Asayake

You probably don't need to worry. There's already so much air pollution and other damaging chemicals etc. around that a little smoke for a couple of minutes isn't going to cause any significant harm(just don't make it a daily thing ), unless it kills you by asphyxiation on the spot. Since you didn't feel a lack of oxygen or anything weird the smoke was probably more diluted with air than it looked. Fear of damaging your brain sounds quite normal to me, I've had similar fear myself but with psychedelics. About one year ago after tripping on LSD and meditating I had persistent fractal visuals that occasionally appeared for a few months before they finally resided. I think in the end, what caused more damage to my brain was probably my mind freaking out so much about whether or not I had damaged my brain permanently or if I was going to have a psychosis and never be the same again one day. That fear stuck with me for quite some time and for a while I actually believed I had damaged my brain. My mind would use the appearance of negative feelings to confirm that I had in fact damaged my brain. If I had a bit of anxiety for no apparent reason? Well, must have been that I fucked my brain up. Was stumbling over words when I was talking with my friend? Fuck.. I never should have tripped that one time.. I'm so stupid, how could I do this fatal mistake and ruin my mind. But when I finally said to myself whatever.. If my brain is broke it is broke. There is nothing I can do about it, shit happens. I stopped focusing my mind on thinking about what could be wrong, trying to find a problem where there really wasn't a big problem at all. Some time passed where I didn't think much about it at all. Occasionally the fractals kept reappearing but less and less often. Now it's been months since they last appeared and I feel completely normal and am not afraid of brain damage anymore. My guess is your mind is scaring you over nothing and making it seem like there is danger when there really isn't, just like my mind did.

For me personally I think it helped shine a light on what my problems were and showed me a way forward. It made me realize that if I didn't take certain action my life would be degenerating at an increasingly rapid rate. That realization in itself probably cause extra anxiety for me. But that turned out to be good in the end because I couldn't ignore my problems anymore but was forced to try to deal with them.

Don't worry. There's many reasons for why he didn't respond. Maybe he doesn't know what to say. Maybe he don't like speaking about such things because it reminds him of his own demons. There's hundreds of reasons why he doesn't respond, our mind just seem to naturally come to the worst conclusion sometimes. Probability is high he sympathizes with you but is insecure/overthinking how to respond. Let it be and if he doesn't respond for a week or so you could try to bring up some lighter topic and just move on with the conversation in some other direction.

The difference being that indoor plumbing is not viewed upon by most people as a groundbreaking fantastic achievement on par with travelling to Mars. The reason Tesla is worth so much is that Elon is using the same strategies that the US and Russia used to gain power during the cold war. Big promises of solving humanities problems by sending expensive tech to space. Giving people false hope in a way that I doubt the invention of indoor plumbing ever did. But with that said I get your point, material progress is not necessarily bad.

As I heard Mike Tyson say in some interview a couple of weeks ago: "Love hurts". That's some powerful insight!

I think "Talent is overrated" is a solid book. I think I would classify it as a psychology book because it shows how something we believe that is actually not true can handicap our potential in life(and does so för most people). And it offers a way forward, how to become really good at something.

Didn't he say something like this in the recent video about ketamine? He was talking about his upcoming interview with Curt and how Curt is an example of a beautiful mind in a sense. Before that he spoke about just that, how the mind actually can be a beautiful tool.

Aha! So my DDOS attack IS working Jk of course lol

I don't even like the fact that restrictions are being imposed on people with certain opinions. I don't have to agree with other people's opinions but how do I know they're the biased ones and I'm not? The label is even more stupid. Why are left wing opinions considered better than right wing opinions on the forums? They're both flawed stances and if you think otherwise look at how much destruction they both caused throughout history. And even if right wing or pro Russia opinions objectively were worse(or why else was this user made 'apolitical'?) someone needs to have the 'worse' opinion in every discussion or everyone just has the same opinion and then you might as well just delete the political subforum because there's no discussion to be had. If the user did actual misconduct a ban is warranted but it doesn't seem to me this is the case? I might be mistaken.

The Red Shoes (1948) is an amazing movie. Beautiful, thought provoking, ahead of its time. Wether you like ballet or not it's a worthwhile watch. Tampopo (1985) is hilarious, unexpected, innovative, cool, unique. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is hilarious, spectacular, stylish, beautiful, colourful.

