Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[Xeon]

Time to dropship this!

‘Make Your Company Great Again’: Trump Buddha statue a hit in China

 

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[Kak]

A friend of mine from high school who’s 26 years old just quit his job, bought a POS sailboat, and moved to the Bahamas. I don’t think he has very much money at all, but I often wonder... is that the real trick? If he can manage like that, why are we still working so hard?

But then I remember how much I like A/C and restaurant food.

Plus the story about the MBA and the fisherman, and how silly the whole message was.

(Oh and he’s been spearfishing for his food and I have no idea how he bathes... so there’s that)

I periodically have fleeting thoughts of screwing off to some 3rd world country and starting that shrimp shack, but I never do... Probably because the idea, though idealistic and it sounds fun for a season, doesn’t fulfill me.

Instead, I bet living in Puerto Rico a little over half the year, while continuing to do what I do, will quench this desire. I’ve always wanted the upscale Caribbean lifestyle. Good golf. Nice boat. Good food. Beautiful geography. To add a lot of tax benefits and the ability to keep my US citizenship, it really is damn perfection IMO.

My wife and I are working to “hands off” our companies. Also COVID made it tough to travel and spend time there finding areas we like and getting to know people. It is still an intermediate term goal, but I want to do this like a boss. Big a$$ house. Couple of new Mercedes. The whole spiel.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I periodically have fleeting thoughts of screwing off to some 3rd world country and starting that shrimp shack, but I never do... Probably because the idea, though idealistic and it sounds fun for a season, doesn’t fulfill me.

Instead, I bet living in Puerto Rico a little over half the year, while contributing to do what I do, will quench this desire. I’ve always wanted the upscale Caribbean lifestyle. Good golf. Nice boat. Good food. Beautiful geography. To add a lot of tax benefits and the ability to keep my US citizenship, it really is damn perfection IMO.

My wife and I are working to “hands off” our companies. Also COVID made it tough to travel and spend time there finding areas we like and getting to know people. It is still an intermediate term goal, but I want to do this like a boss. Big a$$ house. Couple of new Mercedes. The whole spiel.

Sounds perfect.

Only issue I would have with it is getting medicine and healthcare. The Virgin Islands are my favorite place in the world, but their hospitals aren't where I would want to be in a critical situation.

 

[PapaGang]

Who wants to start a taco boat with me?
The Caribbean’s Newest Floating Bar Is In St John

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

Who wants to start a taco boat with me?
The Caribbean’s Newest Floating Bar Is In St John

View attachment 37143

Changed my mind about the hospitals.

I'm moving. Let's go.

 

[Kak]

Sounds perfect.

Only issue I would have with it is getting medicine and healthcare. The Virgin Islands are my favorite place in the world, but their hospitals aren't where I would want to be in a critical situation.

You’re young. By the time you are old enough to need good medical care, Houston hospitals will be just as bad.

Actually there are evidently very good doctors in PR. For now.

 

[PapaGang]

Changed my mind about the hospitals.

I'm moving. Let's go.

Right on, IDK how much something like that costs, but it seems like it wouldn't take a huge sum of money, and once you get a process down you can pay some young kids to manage the kitchen and ops, since the location and the environment are so nice. Pretty soon, you could have several of these things around the islands.

I swear the minute my kid graduates I'm scouting for something like this.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

Right on, IDK how much something like that costs, but it seems like it wouldn't take a huge sum of money, and once you get a process down you can pay some young kids to manage the kitchen and ops, since the location and the environment are so nice. Pretty soon, you could have several of these things around the islands.

I swear the minute my kid graduates I'm scouting for something like this.

If you have enough money to own a moderately priced home in cash, plus an average full time income from investment returns, you have everything you need to live the island life, mon.

 

[PapaGang]

If you have enough money to own a moderately priced home in cash, plus an average full time income from investment returns, you have everything you need to live the island life, mon.

mon

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

mon

I hope I don't get canceled for typing "mon"

I say it positively, because that's exactly the vibe I would like. Lol

 

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[ElleMg]

I was treading water for close to 2 years and couldn't buy a win. As I read your post, I thought about two epiphanies I had:

1. Find someone to help. The Dalai Lama often says something like, "warm heart, calm mind, help others." When I focused on that, the money came. The money always seems to follow when I don't care about the money. It's the fun I have in helping someone else launch a business, or create something to help them market it.

