Thank you for taking the time to save that 🐎 horse! 💜

Read Lucid Living – imagine … just imagine for a moment you were god – the all of everything – the only one existing in an eternity of nothing else – all alone because there is no other beyond you – wow – sounds depressing, boring and lonely to me. So what might you do, might dream a dream where others seemed like others, but still inside your dream – when we die, we wake up to our greatness and emptiness at same time.
Life really is, a dream. And words creat your reality experience – words guide what we notice of the billions of things we don’t notice all around us. Author ! You words are true because you wrote them – but there are many more truths that don’t suck …

And that’s just ONE example. No two people are alike. No diet will fit the same two person. No lifestyle will be the recommended dosage for everyone. The pain and suffering one goes through – suppose a heroin addict from point of no return- maybe that’s his path and one day he shall see the light and realize the mess he was in. Doesn’t mean there isn’t a way out. But at the end of the day one comes to conclusion – just like your gratitude example- that whether it be having the illusion that one is pilot of his steamboat and fighting upstream like a boss… he was STILL going downstream. Thus best is to surrender and let your gut and intuition answer the calling.

Or think about this way. What is the point of 12 hour fasting to reap benefits? I love IF time to time but it is moronic to think if you suffer for half of your day only to reap benefits for the time of breaking fast. Again, if it works great. But DONT FORCE yourself to lead OTHER people’s lifestyle just cuz it is “good for you”. Figure it out yourself, what works and what not and REMEMBER YOU have all the answers. YOU are the PATH and YOU are the best.

So much for self-help huh? Looks like I indulged in the same preaching. As Alan Watts once said: A master or guru who pretends to give you answer is like the man who steals your watch to sell it to you.

It took me last 3 years to figure these out. Now I pretty much go with the flow with occasional hormesis. At least I am more happier that way. Yeah if you are smoking cigs and you spend 20 years to overcome it suffering hell from withdrawals, then you may die ‘healthy’ but you will die a MISERABLE, BITTER and FRUSTRATED death.

I wrap up by talking Chuang Tzu as a jibe for marshmellow test which apparently “predicts success” (sigh… :rolleyes:)

A zookeeper fed 4 bananas to the monkeys at day and 3 at night. The monkeys were happy.
Then he fed 3 bananas in the morning and 4 at night and the monkeys are sad.

Sheepolas are people who are fed the bullshit by self-help ‘gurus’ that if you suffer, and work hard you will find that “ultimate goody goody at the end” and as if magically everything will be alright.

As John Stoessel would say: Gimme a fuckin break.

Good points. Thanks for the comment 🙂

I also think that doing self exploration without a predefined end point is helpful. It doesn’t require buying any books from self proclaimed gurus, but too often we want to glaze over the ugly or uncomfortable aspects of who we are and what we value. Instead we follow social norms and go with the flow, which may cause us to spend our money or time in ways that aren’t meaningful to us.

I agree with you 100% that life is messy and nothing is going to change overnight (or by reading a single book). Finding meaning in our lives is worth going through uncomfortable periods and will look different for everyone. And for some people it might start with a self help book! Even if you think 99% of what they discuss is crap, you’ll still probably learn something that will eventually be helpful in your own life.

Yes, our wounds are part of our story, but we don’t have to let them be the final chapter. My wife suffered abuse as a child. She could have been a sad statistic, actually almost was, but she decided to rise above and instead of “defined by” let’s say, she is not ruled by the suffering. Affected, of course. Still battling at times, yes. But she has made a difference in countless lives by being a survivor and a fighter.

cd :O)