Elisabeth

@IAmReallyImportant What are you trying to achieve? I hear you were thinking about getting life coaching or seminars in radical honesty... as a means to what end?

That is quite possible. I've once seen a brain scan, they showed the dopamine circuits of someone who quit caffein compared to a normal brain. The timescale for recovery was definitely months to a year. Maybe research supplements? Eating more omega 3's seems to help me somewhat. (Check your sleep. Check your motivation. Check your other stresses in life...)

O...k? I was gonna ask you to get way more specific about what it is exactly that you need after reading your initial post. Seems it has revealed itself.

I mean... is this for real?

@Shaul How do you feel about the technical part of science support, i.e. taking care of lab equipment helping build prototypes of machines? Is that still a thing? Or the experimental part of science, where you at least get to prepare samples and perform measurements. I imagine that would still be too much of an indoor job and there's no doubt a lot of computer use too, but at the end someone has to put the machine together. Or perhaps construction in general? Yeah I know "actualized.org" people usually have higher intellectual ambitions.

Nice to hear, I wish you good luck

That is the sane thing to do. There's no reason why you should worry about the content of someone else's spiritual insights. Your fear stems from turning Leo's work into belief. You may have that insight yourself when you're ready. Until then, do your best to live your human life well.

I try to give advice based on the experience I have. Sometimes I preach from an "I wish I had done this better" place, but mostly I talk about what did help, from my experience with emotions and relationships. Do I live all the personal development theory that I've learned? NO WAY. But if I'm giving advice on stuff that I haven't been able to follow, I try to mention that.

Why don't you spend some more time on the straightforward "how do I want to earn money" question? When you know that, you know what skills you need. Maybe you want your own business or freelancer's path, but business management skills are still great for that. Maybe you want to write textbooks and could use a philosophy/teaching degree. It's less likely to succeed, but maybe you're ok with teaching as plan B. Maybe you don't mind a 9-5 job if it pays. Nobody can tell you what to study without knowing what you want to achieve.

I'll leave is up to the reader to take sides on this kind of dispute

I was feeling like I can't reset my sleep schedule to an earlier hour because I just wouldn't fall asleep. All it took was starting to get ready for sleep an hour before my chosen time and just getting to bed at chosen time for 3 consecutive days. The first night, I didn't fall asleep right away, got up after an hour to spend another hour or two online. But then, my sleep schedule shifted. I relapsed after a month, but now I've got the experience that it's not so hard to shift.

@Raptorsin7 Holotropic breathwork did help me access deep emotions, have you tried any body-focused approaches?

I've only now read the book. It's orange, but the very idea of writing something like this and making investing more available to people is above orange. So he will have some touch of green or yellow. I'm not seeing any turquoise, I'd say that takes much more than a humanistic life purpose.

@Chumbimba 1) Think about whether you really want both at the same time. 2) Find a Buddhist monastery where you can learn meditation cheaply. Talk to the teachers. Continue pursuing your degree, and spend your summer breaks taking long meditation retreats. 3) Once you have a degree, take a gap year (or so) between school and work to immerse yourself in meditation totally. 4) When you feel ready (or your teacher sais so), get back into the real word, start your software-related career if you still wish so and run meditation courses for African-American people in the evening. Or Fuck software engineering and financial security. Switch to a degree that's directly related to helping people, such as being a teacher, psychologist or social worker, take trainings and seminars in dealing with mental health issues and helping people, including a training on mindfullness-based stress reduction or a similar program. Have meditation as just one of the tools in your wide professional toolbox! Which one sounds more appealing? Any mix of those?

Please note this thread is one and a half years old.

Ah, I see you do know what I'm talking about. Be kind to yourself. You may have gone a little to fast/too far, if your psyche now protects itself from what has worked. Find a very safe setting for approaching your trauma. I don't know if that's a love-focused meditation technique, a breathwork/bodywork seminar, a trip on a low psychedelic dose with a sitter, your psychotherapy, something else... or if taking a break first is what you need. I've been working with a similarly sharp emotional pain in my chest. It's a journey.

two suggestions come up in my mind: 1) Absolutely do supplement Leo's approach with some kind of body/movement focused practice. Leo doesn't stress that, but it's critical for anxious people to use body-centred approaches, perhaps free spontaneous movement, for grounding, body awareness and emotional release. 2) You've twice described your anxiety as gut-wrenching. How's your digestion?

Just had that emotional experience. Someone loves me although I've been snappy, unproductive the whole day, feeling bad -- basically I've done nothing to earn any love, and it's not whatever pleasure I bring them. A flash of insight came for a second, that this is what opens the door for true authentic motivation. Has anyone had that experience?

I do think you might want to/ need to do both. The actualized.org popular thought is that you want to create a job just for yourself from your passion - but that's quite rare, and just won't happen with anthropology, philosophy and history without additional skills. Be it marketing, or journalism, or ... don't know what... you'll need something to couple with these abstract subjects.

If you've been on hormonal contraception "forever" for whatever reason, that could be an issue - although I suppose you'd think of that yourself.

@Leo Gura I've seen more of the original video, and I understand why you would want to communicate about different standards of behaviour. In most of the interactions the guy is on top of it and turning the tables, they seem quite consensual. With that, I agree. Also, the longer I'm in a relationship, and interacting with guys in general, the more seriously I take male consent. The woman absolutely can be forceful about sexual interactions. Abuse and domestic violence targetting men are a thing.

Fair enough as far as "getting overpowered in a park or club" goes. Do we have to discuss that most rape happens with people you know (or even are in a relationship with) and is often set up by psychological rather than physical violence?

Kudos for integrity. I took your inspiration and reported those posts

@Leo Gura A friend of mine took a deep dive into the history of neo-liberalism. He now thinks most of libertarianism is just a huge smokescreen created to gain popular support for neo-liberal economic policies which actually serve corporations and the rich, Milton Friendman being a typical example of neo-liberal propaganda disguised as libertarian belief. I wonder whether you think that's possible.

@Annoynymous Did something shift in your life? It's normal to shift in and out of resonance with teachers. Maybe you need a different focus now. Does it bother you a lot that listening to Leo isn't fulfilling anymore?