Raphael

Screens Are The Enemy Of Sleep It's clear for me now that I have to completely stop looking at screens at least one hour before going to bed. Screens are anti-sleep and I think it explains why many people now have sleeping problems. I have to force myself to stop and not let me get seduced by some little information, video, or whatever because I easily get hooked on the internet and it destroys my nights and makes me unable to rest properly.

I Love Computer Programming I love computer programming, it is both a creative and technical activity, a combination of right brain and left brain. It quickly clicked with me when I discovered the field, it was like my brain was born to code. I wasn't exceptional at school when I was a kid, but I wasn't bad either, most of the time I was a little above average. Programming helped me a lot when I was in high school, I bet a lot on it and it paid off as I graduated as the first in my section because I was so good at it. Programming also helped me to build a complex and nuanced mind as they are a lot of subtleties to take into account when developing an app, practicing a so nuanced activity then helps in dealing with other life problems.

Challenge Completed I did it! I successfully completed my challenge of meditating consistently for 30 days for 1 hour without opening my eyes. It wasn't always easy, but I made it! I feel like I grew a lot during these meditation sessions, my mind is more complex and nuanced, I feel less reactive, more loving, and I'm also more tolerant of others. I'm going to stop journaling here, but I will continue to meditate for 1 hour every day on my side. My next practical journal will be coming soon and I will do my best to push myself to excellence in my daily life.

I'm going to use this journal to track my meditation habit. My days go better after meditating in the morning and I can now see how important this habit is. I'm currently at 30-45 minutes of daily meditation which is already challenging for me. Many times I open my eyes in between and stop for a few minutes before restarting. The process will go in two steps: Step 1: 45 minutes of meditation per day Step 2: 1 hour of meditation per day My goal is to be able to do 1 hour of daily meditation without opening my eyes, scratching me and of course, stop in between. I will write a post per day until I feel successful enough in my practice.

7 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: I practiced letting go today too, but it was more difficult than yesterday. My thoughts were more intense so I had more difficulties to let go. I moved my body sometimes but kept my eyes closed during the entire session. I felt calmer, lighter, and more conscious when I opened my eyes.

6 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: I practiced letting go today, I succeeded sometimes, but my thoughts also took over a lot of times. I feel like it's much easier to calm the mind by letting go rather than resisting. Letting go doesn't attract thoughts, letting go empty the mind and body of its impurities. It's like being a water source without a container that expands more and more where resistance is more like having a shield that protects from thoughts attacks and starts to break after some time. The more we resist something, the more the thing is susceptible to happen. I felt becoming quite empty while letting go, I also felt quite lightweight sometimes. I didn't move my body a lot during this session and felt more conscious and lightweight when I opened my eyes.

I'm In Love With Spiral Dynamics

I think I lack awareness here notably about the thoughts. I always lived in my head and always had a hyperactive mind since I was a kid. For the body movements, it's easier to notice them and correct my posture. I also feel like having good nights of sleep with a regular schedule helps me to have good meditation sessions. Most of the time I don't resist the thoughts and get lost in them, but I experienced that consciously letting go helps a lot, so yes it's possible to be aware of the resistance and I'm aware of it sometimes. My life goes more smoothly now and I worry less about mundane stuff that used to get stuck in my head. I feel like I'm much more mature, loving, compassionate, sensitive, intuitive, open and understand much stuff that was not I wouldn't before.

5 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: Today's session was also a little difficult. I was a little sleepy as I didn't have enough sleep last night, I also had a lot of thoughts, and move my body a lot. I didn't felt more conscious when I opened my eyes.

4 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: The session was more difficult than yesterday as I meditated late at night. I had a lot of thought and was also a little sad while thinking about some stuff, I also move my body a lot. I felt like the session went way faster than 1 hour, but I didn't felt more conscious when I opened my eyes.

3 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: I got distracted again in the morning while meditating, so I stopped at 40 minutes. Then, in the evening, I decided to do the full 1 hour, so in total, I meditated for 1 hour 40 minutes today. The session went extremely well, I felt so lightweight that it was like some parts of my body were disappearing notably my arms. I felt connected to everything and I also didn't move my body during the meditation and kept my back straight all the time. I was really more conscious, calmer and lighter when I opened my eyes.

