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Yo, what's up?
It's Owen from RSD.
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Just lookin' at the shot I got here.
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[yawning]
And, uh, I had a long day, so ...
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Been getting a lot of questions
about meditation [coughs]
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and I thought today would be
a great day to answer them.
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So let's do it.
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Had a lot of questions asked
about this for a long time.
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People are curious, my thoughts
on the topic of meditation,
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so, even though I'm not the best
person to answer these questions,
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'cause there's a lot of different
people that are experts at it,
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a lot of people were curious what
my thoughts were on it,
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so I'll give you my opinion, and if you
like the sorts of ideas I throw at you,
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then what I'd encourage you to do is
go out and find a better teacher,
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someone who is really,
really good at it,
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and they can teach you how to do
meditation in a more detailed way.
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But I guess a lot of people were
curious about my opinions on it,
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because I'm not some, like,
spiritual woo-woo guy,
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I'm just kind of like a practical dude,
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and interested in the more
practical ramifications of it.
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So, uh, y'know, if you want my
thoughts on it, here they are,
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and otherwise you can
go out and look elsewhere.
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Meditation is basically the idea that you
spend 20 minutes a day doing nothing, OK?
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No thinking. No thinking about
the future, no thinking about the past,
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but literally just resting your awareness
in the present moment.
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All right, so, say I was gonna do that.
Sit here with you and do it right now.
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I'm gonna cross my legs,
but actually, funny enough,
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and this is the first thing I'll teach you,
you don't need to cross your legs, actually.
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I'm not even very flexible. Look at this:
I can barely even cross my legs.
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Probably some people that are into yoga
could teach me how to do that.
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But I'm not flexible at all, so usually
I'll just sit in a chair in my home
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and do it. I want to get as
comfortable as possible.
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And basically, just resting my
awareness on the present moment,
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I would do the following:
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(laughs)
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OK, fun stuff, huh? All right, well,
that's basically all that meditation is.
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So you just sit down -- you could
lie down if you want,
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I guess you could stand up.
I usually just sit in a chair, like I said,
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and you don't think.
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All right, so, if I tell you not to think,
what's going to happen?
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Well, the first thing you're probably
going to be prone to doing
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is judging yourself for how
much you're thinking.
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So you'll be like, OK, don't think.
Wait, now I'm thinking!
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Shit, now I just said I'm thinking!
OK, don't think.
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But look at that leaf over there. It's
green. Shit, I'm thinking about the leaf.
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I'm so bad at this! How do they do this?
How could you spend 20 minutes doing this?
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How could someone spend
a week doing this?
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Right, so that's usually what happens
when someone first tries meditation.
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So what we'll do right now is an exercise,
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where I'm gonna ask you to not think
for, say, five seconds,
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and rather than not think, since
that's not gonna be effective,
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what I want you to do is
simply shift your awareness.
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So fuck not thinking, and simply shift
your awareness into your breathing.
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OK, so as you breathe, just be like
[inhales and exhales slowly]
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what I do there. Just shifted my
awareness to my breathing, OK?
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So let's spend right now five seconds
-- only five seconds --
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just basically shifting your awareness
from all the thoughts that you have
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projecting into the future of things you
gotta do and concerns that you have,
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or possible paths you're gonna take.
Stop thinking about the past,
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and all those things that happened
to you and analyzing them,
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and simply shift your awareness
away from those
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and onto the fact that
you are currently breathing.
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OK.
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All right, maybe you're watching this and
you had no problem doing that whatsoever,
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but on the flip side, maybe
you're watching this
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and that was actually very
difficult for you.
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If it was very difficult for you,
again I gotta really emphasize,
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stop judging. Stop getting caught up
in how well you're doing,
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and if you do have a thought like,
How well am I doing?
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what I want you to do is let it go.
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So any time that you do meditation
and a thought comes into your mind,
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rather than analyzing it, or rather
than clasping onto it like a pitbull,
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just simply watch it float by,
so to speak. OK?
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Sounds kind of funny, but,
y'know, watch it float by.
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So say you're meditating, you're like
[sound indicating focus: zhooop!]
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and you're present, no thoughts at all,
just [focusing sound],
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just aware of the sounds,
feelings in your body,
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aware of the energy in your body,
that's it,
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and then suddenly you think, Oh,
do I have to pay my rent?
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Rather than say, Shit, I have to pay my
rent. Fuck! Oh, I thought -- shit! Fuck!
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-- like that, instead just be like, I have
to pay my rent, and then go, like,
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kind of like be aware, like, oh, I had
a thought, but just be aware
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that you had a thought, and then
[focusing sound] back out.
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So it's almost like when you're present
to the moment, OK, present to the moment,
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again, not in the future, not in the past,
but [focusing sound] right here,
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you're just present to the moment.
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When you lose that focus, either
into the future or the past,
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it's almost like a set of binoculars
or a camera that's like zhooooooop!
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like that, right back into your head,
and then you gotta [reverses the sound]
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back out, OK? So it'd almost be like if I
took this camera lens and went zhooop,
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like that, and then [reverses sound]
back out.
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That's basically how you
wanna think about it.
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OK, now, let's say that you do this for,
um, 20 minutes a day, OK?
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Let's say you're doing 20 minutes
a day of this.
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What you're gonna find is that sometimes
you'll have a couple of seconds,
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or even a couple of minutes, where you're
really, really present to the moment.
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It's really clear.
It's a very relaxing feeling.
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You're not eager for it to end,
you're just completely clear.
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You're just aware of your boring room.
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Now of course, this is probably one of the
most beautiful places on the planet,
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at least in my opinion, so don't worry
about the fact that you're not there.
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I usually do this in a room.
In fact, to be honest,
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if I was sitting in my family room, it
would probably be easier to do than here,
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which most people would
probably disagree with,
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but that's just my personal prerogative,
'cause I'm used to doing it at home, right?
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At home I can just stare at the wall.
I literally just stare at the wall.
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Now you might have questions like,
should you stare at one specific point?
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What happens if you look around?
What happens if you cough?
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What happens if you shift? So here's
some of my answers for that.
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What I like to do is I like to
do it for 20 minutes,
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so I'll set my alarm on my phone,
actually for 21 minutes,
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and I do that so psychologically I've
given myself one minute to shift around.
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You'll find when you first sit down,
you want to scratch little itches,
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you want to swallow a bunch of times,
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you want to maneuver yourself
so that you're comfortable,
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and if you don't limit that to
around a minute or two --
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y'know, I use about a minute --
you'll keep wanting to scratch,
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wanting to shift, keep wanting
to make it better.
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But what's kind of weird, this is
really weird about meditation,
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is that if you just stay still and you
accept it -- so for example,
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when the itch comes, much like
the thought that you don't clasp onto,
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you simply accept that the itch is there,
and don't analyze it or try to resist it,
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you just sort of let it go and surrender to
the fact that this annoying itch is there,
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or this annoying posture that
you're sitting in is there,
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you'll find it kind of goes away,
which is intense, right?
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It's intense to think about that.
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I even find -- I don't know if
anyone else finds this --
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but I find that I don't even need to
swallow saliva as much
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if I'm very present to the moment.
It just doesn't seem to come up,
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and I don't know if that's completely
delusional, but that tends to be what I find.
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Now, I'm not gonna do this perfectly.
So if I meditate for 20 minutes,
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it's pretty unlikely that I'm honestly
gonna sit there for 20 minutes perfectly.
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At some point I'm probably
gonna shift around.
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At some point I'm probably gonna swallow.
At some point I'm probably gonna cough,
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maybe once or twice. But notice that you
shifted it from an ongoing need to do this
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to maybe just a few different times.
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If it's distracting you to the point that
it's messing up your session,
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then just deal with it, but otherwise
don't worry about it.
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Accept it and just let it flow past.
Now how about as far as how long to do it?
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Why do I like to do it for 20 minutes?
Well, for me 20 minutes is really good
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because I find that around maybe the
8- to 16-minute mark, type thing,
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I'll become very present. So definitely
the first five, ten minutes for me,
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I'm not gonna slip into it as easily.
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And then a little bit later
I'll become very, very present,
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and I'll slip into it no problem at all.
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So, um -- what's up, dude?
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So ... the reason that I wanna do it
a little bit longer is just that
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if I only do it for one minute,
it's really not that different
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than just sitting down for a minute.
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If I do it for too long, then I'm
utilizing huge chunks of my day
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to practice becoming present,
and that's not really something
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that I'm interested in doing,
to tell you the truth.
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So, the way that I like to do it
is I like to just become present
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for about 20 minutes, and ideally I kind
of slip in and out of states of like being
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very, very present to not being
that present, and then, uh ...
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what'll happen is usually in the last
maybe 12 minutes to say, 4 or 5 minutes,
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I'm really, really present. But I
don't want you to be analyzing it.
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I don't want you to be saying, How
well did I do with meditation today?
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Did I do well, did I do bad?
You'll kinda know,
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because some sessions are just so clear,
and other sessions are, uh [laughs]
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pretty slow-going and not that different
than just sort of sitting there
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and thinking and thinking and thinking.
But that doesn't really matter, OK?
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It's a lot like going out and learning
game, where some nights are amazing
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and you're in the zone,
and other nights you're just not.
