Sahil Pandit

@zoey101 Have you watched the video on How to Deal w Strong Negative Emotions? That video + Time digesting it helps a ton!

@sarapr Take a look past their nose jobs and see how much suffering is going on behind their face, then tell us you don't feel empathy or compassion for them...

Clarification: This post was from Leo's "BluePrint" a long time ago, i don't know where the original post is anymore but i had saved it to my OneNote a long time ago and now here it is. Enjoy friends.

There are 100's of traps in this work. Your mind will be your greatest enemy. Here are the most common traps people fall into: Journal about these issues you are dealing with Chasing quick-fixes. Not wanting to explore issues deeply or solve problems at their root. Not taking ownership of your life. Hoping for someone to give you a 1-2-3 step formula for success & happiness. Trying to be like someone else rather than working to discover YOUR authentic self. Chasing ideals and ideas of goodness. Feeling like it's too late, I'm too old to change, I've wasted so much time. Staying loyal to toxic friends/family who are holding you back. Not reading, not learning, not doing enough research. Expecting this work to be easy and pleasant. Learning from too few perspectives, thus getting an incomplete picture, not having enough options. Judging, moralizing, criticizing, debating, arguing, blaming. Asking for "scientific proof", as if someone can prove quality-of-life improvements to you. Being so skeptical of everything that you don't put the theory into practice. Speculating about and conceptualizing enlightenment, mystical experiences, and spiritual growth. Clinging to a naive realist paradigm, believing that reality is physical, logical, and Newtonian. Assuming that modern science has figured out most of reality. Underestimating the massive negative effects of mainstream culture, diet, media, entertainment, beliefs, etc. Not understanding how happiness really works. Thinking that external conditions or possessions produce happiness. Chasing gross material pleasures. Confusing success with happiness or true growth. Assuming that successful people, like your favorite role-models, celebrities, professors, CEOs, etc are happy. Not recognizing that mystical experiences are real and possible for you to have. Becoming ideological about anything whatsoever (theory, techniques, science, logic, politics, etc), not realizing that all human perspectives are partial. Confusing Truth with knowledge/belief Assuming that reality is rational, mistaking scientific maps and models for being. Working a job/career just for the money. Being stuck in wage slavery, working a 9-5 job, not having control of your schedule. Eating the Standard American Diet of wheat, dairy, sugar, meat, and processed foods. Assuming that personal development is all mental work, not doing any development or purification of your body. Consuming mainstream media. Not realizing how toxic modern media and entertainment is. Not taking full responsibility for your life Whining and complaining about how your situation is unfair and impossible to change. Not valuing or pursuing truth for its own sake. Treating truth as a luxury. Dismissing theory, philosophy, and beliefs as "merely" philosophy. Studying tons of theory without ever taking action. Improperly balancing your ratio of theory to practice. Mental masturbation. Keyboard-jockeying: over-conceptualizing, discussing, talking shit, and speculating but never embodying what is talked about. Having a short time horizon for all your goals, plans, and projects. Over-packing your schedule, leaving no time to sit, think, or meditate. Valuing and pursuing gross experiences vs subtle ones. Assuming that consciousness is a physical by-product of the brain. Assuming that you are physical body, or etherial soul. Projecting onto the teacher you're learning from. Getting triggered by teachers. Holding grudges. Debating with them. Trying to school your teacher. Clinging to the idea of good and evil, not realizing that these are all your projections. Going on a crusade to save the world or vanquish evil. Getting overly focused on acting "good" in the external world vs working on your own inner demons. Assuming that if life is meaningless, that's a bad thing. Setting unrealistic expectations. Being too impatience. Expecting big results to come quickly. Trying to change too much too fast. Lack of focus. Getting overwhelmed with all the options. Indecisiveness. Not taking action because, "I don't know how." Underestimating how much growth is possible. How much better your life can become. Assuming boundaries between objects are scientific, physically given. Distracting yourself from facing emptiness, negative emotions, loneliness, and ego backlashes. Misusing psychedelics: using them recreationally, using them socially, using them without proper research. Conceptually misunderstanding enlightenment Confusing enlightenment with a sensory experience or emotional state Trying to install too many new habits at once. Quitting meditation or self-inquiry when negative emotions or resistance surfaces. Not being decisive, thus maintaining the status quo by default. Not having a big vision for your life. Using negative motivation to get stuff done. Motivating yourself through competition with others, trying to "be the best". Making your vision all about personal success and wealth rather than contributing to the world. Being too cheap, not investing in books, courses, workshops, etc. Undervaluing self-education. Chasing after love, success, pleasure, excitement, rather than pursuing Truth and understanding. Assuming you need certain physical conditions to be happy. Conflating knowledge acquisition with growth/development. Dismissing "new age" concepts like spirits, aliens, God, healing, love, etc. Demonizing psychedelics. Not taking massive action. Assuming that "things will just work out". No they won't! Not having a spiritual practice because you've been told there's nothing to seek. Expecting people close to you to understand and support your efforts to grow. Trying in frustration to get everyone around you to change or become interested in personal development or spirituality. Not realizing or appreciating the incredible value of this work. Quitting Quitting when resistance kicks in. Quitting when emotional upheaval surfaces. Not getting back on track after backsliding or quitting. Beating yourself up for failures. Letting yourself get lulled back to sleep by our toxic and indifferent culture. Being dogmatic about any school or practise Not exploring various perspectives Not reading theory/reading too much theory Starting enlightenment wars Theorizing and conceptualizing enlightenment Trying to have someone else's experience (that guy got enlightened with zen meditation, I will now only do zazen!) Trying too much/trying too little Chasing states (all states change, the substance where all states occur does not) Getting stuck in your mind "why I dont get it?" "why Im stuck in this body?" "I just want the ego to die already!" "Who is it who perceives me perceiving this though and who is it who asks this question, who who who who who....." Getting caught up in words (awareness, emptiness, I, me....) Worrying too much about what you should do vs. what you should not do Not recognizing belief from direct experience Not questioning your beliefs radically enough Dismissing psychedelics / doing too much psychedelics Believing enlightenment is hard Not recognizing the limits of any spiritual teacher/teaching Not recognizing the difference and limitations of both pre and post awakened advice Making practices chores you MUST do Dismissing the body and humanity Going overboard with diets/fasting Dismissing feelings and their source Ignoring bodily functions and natural needs of the body in general Celibacy as a method (sex is a distraction yes but so is a mind clouded in sexual thoughts, try it if you feel its part of your path) Hurting the body (the usefulness/reward ratio of straight up physical pain is questionable, although it has been tried and practiced succesfully by individuals) Believing there are problems Creating a path where the is none (I'll be closer to enlightenment when I have done x amount of yoga and y amount of meditation) Believing any part of experience is "blocking" you from seeing the truth ("Thoughts are a problem" is a though about thoughts) "Stopping the practice when you leave the cushion" Not making a commitment of life long seeking. The seeking will end when the time is right. Not conjuring massive amounts of patience and perseverance Not recognizing ducks as the superior spiritual teachers

