Key Elements

So, the question is: Why is thinking not awareness? Thinking involves thoughts. Examples of thoughts: I'm hungry. I'm thinking about eating an apple. I'm thinking about eating an orange. I feel sad. I feel happy. I feel angry. This is obvious. So, what is awareness? You are just observing without being caught inside your thoughts. You notice that you're happy, sad, or angry. You notice that you're hungry and crave an apple and an orange. Ok, so when these things happen, do you go about your day solving problems? Sure you do. You're just not caught up in your thoughts and making whatever you're experiencing and solving even worse. Another question came up in this thread. Should you go for enlightenment? That is completely your choice.

It could take years to incorporate seeing/being the no-self (enlightenment) into one's everyday life. After "experiencing the no-self," the person is still embodied. Embodiment means one still has to deal with the ego. Mastery of dropping the ego on a daily basis may take time. It won't be perfect. Shinzen Young explains it in each one of these traps. Life, the journey, continues.

This clip is a reminder to work on life purpose and not just get any job, and also to go for enlightenment because it's not the paranormal.

Make yourself a frozen popsicle out of orange juice or some kind of fruit juice. Then you get to suck on it for a while and think of ways not to crave.

So we go back to mother nature with time -- good point.

@Joseph Maynor I heard from a Native American teacher, that certain groups of Native Americans used to say a prayer before they ate their meat, especially buffaloes. After hearing that, I thought that prayers bring up awareness. Now, some people, like women, are more prone to animeia. So, they have to take supplements if they choose to become vegetarian or vegan. I heard from a cardiologist that we are omnivories and that he doesn't recommend meat be completely stopped because of the increased risk of diabetes and obesity.

See, here's the thing. Maybe you want to go into psychology and counsel ppl with anxiety. I dunno. You got to go and find out. Maybe you're interested in this topic.

@Finn Ok. #2 is a good answer. For #1, I answered that question by thinking back to my childhood. I loved art the best -- painting and crafting. But, it was hard to market, so I learned a pictorial language to market art, and in the process, got a job as a bilingual teacher. I'm still in the process of mastery and passive income. So, in other words, all you have to do is figure out what you love to do naturally, and go on from there. Please feel free to have a look at what I did so far as reference. Hopefully, those will help. Please ask if you have further questions.

2 questions #1. What do you enjoy doing? #2. Do you know what's passive income?

Becoming a millionaire is only an upper stage orange goal. To me, it is necessary to understand how to become it, but if that's your only goal, it's not a life purpose. What about the other stages to incorporate into a life purpose? You got to have a plan beyond the orange stage.

The questions are: How much do you accept them for who they are? How much are you able to trust them? If you answer the first question with 100%, that means you love them unconditionally. It's like a mother loving her severely mentally ill child for the rest of his/her life and is willing to sacrifice her life for the child. If both the questions are answered with 100%, that would be a very rare two-sided friendship. Eg. Best Friends Forever (BFF), Soulmates

@Pelin I'm not ready to show my website yet because I need to improve on it. There is something called organic growth when it comes to startup / entrepreneurship. It means you got to be patient to see what happens next and make a baby step decision on what to do next. If you try to improve on it too quickly without observing, it won't work. I could show you this. It's what I did so far. See, I really think daily baby steps are important -- very, very small steps, rather than jumping and taking a huge leap and risk. To me, reading that book is an awesome baby step and trying to understand. This is also a baby step. It's not just taking baby steps in startups / entrepreneurship, but also in relationships and everything else. It's just like learning to ride a bike. You can't expect to ride it on the first try. It's easier to break a comfort zone when you test the waters before jumping into the pool. I hope you get what I'm saying.