2. I recently read "Let My People Go Surfing" by Yvon Chouinard. I liked the fact that he got into business to support his passion of climbing & surfing. It was his life. The business was a means to help support him so he could do what he loved with the people he loved. His desire to make the best product for his fellow climbers would turn that small business into Patagonia later.

I think if someone were to get into an activity to support the thing they loved to do, and that activity was focused on serving others, they would win. It's tough to do during a global pandemic, but why not sketch out an idea for building a tribe around a shared passion or hobby?

I'm sharing this because I've been thinking about these things recently, and maybe they could help you too.

Sorry I only just saw this reply! Thanks for those points. Both lead me to a similar place. I'm passionate about growing audiences and have a bunch of experience with audience building on a few different platforms. I love helping people so I think I want to create something to help people grow audiences for their business or community. I celebrate my own viral wins daily so it'd be awesome to be able to help others get similar wins on social media.

Sometimes the best thing to do when you don’t know what to do is to spill your guts on this forum or a journal. (At least, it works for me. Lol)

Also, just out of curiosity, if ten years from now they invented time travel and you got to go back to yourself, today.. what would your 10 Years From Now Future Self be like? Would she be a calm relaxed meditation guru? Would she have a ton of balls in the air? Would she be loud or quiet? Dyed hair? Would you still wear a bra?!? Rofl.

My point is, she would love meeting you now because she knows all the wonderful things you’re going to do and all the cool ppl you’re going to meet. But you have to get to where she is.. so if you start describing her, really describing her, what does a day in her life look like? Hugs.

Lol your comment made me smile and spilling my guts here helps a little more than elsewhere. I get tired of myself and friends are too focused on the bigger picture and my prior success and I'm like 'I know but I'm not worried about 5 years down the line I just feel awful now!'.

I think trying to make my daily life fit with what my goal for my future self is is a good perspective.

What exactly is your goal with this group? If your goal isn't to inspire 600k people to think more positively, if that isn't enough validation, than what does a good amount of validation look like? X number of books sales? Getting X number of patreon supporters? Signing X sponsorship deals? Getting X life coaching clients? (Sorry, I'm not well versed on monetizing a PMA group)

Besides the nebulous, "I want to make more money from this group", what is the goal you are working towards that will leave you fulfilled?

Or at least leave you feeling deserving of a meal?

Maybe, as you said, maybe you don't have the answer. But that's what progress threads and participant surveys are for, right?

Hth.

My initial goal was to inspire people to think more positively. I guess my validation would come from taking advantage of the potential. Atm it's just a simple asset worth $10k, only when active, but has such huge potential. Getting 2 cents from each person would be $10k in itself Sure I could sell it for $10k but I'd rather help people think more positively and grow it into a business I can be proud of. Or just sell for an amount I'm proud of!

I'm willing to let go though, and maybe I should. It's rewarding but frustrating and the energy spent thinking about it could be what's blocking me from successful ideas.

I guess I need a more exciting goal like my first one to buy a house but at the moment I just want to be able to grow my investments (and only use savings for business & investing in myself) and be able to pay all the boring and essential stuff with profits.

I was so one track minded with my first goal that growing my savings to buy the house took over everything else (I was really young) and in hindsight I could've made 10x the cash if I'd just continued investing but I guess that's the power of a strong goal.

I still have big exciting goals like wanting to make a million dollars but it's hard to focus on that when I'm only on like... step 2 and haven't accomplished the most important thing to get back to growing my wealth (paying for day to day expenses with profits).

Am I reading correctly that you have a community of 600,000 people? Do you have a plan for making money from what you're building? If you have the attention of 600,000 people on something you control, there must be money waiting to be made, surely.

Making money off of something that size is a service to the people who use it... they obviously don't want the creator/owner/maintainer to burn out and let the community disperse!

