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Peter
ParticipantHi Alex
My friends told me it wasnât my fault because I was just trying to help him
I hope you donât mind me pushing back a little. Were you trying to help him or change him? Ultimatums and such tend to point to issues of control not so much as support?
Peter
ParticipantHi Coconut (great handle)
Like you I’m a great story teller. My mind just won’t quite down at times and most of the stories I tell myself are negative. end result low self esteem = social awkward. The advice I was most commonly given was to stop telling myself negative stories and only tell positive ones. As I never fully believe the positive stories I was spinning it didn’t work. It actually made things worse.
What did work was when I noticing when I was telling myself a story and just stop telling it without filling the gap with other stories or the like. No labeling, no judgments, no excuses, no incrimination, no ‘positive thinking… When I couldn’t stop the story I acknowledged that and moved on.
You may also find Viktor Frankl’s work helpfull
- Dereflection:Â Dereflection is aimed at helping someone focus away from themselves and toward other people so that they can become whole and spend less time being self-absorbed about a problem or how to reach a goal.
- Paradoxical intention:Â Paradoxical intention is a technique that has the patient wish for the thing that is feared most. This was suggested for use in the case of anxiety or phobias, in which humor and ridicule can be used when fear is paralyzing. For example, a person with a fear of looking foolish might be encouraged to try to look foolish on purpose. Paradoxically, the fear would be removed when the intention involved the thing that was feared most.
- Socratic dialogue:Â Socratic dialogue would be used in logotherapy as a tool to help a patient through the process of self-discovery through his or her own words. In this way, the therapist would point out patterns of words and help the client to see the meaning in them. This process is believed to help the client realize an answer that is waiting to be discovered.
Peter
ParticipantHi Giulea
I canât change the way they behave â I know I have high expectations in a sense because of how it used to be. My question is how can I stop talking negatively about the community but instead, be constructive and move forward?
I like your question. I often wonder why its so difficult to do the thing and behave in the ways we want. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Not to be trite but in the words of Yoda for such things there is no try only do. Meaning the best you can do is to become the change you wish to see. This means being very conscious/mindful of when your falling short and then doing better. No judgments against yourself or others, but a compassionate practice of doing better as you learn better.
Peter
ParticipantâThe greatest challenge in life is to be our own person and accept that being different is a blessing and not a curse. A person who knows who they are lives a simple life by eliminating from their orbit anything that does not align with his or her overriding purpose and values. A person must be selective with their time and energy because both elements of life are limited.â Â â Kilroy J. Oldster
AÂ necessary ingredient to the simple life is âto know thyselfâ which just based on the majorly of posts on this site, not so simple.
A good place to start then might be to remove from your life any material objects that you donât need. Each object you dispose of or keep will tell you much about yourself and what a simple life might mean to you.
The second step may be determining what you want with regards to relationships. Some might argue that the more people you relate to the more complex your life will be. Open yourself to love and you open yourself to being hurt… which begs the question if the desire for a simple life is really a wish for a life without pain? If so what your looking for is not Life, simple or otherwise, as pain is an integral part of life. (without pain we rot)
Life as it is, is complex in its simplicity. Even so the experience of life is something other so no two experiences the same. The simple life for one person may be living in a tent for another a house.
March 26, 2019 at 2:18 pm in reply to: My family doesn't understand me and I don't know how to help them to… #286491Peter
ParticipantHi Kat
The situation your in sounds very frustrating. For many reasons communication between family can become difficult as so much of the past and sense of self can be involved (for everyone)Â Mark and Anita might help you with that.
With regards to “other people can multitask but I feel like I just canât” the idea of multitasking isn’t real. Ego consciousness is linear so no one multitasks. The best we might do is divide our focus on a number of tasks before us however this remains doing one thing a time. We can divide our force in shorter and shorter periods of time so it might appear that we are doing multiple tasks at the same time but that is a illusion. Study have shown that most people don’t handle splinting their focus over multiple tasks that well.
You might be much happier if you can forget this notion of feeling like you should be able to multitask. Focus on the present, what you need to work on now and the rest will follow
Peter
ParticipantHi Joe
So if it is not possible to undo neuropathways,
You may find the following books helpful
‘Change Your Mind, Change Your Life by Gerald G. Jampolsky MDÂ or
Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
is it still possible to ignore them?
Ignoring your thoughts can work for a time I guess however in the long run will only end up reinforcing them. You sweep them under the carpet until you eventually trip on them. The practice of mindfulness isn’t about destroying ego or engagement of will power to prevent unwanted thoughts from arising. Its about noticing your thoughts and not attaching your sense of self to them. In this way they flow through you instead of getting bottled up and messing up your day, week, year. Eventually a thought that might have sent you spiraling downward for weeks might be dealt with in a day or even hours.
