gRay

eww, that is horribly disguisting.

EDIT-

Nevermind, I clicked the wrong link lol.. Downloading now, will look in to it when I get off work, thanks again grasshopper!

When I started meditating a year ago, I was on antidepressants and drugs for restless leg syndrome. I also was drinking a lot and have had 2 previous DUI's. After starting my path of the Tao, I stumbled on this site and the posters convinved me to start a seated meditation routine.

 

Within a month, the RLS seemed to get worse. The fact was that the medication was too strong. I stopped taking them and the RLS was gone!! Then I stopped taking antidepressants with no ill effect.

 

I no longer feel the desire to drink to excess. If I do drink, 1 or 2 are fine, although on a few occasions I have looped one on (when I didn't have to drive).

 

I too used to work in a busy kitchen 10-12 hours a day (I am recently unemployed), so I feel your time restraint. Another side effect of the meditation is that it lowered my need for sleep. I feel fine on just 4-6 hours, where before I needed 8-10 to feel 100%

 

I would meditate for 20 minutes on my lunch break (who needs to eat on your lunch break when you are the cook!), this reduced the stress level from working in a pressure cooker. Then again before I went to bed. This helped me get a good nights sleep.

 

I am a big fan of brainwave entrainment. BWE has been scientifically proven to help with ADHD. It also puts you in a meditative state effortlessly. If you are interested, I can post a few programs in MP3 format you can try.

I would definetly be interested in giving this a shot, just looked up BWE and it seems very interesting. =)

"the more laws, the more criminals" - that is one (adapted) quote that I like from the TTC.

 

For all else, you write clearly, sound intelligent and i'm sure you will have a good life. I had all sorts of fun as a young adult, didn't get caught tho and these days I would say it is impossible to grow up without crossing the path of substances. Some even open useful doors, some teach you other lessons.

 

I feel that laws are a failure, I feel you know best for yourself, you learn and in your case, you are learning and sound smart enough, so good luck in your life Moderation until peace is found, and when it is you may find such needs fall away. When your mind is strong you don't need such things. Yet at 18 you should be having lots of fun! so do, and if nothing else, be happy, stay smart, have fun and spread what you learn

I could not agree more, thank you for the words of wisdom.. That alone eased my mind more than you could imagine lol.

Thank you all very much for the personalized and sincere posts, it is much appreciated!

Mal: I definitely have thought about being pro-active with the alcohol education program or what not, At this point I am starting to understand how important it is to limit myself to the vices I have depended on. Out of the friends I have I was probably the one who was encouraging the majority of the drinking so I dont think it will be a problem being sober around them. I will definitely check out chang tzu, ty for the recommendation.

Pietro: Ill definitely look at these questions and try to answer them accordingly, your post helped me realize how the process of examining the questions from my self instead of the external so called "answers" could be very beneficial.

vortex: are you speaking of moderation in this paragraph?

With every decision in your life, from smallest to biggest - you have the choice of holistic life or misusaged anti-life. You reap the cumulative effects of all your choices at the end of the day. So, if you consistently choose anti-life...you will reap anti-life results. If you choose 65% pro-life choices, that's what you'll reap.

and the best decisions are hard to see sometimes from my perspective, hopefully in time I can figure this out =)

hua na da:

But from my own personal experience you seem to be skirting a major issue...YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ALCOHOL! "Right" or "Wrong". The laws that you live under tell you that you are not allowed to consume alcohol due to your age. Yet you do it over and over again. I would ask what compels you to do these things in spite of your previous "bad luck" in getting caught. Drug and alcohol use/experimentation is all too common in our society today and does not necessarily mean a person is headed towards addiction. But 18? 4 underage consumptions? I might take a hard look at what is driving you. Taoism can help. But it is something like 1 in 10 will be addicts.

I know all about the statistics and what not, and I have struggled with this as well... Where I get hung up is the laws that I live under. I struggle with them because of the whole "robin hood theory".

If I am constantly told that I am an alcoholic due to the laws that govern me.... id think id be more likely to be an alcoholic. If i grew up in a society where alcohol was legal to consume at my age. would I not just be another normal kid? with each consumption ticket, and each set of classes i have attended it seems that I have began to drink more...(up until now) I hope this doesn't sound like an excuse or anything, that is not what I am trying to say, I just think the circumstances that surround the society I live in have some type of effect on the situation. Maybe it is the rebellion factor that every generation of youth experiences, im not sure. but you are right, i do need to look at the relationship with alcohol..

Basically, ill start by saying recently I was arrested for drinking underage... That by itself has put a huge toll of stress on me because it is my 4th violation of the same offense.. If you missed my intro thread, i will let it be known that I am 18 years old, I have had my problems with substance abuse going through a phase of many drugs, and ultimately figuring out that I did not like them. I smoked marijuana, I did cocaine, I did psychedelics etc. And I haven't touched any of those for 2 years. I like going up and being social with my friends and I do like alcohol. In every part of the world except the USA, its legal for an 18 year old to drink. Aside from the law, I do understand that I might of had a problem with drinking, and this being my 4th underage consumption ticket, I have decided to lay off the booze for a while and instead look for happiness in other places. I had been interested in taoism before the ticket, but it seems that the ticket has given me another reason to pursue the teachings of Lao tzu. I have looked for information on alcohol and taoism and justice / crime and Taoism but have not had much luck finding anything. All I know is that moderation is key, and that it is impossible to find inner peace with substances blocking your mind / body etc. (At least that is i how i interpreted what I have read regarding the topic) Anyway, I have been stressing out over my court date, and trying to rationalize the whole experience, this just brought me more stress so after reading the tao of pooh, i realized I should not worry as much and it would work itself out. The anxiety I was dealing with dissapeared, but i still worry in the back of my mind a little. I was just wondering if anyone had any insight towards these issues from a Taoist perspective. Was drinking underage necessarily wrong? if in moderation is it?

does taoism have any text on justice? (right/wrong)

any thing else that you think would be beneficial to me?

I love reading and am always interested in expanding my knowledge on subjects that I find interesting, thanks in advance for any replies!!

Hey there, Im an 18 year old male living in Colorado, Life has thrown me a few lemons so far and due partially to that, i have become increasingly interested in philosophy. I am not enrolled in school, and do not have a high school diploma. I am working on my GED and trying to figure my life out. I have just started looking through the i ching and some additional taoism information and it seems very appealing, I came across the site and had to register! I am looking to further my knowledge and understanding of the tao by talking to real people and what not, look forward to being active