Lotus

Lmao! The Work by Byron Katie is self-inquiry! That's a fit. 😂

@noomii Hey! Initially, I didn‘t understand the emotional scale either. After I did The Work by Byron Katie, things started clicking. The Work helped me to understand what‘s meant by not believing thoughts. The emotional scale might seem very conceptual, but it goes right at the heart of direct experience and untangling beliefs, just as Byron Katie‘s method. If you want a short PDF on how to do the work, I can send it to you.

@WhiteOwl Exactly! That's also, where the 'clicking' moment happens, in feeling. Thoughts only conceptualize and explain it, after the magic has been felt. But magic.. is kinda hard to explain. 😄

Amazing! Celebrating with you over here. My first promise to myself was to never not listen to feeling again. Two years after, my second promise to myself was to never actively spiral down, thought-wise. Getting the hands of the stove, once I recognize/feel the discomfort of it.

@Mandy Quoting a retired skater from my local skatepark: „Just feel it, man. You just gotta feel it.“ 🥰

Because it‘s connection instead of separation. It feels good to act for the whole, as a whole. Love connects to love. Love connects. Love is connected. Maybe, idk, maybe love is connection (as opposed to separation). I simply do what I love and that works for me. In a way, I‘m extremely selfish because I only do what I love. That‘s sorta the top priority to go about everything. But as I‘m being selfish and only do what I love, that love seems to spill over onto others. At least, that‘s what others told me (that I could help them). I never saw it that way. To me, it was like, „Really? I helped you? That wasn‘t my intention.“ LMAO.

@Orb 🙏🏽❤️

Wooow, I love this one!

I've come to appreciate muscle memory more and more lately. Sometimes it can be really tedious, especially when you want to let go of behavioral patterns, but at other times, it's simply fascinating. When I'm playing the piano, I often forget which notes to play (I really rely on sheet music and chords when it comes to playing songs). When I think about which notes to play for a certain song, then only a vague image pops up in my head. I can't really remember by thinking about it. But when I just start to play, and do some trial and error, my body starts to remember - and I'm nailing the performance. As soon as I start thinking about what notes to play, thus interrupting with the muscle memory/intelligence process, I screw it up. 😂 Our bodies are pretty damn intelligent. I bet it's wise to listen to them.

Another one: Burning from inside Peeling back the onion I find I am joy

A haiku: Awakening is Freaking awesome, a love bomb I fucking love it

😂😂😂

Memories are a cool way to remind ourselves that we have a limited time here, and that things pass away. Out of that, a certain gratefulness is being born. It's up to us what we make of our time, but upon the recognition of time being limited, I want to make the 'best' out of it, which is living a life full of love. Life is way too precious to get hung up on unnecessary little things! But sometimes, we tend to forget that and get way too serious about certain things. Gratefulness of what is boosts the quality of experience quite a lot. It really showers the present moment with the love of an open heart.

When I bring up a memory, the bringing up of it is spontaneous. In that spontaneity, it is creative and quickly sews a mental image, first without verbal thoughts. As I hold space for the mental image, verbal, descriptive thoughts of that mental image pop up. Reproducing wouldn't be quite right imo, as it is not re-ing something. Rather, the memory is being produced now. The actuality of impermanence shows that either a) everything is recycling everything 'or' b) nothing could ever be reproduced/recycled, as it is always new. The memory is being produced/created by me. Or to say the least, I can't find anything other than me, which could create the memory for me.

@Phil 😂 Jokes on me. The answer seems obvious now.

@WhiteOwl If you did personal development / self-actualization stuff: Personal development can have the side effect of building up an additional layer of a separate self, which constantly has to grind, be more productive and be a better version of itself. Whenever I get caught up in such thoughts, I remind myself to ground myself in the present moment through the senses. Listening to someone, feeling the sense of touch as I'm typing this message, breathing in the air; whatever it is, which helps me to anchor myself in the present moment and just be. Feels like dropping weight to see the thoughts as guests which come and go.

Great clarification with listlessness vs. emptiness, thanks! I wanted to ask how to go from listlessness to emptiness, but I suppose the above quote box already is the answer?

@Space4This Over-stimulation numbs the senses, definitely. It feels nice to do something which does the body and mind well. The clarity which arises out of staying sober, working out, having a good sleep or eating clean just feels so good.