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Meditation parallels this to
a freakishly similar extent.
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How 'bout eyes open vs. eyes closed?
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OK, so I like to do eyes open because
when I keep my eyes open,
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that means that when I go up
to a woman, I'm talking to her,
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I can look at her like this ...
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and I don't have a lot of
flinching going on.
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So I'm not going "Hm?" Like y'know,
she gives me a, say she says,
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You're a pasty white, short,
balding ginger.
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Instead of going Mmm, like, twitching
and getting upset, I'm just like ...
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Mm-hm. Y'know, something like that, right?
I'm kind of like overthinking this now.
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[laughs]
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But anyway, that tends to be how I am.
So meditation with my eyes open
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trains me to actually become present
in a dynamic environment.
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A lot of people are into meditation
as a sub-culture.
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So for example, they're in it to try to
become spiritually enlightened.
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And that's cool. If you wanna become
spiritually enlightened, that's pretty cool,
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but the reason that I'm focused on it
[laughs]
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is that I like the day-to-day practical
benefits, so that's why I like to do it
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with my eyes open, so that I'm not,
like, present,
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like, I'm like a little ball of light,
then I open my eyes I'm like ahh!
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Like that, y'know. I wanna train myself
to be present in my everyday life.
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So I like to go eyes open,
seated anywhere,
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and I put on the alarm because I don't
like to wonder how much longer I have.
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I've personally just found that if
I don't know how long I have,
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that I'm gonna keep wondering about it,
and now that I do it all the time,
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I can generally sense the 20 minutes,
but I prefer to just put an alarm,
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and different people have
different opinions about this.
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I do it before bed because
I'm a night person,
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and if I do it in the morning
I just find it's completely, uh,
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almost like a waste of my time. Sometimes
I'll do a couple minutes in the morning,
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but then I do it properly every night.
But most people, funny enough,
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conversely, like to do it in the morning.
[laughs]
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And they like to do it in the morning
because they find it sets off their day right.
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I'm just not a morning person. That could
be from years of going out late at night,
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it could be for any reason.
I don't know why.
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I just find that I'm really, really
clear-thinking late at night.
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Now funny enough, you'd
think to yourself,
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well, if you do meditation
right before bed,
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would the benefits of being more present to
the moment carry over into the next day?
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And what I find is that they do.
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Basically what happens is that
meditation kind of trains your mind
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to stay in a different zone. So for
example, I hiked in here about 11 miles,
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and what you'll tend to find is with an
11-mile hike, which is up and down cliffs,
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so if you look at the cliffs in the
background, you're hiking along
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the sides of stuff like that and
stuff actually a lot more sketchy,
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is that the first mile,
you really resist it.
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You're like, ugh, this is miserable,
I'm so tired.
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And then the joke that I like to give
-- and this is just a joke,
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'cause I like to be kind of like ironic --
is I say you have to give up hope.
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I'll say this to my buddies, they're like,
how much longer is this, is it hard?
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I'm like, Give up hope! There's no hope!
This is all there is: endless pain!
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And I'll say that to them and it's a joke,
but what I'm trying to say,
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'cause you know I like to be pretty
sarcastic a lot of the time,
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just kind of clown around, I'm trying
to say don't resist it.
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Don't sit there thinking, How much
longer do I have?
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How much longer is this gonna be?
This is uncomfortable.
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Just get rid of all that.
Just surrender to it completely.
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When you do that, rather than thinking,
How far have I gone?
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Or rather than thinking, How much
further is it for me to get here?
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What you'll find is you just
think about the next step,
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and when you're focused on the next step,
what that does is it draws your perception
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out of the mind and towards each
step that's in front of you.
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That is so vital on a trail like the
ones that you see here,
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because if you roll your ankle out here,
or hurt your knee, or cut yourself up,
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y'know, I'm sure you'll find a way out
one way or another [laughs]
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but it's gonna be completely miserable.
So you do not want that to happen.
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You wanna be fully immersed
in each step that you take.
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This is no different than, say, building a
business that might take a decade or two.
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If you start thinking about how far you
have to go, you could go crazy.
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So you wanna think to an extent, because
you wanna be thinking about your plans,
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you wanna kind of change the direction,
but then once you change the direction,
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you can kind of come back out of your
thinking mind and just stay present
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to exactly what's in front of you. If you
see the type of work I do right now,
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I like to do my free tour events --
you've probably seen videos of that --
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then I have my Hot Seat event,
and then I do Bootcamp,
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and I've been doing that, actually,
on tour for a couple of years now.
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So every single time I do a free tour,
when I walk to the free tour,
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I know that I'm gonna go do it,
I don't think ahead.
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I've seen a lot of people who do jobs
similar to mine, they psych themselves out.
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I don't do that at all. I'm just in a
good mood, and I get there, I'm like,
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Oh, I'm at the free tour, and then I kind
of melt into the moment, I merge into it,
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I just rock it, and I love being up there
because it makes me very present
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and time just breezes by.
There's nowhere else I'd rather be.
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And then when I do Hot Seat, oftentimes
I'm on like two or three hours sleep only,
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because I like to run my Bootcamps really
late, because once I start doing Bootcamp
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I'm having so much fun I don't like to
sleep, and I'll just keep running them.
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So sometimes I'll run them really, really
late, and then I wake up in the morning
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to do my Hot Seat event early in the
morning, and I'm totally exhausted,
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and I think, How am I gonna do this?
And again I just don't think.
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And then I just get there and I start
to get into it, and I start to love it.
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And then I get onto Bootcamp and I think,
Oh man, I'm gonna have to
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approach all these girls, and it's gonna
be all crazy. Again, I just don't think.
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You just go about it. You merge
into the process.
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So you get away from thinking
about the outcome,
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and you take the joy in the process itself.
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So the paradox of being completely
immersed in the process
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is that you wind up getting to the
outcome more effectively.
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It's like, if you approach a girl, and
you're having so much fun talking to her,
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as long as you have a general idea of the
general direction that you wanna go,
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when you're fully immersed in the process
of it, you're having so much more fun,
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you're just such a cooler guy,
that you wind up getting her.
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You'll notice this especially even
in the late phases, when you've
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got the girl in your room and she's not
sure if she's gonna sleep with you or not.
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When you're just completely present with
her, just completely there,
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she detects no outcome from you, you're
a lot funnier, you're a lot more sexual,
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you're a lot more in the moment
in terms of your sexuality,
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she just winds up hooking up with you.
Meanwhile if you're like, I gotta get laid,
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gotta get laid, right? Then you're less
likely to do it, less likely to be funny,
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less likely to entice her. So from
doing meditation regularly,
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it's similar to the 11-mile hike in here,
where that first mile, your brain is still
274
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caught up in this continual mode of
getting to the next outcome,
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getting to the next outcome,
getting to the next outcome.
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But when you hike for 11 miles, after a
while it really just breaks you down.
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It just gets you to the point
of complete surrender,
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and you start to enjoy the hike itself.
What you realize is
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that it's not the destination
but the journey that's actually fun.
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And really this goes for life, because the
end destination of life is to be dead.
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So the journey of life is the fun itself.
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So when you do meditation every day,
you're actually training your mind
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to get into that zone, that sweet spot.
You're conditioning yourself to do this.
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You can also do this by going out.
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You can also do this by any
type of flow state activity.
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So any activity that actually puts you
into a flow state
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you'll find will achieve a similar
benefit to meditation,
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but what I find is that sometimes people
will use flow state activities
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as an excuse not to do meditation.
Or they'll use thinking a lot,
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and planning their day a lot, as an
excuse not to do meditation.
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So sometimes I'll tell people about
meditation and they'll say,
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Oh, that's kind of like what I do,
I'll be in the shower,
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and I plan out my day for like an hour.
That was a buddy of mine who said that.
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Or they'll say, I'll just go out into
the woods and really think about my life
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and what I'm doing with it. And that's
very different. That's a different activity.
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I know with girls, they'll say that dancing
can be a very good flow state activity.
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Or surfing, y'know, things like that, and
again, these are amazing activities,
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just like for me public speaking and
teaching are my flow state activities
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that I love more than anything, but
meditation is actually a 20-minute
300
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chunk per day where you're spending it
with a deliberate intention
301
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of training your mind to
slip into that spot.
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00:19:13,328 --> 00:19:16,582
Eckhart Tolle, who wrote the books The
Power of Now and A New Earth,
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two of my favorite books ever, he talks
about the analogy of a bicycle tire
304
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that's spinning, and it has its own
momentum, so when you stop pushing
305
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on the tire, what winds up happening is
eventually it loses that momentum
306
00:19:29,989 --> 00:19:33,482
and becomes still. Another example
would be like crossing a stream.
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00:19:33,935 --> 00:19:39,950
So if you're gonna cross a stream, and
you want to see what's at the bottom of it,
308
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if you keep shaking up the bottom of it,
you'll never see it. It'll never be clear.
309
00:19:44,524 --> 00:19:49,092
But if you stop shaking the bottom of it,
eventually you'll be able to see with clarity.
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Or maybe a better analogy than a stream,
'cause that's always kinda moving,
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would be like a little body of water, some
little small body of water, right?
