UnbornTao

You sound neurotic. Calm down, no need to beat oneself up. I think it's useful to start with self-honesty. What are you really saying? It sounds to me like you're simply expressing a desire for sex, and you think that that is a bad thing, and are perhaps afraid of the consequences of letting that drive loose and unchecked. Get at the root of the assumption and recognize it as what it is -- a belief. If it's a disempowering idea, you can drop it -- that is, you stop operating from the assumption, you're free from it, you stop thinking that it's "true."

@Carl-Richard I'm talking about looking into how addiction comes to exist in the first place. Addiction refers to an action you take. If you want to stop smoking, say, stop the action -- taking out a cigarette, putting it in your mouth, lighting it. You don't have to smoke. Now, don't conflate the action with the motivation to act. Stop it, and suffer the consequences. After this, the impulse to act is going to intensify and yet you still refrain from indulging it, until eventually the motivation subsides. This may take some screaming, crying, and other withdrawal symptoms depending on the habit. For example, I was addicted to coffee and wanted to quit for a few days. I was tempted to make up all kinds of excuses and stories as to why I should keep doing the habit, but after some struggle I carried on nevertheless. Refraining from the motivating behavior and going through a few withdrawal symptoms were what it took to overcome it. No stories needed. The motivation was there and yet I didn't act on it. This is the secret of secrets to overcome addiction: stop it.

ideal: conceived as perfect; existing only in idea It seems to me that this domain of ideals can be relatively easy to recognize. Realize what you're doing --idealizing--, then drop it. You can get rid of fantasies without the need for a long and excruciating process. This would save unnecessary suffering down the line. In this context, pride is unnecessary -- as well as ideals. That doesn't mean lacking life goals, being irresponsible and complacent, etc.; it just means being free of the conceptual activity that is fantasizing. I imagine that doing this would allow for increased effectiveness as you'd be operating from a grounded standpoint, not fantasy.

First of all, clarify your purpose. Why are you undertaking that particular endeavor? What do you want to get out of it? Based on that, you can generate objectives and devise a strategy to accomplish them. Of course, without a field or activity to ground the strategy on, not much advise can be given since an strategy is dependent on a particular field. Without some context, strategy can't be applied. Your purpose may be "achieving a strong, agile body by mastering a sport I'm passionate about." Your field or activity could be soccer. An objective may be winning the league's title with your team. An strategy would require devising a plan according to the objective. Say the objective requires winning 75% percent of the matches your team plays. An individual strategy could be: training for longer periods practicing moves and tactics you're not very skillful at improving your technique learning to be confident with the ball shooting ten penalties each training session improving your diet and sleep Then, you (and your team) will have different specific goals on any given day, like winning a match. Another set of strategies would be required here. Maybe playing with a defensive formation for the last minutes of the game, as your team may be winning by two goals, etc. This would be the coach's job, though. Rather simplistic but hopefully it's a bit clearer.

Discipline is simply producing a result that doesn't just befall you, it is not a burden as it is commonly considered to be. The etymology of discipline is "learning, disciple."

Drop the ideals you're holding. You are generating unnecessary suffering for you. Ideals are used as a justification for beating oneself and others up. They are fantasies about what should be but isn't. They are by definition unreachable. They're not meant to be reached, and holding ideals creates suffering. For example: "I should be able to lift 100 kilos at the gym but I don't, I'm so pathetic." Etc.

I pity him. I would never want to become Windows not even in a million years. And Linux is free, so... Bad joke, it's 1:00 AM here

@CARDOZZO España.

I knew it! I gotta find the Spanish version, if there's one.

@CARDOZZO you reading the English version? Curious.

Stop it

Something lame that comes to mind is sweeping the house at 3:00 AM

Juicy topic here we go

Whether it works or not depends on the purpose for why it's taken up in the first place. Meditation is ultimately about healing and calming the mind down, not setting out to become conscious. Two different pursuits. The latter could better be called contemplation. Meditation can work relative to its purpose.

Trump is clearly a child and a liar. Far from being a wise and conscious option regardless of politics.

Terminator!

Not healthy. Instead, focus on increasing effectiveness. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? What results do you want to produce? What is the most effortless way to do it?

easy there.

@Danioover9000 It's OK. If the advice is not found to be wise, it's OK.

My current take is that dysfunctional behavior might be caused precisely because we want to avoid pain. That pleasure and pain are part of the same dynamic is often ignored by us, and yet we strive to somehow experience pleasure continuously while expecting pain to be minimal or even zero, as irrational as that is. We still live as if that were possible, but it's not, it's an ideal. About the presumed lack, I was speaking existentially. We don't experience ourselves as being complete. Perhaps one's true nature is already complete but in our ignorance of that fact, we set out to find "cures" for that dilemma. This may lead to an unconscious avoidance of pain which in turn helps generate addictive behavior. Why the pervasive need to distract oneself? "Humanity's problems stem from man's inability to be alone in a room." This deals with the psychological domain whereas I was coming from an existential consideration. What you say is of course reasonable. A child that lacks paternal love may try to seek it somewhere else. Personality and how the child chooses to respond to circumstances may play a role here. But nothing says that if your needs aren't met, you have to develop addictions. Circumstances could catalyze such behavior but what the person does, and how she responds, are key. What kind of compulsive, unconscious emotional mechanisms would be equivalent to, say, breathing, moving, etc? Why do some individuals move on from their traumas while others get stuck within them and need a long healing process? In the former case, maybe they don't allow their past history to dictate their future. Others may use their life history as a justification for not instantly getting over their traumas, remaining bound to them. This seems to be a possibility. (Not to undermine/downplay painful events and trauma, these are valid). Ultimately, childish people don't want to experience themselves as the source of their experience. Rather than being the victim of circumstances, owning yourself, your emotions and your experience makes for an empowering model of reality.

I have yet to look into this "lacking" sense but it seems to be present for pretty much everyone regardless of stage. Might be related to a fundamental not-knowing that we've mistakenly taken to be a malady. I don't consider myself to be a sage yet nor have I mastered stage orange, sorry. I may be able to throw some questions around that will hopefully facilitate our investigation here. If you want that, refer to the questions on my first reply.

I'd phrase the consideration as: Why do you (everyone) feel lacking, that sense that something is missing? Could be caused by existential assumptions about being an inner one with his private little world. Assuming things have consequences!

It might have failed as a business or source of income but is great at providing short-form insightful content.

One that I love and that immediately comes to mind is Intro to Serious Philosophy.

Have you watched I, Robot? Similar to that. The potential AI has for mischief. - "Hey Siri, clean my room." - "Clean it yourself, bi**h"