Shin

Simple question: Does walking and being mindfull of nature and our own bodies and thoughts counts as a meditation practice ? Does someone here practice this kind of meditation if it's one ? How do you practice it if this is the case ?

I'm not talking about something that specific. I love hiking, and I have very huge sense of oneness with nature when I do it. These kind of things:

Do you meditate ? If not, make it a habit. There is no shame or guilt to have about whatever you do, because all you do is part of your conditioning, by society, friends, wife, whatever. The sole fact that you truly want to be a better person, means that you're doing more than 99.999% of people. You have the will to do it, and with that, you won't fail, not if you think strategically. Also, If you think by doing more stuff, whatever it is, will complete you, it's not going to work (it's the exact opposite of how it works actually ^^). I can't really answer to you more deeply about that, you should give more specifics about why you feel guilty, what you do, what you think you should do, and why you think you don't do it. I'll try to answer anyway. There is nothing wrong by feeling any kind of emotions too, that means when you feel guilt, don't suppress it, but ask yourself why, and try to understand very deeply why you feel guilty. For example, I feel guilty if I play too much video games in the day, without any other activities. My daily habits is to meditate and walk the dog, if I do only that and nothing else, the guilt comes because I didn't push myself. So the thing is to do a bit more than your daily routine, but not too much either. The best thing to do is to make a new habit of your free time, by using this extra time. A habit sticks only if you start slow and try to make one at a time. After some months, you can add a new habit if you are sure the old one has become a routine. To know if a habit has become a routine, feel if you have any kind of resistance when you start it, if you do, then it's not a routine yet. Top 3 habits to have: Meditation -----> You become more conscious of how your mind works, how it deceives you, and how you can silence it (partially) to enjoy life in a much deeper way. Sport -----> It's solely for having more energy, it also makes it harder to have any kind of depression. Reading (especially psychology and spiritual books) -----> It will gives you all the insights you need to supress all the bullshit in your head, which leads to supress all the problems of your life. You will also have the maps of how to succeed to anything at life. (((I count Leo's videos and other teachers as part of this habit too, although it's a different format)))

Today I was kinda bored, after playing some video games, I was like, what the fuck I am going to do with my afternoon ? So I decided to go to my local forest, hiking a bit. The first 15 minutes I started to shut down my mind, to have the less thoughts possible during the walk. After a while, I could sense the pre-thoughts coming, and most of my thoughts couldn't come up anymore. In the meantime I was enjoying the scenery, stopped at some point to admire the trees in their entirety. And then, there was this tree which felt different from the others, I was fixing its trunk for like 10 seconds. I had this feeling that I wasn't separate from the tree at all, although there was at least 5 meters between us. I was seeing the scene by my own eyes, but it felt like the tree wasn't just a tree, but an integral part of me. I had an idea popping in my head 5 minutes later, so I approach an another tree. I put my hands on it, and I tried to feel the void again, clearing any thoughts, even the thought that wants to supress the thoughts. My hand wasn't my hand, but A hand, and the tree, was equal to my hand at this moment ! Then I came back to the starting point of my walk, which consist of a park with some attractions for the kids, there is also some bunnies and sheeps. As I was walking through the park, every person and kids that I was seeing was just pure energy moving threw reality. It was as if everything was 1000% more alive than I sense it before. When I looked at people faces (or animals), their gazes felt like I was looking at me, threw their eyes !

"The belief of a limit, is the limit itself" YoloFrankerZLUL

Nobody said that we must cling to Leo's ideology. Leo's only giving us the tools, and since he still has an ego, he could be biaised (just like anyone else) by his culture. That doesn't mean what he says isn't true, that means you should always interpret what he says (where he came from, what his life is now). Don't be a skeptical maniac though, most of what Leo's says is pretty accurate, and his cultural background has very little influence on it.

There is one critical thing you didn't mention, homeostasis. All you mention is great, but you can't do that without thinking strategically. YOU MUST know what homeostasis is if you want to eradicate your addiction/self-actualize, otherwise you will fail:

By believing it, your mind will try to know if it's true by direct experience work. By not knowing it, your mind wouldn't be conscious of it, therefore it wouldn't seek direct experience to prove if these theories are true or not. If I didn't know a relationship can't fulfill me, I would put the blame on my current girlfriend instead of doing self-actualization work.

