Thank you for the kind words and I'm happy to have you here my friend :)

Nice to hear you've reached the point where it's clear that understanding with your mind isn't getting you anywhere. Even if you believe you've found the common thread to all the teachings, that still doesn't solve the underlying problem of not feeling satisfied and content with life as it is. There's this belief that if I can only figure this thing out, then... I'll be happy. And it comes in so many forms :)

@@MartinKPettersson Absolutely. My mind is stubborn, so it had to exhaust every avenue before being put in its place lol

Most people start with reading much and meditating little. Eventually they'll see that reading little and meditating much is a better approach :)

@MartinKPettersson The student becomes the master... then the master becomes the student. I disagree

Such a simple yet challenging thing to do when our world tells us that we should only enjoy and appreciate whatever society tells us to.

I feel you, my friend. It's also a common thing, and it is often lauded as being on the spiritual path because you know lots of spiritual quotes.

It's not thoughts that are the main issue. It's the feelings behind those thoughts that cause us problems. We believe we must have a different reality to allow ourselves to enjoy being here. Then, when you feel good, you go out and do whatever you think is the right thing to do with your life, not what others believe is the right thing for you to do.

Thank you, and nice to see you at the meditation last week my friend :)

My workplace is truly a beautiful place to be :) I must admit, I rarely use terms like "The universe" or "All being" since they refer to things we can't know, and ultimately, they represent a philosophy that distracts us from experiencing and enjoying our lives as they are. But I chose that title because I rewrote the saying "Life rewards action, not intelligence," and "the universe" felt right in that context. But ultimately, it's just a fact, not dependent on some greater power or all-knowing state of the universe.

@@rupalisrivastava324 I'm sorry, I don't understand your question. Would you clarify it a bit.

I'd love to do that, but time is the main issue and commitment to my family during the weekends. I'll keep this in mind since it's something I've thought about doing but right now can't commit the time to. Thank you for the suggestion!

It's a great way to view not only practice but daily life. Would be happy to hear how it works for you!

Thank you my friend!

I would say that I'm happier and much deeper in my practice now than when I was a monk. But I wouldn't say that having a partner is what that hinges on. Having a relationship with a woman and having children together has been work aswell as joy. But it does help with letting go and acceptance aswell as putting all those hours on the cushion to practice. And I was lucky to find someone who shared my values and who was willing to stick it out so that now 9 years later we have a healthy and happy realtionship (most of the time ; ) and it feels as natural as being alone in many ways.

@ thanks for your response. 😊 I found the stability and lifestyle of having a Satvic partner allowed me good grounding to really focus on my practice. A nice balance let’s say. But.... now I’m not with that partner anymore I’m noticing I’m craving the grounding quality that brought which seemingly allowed me to go very deep in my practice. Now I’m in this new place where I’m keeping myself grounded and balanced without that. Of course, I can use this time now as my new source of growth. My friend is a long standing monk and now lay person. He’s scared to enter a relationship due to fears of needing to leave the comfort of a dharma Center etc. I wonder if he will miss out on lots of growth. Who knows. Anyway, thanks for sharing. It’s all fascinating

I figured as much Julian and I'm happy it helped. It's a subject close to my heart because of how much suffering it caused me. Especially before I figured out how to handle it in myself. If I ever am able to spend more time with this channel I'd love to create a program or some guide as to all of the things one should be aware of before during and after a burnout. you're always welcome to ask questions in the weekly meditations if there's something specific you're struggling with and I'd be happy to talk about it or research for more info before I answer.

@@MartinKPettersson ty so much ! A Video with advices would be awesome and help a lot of people!

Sorry for the late reply. The distortions and sometimes feelings we feel preceed thought and just like you ention if you focus your awareness on that feeling and letting go of it and doing what I work with which is to feel enjoyment and apreciation of your life experience then the thoughts usually settle down just like you mention.

You're welcome my friend!

It's easy to have belifs rather than keeping your thinking to things we can actually know and observe, and even then be aware that we might view things in the wrong light.

Well said my friend :)

@@MartinKPettersson No friends either! 🤪🤪🤪

That sounds very much like a non dual or Non-centric experience as I like to call it. Everything is exactly where it needs to be and there is no need to move anything since the sense of a centerpoint or sense that needs other things to be a specific way for you to feel happy is gone. Also what you describe as a canvas and leaves blowing in circles is that our awareness of vision widens so it feels like we are aware and process 180degrees of what we see instead of a small narrow cone that sweeps the outside world. This is why it feels like there are patterns and everything looks so different even though it's exactly the same. My favourite is watching the bark on trees since you see the whole pattern from bottom to top and it's beautiful. Happy to have you here my friend and thank you for sharing your experience!

