Emerald

Keystone Habits and Practical Life Update- 66 Day Challenge Today's Habits Update (Day 8) Wake Up at 6 am- I woke up 10 minutes late because I forgot to set my alarm. Luckily my husband happened to get up around that time, and asked me if I still wanted to get up. I was able to do 33 minutes of meditation this morning before my daughter got up! Keep a Food Journal of everything I eat with calories accounted for - Check - Morning Weight= 128.8 lbs. I ate 1715 calories today. Woohoo! Under 2000 calories. Colors: Blueberries (blue/purple) Banana (white) Cooked Cauliflower (white) Cooked Spaghetti Squash (yellow) Orange juice (Orange) Kiwi (Green) Peaches (Orange/Yellow) Water - 16 oz; Chocolate Almond Milk - 18 oz; Smoothie - 16 oz- Fluid intake= 50 oz; I definitely need to drink more fluids, especially water. Now that I see this, I'll make sure to drink some before bed. Exercize 15+ Minutes a Day - 15 minutes dance workout Other things I got done: Meditation - 33 minutes Replied to comments on my channel Filmed my next video - unfortunately I decided to reshoot because I didn't care for the way that I presented the material. But that's okay. I'll call it a practice run. Finished editing the thumbnail for my next video Read to the kids Tidied the kitchen and living room Washed Clothes Today was fairly productive. I was happy to get a full half hour in for meditation. Will attempt to fit in Spiritual Autolysis tomorrow, which I will share on here. I didn't care for my filming session today because I was rushing a bit and not concise/organized enough with my message, so I'll save the topic for Wednesday and release an extra video in the coming week. I'm trying to stick to my two videos a week and one blog. So, I'm still in the catch-up phase. I plan to begin filming one day a week, on Tuesday for both videos and to make Sunday my writing day where I outline what I'm going to say. Then have a more consistent schedule for social media marketing, research, and the like.

You can't get to enlightenment using any framework. This framework is a mind map, and enlightenment is waking up to the nature of your true self in the present moment. This reminds me of the Graves model a little bit, and it can be helpful for a general guideline to monitor your personal development progress. But it has very little to do with enlightenment. You get to enlightenment by seeking what is true fro you in the present moment, while deconstructing all falsely held beliefs, concepts, thoughts, models, frameworks, etc. Through extreme acceptance of what is. So, to take these traits and try to reach them like goals is getting the cart before the horse. Just seek what is true for you beyond thoughts, beliefs, and frameworks. Enlightenment is a lot closer to you than this chart. Enlightenment is not like other goals that you can set and then reach. You must work on raising the consciousness, deconstructing beliefs, and putting yourself mentally and emotionally in the right conditions for a breakthrough to happen. But there is no process. Like a seed sprouting, it happens all at once. Remember, you can only become enlightened in the now. You can't become enlightened in the future. It is only now that you can wake up.

Yes, in the sense that they don't have an ego (self-concept). Most animals don't have the capacity for abstract thinking like we do, so they aren't battling constant thoughts. But they objectively are less self-aware than us. So, they are open like the enlightened, but are not aware of their enlightenment like we can be. I was watching a video about a man who had an enlightenment experience after sitting and meditating next to a frog. He told himself that he wasn't going to move at all until the frog moved. So, the frog sat there for hours, as still as a statue. He was going nuts internally. He started to contemplate why it was that the frog could stay still so easily but that he was going nuts staying still. He concluded that the frog and him both were like empty rooms. The only difference is that his empty room was filled with voices and sounds urging him to move. So, animals have the openness and emptiness aspect of enlightenment. But they are not aware of their own enlightenment.

No. Enlightenment is simply the realization of your true nature beyond your concept of self. It actually removes all false affectations and neuroses while bringing you in touch with wisdom. It could be described as becoming normal and wise. Most people may not understand what you're going through on the way there, and you won't be able to share much of your wisdom with most people in life. But this is why Zen Masters were notoriously reticent with their words and actions. But if you reach enlightenment, you won't be overtly concerned with other's opinion of you. So, that won't be a bother. But if you're worried about being able to function in society, have no worries. There are enlightened people, and they all seem very normal. There is no outside indicator for a person being enlightened. They do look happy though.

Thank you. It was my son's birthday yesterday. Mine is in April. But thank you for the words of encouragement. By the way, are you Rasmus? or someone else?

Thank you.

