Best Of
Re: Getting better "blog"
@Kotishka Most excellent, I'm proud of you, stay hard! 
Would it help to explain to your wife what you're doing and why?
I've deleted Youtube from my phone two days ago. Still have it on desktop. My beef was that a) it's obviously conditioning me b) if I'm being conditioned I'd at least like to have some control over what I'm conditioned with c) especially the shorts section provides no control over what I'm watching and d) the algorithm keeps reccomending topics and videos that I do not want to watch (whatever I do stop that). So, I've decided I'd rather read before bed, even on my phone, since then at least it's an active activity and I'm deciding what I'll read.
As for any dopaminic activity, my experience is that the cravings go away totally if your decision is 100%. If it's less than 100%, there will be an internal battle, which comes up as occasional cravings, but which you can still keep winning with some effort. With 100%, it's like even the cravings "give up" seeing your great determination.
Now that I've sounded all sagey, and might have written more than I should have, I report that I had 2 and 3 beers over the past three evenings. Not fun. Did not enjoy it. The only good part is a strong determination to do good and devote myself to practice henceforth.
Why did I drink? Had a very stressful 10 days with signing the contract for the apartment. I think it was you, Kotishka, that said that "when the troops are tired...". That's basically it. Life is so much easier if we're at 100% with anything. New start, new opportunity!
marcitko
Re: Funny Stuff
When Truth is considered a lie
When Friendship is considered treachery
When honesty is considered deceit
When lies are considered truths
You must have found yourself
Midst politicians.
RUN!!!!
Lionduck
Re: My Don'ts And Dos
I don't worry about formality.
While I do take life seriously, I don't take myself all that seriously
I do allow the world to do whatever it will do
I do recognize (a) I am the center of my world and (b) I am not the center of the world
I do get comfortable
I do let the lesser (monkey) mind go where it will
I don't pay attention to the monkey mind
I do give myself permission to laugh at myself and be happy
Lionduck
Re: My Don'ts And Dos
From what I gather, practicing the Dharma is a 24/7/365 thing which permeates every aspect of one's life....On and off the cushion....
A teacher once said ( I can't remember who) "The real meditation begins when you leave the cushion"...
In a sense, time spent on the cushion can be likened to priming one's mind to deal with things to come off the cushion .... putting it in go with the flow mode, so to speak...
Shoshin1
Re: Recognising bad food and drink
@Kotishka said:
Anyone else recommend me a delicious and protein rich meal? I'm thinking about chili SIN carne.
Not a specific meal but scrambled eggs are very versatile. You can style them with whatever you're feeling like. I tend to throw left overs in with them too. It just seems to work out fairly well each time since you're picking the additions day to day. My favorites are with chopped pico de gallo with chunked spam or I like adding some pinto beans and onions with some salsa. Can even get creative with sardines and tangy kalamata olives. Lots of choices.
Re: The straightjacket of scientific thought
Part of the beginning of Spiritual Awakening is the realization that, while we are each individual, sitting in a room, or wherever we we may be, are interconnected with everyone else, with our environment. We gain the freedom of responsibility to create, to generate our own happiness. With this permission to be, to seek, we are able to give ourselves permission to live. Only then does the spiritual journey truly begin.
Through science, we learn the "about". Through spirituality we learn/grow to be - the "what is".
Stirred the glass - time to wander off somewhere.
Peace to all
Lionduck
Re: Recognising bad food and drink
@Jeroen said:
My sensitivity to these things has become such that it just isn’t a pleasant experience to drink alcoholic beverages. If you really pay attention to it, there is a little rush when you start, then you feel a bit ill, then rather dull, then a long period of feeling somewhat unstable. The long tail of unpleasant feelings makes it not worthwhile to drink.
This is my experience with alcohol too. Same-same with coffee in the afternoons. Also, foods like pizza, McDonalds...
And last night, I had some espresso coffee at about 3 am, and was awake until 6 experiencing in extreme detail how coffee also produces a rush, and then a protracted period of inner energetic grinding. That’s not the first time I have noticed that, and it has put me in mind that really looking at what your body is telling you is a good guide for what is good and what is not. So I have resolved to go off coffee for a while as well.
Good for you. I'd like to quit coffee too. I notice again and again how if I drink one in the afternoons it impacts me negatively. I do not notice the same for the morning coffee, but since I drink it every single morning, I have nothing to compare it to, so it might be that it is still impacting me negatively, I just don't notice it. I read recently that 90% of people on Earth drink coffee every day - wow.
It seems to me that as your mindfulness increases, you become more sensitive to these things.
I'm glad you've noticed and written this. This is because I've had this theory for some time now - as a way of explaining why this stuff impacts me so negatively these days, while I could indulge with little or no problems when younger. It's either mindfulness or plain old aging
The goal, to me at least, seems simple and clear, though not trivial to attain, lead a clean life in order to attain the greatest well-being.
marcitko
Re: There is no purpose, only love
Maybe there is no purpose, only love.
"Then spoke Yajnavalkya:
In truth, it is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the husband that a husband is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the wife that a wife is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of children that children are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in children that children are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of riches that riches are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in riches that riches are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of religion that religion is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in religion that religion is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of power that power is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in power that power is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of the heavens that the heavens are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the heavens that the heavens are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of the gods that the gods are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the gods that the gods are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of creatures that creatures are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in creatures that creatures are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of the all that the all is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the all that the all is dear." — Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad
"Searching all directions
with your awareness,
you find no one dearer
than yourself.
In the same way, others
are thickly dear to themselves.
So you shouldn’t hurt others
if you love yourself." — SN 3.8
"Cultivate an all-embracing mind of love For all throughout the universe, In all its height, depth and breadth — Love that is untroubled And beyond hatred or enmity. As you stand, walk, sit or lie, So long as you are awake, Pursue this awareness with your might: It is deemed the Divine State here." — Khp 9
"Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.— Romans 13.8
"Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." —John 4:7-8.
"I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." — John 13:34-35
"Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good." — Augustine's Homilies on the Gospel of John
"You will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I inform you of something which, if you do, you will love one another? give greetings (peace) amongst yourselves." — Sahih Muslim 54
"Love is the law, love under will." – Book of the Law 1.57
"When we commit to love in our daily life, habits are shattered. We are necessarily working to end domination. Because we no longer are playing by the safe rules of the status quo, rules that if we obey guarantee us a specific outcome, love moves us to a new ground of being. This movement is what most people fear. If we are to galvanize the collective longing for spiritual well-being that is found in the practice of love, we must be more willing to identify the forms that longing will take in daily life. Folks need to know the ways we change and are changed when we love. It is only by bearing concrete witness to love’s transformative power in our daily lives that we can assure those who are fearful that commitment to love will be redemptive, a way to experience salvation.
...
Dominator thinking and practice relies for its maintenance on the constant production of a feeling of lack, of the need to grasp. Giving love offers us a way to end this suffering—loving ourselves, extending that love to everything beyond the self, we experience wholeness. We are healed. The Buddha taught that we can create a love so strong that, as Salzberg states, our 'minds become like a pure, flowing river that cannot be burned.' Such love is the foundation of spiritual awakening." — Toward a Worldwide Culture of Love
Jason