West

I'm actually focusing on that right now. I've known logically for months that taking action towards my life purpose and meditation is the key to increasing both vitality, happiness and peace of mind, but actually doing it, that's another thing! Our psyche seems to be a very complex thing.

Love this journal; you are super-consistent, and it's very interesting to see how you apply the theory. Entry 113 about your DIY pedal-software was so cool!

Just found this journal. Very cool stuff! When you quantify your streaks like that it makes it easier to see your progress.

Sounds tough! I'm currently working on my procrastination too. I would first advise you to make sure that what you are trying to do is your life purpose. You can feel resistance as you do now, but I think it should be something that you love to do once you get started. I don't have a lot of experience with this yet, but taking action in small steps initially can help you overcome your fear of work (AKA procrastination). Commit 15 minutes every day to your work. If that's too much to bear, do 5 minutes. If that's too much, 2 minutes. You do it for as short as necessary, but you must do it every day. Then, perhaps, your mind will eventually understand that the work isn't something that needs to be feared. Here's an article about this: https://zenhabits.net/do/

Glad to see you're getting through it! I have been experiencing quite a bit of resistance my self lately... It's a weird thing, knowing what I should do but feeling so much resistance against doing it.

I puchased The Natural from RSD Max, with the Hot Seat included. Very good stuff! In my experience, talking to girls and becoming more adept in social situations is an excellent supplement to spiritual practice. It's a stark contrast to sitting in a quiet room. Just think about the difference in stimulation! You could get huge spiritual gains by doing both. Learning to relate to others and seducing women seems very counter-spiritual, but I think this is only in the beginning. I'm going to try to implement more non-duality practice while I talk to people. RSD seems to be going towards a merging of dating and spirituality. I think this is a great thing to have available in our society. I've heard of at least one enlightened master who, despite his enlightenment, committed sexual abuse repeatedly. If our sexual desires don't necessarily go away after enlightenment, it would be much better for men to learn how to seduce and attract women.

I sit in a stretching position when contemplating pain, and in a chair when meditating or contemplating things other than pain. The reason is that contemplating pain is easier done when it's readily available, but when meditating or contemplating other things the pain from stretching can become too much of a distraction. I am currently working towards the full lotus position. The reason for this is that I have read that it is the most stable and healthy position, along with the Burmese position or quarter/half lotus. However, I could be wrong and it could just be a tradition, no better than regular sitting. In order to develop the needed flexibility I use video guides like this one: Developing Lotus Flexibility - Preparing Yoga Padmasana Sitting Position. I work on several stretches each session. When it comes to developing flexibility, slow and steady is the way to go. Your joints will get sore and can only take so much each day, and your muscles will tear if you try to stretch them beyond capacity too quickly. It takes patience and consistency, but the progress is steady and measurable.

INFJ. I agree with denselayman that one shouldn't identify too much with a particular personality type. When I first learned about the MB types and my own type a couple of years ago I was so relieved to understand my self better. Especially introversion; that explained the exhaustion at parties. For me, the positive about knowing your personality type is that you get a framework to understand how yourself and others work and what makes us tick. The negatives that I experienced was that I identified myself with my type, creating a "personality feedback loop". Being an introverted and uncommon type, this made me more secluded from others. Another thing was that I believed that being a Feeler was equivalent to being dumb, but I discovered that this was just a false belief. Also, Thinkers can feel a need to always be logical and try to remove their emotions, which can only lead to suffering. Classifying people can lead to unnecessary segregation between us, but It's a very cool tool.