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If you keep kicking the dirt around, you
won't get clarity. So you need to stop.
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That's really what meditation is,
is you're training your mind to stop.
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00:20:03,693 --> 00:20:08,768
So say that I sit here and I'm like,
I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking,
315
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right? And then I go like, OK,
I'm onto my breath now. [breathes]
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00:20:15,365 --> 00:20:19,712
Well, that kind of trained me one way to
get presence, but then let's say that I,
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y'know, I go back into my head. And then
maybe I shift my awareness to the sounds.
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00:20:28,977 --> 00:20:31,254
Which are actually pretty cool. I don't
know how well you can hear it
319
00:20:31,254 --> 00:20:34,692
through the mike. I hear birds and
waves and wind, so, can't beat that!
320
00:20:34,692 --> 00:20:38,458
That's pretty good. You know, if you're
at home you probably hear
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a refrigerator or something like that.
So that could be another way
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00:20:42,568 --> 00:20:48,248
to get presence. Another way could be
to take conscious breaths,
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00:20:48,973 --> 00:20:51,895
and you shift your focus to that,
but funny enough,
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00:20:51,895 --> 00:20:56,731
another way could be to just observe the
breath and not put any deliberate
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00:20:56,731 --> 00:21:00,508
energy into animating your breath, and
some people find that to be better.
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00:21:01,368 --> 00:21:06,328
Sometimes I find just, I get into a zone
where I'm just completely out of my head
327
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and I'm just there. It's like locked in.
That's kind of intense too,
328
00:21:10,729 --> 00:21:14,079
'cause you can be present for, like,
7, 8 minutes straight doing that,
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00:21:14,079 --> 00:21:18,617
and when you kind of knock back into it
you're like whoa, that was fuckin' presence.
330
00:21:18,617 --> 00:21:22,347
So when you're present, I think a lot of
people are assuming they're gonna get
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00:21:22,347 --> 00:21:26,946
some kind of extreme bliss out of it,
and I don't think that that's the case.
332
00:21:26,946 --> 00:21:29,738
But rather what you get is
a sense of general peace,
333
00:21:29,738 --> 00:21:33,904
so you're not thinking very much,
and your body is not having these
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00:21:33,904 --> 00:21:39,498
cortisol adrenaline responses that you
would normally be having throughout the day.
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00:21:39,498 --> 00:21:44,349
So there's a great book by a guy
named Herbert Benson,
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00:21:44,529 --> 00:21:50,133
who was a Harvard medical doctor, and he
called that book The Relaxation Response,
337
00:21:50,133 --> 00:21:53,749
so you can look that up, The Relaxation
Response by Herbert Benson,
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00:21:53,749 --> 00:21:56,793
and what he basically explained there
is that we have something called a
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fight or flight response. And a fight or
flight response is the idea that in nature
340
00:22:03,003 --> 00:22:09,975
you would experience stress in short bursts.
So for example you might bump into a lion
341
00:22:10,181 --> 00:22:13,635
and get this huge surge of adrenaline
that shuts off your body's natural
342
00:22:13,635 --> 00:22:19,210
repair mechanisms, and basically just
directs all of the body's energy
343
00:22:19,210 --> 00:22:23,088
into being really alert and
having a lot of energy.
344
00:22:24,003 --> 00:22:27,108
So that would be good in nature because
then you'd run away from the animal,
345
00:22:27,108 --> 00:22:29,796
and you could go back to your village
and you'd be totally fine.
346
00:22:30,648 --> 00:22:34,629
But what happens in modern society is that
the threat might be something like
347
00:22:34,629 --> 00:22:39,188
coming up with rent money, or some kind of
social scenario that's bothering you,
348
00:22:39,188 --> 00:22:44,005
or different complexities of modern life,
and that fight or flight response
349
00:22:44,005 --> 00:22:50,282
is at like a refrigerator-hum low level
that's almost unnoticeable when you're in it
350
00:22:50,282 --> 00:22:56,726
and it stays there permanently. So this
causes people to get sick, shortens your life,
351
00:22:56,726 --> 00:23:00,767
compromises your immune system.
It's not a good stress.
352
00:23:01,298 --> 00:23:04,931
Y'know, a positive stress, they call that
eustress, OK? Eustress.
353
00:23:04,931 --> 00:23:09,748
And that's something more like where
you go on like a roller coaster ride
354
00:23:09,748 --> 00:23:13,584
or play an exciting sports game, or
watch an exciting sports game,
355
00:23:13,584 --> 00:23:15,696
where the stress is actually invigorating,
356
00:23:16,060 --> 00:23:19,099
but chronic, low-level stress
is not healthy for you.
357
00:23:19,709 --> 00:23:22,653
So what meditation does, and this is
what Herbert Benson explains,
358
00:23:22,653 --> 00:23:27,286
is it elicits a relaxation response. It
actually flushes the cortisol
359
00:23:27,286 --> 00:23:29,602
and adrenaline out of your system.
360
00:23:29,602 --> 00:23:33,908
Some people also believe that when you
meditate, you're actually summoning
361
00:23:33,908 --> 00:23:38,879
like a recharging of energy that goes
very, very deep into the cells.
362
00:23:39,654 --> 00:23:43,490
So while you're sitting there you might
feel like you're accomplishing nothing,
363
00:23:43,490 --> 00:23:49,803
but actually you're recharging. You are
soaking in good, present energy.
364
00:23:50,462 --> 00:23:55,101
See, what most people tend to do is
they get addicted on either stimulus,
365
00:23:55,101 --> 00:23:58,013
like, Huh? Facebook? Twitter?
Facebook? Twitter? Like that, right?
366
00:23:58,979 --> 00:24:01,279
Y'know, energy drink? Redbull?
[laughs]
367
00:24:02,471 --> 00:24:06,812
Gossip? Bullshit? Shit talk? Whatever?
What do people think of me?
368
00:24:07,076 --> 00:24:10,468
Y'know, shit like that? Validation?
I guess I got a lot of these.
369
00:24:10,468 --> 00:24:14,468
Or what they get addicted to is lower
consciousness, like alcohol, bleahh!
370
00:24:15,081 --> 00:24:20,068
Pizza, carbs, bleahh! They wanna
become unconscious.
371
00:24:21,143 --> 00:24:26,041
Well, what meditation teaches you to do
is, it teaches you rather than being,
372
00:24:26,041 --> 00:24:30,868
uh, it teaches you to stop the cycle of
being addicted to stimulation,
373
00:24:30,868 --> 00:24:35,212
or to being unconscious, and instead it
grounds you in an energy more like
374
00:24:35,212 --> 00:24:40,546
[energy sound effect -- zhhhhh]
375
00:24:40,546 --> 00:24:46,224
Like that, OK? Except instead of
the sound of zhhhhhh --
376
00:24:46,224 --> 00:24:49,055
instead of that sound,
you just hear nothing.
377
00:24:50,216 --> 00:24:53,849
But it's kind of like that. And this is
why teachers of meditation
378
00:24:53,849 --> 00:24:58,937
will use things like little bells that go
dingggg, or a candle
379
00:24:58,937 --> 00:25:02,108
that just kind of stays there,
flickering constantly,
380
00:25:02,108 --> 00:25:04,669
because you're training your mind
to be present.
381
00:25:04,673 --> 00:25:08,765
The more that you can train your mind
to be present, what's happening is that
382
00:25:08,765 --> 00:25:12,403
you're removing yourself from
the cycle of basically being run
383
00:25:12,403 --> 00:25:18,408
by biological impulses and
external social influences,
384
00:25:18,408 --> 00:25:22,590
and you're creating a center
of gravity within yourself
385
00:25:22,590 --> 00:25:26,104
where you start to develop
your own willpower,
386
00:25:26,104 --> 00:25:28,988
your own sort of ...
387
00:25:30,007 --> 00:25:33,789
How could I put it? I mean, think of it
like all through society,
388
00:25:33,789 --> 00:25:36,830
and just through biology there's
like these different forces
389
00:25:36,830 --> 00:25:39,749
that are at play, and you're kind of
sponging them up,
390
00:25:39,749 --> 00:25:43,396
and then spewing them back out.
Well, what meditation does
391
00:25:43,396 --> 00:25:46,328
is it makes it so that you
are the center of gravity,
392
00:25:46,328 --> 00:25:52,368
and your ideas, or your intentions in
life, are coming from within
393
00:25:52,368 --> 00:25:59,177
and going outwards. So what you'll find
is that whether you're happy or sad,
394
00:25:59,177 --> 00:26:01,718
or say having a good experience
or a bad experience,
395
00:26:01,718 --> 00:26:04,806
are not as relevant to you any more
when you do meditation,
396
00:26:04,806 --> 00:26:08,425
because you realize that you can be
peaceful just within yourself.
397
00:26:08,425 --> 00:26:13,228
So it takes the pressure away of
constantly achieving certain life goals,
398
00:26:13,228 --> 00:26:17,378
and allows you just to enjoy the process.
It's kinda crazy, right?
399
00:26:18,508 --> 00:26:22,659
Some people, when they do meditation,
it really messes them up, actually,
400
00:26:22,659 --> 00:26:27,125
because they realize that they can achieve
complete contentment and happiness
401
00:26:27,125 --> 00:26:30,663
on a deeper level than even making
money or even getting laid,
402
00:26:30,663 --> 00:26:33,981
which is kinda crazy to think about.