Yes that's correct. I had some plans but the margins were too low (I'm UK based and the audience is mostly US which didn't help with my physical product plans) and I've been stuck since then. Yes one of the points that stuck with me the most from MJ's books back in 2019 was
“If you want to make millions, impact millions.”. I don't know what to do though, I've done a couple of interviews in the past and nothing revealing came to light. The biggest problems faced by the community are mental health issues (but the majority are against self help) and money issues, and I can't really think of how to help with those in a business way (besides how the community already helps them feel better mentally).

Maybe give this a try: Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Hawkins M.D. Ph.D, David R.: 8601420019690: Amazon.com: Books

or alternatively this: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself: Michael A. Singer: 9781572245372: Amazon.com: Books

Both of them have the same core ideas, Singer expresses the mindset better with less BS imo, whereas Hawkins explains the mechanism and dealing with your emotions better, but there's some sketchy new age stuff in there too

I'll check out those recommendations on Audible thank you! I'm kinda into new age stuff (the ONLY book I read relating to business or wealth when I was younger was Wallace Wattles The Science of Getting Rich ) but I'll see how I get on.

So grateful for this forum and the continued acceptance and understanding experienced here. Have a great day everyone!

 

[Kak]

I hope I don't get canceled for typing "mon"

I say it positively, because that's exactly the vibe I would like. Lol

Dr thechosen1 Seuss

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Maybe give this a try: Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Hawkins M.D. Ph.D, David R.: 8601420019690: Amazon.com: Books

or alternatively this: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself: Michael A. Singer: 9781572245372: Amazon.com: Books

Both of them have the same core ideas, Singer expresses the mindset better with less BS imo, whereas Hawkins explains the mechanism and dealing with your emotions better, but there's some sketchy new age stuff in there too

Awesome recommendations, two of my favorite books of all time.

Read them both dozens of times.

Definitely life changing if one can process the ideas before the ego has a chance to dismiss them.

 

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[PapaGang]

Maybe give this a try: Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Hawkins M.D. Ph.D, David R.: 8601420019690: Amazon.com: Books

or alternatively this: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself: Michael A. Singer: 9781572245372: Amazon.com: Books

Both of them have the same core ideas, Singer expresses the mindset better with less BS imo, whereas Hawkins explains the mechanism and dealing with your emotions better, but there's some sketchy new age stuff in there too

Ok I just bought those.
I know what I'm doing on my vacation. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Ok I just bought those.
I know what I'm doing on my vacation. Thanks for the recommendations.

They are great I think you'll get a lot out of them! I will not spoil the fun, but Dr. Hawkins has, in my opinion, a truly unique view of how to handle negativity. Most coaches and most therapists focus on tackling negative beliefs and negative thought patterns, operating under the assumption of cognitive psychology that beliefs are the root cause of feelings, so to change how you feel, you must change how you think. So it ends up being this constant effort to fight against your existing limiting beliefs by using different techniques that serve to reframe them and replace them with more empowering beliefs and thoughts.

Dr. Hawkins does something totally different. He starts by saying that feelings cause thoughts. Feelings are like the folders in your computer, and thoughts are the files... you can have thousands of files in a single folder, just like you can have thousands of negative thoughts associated with a negative feeling. So if you work to release that negative feeling and let it go, then the whole train of negative thoughts associated with it will vanish. On the other hand, if you try to fight against the thoughts you barely make any progress, because you get rid of one, only to find that another arises... like cutting one of Hydra's heads. Under it all it is the negative energy behind the trapped feeling that is fueling the thoughts... the thoughts simply being the mind's rationalization for the feeling. Sufferers of anxiety, for example, often notice that once a specific thought or series of thoughts that "cause" anxiety are over, the victory is short-lived... they will soon be replaced by new thoughts, and new situations that arouse the same anxiety! So I feel that this is like a Copernican revolution in psychology... the sun (feelings) doesn't rotate around the earth (thoughts), but the other way around! Dr. Hawkins shows exactly how to overcome this by opening yourself out to the feeling, and then letting it go.

Anyway, do let me know how you find both of them after you finish

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

People Are Weirded Out To Discover That Some People Don't Have An Internal Monologue

People Are Weirded Out To Discover That Some People Don't Have An Internal Monologue

www.iflscience.com

 

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[Kak]

People Are Weirded Out To Discover That Some People Don't Have An Internal Monologue

People Are Weirded Out To Discover That Some People Don't Have An Internal Monologue

www.iflscience.com

I’m a sentence guy. Wow!