Keystone Habits and Practical Life Update- 66 Day Challenge Today's Habits Update (Day 6) Wake Up at 6 am- I got up and my kids stayed asleep. It was my son's birthday today, so I stayed up late wrapping presents last minute, so I was a little bit tired. I did my exercise and meditated for 12 minutes before being interrupted by my daughter waking up. Keep a Food Journal of everything I eat with calories accounted for - Check - Morning Weight= 129.0 lbs. I ate 2450 calories today. I wanted to keep it under 2000 today, but eating out with my family and birthday cake made me meet that budget quickly, then I was still hungry for real food afterward. So, tomorrow, I'm going to get on my game keeping to my calorie budget. Colors: Blueberries (blue/purple) Banana (white) Cauliflower (white) Spaghetti Squash (yellow) Artisan Lettuce (Green) Tomato (Red) Orange juice (Orange) Strawberries (Red). Water - 40 oz; Chocolate Almond Milk - 16 oz; Cappuccino- 16 oz; Fluid intake total = 72 oz Exercize 15+ Minutes a Day - 30 minute belly dancing workout. I got half way through it in the morning, but finished it in the evening. Other things I got done: Meditation - 12 minutes Replied to comments on my channel Set up video ads for my two most recent videos Celebrated my son's birthday Brainstorm for my newest video My mom went home today after my son's birthday party, so it should be a bit easier to keep my habits consistent and be more productive in general. It has been more difficult the past few days to keep up with my basic habits having company and planning for my son's birthday and Easter, but I've been skirting by.

On the practical level, a feeling of low self-worth can come from not acting to your fullest potential. So, there are practical methods for getting yourself to where you want to be in the "doing" realm. However, actual worth doesn't even exist. Worth, meaning, and value are factually not a feature of external reality but merely a feature of the human mind. So, value is only in existence from a particular person's subjectively held beliefs. For example, if you believe that being religious is something of value, you could potentially conclude that anyone who doesn't follow that religion doesn't have value. If you believe that being (black, white, Asian, etc) is something negative, then you could potentially conclude that anyone who falls into those categories doesn't have value. But all of this is subjectively derived based upon individually and culturally held values, and doesn't point to an objective value in reality. Much like human beings put labels of worth on objects in the store, that is only a subjectively derived value. There is nothing about a gallon of milk that actually equals $4.39. It is based upon our socially accepted currency and belief of its worth. It is the same for labels put upon humans. But the objective reality, is that everything just is. This sounds abysmal from the average perspective because we're so used to assigning labels of worth and worthlessness upon people, objects, events, ourselves, etc. But when you become conscious enough to what reality consists of and where reality springs from, you realize that you are priceless and no value could ever be assigned to you because you are a manifestation of something infinite. You are both part and whole of the fabric of reality, and are loved from every direction even if it isn't apparent right now. You are valid and lovable simply for existing, and so is everything else. Everything is always in perfect order, and you are part of that perfection. Don't ever expect anyone else to see your true "worth." Love doesn't come from other people seeing your worth. If a person hasn't done a reasonable amount of consciousness work, they are going to be too unconscious and afflicted by their own conditionings to see anyone's true value anyway. They're caught up in worth game. But if you become conscious of yourself beyond the labels you place upon yourself, you can truly love yourself regardless of what you do, how you look, or who you are. Even if you had spent your entire life murdering people, it can't make you invalid. But the higher self, also has ways of practically guiding us to where we need to be. Sometimes that entails producing negative feeling-states to move us in a better direction and away from actions and relationships that don't suit us and toward ones that do. So, in this case, it's important for a person to give themselves a kick in the ass, stop moping, and actually do something valuable with their life. But paradoxically, the things we do can never make us any more or less significant or valuable. We're already infinitely valuable. But there are actions that create a happier, more fulfilling life.

No, I just use the basic store brand. I normally use it as the base for smoothies, so that I can get a lot of raw fruit all in one go. But I've been thinking about switching to using juiced whole oranges as the base instead, so that I get the fiber from the membranes while subtracting any additives like sugar and other processed ingredients.

I'll check it out later today.