And so they think, Why should I get girls?
403
00:26:33,981 --> 00:26:37,088
Why should I make money? Why should I
do anything? I just wanna sit here.
404
00:26:37,088 --> 00:26:41,668
That's pretty, I think, kind of
low-level thinking for most people,
405
00:26:41,668 --> 00:26:45,459
unless your life's purpose is gonna be
to teach presence,
406
00:26:45,459 --> 00:26:48,297
and to just be that source of present
energy for other people,
407
00:26:48,297 --> 00:26:51,392
and you wanna just sit there for hours and
hours so you can be that person.
408
00:26:51,392 --> 00:26:53,897
But unless you're gonna do that,
I don't think that's ideal.
409
00:26:53,897 --> 00:27:00,628
Rather what I think is that when you do
meditation it helps you and prods you
410
00:27:00,628 --> 00:27:05,548
to reconsider your life, reconsider what
drives you or what motivates you,
411
00:27:05,548 --> 00:27:09,500
and to align yourself with
your life's purpose,
412
00:27:09,660 --> 00:27:12,293
and that can be a really tough one
for a lot of people,
413
00:27:12,293 --> 00:27:16,905
because finding your life's purpose is,
that can be a doozy, to say the least.
414
00:27:17,822 --> 00:27:22,584
But when you find it, you find that you
get your main enjoyment in life
415
00:27:22,584 --> 00:27:26,259
out of being engaged in the process
of whatever your life's purpose is.
416
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,001
So for me it's kind of funny, but ...
417
00:27:31,001 --> 00:27:33,876
you probably can tell this
if you watch my stuff,
418
00:27:33,876 --> 00:27:36,475
what I love the most is doing
videos like these,
419
00:27:36,475 --> 00:27:40,858
teaching live, which is huge for me,
and then practicing game,
420
00:27:40,858 --> 00:27:42,945
and I like to practice game
because I teach it,
421
00:27:42,945 --> 00:27:44,926
so I like to teach something
really awesome.
422
00:27:44,926 --> 00:27:47,775
And then the other thing I really like
doing is meditation [laughs]
423
00:27:48,448 --> 00:27:50,844
because that helps me
with my life's purpose.
424
00:27:51,789 --> 00:27:53,967
So that helps me to bring a lot
of presence into it.
425
00:27:54,417 --> 00:27:58,688
A lot of people will say about my videos,
it's like addictive, or it's like crack,
426
00:27:58,688 --> 00:28:02,048
things like that, and I laugh at that.
I think that's so funny,
427
00:28:02,048 --> 00:28:05,111
because the reason why people,
I think, if they like my stuff,
428
00:28:05,111 --> 00:28:08,057
which some people do and don't,
but the people who do like it,
429
00:28:08,057 --> 00:28:10,368
the reason why they say it's addictive,
what they don't realize
430
00:28:10,368 --> 00:28:14,294
is that because I do meditation,
431
00:28:14,294 --> 00:28:19,419
if I do a video from a place of presence,
which some have that element
432
00:28:19,419 --> 00:28:24,246
and some probably have that much less so,
like a lot less so, but the ones that have it
433
00:28:24,246 --> 00:28:29,339
help people to become regrounded
in their own present energy.
434
00:28:29,488 --> 00:28:34,044
So they think it's the video that's
addictive, but actually what it is
435
00:28:34,044 --> 00:28:35,692
is that it's coming from
a place of presence,
436
00:28:35,692 --> 00:28:38,796
which is conditioned from that 20-minute-
a-day meditation habit,
437
00:28:38,796 --> 00:28:41,667
and then it's putting them in touch
with themselves,
438
00:28:41,667 --> 00:28:45,413
so they're actually addicted to themselves,
which is funny to think about.
439
00:28:46,623 --> 00:28:49,600
That's what they like.
They see -- it sounds very cheesy --
440
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,188
they see someone else's inner light
[laughs]
441
00:28:52,706 --> 00:28:55,659
and it puts them in touch with
their own inner light --
442
00:28:55,659 --> 00:28:59,220
and I know it sounds very cheesy --
and then they attribute that
443
00:28:59,220 --> 00:29:01,714
to what they're seeing,
but it's actually them.
444
00:29:01,714 --> 00:29:04,827
So if there's a musician who you
really like, for example,
445
00:29:04,827 --> 00:29:07,678
someone whose music you really
get into, really connect with,
446
00:29:07,678 --> 00:29:11,208
you're thinking it's the music that you
love, and you do love the music,
447
00:29:11,208 --> 00:29:14,261
but what you also love is what it's
reconnecting you to in yourself.
448
00:29:14,917 --> 00:29:18,644
And meditation every day is something
that can help you to do that.
449
00:29:18,644 --> 00:29:22,028
It's amazing for pickup in the sense that
it teaches you self-amusement,
450
00:29:22,028 --> 00:29:25,192
it teaches you not to rely on women
for good emotions at all,
451
00:29:25,192 --> 00:29:29,333
so it totally takes their power away
from you, not to sound win/lose,
452
00:29:29,333 --> 00:29:32,176
but it really does. When you do
meditation every day,
453
00:29:32,176 --> 00:29:34,608
women have a lot less power over you
than when you don't,
454
00:29:34,608 --> 00:29:38,077
because you've removed yourself from the
cycle of being addicted on their validation.
455
00:29:38,083 --> 00:29:41,788
At least minimized it quite a bit.
It lets you go in a lot stronger,
456
00:29:41,788 --> 00:29:44,767
you're funnier, you're sharper, your game
basically goes up, I don't know,
457
00:29:44,767 --> 00:29:49,246
three to four times. But, yeah,
you just, basically ...
458
00:29:50,392 --> 00:29:55,465
You basically get so good in game because
again you enjoy the process so much,
459
00:29:55,465 --> 00:29:59,804
so you're just so sharp, so good with the
process, that it really just improves it.
460
00:29:59,897 --> 00:30:02,184
It's really just awesome.
461
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:07,404
I guess what I would kind of emphasize
here, and I love that the sun's going down,
462
00:30:07,630 --> 00:30:12,758
it's fucking gorgeous, is that what
I think you learn from meditation
463
00:30:12,758 --> 00:30:19,977
is rather than feeling like you're a
person, y'know, like you're a person,
464
00:30:19,977 --> 00:30:24,305
which is what most people think,
they think, I'm this separate entity --
465
00:30:24,755 --> 00:30:27,420
and by the way, we gotta check out
this sunset, check this out --
466
00:30:28,571 --> 00:30:31,019
you realize that actually
everyone's kind of connected,
467
00:30:31,019 --> 00:30:34,349
so you look at this ocean here, and
you see the different waves on it,
468
00:30:34,349 --> 00:30:39,052
you think that you are this unique person,
but in fact you're part of something
469
00:30:39,052 --> 00:30:42,120
bigger than yourself, right?
You see the sun going down there.
470
00:30:42,487 --> 00:30:47,633
So you think that you're this
really unique individual,
471
00:30:47,633 --> 00:30:54,435
and this person who is on their own
in life, but in fact what's happening
472
00:30:54,757 --> 00:30:59,620
is you're really just like this energy
that has congealed together temporarily,
473
00:30:59,997 --> 00:31:04,095
will kind of express itself, much like how
one of these waves expresses itself,
474
00:31:04,438 --> 00:31:10,464
and then will sink back into the whole,
OK? So that's what meditation teaches you.
475
00:31:11,050 --> 00:31:15,415
I'll try to re-establish our shot,
make it look real nice.
476
00:31:17,232 --> 00:31:18,910
That looks nice, I think. OK.
477
00:31:19,267 --> 00:31:24,671
So ... um ... good enough.
478
00:31:26,299 --> 00:31:30,192
I guess you can't really go wrong with
a shot in an environment like this.
479
00:31:30,261 --> 00:31:32,610
You can't really fuck this up.
480
00:31:33,868 --> 00:31:39,654
OK, so point being that in meditation,
because you become very present,
481
00:31:39,654 --> 00:31:42,577
try to follow me here, you become
present to the moment,
482
00:31:42,795 --> 00:31:48,970
what happens is that you come
to the realization that ...
483
00:31:49,697 --> 00:31:53,908
it's almost like you have ...
the different wants,
484
00:31:53,908 --> 00:31:59,353
that the biological entity of yourself has,
and then you have a higher consciousness,
485
00:31:59,353 --> 00:32:03,421
which is that present energy. And what's
kinda crazy is that everybody has
486
00:32:03,421 --> 00:32:06,306
that higher consciousness in them.
It's kinda nuts, right?
487
00:32:06,568 --> 00:32:10,586
When you become present, they call that
a higher consciousness. Sounds very funny.
488
00:32:11,570 --> 00:32:15,026
And you realize that everyone has that
in them, and that light is almost
489
00:32:15,026 --> 00:32:21,000
pushing through you, and so you're like this
crystal that lets the light come through,
490
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,778
and some people, the crystal's very closed
off because they're caught in their head,
491
00:32:25,778 --> 00:32:30,605
so they get trapped in different energetic
cycles that can be very negative,
492
00:32:30,605 --> 00:32:34,058
like they get a negative thought kind of
jumps onto them and they go crazy.
