Spending free time

[John West]

I just wanted to get some inspiration for things you can do in free time, that make you more mature as a person. I'm meditating a lot, but I feel like if you overdo it, it's more tiring than it gives you more awareness. Maybe you can tell about stuff you're doing, and maybe this is an inspiration to try something new. Because I dont know what I dont know.

[Forestluv]

I’m sure there are many things that will lead to maturity. What comes to mind for me now is getting to know other people’s perspectives and life experience at a deeper level. Not just talking about opinions about politics, movies, video games etc. Rather, deeper conversations about how our experiences have shaped us - connecting and understanding others at deeper levels. Realizing how much we fundamentally share as humans and appreciating our differences. Traveling and immersing oneself into another culture takes this to another level.  

[mandyjw]

Art, yoga, walking, time in nature, talking to friends and spending time with family, exploring your neighborhood and learning about local history, meeting your neighbors, doing community events, reading.

[Truth Addict]

@John West

"New is always better." -- Barney Stinson

I mean that new experiences will grow you a lot, whatever they might be.

[Knock]

Great suggestions in this thread

I want to mirror what @Serotoninluv said, in learning about new perspectives and the human condition can do wonders for your maturity. This is why travelling can be so life changing and a huge recipe for growth and maturity.

I would also suggest quality reading. That is from people who have developed a nuanced perspective or idea. I have wasted a lot of times in popular forums and media to learn that books are always substantially better for sharing a perspective and hence leading to growth in maturity.

[Myegolikestacos]

9 hours ago, John West said:

I just wanted to get some inspiration for things you can do in free time, that make you more mature as a person.

Easy start building good habits, best to do one by one  (Workout routine, Meal plans, take an online course) and pretty soon people might even start thinking your an adult now.

 

Tu amigo

[universe]

Heavily depends on your state in life.

1. Depressed

-Inspect what in your lifestyle gives you energy and what depletes it. So getting rid of junk food, video games, netflix, youtube, porn. See where in live you give away power/responsibility. Where are you judgemental. Where do you hurt others?

-Do stuff that gives you energy. Drink lots of water, do some sport, eat some fruits, eat some nuts etc. Find out what activity that is for you. Meditation, Yoga, Do nothing. And as leo said, aligning yourself with your life purpose. Figure out what you value in life and work towards it.

2. Normal

-Start embodying your values. Find ways to embody them more and more.

-Define life purpose. Learn about your life purpose. Practice your life purpose.

-Network and surround yourself with people who share your values.

-Psychedelics, solo-retreats

-Learn about emotions. Release emotions like fear of death, fear of loosing control and fear of not being accepted.

3. Almost enlightened(?)

-By now you have figured out practical ways to live your values. So you are almost always maxing them out. Allocate enough time for these practices.

-Share what skills and knowledge you have with others. Find one or more student(s) you can teach personally.

-Find ways to inspire a revolution you like to see in the world.

-Gift your life purpose to the world. Allocate time to create, create and create!

-On an emotional basis: You feel aware, calm, complete, free, centered, love, peace

-Visualize and materialize what improves your situation and release every barrier that comes up.

-Break down dualities to non-dualities, become very lucid.

 

These are just three made up stages to get the idea.

[studentofthegame]

Confront your fears in a systematic fashion, and look at areas in your life where you have addictions or character flaws and work on them.

That's an arena i'm spending my time in.

[John West]

First of all, thank you all for the advice. I'm really implementing these ideas.

15 hours ago, universe said:

2. Normal

-Start embodying your values. Find ways to embody them more and more.

-Define life purpose. Learn about your life purpose. Practice your life purpose.

-Network and surround yourself with people who share your values.

-Psychedelics, solo-retreats

-Learn about emotions. Release emotions like fear of death, fear of loosing control and fear of not being accepted.

@universe  What are your practical recommendations for these ideas? Espacially the one with embodying your values. You mean acting them out? So if you value honesty, you actually be honest?

And practices do you recommend for releasing emotions? I always tend to struggle with this one, because I am overthinking it. I would welcome if you might share your personal practices that worked for you.

[RobertZ]

I have been listening to audio-ized information during my free time for the last 14 years now.

My brain quickly screens out the computerized voice, and I hear the tone of the author.  I listen to the information when I walk or drive. I usually cannot pay attention while I clean or use other electronics.

How I Audio-ize

1. Download a "text to mp3" application

I bought Text2Speech PRO for like $4.99 on the Apple store. Please don't waste your time trying to find free systems--I've spent way too much time on that (various platforms). 

