Max_V

@ajasatya How did you make that happen? Have been struggling with it aswell @Gabriel Antonio Thank you, that was beautiful <3

Such an interesting topic

@Loreena Yes I have to remind myself sometimes when I'm doing all the learning. Is this really benefitting me or am I just doing it because I feel like it has to be done? But everything we do, is a try at becoming happy. Even shooting heroin. It's a stupid method, but at some point you thought it will be beneficial and would achieve happiness, so you do it. Well instead of doing that , let's learn all the right methods. Methods that enrich our experience and make us feel fulfilled.

@Shawn12 Pretty cool that you can already do 30 min! When I started out, 20 minutes was something I really struggled with haha. Remember though as Leo stated many times, " Quality over Quantity" So meditate consciously, not mechanically

Vught, The Netherlands

How much time should I be aiming for when just starting out with this? I have to find a way to fit it into my day too since I meditate and read too.

@SOUL That is actually beautiful, thanks for stating it this way

@Loreena Oh, well I make it very clear to myself that there are 2 sides of the spectrum. If I don't, I might be doing psychology and that completely contradicts what spirituality says. So I get confused. I just keep reminding myself that when I'm working on my 'self', that that's not me. So when I notice I identify with it, I ask myself Rupert Spira's questions like " Who or what is it that is aware of this.." " Who is 'knowing' this situation?" That helps a lot. It is difficult sometimes, but it is quite satisfying haha.

@Loreena Not really sure Is it bad to do spirituality while also working on your psychology?

@Markus That is what I'm doing. I'm growing my consciousness and at the same time working on myself. It might be a weird way, growing your ego while also learning how to transcend it, but I feel like this is the right way for me.

Yes, I can talk from experience ( I have ADD ) that, if practiced consistently, you will be able to sit for 1 hour + in stilness. If you slowly build up your practice time, and bring awareness to the desire to move, you will get better and better at it. Don't be so hard on yourself have fun with it too, you are growing yourself!

I'm just scared of people, have been this way since a long time. Just too scared of what people think of me and if I'm loved and accepted. I've watched Leo's video on this, have done the exercise, but I still feel this way. I guess it's something rooted deeply. I'm waiting currently to start therapy. Unfortunately this might take up to 4 months due the long waiting times we have here.

Fk man, wish I was there , hope he will come once again

Adyashanti ans Rupert Spira! Ahh I wish I lived in the US, would really like to meet those teachers. They are a big inspiration to me. I wonder if Adyashanti will ever come to the Netherlands

Yep, I couldn't get on a couple times too.

@DavidBorja That's the point here, when your mind is still in control, and you feel this compulsive need for entertainment, what do you do? I think the mind needs some discipline ones in a while, but isn't also okay to just let it go sometimes? What I'm doing now is far too much of the entertainment. I think I will discipline myself to lessen it for now until I feel like I can control my needs without getting consumed by it.

I've noticed recently that I automatically look for something to entertain me when nothing is going on. Watching Youtube videos on counter strike, checking my phone, etc. I can't quit cold turkey with this, and I might not really want to either. I want to change the scale here. Instead of 70% entertainment and 30% reading, self actualizing, etc, I want to go to 70% reading, self actualizing and 30% entertainment. Is there something you guys know of that can help me with this?

@Arkandeus It has occurred to me that this comes in phases. Sometimes I feel drawn towards reading and contemplating, watching videos from spiritual teacher, and doing productive things Mostly after I've had an insight during meditation, or during something else, I naturally want to do things that involve a lot of entertainment. From playing Counter Strike all day, to watching Netflix. I feel really bad while doing this though, like I'm doing something inauthentic. Thanks for you opinion , I will experiment with this!

@Toby I will look into it. Unfortunately I can't pay for it since I'm 17. In the netherlands the region that you live in, gives money to every psychotherapy company and when that money is used you just have to wait untill there is enough room. It used to go through your own insurance, but that has changed sadly.

After meditating and doing PD for about 2 years now, a lot of old fears have been showing up. Of course, this is expected to happen after your consciousness grows and the ability to suppress emotions lessens. I have been trying to get into therapy, to solve these fears that I created myself in my younger years. The problem is, in the Netherlands currently there are huge waiting times with every psychotherapist near to me. These fears have become so crippling that often I find myself almost feinting or blacking out. I am aware that there are different types of fear and they have to be dealt with in different ways. Adyashanti discussed this topic: Existential fear, that you come across when getting into spirituality should be faced. And seen for what it really is. Then it slowly subsides and 'you' get into deeper states of consciousness. Psychological fear on the other hand, should not always be faced. You can retraumatize your system every time you dive into the fear. Which can make the fear even worse. It needs a more sensitive and slower approach. When you blindly dive into psychological fear it can overwhelm you to a point where you are physically unable to do anything. This is where a good therapist comes into play. The therapist should help with dealing with this fear in a sensitive and calm matter, so that it can slowly be solved and overcome. But without a therapist how am I going to able to move forward? After the summer vacation I'm going to a new school, I was counting on the fact that I would have already done some therapy before school started and during it. Now after finding out these waiting times, I honestly don't know if I will be capable to enter school like this. Every conversation I'm in, every social situation, gives me such an immense amount of anxiety. I get overwhelmed to such an extent that I have to sit alone for hours on end to bring peace back I don't really know what to do. And that scares me even further.

@Leo Gura Have you read Sadhguru's book 'Inner Engineering' ? It has some juicy stuff in there

@Joseph Maynor I workerd hard on my heart chakra aswell. Teal Swan has a guide up that helped me grow. You should check it out if you are interested

Well when I asked about setting up a self-inquiry practice, a lot of people told me that you should not only set a specific time to question yourself, but do it all the time. So that one can be on the list Meditation is pretty much possible anywhere, you simply focus on your breath. Concentration is not to be recommended since when you do concentration exercise, you have to laser focus. When you are in a bus, there is a lot of distracting things going on, so I would leave that one for home practice. Be mindful of everything going on too, how does your seat feel, how does it smell in the bus, listen to the sound of your breath, etc. Have fun doing this, it is very satisfying in my opinion

Ego is basically the thought "I'm separated from everyone, and I need to defend myself". What you essentially are is the witnessing presence of awareness. So you are not only the observer of the thoughts, you are the heart of what a thought is made out of, Being.

@Afonso I know what you are talking about. Whenever I transcend 'the wall' during meditation and I experience absolute silence, my mind gets very frightened. Emptiness is impossible for it to fathom. It needs something to hold on, otherwise where will you go and what will you be?