493
00:32:34,631 --> 00:32:39,214
But when you become present, that energy,
that higher consciousness,
494
00:32:39,214 --> 00:32:43,147
can shine through you, and you're like
the crystal that it shines through
495
00:32:43,147 --> 00:32:46,781
and makes different patterns.
And you realize that even when you die,
496
00:32:47,241 --> 00:32:52,703
and you will die, that although the
biological entity, like the crystal's gone,
497
00:32:52,703 --> 00:32:57,032
that light is still there. And essentially
through meditation what you're doing
498
00:32:57,032 --> 00:33:02,814
is you are becoming more and more
identified as the "silent observer"
499
00:33:02,814 --> 00:33:07,942
behind the thoughts, instead of as
this petty little individual
500
00:33:07,942 --> 00:33:11,362
who has all these different problems and
isn't getting the results that you want.
501
00:33:12,063 --> 00:33:16,064
So the more that you're identified
with that higher consciousness,
502
00:33:16,064 --> 00:33:22,363
and the more you're grounded in that,
there is a less urgent fear of death,
503
00:33:22,363 --> 00:33:26,442
which sounds funny, because you realize
that if you're that light,
504
00:33:26,442 --> 00:33:31,934
that that light is everywhere. So the
form dies, but the light continues on,
505
00:33:31,934 --> 00:33:36,442
and if you're very identified with the
form, then death is really scary,
506
00:33:36,442 --> 00:33:41,462
but if you're identified with the light,
then it's not as scary. Still pretty scary.
507
00:33:42,016 --> 00:33:43,945
[laughs]
Not gonna lie, right?
508
00:33:44,458 --> 00:33:50,657
But a lot less scary, and in fact, what
tends to happen in frightening situations,
509
00:33:50,657 --> 00:33:53,204
like say you're walking along
the side of the cliff,
510
00:33:53,204 --> 00:33:56,575
that light starts to shine through
so much stronger
511
00:33:56,575 --> 00:34:02,789
that you actually have no fear at all.
So in a situation that is scary to you,
512
00:34:02,789 --> 00:34:05,742
the presence actually emanates
through so strongly that you
513
00:34:05,742 --> 00:34:10,202
completely dissolve into presence,
and you actually feel fucking amazing.
514
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,643
So that's another reason why, when you do
things that scare you a little bit,
515
00:34:14,643 --> 00:34:18,264
but you learn how to become present
to the moment through meditation,
516
00:34:18,264 --> 00:34:21,741
it's really an amazing feeling.
It's an amazing, amazing feeling.
517
00:34:22,272 --> 00:34:26,936
And as you go through life, you're
actually dissolving more and more,
518
00:34:26,936 --> 00:34:30,015
your identification with your form
is dissolving more and more,
519
00:34:30,015 --> 00:34:32,754
with all these thoughts that you're
having, which are generated through
520
00:34:32,754 --> 00:34:34,722
thinking about the past
or going into the future,
521
00:34:34,722 --> 00:34:40,042
you're more identified with that present
moment, "higher consciousness"
522
00:34:40,042 --> 00:34:44,958
and as you get older and older that creates
more space for that higher consciousness,
523
00:34:44,958 --> 00:34:47,989
and you become almost like
a young person again.
524
00:34:48,462 --> 00:34:52,407
So you see some older people become
more and more identified with their form,
525
00:34:52,407 --> 00:34:55,711
and because their form is breaking down,
they can be pretty miserable,
526
00:34:55,711 --> 00:34:59,354
and then other people as they get older
can actually become more childlike,
527
00:34:59,354 --> 00:35:02,663
but even in spite of being childlike,
they're more intelligent,
528
00:35:02,663 --> 00:35:06,223
and that's what Eckhart Tolle called
flowering. So basically it's like
529
00:35:06,223 --> 00:35:08,904
sometimes you have a ... he calls
that a flowering of consciousness,
530
00:35:08,904 --> 00:35:14,404
so you have like a plant, and some plants
will get the nice flower and others won't,
531
00:35:14,404 --> 00:35:19,267
depending on how much sun it gets,
so if it flowers, that's almost like
532
00:35:19,267 --> 00:35:25,301
a human being who has gone back to that
childlike present-moment awareness
533
00:35:25,301 --> 00:35:30,442
but through that sort of crystal that it's
shining through of all the life experiences
534
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,118
and knowledge and abilities and all that,
so it's a really nice combination,
535
00:35:34,325 --> 00:35:38,516
because a childlike awareness is beautiful
but it is a child, right, it's limited,
536
00:35:38,516 --> 00:35:42,592
whereas somebody who has gone back
to that childlike awareness
537
00:35:42,592 --> 00:35:47,720
but is highly intelligent, resourceful,
competent, driven, those kinds of things,
538
00:35:48,766 --> 00:35:54,214
what happens then is that just their
manifestation of their different intents
539
00:35:54,214 --> 00:35:57,484
that they have becomes really amazing
to watch. It's really, really cool.
540
00:35:57,666 --> 00:36:01,713
Awesome, right, and some of the top
people in the world have that.
541
00:36:02,782 --> 00:36:08,738
But let's get back to practical stuff: so
we'll think about the game-related stuff,
542
00:36:08,738 --> 00:36:15,412
just to kind of conclude with it. People
who are kind of into meditation
543
00:36:15,412 --> 00:36:17,638
like for the chill reasons and stuff,
they wanna be very chill?
544
00:36:17,638 --> 00:36:21,311
They're kind of already converted.
They already are doing this,
545
00:36:21,311 --> 00:36:24,633
so I don't wanna really relate with
people that are in that mode,
546
00:36:24,633 --> 00:36:27,248
but what I'd really like to do would be to
relate to somebody who wants to
547
00:36:27,248 --> 00:36:33,321
make a lot of cash, fuck really hot women,
and be a gangster, all right.
548
00:36:33,321 --> 00:36:35,541
Not a gangster like a real gangster,
although it could be a real gangster too,
549
00:36:35,541 --> 00:36:38,129
but a gangster in life, OK, a dominator.
550
00:36:38,165 --> 00:36:41,656
What I would tell you is that a lot of
the top business people do this,
551
00:36:41,656 --> 00:36:46,603
because when you think about the
difference between, for example,
552
00:36:46,603 --> 00:36:51,400
a boss who's effective vs. an ineffective
employee, what's the common difference?
553
00:36:52,148 --> 00:36:55,475
The ineffective employee gets upset when
they don't get their petty little things
554
00:36:55,475 --> 00:36:59,049
going in their direction, whereas the boss
can always look at the bigger picture
555
00:36:59,049 --> 00:37:03,521
and solve the damned problem. Well, the
boss has to be very present to the moment.
556
00:37:03,814 --> 00:37:08,935
The boss has to not get caught up in their
emotions, whereas the ineffective employee
557
00:37:08,935 --> 00:37:14,999
has the luxury of whining and complaining
because it's not gonna tank the whole company,
558
00:37:15,291 --> 00:37:17,953
right, they just get their little
problem fixed and they're happy.
559
00:37:17,953 --> 00:37:21,572
So if you wanna be a boss in life, you
don't wanna be overly reactive
560
00:37:21,572 --> 00:37:25,957
to your emotions.
Also, the highs and lows,
561
00:37:26,132 --> 00:37:29,574
you don't wanna be so identified with the
high that when it goes low you're upset,
562
00:37:29,574 --> 00:37:31,870
and you don't wanna be so identified
with the low that you stay there.
563
00:37:31,917 --> 00:37:34,993
So you wanna be kind of even-keeled.
On top of that, if you wanna be effective,
564
00:37:34,993 --> 00:37:37,236
you wanna be fully immersed
in whatever you do.
565
00:37:37,248 --> 00:37:40,992
If you're gonna win an NBC championship,
you wanna be pretty immersed in that, right?
566
00:37:41,052 --> 00:37:44,829
So this is the kind of thing that helps
you to think more clearly,
567
00:37:44,829 --> 00:37:48,248
it makes you more effective,
it makes you funnier.
568
00:37:48,393 --> 00:37:51,312
I can say for sure that my public speaking
is much, much sharper,
569
00:37:51,312 --> 00:37:54,102
three to four times sharper, when
I do meditation every day.
570
00:37:54,102 --> 00:37:58,461
I can say for sure that my game,
my results,
571
00:37:58,461 --> 00:38:02,909
are wild when I do meditation every day,
and go down substantially,
572
00:38:02,909 --> 00:38:07,980
and shockingly, when I don't. And I can
basically just tell you that a lot of
573
00:38:07,980 --> 00:38:10,835
really smart individuals do this, OK?
574
00:38:11,519 --> 00:38:14,491
So it's funny that as you start to
move up in the world,
575
00:38:14,491 --> 00:38:18,099
your mind starts to take note of
different habits that people that are
576
00:38:18,099 --> 00:38:21,578
making a lotta cash and getting a lot
of success have,
577
00:38:21,578 --> 00:38:24,181
you're seeing different habits they have
that you wouldn't have noticed
578
00:38:24,181 --> 00:38:28,169
when you weren't as successful, because
you just weren't thinking how they think,
579
00:38:28,169 --> 00:38:31,986
and meditation is one of those habits,
it's one of those elite-level habits
580
00:38:31,986 --> 00:38:35,259
that a lot of people have.