2. Accumulate information

I get a lot of my knowledge through a university library database subscription to ProQuest International. I browse Ph.D. dissertations on all topics and download anything remotely interesting: psychology, psychoactive drugs, business, spirituality, philosophy, anthropology, history. Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) is pretty good, but it contains a broad mix of shorter documents--which is discrete (can be boring or off-putting). Ph.D. dissertations succinctly synthesize what academics know about a general topic and then explore particular questions. I also consume many legal decisions. Legal decisions tell fascinating stories and apply superior logic. Many websites publish legal decisions for free. Sometimes I also use Google to get information ("X/Y/Z +text" or "X/Y/Z +pdf").  Google sometimes gives free Pdf's, but many sites want my credit card number.

I prefer anything recent--but I have also consumed much ancient knowledge. Older scans of documents usually do not copy and paste well.

3. Scale down the information.

This purging usually takes me 30-180 minutes per info binge.

I copy and paste the pdf text into a text document (I use TextEdit on Mac because it distinguishes fonts);
I go through the entire document and individually delete all the footnotes, blocks of citations, endnotes, repetitions about copyrights (I read for fun).
"Find and Replace" each numeral and replace them with nothing: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0. It might be worthwhile to delete any underscore _ because sometimes there are thousands and the application reads them: "underscore, underscore, underscore, underscore..."
For scientific Ph.D. Dissertations I
almost always delete any Methods sections,
often delete Results sections (I delete technical measurements but keep interviews), and
keep Introductions (summaries of previous knowledge), Discussions, and Conclusions;
I delete everything inside of parentheses (especially for legal and scientific documents):
--> Copy and Paste document text into Microsoft Word
--> Edit
--> Find
--> Advanced Find and Replace
--> Click for further options and select "Wildcards"
--> 'Find': \(*\)
--> 'Replace All' with nothing.

4. Audio-ize and transfer

I Copy and paste the text into Text-to-Speech application, and convert
I AirDrop/Bluetooth the MP3 onto my cell phone
I use a cell app called 'Documents' by Readdle to play the MP3s--but whatever works. I walk around the block, go to a park, go for a drink or even lay on my couch.

 

'Hey, what have you been up to recently?'

'Oh, not much. I have just been doing some reading.'

'Oh--what have you been reading?'

"Well, I just finished a 300-page dissertation about humour at work...'

Edited May 18, 2019 by RobertZ

[ivory]

There are so many things I enjoy doing it's hard to make time for it all. When I'm not working I meditate, take music classes, go to the gym, and stretch out my body. I'm currently learning how to improve my social skills so I hang with friends and meet with a community a few times a week. It may sound like a lot, but I can only do it if I don't spend too much time on the internet or watching tv.

[universe]

On 18.5.2019 at 8:19 PM, John West said:

@universe  What are your practical recommendations for these ideas? Espacially the one with embodying your values. You mean acting them out? So if you value honesty, you actually be honest?

And practices do you recommend for releasing emotions? I always tend to struggle with this one, because I am overthinking it. I would welcome if you might share your personal practices that worked for you.

It will depend heavily on what the actual value is. And then again what the value means to you (everyone has a slightly different view on each value). If honesty would be my value I would maybe call all my friends and tell them something I was afraid to tell them before. And would maybe encourage them to share something with me. You could also ask yourself "Where am I bullshitting myself" or "Where am I not completely honest with myself". You can do that every day, every week, every month. Just make it a habit. Then feel into what stops you from being honest, what are you afraid of? Then release this fear.

Im really not that experienced with releasing emotions but I think most techniques work well. For me it all comes down to 1. feeling the emotion. So most likely, when your are at home you dont feel "fear" or what ever you want to release right now. So you need to bring it up again. You can do that by imagining again the situation where you felt that specific emotion. Do it as best as you can.

Then the emotion will start to come out again. So after you can feel it now 2. you have to say yes to it. Give that emotion space to be there. After all you just summoned it right?  Also there are no good or bad emotions. Just emotions. If you feel utterly like shit and highly depressed. You can be thankfull for having this deep feeling right now. It means you are human. Then repeat step 1. and 2. They will increase like a spiral.

After you agreed to the emotion. It will grow more. Then it will be harder to still say yes to it. You do it again and it grows again. It will grow more and more and more. Until you cant even imagine how you can feel so much? At this stage you might have puke. Its normal.

When you have purely felt the emotion and might even learned something from it. Then the emotion is happy that you listened and will go away. Such is life.

A good book might be the "Sedona Method", the Yes-Technique Is really good. Should be in the book.

[zambize]

On 5/17/2019 at 11:05 AM, John West said:

I just wanted to get some inspiration for things you can do in free time, that make you more mature as a person. I'm meditating a lot, but I feel like if you overdo it, it's more tiring than it gives you more awareness. Maybe you can tell about stuff you're doing, and maybe this is an inspiration to try something new. Because I dont know what I dont know.

You could find a creative outlet, draw a picture, write a story, make your own song.  Getting your deepest desires out on to paper, how you feel about the world etc can lead to a lot of growth