@Orb CBD in a joint never worked for me. I also never liked to vape ‚normal weed’. The combo I never had was vaping + CBD. I‘ll give it a try when any craving arises! My first time smoking CBD surprised me as well. I felt super relaxed, yet very clear headed. I‘d actually prefer that to a normal weed smoke sometimes.

@Orb I'd love to try out all the different varieties, but due to the legal status of where I live, this isn't possible for me. At least for the THC containing products. And with the CBD, I tried replacing normal joints for CBD joints, but that wasn't really working for me. I mean, I felt the relaxing effects of the CBD, but it wasn't worth to damage my lungs for it (questionable if it's worth for THC either) and I actually preferred to stay sober - though the relaxation aspect is cool, CBD makes me really tired. I never tried out different kinds of CBD, though. Maybe I should do that. @Mandy That's really inspiring. I first learned that an apricot is not an apricot when I ate one from our garden. A whole different experience in comparison to the bought ones. When this plant told me one thing, it was to stop smoking weed. 🤦‍♂️ My mother has an old book about healing plants. Time to dig it up from the basement! Thank you both! 🙏

Hey peeps! I've noticed that the less weed I smoke, the better and more aligned I feel. The more I smoke, the more brain-fog I have. That leads to less clarity, scattered thought processes (more so than sober; the opposite would be 'thinking straight'), and trouble finding words (simply not remembering them when needed). Less clarity -> less alignment -> feeling worse. I got my life pretty much 'under control', so it has no negative side effects in terms of productivity or doing stuff or something like that. I have a cool job, doing fine in uni, making lots of music, skateboarding, going out, and whatnot. But the less clarity aspect of it is really bugging me. I guess the only solution is to quit for good, but damn, I really love the herb. Any thoughts/perspectives on this?

This reminds me a lot of my exam phase in uni. A key insight for me was that I could study/work way more efficiently when I was in a relaxed state of mind. So whenever I had discordant thoughts, such as the one above, I stopped and put feeling good first. I took out my expression journal, expressed how I felt about the exams. Emptying sorrows made me feel better. After that, I imagined what the ideal conditions for a good exam phase were - basically just being relaxed, because relaxation gives clarity. In clarity, learning is done best - and that was only in my interest, just as being relaxed. Initially, journaling felt like wasting time. Now, being in my last semester, I can definitely tell that this was THE way to save time. All of a sudden, I could appreciate the beauty of a flower, regardless of the exams I had to write. *Edit: Nailed the exams too. 🤣 But those were secondary to that beautiful flower. It is and isn't. When you're aligned, it is easy. When you're not, it isn't. These are great signals to take a step back and obverse how you are thinking about these things. That's where the emotional scale is so useful. It helps so much to "navigate you" towards alignment. I struggle with this, too, sometimes. But it's easier to be honest than to put up a fake front. There are no shoulds or shouldn'ts. You are perfect just the way you are - and in this recognition lies the transformation.

@Mandy Yeah, libraries can be so mystical in dreams! Didn't you read a book about a house which represents the psyche? Perhaps our basement/house dreams were a similar representation? I certainly know that I have a witch, which I've never seen, in my psyche. Perhaps the witch represents discordant beliefs, as their existence is only believed to be true. Opening from the outside or the inside?

😂👏 "If you are alone and you are getting bored, obviously you are in bad company." - Sadhguru

@Mandy That‘s such a cool dream. I love how art driven dreams can be. Both the design of it and the script behind it. ‚Real life‘ too! Oh god, I‘m remembering my coolest dream by far now!! I was in the basement of an house. There was a long, low lit staircase, as if in a temple. At some point, as you walk down the staircase, you walk by a lion head sculpture, directly in front of you, in the narrow staircase. You walk a little further and finally arrive at the entrance. As you open the door, a huge, huge library appears in front of your eyes. And there‘s a witch-like creature, which I’ve never seen, which is haunting me, as I explore the infinite looking library. @Phil There‘s a little time slot when you awaken from the sleep, in which the ,sleeping mind‘ turns into the ,conscious mind‘ and quickly sows everything together. It‘s riiight at the time slot where you just gain enough consciousness to wake up. That to watch is interesting. And also, how this is done effortlessly in ,realtime‘, now, actually.