Nahm

@Someone here I’d add some tweaks. There’s no ‘ego’ which anything could be said to be painful for. The same one feeling the suffering, is the same one creating the suffering. This brings to mind one’s connotation of hedonism. Definition of hedonism 1: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life 2: a way of life based on or suggesting the principles of hedonism Only one creating suffering and ignoring how & that they are, would project identity, such that someone else who is happy, is a “hedonist”. Hedonism often has the connotation of seeking physical worldly / bodily pleasures. That would be seeking good feeling, as a product of experience, what ever that experience might be...substances, food, money, sex, other bodily / physical stimulation, etc. What I’m suggesting is not the common connotation of hedonism, and not quite exactly the definition either. Feeling is nondual. You can not “take feeling off” like a pair of shoes, because feeling is not some ‘thing’ you have. It is that which is infinite, formless, without beginning or end, which is appearing as ‘you’...by appearing as the sphere of the world, and of the lens by which to experience the world. I’m not saying ‘do what feels good & brings you physical bodily pleasure’. I’m saying you have guidance in regard to thought...and the guidance is feeling. The way one is creating the suffering...is feeling the guidance of feeling...yet being unwilling to let the thought go...the thought which is in discord...with feeling. To say the suffering is “because of ego”, or because of anything else...is to say “the way I feel is because of something other than what I’m thinking right now”. I’m not appealing to wisdom, or something to be learned, or subscribing to any ‘ism’s’. I’m suggesting common sense, which is the love that each of us is...and that we can listen to the common sense.

@Someone here ?? That’s really the true beauty of this feeling-guidance. It Nothing to buy into.

@Someone here ? Yes. A thousand times, yes. Death = love = what feeling literally is. Thought: “I’ll ‘die’ in the future”. Feeling Guidance: “Huh? The fuck you talkin bout be me like that for?”. “There’s no future...you’re not separate & ‘in time’”, “This is experience, right here, right now, pure magic, this now is the whole point! Have fun no matter what, let those thoughts go, and we’re One! Total awesomeness!” Thought: “You’re anxiety!”, “You’re guilt!”, “You make me panic”, “You be quite and get back in your hole!”. Thought: “Ok, sorry, where was I again? Oh yea, so I have anxiety and.....”

Meditation is the opposite of motivation in a way. Seeking motivation to meditate is like eating to be hungry. It’s like picking something up (to feel better), while feeling better equals letting that something go (the thoughts which don’t feel good). Motivation is the very thought activity. Inspiration is the very feeling. Motivation is thought activity oriented toward doing...to avoid a potential future situation. To avoid feeling a certain way in the future. This ‘not good feeling’ is not however, in a future. That way of thinking is creating the undesirable feeling, now. What’s being missed...is that focusing on these thoughts now...or ‘in the now’, ‘in the present’...does not feel good. Every cell in your body is responding to those thoughts... ..."what if something bad happened to me".. "what happenes when I die". The assumption is “these thoughts are right though.” “I’m right”. “What I’m thinking is just true”. Feeling is ‘saying’...”no... this is not the case. These thoughts are not true, and as truth, feeling can not join you in these thoughts”. “Clear & honest” = I feel this way because of what I’m thinking. Not because of anyone, or anything, else.

“Observe” in this case is feeling. You’re feeling those thoughts are off. Rather that inspecting why those thoughts don’t resonate, you’re looking to suppress with tips and medication. Suppressing emotion is like packing water back into a hose. The hose has a source and that water will continue to arise from the hose. When what was packed down into the hose inevitably comes back up, you’re calling that experience panic attacks. With respect btw, this is a pretty tender place of a ‘turn around’ so to speak. When you decide to stop caring about being right, or knowing anything...or how you’re thought of or seen...and decide to start caring about how you feel.

In the vein of your request, a perspective other than the one you’re already experiencing... Instead of assuming your state of consciousness drops (and therefore productivity and purpose for the whole day takes a dive)... ...understand how you’re doing this, with what you’re thinking... and understand how you can also raise your emotional vibration in the opposite direction, such that you can feel amazing and be productive everyday, since you’re creating the experience, by what you’re thinking. Bit like the Wizard of Oz...folks looking for a brain, a heart, and courage...finding out there’s no Wizard...and addressing how they’re thinking about themself...and why it felt off...and choosing otherwise...and thus realizing the brains, heart and courage was intrinsic, within, all along.

Sounds like you’re being more sensitive to the ‘off ness’ of how those thoughts feel. That’s ideal. Inspecting why the thoughts feel off is the way imo. I’d look at how you create panic attacks, rather than continue to, and then medicate or ease them.

@Pendulum You’re thinking thoughts about yourself which don’t feel good, and calling that fear, and believing you’re right about your assessment. Now you’re stuck in that righteousness. While the relief is admitting to yourself you’re jealous, not afraid. Jealousy is a gift. Some people feel it, understand it, move on easily. Some stay in fear and make up stories around it.

(That seems to be the heart of your issue.) Is that the same as saying when you’re feelin great you’re kickin ass, when you’re not feeling so on top of the world you aren’t gettin much done?

@Tim R ?? What way? I typically work seven days a week. Awesome, thanks for sharing.

@Vision Check and see.

