Charlotte

@youngshinzen one of you anti depressants wasn't called amitriptyline was they by any chance?

Thanks for sharing @Richard Alpert it's a very overlooked sneaky habit/addiction I've noticed.

Thank for the your encouragement! And we'll done you! ?

Your right, I do research, I'm a little bit of a research junkie if I'm completely honest. Yes I was juicing with a BIG blender so I'll pop a small juicer on my Christmas list and start again. Thank you for motivating me and for sharing.

Wow eight cups a day! Sounds like my mum... She's the same ? Yeah it sounds like you experienced the withdrawal. Yeah hopefully I won't slip back, I tend not to if I get to a certain point (stubbornness in me also) It certainly is, thank you very much for sharing your experience (Sorry I've quoted you twice, I don't know how to remove one)

Wow! I'm glad it's worked for you ? I will definitely give it a try, thank you for sharing and replying.

Oh brilliant, I'll do some research into that @JoJo thank you for your recommendation! Have you drunk this yourself? Should it be the first? Possibly yes. But if I'm honest, this is the hardest, I don't want to rush into it and fail, I want to quit this when I feel strong enough. I will do some research into this also. Thank you very much! I have done juicing/blending in the past, I did this for around a year last year, I gave up because of the amount of washing up it was creating, I got fed up of it ?. Ill definitely think about starting this again. In the morning (0830) I have a bowl of very basic porridge oats, with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, goji berries, milled linseed, chai seeds and a very small dash of organic honey. This provides me with enough energy up to around 3pm, I think this breakfast is an excellent source of energy. Thank you for your recommendation ?

I watched a programme on the BBC about decaffeinated drinks one time. If you do a quick Google search the opinions are still quite torn. I completely disagree. Social media to me is ego's fighting, challenging, ego's. Who looks best, who's got he newest whatever, constantly trying to up each other, over opinionated low consciousness drivel. "Raise my consciousness down"... Please explain what you mean by this? My ultimate goal is to get off my e-cigarette and completely eliminate any behaviour, habit's that I feel have control over me. I want to live the most high consciousness life I possibly can. Free of society and 'the norm'.

I get the tea thing but I don't want to get hooked on that either as it contains caffeine. Thanks for the suggestions though. Definitely no decaffeinated as it's really bad for your health ?. Again, thanks for the suggestions though. I am going to research a coffee alternative that is caffeine free. I think our herbal shop's in the UK sell them so I think that's the route I'm going to take. Really appreciate all your suggestions though guy's ❤️

@aurum Awesome idea!! This is going to be tough ? so so tough! Wow your brave!! I get REAAAAALLY uncomfortable when it's cold already and I get in the shower, baths in the winter for me. Hats off to you though! And thank you for your advice

@aurum Thank you ? To be honest I think it's more of a habit now than an actual energy booster. I had a cup this morning and I was aware whilst drinking it. It's just the taste, not the actual false energy it provides. It's a habit that I recognise with 'waking up', 'morning' etc. I have 2 cups a day and that's it. I then drink Organic herbal teas. I know some people would agree that it is isn't a lot of caffeine but I NEED the 2 cups in the morning so that reason alone is enough for me to want to break the habit. Thank you for your advice

Yes me too! It's outstanding isn't it! I'm so so glad I've woken to my own mind. I know what you mean by forcing also. I will keep one eye on that. So glad you have found your own technique that works for you.

For the past week, through my mundane life, I have been practicing this... Whatever I am doing be it washing, walking the dog, talking to people or whatever I have been reminded my self to observe, be outside of my head and stay aware. Everyday, all day. A lot of the time I lose it and fall back asleep but then I pop back out of it again and crack on. It's hard, so so hard. I find myself getting angry at my own mind sometimes because it has dragged me back in and won't leave me alone ?. In this practice I'm hoping that I will tame my monkey mind and live more mindful and conscious. I was hoping for some clarity from this thread that my practice, in the long run will have some permanent results. Does anybody else have their own techniques? Or does anybody have any practical and positive advice?