"The pen is mightier than the sword." If you take a pen and an empty notebook, you may start writing whatever comes to mind. If you continue to do this, it is probably going to lead somewhere if you start to think of your favourite subject that will lead to mastery. Maybe you love: a foreign language, art, food, the piano, the guitar, kung fu, science, engineering, technology, math, etc. Then, you keep practicing it by writing it repeatedly in a notebook or where ever. It becomes a daily habit. Then, you go into flow state with it, and one day soon, you're good it. You incorporate this into your life purpose and things start to fall into place. (It doesn't always have to be a pen. It could be some other tool: a paintbrush, piano, guitar, jump rope, science lab, etc. I prefer not to stare at the computer screen too much. That's why I love the pen.)

Be selective in what you tell others. Listen carefully and then respond. Perhaps, you could just say to dress a little more formal on the holidays and then be off. Repeat, if someone asks you again. Some people are not lucky enough to see profound info and find ways of incorporating it within themselves. From what I observed as of now, the most effective way to express deeper stuff is through a life purpose. However, you also have to be very selective and tactful in how to present it. Not everyone is ready to hear it. As you go further along in your life purpose, the chances increase to meet more like-minded ppl. But, of course, you also change as you go along, so the type of ppl change.

You know, I could understand and relate because I had to deal with family members and others like this. I still do. I would just keep going. Keep going within yourself, and at the same time, build something on the outside to express it. (As I mentioned, a website.) I would highly recommend you find out more about startups to entrepreneurship and networking. That's the next level above a job/career. Find your life purpose. I recommended you this book in a previous post. The next level above that is becoming a philanthropist with your life purpose. In the networking world, the word philanthropist is commonly used. Then, you start your own non-profit. (Like, Bill Gates starting his AIDS foundation.) And finally, if you incorporate non-duality / spirituality in whatever you're doing, that's the final stages. By then, I hope your father will realize that you're trying to make a difference in the world. But, for now, I would try to be selective in what you're saying to him. He might be too overprotective with you and not be bothered to open himself up to that. It is very hard / impossible to relate to someone, even within the same family, if the other family member has not lived through what you had to go through.

@Pelin This is a tough one. I like that Eckhart Tolle quote. It makes sense. Sometimes it's impossible for some people, like parents, to change. They won't open up. Have you tried succeeding in other things? Like making a website and earning from it? Or, not even that...just make a fancy website by hiring a graphic artist. (Later, you could figure out a way to earn from it.) I'm just giving an example. It seems like the only way for him to understand is for you to take action and he takes notice of it indirectly without you telling him.

Your relationship cannot be based on just sex, right? Do you two share other things like what are you interested in? What are your hobbies? Where do you like to go out sometimes? Etc. Etc... I'm only saying this in this manner because I'm guessing from your post that you're a gal who is interested in a long term relationship.

The Lion and the Mouse Once there was a tiny, playful mouse. He started playing on a sleeping lion because he thought it was just a hill. The lion woke up and caught the mouse and was about to eat him. The mouse started begging for his life. Mouse: Please, Mr. Lion!!! Don't eat me! I didn't know you were Mr. Lion. Look, I have an idea. If you let me go, I promise I will help you when you need help. Lion: You? Helping me? In what way??? You think you could actually help me?? HAHAHA!!! What a joke! Ok...Go! Since you made me laugh, I'll let you go this time. Mouse: Oh, thank you, Mr. Lion! You won't regret your decision. One day, two hunters set up a net to catch a lion. They were confident that the net will catch a lion, so they went for lunch. After a few minutes, the lion was caught in the net. Lion: Oh no, I'm dead. I can't get out of this. In no time, they will come and kill me. The mouse appeared. Mouse: Don't worry. I could get you out of this. The mouse started chewing the net, and in no time both of them escaped. They became friends. Moral: Sometimes you got to drop your ego to fully understand the other being and your situation.

Well then, go do it. Go and start to make a website on it, write a book on it, record it, etc. -- however you want it. Start small and practical by writing about it -- or, however you want to do it. Go and coach friends for free, and eventually start charging people who come to you. Get formal training and gain that skill. I hope you see what I'm trying to say here.

@egoless I'm talking about what are you going to do for your enjoyment? What are useful activities do you love to do on your free time? I'm talking about doing it now. (I'm not talking about your university, getting a Master's, or going to a different country.)