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Hey all, First a little contextualization, if you dont want to read here is the question: What are the main pros and cons of the coaching/psychology dichotomy? I have this family circumstance, it's been a hard year for me and although i've gotten better and i'm really happy with my results so far my family is not that happy. I think it's mainly because i'm unemployed but my efforts so far are not enough for them and they want me to become a full fledged professional (anthropology is my degree) or something more "conventional". They know i don't want anthropology (although i like marketing and innovation but here in Colombia is more of work with minorities and gov work) and i'm thriving for other areas more fulfilling to myself but whatever, i'm not bending. Anyway for some time they've been flirting with the idea of me and a psychologist/psychoanalyst, i don't like to wallow in the past and for my experience in anthropology, although i'm no expert, i dont trust on the psychology theory and methods to treat people. What i do like is the opportunity to share with someone and just talk, lately i feel that no one gets me and can't talk to anyone about my life, feeling a little alien i guess but i know waking from the matrix is hard (i know i have you guys and i love the community here but it's really different interacting with someone in person). I've had some approaches with coaching and i really like the fact that someone wants to understand me and get the best of me -contrary to someone judge me and wanting to fit into a specific mold. I'm not a coach expert neither but i think that would be my way. I'd like to ask you your thoughts about this dichotomy coaching/psychology and if someone could illustrate me on pros and cons that would be great. Also if some coach sees this you know you have a potential client

It All Began With Stories I feel like childhood is paradoxically both a wondrous time and an early identity crisis. I realized that I both loved my childhood and I'm fondly nostalgic of it. What I fondly remember from childhood is the deep connection to my grandmother and to books. When I was a baby and a child, my grandma read to me all the time, and that expanded my amazing imagination. My grandma would read me picture books and I still deeply connect to these books. Confession-but I still go to the children's section in the library and the bookstore to read books at my childhood. Whenever I went over to a friend's house for dinner, than I would deeply connect to their library and I would alienate myself there just reading all the books. It gave me a deep sense of relaxation and it didn't matter if I was alone. I realize that when I watched movies, listened to music, or read stores, than it felt like I was on the greatest high ever. Some people escape reality through drugs and alcohol to get drunk or high but books and life were my fix! I would be so deeply immersed in the story that I felt like I was a character in the world. My dreams are rich with stories and this passion for stories triggered a spark in me! A spark that would last for life! However, my obsession with stories, made me "weird." I would go through school days, particularly in gym class or in public, in a trance. I would get so excited that I would talk aloud to myself. From my perspective, I was talking to my characters and would go in and out of character voices. I would do a smooth British accent one minute and a Cockney/Aussie accent on a dime. Yeah it is awkward and humiliating but it feels cathartic! I remember when people would mimic me or ask "why do you talk to yourself?" I would dodge the question because I felt like it would destroy the mystery of my mind. I felt like I was a alien in human form among normal people and I couldn't maintain my cover. One of my greatest struggles throughout my life was "being normal." Whenever I hear the word "normal" I think of it as a deep betrayal to my authenticity. I see "normal" as dumbing yourself down to be a spineless coward. Normal is not "being yourself." It is rejecting yourself! I realize that storytelling and creating stories links deeply to my life purpose. I feel like my life purpose is "to create stories that deeply resonate with yourself and with other readers who share your passion. Stories is how you convey your own insights about your passions and life! You can experiment in a variety of niches! I want your life to focus on discovering storytelling in all mediums and master the art of storytelling." I will learn how to be a master storyteller where I can be completely authentic and self-expressive that my stories come to life. My stories can be deeply existentialist and broad and rich with themes and ideas but still highly relatable and yet personal. My stories can also be simple yet deep like haikus or vignettes! Or my stories can focus entirely on conveying deep emotions like laughter and contemplation! However, I don't want to write for the masses! I want to be subversive and value creative freedom where I have the impunity to tell my own stories. I want to be unapologetically authentic and not give a fuck what people think! I want the personal power to embrace my creativity and not sell my soul to the fucking Devil. People can hate on me all they want and I strive to be unapologetic and devil may care!!