Keystone Habits and Practical Life Update- 66 Day Challenge Today's Habits Update (Day 6) Wake Up at 6 am- I got up, but had to stay in bed to see if my daughter would fall back asleep. She didn't, so I didn't get the alone time. Keep a Food Journal of everything I eat with calories accounted for - Check - I ate 2810 calories today. It's occurred to me that I probably eat too much every day that I don't keep track. Maybe my metabolism is actually amazing, and all I have to do is keep a consistent 2000 calorie diet to reach my goal weight of 120 ( my pre-pregnancy weight). I'm currently at 128.8 lbs. Colors: Tomatoes (red), Mixed Artisan Lettuce (purple, green), Cooked Cauliflower (white), Strawberries (red) Cooked Spaghetti Sqash (yellow) Orange Juice (orange) Exercize 15+ Minutes a Day - I woke up an immediately started preparing for my mom's arrival, so I didn't exercise until this evening. Other things I got done: Meditation - Only 1 minute Replied to comments on my channel Cleaned and tidied my entire home minus the screen room Wrapped my son's presents Prepared Spaghetti Squash in Creamy Tomato Sauce and Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Cauliflower Another less than optimal day, but at least I'm making myself more aware of my habits. I will try to maintain a 2000 calorie diet or less from here on out and monitor my weight to see how it is effected. I've lost 57 lbs so far (including baby) since I gave birth which is one year tomorrow. Doing this I would keep a 1500 calorie budget, and I would lose weight quite rapidly. But I never tried to just monitor my calorie intake, exercise, and weight while not on a diet. So, this will be an interesting experiment.

Very nice work. I especially enjoyed the complexity of the creatures. They go way past the first thought. My husband's cousin writes offbeat short 3 panel sci-fi stories and collaborates with different comic book artists for a weekly web comic on his website "Observatory Comics." He started doing it a little over a year ago, and he's been featured in Heavy Metal Magazine and one or two other publications. He also recently won an award where a publisher chose his graphic novel anthology to be published. He's always looking around for new comic artists to collaborate with. Here is the link for his site: http://www.observatorycomics.com/ If you like the work and you think you might be interested in being involved in the project, I can send him the link to your Deviant Art and see what he thinks. I'm not sure if it's a paying gig though. I think he gets volunteers for the most part, but he may compensate a little bit. That I'm not sure of though. Also, I'm an artist myself, although I haven't done much over the past several years other than what was necessary for my job when I was working as a high school graphic design and painting teacher. But since I've been staying home, over the past 9 months, I haven't done much of anything in the field of visual arts. I actually created the logo for the website I linked up above.

Keystone Habits and Practical Life Update- 66 Day Challenge Today's Habits Update (Day 5) Wake Up at 6 am- I got up both of my kids stayed asleep until my daughter woke up at 7:30. So, I had an entire hour and a half to get things done. So, the day started out well. Keep a Food Journal of everything I eat with calories accounted for - Check - I kept the food journal but didn't fill out the calories until now. Oh man! I ate 2700 calories today. Next time, I will have to keep better track As for the colors, blueberries (blue/purple), banana (white), orange juice (yellow/orange), tomatoes (red), lettuce (green) - all accounted for and all raw. Exercize 15+ Minutes a Day - I didn't exercise until 7:30 today because I was posting my Wednesday video to my channel. I only did 15 minutes of exercise today because I was hungry and decided to quit early to eat breakfast. But I met my goal... but by a bare minimum. Other things I got done: Meditation - 20 minutes Posted my newest video Promoted on Social Media, with extra posts on Twitter and Facebook Took my kids to the mall to see the Easter Bunny Went birthday shopping for my son and Easter shopping Overall, I didn't get anything near done that I wanted to because of the time spent away from the house. Also, I spent too much time online today checking and rechecking my subscriber count like the rats that keep pushing the lever to get a treat.... random schedules of reward are a doozy. ;) My mom is coming into town tomorrow, so I'll have to use my 6 am wakeup to get to work on tidying up the house. So, I was a slack ass today. Also, I'm currently up almost an hour and half past my bedtime. But I still consider it a win because I did my keystone habits. I just have to tell myself- It's okay to suck, but it's not okay to not do it.

You should definitely do it. It's a lot of fun to make videos and share them. Do you have any of your comics posted anywhere? Thank you for the encouragement and thank you for subbing!

Then PM me with an actual argument. Only then will I take your views as anything but trolling. I'm plenty open-minded, I just want to know why you believe that. But you keep dodging my questions, so I have to assume that you're just posting to sew discord and insight anger.

You know, you're pretty good at trolling.