Now some people again would say,
581
00:38:35,371 --> 00:38:39,630
why not just be motivated by results? If I
just wanna fuck hot women and make money,
582
00:38:39,630 --> 00:38:44,632
what's the problem with that? Well again,
you're getting identified with stimulation,
583
00:38:44,632 --> 00:38:47,724
and that's not the deepest level of
contentment that you can have,
584
00:38:47,724 --> 00:38:52,179
and you're basically entrapping yourself
in a less mature paradigm of life.
585
00:38:53,176 --> 00:38:57,393
So what you kind of realize, for example,
say you come out to a place like this,
586
00:38:57,393 --> 00:39:01,499
say that I wanted to go climb up every
little peak, and hit up every beach,
587
00:39:01,499 --> 00:39:04,534
and I'm rushing around trying to get to
each one, I get there and I go,
588
00:39:04,534 --> 00:39:08,764
Oh, I'm at the beach now, yeah!
OK, the cliff! And then I go do that.
589
00:39:09,088 --> 00:39:13,565
I might go do all that, but I could actually
be just as stressed as I am in the city.
590
00:39:15,052 --> 00:39:18,903
So then let's say at the end of the day I
stop and do meditation for 20 minutes a day,
591
00:39:19,091 --> 00:39:21,990
and then I become completely content.
I realize, oh shit,
592
00:39:21,990 --> 00:39:26,044
it doesn't really matter if I go to every
peak, or hit up every beach.
593
00:39:26,617 --> 00:39:30,028
I'll just go to some of them, and be
fully present while I'm there.
594
00:39:30,394 --> 00:39:32,811
So it doesn't matter the individual
things that I'm doing,
595
00:39:32,811 --> 00:39:37,716
what matters is my experience of it, and I
wanna maximize my experience of that.
596
00:39:37,716 --> 00:39:42,420
You could go, say you slept with 50 girls.
You might notice that you can barely
597
00:39:42,420 --> 00:39:45,190
remember the majority of those girls.
598
00:39:45,573 --> 00:39:48,873
Well, if you're very present to the moment
usually the sex becomes a lot hotter,
599
00:39:49,323 --> 00:39:52,485
and you have a better memory of it,
it has more meaning to you.
600
00:39:52,932 --> 00:39:56,797
So you wanna be fully present for
whatever experience you're having, OK.
601
00:39:56,973 --> 00:40:01,660
So it just basically boosts your results
up, all right, it's pretty gangsta shit,
602
00:40:01,660 --> 00:40:03,843
does some amazing things.
I'm gonna wrap up, actually.
603
00:40:04,063 --> 00:40:08,265
I was asking on the forum on RSD Nation
what questions people had about meditation,
604
00:40:08,663 --> 00:40:12,645
so I'm just gonna go through them
to wrap up here.
605
00:40:12,884 --> 00:40:17,341
OK, so first question was: style, length,
time, time of day, position, eyes,
606
00:40:17,341 --> 00:40:21,605
posture, alarm. I think we went through
that. Style's just whatever you want,
607
00:40:21,605 --> 00:40:24,595
length, I like to do 20 minutes,
you can do whatever you want.
608
00:40:24,877 --> 00:40:27,702
Notice a big key here being
whatever you want.
609
00:40:27,702 --> 00:40:32,373
Time of day, whatever you want, I do
night-time. Position, whatever you want.
610
00:40:32,908 --> 00:40:37,114
Eyes, I like to do open. You should do ...
whatever you want.
611
00:40:37,900 --> 00:40:40,977
What kind of thoughts you have? Again,
they're in there for a bit
612
00:40:40,977 --> 00:40:43,885
and then they kind of clear out.
Posture, whatever you want.
613
00:40:43,885 --> 00:40:46,187
You know, all these different meditation
people will tell you you have to
614
00:40:46,187 --> 00:40:48,963
cross your legs and this and that
to get to the cosmic energy.
615
00:40:50,798 --> 00:40:52,413
Whatever you want.
616
00:40:53,403 --> 00:40:55,765
And then the alarm, I like to do
so I don't wonder about it,
617
00:40:55,765 --> 00:40:58,554
but again, whatever you want.
How does it feel? Calm. Like this.
618
00:41:05,101 --> 00:41:08,346
Nice and calm. Demonstration?
I just did it.
619
00:41:08,738 --> 00:41:11,433
Some people were asking do I like
things like Holosync
620
00:41:11,433 --> 00:41:15,966
or different meditation aids? I think for
some people it's probably great;
621
00:41:15,966 --> 00:41:21,395
for me, I like to do meditation to train
myself to be present in day-to-day life,
622
00:41:21,395 --> 00:41:24,773
so I don't like using it, but some
people get great results with it.
623
00:41:24,822 --> 00:41:27,396
Me, I just do it the way I do it.
624
00:41:28,460 --> 00:41:32,917
How does it help game? Immerses you in the
present moment, makes you funnier, sharper,
625
00:41:32,917 --> 00:41:36,702
less needing validation, more self-amused,
more drawing state from within,
626
00:41:36,702 --> 00:41:42,487
more of a fucking gangster, more
aggressive, more effective,
627
00:41:42,487 --> 00:41:46,303
makes you enjoy sex more,
makes you more sexual ...
628
00:41:47,368 --> 00:41:52,605
Uh, yeah. [laughs]
Dude, if you're into game,
629
00:41:52,605 --> 00:41:54,253
you're spending three,
four hours a night going out,
630
00:41:54,253 --> 00:41:56,761
add the 20 minutes of fucking meditation,
OK? It's obvious.
631
00:41:57,133 --> 00:42:00,165
Another thing it's good for is creating
vacuums with girls, so you can talk to them
632
00:42:00,165 --> 00:42:01,673
and just be like ...
633
00:42:04,162 --> 00:42:07,513
and then they wanna talk back to you,
so we call that creating a vacuum.
634
00:42:07,514 --> 00:42:13,556
Skipping a day vs. starting over? Yeah,
y'know, sometimes you miss a day
635
00:42:13,556 --> 00:42:16,937
and that's not good, so this is actually
a really important lesson,
636
00:42:16,937 --> 00:42:19,808
this is actually a great question right
there, really good question,
637
00:42:19,808 --> 00:42:22,033
probably the most important part
of the back end of this video, actually.
638
00:42:22,477 --> 00:42:26,210
I make a deal with myself that come
hell or high water, I'm gonna do it.
639
00:42:27,009 --> 00:42:31,006
So when I say come hell or high water
I'm gonna do it, what I mean is that,
640
00:42:31,006 --> 00:42:35,384
say I stay up until 5 or 6 in the morning,
and then I really need to go to bed.
641
00:42:35,799 --> 00:42:39,446
I will still do it. And the reason why
is because you'll find that at first
642
00:42:39,446 --> 00:42:42,270
when you do meditation, the biggest
challenge is that you're always finding
643
00:42:42,270 --> 00:42:46,160
a reason not to do it. It's pretty intense,
OK? You're always finding a reason
644
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,901
not to do meditation, so you gotta
make yourself do it.
645
00:42:50,804 --> 00:42:54,474
If you don't make yourself do it,
come hell or high water,
646
00:42:54,474 --> 00:42:58,138
what you'll find is that you will never,
ever, ever do it.
647
00:42:58,336 --> 00:43:01,610
You will literally go months without
doing it. It will shock you,
648
00:43:01,610 --> 00:43:04,113
and the reason why is 'cause you're
addicted to that stimulation/
649
00:43:04,113 --> 00:43:07,453
unconsciousness cycle, and you're
actually resisting doing it,
650
00:43:07,453 --> 00:43:10,410
so you have to make that deal with
yourself that come hell or high water,
651
00:43:10,410 --> 00:43:12,697
even if it's gonna make you sleepy,
you'll do it.
652
00:43:12,706 --> 00:43:15,644
Look, even if you're down to only
getting 4 hours of sleep that night,
653
00:43:15,644 --> 00:43:19,890
4 hours of sleep vs. 4 hours and 20
minutes of sleep is not that different.
654
00:43:20,056 --> 00:43:23,332
So you have to do it. What you'll find
is that when you make yourself do it,
655
00:43:23,332 --> 00:43:26,020
you'll become more responsible,
and you'll get it done every night.
656
00:43:26,175 --> 00:43:30,403
I even do it after I pull, most of
the time, so put that in context.
657
00:43:31,867 --> 00:43:36,073
My routine I talked about. Insights I
gained, I'd say the main one again
658
00:43:36,073 --> 00:43:41,209
is that you start to express from the
inside out your real intent,
659
00:43:41,209 --> 00:43:43,691
because there's a real, independent
willpower there;
660
00:43:43,900 --> 00:43:46,940
as opposed to just being the
socially-conditioned entity
661
00:43:46,940 --> 00:43:50,016
and then being driven by biological
impulses, you develop a much stronger
662
00:43:50,016 --> 00:43:54,356
prefrontal cortex, independent willpower
type of situation, OK?