I literally think in a language. Funny when I’m really exercising the Spanish muscle in Mexico or wherever, I do some thinking in Spanish too. Crazy.

What the hell do some people think if there are no words to the thought?

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I’m a sentence guy. Wow!

I literally think in a language. Funny when I’m really exercising the Spanish muscle in Mexico or wherever, I do some thinking in Spanish too. Crazy.

What the hell do some people think if there are no words to the thought?

IDK but I also heard that not everyone can picture images in their head and that blew me away.

Also is kind of scary because it's something I take for granted, and there has been a history of Alzheimer's on one side of my family.

What's funny is I can think of a song I've heard and hear it in my head, even if I don't know the lyrics or whatever. I can still imagine the song playing.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

What the hell do some people think if there is no words to it?

I think in semi-abstract shapes for programming because language doesn't always adequately get the concept across, but my internal monologue never steps. I can't imagine having no inner dialogue - I was very alarmed by this article.

 

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[loop101]

This story made me feel good. A young lady with social anxiety made a YT video where she said she didn't like a certain game, and was promptly chased off YT, deleting her 5k channel. A popular YT'er defended her, so she thanked him using a backup channel - which jumped from 70 to 12K subs. She is now using that channel, and is very happy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U6FE3pJHXo

 

[runnaboi]

James Clear is the bomb...

"Repetition unlocks value.

The value of your first workout increases the more you exercise.

The value of your first article increases the more you write.

The value of your first conversation increases the longer you stay in the relationship.

Day One continues to compound."

 

[ElleMg]

Maybe give this a try: Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Hawkins M.D. Ph.D, David R.: 8601420019690: Amazon.com: Books

Ok now I'm reading Letting Now I'm realising that I've possibly used other books (mainly Power of Now) to possibly let go of the wrong things and ignore problems. But then do I let go of the letting go? Maybe I'm overthinking it but I'm stuck on this one point and don't want to continue as it seems important.

Could he let go of the attachment to his computer? Could he let go of seeing the same boss every day? Could he let go of his feeling of familiarity with the background noises in the office? The purpose of surrendering these smaller aspects of losing a job, which may seem trivial, is that it gets the mind into the letting go mode. The letting go mode takes us up to the level of Courage; the negative feelings have been acknowledged and worked through; consequently, they’ve lost their charge. Suddenly there is the awareness that we have the courage to face the situation, recognize our feelings, and do something about them. As the trivia are surrendered, curiously, the main event becomes less and less oppressive. The reason for the phenomenon is that, when we use the mechanism of surrender on one emotion, we are surrendering on all emotions at the same time. It is as though all emotions have the same underlying energy, so that to surrender in one direction surrenders feelings which appear, on the surface, to be in an opposite direction. This is a matter of clinical experience; it must be tried personally in order to believe it.

The last sentence makes me want to fully understand this before just moving on.

So I guess one of my main issues is that "I got burnt a few times (in a row) and now everything looks like a flame"

In November I tried to just force myself to do stuff that I thought was useful and productive but was actually just action-fakey and to fulfil the need to be working on something (even if it was something aimless, with hindsight), got up early, doubled exercise time, made lists.

As I realised this clearly wasn't working I went all in on Power of Now and practice of presence and non-judgement again as it helped me so much in the past (although when I had an actionable plan I was working towards).

I let go of the idea I needed to go to sleep or wake up at a certain time, I let go of the idea I needed to be working on something, etc. and I actually stuck to this for about 6-8 weeks. Had a lovely time, felt very peaceful, spent lots of time gaming and talking to friends, enjoyed a relaxed Christmas, found joy in the little things, soaked up lots of nature.

I eventually realised how complacent I'd been when I realised it'd been almost 2 months and I wasn't any closer to my goals though.

That said, the opposite doesn't help either. It just makes me feel better that I'm at least thinking about the stuff that needs to change. So back to the point above...

