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@7thLetter I've been unemployed for more than a year now and I have run into similar problems at times. Some things i've found helpful: 1) have something you're working towards. Create a long term vision, plan or goal and work towards it every day. You need to have a good reason to get up in the morning and to not waste the day. It was only after I became really really clear on my LP that I started to put in the hours every day. Before that I was so undisciplined and lazy. 2) Have some sort of routine. Wake up and go to bed at the same time every day, have a good morning routine, meditate around the same time every day, eat at similar times of the day, etc. 3) Write down a list of things to accomplish for the day. Prioritise 1 or 2 things and spend a good couple hours doing them, with focused, intentional effort. 4) Lastly, as you said, its just discipline. You don't have to be super strict on yourself though. Remember to enjoy your time off work. I'm sure it'll turn out to be a good thing in a long run.

@ttom An impressive start. That amount of meditation is not easy to maintain. Link to your channel?

I know what my purpose is (being an illustrator) and i’m actively working on it every day. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to achieve, and what skills I need to develop in order to make it a reality. It’s something i’ve always known and wanted, but it was only around 8 months ago that I actually realised how it could be done and that I can personally do it. So i’m on track with that. However, whilst working on my purpose I’ve got to survive and pay rent when i move out from my dads place. But I don’t have a job, and i’ve been trying to get a job for a good 9-10 months with little to no progress. I’ve had a few interviews, but no offers - obviously. Most applications are sent off into oblivion to never be seen or heard from again. What the fuck do I do? I gotta move out of my parents place (at my age this should not be the case) but I need a job. But I can’t get a job. I’ve got a 1st class degree, but we all know that barely means anything at all. Right now i’m just applying for jobs that I find on job boards online. But it seems hopeless. I’m reluctant to apply for a low skilled job, because this could be a long term thing depending on how long it will take for me to actualise my LP, and I want to do something that is atleast vaguely enjoyable. Does anyone have any alternatives to simply just applying for jobs online and hoping to get something? Anyone else going through similar situation?Any advice would be much appreciated.

@IVONNE Of course its not too late. You're in your prime! 25 is probably the perfect age to go and do an undergrad in my opinion. I'm 26 and I wish I could go back and do my uni studies again at this age. When your 18/19 you're so young, naive and inexperienced. 25/26 is a great age because you're more mature and probably more hardworking. But you're also young enough to still be able to fit in with the other students. Even if you were 30 or 40, mature students are usually the best students. Older students are more focused and have a clearer picture of where they're heading and why they're doing the course. Professors/lecturers love older students. I guess just make sure that it's what you really want to do. Don't waste the opportunity. You only get a student loan for one course.

@Ashleyy Sounds like you have some natural inclinations for lucid dreaming, astral projection type stuff. Probably worth exploring

@see_on_see Awesome, I did not know about those sites. Thanks a bunch

I just stumbled across this amazing new art competition that has just been announced. If i'm honest it brought a tear to my eye. The prize is £10,000 but really the brief title is what made me super excited to share this, and I hope other members of the forum will enter and then maybe we could all meet at the exhibition! How cool would that be! Anyway, the brief is to produce a piece of work in response to the statement 'GOD IS...'. Here's a link to the website: http://chaiyaartawards.co.uk/competition. The competition end date isn't until October 18th and the final exhibition isn't until next year! So there's plenty of time to enter if you live in the UK (must be UK resident). So i'm definitely going to enter. I'm thinking of doing a large scale painting or illustration of some sort, but I haven't thought of any interesting ideas yet. Maybe i'll do a painting on 5-MeO! Imagine that. Maybe not. But I feel I must verify what God is for myself before attempting this. I'd be fascinated to see other people's interpretations of the brief.

@Peo Well i'm from the UK, but you can become financially independent in basically any country. The only thing stopping you is your own mind. @Elisabeth Indeed I can, although I am only just starting to implement them. So it may be worth asking me in 3-6 months time to see if they are actually effective and/or get me a job. Essentially it involves 2 approaches which I wasn't doing before. 1) Networking through LinkedIn. Connecting with people who are doing the jobs I want, and/or in the same industry. And connecting with people who may then be able to introduce me to other people. I'm still have various questions regarding this, which i'll be clearing up in the coming week or two. 2) Get as specific as possible about what job you want, tailoring your CV to exactly those positions, and then contact recruitment companies which are specifically aimed at those particular jobs, or your particular industry. Apparently, applying for jobs through job boards, which has been my main strategy up until now, is near pointless, particularly if you're CV is shit, which it was in my case. It's like throwing a snowball into a fiery hell. You might get a hit, but very unlikely. So many hours wasted. Thats not to say that job boards don't work. They can. Someone is gonna get the job of course.