Peter
ParticipantHi Christina
The universe if giving you a challenge as it sounds like the perfect place to practice doing something you love without attaching to how you view others are looking and judging you. Not easy but can you imagine what it might feel like not to allow others to influence how you feel about what your doing! To dance as if no one is watching. Master that and there would be no limits to what you might achieve.
Peter
ParticipantHi Joe
I believe these things are pretty much hardwired in me because of all my reinforcing behavior.
We do become addicted to our thoughts and there has been quite a few studyâs showing that our thoughts influence the brains neuropathways. Â The good news is that we can ârewireâ our pathways the bad news is that as you noticed the longer the habit the more difficult to change.
Many meditation masters may tell you that trying to stop thinking a thought will pretty much reinforce the thought. The more resistant we are to a thought the stronger the hold the thought has (do we hold onto the thought or does the thought hold on to us â when we resist its hard to tell) The advice you might get then is to be like water and allow the thoughts to flow. (detachment – not indifference to the thoughts only letting go the need to hold onto them) The practice being that when you notice the unhelpful/unskillful thoughts you acknowledge them, notice how to feel, perhaps identify what may have triggered them and then let them flow past. The flow of water will reshape any pathway even one of rock.
Is it possible to destroy this ego?
Iâve always had a problem with this question. In the west the idea behind the ego is different then that of the east. In the west the ego plays the important role consciousness. Try talking about being âwokeâ or about experience without using a personal pronoun. What ‘woke’, what noticed the experience?
The ego, sense of self is a tool, the experiencer, the communicator between the spirit and body, the conscious and unconscious. The error we make is assuming we our experiences in other words that we are thins thing called ego. Place in popper context the ego isnât something we need to destroy but understand.
Here is a paradox for you. It takes a strong health ego to let go of ego.
March 14, 2019 at 9:47 am in reply to: Do artist make art because they believe in something? #284603Peter
ParticipantI used to get so uptight dancing or completing a wood working project. Trying to be perfect and getting so upset when I made a mistake.
One day I go so tired of myself I just said screw it. I wanted to make a toy chest and Instead of measuring a hundred times I measured twice and cut away. I used wood that was I had lying around that was warped, blemishes didnât matter.  I didnât have the tools to fix things and used what I had. And you know what? It all worked. Every âmistakeâ worked and even made it better. It was amazing just going with what happened in the moment. When I wasnât trying to make things happen and instead allowed things to happen â but with intention. A kind of doing by not doing I started to enjoy the process.
I had the same experience with my dancing. When I let go of expectations how things should be or look, and trying to fix mistakes instead of working with the “mistake” did I learn to dance.
The word Art comes with allot of baggage that more often gets in the way of art. It doesnât have to matter if one of the intentions of your art is to make money. It can be fun entering into the consumers mind and discovering what they might like while adding something of yourself to it. Is it art? I think so but whoâs to say… or care.
Peter
ParticipantIts only recently that Iâve heard people talking about finding their twin flame.
I googled it and from what I read finding your âtwin flameâ does not necessary mean living together in a committed relationship. In fact it kind of points to the opposite. A experience that’s can only last for a short time before it burns it self out and becomes something else. A relationship intended to fire you up but not a place you can live in.
As a metaphor âtwin flameâ is problematic as I invasion the âburning of the candleâ at both ends. Fire consumes oxygen making it hard to breathe. Fire burns, love burns… and when out of control burns everything in its path. But fire also purifies and creates the ground for new things to grow⌠I don’t know… One must be careful when playing with fire
You ask if this is an illusion.
- The angst your experiencing is not a illusions.
- The idea of a âTwin Flameâ soul mate are words and words are symbols not the thing itself and so a illusion.
- If you expect this relationship to move forward into a more committed one⌠that may be an illusion. As a guy having a friend with benefits, having my cake and eat it to⌠yeah Iâm going to keep that going as long a possible (if I were the type of guy that would enter into a friends with benefits relationship â My observations is that they seldom end well)
I donât know your making yourself crazy by becoming engulfed by the experience and getting burned so maybe the twin flame is a real thing.  Its just not how Iâd like my relationship to look like.  Your Friend wants his X back, but you want something more⌠My opinion for what its worth tell him no more benefits and see how long the flame burns true.
March 13, 2019 at 10:46 am in reply to: How Can I Travel Time To Relive My Life Knowing What I Know Now? #284427Peter
ParticipantI always liked those âground hogâ type stories were the main character keeps repeating the same day over and over until they get it right. Wouldnât that be nice. Then again, the main character is stuck for a very long time and even commits suicide several times. How many life times âdaysâ did it take for him to get it right.
If you could go back in time to fix a problem, you would likely have to redo that a few times and then fix what happens next⌠Then its likely the first attempt of undoing the past would change what you know and what you would changeâŚa possible never-ending cycle.⌠Even if we get it “right” (to our liking) looking back life, love and suffering remain interconnected. (From a ALL encompassing perspective suffering is LOVE â chew on that for a while)
The idea of fixing our past itâs a kind of like the karma and reincarnation concept⌠only in the movie you get to remember⌠You might say that the idea of Karma is a type of remembering that were all really bad at, as it takes a great deal of effort to become conscious of all the factors behind our actions and there affects.