Would I let go of the idea that I can let go of the idea that there's no need to sleep at a certain time? I guess more simply, let go of the idea that I DON'T have to sleep at a certain time? But then am I not adding another element to the fear that I won't reach my goals? Like, ok now if I *don't* get my sleep in check I'm not going to be successful.

I guess other small aspects of surrender would be.. I dunno. Let go of the idea I need to come up with something successful? Let go of reading about business/marketing? Let go of the attachment to my laptop? Let go of wanting to have an income that pays the bills? If I let go of the idea I need to do anything, won't I just have a repeat of the recent presence practice where I just... Do nothing?

Or do I let go of the idea that I need to be successful, let go of the goal? I can't see how any of this would help?

I've read it several times and I'm going to sleep on it but I don't understand the essence of what it's saying, I guess in the exact situation mentioned I have about a 30% understanding, but I don't totally get it or how it'd apply in life.

Obviously with it being something you have to personally try and experience in order to believe it I don't want to gloss over it.

 

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[sparechange]

So I tried another vegan option, the beyond meat thing from starbucks, it did have egg and cheese although the patty (which is usually sausage) was some chickpea fake meat thing, it was actually pretty good and honestly couldn't even tell the difference between the fake meat and a real hamburger.

But, looking at the ingredients, you can't really say these are healthy.......... lol

Bun [Unbleached Wheat Flour, Water, Wheat Gluten, Durum Semolina, Sugar, Sunflower Oil, Sea Slat, Yeast, Cultured Wheat Starch, Citric Acid], Fried Egg Patty [Liquid Egg Whites, Liquid Egg Yolks, Whole Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Citric Acid], Simulated Breakfast Sausage Patty [Water, Pea Protein, Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Dried Yeast, Flavour, Rice Protein, Methylcellulose, Apple Fiber, Sugars (Apple Extract, Pomegranate Extract),

Potassium Chloride, Seasoning, Salt, Oregano, Basil, Rosemary, Fennel, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Vinegar, Yeast Extract, Sunflower Lecithin, Carrot Powder, Vitamins And Minerals (Niacin (B 3), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (B 6), Thiamine Hydrochloride (B 1), Riboflavin (B 2), Folic Acid (B 9), Cyanocobalamin (B 12), Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Zinc Sulphate, Ferric Orthophosphate)], Sharp Cheddar Cheese [Pasteurized Milk, Microbial Cheese Culture, Salt, Microbial Enzymes, Annato (Vegetable Colour)]


Isn't Canola oil super bad ???

When you think you are being healthy but you are not

I can't really see or understand the value of a hamburger when the ''fake'' stuff is just about the same as the real meat.

The mass farming that fast food restaurants do such as Mcdonalds, Wendys and so on is pretty sick, and the amount of food wasted is insane.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

James Clear is the bomb...

"Repetition unlocks value.

The value of your first workout increases the more you exercise.

The value of your first article increases the more you write.

The value of your first conversation increases the longer you stay in the relationship.

Day One continues to compound."

all true...

Which leads to one of my (and many people’s) other big problems:

The sunk cost fallacy.

 

[MTF]

So I tried another vegan option, the beyond meat thing from starbucks, it did have egg and cheese although the patty (which is usually sausage) was some chickpea fake meat thing, it was actually pretty good and honestly couldn't even tell the difference between the fake meat and a real hamburger.

But, looking at the ingredients, you can't really say these are healthy.......... lol

Now try a healthy vegan option. Pretty sure you have tons of incredible vegan places in Vancouver, both restaurants as well as stores. Maybe it won't taste exactly like meat (though my family/friends who eat meat, when I serve them something vegan, often say it does resemble it) but it'll be good for you and tasty. The most basic falafel burger is made of chickpeas, herbs, onions, garlic and spices.

 

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[MTF]

I guess other small aspects of surrender would be.. I dunno. Let go of the idea I need to come up with something successful? Let go of reading about business/marketing? Let go of the attachment to my laptop? Let go of wanting to have an income that pays the bills? If I let go of the idea I need to do anything, won't I just have a repeat of the recent presence practice where I just... Do nothing?

Or do I let go of the idea that I need to be successful, let go of the goal? I can't see how any of this would help?