We’d first have to question what understanding is...to then know what we mean by understanding focus. The ‘problem’ here is understanding is a mirage, as is all. So as a pointing, focus is the result of infinite consciousness concentrating itself vibrationally to appear as the spheres. Then there is experience, which is infinite being being the sphere of the lens, ‘through which’ there is the experience of the world, or creation, which infinite being is also being. There is no center of infinite being, or at all. Appearing as the spheres however, there is experience, and as such the experience is as if at the center. This is why the universe is expanding from every single pov simultaneously. I think VSauce has a video on YouTube about this. No matter what the appearance is, infinite being will always seem to be at the “center”, though there is never an actual center. Pure magic our our infinite self appearing as the two spheres. Through the lens of the finite mind it seems as if infinite being is inside the world experiencing it. Very convincing indeed. Keep in mind focus is a word, a pointer. How can you ask “how is there anything”? A pointing to that very “how” is the word focus. Those conditions in mind are thoughts. You focus on the condition or not. Try thinking focus. You can also notice, similar to the only seeming and yet inescapable ‘center’, you indeed are focused on that example. Can’t “get out from behind” focus. Appearance, fundamentally of absolute light & unconditional love. Again, ineffable, but pointing with words. Compare the lack of possible direct experience of conditioning focus....with focusing upon a condition. A camera could per se, wipe a spec of the lens, but the spec can not wipe the focus off the camera. Maybe that helps, not sure. Another approach might be to consider the variety of conditioned coming & going in direct experience, but never “two focuses”.

Generally speaking here....meditation and a little beyond, in terms of what usually comes up. The ‘standard’ I’d recommend for quieting the mind is consciously breathing from the stomach, gently retuning attention from thoughts to the stomach as needed, while relaxing over and over from head to toe. The key here is one goes from a voluntary thinking paradigm, to no mind, or peace / clarity, experiencing arising insights, instead of any incessant thinking or rumination. This brings any emotional suppression up, which I’ve found the emotional scale to be the most simple & effective tool for understanding and processing. Beyond that, this list of meditations is intended to be an intuitive list, if you will. Such that one could look over the list each morning and naturally one of these will catch that attention and bring to presence peace of mind, emotional equanimity, and or the goodness that is. Here’s some newly added tools, intended to ‘tap into’ & remain at the higher end of the emotional scale. Anything one enjoys could work just as well, and what one’s unique gift is would be most ideal, but I’ve had requests for these. Hope some of this is helpful to no one. ?? @Heart of Space Not at all my man. ??

@Vlad_ I hear ya. Won’t know without direct experience though. If you want to know that is.

Subtle avoidance of meditation. (Jk ?)

Trips on Zero. Also, getting rid of addiction is a tough mindset and path, as the focus is on avoidance (of the addiction). Much much easier and more successful to focus on what you do want and be filled with the inspiration of it, than the resistance of avoiding something.

Yes, as all is love said, there are no enlightened people. That which is ‘just sitting and enjoying’ is being, or if it helps communicatively...Being. And yes, exactly. There is no “unenlightened person” either. “People” and or “person” is only a thought, regardless of the changes in context. One never experiences a “person”. Ever. One has to believe one is an “enlightened person”...to believe there are “unenlightened people”. Most confusion with this is in the misunderstanding of what experience is, or, what is experienced in the apparent sense. The ‘point’ of meditation is allowing the activity of mind to settle.

@EmptyVase Roger that.

Are you stalking about psychic powers like mind reading, clairvoyance, etc... or siddhis, oriented in healing?

Of course not.

@roopepa I agree, thanks.

@Waken That felt great. Thank you.

Appreciation. Hard to judge & appreciate simultaneously.

@meow_meow Without the thoughts, the ‘story about you’...could there even be...’fear’...? Notice just how sneaky the thought story can be...‘did I experience a glimpse of ego death’...’my enlightenment stats’...’I’ll enter higher levels’. Awareness is seeking to realize there is no separate self...while literally telling a story about a separate self. It’s quite possible that what is sought is feeling without the thought narrative of a me....and what’s being missed in the thought narrative is about feeling. See how thought is ‘hijacking’ feeling’ here? An alternative, let’s say... instead of ‘self inquiry’, or meditation, or any practice....would be to just check perception now. Do you see or hear that “I” which did or didn’t, does or doesn’t, experience an ego death...or a glimpse? Essentially...when you are talking about this one...who, what, are you actually talking about? “...it was not targeted or was not occuring so to speak towards the feeling for me, the feeling just wasnt there, empty.....It frightened the living shit out of me...” Feeling was clearly present there...it was just not resonating at all with those thoughts about yourself. Put anther way, for consideration sake...thought is ‘saying’ ego, death, etc...while feeling is saying “nonsense”, “doesn’t resonate”. And the thoughts are being believed, and the feeling is being ignored, and this experience is then being labeled “fear” or “ego” “death”. Fear, ego, and death... you’ve zero direct experience of. Feeling, is present absolutely. Why listen to thoughts about what isn’t even actual...while feeling is actual? What if you listen to feeling? And recognize what you’re thinking does not resonate....? Why not listen to the Infinite intelligence, unconditional love, peacefulness, ever presence, of feeling...and let thoughts which feel terrible go...thus simply...being Happiness...?