[immortal227] My thoughts on life, purpose, relations and future

Diary
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Early morning and late night are peak study hours. You can clock 5 hrs in those periods. Never let learning leave your schedule. It stays with you, for life.

Focus more on bodyweight exercises and experiment with them. You travel frequently so gym is hard to come by. But when you get to visit the gym, focus on compound lifts to develop strength and weight.

The urges will come repeatedly. No idea of when this mess will leave your brain. Remember why you began. Remember self control is the greatest virtue. Lust and uncontrolled passions are bottlenecks to growth.

Remember your vision. Remember your Destiny.

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This diary is full of positivity…

Keep inspiring and educating my friend…

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There are people out there who have mastered the art of self- control, and there are those who have not. And only those masters deserve to be called human beings.Only they are free.Only they are the ones truly alive. Rest all are dead in mind, dead in purpose, dead through and through.

Think about those champions who started on this forum just like you. They crossed the 1000 day mark, mastered their self control, chased their dreams and succeeded. Yes, they exist. And they are truly free.
Think about your father who works hard on a daily basis and makes an honest living. Even in this late age he still acts like a tiger.And he is free.
Think about all those hard workers who strive on a daily basis to make an honest living. Who postpone all pleasures for their purpose only to realise the chase for that purpose was the Supreme pleasure all along. And they are free.

You could be free as well. You just need to get this nonsense out of your mind that it can not be done. LOOK AROUND YOURSELF. So many have done it. On this forum, even in your own family. Learn from these people and master self control.

And master self control at an Extreme. Master it to such an extent that your Brain starts to fear you. That it stops bothering you with those urges. A man who controls his sexual impulses controls his life.

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It is important that one seeks an aim in life to counter the continous attacks of these temptations. And the aim has to be both long term and short term.
And I do have a short term aim, for now. I have participated in a study challenge being hosted here. And the aim is to outdo the rest of the competitors in how many hours one studies for a month. And even though many say that I am old enough to leave my studies behind and focus on my job, without doubt learning has not left me. When one is a student of medicine, study go on for a lifetime. And my study is all about lifetime.
Focus on studying medicine, focus on discovering new investment strategies, focus on studying new companies, emerging technologies, studying martial arts and philosophy. There should never be a lack of learning in one’s life, especially in the present where the world is moving so fast.

So keep on keeping on studying!

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If I could give one advice to myself and my fellow men here, it would be this-

GET OFF THAT DAMN SMARTPHONE!!

Truly, smartphone are singular culprits who have turned smart men into smart zombies.

Do myself a favor and use it only to write this diary and to attend important calls. And social media is an absolute sham ! Just stay away from it.
The internet is a double edged sword. Use it to empower yourself, don’t let it turn you into a mindless meat locomotive.
First step in this journey to bolster your self control- EMPTY YOUR MIND.

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get off smartphone completely is almost impossible nowdays. The approach that works is Change your digital habits for Instagram, Youtube, Netflix, Games, News and other addictive content which very often triggers PMO. Challenge 2021 (Entries Open for November)

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I agree with you, my friend. Because that’s exactly what I said. Not to get off it completely but to use it in such a way that it ends up complementing your productivity. Most of Social Media I find to be problematic today are followers of Sturgeon’s law. And that includes Facebook, Instagram, snapshot etc.

YouTube may be beneficial when catered to one’s productive needs. I use it mostly to learn and gather crucial information, not to surf for mindless entertainment.

Gaming and Netflix are fine when one doesn’t binge them. Strict moderation when followed may even be beneficial in case of gaming. Even though I neither game nor watch movies.

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I am absolutely convinced right now, that among all the super powers that men have described, whether real or fictional, Self-control reigns the highest. It is greater than flight, invisibility, extreme strength or agility, charisma or high intellect. It is the most basic attribute of the stoic sage. Among courage, justice and persistence, self-control is the source. The glacier from which the river flows.

And no virtue needs to be sought more than self-control in the kind of world we live today. The world we now inhabit is an Era of excess. A world where any form of entertainment is available at an arm’s reach. And so much of excess is there that people sometimes find themselves in utter confusion, what should they use to entertain themselves at this moment. And that, is the Fundamental problem.