Not sure how David Hawkins defines it but Michael A. Singer, when talking about letting go, talks about relaxing and releasing when you notice yourself thinking something's wrong on the outside. This may be thinking that you NEED something to be okay. Or that something NEEDS to be a certain way for you to be okay. Or that something NEEDS to be present in your life to feel happy. In all these scenarios, you let go of the energy that disturbs you because you wanted or didn't want something.

As Michael A. Singer says, "If you do that, a phenomenal thing will happen to you. You will find peace, so deep inside of you, and you will find your harmony with life. You are in harmony with life, and believe it or not, life is in harmony with you."

It doesn't mean you renounce life. It only means you stop believing that you need to do any of these things to feel good. The higher level is doing these things to give something to the world, to express your creativity, love and joy. In other words, you approach it as a high being who's complete within itself (and thus doesn't interact with the world as a taker) vs a being motivated by low motives (trying to make the world fit your preferences to feel fine).

This doesn't apply to physical needs. You do need to have income that pays the bills because it addresses your basic survival needs. But you don't NEED to be successful (defined as material success) to be fulfilled. You CAN become successful as a result of your spiritual efforts (making the world around you better), but it won't impact your level of well-being because it's determined inside.

I think that Singer's recent talk on setting your life path may be helpful to answer your questions:

https://templeoftheuniverse.net/talks/setting_your_life_path_to_the_highest.mp3

In the talk, he explains the difference between a life path and goals and how to look at goals.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Obviously with it being something you have to personally try and experience in order to believe it I don't want to gloss over it.

Yes, you shouldn't gloss it over, that's a great attitude to have! Stick to it until you get something out of it, until you fully understand it.

Ok now I'm reading Letting Now I'm realising that I've possibly used other books (mainly Power of Now) to possibly let go of the wrong things and ignore problems. But then do I let go of the letting go? Maybe I'm overthinking it but I'm stuck on this one point and don't want to continue as it seems important.

So, let's take a step back and go back to the basics. Letting go is a psychological technique for dealing with negative feelings. Think about that carefully... "letting go of negative feelings". If you're letting go of sleeping, or you're letting go of letting go, are you letting go of feelings? No, you'd be letting go of an action, or of a psychological technique.

So to properly use the technique, you have to apply it to negative feelings. Not to ideas, not to thoughts, not to actions, not to anything else. You can also apply it to negative beliefs (which are the cognitive component of a negative feeling). It will also help to understand the following components of our psychology:

• Trigger/Situation -> This is whatever external events activate certain underlying core beliefs. Say that you're at a party, and a guy strikes up a conversation with you, and you start feeling anxious and feel the need to get away. That could be because the underlying core belief "I'm ugly" is activated, for example.
• Core beliefs -> These are foundational attitudes and ways of seeing yourself, the world, or your place in the world. It's very important to note, that unlike most people think, beliefs are NOT thoughts. Beliefs can be put in thought-form (ex. "I am ugly"), but they do NOT actively occur in your consciousness as thoughts. So whatever you're thinking, that is the result of your beliefs, but your beliefs themselves are NOT those thoughts (or to be found amongst those thoughts). Rather beliefs are how you mind interprets reality -> it's the interpretation that is instantly assigned to something. Most often, core beliefs are unconscious, and you can know them through your feelings, or what your feelings are trying to accomplish. They are general, and apply across different situations. These are called "survival programs" by Dr. Hawkins.
• Rules (intermediate beliefs) -> These are beliefs of the form "If X, then Y". Example: "If a guy talks to me, then it doesn't mean he's interested in me".
• Thoughts -> These are specific to the event, and you can actually observe them occurring to you in the moment. They are surface-level manifestations of rules & beliefs when they are triggered by a particular situation or event. (ex. "OMG this guy is talking to me, what should I do?! I don't know what to say, I'll lose my words, etc.")
• Emotions/Feelings -> Feelings are how your mind reads beliefs. The belief "I am ugly" is no different than the feeling "I am ugly". A feeling is how your mind assigns value to your interpretation. So event occurs, your mind forms a cognition/interpretation of it, and that interpretation is what you perceive as the feeling. So beliefs and emotions are tied together.
• Behaviors -> How you act as a result of your cognitions and emotions.
• Cognitions -> this is what happens when you put your thoughts, rules and core beliefs together.