663
00:43:54,746 --> 00:43:57,251
That's probably the main
thing I gain from it.
664
00:43:57,577 --> 00:44:01,985
Why is freedom from outcome important?
Because it immerses you in the process,
665
00:44:01,985 --> 00:44:09,190
so you're more effective. Could you expand
on the tree roots vs. height analogy?
666
00:44:09,845 --> 00:44:14,382
Sure. One analogy I love is that
the higher you can grow as a tree,
667
00:44:14,382 --> 00:44:18,415
or the higher that you do grow,
if you're a tree, if you were a tree,
668
00:44:18,415 --> 00:44:21,103
the better developed the root system
has to be so it doesn't tip.
669
00:44:21,103 --> 00:44:26,085
Meditation is the root system.
For example, take a celebrity
670
00:44:26,085 --> 00:44:27,867
who just gets what they want and gets what
they want and gets what they want,
671
00:44:27,867 --> 00:44:33,733
without that meditation-type activity
every day, it destabilizes them
672
00:44:33,733 --> 00:44:37,528
when things don't go their way. Something
like meditation reminds you every day
673
00:44:37,528 --> 00:44:41,066
that no matter how hectic things get,
you're gonna return to calmness,
674
00:44:41,066 --> 00:44:44,989
so you're not completely desperate for an
outcome because you can feel happy either way.
675
00:44:45,196 --> 00:44:48,460
That's very fucking key right there. You
might wanna rewind and listen to
676
00:44:48,460 --> 00:44:51,156
what I said to you right there
if you didn't fully catch it.
677
00:44:51,846 --> 00:44:54,616
Why is it not as good as going out?
We talked about that.
678
00:44:54,616 --> 00:44:57,946
It's because a flow state activity is
phenomenal, but that 20 minutes
679
00:44:57,946 --> 00:45:00,628
forces you to learn the channels
to become present.
680
00:45:00,628 --> 00:45:04,105
If you really can't do this, then just go
with purely a flow state activity,
681
00:45:04,105 --> 00:45:06,327
but I encourage you to try
to stick with this.
682
00:45:06,906 --> 00:45:09,826
Depends on the person, though. Some
people I think just can't, and that's fine,
683
00:45:09,826 --> 00:45:12,500
then just do a flow state activity,
you should be good.
684
00:45:14,234 --> 00:45:18,127
Let's see. How long until you see changes?
The first 20 minutes of meditation
685
00:45:18,127 --> 00:45:21,555
is like the longest 20 minutes of your
life. It's brutal.
686
00:45:22,658 --> 00:45:27,461
You'll have little tiny gaps of being
present, and within around the first week
687
00:45:27,461 --> 00:45:30,102
you might start to see some changes
of becoming more present,
688
00:45:30,102 --> 00:45:33,939
and after about a month you'll find that
you become more actually present
689
00:45:33,939 --> 00:45:38,896
for some nice little gaps. After a couple
years, the presence gets so grounded
690
00:45:38,896 --> 00:45:42,178
and deep into you that you just
slip into it naturally,
691
00:45:42,178 --> 00:45:44,529
and actually at that point, the biggest
challenge becomes even wanting to spend
692
00:45:44,529 --> 00:45:47,340
the 20 minutes on it, 'cause you don't
notice that much of a shift.
693
00:45:47,340 --> 00:45:50,246
That's a good thing, but funny enough,
then you fall off the habit,
694
00:45:50,246 --> 00:45:55,659
and then you go back to a lot of your old
negative emotions, and then you wonder why,
695
00:45:55,659 --> 00:45:58,193
and you realize it's 'cause you stopped.
So you'll find with meditation
696
00:45:58,193 --> 00:46:02,046
you'll fall off and fall back into it
again and again.
697
00:46:02,046 --> 00:46:06,667
It's like you need to fall off to learn why
you shouldn't fall off. It's pretty funny.
698
00:46:09,206 --> 00:46:14,049
Initial hurdles? Again, I think it's
constantly finding an excuse not to do it.
699
00:46:14,350 --> 00:46:19,155
It's shocking to see how many excuses
you'll find not to do meditation.
700
00:46:20,621 --> 00:46:24,346
What else? Does it help you to get in
state when you're out? Oh yeah.
701
00:46:24,396 --> 00:46:27,872
When you do meditation you tend to slip
into state much, much easier.
702
00:46:28,224 --> 00:46:32,466
It's really shocking how quickly you slip
into state when you go out to meet girls
703
00:46:32,466 --> 00:46:34,684
if you do meditation every day.
I mean it's really shocking.
704
00:46:34,684 --> 00:46:37,370
If you're someone with approach anxiety,
you gotta be doing this.
705
00:46:39,296 --> 00:46:42,358
Why do you pull hotter women? That's
because usually when you approach
706
00:46:42,358 --> 00:46:46,285
a really hot girl you become outcome-
dependent, so it makes you act weird.
707
00:46:46,467 --> 00:46:50,963
Meditation essentially simulates
abundance, so if you had 10 girls at home,
708
00:46:50,963 --> 00:46:55,485
you'd be very calm and present with a hot
woman, or you could just kind of,
709
00:46:55,485 --> 00:47:01,366
uh, simulate it with meditation. So it's
an amazing simulator of meditation --
710
00:47:01,639 --> 00:47:05,303
you see it with guys that do meditation,
you can almost sense it in their eyes,
711
00:47:05,303 --> 00:47:09,186
they have a steadier eye contact, similar
to guys that are in abundance with girls.
712
00:47:09,272 --> 00:47:11,537
Pretty much identical, actually.
713
00:47:12,506 --> 00:47:16,005
Do you need to do guided meditations?
I think no, but do whatever you want.
714
00:47:16,007 --> 00:47:19,215
Notice a big theme of do whatever
you want. Try different stuff,
715
00:47:19,215 --> 00:47:22,737
figure out what works for you.
Um, what else?
716
00:47:28,571 --> 00:47:31,199
Do you have plateaus with it? Sure.
Yep. Just like game.
717
00:47:31,199 --> 00:47:34,006
Meditation is freakishly similar to game.
718
00:47:34,925 --> 00:47:40,306
Definitely, uh, definitely, uh ...
freakishly similar to game,
719
00:47:40,306 --> 00:47:44,073
where you'll blast ahead and have, like,
the most amazing meditation sessions
720
00:47:44,073 --> 00:47:46,947
of your life, it's just like the best part
of your day, and then other times
721
00:47:46,947 --> 00:47:50,058
you'll struggle with it. You will have
plateaus, and that's expected.
722
00:47:52,278 --> 00:47:55,612
If you're sleepy, should you still do it?
Yes. Train yourself to do it sleepy.
723
00:47:55,612 --> 00:47:58,379
What I'll do, if I'm doing it sleepy,
is I'll be like [snoring sounds]
724
00:47:58,379 --> 00:48:03,049
and back like that, back like that, and if I
completely pass out the alarm will wake me up.
725
00:48:03,267 --> 00:48:07,378
But you have to do it no matter what,
because even if that's the most
726
00:48:07,378 --> 00:48:10,964
waste-of-time, ineffective session, you
wanna do it to keep the habit,
727
00:48:10,964 --> 00:48:14,129
so you don't keep missing and missing
and missing, OK?
728
00:48:16,064 --> 00:48:19,706
What is the difference between guys like
Eckhart Tolle, who said to be present
729
00:48:19,706 --> 00:48:23,564
all the time, vs. meditation? Be present
as much as you can, that's great,
730
00:48:23,974 --> 00:48:29,842
but meditation is a no-bullshit, like,
let's condition your mind into this
731
00:48:29,842 --> 00:48:33,190
type of behavior. All right, so, that's,
in my opinion, the difference.
732
00:48:33,628 --> 00:48:38,179
Does nutrition help? Yes.
The more nutrition in your diet,
733
00:48:38,179 --> 00:48:41,820
the more present you're gonna tend to be.
The more that you get addicted
734
00:48:41,820 --> 00:48:44,346
to being present to the moment,
the more that you're gonna want
735
00:48:44,346 --> 00:48:47,466
to put good food in your body. There's
actually entire subcultures in California
736
00:48:47,466 --> 00:48:50,756
that link nutrition to being present.
It's pretty wild stuff on the west coast.
737
00:48:54,700 --> 00:48:59,240
Um ... which successful people do it?
The really successful guy that promotes
738
00:48:59,332 --> 00:49:01,876
the heck outta meditation is
Russell Simmons.
739
00:49:02,351 --> 00:49:06,017
You can read the books Do You and
Super Rich where he explains how to do it.
740
00:49:06,271 --> 00:49:09,099
Highly recommended. I've met
Russell Simmons in real life.
741
00:49:09,332 --> 00:49:13,512
The dude is a pimp gangster who makes
tons of cash and fucks extremely hot women
742
00:49:13,512 --> 00:49:18,129
and has incredible frame control.
So check out Russell Simmons' stuff.
743
00:49:18,352 --> 00:49:20,717
In his book he just seems so positive,
you see him in real life,
744
00:49:20,717 --> 00:49:24,981
he's a pretty big gangster, actually.
The vibe you get off him is pretty strong.
