[schizophrenicroom]

ooh! actually i did that to go to sleep for a long while. i'd do the corpse pose, and slowly tense every muscle from the toes up, count to then, then un-tense while breathing in and out. it always helped. then i just did drugs instead, but yknow, life happens.

but it is super relaxing. i taught it to my brother, too. and he's more hyperactive than i am.

[!@#$%!]

ha ha ha-- "life happens". yes. funny/sad, but there is no reason not to pick up where you left off. i think everyone has to get lost a little (more or less) before returning "home", so to speak. once upon a time i went mad-- it was a kind of neurosis turning into a psychosis from the stress. deep depression, suicidal, shit like that. oooooffff... dark times. i'm much better now.

anyway, yeah. you can do that anywhere actually, with practice, without a special pose-- just get out of your head and back in your body. that stuff helps me with anger, panics, serious pain, etc.-- i know the instinct is to flee the body into fantasy, but actually minding the body helps more.

ps- and i mean the actual body, not "the mental image of the body" which is a source of soooo much trouble (and plastic surgeries).

[Bytor Peltor]

It's been over a month since EVOLghost last posted......any word on how he is doing?

[gmku]

Is he in rehab?

[A Thousand Threads]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

ha ha ha-- whatever works! right?

since everyone seems in a better mood now i'll explain a supersimple technique

the easiest easiest most basic form of "meditation" i can think of, one that is simple enough for everyone and requires no sore legs or mystical beliefs or anything, is to lie down flat and comfortable with the pams facing up, you know what they call the "corpse" pose in yoga-- do an image search

then you simply breathe and scan your body-- become aware of it-- starting from, say, the feet, and moving upward. some people teach this with just the skeleton/muscles, consciously relaxing them as one progresses, all the way up to the face, but i like to become aware of my insides as well, because of some chinese stuff i learned once-- just feel around the organs, lungs, liver, stomach, etc. and regardles of the circuit path i like to finish in the navel area as a collect point.

anyway, that stuff, that simple stuff, the act that putting your mind back in your body gets one back from mental overdrive and into the world with peace again. it's superrelaxing before sleeping, for example, and i have empirical evidence that it helps prevent nightmares. the why and how is a long hard-to-believe explanation, but basically i've seen it work and i swear by it.

here's one I sometimes do: (i think i already posted this somewhere here)

How to disappear - Haytham El-Wardany

1. Sit alone in a public space like a café, garden, or public square.
2. Try to shift your focus from the thoughts spinning in your mind to the sounds of the space surrounding you.
3. Consider the sounds that reach your ear, sound by sound, without granting any one sound greater significance than any other.
4. Contemplate the folds and creases of the sounds you now hear. When you hear the voice of a passerby, contemplate its tone and this tone's depth, not only the meaning of its words. When an annoying car drives past, contemplate the harsh sound of its motor and the sonic spectrum of its reverberations. When you hear a distant radio, don't focus merely on the singer's voice or the sons's name, but rather contemplate the clarity of its frequency and listen to its static. When you ultimately succeed in listening to the place in its entirety, you will find that the distance between yourself and the space's sounds has diminished, and that you have become part of the place. You will find that no one around you notices your presence; everyone will pass by without seeing you.

How to reappear

1. Return home and turn on all the electrical appliances you own. Run the vacuum cleaner at full power, turn the radio and televsion on at full volume, turn the air conditioning on if you have it, run the washing machine, and have the alarm clock go off if possible.
2. Sit for half an hour amidst this maddening cacophony. (...)

[Antagon]

Gotta keep telling myself that I can't be more than 100% of what I am already. There's no shame in wanting more in life. But once that wish renders you unhappy even though you've accomplished some things in recent history, you might want to work on your attitude. Any suggestions on how to effectively think small?