Here's how Dr. Hawkings describes the process of letting go, with my bolding:

Letting go involves being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it. It means simply to let the feeling be there and to focus on letting out the energy behind it. The first step is to allow yourself to have the feeling without resisting it, venting it, fearing it, condemning it, or moralizing about it. It means to drop judgment and to see that it is just a feeling. The technique is to be with the feeling and surrender all efforts to modify it in any way. Let go of wanting to resist the feeling. It is resistance that keeps the feeling going. When you give up resisting or trying to modify the feeling, it will shift to the next feeling and be accompanied by a lighter sensation. A feeling that is not resisted will disappear as the energy behind it dissipates.

As you begin the process, you will notice that you have fear and guilt over having feelings; there will be resistance to feelings in general. To let feelings come up, it is easier to let go of the reaction to having the feelings in the first place. A fear of fear itself is a prime example of this. Let go of the fear or guilt that you have about the feeling first, and then get into the feeling itself.

When letting go, ignore all thoughts. Focus on the feeling itself, not on the thoughts. Thoughts are endless and self-reinforcing, and they only breed more thoughts. Thoughts are merely rationalizations of the mind to try and explain the presence of the feeling. The real reason for the feeling is the accumulated pressure behind the feeling that is forcing it to come up in the moment. The thoughts or external events are only an excuse made up by the mind.

As we become more familiar with letting go, it will be noticed that all negative feelings are associated with our basic fear related to survival and that all feelings are merely survival programs that the mind believes are necessary. The letting go technique undoes the programs progressively. Through that process, the underlying motive behind the feelings becomes more and more apparent.

To be surrendered means to have no strong emotion about a thing: “It’s okay if it happens, and it’s okay if it doesn’t.” When we are free, there is a letting go of attachments. We can enjoy a thing, but we don’t need it for our happiness. There is progressive diminishing of dependence on anything or anyone outside of ourselves. These principles are in accord with the basic teaching of the Buddha to avoid attachment to worldly phenomena, as well as the basic teaching of Jesus Christ to “be in the world but not of it.”

Sometimes we surrender a feeling and we notice that it returns or continues. This is because there is more of it yet to be surrendered. We have stuffed these feelings all of our lives and there can be a lot of energy pushed down that needs to come up and be acknowledged. When surrender occurs, there is an immediate lighter, happier feeling, almost like a “high.”

By continuously letting go, it is possible to stay in that state of freedom. Feelings come and go, and eventually you realize that you are not your feelings, but that the real “you” is merely witnessing them. You stop identifying with them. The “you” that is observing and is aware of what is happening always stays the same. As you become more and more aware of the changeless witness within, you begin to identify with that level of consciousness. You become progressively primarily the witness rather than the experiencer of phenomena. You get closer and closer to the real Self and begin to see that you had been duped by feelings all along. You thought that you were the victim of your feelings. Now you see that they are not the truth about yourself; they are merely created by the ego, that collector of programs which the mind has mistakenly believed are necessary for survival.

Now, what does letting go actually mean? Let's go back to our situation: you're at a party, a guy strikes up a conversation with you, and you feel anxious and embarrassed, having thoughts such as "I'm going to lose myself, I don't have anything interesting to say, bla bla". What does letting go mean? It means first of all that you detach yourself from those thoughts and you ignore them. Instead you shift your attention from the thoughts, to the underlying feelings: anxiety, and embarrassment. How do they feel, physically, in your body? Maybe you feel a tightness in your chest, or butterflies in your stomach, or your face muscles are super tight, or you're frowning or whatever it is.

So you shift your awareness to those feelings, and you open yourself up to them, allowing them to come up, and allowing yourself to experience them without trying to stop them in any way. At the same time, you have to let go of the feeling. How do you do that? You consciously focus on releasing the tension you feel in your body, relaxing yourself into the feeling, and not trying to resist it. Resistance is usually physical - you're tightening your muscles, etc. So not resisting it means relaxing and releasing.

Obviously letting go presupposes that (1) you're not trapped in thoughts, and (2) you're actively working to become aware of how you feel, and letting go of any resistance you may have towards experiencing your feelings.