@Leo Gura Thanks so much for the advice, really appreciate it. Since writing this post i've actually started working with a career coach. Turns out the strategy i've been using for the past 9 months (not to mention the mistakes on my CV) has been completely wrong and basically a total waste of time and effort. Frustrating to say the least. Building some more marketable skills is definitely an option I am looking into. Considering taking some short online courses. And looking for employment outside of London (to reduce expenses) is definitely the ideal situation. Whether I can get a decent job doing what i'm interested in outside of London is questionable, but still worth the effort of course. I think the most likely strategy will be to get a lower job within the art industry. That way I can potentially have the opportunity to further build my skills within the job, as well as network with people in the industry and get to understand the industry from the inside. My coach gave me some new and much more effective strategies for doing that. So i'm feeling optimistic! @Hello from Russia Very interesting! Thanks. I haven't considered web design stuff. Definitely something i'll keep in mind and look into.

@Elisabeth Thanks for the response In fact i'm actually doing what you suggest in the first bullet point. I'm talking to a career coach who has a lot of experience in HR.

Unconditional love includes the necessary killing of animals. Otherwise it would not be unconditional.

@Buba Generally the perception of vibrations only comes after a lot of practise. It also requires very high levels of focus and concentration. Your average meditator won't experience the vibratory nature of reality in a few sits. As far as I understand, the advice is not to go looking for vibrations, particularly if you're just starting out. Just focus on increasing your focus and concentration. They are not necessarily indicative of good meditation either, not are they necessary to see some good growth from insight practise. But when you start getting super concentrated and focused, things do start to vibrate, flutter, arise and pass, move, etc. Read Daniel Ingram's stuff if you want to learn more about these topics.

@LoveandPurpose Are you a guy or girl? If you're a guy, start NoFap. Since i've been doing it I haven't once needed to nap throughout the day. Before, fatigue was always an issue for me.

@moon777light It's interesting, I am hopeless when it comes to concentration practises, I can't concentrate on my breath to save my life. But when it comes to self-inquiry i'm just naturally able to get hyper focused. I find occasionally repeating your focus question helps enormously. In your mind, or verbally. Don't just ask Who or What Am I? once at the beginning and then thats it. But don't repeat the question every second, obviously. The more concentrated you get the less you need to verbalise the process. With regards to focusing on awareness, you are correct in saying that there is nothing to concentrate on. By consciously being aware, you are simultaneously being aware of being aware. You be aware of being aware by being aware - but consciously! Recognise that you are conscious and aware, and stay there wondering who or what is aware. Atleast that's my take on it, might be complete nonsense lol. If you're interested in reading more about the meditation of awareness watching awareness, check out this helpful article: https://albigen.com/uarelove/most_rapid/chapter07.htm

@FoxFoxFox My understanding is that not everyone has a clear physical sensation, even after years of yoga in some cases. I'd be interested in the book as well, unless its one of the ones on Leo's booklist.

I think I understand what you're asking, and the answer is the second one. Personally I visualise the spine as it is actually positioned, relative to my face/head. Rather than imagining a new entire body, from a side view for example, which I have done in the past but found it doesn't work. I've found that the most success when the visualisation is paired with feeling the prana moving up the spine as well. Both are equally important. Feeling the spine facilitates/helps the visualisation a lot. The feeling and the visualisation don't have to be absolutely perfect to reach a still mind, but of course the clearer they are the better. I still struggle with the down visualisation for some reason, whilst the in breath is sometimes nearly perfect. It just takes practise.

@Pronevron 5-MeO will show you where you're at. But you might be quite shocked at how little consciousness you have in your normal daily life. Atleast I was.

@Yannik Depends on how busy you are with your other stuff. If you don't feel like you can commit to the retreat 100% then maybe its not the right time. And if you're not excited or inspired about going then it'll be much more difficult. Then again you may just be making excuses to avoid going. If you're serious about raising your consciousness, you should go and give it everything you have. 10-day vipassana retreats are quite challenging, but you quickly get used to the schedule and it is only 10 days after all. It'll feel like a lot longer than 10 days, but you'll be glad you went. Personally it was one of the hardest things i've ever done. But some people find it easy and relaxing. If you get the opportunity to have a private room, then definitely do that.

It takes time (most of the time), although the intention to have a breakthrough/realise truth is important. Whenever you feel like you're not doing it correctly, just ask yourself, who do i honestly think I am, or what do I honestly think I am right now. Get really honest with yourself. And then inquire into whether thats true.