[schizophrenicroom]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

anyway, yeah. you can do that anywhere actually, with practice, without a special pose-- just get out of your head and back in your body. that stuff helps me with anger, panics, serious pain, etc.-- i know the instinct is to flee the body into fantasy, but actually minding the body helps more.

ps- and i mean the actual body, not "the mental image of the body" which is a source of soooo much trouble (and plastic surgeries).

exercise has helped a ton with my body awareness- i'm still a total klutz (which i sorta attribute to my lack of peripheral vision; half the reason i sucked at actual marching in marching band) but being aware of form, breathing, etc. it's hard to really focus on anything else, too, which is nice.

thinking small... hm. i'm in the same boat, antagon. so i'm of no help. other than try to break down things into 24 hours. the last few times before this one where i was trying to quit certain habits, life was a facsimile of hell essentially but with an even slower sense of time... i just had to break down stuff hour by hour. like, okay, i'm doing a task, just make it through the hour. etc.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Antagon

Gotta keep telling myself that I can't be more than 100% of what I am already. There's no shame in wanting more in life. But once that wish renders you unhappy even though you've accomplished some things in recent history, you might want to work on your attitude. Any suggestions on how to effectively think small?

find a good translation of the tao te ching?

Originally Posted by A Thousand Threads

here's one I sometimes do: (i think i already posted this somewhere here)

[b]How to disappear - Haytham El-Wardany

yes, i've seen you post that before! i tried it earlier this morning and it was great. the thing is there is no "public place" around here so if i became unnoticeable i wouldn't now. the "how to reappear" sounds hilarious.

i like how it's all sound-based.

[schizophrenicroom]

the reappear is awesome. ten seconds of that sounds enough.

[gmku]

Originally Posted by Antagon

Gotta keep telling myself that I can't be more than 100% of what I am already. There's no shame in wanting more in life. But once that wish renders you unhappy even though you've accomplished some things in recent history, you might want to work on your attitude. Any suggestions on how to effectively think small?

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron made a huge, huge difference in my outlook. I haven't re-read it for many years, but I remember it as simple, direct, and commonsensical. Please at least try it.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by gmku

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron made a huge, huge difference in my outlook. I haven't re-read it for many years, but I remember it as simple, direct, and commonsensical. Please at least try it.

i've never heard about that! i should take a look.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Sorry i turned this into the "bitch and mope about your sorrows" thread yall

[Rob Instigator]

If you are interested in reading an English translation of the Encyclical released by the Pope today, you can get it in .pdf format here - w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Why would we want to read that?

[Rob Instigator]

I likes to be informed, stay comfy and current.

he is pissing off all the wealthy USA people that spread the disinformation about the damage that humanity is doing to our Earth and have already started playing the spin game with this encyclical.

Jebediah Bush, without reading it, stated that he feels religion should not be politicized, which is as funny as Satan saying that Evil needs to be vanquished. Nearly every single politician in USA politicizes their supposed religious beliefs at every chance they get!

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Especially ironic since George Bush II was deeply involved with the Vatican under Pope Benedict in ways that even Kennedy would have avoided.. I find it interesting the Vatican using in a literal way the "bully pulpit" considering that historically (I'm talking like two thousands years) the Patriarchates and Bishoprics in Christendom were platforms of criticizing political leadership in the tradition of the Prophets of the Old Testament who criticized openly the Biblical Kings. In the days of the Patristic Fathers, the bishops and patriarchs were vocally critical of political leadership even when aligned. Indeed political intrigues are what divided the universal Church in the 450s (at Chalcedon Council) and then again in the 1050s (Great Schism) and then again in the 1550s (Protestant Reformation)..

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

On the positive side my mood as shifted from somber to numb, which for me is significant progress. If I can get to "ephemeral detachment" I am golden until I swing back towards "manic ecstasy"

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

If you are interested in reading an English translation of the Encyclical released by the Pope today, you can get it in .pdf format here - w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf

THANKS! your link is busted as it redirects to this board itself , but here's the correct one:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/fra...dato-si_en.pdf

i'm reading it-- it's pretty great! i never thought in my life i'd say this but i kinda like this little jesuit pope-- so far, anyway.

[Antagon]

Originally Posted by gmku

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron made a huge, huge difference in my outlook. I haven't re-read it for many years, but I remember it as simple, direct, and commonsensical. Please at least try it.

I've read some selected quotes taken from the book now. Some good stuff. I'm considering getting a copy. Thanks.

[Antagon]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

find a good translation of the tao te ching?

Thanks for the recommendation.