How is it that Tristan is God when Tristan is a finite concept and God is infinite? Isn't it that I for example mistake myself to be Nils(which is a finite concept, a human identity, my name, a word) when in fact I am that which the word I is pointing to(God, which is infinite), of which Nils(this human identity, concept, etc.) is just a part. But saying Nils is God makes me a bit confused because it's like saying Nils right hand is Nils? The hand is a part of Nils but saying a hand is Nils doesn't really capture what Nils really is? I'm really trying to understand this. Edit: typo

Hmm. Perhaps you weren't really that into the girl sexually, could that be the problem, that it feels a bit forced & shallow because you don't really feel like touching her yet(even though you know sex would be nice), like a deep connection really isn't there? That you just need to find someone you're really into to make touching etc. more enjoyable, exciting and something you want to do for its own sake. Sleeping with a lot of random girls you just barely got to know isn't everyone's cup of tea(different people like different things), it sounds like you're actually more interested in connecting with a girl and getting to know her on a deeper level and not just having sex with a girl you barely just met, am I wrong in my assumption here? Maybe you should try to find yourself someone you can get to know on a deeper level first, a girlfriend? There is no need to escalate things early on just to make sure you score. Atleast when it comes to myself, I am not really that attracted unless there is a deep connection, sexual attraction is not only looks as I'm sure you're aware of. And when there is a deep connection things will more naturally lead to touching etc. and it will feel more meaningful. You don't have to touch her or try to kiss her on the first date. if it feels forced/shallow it's probably going to be forced/shallow, so trust your gut. Because you will not only be doing it to to get her love/sex, but you will do it because she has grown to be someone you care about and want to spend your time with, and you will want to caress her and make her feel good too because you care for her. Then you will not only be touching her for your own sake. I don't buy that you need to sleep with 100s of girls to find the best girl to become your girlfriend. The best girlfriend is the girl you build on a relationship with for a long time and that shares some interest/interests with you. If one spends all his time hooking up with random girls a lot of time is wasted that could be spent really getting to know someone. Which would make the sex a lot more meaningful as well. Quantity does not equal quality.

I agree. Grounding yourself in the Here and Now(feel the negative feelings when they arise, be with them until they fade away) seems to be improving my mental health significantly(Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now helped me with this). It's easy to feel negative emotion and be tricked by thoughts that you will feel like shit for the rest of your life. Whatever you're feeling is temporary and the thought that one can't handle it anymore is an illusion that is easy to fall for, since you already handled the last moment you can handle suffering the next moment too. But of course, the suffering is not eternal, it's impossible. It's just that the thought that "what if this shit lasts for the next 25 years, I would rather die" that feeds the negative feelings with energy and sustains their visit.

Instead of doing things to reach some end goal you have in the future. Try to connect to the Now and enjoy life as it is in the moment even when you're doing pick up. Instead of viewing it as pickup with the goal to get a girl to sleep with you, view it as an opportunity to connect with another human you know nothing about, have fun and spread good energy. If it scares you, appreciate the fact that the fear makes you feel alive, it transforms you. Learn to appreciate the suffering. Be in the moment and don't overthink it, just let go of thoughts and connect to your feelings and your inner body, trust that you will know what to say even if you don't think about it. More important than what is said is your feelings, your vibe. A good pickup line is a bad pickup line if you really want to get away from the situation and do something else, be comfortable with where you are in the Now and try to take everything in. She will sense your calm control & positive energy and that is attractive. Sort of like how if you want to become really strong and build good muscle you can't be thinking about your gains in the future all the time when you're at the gym. You need to get to know the feeling of pushing yourself and how it feels in your body when you're doing the exercises. That needs to become something you love in itself for you to succeed in the gym. Otherwise working out will become dull real quick. You gotta fall in love with the process and not only with the thought of the result that will come from the process. Because otherwise you will not be able to enjoy sex either, if you're for example having sex only to last as long as possible and not for the sake of sex itself.

I saw some tweet from someone in azov troops with caption "flex one arm if you know where Gonzalo Lira is" with one of the azov troops flexing his right bicep and all the troops with big smiles on their faces. Don't know if that was fake or not but interesting nonetheless.

Because the beauty of it makes us let go of thoughts and reconnects us to our true self. The sound of the flowing river pulls your focus off thoughts and awareness of sound emerges. The wonderful smell of flowers connects us to our sense of smell and makes us remember to feel the breath as we breathe in to get to know the smell of that particular kind of flower. The light of the sun reveals the light within you. The colors of the sunset make us pause and observe in awe, the stillness, the peacefulness of it all makes us calm just like a distressed child seizes to cry in the hands of a calm mother. The brutality of nature when a predator chases down and kills its prey is brutal. But yet it is so shockingly pure and honest, REAL, that I can't do much but just observe and take it all in. It's just the fact that it is so real which is nothing short of a miracle and almost unbelievable. Nature reminds us of who we truly are, life itself and not some limiting identity created by thoughts.

I might just be confused but how can an individual exist if a group doesn't? An individual is just as much a social and mental construction as a group. So how can it be that an individual can awaken but not a group? I guess in that sense awakening does not really exist either since it is also a construction, a concept. Then there is just what is and it's not possible to capture it with words because it is infinite and that's what the words God/Consciousness/Universe are pointing to? And then in a relative sense an individual can awaken to this fact by realizing that individuals, groups, ego, basketball etc. don't actually exist because it's just constructions and that the "I" that the individual is referring to is actually God. Then I don't understand why a group can not awaken in a relative sense. If every individual in a group awakens, then relatively speaking should we not be able to say that is a group awakening? Even if in an absolute sense God is all there is for all eternity. Then there is the question of how likely it is that a large group of individuals will awaken. That's what I assume you and Leo mean is not going to happen. But I say how can you be so sure this is the case? When we were still monkeys and had not yet evolved into homo sapiens sapiens, being able to do many of the things we do today must have seemed impossible or like an unachievable utopia. Could it not be the case that the same is going on here? Sure, a collective awakening in the future seems like a fantasy today. But isn't anything possible in an infinite universe? This made me think of something I read by Eckhart Tolle, he says that a new heaven and a new earth are arising within you at this moment.

