Forestluv

I do the pinching nose and breathing rc throughout the day. Yet I often forget to do it. I’m going to try the one you do.

Oooh, I haven’t heard of that one. How do you do that check during the day? The first time an rc worked deep within a dream, I got so excited I woke up. ?

That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought of it like that. Yet, there is also a sense that is not “deep in dream”. Like I am kinda just thinking it. Thanks for the book tip. I’d like a practical “how to” guide. What supplements help to increase vividness?

@Elham Which reality check are you using? The finger through palm RC has failed each time in my dreams. Yet, the pinching nose and blowing has worked twice.

I think the dream journaling has been super helpful for me to remember more dreams and to be more engaged. For me, the reality check can be helpful once I’m consciously recalling dreams consistently. Yet during most dreams, I don’t realize I’m dreaming until I’m half awake and it feels too late. I can recall the deeper dream, yet it feels like I’m at a more surface level. I’ve only had reality checks appear six times and each time they were deep within the dream. Not while drifting out of the dream toward wake. Within the full dream itself. So I think they might be helpful deeper in the dream. However, only two of the six RC appearances worked, the other four failed.

I’ve found it super helpful. Even if I can only remember fragments, or if it’s hazy.

That’s where I’m mostly at now. The conscious awareness appeared in what seemed like a mixture of sleep and wake. I think it’s easier to go lucid when in a hybrid sleep/wake state. Like I was sorta in a deep daydream, yet not fully out. . . . Yet it’s not fullynsatisfying. Sometimes I’m like “does this even count? It seemed I was too awake”. I think one trick is not to pull myself out of a sleep state by focusing on the awake aspect. I’d like it to be more dreamlike and vivid. I had one lucid dream in deeper sleep last week. Yet it was it was so real that I wasn’t able to fully engage. It was a dangerous situation with an approaching militia and I was afraid to go all super-hero and kick their butts with magic because if I was wrong and it was real, I’d be totally screwed. Are you doing reality checks and dream journaling? I’ve found that helpful.

I don’t know and I’m not too interested in making up a story about it right now. Did you watch the Spira video Gil linked today? Some good stuff in there.

?

Unsure of what teary face means here

@Truth Addict I don’t disagree with what you are saying. I’m getting at something different. I get the sense that below the conscious intellect, there is a belief what is thought here is true (regardless of whether the mind consciously thinks “what I believe is neither true or false”). Yet, I could be wrong. Perhaps it’s stimulating something in me I can introspect. I can say “What I just wrote above is neither true or false”. Yet at a deeper level, do I really believe that? It can be quite subtle and sneaky. To be honest, there is some type of energy that believes what I wrote above is true, even though I intellectually understand it is neither true or false. It’s like peeling the layers of an onion.

I updated the post

This gets really sneaky. The ego says “my beliefs are neither true nor false”, then speaks about them as if they were true. There can be a subtle attachment and identification. One exercise is to hold the opposite belief and see if it feels the same way. For example: “I acknowledge my beliefs as either true or false. Saying that a belief is true/false is not a groundless assumption.” Does this feel different to you? If so there may be underlying attachments/identification to a belief. Essentially that the belief has truth to it. Intellectually saying “My beliefs are neither true or false”, does not cut to this deeper level. Another exercise is to see if a belief can be let go of as easily as the mind can let go of bird chirps that pass by. There is a deeper level to attachment/identification to the relative as absolute than the intellectual level.

@Truth Addict I’m not disagreeing with you. I was pointing to something else I noticed. “To say that something is either true or false is just to add a layer of belief upon reality which, to me, is unnecessary. I believe that true vs. false is. . . “ It’s such a sneaky squirrel ?

Some nice golden nuggets in there. Yet I think the title of the video is a bit misleading. Thoughts create an illusion of a story within a timeline. Yet, those thoughts are Now. Yet they also aren’t really a separate thing called thoughts because we would need a story for that as well. Thank you for posting it. ?

Do you feel the same with women? When you make closer friends with a woman do you get uncomfortable that she only wants to be friends with you because of her sexual desires?

? ♥️

@Lisa2525 It seems like your mind and body is uncomfortable with the amount and pattern of your drinking. Enough so that you have spoken to friends about it, searched for information online and started a thread on a forum to discuss it. Yet, I would be cautious about adopting an identity that “I am an alcoholic” or adopting the opposite of “I am not an alcoholic”. There may be something minor going on and few tweaks in perspective and behavior is all you need - such as making some new friends and engaging in new activities. Or there may be something deeper going on that needs more work to resolve, which may involve counseling or a support group. There are a variety of support groups available - both online and face-to-face. If you feel drawn to this route, I would encourage you to find one that resonates with you and feels healthy.

I don’t disagree with you. It’s relative to assumptions and how terms are defined.

Note taking notes and journaling can be a great method. If you want to post it here, perhaps you could start a journal.

The passage of the story you quoted doesn’t address that. I suppose we could imagine things and add it into the piece of the story above. Or perhaps one could contact the author of the story to see what he imagines. If we assume that there is a thing called enlightenment that is good and we assume that there are some beings that do not have access to this goodness and we assume that such beings are lesser, then I would say yes, it is unfair. According to the story you posted from Johnakan, no chance. According to the story you cite from Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, yes chance. Cool stuff. I like stories about reincarnation and souls. Sometimes I imagine each being is a pod exploring earth and all of our souls are connected to one Mothership. As pods break down and die, they get recycled into new pods. In one sense, it isn’t unfair since all pods are the Mothership. Yet if one assumes that pods are different, some pods are better, and one is restricted to a certain pod fate for eternity, then that would be unfair. It’s essentially saying there is a “me” that got stuck with a crappy fate for eternity.

@DrewNows Some nice spanish moss on those trees ?

When you write “enlightened person”, does that suggest clarity and understanding in all those components? Or could an enlightened person have degrees of clarity and understanding? For example, deep, clear, integrated understanding in #2 / #3, yet several gaps of understanding in #4 / #5.

Bud