I thought it would be a great idea if all of us as a community post our answer's to Leo's worksheet he gave us for his latest video. From my experience, beliefs are so hidden, and deceptive in our minds that sometimes it can be hard to even acknowledge or identify them. Though if all of us post our answers to the worksheet, other people's answers might guide ourselves to look in areas of our mind that we might have totally forgotten, or areas that are so deceptive or hidden, that we wouldn't have even thought of otherwise. I didn't have enough time to finish mine(have a test tomorrow) but here are some of mine: Some of my pet theories are... - Donald trump is a good guy - Gravity is real - That thing is a helicopter - The belief that I believe everything - The belief that freedom is beautiful - I believe in space - I will be a successful business person in the future - I will get a high mark for my exams in 3 weeks Some things that I know FOR SURE are... - That’s a pen - I am a truthful person - Enlightenment is going to be the thing that makes me fulfilled and happy in life - I do not believe in gravity Some beliefs which would be ridiculous to question are... - Santa clause, tea pot monster, there’s an alien under my table are all real, my parent’s think that meditation is stupid - Sun isn’t going shine tomorrow - The world doesn’t exist - There is not an alien outside the front door - My parents are not from another planet - My homework is not fun - Some things that I believe but haven’t actually experienced are... - The earth is round - That mars looks the way that it does - Felix thinks im an idiot - That enlightenment will give me happiness - That success will make me happy - Some assumptions necessary for my worldview to make sense are... - Everything is made of matter - That I exist - Space exists - That the world is physical - Cells exist - atoms exist - there are stars outside of our solar system - fire is burnt from heat - Capitalism is the best system and better than communism - my parents' love is real - social justice warriors are evil people Some of my meta beliefs are - I am a rational person - That I am aware of all of my beliefs - That I am aware of what leo is saying about meta beliefs

Are you in control of your heart beat? Your mind? The air you breathe? Let’s say you have limited control. What gives you that limited control? Consciousness? But then, animals have consciousness too. Are they in control? If not, why? Because they’re a lower order of consciousness? Well, what’s there to determine that our relatively high level of consciousness gives us control? Is that to imply that animals with greater consciousness are in more control than animals with more limited consciousness? What if there’s an alien species out there that dwarfs our level of consciousness? To them, wouldn’t we be seen as low-conscious and not in control of any of our actions? Would we be seen to them as merely ants in an ant farm?