Aaaaaaah I see I see. I understand now. Thank you for clarifying that ? Awesome quote! Great insight. You've opened my eyes to knowing I can learn from 'falling back asleep' I will watch it more carefully. Thank you for that! Yes I have noticed naturally I have been bringing awareness to my breath so I will continue to do so. Thank you again. This made me chuckle so much! I can tell just from reading your comment you know exactly what I mean ?? You've also motivated me by me motivating you ??

@Vitamine Water whenever I 'lose it' I'll try and come back with cncenttati on my breath. Thank you for your lovely advice ? noted. @Blissout What are you referring to when you speak of the I-feeling? Thanks for the Michael Langford recommendation, I will check that out. Thank you very much!

I remember leo stating in an episode that the monkey mind is a force of nature, it can never be stopped but taimed. That's not quoted by the way just from the jist of what I remember.

I've been working on enlightenment for a short amount of time (around 4 months) everyday though. Meditating everyday. Really doing copious amounts of self inquiry work. Thing is, I think I can get a small glimpse of the 'true self' (very short) and I cry with realisation and feel sick. I then go on to be confused, it feels as if I'm cracking up. What do I do?

@WelcometoReality wow interesting! Like a processing type of phase... that's amazing! Towards the end of my mediation yesterday morning I burst out into tears, same kind of thing?

@Jasmine in what way as the yoga effected your pain? I'm on morphine daily, restricted from achieving my life purpose (due to pain) and I'm only 27 ? been out of work a good 5 years so I'm basically missing a good chunk of my life due to pain. So I'm willing to try anything at the moment and I'm definitely swaying towards holistic treatment.

@WelcometoReality why so? I thought it would of been the opposite?

@WelcometoReality this is something I really do need to work on though. I have noticed I get so defensive so quickly ?. All I am doing is defending my 'turf', I need to learn that I shouldn't react so quickly and besides I'm defending an illusion anyway ??

@WelcometoReality I do sincerely apologise. I took that wrong. My fault. I clearly am also sensitive to negativity ?. Apologies again. @Nahm My dad is also of Catholic background. I was also brought up Catholic. No they won't be able to see unfortunately ? I still try and hand them a small slice of the 'brownie' whenever I see them though... Can't help myself ?

@Natasha I certainly am. Excellent way of putting it! Last week, I slowly slipped back I have to admit. I could literally feel the resistance in my mind, it was awful, I've learnt a lot but at the time it was awful. The only way I could describe it was like looking at a white piece of paper and trying to convince my mind it was black, not white. I had to over come the power of the ego, trying everything it had to pull me back, I struggled all week, fell into a little depression spot, some of my frustrations in life came back which then brought anger with it. I was also feeling useless, all the enlightenment and self actualisation work I had put (everyday all day) in was going down the pan, I started to feel sad and guilty, to myself. All this arose from that one day I had a shift in awareness, a massive "Ah ha!" moment so to speak. I persevered, I resisted my own mind, I knew this was a distraction, even listening to video's and podcasts didn't sound the same. Then one night late Thursday night (Thursday just gone) I broke free again from the egos resistance, I literally cried, I had persevered so much that I beat the ego's resistance. This is so deep to me but it's a proud moment in my life. I didn't want to go back to the 'lower self' , I could see the life planned out already for that state of mind... suffering is the word I would best describe. @Nahm "You cant take everyone with you when you start noticing the gap" wow! This sentence right here resonates with me a lot. Sometimes I feel so bad for some members of my family and my partner that I try and bring them with me, I feel so bad that they are left unconscious, like a sorrowful feeling. My dad introduced me to this work in my early teens (and has tried to guide me to self actualisation all my life) and my mum has trained to be a counsellor earlier on in her life. They are both very aware of my journey and encourage me. My partner and some other close members of my family though are so neurotic you can physically see it ?

@Jasmine I haven't but I have been looking into it. Was your shoulder pain accute pain or Chronic?