745
00:49:25,332 --> 00:49:28,805
Does it help eye contact?
746
00:49:30,588 --> 00:49:36,732
Yeah. Prefrontal cortex development?
Yes. It develops the prefrontal cortex,
747
00:49:37,252 --> 00:49:41,214
gets you outta autopilot and into the
conscious willpower part of your brain.
748
00:49:43,161 --> 00:49:47,372
Drugs or alcohol compared to meditation?
Meditation basically simulates
749
00:49:47,372 --> 00:49:51,433
the benefits of drugs and alcohol, while
being extremely sharp and clear-thinking.
750
00:49:52,184 --> 00:49:55,712
If you drink or use drugs, I'd recommend
that you do meditation,
751
00:49:55,712 --> 00:49:58,772
and drop the alcohol and drugs.
You'll be happy you did,
752
00:49:58,772 --> 00:50:02,837
and you can join such people as
Russell Brand, who did the same thing.
753
00:50:04,632 --> 00:50:09,492
What if your mind just won't quiet?
My recommendation personally,
754
00:50:09,492 --> 00:50:12,275
and you'd probably wanna do your
own research, is suffer it out.
755
00:50:12,462 --> 00:50:14,573
Literally just suffer it out.
756
00:50:16,127 --> 00:50:19,148
Seriously, just suffer it out, because
eventually you'll train yourself,
757
00:50:19,148 --> 00:50:23,833
and keep reading books by people that are
into this, to learn more about what it means
758
00:50:23,833 --> 00:50:27,399
to be present to the moment, not thinking
about the future or ruminating about the past
759
00:50:27,399 --> 00:50:30,184
but just [whoosh]. Bang.
760
00:50:31,991 --> 00:50:35,157
Um, let's see here.
761
00:50:40,071 --> 00:50:42,087
I guess that's about it. [laughs]
762
00:50:44,401 --> 00:50:47,416
Do you actively stop thought, I guess
was kind of the last question
763
00:50:47,655 --> 00:50:53,085
that I was sort of answering. Again,
if you try to actively stop thought,
764
00:50:54,483 --> 00:50:58,973
what's more prone to happen is it's
ineffective, because if you're like,
765
00:50:58,973 --> 00:51:01,386
don't think, don't think, don't think,
that's not effective,
766
00:51:01,814 --> 00:51:06,655
so the 20 minutes of meditation, what
they do is they actually train you to just
767
00:51:06,655 --> 00:51:11,562
shift awareness into the
present moment, all right?
768
00:51:11,562 --> 00:51:16,203
So again, meditation is just not thinking
for 20 minutes a day,
769
00:51:17,049 --> 00:51:19,007
but if you say Don't think,
that doesn't work,
770
00:51:19,007 --> 00:51:21,925
so simply train yourself to shift
your awareness to becoming present.
771
00:51:21,925 --> 00:51:24,273
Meditation, I want you to think
of it as very selfish.
772
00:51:24,273 --> 00:51:27,905
It's 20 minutes a day just to focus on you.
It's 20 minutes a day to relax.
773
00:51:28,340 --> 00:51:30,529
It's 20 minutes a day to ground yourself.
774
00:51:30,529 --> 00:51:32,711
It's 20 minutes a day to ground yourself
to the present moment.
775
00:51:32,930 --> 00:51:36,070
Think of meditation like taking
creatine for lifting weights.
776
00:51:36,569 --> 00:51:39,600
If you just take creatine,
that's not really gonna do a lot.
777
00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:43,004
If you lift weights and take creatine,
it would do a lot, right?
778
00:51:43,847 --> 00:51:46,416
Or you could compare it to, say,
high amounts of protein,
779
00:51:46,665 --> 00:51:50,178
if you don't wanna take creatine.
Say you take a ton of protein,
780
00:51:50,178 --> 00:51:52,147
is that effective if you don't lift
weights? No.
781
00:51:52,147 --> 00:51:54,815
If you do meditation, and you don't
go out, is that effective?
782
00:51:54,815 --> 00:51:58,495
No. It will do nothing, OK? It will
just make you more chill.
783
00:51:59,340 --> 00:52:05,278
But if you take massive action, and then
you add the 20 minutes of meditation a day,
784
00:52:05,278 --> 00:52:10,269
then it does a lot. Just like if you lift
weights and are hittin' it up hard in the gym,
785
00:52:10,269 --> 00:52:15,403
if you do a lot of protein it'll help you
to grow, OK. So think of it like that.
786
00:52:15,403 --> 00:52:20,109
It's not the end in itself, assuming that
you're like a young guy who's not just
787
00:52:20,109 --> 00:52:23,540
like training yourself to be an anchor
to the present moment for other people,
788
00:52:23,588 --> 00:52:27,390
but it's something that's just absolutely
amazing that when combined with
789
00:52:27,390 --> 00:52:33,170
massive, massive action,
it's really good, OK,
790
00:52:33,170 --> 00:52:35,884
and I kind of emphasized that because when
I see guys that just get into medi --
791
00:52:36,132 --> 00:52:38,481
"Uh, I focus on the meditation,
not all this other stuff,"
792
00:52:38,481 --> 00:52:45,506
I'm like, ugh! Ugh! Especially people
that don't ground that experience
793
00:52:45,506 --> 00:52:49,012
of the present moment to reality,
I think that can get even more whack,
794
00:52:49,012 --> 00:52:52,949
because actually you see a lot of people
in this stuff getting identity out of
795
00:52:52,949 --> 00:52:56,024
being above the fray,
and on the mountain top.
796
00:52:56,559 --> 00:52:59,702
They make this whole identity out of it,
and when things break down,
797
00:52:59,702 --> 00:53:01,891
they're the most whiny little bitches
you'll ever see.
798
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:06,488
So I love the combination of keeping
one foot in each world:
799
00:53:06,488 --> 00:53:10,970
the world of intent, like taking action,
and the world of freedom from outcome,
800
00:53:10,970 --> 00:53:14,030
which is being present and bringing
presence into whatever you're doing.
801
00:53:14,473 --> 00:53:23,390
I love that. So, yeah. Master the art of
both, OK? Manifestation of your intent,
802
00:53:23,390 --> 00:53:27,137
and getting more and more in touch
with what your real intent is,
803
00:53:27,137 --> 00:53:30,844
but also stripping away the layers of
attachment and becoming free of outcome.
804
00:53:30,844 --> 00:53:34,232
So meditation helps you with one part,
massive action is the other part.
805
00:53:34,335 --> 00:53:36,842
That's why you've seen these really
intense speeches from me, like,
806
00:53:36,842 --> 00:53:40,269
Take fuckin' action! Gangster! Dominate!
Things like that, and then you see
807
00:53:40,269 --> 00:53:42,605
these other speeches from me like,
Free from outcome!
808
00:53:42,605 --> 00:53:45,608
There actually is no ultimate point!
Actually there's no point in this shit at all.
809
00:53:46,642 --> 00:53:50,009
So be present, right, and that's kind of
what the human existence is like.
810
00:53:50,855 --> 00:53:54,902
Meditation is a habit that a lot of successful
people use to achieve massive success.
811
00:53:54,902 --> 00:53:58,431
You'll find it to be highly invaluable
to you. You'll love it.
812
00:54:00,319 --> 00:54:03,448
Take the time to learn it.
Look into other sources than me.
813
00:54:03,448 --> 00:54:06,755
Look for conflicting opinions. Look for
people who have different opinions than mine.
814
00:54:07,411 --> 00:54:11,242
Don't go so far into it that you become
a woo-woo, weirdo person,
815
00:54:11,242 --> 00:54:15,532
'cause that's just another form-based
identity to take on, it's another trend,
816
00:54:15,532 --> 00:54:19,041
no different than being like a
hip hop-type guy or a punk,
817
00:54:19,041 --> 00:54:22,629
or a, y'know, a preppie.
Being a spiritual woo-woo guy
818
00:54:22,629 --> 00:54:26,553
is just another one of those things.
But look into it anyway,
819
00:54:26,553 --> 00:54:30,284
and look for other people that can,
y'know, teach it to you.
820
00:54:30,649 --> 00:54:33,097
And basically it's just something you do.
821
00:54:33,097 --> 00:54:38,426
So, sit here, wrap up for a second,
show you how it's done,
822
00:54:38,426 --> 00:54:41,861
'cause that was requested here. Again, I
was cross-legged for a second there,
823
00:54:41,861 --> 00:54:43,849
now I'm just getting comfortable.
824
00:54:57,172 --> 00:55:02,646
First minute, what do I do?
Little scratches, shift around,
825
00:55:02,844 --> 00:55:07,902
get comfortable, give yourself
that permission.
826
00:55:09,549 --> 00:55:11,506
Look around a bit.
827
00:55:22,324 --> 00:55:25,412
[distant sound of waves]
828
01:02:43,789 --> 01:02:47,186
In case you didn't figure it out, you were
supposed to keep going for 20 minutes.
829
01:02:50,460 --> 01:02:54,935
Just because I stop, it doesn't matter.
Do the 20 minutes. You'll like it, aight?
830
01:02:55,499 --> 01:02:58,756
I got you started. [snaps fingers]
Do it. I'll see you soon.