Truth

I'd say social anxiety comes from fear of being criticized, judged or being insecure, there's a need to be accepted. So if you remove that need, taking responsibility for your insecurities, and stop caring what people think of you, you stop needing to be accepted, instead you become grounded and unmoved by this social situation, there's no more emotional struggle because there's no need to be accepted anymore and you move past it. If there's still that pain in the moment when you think you feel you've moved passed it, then you haven't actually grown, only "masked" it. As for fitness, do you do it because you value it? Or because your trying to fix a problem,(painful looking in the mirror, getting a girl, to be accepted) there's a good quote by Robert Fitz that says "what drives the action is the intensity of the problem. Once the intensity of the problem is lessend, people have less motivation to act. Thus problem solving as a way of life, becomes self-defeating, problem solving mostly leads to less and less action, as the actions work to solve the problem." There's a profound difference in valuing and loving to do something, than taking action to make something go away. Its the difference between positive motivation and negative motivation (running away from pain or potential hazards or simply working to create to see a nice body come into being. ) huge difference. Make it more than just getting things, value it. Something like "I could do this for the rest of my life, I want to be healthy and fit because I value being healthy. I want to feel good in my body, I want to live as long as I can" it becomes more than just, "I want to look like that guy"or, "my friends work out so I should too", or "girls like guys who are fit". See the difference? Which mindset is likely to go the distance? Friends stop going.. Motivation is lessened, you get a girl or still can't, motivation is lessened, you see the struggles it takes and hard work to get that guys bod, motivation is lessened.

Keep your eyes open, this helps, and also for me to keep me up and awake, I force myself to think about stuff (girls, goals, plans, contemplation, self inquiry.), whatever I want and just watch it. This is only when I'm exhausted and I feel it's gonna be a tough meditation.

Oooh. I love meditating in the morning, I'd say comfort is key here for me whatever makes me more comfortable, I shut everything off and sit down, it's a great feeling, it's like waking up with the sun and everyones still asleep this is around 6-7 am for me.

Yeah I was being nonchalant haha.

I think understanding yourself on a deep level is key here. but there are some really good books. - 5 love languages by Gary Chapman (how to love others and what people do that make you feel loved.) sadly most of the things I know are for guys and the topics are deep. I recommend you find a system, how to be a women, gender roles, biggest mistakes, breaking up, all that good stuff. Start googling

Honestly, my goal is just as long as I meditate every day, I don't care when I do it. Some days I do it when I'm tired (worst meditation sessions) and sometimes when I just feel I should and can. but I never miss a day. I think that's where your mind should really be.

paradoxes, how do they work?

Sounds like an excuse to lie to yourself that it's okay.

From what I understand so far, I mean i haven't really thought about this topic deeply yet but I wanted to get it out there. I think about the conscious mind, and how it plays such a big part, but yet, such a little part in my daily life, I also think about how my subconscious mind, and how all these things that are going on outside of my awareness. (maybe I don't have enough information on awareness) How does my conscious mind Actually WORK? Creating concepts, ideas, visions, what is it that I can exploit about my consciousness, what is it's job outside of ego and self. (staying alive) maybe I'm diving into "true self" or "the authentic self" I know awareness is key here, but, consciously, what is this consciousness mechanism? Maybe someone can recommend some books? Give me a little insight here? thanks. (If leo doesn't make the video or maybe already has a video that I don't know about.)

I've grown so much over the last year. I need help getting out of this rut. I'm not scared to face the resistance/pain I might feel. (slowly having way better progress with this) being productive and on top of building my habits as a distraction to not do my priorities out of fear. -----All big fat lies, feels good getting these out haha.

Ahhh, this takes me back to my first days meditating. I was very inconsistent in the beginning, but me I set a month goal because of habits and how they work. Don't give up after a week (even though you most likely will), do your best to stay on track with it. Meditation is a long term gains type of thing, keep going! You have no idea yet to how this practice is gonna benefit you.

People would be more attracted to How To Be A Fuck Up At Life, because it's like "Whaaa???" better chance for people to click the video. because most of what people do on a daily basis is fucking up their life. and it might open their eyes that they are doing it right this second.

Yeah.. that's why this can be so paradoxical, there's A LOT of grey area, not everything is black and white as we would like it to be. An ego giving up on enlightenment (truthseeker) needs to realize how important it is in my knowledge graph, so I became a little assertive.