Well said my friend. For me, being a monk was a vehicle that helped me practice meditation and introspection. The religious aspects of Buddhism unfortunately got in the way many times. I remember visiting Kalutara Bodhi temple once with my Locu Hamderwu. That's the one right after a bridge on the west coast south of Colombo right?

@ that’s correct. May you reach your goals.

Great questions give great answers :) Happy you're here Nicole!

Thank you for those kinds words and happy to have you here my friend!

It's there for everyone yet we often overlook it. Thanks for the app tip :)

Great advice and something we should all practice more.

Oh no, that's not supposed to happen. I only have an ad in the beginning and end. Nothing in the middle. Thank you for letting me know, I'll look into it

you dont have your body is perfect feed it proper diet - nurture it - love it

I feel you my friend!

@@meethunghosh1892 Genetic. I am content. That’s just how it is.

I have three herniated discs in my upper neck and have had chronic pain to the point where I couldn't function and never got to sleep more than 25min before it hurt to much and I needed to move. It's not about clearning ones mind, the thoughts are not the main problem here. The problem is how you are feeling inside because of those thoughts. And the thing to realize is that that is not an absolute connection. Since I had my spinal injury back in 2008 I have had constant numbness and pain in my left arm and it caused a severe burnout because of lack of sleep. This then shifted to my right side when the herniated disc got squashed again last year and I had to go through it all again. I still had the thought and knowledge that this might be my reality for the rest of my life. But that thought was very different from the first time around before I had meditated and practiced the way I do now. It's not about getting comfortable nor is it about clearing your mind. It's about seeing that there are two parts in what we call pain. One is the actual physical pain, but the more severe pain is the distortion, pressure or aversion we create towards it. If you suffer from chronic pain I'd highly recommed you watch the first video I ever made on this channel which is about that topic and I also made three guided meditations focused on handling pain. Best of luck with your practice and your pain and feel free to ask if you have any questions or join us for Mon & Thu evening meditations were we also have Q&A.

@@MartinKPettersson Thanks, I've always wanted to have some meditation guidance that also deals or have dealt with some level of consistent pain. On pain meds rn, sort of but it's still not entirely ideal. I'll check it out.

I hope I didn't say this wrong in the video but I never meant to say focus on yourself. I said focus on your senses and your experience of reality, not the story about your reality. You're in a much better position if you are feeling good and want to help peple from a position of welbeing and genuine interest in what's happening rather than helping them out of pity or fear. It's dificult for us to understand that there is still action when we don't feel bad about something and aren't forced to action but rather chose action.

@@MartinKPettersson thanks. It comes down to how we interpret each others views. But i agree with you. Although i sometimes wish i might have not had children as our family and our extended families are very distant in large part due to faith abuse. This other things such as economies and environment make me feel bad for children and young adults. People are connecting less today all round. Mental health has turned into an epidemic. Meanwhile there's lots of people turning to their chosen Stoic ways being . As its still easier than it is to seek to make changes, for now anyway.

I'm happy to hear that and happy to have you here my friend!

I'm sorry to hear that and you're not alone in having difficult experiences like that. How long did this last for you, and what would you say was the main things that helped you get out of it? Also do you know how it was triggered?

This was the most profound thing I've heard all morning! Thank you for sharing ♥️

Thank you for that kind comment. I'm happy to hear you find them helpfull and I'm happy to have you here my friend.

@@MartinKPettersson Thank you my friend

We're talking about two different things. You're talking about the story or connection of things. I'm talking about the raw sensory input without any filters or the haze that comes from having a sense of self going in and relating to everything from a sense of you. Rather than seeing things as they truly are. The saying "In the seen is only the seen, in the heard is only the heard etc." is what I'm talking about. Happy to have you here and your perspective.

Thank you my friend, nice to have you here :)

So true, Text is just a pointer. Unless you experience it yourself it's pointless :)

I’ve found it to be an iterative process of personally experiencing > intellectual/philosophical understanding/hashing out > personally experiencing… but I would say at any point in time, we are aware of a certain level of our personal truth, which is subjective even if we strongly believe it is an ultimate truth of reality