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Peter

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Viewing 15 posts - 436 through 450 (of 999 total)
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  • in reply to: Insight on my past relationship #287543
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Alex

    My friends told me it wasn’t my fault because I was just trying to help him

    I hope you don’t 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?

    in reply to: Social awkwardness, low self esteem #287431
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi 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

    1. Dereflection: 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.
    2. Paradoxical intention: 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.
    3. Socratic dialogue: 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.
    in reply to: How do we stop feeling bitchy? #287297
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Giulea

    I can’t change the way they behave – 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.

    in reply to: Simple Living Examples #287231
    Peter
    Participant

    “The 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.”  ― Kilroy J. Oldster

    A  necessary ingredient to the simple life is “to know thyself” 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 don’t 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.

    in reply to: Eliminating patterns of thought #286709
    Peter
    Participant
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi 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) Mark and Anita might help you with that.

    With regards to “other people can multitask but I feel like I just can’t”  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

    in reply to: Eliminating patterns of thought #286405
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi 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 MD  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.

    in reply to: Discouragement, anxiety and fear #286301
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi 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.

     

    in reply to: Eliminating patterns of thought #286227
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi 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 study’s showing that our thoughts influence the brains neuropathways.  The good news is that we can ‘rewire’ 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 – 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?

    I’ve 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 “woke” 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 isn’t something we need to destroy but understand.

    Here is a paradox for you. It takes a strong health ego to let go of ego.

    in reply to: Do artist make art because they believe in something? #284603
    Peter
    Participant

    I 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 didn’t matter.  I didn’t have the tools to fix things and used what I had.  And you know what? It all worked. Every “mistake” worked and even made it better. It was amazing just going with what happened in the moment. When I wasn’t trying to make things happen and instead allowed things to happen – 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 doesn’t 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 who’s to say… or care.

    in reply to: Do you believe in twin flames? #284487
    Peter
    Participant

    Its only recently that I’ve heard people talking about finding their twin flame.

    I googled it and from what I read finding your ‘twin flame’ 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 ‘twin flame’ is problematic as I invasion the ‘burning of the candle’ 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 ‘Twin Flame’ 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 I’m 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 – My observations is that they seldom end well)

    I don’t 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 I’d 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.

    Peter
    Participant

    I always liked those ‘ground hog’ type stories were the main character keeps repeating the same day over and over until they get it right. Wouldn’t 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 “days” 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 change…a 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 – chew on that for a while)

    The idea of fixing our past it’s 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 “life times” 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 it’s the tension between what we judge as good and bad that leads to “conscious awakening’.   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 “fix” 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 “fixed” all your experiences would you, still be you? Would you notice?

    • This reply was modified 6 years ago by Peter.
    in reply to: How to release anger and not react #284295
    Peter
    Participant

    You 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 don’t 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.  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 “He 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.“  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 couldn’t give you what you needed and a part of you perhaps feels it was your fault, that you weren’t 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 “at a boy/girl” 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 us…..

    in reply to: Life #282709
    Peter
    Participant

    I 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

     

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Peter.
    • This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Peter.
    in reply to: Failed at life? #282699
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi 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.

     

     

Viewing 15 posts - 436 through 450 (of 999 total)