WEEK 14 This was a messy period. Some of these notes were written days later than actual events occurred. DAY 92 25 minute mantra meditation. Today I did recovery of some lost posts due to server crash. I read through some older posts in my journal and I can say that I have forgotten so much. I have reached a 1/4 milestone of my journaling commitment. Much has happened. I tried out mantra meditation. It was different from what I expected. After 15 minutes of "oooommmm" it feels different from when you start. I have forgotten to adjust timer for 30 minutes. Oops. I spent 3-4 hours arranging my all time photos dating from 2006. That was a one long memory trip for me. Since 2012 I have started what I call "photo diary". These are photos arranged in chronological order that capture both my simple daily activities and special moments like trips or certain unusual events. I usually capture about 800 moments per year and it all reminded me so much that I have forgotten. Sometimes I think that when I die all this can go to my grandchildren so they can see my life since I was 22 years old and all the stuff a person can go through their life. It also shows how much I struggled with smoking and how many times I quit and started smoking again, all my attempts to take control of my life, my little failures and successes. This should be a good kick in the ass to start doing things that matter long term. It is almost sleep time and I have remembered that I did not exercise today. I went for a 5 km walk today but to be honest that does not fully compensate missing exercise. 1 tiny finger crack. DAY 93 20 minute yoga. 30 minute breathing meditation. I tried out new yoga routine. First I was like "oh, this is nice, I can't do it properly yet, but in time I will learn". It was physically much more demanding than the one I was doing until now. Towards the end I encountered couple poses that are just impossible for me because of both flexibility and muscle strength. Gotta get ready for them side-planks with one leg lifted. I will look for some other routine tomorrow. I feel this one was too big of a leap in difficulty at the moment. Fingers cracked 0 times. DAY 94 20 minute yoga. 30 minute breathing meditation. Fingers cracked 0 times. DAY 95 20 minute yoga. 45 minutes of Zazen. Fingers cracked 0 times. Today I learned about zazen. We did 20 minutes of sitting, 5 minutes walking and another 20 minutes of sitting. There was an attempt to replicate the original tradition so the teacher was walking around with a stick and patting us on a shoulder from time to time. Really can't say this helped to concentrate as it is supposed to, actually, it was kind of funny. Also, he walked really silently so I was not sure where he was exactly and the stick would found me unexpectedly. Adjusted my yoga routine a little bit. I have decided not to change it completely but gradually make some changes by including new poses or adjusting old ones. Fingers cracked 0 times. After this day I lost control of what is happening and for the next 7 days I lived a rather low consciousness life. I did not meditate, did not exercise, ate all kinds of food - sometimes fine, sometimes not. I watched tv series, played games a little bit, watched some gaming related streams and smoked. During these days my flatmates have moved out so there also was a lot of stuff to take care off. DAY 96 DAY 97 DAY 98 One important thing that I managed to take care of is finger cracking. Fingers cracked 1 time this week. WEEK 15 DAY 99 - Chaos DAY 100 - Chaos DAY 101 - Chaos DAY 102 - Chaos DAY 103 - Retreat DAY 104 - Retreat DAY 105 - Retreat Shift of routine was extreme. From chilling, watching tv series, streams or playing games and smoking to waking up at 5 am and going to meditate. Some of the stuff we did made me feel uncomfortable because it seemed a bit too weird, too alien for me. Although as the time went by I got used to that. All in all it was an experience which is very difficult to put in words. I met some open-minded and open-hearted (if there is such an expression) people. Some stuff they said sounded a bit too woo-woo for me some stuff was really eye-opening. I still have a lot of mixed feelings. Saturday was the most intense day - 4 sessions of meditation each of them lasted an hour + 30 minute yoga and 30 minute breathing exercises. My knees were wrecked. It was very difficult physically not even talking about all mental and emotional difficulties. However, it was very much worth it. Next week I will adjust journaling format. Not exactly sure how. I think there is no need to write exactly how much time I meditated or how much time was spent doing yoga every day. Nobody cares. This helped me to stay disciplined but focusing on time spent is not what matters. What matters is my own personal experience. What matters is process. One thing that I have brought back from retreat is this: "There is no greater authority than your own personal experience" This resonated strongly with me. REVIEW OF WEEK 14-15 Goal review The usual goal review does not really apply here because the experience is very much split. Half of the time I followed through, half of it I have totally lost it. Some important notes: Finally success in handling finger cracking habit. Removing it from my goal list although I have to keep an eye on it for at least the first week of work, because I did not crack my fingers while I was on holidays. Ate only vegetarian food during retreat which was surprisingly pleasant and did not felt like something was missing at all. Experienced an effect of an intense meditation practice. Thoughts Things are moving forward. A lot of things happened and some of them require time to settle down. New goal Morning routine adjustment: Waking up at 6 am; Lemon water; Breathing exercises; 20 minutes yoga; 30 minutes meditation; Shower; 30 minutes for learning, contemplating or memorizing. Next week I will come back to usual daily journaling focusing more on the experiences that occur. Thank you so much for reading this, WIth Love, TakeCare

Shivering just thinking about alien ? speaking through the radio ? Then im like, im an alien to him too. He must be scared af

Would you be excited if an emotion 1000 times more negative than everything you have ever known was your experience.everyday life can be exciting if you approach your psychology with the right techniques.you do not want to experience something like this my friend I assure you.this emotion cannot be controlled the only way is the way to back to the body...it is not spoken through a human mouth this language it is more like an alien broadcasting through an old radio

