thelerner

Beyond the physical there is the all important mental game. After a traumatic event, can we let it go? Stop thinking about it, not let memories of it trigger us? It's hard, but important, letting it go, cause trauma hits us deep. The more we dwell on it, the deeper the grooves get, until it's a hole we keep falling into. After trauma, review it, learn any lessons, talk it out, then.. stay busy, exercise, when the thought comes, let it go, don't cling to it. Otherwise we can victimize ourselves as bad as the original crime. Not easy but it's something to work at.

I've been noticing and comparing notes lately w/ friends on the 'demon' of urinary track infections. I'm in my late 50's, many friends are of similar age, w/ parents in their late 70s or 80s. We all have stories of bizarre extreme behavior of our parents who were suffering urinary track infections. Sometime paranoia, fear or off track thinking. I think what's worked best is to agree and postpone. Like, yes there is a fire, but now it's out and we're safe. Thank you for the..cake, I'll eat it later. In the short run, it's pointless to argue against an irrational mind**. We can't win. Rational argument will not make a dent, indeed it will inflame the situation. So.. agree/lie, sooth, reframe the problem into the future. ** in the long(er) run, maybe it is worthwhile, in an- each drip makes a tiny difference kind of way. ie stating the truth, and the facts behind it, but that's assuming we'll be with the person in the long run. on the third hand, sometimes having peace is better than being right or straightening out the other.

New member Milo mentioned this to me- wouldnt a chatbox be a great addition to the forum or maybe a discord server ? https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/7465-chatbox-free/ Years ago it was nice to have an active chat feature, another way for members to connect. Though it was not without its controversies. Don't know how much work it'd be to add this on, but thought I'd pass it on.

Yup, leave, leave early, don't connect or explain, walk away, fast. Develop and listen to your gut. It tells you cross the street or leave the establishment, do it. Don't be afraid, but always be cautious. <<if you are afraid, realize that's good. It should be feeding you some adrenaline, sharpening your senses and letting you take a hit, evolution baby>> One of the most important martial art lessons I received was recognizing an attack. And that wasn't when they threw the punch. Their stance, their eyes, spacing etc. Most often, an attack begins before a punch is thrown. Get the hell away, if you can. Move forward, Listen back. Course there is no guarantee of safety. Its a dangerous world, but we muddle through it, day by day, year by year. Not a bad idea to read police blotters to see what shit is happening and figure out the whys. Don't be an easy target, that includes location, dress, stance and walk. Not sure exactly what I'd do in the OP's situation, but hope it'd be something like 'We didn't take your wallet, excuse us' and walk away quickly, heading somewhere busy and well lit. Listening intently behind, and if steps get close, move faster or turn and face the threat.

Important question. There's a yang (I was going to write masculine) default to 'do something'. When the best course is relaxed observation. Not ignoring, but letting things play out and keeping an eye on them. Possibly strategizing other moves, but for now keeping chill.

After 6 years nice to see this thread come back to life. It's an important subject.

A useful, loving, saintly, point of view. often the best I can do, is show others respect til given a reason not to.

No Likes for U ManitoU

I recently found myself wasting too much time on Reddit and Quora. Reading news and opinions. The more I opened the more it catered to my prejudices. Subtly at first, but after a few days everything was so agreeable to my point of view. Like sugar. Like skating down hill. We're much more susceptible to 'likes' and agreement than we realize. I was reading about one Qanon guy who made it big. He didn't start out w/ rabid, make believe ideas. It was 'likes' that turned him. Writing on normal things gave him a few likes, writing political gave him dozens, but the more outrageous he wrote, the more approval he got. From dozens to 1,000s to 10,000s. People showing him love, the more outrageous he spewed, the better. Growing until it became self feeding madness and he was in the middle of it, raking in some decent cash and rationalizing the craziness. We want to feel superior. We want to save the world. A little bit is fine, but too much and we fall into some pretty deep traps. The worst kind, because we enjoy being in them.

Misery Porn. The basis of most reality shows and lower end talk shows. Trotting out unfortunate folks and putting them/encouraging them to show their very worst side. News does it too- it bleeds it leads. A distillation of all that's going wrong in the world. Watch enough and that's how you come to view the world. But it's wrong. Those shows are like a photo, often 'posed' of people at their worst. The news is the news because its the exception. 99.9% of the world is.. not exactly fine, but regular. Same as yesterday. People either doing their best or running on auto-pilot. Easy to see others as idiots but walk in their shoes and you get fuller perspective. They have reasons not apparent from a surface glance.

Hurting the world, kicking the dog.. Signs we need more inner peace. Ignore the world, (for a bit) Sit peaceful, breath peaceful walk peaceful. Return to balance

ka-choo

When you are meditating, what does it feel like? What do you experience? During.. after. thnx.

Yup. He modded and plodded a long time. If you haven't been a Mod it's hard to realize and fully appreciate the job they do. liminal_luke alway brought perspective and kindness to the process.

cool, but I'm dreaming of a small (trained) plant in a small container, w/ little bonsai buds. An oz or less is dandy. It's illegal to grow here and exotic enough to get the folks talking if found.