Psychedelics can help with these things, but they may not so i'm not suggesting to do them or not. However, there's a reason that psyches are being used in medicinal settings more and more - they're medicine! And they do actually work at alleviating mental/psychological issues. They're also pretty safe to take. I doubt it would have any negative effect on your described symptoms i.e. making them worse (but don't take my word for that). For me, the difference between a good and bad trip is always the set and setting. Trip on a day when you feel fairly level headed and positive, and ensure that your setting is as perfect as you can get it i.e. being alone, being in a clean, warm and comfortable space, and most importantly knowing that absolutely no one will disturb you and you know this for 99% certainty. Take a low to medium dose to start with.

@jerrypua Inspiring stuff! Keep at it man. You're doing more than than 99.999% of guys, including me haha.

I highly doubt your workplace is stage Purple. Purple is a very low stage of development, which is quite rare within Western society today. What you call magical crystals and gullible superstition may actually be rooted in genuine phenomena - you don't know. Try to be more open minded and less judgemental. Things like healing crystals and paranormal phenomena is more stage Green than Purple. Maybe you have a Green shadow, or maybe you're looking at your work colleagues from a lower stage, like Orange. That would be why you find it difficult to work with them.

@peanutspathtotruth So i've been an artist for as long as I can remember. It's always been my 'thing'. I guess I would consider myself self-taught. Its only recently that i've started to take it seriously and think about how it can make it into a viable career, but I think I can offer you some advice. Firstly, do not worry about not having any experience. You can build you skill level quite quickly with deliberate, focused and continual practise. Be deliberate in what you choose to study and practise. Focus on what you find the most challenging and also on what is most important for you to achieve your short and long term goals. And then practise, practise, practise. I could simplify this whole post and just say - practise! That is all that is required really. But of course, practising is a lot easier said than done. It's not always fun and relaxing. I think it's important to formulate atleast some idea about what kind of art you feel drawn to create. If you want to paint, then that will require different skills than if you want to create digital illustrations. Having some sense of direction in this regard will save you time in the long run. Saying that, learning how to draw properly is something that will be of use no matter what medium you choose further down the line. Drawing is really the foundation of most art. So learn how to draw. And draw a lot. Fill 20 sketchbooks with drawings! Expect to fail. Seek failure because failure = learning. Do not be afraid of failure, of making bad art. Learn to love your bad art. As a starting point I would set yourself some small projects to work on, whilst simultaneously beginning to study the fundamentals (perspective, anatomy, colour theory, composition, practical stuff like using a digital drawing tablet or understanding oil paints etc). This will get the ball rolling and also give you a better idea about whether this is really the right path for you. These are called 'small bets' and they allow you to test the waters before making this a real serious life-long commitment. I would advise not making any drastic changes to your life situation at the moment, like quitting your current studies etc. You need actual experience in this field first. So devise some projects for yourself. Maybe you could aim to produce 10 finished drawings or paintings, or whatever medium you have in mind, based on this idea: 'All this energy, all this potential that I see unfolding in me through consciousness work - I want all that to flow into a translation of that creative energy in the form of art.'. Or challenge yourself to do 100 drawings from observation (random objects from around your house). Or you could do 10 self-portraits in 10 different styles. Something like this will increase your skill level quite fast and you'll begin to get an idea of the actuality of producing art, and all of the joys and sufferings that come with it. Happy to answer any other questions you have. Goodluck!

@28 cm unbuffed Not many people around here will be able to offer advice because it sounds like you're having some fairly unique experiences. I mean, people's third eyes do open and people do have similar experiences, but its quite rare. So you're gonna have to just go with the flow and work it out yourself. I would advise googling around about 3rd eye opening. You probably more likely to find information and advice by doing that. Enjoy the experiences as best you can, but don't get too sucked into them. Sounds like you have a nack for this stuff so use that to realise Truth and don't get distracted by the other stuff.

@Wisebaxter This is something i've been trying to figure out as well. I tend to make a distinction between awareness watching awareness meditation, and then the self inquiry method that Leo recently discussed. Both are quite similar, but I feel there are some subtle differences. With the awareness watching awareness meditation, it feels more passive, I let thoughts come and go, and it's generally a more relaxed 'meditative' process. With the self inquiry method, I am actively trying to 'get' who or what I am. So it's more of an engaged process. I tend to (mentally) ask questions to really focus the mind. I always self inquire with my eyes open as well, as it cuts down on the monkey mind a lot. But of course they are quite similar. They both lead to awareness watching awareness. Overall I tend to lean on the side of being more active rather than passive with my attention, but as I mentioned i'm still trying to figure it out. If i'm too passive then the meditation or inquiry lacks necessary focus, and you just end up half-assing the technique. I think ultimately it requires a balance of both. Some interesting resources on the topic: https://www.personalpowermeditation.com/awareness-watching-awareness-better-than-any-sight-any-sound/ https://albigen.com/uarelove/most_rapid/chapter07.htm