Dear Leo First please accept my deepest gratitude for all your work... there is a gap , massive gap, there is theory, that can be interpreted in milloins of ways and the applications are not straight forward, and then there are the enlightened masters who speak in symbols (if they do speak) so what happens in between it seems that nobody wants to talk about... Nobody that i came across with , nobody but you, so far that i am grateful and certainly many people who folow your videos and have signed up for your book list (for which also i am so grateful, it would have been taken me ages to stumble upon all these books individually) share the same gratitude i think... I have been pracitcing meditation but not on regular basis, for several years now, and only in the last few months started dedicating more time and doing it daily, following your self-enquiry and strong determination seating... i am also in process of doing 3-4 times a day one hour seating.... Something happened to me when i did the neti neti with you ,,, i dont find many words to describe but there was silence the kind i have never known before, deep, veyr silent silence, silence that felt like i needed and wanted so much, perhaps my mind stopped thinking for fraction of a second, in any case, it rendered everything else i have experienced so far a bit pointless, so that now i am less and less focused on what i would pursue in the past... ?.. My mind keeps going over your words, and yes i know you may say that the mind cant comprehend this things, but for now thats the only tool i have and thinking is the only thing i know... You say i am nothingness.... that contains space and time.. . this means me and you and everyone else is the same nothingness so there is no distinction between me Lily and pretty much everything else around me ... and that the nothingness which is constant was there before the body as i know it and identify with started its existence,,, so why is the nothingness linked/attached to this particual self/body/entity? why is it that the nothingness that i am is perceiving things through this particular Lily the person ? if i am to my body the same as to a coffee table, then why is it that an assigning/identifying to this particular body took place? ... i am trying to keep my mind open for this possibility and just contemplate or go in silence with it... what helps is that i go back to moments from childhood, something very vividly stuck with me, in kindergarten when i wasnt allowed to go out of the balcony there was this overwhelming sense of ability to hover/fly/disperse in space but frustration that i was somehow contained in this body, the first time i looked at my own legs, as i was putting on a colourful leggings i was given, i have realised that ohh so these are my legs, this is me? it felt scary and alien and ver often as a child i would look in the mirror and not buy into that this is me.. perhaps these are just childish nonsense, but it helps to present to my mind an alternative scenario that i did have some 32 years ago of what i was, and the no identification of the body.... Apologies for the long post, please , pleasee kindly make a video of where you share your thoughts on the WHYs which nobody addresses, i know that the masters generic answer is somethign along the lines of - the WHY isnt important or that the WHY is created by the ego, or that knowing the WHY will not give me anything, but these sound more like people avoding to share their thoughts, afterall theres no harm in contemplating and trying to understand why ... and yes sure understand is the wrong word again... PLease tell us why do you think the nothingness that is our true nature, gets assigned/identified into the little individual small letter selves where each one is different but in reality everything is one and the same? Thank you so much for your time and for everything

did u watch the whole thing? he said he was observing And surely as seemingly concious as it is, it certainly wouldnt be concerned w/its own existance any more than it would w/yours or mine. It clearly was aware of the oness of all things it even stated we are all one life. bcause evidence was destroyed. Its time machine would likely be something having to do w/einsteins theory of relativity wich has to do w/time speeding up or slowing down depending on the speed one moves relative to something else and that gravity can bend time. the alien said he traveled many lightyears also the alien was the one being interrogated.. Spare me the skeptisism guys, its obviously a fake, well made scene imo. I just always get excited when i spot inklings of truth about reality & conciousness in the mass media i think i might be the only one

OK, a little brain teaser then, if the alien descendant can travel through time then how can he be on a history trip due to the historical record being "lost", surely no history is ever *lost* when you have a time machine. Why would you chose to go back and interrogate humans even though he knows they are basically stupid, and what about the good old problem with causality and affecting the course of history by flying straight into it? He seems to want humans to avoid their impending doom by explaining it, thus jeopardising his own existence.

So i found this video on facebook a week ago. In it, scientists interview an alien who claims to be a human evolutionary descendant and i think you guys will like this. what he has to say hits wayyy close to home on this forum? Tell me what u guys think~ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G2xXu8_2Exo

Hi, I am "stuck" in this area in my life, and according to Maslow I need to get friends, love, sexual intimacy, etc. The thing is that I haven't found any worthy friends yet, I even ditched all my "friends", I stopped talking to them like 6 months or 1 year ago because I noticed that they weren't real friends, just people I hanged out with sometimes, and that they are very very unconscious, their only pleasure in life is sex, drugs, tv shows and food, all the meetings used to be to drink alcohol, smoke weed, eat trash food and watch a movie or something like that. So yeah, really useless relationships which I got rid of, but now I am left with 0 friends, which for me is not a problem, I am a very lonely person and I love being with myself and introspecting, thinking about life, I love thinking and I love my imagination, I don't need human interactions as far as I'm concerned. In the area of love I'm in the same place, I'm 25 and virgin by the way, didn't have sex yet because of a wrong psychology, wrong mindsets, insecurities, and also a lack of interest in investing time and effort in it. But I also feel fine here, I can masturbate if I feel urges and I don't feel empty at all, I don't feel that necessity of feeling loved and having a companion, I felt that void a couple times like 7 years ago, but no more. I find relationships a waste of time, specially since nobody I've met thinks like me. I am an alien in this society, I love psychology, I study weird self-actualization things, I don't watch tv at all, I don't watch sports, I don't do sports, just gym, I have nothing in common with society. Every time I am around people the conversations are soo boring that I end up daydreaming, playing with my thoughts or studying how the people around me behave which is much more interesting than the conversation. So I am opening this thread because according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs I can't keep going in my self-actualization journey unless I solve this, which for me is really hard to solve btw, because in the first place I don't feel like there is a problem to solve. I even got much more time for my self-actualization thanks to this "lack" of relationships... Is it really that important?? Even if I feel just fine on my own and I enjoy my free time doing things to better myself?

