Commodent

It makes you feel good, which reduces stress and has overall benefits for health. Now I'm not telling people to drink it excessively, as that can lead to its own form of stress, but the occasional Coke won't hurt. Even too much nutrient-dense food can be stressful on the body. It's a delicate balance one has to find, and I agree with OP that it's something that can only be found through direct experience.

I remember seeing a documentary once about kids that were addicted to YouTube. I don't remember what it was called, unfortunately. There was particularly one kid, whose parents believed him to be autistic. But then they withdrew the phone, and after a couple of weeks he was pretty much a normal kid again.

A book about U.G. Krishnamurti and his teachings. This book is truly radical. PDF I read this book a couple of years ago after having read tons of spiritual books, and it was a true earthquake to my spiritual self-image. It led to a period of deep, deep confusion and it was overall a very discouraging read. It shatters any spiritual dogma you might have, and leaves you with absolutely NOTHING to grasp onto. So it is definitely not for anyone but the most openminded truth-seekers. There is really nothing to be gained here.

He brings up a lot of studies, but how does one even measure the effect of trauma? The entire sum of someone's experience is pretty adverse, to say it the least. Okay, maybe your mother died before the age 11, but there's a vast difference between someone who endured that suffering alone, and someone who had a strong support system to help them work through it. This guy simply expresses one end of the polarity. Of course, the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Personally I have gained HUGELY from working through my past, and I sincerely believe loving your past is the best way to develop authentic self-love. It's through our past that we get a picture of who we are. So the relationship we have with ourselves largely depends on the relationship we have with our past experiences. If there is ungrieved trauma, it will poison and fragment your self-image. And to end it on a high note, modern trauma research does NOT support his theory.

Is there a part of you that feels helpless?

Bill Gates has changed very much since the days where he built up his Microsoft empire. He's very genuine, and I think you're doing a severe mischaracterization of him. Your post is just bullshit assumptions.

@Gladius I personally enjoyed "The Tao of Fully Feeling" more, but I guess that depends on the person. It was exactly what I needed at the time, as I had, and still have, lots of emotional work to do. "The Tao of Fully Feeling" was actually written in 1995, more than two decades before other one. So you're not "missing out" on anything by reading that one first. Start with the one that seems the most interesting.

@Gladius @studentofthegame Yep, it's great stuff. ? I don't think I would have been able to develop authentic self-love without it.

There's something oddly fascinating about reading the comment section, where people are talking to each other as if they're the same person. It's almost how I imagine the cells in your body would be communicating, if they knew they were you. We make one small part of the whole, and it just works.

@studentofthegame Yes, forgiveness might have been a byproduct of it. But the work itself entailed mostly working through feelings of anger, resentment and blame, and seeing the validity of them. I don't know if I would have been able to forgive her if she hadn't changed drastically to the better, which she has. And I suspect if I hadn't become strongly aware of her BS, and become very firm with my boundaries, she never would have changed. I did on several occasions make it clear that if she didn't respect my boundaries, I would not visit her anymore. I'm not all to familiar with co-dependence, but with my mother there was definitely a form of enmeshment where boundaries were very vague and confusing. I can even notice this dynamic now with one of my flatmates (who also happen to be my landlord), which is partly why I'm in the process of moving out.

It definitely does, and there's nothing magical about it. It's typically induced through right-brain activities, like drawing.

@Leo Gura Ask Infinite Intelligence if P = NP. The solution would grant you a million bucks, and no one would ever call you a narcissist again

@TrynaBeTurquoise I was quite into it some time ago, but then abandoned it because a lot of it didn't really make sense. Then I discovered the YT channel I mentioned above, and I've been watching it passively ever since. I'm considering signing up for their weekly classes in order to REALLY get a grip on their methodology.

@Ibn Sina He touches on it in the video I posted. According to MBTI, ISTPs will always have the Ti+Se pairing as their saviors (their main cognitive functions that they rely on), but that is not always the case. You could very well have an ISTP that prefer Ni over Se, wherein Se (sensory data) is just a "necessary evil" in order to build up Ni (concepts, abstracts, patterns). Ti+Se generally uses Ni for the sake of making things work in the real world, whereas Ti+Ni uses sensory data for the sake of building up their inner world. Notice the difference in priorities. This is why Ti+Ni is much more introverted than your typical ISTP, and does not fit the stereotype.

16personalities is just stereotypes. In order to actually pin down people's personality types down you have to make note of the cognitive functions they are using. I haven't studied Buddha a lot but it doesn't seem unlikely to me that he is an ISTP. He could very well have been a very introverted ISTP also, with Ti+Ni as saviors. I have found a very good resource for personality theory, that is: https://www.objectivepersonality.com/ They also have a YouTube channel: DaveSuperPowers

@pluto Yes, just getting out in nature and actually living is seriously underestimated. I actually experienced my first samadhi when I was walking my dog and looking at the green leaves of a tree, something which I have never been able to replicate through meditation. And if you've ever had the fortune of walking in nature completely naked, feeling the wind rush against your skin and your bare feet sinking into the moss, you know what it's like to feel completely one and inseparable from nature. It might sound wicked, and it's a shame that it does. We are so, so alienated both from the nature within us and that outside us, and it's very saddening. People should stop pretending, and speak their inner experience. I dare say, it's the only worthwhile way to live. To live in alignment with who you truly are. I've always had great respect for you, so know that it is mutual @Keyhole Note that the aspirational personality type for an INTP is ESFJ. So a mature INTP would act more in the middle between those two. Leo is super-addicted to Ti+Ne, and he suppresses Fe pretty hard. Most people are addicted to their savior functions, and he is truly no exception. So in terms of MBTI, he's not even that developed.