Our ancestors were much different. Far more resilient and resolute, they lived in a harsh world. They had to work hard to make ends meet. And by ends meet I simply mean, find food to not starve themselves for another week. They were constantly surrounded with adversity, with dangers unimaginable. Drought, disease, wild animals, tribal invasions, harsh weather constantly attacking them from all sides. Yet, they persisted. And these very adversities provided valuable lessons to us. Survival itself became a source of meaning for the human spirit. These constant challenges preoccupied our mind and gave us an opportunity to overcome them and rise.

But the modern world is filled up to the brim with all sorts of resources and commodities. We lack nothing. We have food on the table at all times. Phones to talk to anyone anywhere on the planet. Cars to get anywhere. Air conditioners, heaters, refrigerators, televisions keep us in our comfort zones. Electricity at all times. WE HAVE EVERYTHING…EXCEPT MEANING. A PURPOSE, AN AIM.

A MISSION IN LIFE.

This is the reason, I believe, that our mind has short circuited our brains to seek these self gratifying pleasures instead of committing ourselves to a goal. Because… our biological needs are cempletely met to a great extent. That danger that provided a sense of thrill, of fullfillment is simply not there.

And so, self-control in a man is an absolute essential trait. To protect our minds from these dangerous pleasures and sensory desires and to once again seek those uncharted territories. To once again explore those worlds which gave rise to the human spirit. But you must prepare yourself first. Yes, if you simply develop your self-control, there is nothing else that one needs to worry about. That is the goal of the modern world. That is what one needs to do for self fulfillment.For the modern man, First, there is self-control and beyond that, EVERYTHING ELSE.

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very inspiring thank you for that!

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A man of true self control is like a rock that waves keep crashing over. The waves breaks apart and disperses around it, while the rock remains calm and steady.

This same analogy must apply to us. The urges are like waves, trying with all its might to break your resolve. Your self-control is the rock that surrounds your mind. The urges crash upon it and disperses.

Is it unfortunate then, for you that you are bombarded like this? No. The only unfortunate thing will be the rock breaking apart. Who is not tempted and affected in this world? Nobody.

The urges are out of your control. Fortunately, the rock and its composition are not. It is upto you, to cement that structure and make it dense and solid, so nothing will be able to phase you away from your purpose.

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It feels terrible, at the moment. But it will pass. It has to. You must control your feelings. You cannot control what others feel about you. What they think about you is their business. Trying to control what they think will inadvertently lead to sadness and hopelessness.
But you must assume control over yourself. Handle yourself and your feelings. The future holds so many possibilities. Maybe it will workout for you in some way.
But don’t give up on yourself.
So much has changed in the past few years and so much yet to alter. But do not favour acceptance. Remember what you told yourself. Acceptance is a defeatist attitude. Stand true to that. Now is the time to remain fixated on your beliefs.

The entire world may change, but I won’t because I choose not to.

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The morning was totally miserable and depressing. But as the sun rose, things started to change. New ideas began to appear, new patterns started to form. And finally, I must convert these ideas into text so that I can feed it into my memory because if I adhere to them, it can change my life for the better.

First of all, the human nature is irrational and emotional. Dogmatic. There comes a time in one’s life that certain ideas take shape through seeking. Seeking is part of human spirit and is beneficial. But a person must, someday accumulate a fixed number of ideas that define their identity and use these ideas to lay down their foundation. And these foundations must remain unchanged, eternally. Forever. A change to these foundations, these ideas should be life threatening. Unforgivable. Inhuman. Some things must never change. They must remain so. Unyielding and relentless.

You too have undergone change. How beneficial were changes like porn, procrastination and deviance for your life? Have they given you anything but misery? Do you wish for anything else but complete removal of these changes from your personal life? How many people you have come across, who instead of seeking change, remained fixated to their cause, were able to overcome their failures and gain glory? Do you not wish to empty your mind?

An important thing to understand is this-
The human mind is plastic. The brain practices neuroplasticity. It accommodates itself to its environment. If you are in an environment of hardworking, serious people who facilitate action and honour, you will eventually become like them. But if you are in bad company, you will gain their characters. If you are in the company of people who exercise and diet hard, you will become fit. If you are in company of people who are sedentary and eat junk, you will grow fat. In company of seekers, one becomes a seeker. In company of doers, one becomes a doer. And one who is solitary, will prefer solitude. So the conclusion is very simple- change your environment. This is where those permanent ideas that I discussed above will gather strength. This is where the foundations will be strengthened. By building a community around you and remaining in their midst, forever. Everytime your ideas get challenged, people telling you to accept porn, telling you it’s okay to be lazy, to become a deviant, go back to seek your first principles. The environment may not include people ,specifically. Any medium, even movies or games will do.

