1 Year Of Daily Meditation

[ZenBlue]

Hi, sorry I haven't been active in this forum for a while. I have still been following Leo and have been watching his weekly videos. 

A brief intro: Over 1 year ago, I challenged myself to do 100 days of daily meditation. In the process, I decided to make it a life long commitment to meditate regularly. Here is my initial thread if you would like to check it out: 100 Days of Meditation

Now I am here to provide an update on my experience with meditation after the 1 year mark. I tried my best to stick to this commitment, and I have successfully meditated without missing a single day for 1 year. There were tons of bad sessions along the way, but imperfectly done is better than nothing at all. I have to be honest though, last month I went on a trip with some friends for a few days, and I was only able to meditate for one of the days. So my daily meditation streak has been broken.

The experience: For the first few months I felt a lot of the benefits of daily meditation. I had many moments of clarity and being more present in my daily activities. After a while the effects started to fade and I could feel myself hit a plateau. I knew this was normal though because of what Leo had said, so I didn't get upset about it. I was able to maintain my practice daily because of the commitment I made to myself. I was stuck on this plateau for a while. For the next several months after that, I just felt like I was going through the motions. It started to feel like it was just a grind.

Just recently, about 2 months ago I decided to change my approach. I had been meditating for 50 minutes for most days. I decided to switch to doing mindfulness meditation, and cut down the time to 30 minutes. The reason for this is because I want to focus on quality rather than just quantity.

Over the past year, I have made drastic changes in my life. I don't know if it's a direct result of meditating, but I'm sure meditation plays a big part in it.

Here is how my meditation has progressed:

Started with the do nothing method.

Then I went through 3 different stages. I stayed on a stage for 30 days before moving to the next.

Stage 1: Watch and observe thoughts

Stage 2: Let go of any thoughts that come up

Stage 3: Focus on awareness

I kept cycling through the 3 stages. Mostly I went back to stage 1.

Now I have changed to focus more on mindfulness meditation.

I spent a good portion of this year feeling lost and not knowing who I am, or what I believe in anymore. I realized it was due to me watching Leo's latest videos in which I started to question what I was doing with my life. I also realized that Leo has progressed so tremendously that I should only take what he says with a grain of salt. I am not anywhere near that level of development so I need to focus on where I am in my own life first.

Overall, I have had massive realizations about myself, and about human psychology in general. I have gone through a lot of growing pains, and I am still going through that now.

Thanks for reading. Stay grounded, and keep meditating 

 

Edited July 27, 2017 by ZenBlue

[Joseph Maynor]

Sounds like you have a slight fear of growth.  You shouldn't be scared to watch any of Leo's videos.  None of them are really more advanced than others.  Every element of personal development is necessary.

[ZenBlue]

18 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Sounds like you have a slight fear of growth.  You shouldn't be scared to watch any of Leo's videos.  None of them are really more advanced than others.  Every element of personal development is necessary.

Well let me elaborate, it wasn't so much the fear of growth that I experienced. It was more like I was very focused on building my own business and getting my money issues taken care of. I had built some great momentum for a few months. The videos that have been released in the past 9 months really started getting me to question and doubt what I was currently doing. I understand that was Leo's intention was to get us to be confused and to think deeper about it all, but I lost a lot of momentum because my path had become unclear to me.

Leo is on a completely different stage in life than where I am. He was once at the stage of wanting to have a life of financial abundance and more freedom and control over his life. He worked very hard to build his business and he has reached a stage where he is well off financially and is living his higher purpose. I need to first reach that level in my own life. So thus I have to be able to detach myself from the current lessons being taught. That way, I can attack my issues head on without having so many doubts creeping into my head.

I am still watching his videos, just from a different perspective. One where I am able to entertain the ideas and lessons, but taking it all in with a grain of salt.

[Joseph Maynor]

@ZenBlue I hear ya.  That's what I need to do now too.  Get my business running smoother.  I'm so glad I have such a strong background in enlightenment now so I can do that without stressing out about it.  You can tell Leo was already experienced with enlightenment before he shot his first video.  All the early videos are just as much about enlightenment as the later ones.  He just got more focused on enlightenment in the later videos.  So, yeah I think Leo was into business, but he was doing it all along while living an enlightened life.  He didn't really change at all, not from a teacher standpoint.  He just got more focused on enlightenment as time went on, but that was presupposed all along it was just not made so explicit in the earlier videos.  All of the videos fit together nicely.  I watched all Leo's videos 3 times, that's how I know.  I'm sure he learned some details, but he knew what he was doing from the giddy-up.  That's the way to start a business.  He had a lot of knowledge to pass on.  A solid value proposition.

Edited July 30, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[ZenBlue]

@Joseph Maynor Yes definitely I could tell he was deep into personal development and enlightenment work when he first started his channel. Seems like he is diving deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole now. His videos are a reflection of his progress, and I know he will just continue to dive deeper. He mentioned it himself in his videos that there may be a point in time where he has gone so deep he will no longer come back to share his messages with us.

Yes definitely doing enlightenment work and personal development helps greatly in relation to business. Glad to hear you are able to deal with managing your business without too much stress. I have been realizing that even the process of building a business is very strongly correlated to personal development, and is a form of personal development in and of itself. What kind of business do you run by the way?

Edited July 30, 2017 by ZenBlue

[Joseph Maynor]

@ZenBlue I run a legal services business and started out initially as a paralegal.

I think Leo would do himself a favor to take a break from the theory too for a while.  Just a piece of advice in good faith.  Theory can be very distracting.  And all those judgments come back and eat at your soul.  There can be no other result.  

Edited July 30, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[ZenBlue]

@Joseph Maynor That's awesome, hope it turns out great for you!

Yes I also found myself sometimes getting too wrapped up in the theory. Good to take a step back from it all.