Lotus

This ain‘t a competition, though. Just inspiration.

@DMT Elf I did an icebath on 31st of January for two minutes. We air dried ourselves outside in the middle of the wind. We weren't allowed to get dressed until we were dry. Until then, breathing and tai chi were the order of the day.

Bathed in a freezing cold mountain spring today. Last time I did this was probably four years ago. The last time I did this my body was stiff and tense and I moved frantically to warm myself up. 5 minutes max in the water. Today, I fully relaxed, enjoyed the cold, enjoyed the inner heat, and stayed about 10 minutes in the water, with ease. Yay!

There can only be one. One existence, one creation, one source. It would be a spiritually learned answer to say that One = Good. To stay truthful and honest, I gotta say that I don‘t know whether source is good or bad. I also don‘t know source. I only ‚know‘ that this is it, and that this is one, and that it‘s always now.

@Mandy Why then does it sometimes seem like that source has given up on you? Source proved me wrong many times, but still. It probably comes down to beliefs. Only believing thoughts makes it seem like source has given up on you. Why then does source allow us to believe thoughts in the first place?! I‘m probably selfish af to say this, but why not just the good stuff, source? 😂

What does that mean?

Not really imo. I finally took some distance from weed and realized that I misused the herb to distract myself from things I don’t want to feel. It didn‘t really block emotions, because I still could feel that something within was off. But it sure was distracting. Or in other words, I used weed as a means of aversion. Aversion can come in many forms, be it substances, TV, or even sports. We are so clever that we can use literally anything to not look within.

@Phil „How meta do we want to go?“ Phil: Yes. 😂 Language makes spirituality seem complicated and hard to understand, but being is simple. Thank. God. Thinking spirituality is like 🔙➡️⤵️🔝⬇️↗️↩️⬆️ „ehh what does the awareness awareness is aware of even mean“ Being is like ⚪️

Not really. Awareness escapes definition, because everything awareness is aware of, is not awareness. Oh. Well, in that sense, everything is kinda fluid, nothing is really static. Everchanging right now.

I don‘t understand. The only unchanging thing seems to be awareness. The rest, for example a flower, a cup of tea, a car, societal structures, all of those don‘t seem to be permanent and they seem to be in a universal cycle. No of course not. 😂 In the sense of „can anything happen at all“?

🍄

Sure, that could happen, too. I think that the sting is a nice reminder to cherish the time you have with your loved ones. And even if I die first, there are a lot of other things, which are impermanent, too. Well, that‘s the thing which makes me feel good. I „know“ that they will be in a good place, when they die. The tragedy doesn‘t happen to them, but to the ones who remain. I believe that the false self, namely the ego/the body/the human being dies, but the spirit is timeless aliveness. Anything which I am aware of passes in my direct experience.

Sure, I would miss them. I‘d be reminiscing the time I had with them.

„It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not. We need to learn to appreciate the value of impermanence. If we are in good health and are aware of impermanence, we will take good care of ourselves. When we know that the person we love is impermanent, we will cherish our beloved all the more. Impermanence teaches us to respect and value every moment and all the precious things around us and inside of us. When we practice mindfulness of impermanence, we become fresher and more loving.“ - Thich Nhat Hanh

But my parents will die one day. It hurts it will be over one day.

@Phil I might not be seeing the forest for the trees. Haven‘t thought about the ego for quite a long time. It‘s funny because when I started the spiritual journey some years ago, my main goal was to annihilate the ego and gain universal/existential knowledge. Now I hardly care or think about it, and just wanna have a good time here. Ok maybe a few universal mindfucks here and there, too. 😂

How does that lead to the accurate interpretations of dreams? (Assuming that it is accurate) Sounds like I gotta pull out the good ol‘ emotional scale and question questioning myself. 😂

I recognized that I‘m working best and most efficient, when I‘m feeling good. Maybe consider quality vs. quantity: 1 hour of full focus with a relaxed mind vs. 4 hours of overwhelmed thoughts with a stressed mind. When I recognized that I could get done more within a qualitative hour as opposed to 4 hours, it was a no brainer to me that feeling good is the number one priority. It also made the tasks I had to get done more fun. One-pointed concentration is deeply relaxing for the mind. Combine one-pointed concentration with everything you gotta get done and then say byebye to all stressful thoughts, which aren‘t serving your wellbeing and productivity. Oh yeah, it might be worth mentioning that it‘s not the load of work which stresses you out, but rather the overwhelming thoughts about the work which you gotta get done. One step at a time, always. Hope this helps.

Feeling a wave of bittersweet melancholy again. I love my parents, I love the time with my friends. Amidst the pain of clinging to the ones I love, I can feel God's love. Everything will be okay. I don't know how to express this, but I can feel it. And it's both heartbreaking and full of love. There's a sense of coming to terms with it; accepting it; allowing it. Man. 🥲❣️

What an awesome video, I love it!

This one, I need to digest in silence. Much appreciated!! Thank you, sir. 🙏

I felt an odd ease in my heart when I read "different way of looking at it".. as if there's a perspective, which isn't that heavy on my heart, which works equally well or even better. It feels really good, actually. It's interesting that you mention that. When I say what I mean, I'm usually pretty direct. I believe that I'm too direct to some people. Thus, I decorate my sentences with more words than necessary, and more words than I actually meant/want to say. Perhaps another thing that's connected to that is the fear of "awkward silence", especially when I'm just with one person. It's twisted, because I don't even desire to talk that much. 😂

@Phil Wow, that's some food for thought. Thanks, Phil! Having a dream journal, expressing what was felt, and reflecting on that, is one thing. But you seemed to pinpoint it quite directly. How? I'm not sure whether it represents the following, but what comes to mind is that I still tend to overthink when it comes to relating with others. It's all good and fine, people tend to like me, and we get along well. Yet, especially after, not really before, having said something or hanging out with peepz, I question my actions a lot, more often than not in a negative light (e.g. "you shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have said that, you could've said it like this"). And I actually do struggle to let it go, even if everything's fine. I often remind myself that everything's fine, and it is, and I find evidence for it, yet I cling to the feeling that it is not.

Hello folks, so I‘ve had this really weird dream where I woke up, walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. As I opened my mouth, I spotted three bleach-white, dried out cockroaches on my tongue. Then, the dream ended. This kinda stuck with me and I‘m not sure whether this dream wanted to tell me something or not. In the dream, feeling wise, I wasn‘t even disgusted by it. Just confused. Now that I‘m out of that dream, the confusion remains. Do dreams necessarily have encrypted messages in them?

I'm appreciating everyone who's trying to heal in this forum. It's simply amazing to see how peepz help each other, and it's awesome that we have, and make use, of such opportunities. ❤️