It clearly exists and it creates more racism in less developed countries. Some white people go to poor countries because they think their life will be better and easier than in Europe or North America which is the case as the cost of living are much lower in these countries so they easily have access to many things that are not accessible to locals. At the same time, many locals prefer to do business with white people because they can charge them higher for housing and some other stuff, but it pisses off the rest of the local population as it raises prices for them and makes their life even more difficult. While looking for an apartment in my own country, I literally saw ads that were reserved only to European people as the local population earns a lot less money and are financially less stable. It does and many people in less developed countries also see white people as a superior race and act differently with them. There have been many cases of begpacking in Asia (young European people who travel in poorer countries without money and fund their trip by begging in the streets where the local population earns a lot less money than them). https://thetab.com/uk/2017/04/11/backpackers-begging-money-streets-se-asia-epitome-entitled-white-privilege-37352 I don't think it would work the same way if they were poor black people from Africa.

Trevor from GTA V

2 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: Today's meditation was really nice. I calmer as I relaxed my body a lot compared to past days, I still had a lot of thoughts, but I didn't move my body and kept my back straight all the time. I felt more conscious, calmer, and lighter when I opened my eyes.

Hi, thank you I'm not doing self-inquiry as I only have some vague knowledge about what it is, but I think I will probably do more concentration practices in the future as I will need it to perform better in my work. I'm now more used to meditate for 1 hour, so it's not that difficult for me anymore, it's just normal. But, I do understand that many people can find it impressive as it was incomprehensible for me 2 - 3 years ago that someone could meditate for 1 hour every day.

1 March 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: I originally meditated in the morning but I got interrupted by some messages on my phone that caused me to stop at 36 minutes. However, as I wanted to succeed in my challenge I decided to meditate again in the evening and did the full 1 hour this time, so in total, I meditated 1 hour and 36 minutes today. I wanted to do some mindfulness, but it went like shit as I was having too many thoughts. I notably had thoughts on an awesome web application that I could build and that could revolutionize the web and make me completely financially independent, I visualized it and it was very compelling. I moved my body at some moment and I noticed that I was a little too tight in my recent meditation sessions, it's probably because of the pressure that I have on myself, but I need to learn to let it go. I didn't felt more conscious when I opened my eyes.

29 February 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: The session went well. I tried to concentrate on my breath today, I succeeded at some times and failed other times where I was having more thoughts, at some moments I had very subtle tingling sensations in my hands. I was a little sleepy as I meditated late at night and I move my body a little too much. I felt calmer when I opened my eyes.

So Much Nuances Each days I realize more and more how nuance and complex the world is. Developing a complex mind is needed to be able to navigate through this complex reality, simple minds will inevitably be left away.

I just realized that the same principle is also clearly visible in very low developed countries both both the government and the people are very selfish and it results in a total mess.

Yeah, I intuitively feel that progression even if I'm still lacking compassion. I'm currently mostly at stage orange with some little shadows of red/blue, so I guess it will happen naturally when I will evolve more into green. I personally experienced that with my dad's attitude, so it makes sense to me. Thanks for your time Leo.

28 February 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: The session went well, I had a lot of thoughts but I didn't move my body. I feel like I'm more able to meditate 1 hour every day, it feels like my sessions are easier and faster. I didn't felt more conscious when I opened my eyes.

Thanks you for answers guys. ? I'm emotionally very detached from people and even from my family, so many times I have trouble understanding why people gets so emotional. I also have trouble to understand why people get attached to me. But of course they are nuances here and I'm sure that if it was a life/death situation for my mom I would be affected. I was affected affected even if it was not highly when my grandpa died three years ago. From what I can see health care is related to survival, which is the base for the universe to continue its evolution. If the government is thinking of health care as a way to get more money, then that's really selfish. ? What do you guys think of the argument that people should be responsible for their health, eat healthy, and exercise regularly to avoid diseases? I personally think it's a valid point, but that at the same time we can still get sick and that a certain amount of people will still get rare to cure diseases and that's when free health care have its place.

Society's Evolution I love when Leo talks about evolution and society, those are some of the most interesting videos in my opinion. I prefer them over self-help and sometimes even over enlightenment videos.

27 February 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: The session went very well. I let my mind do everything that it wanted so I had a lot of thoughts, but I didn't move my body and kept my back straight during all the session. I felt calmer and more conscious when I opened my eyes.

26 February 2020 Time: 1 hour Eyes always closed: Yes Summary: The session went well, I wanted to be mindful and I did sometimes, but I was lost in thoughts most of the time. I didn't move my body at all and kept my back straight during all the meditation. I felt calmer when I opened my eyes.