@studentofthegame I had a similar situation with my mother, except that I never really loved her at all (or did I? I guess I've still got some introspection to do... ). My entire upbringing I was led to believe that the anger, resentment and blame I felt towards her was something "dirty" and bad. That it was some inherent moral flaw, when it really was a completely healthy reaction to living in a dysfunctional environment. Similarly, you were aware that your mother was wrong, but at the same time you felt that you were wrong for thinking so and having such feelings towards her. From where did you adopt that attitude? The likely thing is, it came from your very own mother. One part of you resented your mother, while another part of you loved her and wanted the best for her. Are these two parts of you still at odds with each other, or do you feel comfortable with having both of their truths alongside, integrated into the whole that you are? A big, BIG part of healing is getting comfortable with ambivalence. I think this guy explains the practice of journaling pretty well:

Yes, I saw that too. Not good. From what I've gathered psychedelics are very powerful and should be approached with caution. I remember there was this guy on YouTube, Rali (Naked Reality), who suffered neurological damage due to mixing two psychedelic substances. He said he was on verge of death.

Yes, the left-brain, right-brain dialogue is essentially just a form of inner child work. So it works very well You might not want to "create" happier memories with this parent, but rather acknowledge the feelings that were there. There is nothing wrong with a child feeling that way towards their parents, the only wrong thing is that those feelings went unacknowledged and dishonored. But now you can be your own parent, and honor that experience and offer understanding to the child within you. Because feelings always have a very valid reason. As a child, those reasons often can't be looked at, as children are inherently so dependent on their parents and fail to see anything wrong with them. So it becomes internalized, towards the self. The best thing you can do, really, is to offer compassion and understanding.

@pluto Good point. Whenever I listen to Leo I can notice my heart closing towards myself. I notice myself becoming more neurotic and ungrounded. My gut feel is telling me to stay far, far away from Leo, but at the same time he sends the message that you cannot trust your instincts. Because it's egoic and self-deceptive. So which one should I listen to? I have an inkling which one... He definitely has issues with grounding. And he's encouraging that same unbalanced energy flow in others, very powerfully. Just by talking. I'd like to distinguish between the intellectual content and the emotional content of his videos. The intellectual content is, at times, illuminating. The emotional content, however, is absolutely abysmal and pretty much gives you the message that you're a naive idiot who has no clue, whose judgment cannot be trusted. What a terrible message to send, and utterly false. There's so much rage behind his words, and one can only speculate where it comes from. I only need one look to determine whether someone is dissociated or connected to their true selves. Unfortunately Leo does not pass the test, not even close. Honestly, I've never seen anyone with as thick defense mechanisms as Leo. He's totally invulnerable. And it's not a healthy defense, as in having good and healthy boundaries. It's a dissociative defense which allows him to treat other people like shit. Because by denying the hurt in himself, like he obviously does, he can deny the hurt in others. Even those you mentioned, Mooji, Eckhart Tolle and Dalai Lama, does to me seem very dissociated and disconnected. They represent the fantasy of what an enlightened being looks like. To quote the holy man himself, Jesus Christ: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple." While I'm at it, I have noticed that he does rarely ever speak from direct experience. Maybe <1% of his content is. The rest is just increasingly elaborate abstractions. Which makes his content notoriously unrelatable, repetitive and boring. The same could even be said about his most basic videos. Whenever he talks psychology, it's a jumbled mess. Speaking from direct experience is honestly quite hard when you're only connected to a small fragment of it. And when you have to make 2 hr long videos every damn time. If anyone decides to disagree with me, just know that your disagreement is inherently self-deceptive and is there to ensure your own survival. So don't disagree with me, alright? I'm just messing with you. Notice how hard it is do distinguish Leo's teachings from what is actually a joke. You can disagree with me all you want, even ban me if you'd like. Because I have an inkling this post might be ban-worthy. He's pulling people down, like I allowed myself to be pulled down. He doesn't know it, and neither does his followers. That's what bothers me. I'm not gonna stop people from going this path, however, as I did indeed learn something valuable from it. Just don't get surprised if you end up as an ungrounded mess, or feel that the unbalanced dynamic is getting reinforced. He has said that he ultimately wants people to think for themselves and "leave the nest". But notice how actively he undermines that from coming into reality. You guys really need to trust yourself, and not Leo.

Find people you resonate with. Anything else is a waste of time.

Like forgetting something.

Hello, I have many signs of an unhealthy thyroid. Like thinning hair (also on my face), rapid heartbeat, very high metabolism etc. I have an inkling that it might be fluctuating between underactive and overactive, but that it's mostly overactive. A couple of days ago I litterally had a dream where I could see my thyroid shining bright blue, which convinced me to write this post. Are there any foods, exercises, visualizations etc. that I can use to improve thyroid health? Sidenote: I also have lots of muscle tensions around my neck, and I often have thick mucus in the back of my throat, among other things. So I definitely have some larger imbalances in the neck/head area that probably should be dealt with.

Can you use your writing skills for something else you are passionate about? If not, I'd suggest you to explore something else that you actually want to do. And btw, Aristotle, Lao Tzu, Karl Marx were pretty influential, to name a few. And of course, if the impact of other authors disappoints you, you can always become an author like no other.

When external threats are few, the body turns against itself. In my view it is indeed a sign of increased development. When material needs are handled, the focus turns increasingly turns inwards towards internal barriers. As hunter-gatherers we were simply too focused on trying to survive to be bothered with that. But now such internal barriers seems monumental and we end up killing ourselves instead.