Can people relate to that feeling when you want to do something and finally get yourself together and pursue this something, but am faced with social resistance in the face of which you begin to doubt yourself intensely - is what you fight for even right, good, worthwhile, etc.? It is important to understand that this question comes from a place of great misery, feeling both lost and alien in the world. Paul Chek once said "I'm normal, humanity is sick." Teal Swan touched on the issue, I believe, in her post about authenticity and how the anti-Teal campaigns made her feel like her existence is wrong, "This very train of thinking is what led to my suicide attempts years ago." The situation is that I live at home and am currently somewhat frowned upon by my family. I do remember that topic back from the birth of the forum where the consensus of people stated that they don't share nor tell friends and relatives about their interest in PD, but this is difficult wrt diet, fitness and meditation, among other things. There seems to be a run and retreat mechanism: I will try to implement something or make a change. Testing the waters, momentarily unveiling parts of the facade (that I believe most people create, read 'The Drama of the Gifted Child'), but once scorned sufficiently, I revert. As you might imagine, this causes great confusion and self-doubt. Since early childhood I have sensed a hypocritical attitude in others where they idly aspire to certain ideals (health, success, etc.) - yet simultaneously almost keep others down in their pursuit of those very ideals. And this behavior absolutely baffles me. I don't think there is any point to describe the situation any further. Fill in the blanks. I hope that I managed to convey the gist of the topic that I want to raise a discussion about. How can you possibly work with your parents rather than against them? Does self-actualization work have to be this strenuous?

I think this says a lot about this self... A couple of years ago my best friend asked me with who I´d try to become friends with if I lived in Hogwarts. My answer was Luna Lovegood. She was one of the most extraordinary characters to me. The way she was moving in the world, the way she was talking but also the way she seemed distant and away from the others but at the same time observed, understood and knew so much. From the outside she looks quite (only quite) ordinary but the inside... The inside must be lightyears from that of the other. All knowledge from a Hermiony Granger or all bravery from a Harry Potter or whichever trade of the others was not as interesting as an alien perspective of a creature like Luna. Her peace and silence and vulnerability were just so beautiful. I appreciated it that J.K. Rowling created a character like that to cross Harry Potters way with a special friendship. Friendship. Because romantic relationships are more for human like, more ordinary people, am I right Joan? She just had bigger fish to fry...

Yes, I see that all around me. What about materialistic desires? Or sexual desires? There are people in my country (I haven't been elsewhere) who see the God as an "alien" sitting in the heaven somewhere behind the universe or something. They try as hard as they can to obey the rules (and there are so so so many of them) while there can be something totally different that's the core of religions. They don't sit down and question who they are and why do they believe in whatever they believe in and so on... I can't speak from their perspective, but as I see in myself, it backfires me when I repress my feeling and desires. And those priests are like me I guess. Doesn't repressing their feelings and needs cause problems in their lives? I have these questions because everyone around me is trying to obey these religious rules, while nothing changes in reality. I am trying not to fell in that trap, and answers to some of those questions would probably help me.

Monday, 16/08/15 Enlightenment Work: 25 minutes of letting go in the morning, 60 minutes sds before lunch, 60 minutes sds after lunch and 46 minutes sds after dinner. I need to develop more equanimity. I need to surrender to the pain and let it go. But thats hard as long as my ego is resisting. . . . . Life Purpose Work: I only programmed for 1.5 hours today. I rather wanted to do other stuff. And my code becomes slowly but steady more and more confusing and unclear. But today I learned how to use Key Bindings in Java, I wanted to learn it for a long time but I procrastinated for the whole time. School Work: I do not want to do school work. My intuition didn't wanted to, so I didn't. I still have eight days left. And soon the weather will become rainy again, so then I have more time to do school work... Things that I am grateful for: being born into a family that is able to afford a lot of great food. being more independent for a week my intuition My parents and my sister are away until Friday. That will be great, because then I can meditate where and whenever I want to, and can eat what and whenever I want to. Right now I just feel a bit lonely. This day my intuition guided me most of the time. I recognized a lot of should statements, mostly ignored them and simply did what I desired to do. I'll see what this will lead me to this week. I began to watch this weird lecture. It really challenged my open-minedeness, but those alien things seem possible. Well, I don't know what I don't know.