@electroBeam You can't seem to read between the lines of what I'm saying, you take everything I say at face value. You take everything I say and break it apart. I can do that too, but I'm not gonna play this justification game with you. Your whole paradigm of "this is wrong" and "this is not what I meant" and "this means this" and "you are actually saying this" and "if you say this it means this" can't you see all your assumptions and insinuations are just that? No matter what I say you'll do a mental gymnastic to turn it back on me. I'm not the one saying anything is good or bad YOU ARE, I'm not the one saying this is true, YOU ARE. I'm not the one saying someone is born with emotional mastery. YOU ARE. Just because I say something doesn't mean you need to believe me. Now go ahead and explain away everything I said so you can feel better about yourself. This is just a justification game. There's no point it's just beliefs attacking beliefs. World views attacking world views. Just a new dogma.

Being motivated and actually BEING enlightened are two different things. someone can know everything there is to know about enlightenment and still not be enlightened. Again I'm not talking about motivation, I'm talking about actually being enlightened, I never said the fiction is good or bad, I never said it doesn't help, all of which are assumptions you've made. Again you assume I said having an agenda is bad. Some people seek validation to see if they got it, Some selflessly explain their experiences. And also I am aware of my own agenda, again, assuming that I'm not aware of what I'm saying. My "agenda" is maybe giving OP a little insight and traction to stay on this track and take responsibility to do the work. and it seems your agenda is to explain away everything I said to serve your ego and buy into your own bullshit. (yes, same as I am right now.) Who is this helping? you? me? or the OP? I agree that people need to know about enlightenment and be motivated, and I also agree that this forum can be helpful, but it's counter productive in the sense that talking and theorizing and creating story's and yapping does not make you become enlightened it might help yes, but it won't be permanent. People who take responsibility for this don't need emotional support, they take whatever information they have and work with it. People who need emotional support aren't committed to the journey, they just wanna see what's going on. Taking on this journey is gonna need more than just motivation and some enlightenment experiences.

talking and being convinced by others doesn't make you become enlightened. That's why sometimes I feel this forum is completely counter productive to enlightenment, anything anyone tells you is a complete fiction. The only thing anyone is really doing when they tell you something about enlightenment is pointing you to this "blind spot" that's all anyone is doing. Don't get advice and rationalize it away on the forum so it makes sense or it doesn't make sense, people can explain away anything you think and conceptualize and they will, why? because it's exactly what we are trying not to do, people have their own agendas and trying to convince themselves of things. Take what people, Leo and others and just use it in your practice and filter out what works and what doesn't (assuming you meditate everyday.) Everyone's at different stages in their development. This is a lone wolf journey.

True true, that's why I think I just need to take a week off and meditate for 8 hours as Leo talked about But in terms of enlightenment buying into our own bullshit seems like the answer, ''find your own answers'' they say. It seems my own answers come from this awareness that is nothing, and they just keep coming and its endless, so my whole world view is coming into question.

Assumptions are groundless, any assumption is a foundation set that essentially has no ground. Even the word ''assumptions'' is groundless so your assumption to be using "concepts and thoughts to realize our own errors in thought" is also counter productive and more groundless assumptions.

Become enlightened.

Questions find answers and a means to no end. It seems a huge issue is, its hard to imagine nothing can create something, but, this nothing exists.

He has videos on this, "how to get shit done" and "how to stop procrastinating" I think what you need to learn is ridding your limiting beliefs which he has only covered in his life purpose course.

He doesn't cover looks because it's so LOW on the scale of true attractiveness compared to the things he talked about. Look your best, that's really not that hard, a guy who takes care of himself and his looks is just a part of having the FULL PACKAGE. But it's so unimportant compared to the other things he listed.

Leo gave some good reccomendations for focus, cut off all distractions, work in block time. 90 minutes, then a 10-15 min break, then back to it.

Mindfulness increases your awareness, Self inquiry helps you find answers about who you are in truth, looking at yourself very objectively and honest.

Remember it's both of your faults, not just hers but yours too. There's no point in placing blame on yourself or her and thinking about the past, the only thing you can get from the past is a lesson. So take this lesson and just let it go man. This isn't a bad thing, this could very much be a good thing. but whether you believe it's a bad thing or a good thing is up to you. choose good, you'll be way, way, way better off. If you choose bad, you'll have a lot of unnecessary suffering.