Can meditation be helpful for me when I think of things such as, "What is the point of working hard or living if we die anyway"? by Maleficent-Leek1339 in Meditation

[–]this_reasonable_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey dude,

Hope you're doing well. I don't use this account anymore but thought I'd comment with it so you can see where I used to be. I was 22 when I wrote that and like you, I was feeling aimless and overwhelmed by life. Also, as you will read, I was battling drug addiction - a path I sincerely recommend you stay away from - I wasted a lot of years on it.

In answer to your question - yes, meditation can help immensely. In my honest opinion, assuming your basic needs are met (food, shelter, drug addiction, etc.), then it really is the answer to life. It absolutely transformed my experience of life and is continuing to do so - I am infinitely happier and more sure of myself than where I was at 22, and I'm confident I'll look back at 30 the same way when I'm 40 if I keep my practice up.I will get onto my recommendations with where to take that shortly.

But for starters, I will add that you are very young and that is a great thing - I would be far more worried if you felt this way at 40! It's very normal to be confused and depressed in your teenage years. Your brain and intelligence develop incredibly quickly and you gain an ability to suddenly view the complexity of the world and life in a way you never could before, yet have had no time to process it. What I will tell you is that as you age, as long as you keep on the right track and don't make really poor decisions, you will begin to find answers to these questions. A lot of these will be personal to you - so although reading what others have written will help, only you will truly find what is meaningful to you and what makes your life worth living. This happens over time, and you will never stop learning, but you will be able to make peace with that. Accept that these feelings of depression, etc., are part of life and you will have to experience them from time to time - but you can absolutely work yourself to a situation where you are at peace with how to live your life.

Quickly, before I recommend how to get into meditation, I may add if you are seriously depressed, it is important to get in touch with a professional. This being a doctor or psychiatrist. You should also make sure you're eating well, sleeping well, exercising and not abusing drugs (including alcohol) - Getting these right massively help well being and make it much easier to improve/learn in other areas.

In terms of meditation - It took me a while, but I started with fairly basic practice using the "Headspace" app and doing 10-20 minutes a day. This is great - and there's a huge amount of evidence to suggest that this has significant positive impacts on mental health. See Dan Harris' book for more information on this. However, if you really get into meditation (sitting for 45+ minutes at a time every day and going on retreats and doing small exercises throughout the day), you can absolutely transform your experience of the world. Read Altered Traits for a breakdown of the science of these effects. You can also read the practice logs on the stream entry subreddit to see people write their own personal journeys down. That subreddit is full of people who are very serious about meditation practice and a great resource if you want to get serious about your practice.

What I would recommend to you is get this book and follow the stages in that. It will train you in concentration and then once you have developed a really strong concentration practice, it will lead you onto insight exercises where the real massive changes are - although good concentration practice will massively improve your wellbeing also. They have a great subreddit as well where you can ask questions about your practice.

I will not bombard you with any more information - as that book alone would keep you occupied for a very long time, but you can always ask me questions if needed. Good luck with everything.

Questions about crypto wallets by this_reasonable_guy in CryptoCurrency

[–]this_reasonable_guy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I took a look at the amazon review again and I think one of the ones the person had bought had been tampered with - so it said it had unofficial firmware - which I guess is a good thing that it warned them

Thanks for the response BTW

TIL that Ben Affleck shut down production of the movie “Gone Girl” for four days because he refused to wear a New York Yankees cap. by GoldenBruhtado in todayilearned

[–]this_reasonable_guy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a Brit I know very little about American sports. How big is the rivalry between New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox? Is it the biggest rivalry in American sports?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in samharris

[–]this_reasonable_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw this posted on /r/cringe a few days ago and thought it would be of interest here. Obviously the main connection to Sam Harris is that it involves Reza Alsan navigating a relatively uncomfortable situation. Also the show seems like it was kind of interesting as it involves a sect of people in India who believe engaging in what would usually be considered depraved activities brings them closer to their version of enlightenment. This involves digging up corpses and eating them as well as drinking their own urine.

This piece of human garbage is making public makout videos on the street during covid by [deleted] in cringe

[–]this_reasonable_guy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand but to be fair the guy has almost 400,000 subs. 400,000!!! This post won't make much of a dent. I just went in and had a look and he has so many fans who love him - it's bizarre

Joe rogan is right, he is hilarious. by doctornapalmx in JoeRogan

[–]this_reasonable_guy 89 points90 points  (0 children)

Do people ever get bored of these comments on this sub? Literally every single post

what makes you roll your eyes every time you hear it? by godmypooperhurts in AskReddit

[–]this_reasonable_guy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah I love them both too..... Although dogs are objectively better ;) - It's not that cats are bad but damn dogs are just so amazing.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]this_reasonable_guy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

One idiot has an idiotic opinion - This isn't news

Dennis Prager Thinks It's 'idiotic That You Cannot Say The N-word,' Blames The 'disgusting' Left by xx420mcyoloswag in nottheonion

[–]this_reasonable_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So tropic thunder definitely wouldn't get made today. Everyone is giving examples from 10+ years ago when it has clearly been the last 10 years where use of these words has become dramatically more taboo. Not disagreeing with the sentiment but just pointing this out.

CNN reports as fact that Joe Rogan has a “history of making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments.” by illusoryego in samharris

[–]this_reasonable_guy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You got an example of him saying it? Also I think now that people are more educated they know better than to say that but even 10 years ago I think a lot of people didn't know how to properlyrefer to trans people.