You have no idea yet how radical enlightenment insights are. They will utterly transform your entire relationship to reality. You cannot judge enlightenment from your current position AT ALL. Like ZERO. You have no idea how radical it is. Your wildest imaginations of it are still infinitely far away from the majesty of Absolute Truth. It's more radical than being abducted by aliens and taken to live on an alien planet. Everything gets turned upside down. The pursuit of anything becomes laughable. You are already 100% complete, infinite! There is nothing to pursue, and nothing to avoid. Imagine you became God. Now... do you still care about pleasure & pain? Do you care about anything human at all? What can you do but just cry and laugh in delight at your own infinite magnificence and limitless, boundless being?

Week 3 God floated down to his basement and pulled out an old box labelled “NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.” He opened it up and pulled out his ViewMaster, a clever device that made multidimensional images using lots of smaller images. In the box were many of gods favourite memories. He picked out a disk labelled “The last person on Earth”, it was a vlog made by the last person on the planet. He held the ViewMaster in front of his eyes and peered down the lens ... And God was thrashing about in water as images were developing around him. This is how the ViewMaster worked. It developed images in Gods eyes and then folded them into one another, mixing experience within experience and time within time, creating new dimensions for God to explore. And God began to lose memory of himself in the fog And God was alone And God was floating through the universe And the universe was floating through God And God was walking down an empty street And God was an Alien And God was the empty pages of history And God was in the woods And God was vlogging about his last days on earth And God was reading something strange on a forum And God was fighting a shadow to remember And God clicked the play button and was confused, but God kept watching and God watched past the credits (because God knew there were extra bits after the credits): Silently, God watched as words appeared in his mind and continued to read... *** Hours Sat: 76 Hours sat this week: 26 Current daily average: 3.6 start date now June 27, wtf? Experiences Hell on earth Glimpses of unity Insights I'm fucked. I reverse-engineered this bit of marketing psychology to help leverage my willpower. Step 1: Acknowledge that I have been triggered Step 2: Ask myself if I want the behaviour to occur (y/n) Step 3: Determine whether the the behaviour is difficult (ability) Step 4: Visualise the positive/negative sides of the activity until my motivation crosses the threshold and the behaviour does/doesn't occur eg. Alarm goes off for meditation (trigger set previously) Acknowledge I have been triggered to begin meditating Decide I want the behaviour to occur Determine that the behaviour is difficult Spend time visualising the positive effects of meditation until motivation increases to match ability. Next thing I know I'm meditating. It seems much easier to use my willpower in 4 small steps than in 1 big one, like I've put it through a pulley system. It could just be that the meditation is gathering its own momentum and I'm getting sucked out into space, the next most logical step the great unknown. 'cause I thought what I didn't know, I couldn't miss... and then I entered the atmosphere of a new planet... *** Next weeks post will be late because I'm simulating a retreat until Monday. I also want to write down everything I currently think I know about enlightenment. Yes it's pointless, i'm just meat, just making sounds, etching pixels into your computer screen Je me … ox … ox herding … kundalini Forget it, I'll just have the fish and chips Don't get involved. *** And God was a cam puss F.U.N.

Maybe --- just maybe I could be a foreign correspondent. A journalist. Go to war zones like Yemen & report the news. I don't know. I'm. A fucking mess. I'm PTSD & mental. I got emotional & spiritual problems. & my heart isn't in the modernized machine world of the matrix of American consumerism. But I feel like an alien. I feel lost. I'm one step away from a barking mad homeless man on side of highway screaming God is dead b

Well I am trying to understand such an alien way of life from my perspective. I don't want to be prejudice towards a group of people for their beliefs, but a lot of times I feel like Muslims could seriously endanger my life if I am not aware of them. Basically what I am saying, from what I know about Islam right now and the idea I get from it, I would truly fear for my safety if the muslim population increased in my area. So I am asking if it is wrong to assume that Islam is violent and barbaric at it's core. But I want to know from someone who isn't a proud gun slinging murican either, because their views could be skewed. Make sense?