As in there is only the self awakening to itself? That makes sense. But how can democracy exist then? Because Leo posted in the same post that we're lucky to keep democracy alive. How can there be democracy if there are no groups?

For me both A New Earth and The Power of Now were very helpful books. Especially The power of Now. I feel like they're misrepresenting what Eckhart Tolle is trying to say to some extent. I don't know if calling his teachings "a lot of self avoidance masked as enlightenment" is fair. Tolle simply suggests that you let go of your beliefs(thoughts) about who you are by connecting to who you actually are in this moment(by connecting to your feelings and inner energy/body and experiencing it as it is without letting your thoughts warp what you experience into something it is actually not. Tolle encourages you to observe and accept negative feelings, to just feel them for what they are and be with them and let them express themselves to you. Isn't that literally what loving all parts of yourself is, just like what their advice is? Their advice makes sense to me on one hand but on the other hand it is confusing to me because it seems like they're confusing the ego with the self at times, atleast Jeff Brown. Richard Schwartz says Tolle does a good job at describing the self which is interesting because Tolles understanding of what the self is seems very different from Jeff Browns. Jeff Brown says that when he tried detaching from his story(his thoughts about his past and who he is) he felt uncomfortable and "like i was dishonoring this beautiful self that was carrying me through life". But that is confusing to me. Because the story of who he is is not his real self from my understanding of self, that is the ego. He is not what he thinks he is. To me it sounds like maybe he let go of the story which connected him to his feelings in the present and he was not used to letting his feelings be as they are without explaining them away. So instead of feeling uncomfortable feelings and not trying to explain them away his mind created a new story about how his negative feelings were there because he is dishonoring his beautiful self by letting go of his past. But he has no proof that is the case, it seems to me to be just another delusion of thought. That's just another story, a belief about why his feelings are in a certain way that he does not like that acts as a replacement for his past that he let go of. A new ego. I don't think Eckhart Tolle is particularly denigrating towards the ego either. I remember he says in A New Earth that you should not demonize the ego, just rise above it, become aware of it and realize it is not who you truly are but simply thoughts and then you're acting on those thoughts because you believe them to be true. I don't remember exactly how he phrased it but that was the gist I got from A New Earth.

Maybe there are other technologies you can develop to help paralyzed people. Or to help people suffering from some other illnesses at that. What is the reason that your life purpose is this specific? Why did you want to help paralyzed people walk specifically? Use that reason as a seed to find other things worth pursuing.

How do you know this is true? Let go of your past, you are reborn every single moment. You don't need spend your time now to think about the bad things that happened in the past. You are here and now, you're alive. Feel your inner body, feel your breath! Eckhart Tolle talks about for example how people who are depressed often have suffered in their childhood in various ways(bad parenting, emotional neglect, lack of friends, abusive boyfriends) and how they get stuck in that story. Yes, all of those things are unfortunate and I'm sorry you had to go through that. But isn't it that thinking about those things now simply justify how you're feeling and makes you believe that you're supposed to be unhappy, because you got a problematic past that has caused you emotional damage? But how do you actually know that is true, it is just a belief(thoughts), isn't it, hello ? If you spend the now thinking about the bad things in the past you miss the goodness you have NOW. The Now is what will free you from your past. "When you let go of who you are you become who you might be" - Rumi

How can you be so sure?

I think this is a good way of looking at it. You should not have to fight other males to keep them away from your girl. You should be able to trust your girl and if she does something that crosses the line that's a good indication you should try to just let her go and pursue a girl that actually wants you. As far as the video goes, her boyfriend comes off a bit pathetic by the way he acted. It's not a huge deal but the vibe was obviously fun and relaxed and he did not match the vibe of the party at all. It's pretty obvious his girlfriend is more comfortable in handling social situations than he is.

Mapo Tofu or Shui Zhu tofu are two dishes that I absolutely loved when I was vegan and ate a lot of tofu. If you like Szechuan pepper and spicy food you would likely love it. The tofu really absorbs the flavor well in those oily and spicy dishes. The only problem is that it's not the easiest food to cook yourself, takes some ingredients that you need to look for in Chinese stores or online to make the broth. But if you want to treat yourself to some good food sometime you should look up a recipe for one of those dishes online and go ahead and make it. Alternatively you can order it from a good Chinese restaurant but that won't really help you much if you're looing for a recipe lol.

Let me say this, I have not read Atomic Habbits. But I think what works well is going to differ from person to person. For example some books on Leos booklist that he rated as a must read didn't resonate with me all that much/help me much. While some books he rated as good but not a must read resonated with me a lot more and were must reads for myself. The only way you're truly going to know if Atomic Habits works for you is to read the book and test if it works for yourself.