Life is such that on somedays, you are lively, on other days you are simply struggling to survive. On those harsh days, remember, these feelings that you have, they are not you. And they will not survive. You will regain yourself in time. The mind is fickle and your personal thoughts keep getting challenged. Again, go back to your environment. To your most personal ideas. Your family. Understand that these thoughts are unreal, incompatible with you. Laugh at them. Tell them that they are there only for a time being. Your self control is unyielding. Your armor will remain checked and powerful. Infact, supplement yourself with your past thoughts. In time, the pain will go. And once again, the calm bliss will return.

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Your posts are worth reading. You seem like someone who reads a lot and is actually implementing and growing because of it.
The feeling I get from reading ‘the daily stoic’, I get the same feeling by reading your posts.

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Read both meditations and the handbook of Epictetus. Would love to read ’ Letters from a stoic" by Seneca someday.

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Thank you for your kind words.

Unfortunately, growing has not been very essential to my mind, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I am absolutely certain about what I want. What I am looking for is a methodology and certainty of its results. If I can figure out a method that will give the result I wish for, I am willing to give my entire life to it.

The future is uncertain, though. And so may be my methods. But, maybe I am just being too impatient. Maybe it will workout in the end.

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For what do you intend to apply the method you are seeking? Whole life in general? Or for a particular addiction?

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Simply put, I have certain goals that I wish to achieve. But they are obscure enough that I cannot figure out how to accomplish them. Or whether I would be able to in the way I want right now.

For example, let’s talk about addictions. The sort of stuff we are fighting against. All the addictions that cause us to suffer is linked through certain memories. The brain identifies certain actions as pleasurable and fulfilling, identifying them as priorities worth seeking. Even though the mind understands that these actions, these priorities are harmful in the long term, the human brain has evolved in a way that it seeks short term impulsive pleasures. It overwhelms the mind, we engage in our addictions, the brain then settles down, and when we again become mindful, we feel wretched and unhappy.

In short, when it comes to addictions, the mind and the brain are antithetical to each other. The mind is the real ‘you’, something that understands and adapts, the brain is simply hot wired through years of evolution to sustain the body.

Unfortunately, the mind itself is fickle and fragile. When I was watching porn before nofap, I didn’t feel wretched because my mind was not aware of the consequences. Even though obviously I was damaging my body. As soon as nofap started, everytime I did it, a sense of gloom took over me. I felt bad about every deviant sexual thought that occurred because now, my mind was aware of the consequences. It had more wisdom, but lacked self control.

So what I am aiming for is a higher mindset. A quality mind. A mindset that encompasses virtues above all. The mindset we have read about in religions, philosophies around the world. The mindset of champions. The Stoic Mind. A mindset that values self-control, responsibility and courage. An unyielding, unbreakable, relentless mind.

Unfortunately, human nature is flawed and easily falls to temptations. So I searched and looked at new emerging technologies for an answer.

And one of the answers I was able to find out was Optogenetics. A tech that uses various spectrum of light to alter your brain chemistry. Essentially, a technology that you would be able to use to add or remove certain memories. Something that I wish to use in order to rewire my mind.

But as all other technologies, the idea is incredibly dangerous, though very appealing. As our memories form the core of our personal identities, this technology can be easily misused. And that, for me is another reason to be worried about. Nonetheless, it is one of my goals.

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Weird idea, isn’t it?

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Damn bro :sweat_smile:.
I saw similar idea in movie Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind but I had no idea it was for real.
But rewiring is possible without tech too my friend, let’s aim for that at the moment.
A stoic mind doesn’t need tech to build it, it just needs knowing ourselves and how to react in all situations, it requires real life practice to develop, learn the lessons the stoics gave us and implement in real life, and a time will come when you’ll be so well worsed with implementing them that people might call you a stoic.

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I completely agree with what you said, @The_integrous_one. And you are absolutely right. Training one’s own mind through trials is better than depending on an uncertain tech. Maybe that’s what is happening to me. I feel out of control so i depend on something I don’t completely understand. The tech will come when it will come, right now we have our minds.

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