@actualized1 Hi, Yes, normal is a little bit of a vague term. But health is something to work with. A healthy psyche depends on the degree with which you are aligned with "your"reality. Psychological pain and symptom means that there is some psychological work to do, like learning to emotionally regulate better to let go of past ego defences and learning new ways of coping. If you're purpose is business, and you are working toward that and making it happen then that's healthy. Each stage of development has a healthy expression and an unhealthy expression. It's when were against the world, and the world seems alien to us and there is a lot of resistance and reclusion then it can be said there is a problem. Mal

this is only another concept, but it might shed some insight into the nature of reincarnation. I think we as humans really underestimate our power. With the help of religion we are taught that we are simple beings under the control of a higher power which we have no chance of replicating. This entire existence is because of the contrast of nothing and something. The nothingness that makes up consciousness creates everything that we know. We are a creator. There was a study done in which people were told to think about a certain phenomenon (aliens, angels, god) before entering sleep paralysis. Of course the people that believed in UFOs and alien encounters were abducted and probed in a hyperrealistic experience. The people who strongly believed in God had a spiritual experience involving angels and heaven, or an image of Jesus. They all felt this was real, and that it really took place in real space. This is why there are so many different truths that are fought over, because something is real to everyone but not everyone can believe that everything is real. People become addicted to this world and their ego so much that if they leave too soon that attachment/manifestation has so much momentum that it doesn't end with the physical body. This is why suicide doesn't help people, the pain theyre experiencing doesn't end with the body. I think one of the benefits of enlightement allows you to break free of the physical and to experience it finally without attachment, which allows you to leave this existence when your body dies. In conclusion, we experience what we believe and create. These concepts might make sense and make me feel like I know these answers, but they are only that: concepts. I think reincarnation is just as real/not real as anything else you've created. All I know is it's fascinating to think about.

I do semi-physical work as a general contractor about 20-30 hours/week over 2-3 days, while the other 2-3 days I work at my computer marketing, building websites, doing business coaching via phone/skype, SEO, designing marketing/sales funnels, etc. I used to do that for my own business, but once it was up and going and ranking, I've now been doing it for others past few years. I find the mixture of the two different types of work and the fact that I'm very good at and enjoy the challenge of both. I also get to help people, my customers in both and they are my businesses as I'm a serial entrepreneur. In those ways my situation is a bit different than the others on this thread, but not "alien" by any means, probably becoming more and more typical these days. Oh yeah, my wife and I are also very involved, have started and sit on boards for non-profits, help put on events, offer free coaching and consulting (pro bono) for about another 20 hours/week, but our kids are 24 & 26 and out of the house, so believe me, it's not bad after all those years of adding family life, sports, kid's events, etc. to the weekly commitment list LOL Lastly, I just want to mention, that multiple times I've started new jobs in new areas where I was selling and had zero knowledge at day 1. In those cases, I went to my wife and made an agreement with her and my kids, that I was going to work about 12 hours a day 4 days of the week, one day I literally stayed up all night at the office (usually Tuesday it happens) and a half day on Saturday which worked out to about 80 hours/week. I would do this for 90 days so I could bust the curve on learning the new business, having enough time to sell 40 hours a week and learn the business 40 hours a week. Every time I did this, I can honestly say I was as knowledgeable as anyone at that branch other than the top guy by 90 days and in two cases (both when I was an employee not business start up), I was top 7 out of 700 in the nation for sales at the end of the first month. I see this same principle or strategy being used successfully in project start up, business start up and even in life/business coaching. In coaching I call it "power coaching" where instead of once a week for many months or years (like typically counseling), we burst for a month or two or maybe three with very specific goals and timeline to coach our client to get his/her business started, improve their marriage, develop a new software, create a new sales funnel and test it to success, etc. Life is generally more of a marathon, but it's very powerful to know how long and how fast one can sprint in life and business if it's needed. Like anything we get better at such things over time as we do them and improve along the way. Hope some of these ideas/concepts and feedback from my own experience is helpful. You appear to be much younger than me, perhaps without wife, kids, mortgage, etc. so if you're gonna write a software, start a side business, etc. I can only say it may get harder not easier as life's financial and time commitments take up more and more of your currently free bandwidth ;-) Gary

