Ry4n

Found a useful loving-kindness meditation from an online MBSR coarse. Hope it helps.

I think in the long-term being+value based living is the way to go. You want to be able to surrender to what is and be fully in the moment, but you obviously don't want to be a vegetable that does absolutely nothing, you certainly could, but I doubt enlightenment can transcend biology; if you do nothing you will be miserable. We are always going to be doing something with our lives, so may as well do what we value deeply. This combined with being in my opinion seems to produce the highest levels of fulfilment.

Guys we need to convince Sam to take some 5meo I actually wanna see this happen but not sure how he could be convinced.

@Will I personally don't think self-actualization has a destination. It is simply a lifestyle made up of health and constant improvement of yourself and your life, as you help others. If there was any legitimate goal to all of this work, in my opinion it would be peace on earth.

Hey @MiracleMan I learnt clinical hypnosis and exposure and response prevention (ERP, a form of CBT) from a trained therapist, however now I just work on cutting out compulsions myself as well as doing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, where I learnt about acceptance and mindfulness skills.

Just wanted to address a huge part of recovery from things such as OCD, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety and similar issues. While I think this practice is fundamental for long term recovery I don't think it should be the only thing you do. (Meds, CBT, psychotherapy, self-help, mindfulness etc. should also be used.) The fundamental concept is simply acceptance. It's simple I know, but it is powerful. As someone who was struggling with moderate OCD and depression, and now 5 months later has no depression, is extremely motivated, and only has very subtle symptoms of OCD, I can say that acceptance was the crucial part of recovery alongside things like meds, hypnosis, mindfulness, psychotherapy and CBT/ERP. For me acceptance involved accepting uncertainty. Accepting that these thoughts that I am bad, I have done something wrong, I may die in the future, etc. may all be true, but at the same time they may not, and continuing doing what I value anyways. For someone with social anxiety, it may involve accepting the intense anxiety they feel in social situations, defusing from their thoughts and seeing them for what they are, being in the moment and doing what they value and talking to that person anyways. When we react to the thoughts and emotions our brains throw at us, by trying to get rid of them, trying to avoid situations that evoke these emotions, etc., we tell our brains that this fear it is throwing at us is REAL. Even if we know this fear is ridiculous, the primitive part of our brain doesn't understand that, because by reacting to the fear with all these compulsive behaviours, we train our brains to fear them even more. It's only once we throw ourselves into our fears, accept the stuff in our heads, and do what we value that we show our brain it doesn't have to be afraid. It's only then that your brain will stop sending you these signals. If you practice this for long enough, eventually you will know longer deal with these issues. Hopefully that helps

Just wondering if anyone here has done astral projection successfully and can say what it's like. Would you consider it a spiritual experience? How does it compare to a psychedelic experience? Does it feel real? Thanks, and it would extreeemely appreciated if you could post a link if you used it to successfully astral project.

@Geo holy shit. That honestly sounds better than psychedelics. Do you use any specific technique or listen to any guided videos for it?

@Dan Arnautu thanks man, Koi has some good stuff

I was watching Leo's "How to deal with strong negative emotions" video, where he talks about opening yourself up to feel and accept all your emotions, and remembered a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh (sorry if I screwed up the spelling). "When you learn to suffer, you suffer much less." Sounds counter-intuitive, but I feel it really sums up the concept. So much of our pain is born from resistance, and believing that having painful emotions make us weak and mentally ill, when in fact that's only the case for those who resist these feelings.

Face your fears. Expose yourself to the cockroaches and resist the urge to push away your feelings or run away from it. The more you run away from this fear, the more you fear it. Every time you react you tell your brain it needs to be afraid. Exposure is scientifically proven to work for phobias, so trust me it ain't no bs. "Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

@Sagar Takker Hopefully these meditations will help you find equanimity amongst difficult emotions and be able to defuse from thoughts more effectively.

Stop trying to calm it down, you're wasting your time. Accept the fact that your mind goes crazy. There's nothing wrong with monkey mind. Don't judge it, simply accept it and view it with mindful awareness, knowing that these thoughts are not facts and are not you. Same thing goes with any feelings of anxiety or agitation. The goal is not to get rid of these experiences, it's to accept them and use mindfulness in such a way where it no longer has power over us. Besides, the monkey mind will pass in time, just have faith.

@electroBeam I'm no expert when it comes to these things, but maybe you could try simply being extremely introverted for a certain period of time and let the desire for social interaction slowly build up, and once you start to crave it then you start talking to people often again.

@Joel3102 maybe you're not real, and maybe you are... Accept that uncertainty. Trying to get rid of that uncertainty about whether this is all real is the problem. Avoiding these feelings will only cause them to happen more!

Was wondering if there is any meditation techniques you guys would recommend for having experiences similar to those reached with psychedelics? Doesn't have to lead to any visuals, just any technique that has a similar effect. I might add that at this moment self inquiry seems a bit advanced for me, so was hoping the technique wouldn't be too difficult.

@pluto holy shit, I definitely wanna try that.. ive heard of Wim Hof but I didn't know his methods could do that.

@Shiva haha when I can sure ahahah

Hey, because of me being cautious about my mental health being affected by drugs, I was wondering if there's any issue with doing 5meo dmt only? It seems to be safe if you are not pre-disposed to skizophrenia or psychosis. Also as far as using psychedelics for personal growth it seems like the most worth while, so I was thinking of (in a few years when my brain is more developed) using only 5meo dmt and no other psychedelics. Let me know your thoughts.

@Snick-The ThinkTank thanks, I think I'm just going to have a few experiences with mushrooms before I jump into 5meo, although after I start 5meo I don't see a reason to continue using mushrooms. I definitely want to limit any substance use to what I think is valid.

@Be Yourself do you think just a few experiences with mushrooms would prepare for the 5meo trip? Like if I did 2 grams first, then 3, then 4-5, after which I do 5meo?

@Be Yourself nah I haven't, but I was thinking just start with a really low dose than work my way up very very slowly.

Hey, found this meditation that is based off of Buddha's "Five Remembrances" or contemplations about the reality of life, in order to become more accepting of it. Translated by Thich Naht Hanh. This will most likely be hard/depresseing at first, but over time you learn to embrace these things and no longer be afraid of them. Hope you like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQJCOOWJ-Uw&feature=youtu.be

@The_spanish_guy I'm glad to hear you're meditating now. A quick warning about meditation for someone with OCD: Make sure you are not using meditation as another way to not feel things you consider painful, if you approach meditation that way it is no different than trying to use alcohol to get rid of painful emotions (another ritual essentially). Meditation is a way to accept the stuff in your head and live a meaningful life.

Hey @The_spanish_guy, sorry to hear what you have been going through. When you say OCD without rituals (a word I like to use instead is compulsions), that's probably because you may not realise that there are mental rituals that you are doing such as reassuring yourself something isn't true, checking, blocking out thoughts, or just ruminating. These are all rituals. I would recommend doing Exposure and Response Prevention with a trained therapist for both your OCD, and with your anxiety around others. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy may also help with your OCD intrusive thoughts as well as any anxiety or other painful emotions, and will most likely increase your quality of life. Make sure you see a good psychologist. Antidepressant medication may also help you, I would recommend prozac but I could be wrong. Exercise and a healthy diet as well as support from others close to you should help. It seems like you have some symptoms of depression also, if I am correct psychotherapy and CBT may help. Another recommendation is clinical hypnosis. Meditation may also help, but for now anymore than 5 mins a day would be too much considering your state of mind currently. Hope this helps.