@eskwire Picking an object up, putting it down. Zipping and unzipping, placing dishes away. You name it! Although we may be in a hurry at times, it still is important to feel and notice your hands doing so much work effortlessly! So much being in the body waiting to be tapped into

@eskwire How about applying mindfulness when opening doors and relating to objects

@Spinoza Find a partner, set a goal, or sign up for a race. Make it more fun than challenging since you're easing back on it. You know how long it takes to get good and enjoy it.

@Rilles Good stuff good stuff. How about being conscious in this moment, and when the next moment arises, that moment? And when you catch yourself falling asleep to your patterns, that moment?

@Lynnel My moms advice: Make sure you visit your doctor before you go so you can get your shots. Do a ton of research beforehand. My mom recommends visiting Delhi. She also says be careful of your surroundings when you're there.

@mohdanas How have you been using patience? When do you see it best used? How would you recommend someone go about using it practically? How do you define it? Answer all of these questions and that should help you place it on your list as well as begin to practice is (hopefully daily!!)

@Shakazulu No coincidences around here buddy

@ctzonka Hey, thanks for posting about this. I have struggled with this in the past as well. It's a tough one to overcome, since residual patterns tend to stick around long after you've overcome those insecurities. Anyways, there is nothing wrong with you. Trust the process that is unfolding in front of you and take the leap to discover yourself. Don't expect to "get it" right away. The nature of who you are wont come to you by forcing it. Start to authentically enjoying being by yourself, intimately by yourself, and slowly but surely take small risks with other people to show your personality without being too critical of yourself give yourself 3 months to start, which is plenty of time to move toward being. All the best!

@Shakazulu 100 years is plenty of time. Seneca writes: "It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it."

@Solace What are some examples you have via direct experience?

What has been your experience with deepening your insights? (Besides contemplation of course.)