how you can reframe things in your mind I am conscious of myself, of form, thoughts, a world etc. I am aware of a reality, but it doesn’t say much about the nature of it. Because I’m a little crazy like that, I believe we can’t even prove there’s a real reality at all. I could say that, there is something that has the ability to “appear as if” there is a real reality, but that something could as well be “nothing”. If I wanna go deeper into this (I’m not so focused on awakening in this current phase of my life honestly ) then it would be reasonable to investigate existence, in particular ourself We can sometimes think of happiness like a “wave” of pleasant feeling that comes, but then it passes. But as you say it might be possible to access a more long lasting, “static” happiness . And as you say that’s maybe impossible to fully access when you’re identified as the human self because you’re limited to human psychology I agree, while a human (as the ego) might not be able access that “enlightened bliss”, we can access every day life happiness that can be supported by good habits…

I can be happy and unbothered meanwhile mosquitos sting me, does that mean im enlightened?

@Princess Arabia I love how you often have so much to say, it’s like you are in a flow state when you write 🩷A full mind for a “nobody “ (nobody as in no self, not “loser” lol just gotta clarify)

Good idea. I find I am not knowledgeable enough on these matters

They’ll invent a new category of opponents aside from the far left: self actualizing spiritual freaks

A person could, on their journey of finding happiness, realize what you just said, that relinquishing effort could be exactly the thing that increases their well being and reduces their suffering, so in a sense that is also a kind of approach. Most people who pursue a kind of spirituality/awakening like that go through phases of a lot of seeking before they arrive at no seeking. All of us grow an ego as we grow up so the starting point for all is a place of seeking, and it can take a while to undo that, to come to a place of “no action”