What kinda pisses me off, is in a state like Illinois where mj is newly legal you can't grow plants (less you have medical card and permission). Feels blatantly like a money move to benefit chain stores and the tax base. In a more perfect world, people would use responsibly and grow their own. Education and positive social pressure. Neither demonized nor overly praised, rather treated w/ respect, knowing its benefits and pitfalls. This fall that might be a project of mine. There's an online place that has 3 seeds for $30, autoflowering, short plant, pleasant blueberry smell. Growing seems easy, flowering and proper harvest seems to take some care, but growing a single refugee plant, might be fun. & a chance to make inexpensive tincture. addon: Did it. Went cheap and used 7 grams of Face Mint 'shake' ie leftover grinds. Also used a knock off brand of Everclear. Froze both outside (it was winter), then let'em sit in the cold overnight. Drained.. let some alcohol burn off. Had 4 oz of Green Dragon. Under the tongue a dropperful burned. 3 (1/2)dropperfuls was a pretty good dose. Tasted of unpleasant chlorophyll. Next time I plan to go for Golden Dragon. Use flower, not shake, use only 1/2 everclear half vodka, and only let it sit an hour in the freezer before draining. Less potent but hopefully better tasting.

Early on in meditation I shot for emptiness, an empty mind. These days, practicing closer to Dzoghen, I appreciate the emptiness around my thoughts. I scratch, I squirm, I think, yet emptiness is still there. I settle into it, yet even when I don't it's still there. Sounds come and go, thoughts too, things in my visual field, come and go. All in the vast space of consciousness, as long as I'm willing to let them go. I'm finding more solace in 'space' then in emptiness. And in space, the thoughts and squirming are fine.. they settle down, back into space, where I swing like Tarzan, breath to breath.

wtf? dble pst.

There are some illusions worth clinging to. Love, family, friends, Goodness, Honesty, Charity. Maybe we cherish these things because they benefit us, maybe because such beliefs build a better world for us. Kindness tends to be reciprocated and even when it's not, it still makes me feel better. Kids are aggravating, but they are our hope, for a better world. this says it better then I

The KAP people are carrying out much of Doc Morris's legacy, see https://kundaliniawakeningprocess.com/blog/ They have online programs that follow much of his path. The Indian's map has 7 chakras, the Kabbalah has a tree and its sephira and 22 paths that connect them. Personally for Kaballah I enjoy the Ecstatic Kaballah, aka Abullafiah's Kaballah, which is not so much standard Kaballah as sacred sounds. So the practice is very experiential. Big fan of Rawn Clark's work based on Franz Bardon's Hermetics, which again are very experiential. Here's a link to some of the programs, free, lessons don't progressively, good stuff, imo http://abardoncompanion.de/ Thing is, one person's gold is another's tin. Give things an honest try and move on if they don't connect.

In general I dislike making decisions out of fear, or when people peddle fear as a motivation. We live in a world where while there's real horrors, most often scares are over blown.. for media, if it bleeds it leads. But, sometimes the boogeyman is real. There are psychopaths, sadists and regular people having a string of bad luck, stretched past their rationality. When Covid hit, I wondered what took so long, I had the same thought on 9/11. When weighing real dangers, I try not to be overly influenced by anecdotal stories, and rely on a multitude of experts. Trying to get opinions on both sides, giving more weight to the ones I find have the greatest expertise. I'm willing to trust experts, but I'm not willing to be first in line or the back quadrant either. Better to see how the numbers are evolving as the data unfolds. Science is about setting up models, how well is real life data following the models?

I've read about exercises for 'hair breathing', believe it was Taoist. Hair.. as antennae, kind of stuff. Probably Chia type stuff, but Chia learned/borrowed/stole much of his stuff from older sources.

I'm not a vegetarian but I do find the arguments that it is spiritually and ecologically better to be strong. An old girlfriend put it simply, 'Why create pain in the world, when you don't have to?' Apparently my answer is, cause its convenient and tastes good. I'm following my cultural norm. Still, at my best, I minimize it. At my worst, I ignore it.

What do I got?? umm Music therapy, listen to this twice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_P0xltLyCY Sting, Fortress Around Your Heart. We build fortresses, moats, labyrinths and we get lost inside them. We know they're bad, but we keep jumping in. The darkest deepest ones being our past. One thought and we're lost in a string of dark imaginings. Worse the thoughts are confused with 'Me'. Solution.. not easy, but it helps to know that the above is a key to it. I've been listening to an app Wide Awake, it's got daily meditations, heavily Dzoghen oriented, striving to create more space and awareness in the mind and thoughts, so you don't have to fall into them. Giving a better chance of seeing a thought coming and letting it go by instead of being trapped in it. FWIW the app is free, for a month. Generally there is no saviour or white knight to save us, no magical super practice. I think we have to save ourselves. Do the daily work, simple and boring that puts us on a path that goes around our mind's minefields.

Problem is, we see these pictures, they're good but they're the tip of the iceberg, an hour or 3 of the day. It's whether he has the same wah when he cuts wood, carries water.. deals with life's trickiness. Sitting in peace is easy, living in peace is hard.