Well, your opinion seemingly isn't grounded in anything concrete, so I was trying to get you to clarify why you think it is a cult based upon the actual definition of what a cult is, and not just your emotions and feelings about cults. But instead you launched an ad hominem attack at me implying that my point of view differs from your point of view because I'm brain washed, and used that to deflect responsibility for your statements. You can hold any point of view that you want to, but don't be surprised when someone takes you to task for it and asks you why you think that. I create content in a similar niche to Leo's, so I get really irked when people throw around accusations of being a cult or cultlike, just because a point of view is divergent from the norm. So, I'm not just defending Leo, I'm defending my own work and the work of all of the personal development/spiritual teachers who have helped me out through the darkest times in my lives. I'm defending the ability to part ways with the status quo, because so many people will allow themselves to suffer the toxicity of the social paradigm, simply to avoid the stigma of being associated with an organization accused of being a cult, The original point of this thread was because another person was having dreams with Leo in it, and you told that person that it's because he's being brainwashed by a cult. That's not helpful at all. In fact, that can be dangerous if you tell that to the wrong person. If a person took that seriously, they'd be paranoid about being mind controlled. If you want to address this with better arguments that aren't ad hominem, straw man, or feelings-based then you can PM me and I will take your viewpoint seriously. But this thread is about dreams, so don't address it here. @Abhijeet Singh I'm certain that the Leo dreams are coming from a normal subconscious process. Nothing out of the ordinary. At the very worst, you're a bit too focused on the content. Sorry for getting off topic.

It's easy to come back with this short punchy answer. Support your view with an actual argument, grounded in rationality, if you want me to take it seriously or consider your viewpoint. Understand, I mean you no ill will nor am I simply trying to protect Leo from attack. I have an issue with your viewpoint, and I would like you to address it.

I think that's a very healthy way to look at things. Its not so much a matter of someone's views being absolutely right or absolutely wrong but more so about what resonates with someone at their particular phase in the journey. As we move through different levels of consciousness teachers will come and go. A teacher who was helpful at one point may become unhelpful. A teacher who isn't helpful now may become helpful. It's a little bittersweet to go out of resonance with a teacher because of conscious expansion, but it is a good sign. It's like a shedding process.

Leo even says himself that he's mastered very little of what he teaches. He's very honest. But he does know a great deal about these topics, and he teaches them well. He has a very healthy worldview, in my opinion. I know that his videos have helped me tremendously. Did you watch the entire video about rationality? He wasn't saying to throw rationality, critical thinking, and discernment out the window, he's saying that the rational perspective is not the end all be all. But I don't think that anyone is relying on Leo to get to enlightenment, at least not someone who is serious about it. Most people I've talked to on this forum have listened to a variety of spiritual teachers on the topic and do tons of independent work that has little to do with Actualized. Also, I don't pay Leo at all for his content. Any money that he makes, he gets from his Life Purpose Course, coaching, or monetization of ads. He deserves every penny he gets because he truly has put in a lot of work to make his channel great. Why should he spend 40 hours a week doing Actualized for free and then working some other 9 to 5 job to make money. It makes no sense. As I see it, that's a dangerously broad definition of a cult. If that's what a cult is, I guess that being part of a cult is preferable because a lot of the mainstream is incredibly unhealthy. I just Googled "cult" and it is defined as such: "a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object." or "a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister." or "a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing." So, from the article you posted about how cults recruit makes it seem like you were referring to the first definition above. So, I disagree with your assessment. Certainly, Actualized's content is not the norm, but that hardly makes it dangerous. Hungarian philosopher Bela Hamvas described society as "a group of people all distorted in the same direction." Having an antithetical worldview can be a very welcome change and need not be stigmatized by the word "cult" which is understood to mean weird, bad, and dangerous. As long as a person brings their powers of discernment, there is nothing dangerous about Actualized or any other personal development product, teacher, channel, etc.

I feel left out. Save me a glass of Koolaid, and tell me how it all goes down.

And this is what his Leo dreams are indicative of...? Also, if you're claiming that Actualized.org is a cult that recruits people, then why haven't I gotten my invitation to drink the Koodlaid. I think people get too conspiracy-theory crazy, and start making things up about various teachers, gurus, self-help people. Everyone wants to think that there's some huge "man behind the curtain" conspiracy. But in the case of Actualized, I highly doubt it. If it's true, Leo does a terrible job at advertising his way as the only way.

That's funny.

It's not necessarily a disagreement exactly. But there are some parts that don't resonate with me as much at this point in my life, but used to and may again. For example, Leo's admiration of and slight leanings toward asceticism and hard core discipline doesn't resonate with me as it would have when I was a teenager. I find a lot of it helpful, but I resonate more now with cultivating self-love and using moderate amounts of well-rounded self-discipline. That said, it still helps.

Just accept it. You don't control dreams. The subconscious mind does. But I had a dream about Leo once, but he wasn't actually in it. It was really bad. This old couple who owned a diner on an old country road were talking about him, and saying that he just got news that he only had a few days to live. I was really bummed.