I was watching a video from Leo (can't talk about it cause it's from the life purpose course), and I suddenly felt that I was him, When I looked into Leo's eyes, I wasn't looking at something external, I was talking to myself. I also felt the pain he had saying what he had to say, I knew he was sad, and not just by looking at his eyes, it was deeper than that. It was painful yes, but so beautiful at the same time, it really can't be described with words, it's way, way, WAY beyond thinking. It reminds an another experience I had years ago: I was randomly walking in my town streets, and suddenly I was aware in a very deep level of every situations of my life, how everything was unfold. I think at this moment (it lasted 10 minutes, probably less), I was seeing threw karma, I could litterally know intuitively why every good and bad things happened in my life. It wasn't traditional thinking, I didn't control anything, it felt like someone else was thinking. I even start to think there is a lot of "supernatural" possibilities out there, there is too much shit the mind can't understand, simply because it isn't wired to do so. It makes me remember of a video where you see Tony Hawks falling, he was in intense pain, but he still started the jump, and break his record ... How could that make sense ? He was in a worst shape, probably not even in condition to walk, and he break his own record ? How could this be "logic" or "possible" ? He also said in the interview following his record "I don't know how I did that,there was this intense flame inside me" (not the exact quote, don't have time to search for now).

It happened again. I was doing my daily walk, meditating along the way as usual. Then I saw a dog I see often, just sitting here looking at me. I instantly looked into his eyes and was aware that the dog was in fact me. It's difficult to explain, but, everything was exactly as it always has been, except that when I looked at the dog, I felt it wasn't something "external" to me. Reality is exactly the same, only the perception of it change. Also, for some seconds after that, I was seeing the whole world more alive, and me, "me", was just a sort of ghost walking through it (the feeling is very hard to put into words sorry ^^).

The point of enlightenment ? Identification with everything and everyone as yourself which leads to infinite happiness ?

Read "The power of now", from Eckhart Tolle.

You'll always have some kind of fear, even if you see through the illusion. The difference is that you'll know fear is just an emotion, and that you can conquer it. I guess an enlightened person fears too, but I guess they just sees that emotion at an even greater distance, which means fear can't make them act against their values.

If you clearly explain why you need some time alone, and your girlfriend/boyfriend still doesn't respect that and bitch about it, Yes, of course you should leave her/him.

It has an impact on your capacity to feel satisfaction too. I realized that some weeks ago when I did stop porn for about 1 month, when I was surpassing myself in an activity. I had better excitment level than before, and it was the same kind of experience. If you think about it, what are you doing by watching porn ? Aren't you switching partner that you couldn't (probably) not have in real life ? It isn't real yes, but your mind interpret it as a reality. That explains why you feel less/any satisfaction anymore, because the part of your brain which is responsible for that is fucked. I guess that also explain why depression is easier to have while watching porn.

Laughing at someone having huge issues or laughing at someone who's trying to help ? Huge signs of a disfonctional ego.

Tell yourself for 5 minutes every morning, in front of the mirror, "I have no problems and I'm advancing in life".

You can already understand it and feel that it doesn't work right now. Doesn't mean your subconcious is ok with it though, that's why your ego needs to do stupid things from time to time, Like tryharding Hearthstone's ladder fully knowing you don't give a shit about being a good hearthstone player ...

"The only way to know many things, is to realize you know so few"

By doing practical work that pops up in my mind after some of his videos. Not too much at the same time though, doing only 1 or 2 things max at a time is how you really change your life, not by trying to do everything at once (otherwise you'll experience backsliding). More actions, less thinking, more meditation, less bullshit activity.

Of course it does, that's why 99.9999% of the population thinks their dreams are stupid and that they should focus on a normal/cosy life.

"So much so that I'm waiting for something huge I've never felt before to shake my little world so hard it's impossible to mistake it. Is that bad?" The thing you're searching is egotic love, not true love, and it just doesn't last, it just can't. True love isn't about loving someone or something in particular, it's just being happy whatever the circonstance, and it has nothing to do with relationships. Now, that doesn't mean you can't have a relationship, relationship are nice, they help you grow because you have to be mindful of how you act and take care about someone else. It is also really cool to have someone to talk about deep subjects, cheer you up, having intimate sex and cuddling. But all of that isn't necessary at all, it is a plus, a nice one, but that alone (even if you have all of it) won't fulfill you in the end. Also, at some point you'll realize you can be with pretty much anyone (except extreme neurotics/annoying girls), you'll love that person as much as anyone else.

Eckhart Tolle is definitely the shit if you are into personal developement. Most people think he's just some weird spiritual teacher, but he's so much more than that. In my mind, he will have a greater impact than the Buddha had, because he's doing exactly what the Buddha did (with a lot of exposure), the direct and no bullshit approach of what reality/presence/consciousness/enlightenment work is. And you can SEE that he's not lying, or that he's after money, you can litterally see it on his face if you listen to him talking.

Why would anyone want to be successful and unhappy over the alternative ?

It is like saying that mc donald is a good foodchain because they have lots of consumers. Quality doesn't always involve quantity, it all depends on how you perceive the message in this case. The way Leo talks and do his video is very different than the norm, it can't appeal to a large audience because he doesn't treat you like a child, he literally tells you to stop wasting your life and/or be stupid in most video (it's not always being said that clearly though). I get that's not how you think, you think that other people can't believe Leo's teachings are worth it because he isn't a rockstar with millions of view. If you have some people who thinks that way, and they see you grow, and they still don't think Leo's video can't help them, well, you can't help them.