@cetus56 Very well spoken/ very articulate , you should think about writing a book about this. Yes, I experimented with mind altering substances when i was 18/19ish, but this is a long time ago... Had some very amazing and some very hellish experiences, where i actually thought "nice! now you did it, you broke yourself, will never return to normal life" which made me realy question the very fabric of reality and of myself and i can totaly see how some people actualy go "insane" from using some of those substances. I always say when "you" experience something realy strange and alien, it can be dealt with ..but when the very alien thing suddenly is "you" then the mind seems to get a serious problem which sounds funny years later but back then i know it wasnt and some of my friends actualy spend some time in recovery-hospitals, gladly noone was runined for life... I personaly am glad for those "experiences" today, but i didn´t feel like this was the right path for me so i refrained from further engagements in this field when i was 20 and from then on living pretty much sober. I feel like meditation is more of an emotionaly secure way of getting to your true self. Meditation is more work instead of just beeing thrown into something and i feel it is way more predictable compared to chaning your brains neuronal activity with certain substances. But i can definatly see why people are fascinated by that possibility. To be quite honest i became too scared of the negative effects of those "drugs" because lets be honest, everyone on youtube just tells you about "my amazing dmt-experience" , "cool salvia 100xextract first time experience" etc ...because the people who induce schizophrenia on them don´t upload videos And in fact it IS a very small ridge you are mooving on specially when you are emotionaly unstable! i would recommend to put your hand off of drugs and meditate and get rooted in life first before you start "loosing" yourself. @Infinite awesome inspiring people to do longer meditations was my main concern when posting this. I think inspiration is realy important, leo inspired me to do the 6hours, i wouldnt have done it if i hadnt watched some of his videos. it is realy worth it. life changing in fact!

@zasa joey Hey zasa, talking about negative, look at your avatar... ain't that just poison for the eyes and the brain? Why not taking a baby who gets eaten by dogs directly, or images of a slaughterhouse ? I've been into metal and I have friends they still do, I haven't nothing against it, but I doubt that will bring you self actualisation and happiness so this is a reason why I don't listen to Hip hop and Metal, or very seldom, and not too agressive type of music, they can effect your mood and mentality, your ability of positive thinking, I use to like any kind of trash music and art. Now I just watch it with care and respect. I've visited HR Giger (creator of Alien) museum http://art.vniz.net/en/giger/Giger-Erotomechanics_VII.html , I tell you, even though it's great, after 2-3 hours of this, I felt like I wanted to vomit. When you realize the effect that colors and lights have on your mood, than watching and liking pictures like this can for sure be poison for your brain. Your message touched me, can I ask you how old you are? In my opinion, friends who tell another friend to kill himself are not friends. So your friends are no more your friends, there not your enemy, everyone could be considered your friend or your enemy. They are what they are, no need to put any judgment on them. Friends are changing with time, you don't need friends to be happy! Friends are external factors, happiness is coming from the inside, not the outside. Why are you afraid of loneliness? Why do I love it? The difference between you and me is the view on things, the ability to change perspective. Loneliness is fucking excellent man! Learn the guitar or any instrument, you could spend the lower self time to self actualize yourself instead and learn things that you could not imagine yourself doing a few months ago, meditate! Don't be afraid of learning hard stuff, do them step by step. Today, you can learn anything with internet, they are no more excuses for not knowing something. You are in a victimhood dynamic, you can change that. There is enough information here to know what to do to get you out of that dynamic. The information alone will not help you, you have to work! If you can't tell you friends how you feel, I would take them one by one and see if you can have a serious conversation with the one or two that could listen best and have influence on the group dynamic, without having expectations. Actually it might even be better to have negative expectations, about the outcome of the discussions. If they don't want you around, they don't want you around, there is nothing wrong with you or them, it is just the way it is. For insults, see your responsibility in the emotions you feel, you are the one creating the negative emotions about their insults. That is the truth! These are just words... The lie is believing in the voice that you hear in you head, not the voice you hear in you ears. This is by the way also the reason you are insecure. You have to do the work, self help book reading and videos watching is not enough. There is some brainwashing to do to give you self confidence, this is mental and written work! Again, none of the advice one can give you will help just by understanding their words. Of course you don't want to be expose to insults all the time, like I would not want to be expose to your avatar all the time as they will, could, get you unconsciously with time even though you are doing it the right work. "You just can't make new friends"... WTF???? Learn how to make new friends! You can't now, if you tell yourself now that you can't. You can tomorrow if you tell yourself you can. It's like someone saying he can't stop smoking, or banging his head on the wall, no more no less. Oh man, I'm going to spend this day on my own, and this is total luxury for me!!!! OH YEAH! I hope it helps! Take care!