Now, apart from being able to deal with negativity, if you want to make progress, you must also do things like create a plan, create a system that you work to get you to your results, and so on. I have sent you a private audio conversation by PM with a friend about mindset. Please don't share the conversation with anyone else since it's a paid material, but feel free to listen to it and implement it for yourself to help you with creating a system to get yourself closer to your goals, and this other part of it.

Does this make better sense?

 

[Madame Peccato]

I’m a sentence guy. Wow!

I literally think in a language. Funny when I’m really exercising the Spanish muscle in Mexico or wherever, I do some thinking in Spanish too. Crazy.

What the hell do some people think if there are no words to the thought?

Yes, and people have different personalities when they write / speak in different languages. For example I'm well outspoken in English, while in Italian (my native language) I'm much less friendly and overall messier. Brains are funny like that.

As for your question, they probably don't think much. You can't think about things you don't know, so it might be because their vocabulary is poor. If you can't describe something then thinking about it is impossible.

When you think about the thinking issue (heh) in these terms you understand that knowledge is truly what makes you free. Words have a gigantic effect on the brain, and they influence us way more than it might seem.

This forum is pretty big on this concept too. The difference between "I can't do this" and "I will do this" is massive, and it's just one different word after all. But repeat the process enough times and you'll literally reprogram your brain. From helplessness to action.

Read George Lakoff's work and its derivatives to know more about the topic. I suggesting starting with "Don't Think of an Elephant!"

IDK but I also heard that not everyone can picture images in their head and that blew me away.

Also is kind of scary because it's something I take for granted, and there has been a history of Alzheimer's on one side of my family.

What's funny is I can think of a song I've heard and hear it in my head, even if I don't know the lyrics or whatever. I can still imagine the song playing.

I learned in drawing courses that this is a learned skill. It's about how much attention you pay to the environment. If your entire day is spent sleepwalking then your brain's image-conjuring skills will be weak. After all, can you think clearly about how your last meal looked? I can, but my guess is that most people don't. They were busy meddling with their phone or watching TV while eating.

If you take joy in looking at trees like humans should do you won't have issues thinking of different trees, and once you have seen 10000 trees you'll know how they look.

You then do the same with anything else in this world: rocks (rocks are random and look quite funny, try drawing them), animals, humans, objects...once you've accrued a significant visual library and can visualize things clearly in your brain you can even start combining them in your head and create whatever monstrosity tickles your fancy.

TL;DR of my post: people whose brains are inactive are, for the most part, ignorant. Naturally that's not always the case: brain injuries / damage will affect your ability to think, but we are talking about your average Joe here.

 

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[sparechange]

Now try a healthy vegan option. Pretty sure you have tons of incredible vegan places in Vancouver, both restaurants as well as stores. Maybe it won't taste exactly like meat (though my family/friends who eat meat, when I serve them something vegan, often say it does resemble it) but it'll be good for you and tasty. The most basic falafel burger is made of chickpeas, herbs, onions, garlic and spices.

What is the ''hamburger & fries with a large Coke'' for vegans? I'm open to trying some new stuff. I got some peanuts which are maybe one of the best foods to eat protein & fat wise, although aren't as enjoyable to eat as say... a chocolate bar

Really like the chickpea ''meat'' from starbucks.

While I'm still not completly converted over, the idea of eating a dead animal (despite how good it tastes) is fairly gross, I'd like to see how real meat would taste without all the additives, and if it would still be as popular.

 

[YanC]

What is the ''hamburger & fries with a large Coke'' for vegans? I'm open to trying some new stuff. I got some peanuts which are maybe one of the best foods to eat protein & fat wise, although aren't as enjoyable to eat as say... a chocolate bar

Really like the chickpea ''meat'' from starbucks.

While I'm still not completly converted over, the idea of eating a dead animal (despite how good it tastes) is fairly gross, I'd like to see how real meat would taste without all the additives, and if it would still be as popular.

I cooked vegan burgers last time, thought they were pretty good. Meat was replaced by a mix of red beans, mushrooms and spices. Use an egg so it all sticks together and is easy to cook. If you want to go strictly vegan, instead of an egg, blend linseed with a bit of water and it'll do the same.