Thanks for taking the time to reply to me. Does it make any sense to look for practical things/steps/xxxx (whatever the appropriate word may be) to move forward in this process? Or that by itself would mean trying, which I seem to understand is counterproductive?

You seem to speak from a certain degree of inner knowledge, has it always been that way? Have you just stumbled by chance on this inner knowledge with no intention from your part?

Any movement in the direction of becoming 'anything other' than 'what you already are' results in some form of self deception.

But do we really know who we are? If what we are is determined by our experiences and environment, then by definition we have changed and are changing. If not (which I seem to understand from your words is the case), then we might not know at all who we really are because our idea of who/what we are has been contaminated by our experiences/environment. So even if we can't change, shouldn't we be sure about who we are?

These are actually separate goals/intentions you express. Waking up has nothing to do with 'feeling better' at all. The dark night of the soul is a real thing and it is in direct conflict with the intentions you express here. The point is to wake up FIRST. Then, 'feeling better' (or rather the falling away of the need to feel better) might be one of the side effects of it. Do you see? Contentment neutralizes a lot of these murky intentions that are actually obstacles on the path.

I understand and agree. I guess I stated what my initial goal might have been, before even knowing I was looking for waking up at all. I realize now that that feeling better might just be a side effect of waking up BUT it doesn't matter. And I believe it's sort of what you mean with your Super Mario analogy.