The goal of repeated âlife timesâ could be the perfection of the spirit… however I suspect once that state of being is reached one would look back and not change anything, as everything experienced, the good and the bad is what brought you to that state. And of course, with that the very idea of good and bad disappears.
That said itâs the tension between what we judge as good and bad that leads to âconscious awakeningâ. Â Â Its Irony but basically suggest that you are exactly where you need to be to get to where your gong next. So, stop trying to change the past and Instead address your perspective from which you view it. Learn and move forward.
I think what you really desire is to âfixâ your experience of yourself so that you might be different, no loner you? Begs the question what is this something you identify with as being you? If you âfixedâ all your experiences would you, still be you? Would you notice?
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This reply was modified 6 years ago by
Peter.
Peter
ParticipantYou ask a great question. In relationships we tend to react to a situations more then we respond to it.
When we react to a situation there is usually more going on then just the event occurring in the moment. Most of us will react when something about the current situation triggers something from the past. In most cases this is often something subconscious that we donât want to deal with. No better way to keep from dealing with a past hurt then to create drama in the present.
One of the purposes of relationships is to heal the past. If its not a purpose is most certainly something we will use our relationship for. To do this we will unconsciously recreate the past only this time having someone we trust work through the hurt and doing so heal them. Â The trick to healing the past we bring to the present is to make it conscious. Making our issues conscious allows us to respond to a event vice react.
Its interesting that you said âHe laid out on the table at the beginning of the relationship what he needed from me and I pretty much ripped all of those things and threw them back in his face.â  He basically told you how to hurt him which you did. Is it possible the past your trying to heal is one in which someone you loved left you or couldnât give you what you needed and a part of you perhaps feels it was your fault, that you werenât good enough? So now when in relationship you subconsciously recreate the past by creating scenarios were you push those you love away from you hoping that they will stay and prove you wrong. Only until you make something like that conscious and take ownership of it (its not about your partner) will you stop reacting.
Unfortunately, it takes 100 positive âat a boy/girlâ to overcome one negative experience.  So we push and push those we love away no mater how many times they reassure us⌠until we decided to stop or we create what we feared, the false reality that something is wrong with us and were not good enough, everyone leaves usâŚ..
Peter
ParticipantI think most people have felt lost at least a few times in their lives.
For myself that feeling of being lost tends to come around quite often. Maybe even weekly. It used to really get me down.
This may sound strange but I felt bad for feeling lost not so much as being lost. Perhaps because I thought I had to know with certainty what I ‘should’ be doing or what my ‘purpose’ was and it was this thinking lead to being stuck… Not being lost. (Nothing will bring about the feeling of being lost and stuck like seeking a certain purpose. Purpose doesn’t exist as something to find.) Today when I feel lost I don’t feel down or beat myself up about it. I know at such times it only indicates that my eyes are closed.
“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau
That may sound trite but I suspect its a truth. Being lost a tipping point between despair and adventure. The Question being asked by life; will you be the hero of your story?
Man’s true nature being lost, everything becomes his nature; as, his true good being lost, everything becomes his good.  Blaise Pascal
Peter
ParticipantHi Sarah
Sorry your feeling so down. I wish there was some magic words that could suddenly help you to view life differently.
Life is a ever turning cycle. That reality is life’s wonder which can bring hope, but if were honest also despair as we so wish to be in control and force life to conform to our will.
Advice for what its worth. There is a time in every hero’s journey where they must preserver without leaning on hope. This is a time of deep uncertainty and doubt yet the hero continues. Its kind of interesting but it seems to me anyway, that it is often the loss of hope while continuing to push through, becoming comfortable with uncertainty and doubt that is the point in the story that opportunity presents itself. A opportunity that the hero may never have imagined possible yet where they discover their gold. (You may enjoy the book The Alchemist)
Its ok to be uncertain, to doubt and not being able to envision a future. This may be a time where your task is to focus on completing your PHD and letting go of expectations of where you imagine you “should” be. What is required at this time it to continue the every day tasks, ‘moving’ while keeping your eyes open.
Pay attention when your thinking goes all or nothing. For example ‘things will always be this way’, ‘I will always be lonely’, ‘I know what others are thinking’… This cognitive distortion language is the language of depression and anther task that the hero must overcome. Most of that type of cognitive distortion come from fear, most of which is ‘false evidence appearing real’. The danger is that when we fixate on these distortions and thoughts that we can create what we fear
The first thought that came to mind when I read you post was that here is a person with nothing to lose and having nothing to lose the opportunity to take a chance and surprise herself. Be the hero of your story.
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