Coaching update

You can’t expect to carry so many journeys on your shoulders. Can’t neglect yourself. You help plenty of people just on the forum. 

@helghast Yeah, I thought I could do both and that this was not such a big deal, but then my sessions switched from looking for pleasure to looking for answers, and I'd try to put myself in other peoples shoes and see what I'd do if I was them, or I'd be asking myself if what I was experienced was consistent with the advice I was giving, or I'd try things people were telling me about to see if I could improve on them. I already have to deal with a lot of mind noise, but this was starting to be a bit too much. So I'll be taking some time for "me" sessions now and see where it leads. 

@zentai well I don’t know if that can even work for everyone. I’m not sure we level up until we and our prostates are ready. And with such different views and perspectives and all the variables of people’s lives that could be affecting their progress,your task is uphill. 

@zentai, I empathize with your situation. Your declaration stimulated me to recall these lines from The Eagles band tune 'Take It Easy'

Take It easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy

Taking a break to take it easy is sometimes the wisest thing for your sanity.

Good Vibes to You!

@zentai, the challenges you took on were massive to start with and we all appreciate your goodwill to help others.  These efforts were at your own expense.

From the other side of the table, it's rewarding to achieve a new level of pleasure and even more when you found the way by ourself.   There are more than enough guidance tools provided by the experienced members for one to achieve success.   You, yourself do so on a regular basis by responding to an inquisitive post.

The work you have done and the progress you reported on an ongoing basis has benefited far more readers than just the students themselves (including myself).  Thank you for that.

Good vibes to you and enjoy yourself.

@Zentai You have a great way of thinking about and explaining approaches. With your regular posts it’s obvious the time, thought, and effort you put in. You’re generous and have helped many, including myself. You have to take care of yourself first and I’m glad you’re taking a break to do that. Thanks 

Thanks for the kind words guys. This was absolutely worth doing and I'm glad I did it, and maybe I'll try another teaching approach in the future or pivot into something else entirely. For now I'll just be more active on the forum and see if I can finish some projects that ended up on the back burner. You may remember "Anerosutra" and other similar things, this should be a good time to see if they're worth exploring further, but I promise I'll try to "take it easy". 

Posted by: @zentai

Thanks for the kind words guys

Ha ha we love ya Zen man!!!

@zentai, 

REAL LIFE FIRST!

Don’t fail to react to your mind noise sufficiently and only switch to other projects needing similar attention. Do take your rest, your mind noise demands. 

YOURSELF FIRST!
First of all take care of yourself!
If anyone has the right to enjoy himself too, it’s you.
As you can read, we love you no less.
🙂

Good vibes!

Mart

@sowithoutaneros

I always had troubles with this, if I'm not thinking and keeping my mind busy, it feels like something is off. So it's possible that this won't be a very long break, guess I'll just have to wait and see. I'm looking at shorter and gentler sessions and how maybe they can better integrate with "real life". 

@zentai, did you sit down and read any book lately? What about Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse*, perhaps it‘s time to learn to listen to the river?! 😉

He lived in friendly proximity with Vasudeva, and they would now and then exchange a few words, a few words which had long been considered. Vasudeva was not a friend of words, it was rare for Siddhartha to move him to speak. “Have you,” he once asked him, “have you also learned from the river the secret that there is no time?”

A bright smile spread over Vasudeva’s face. “Yes, Siddhartha,” he said. “Is this what you are saying: that the river is the same along his whole length, at his source and at his estuary, at the waterfall, at the ferry crossing, at the rapids, at the sea, in the mountains, everywhere the same, and that for him there is only the present, no shadow of the future?”

“Yes, that is right,” said Siddhartha. “And when I had learned this I looked at my life and saw that it too was a river, and separating the boy Siddhartha from the man Siddhartha, and the man Siddhartha from the old man Siddhartha, there was merely a shadow, nothing real. And Siddhartha’s previous births too were not in the past, and his death and his return to Brahma were not in the future. Nothing has been and nothing will be; everything is, everything has its essence and its presence.”

Siddhartha spoke with delight, this elucidation had made him deeply happy. For was not, then, all suffering time, was not all self-torture and self-fear time, was not all difficulty, all hostility in the world expunged and overcome as soon a time has been overcome, as soon as time could be removed from our thoughts? He spoke with gleeful passion, but Vasudeva simple gave him a bright smile and nodded agreement, he nodded in silence, touched Siddhartha’s shoulder and went back to his work.

Another time in the rainy season, and the swollen river made a mighty roar, Siddhartha said, “Would you say, my friend, that the river has many voices, very many voices? Does he not have the voice of a king, and of a warrior, and of a bull, and of a bird at night, and of a mother giving birth, and of a man who sighs and a thousand other voices?”

“You are right,” Vasudeva nodded, “all the voices in creation are in his voice.” “And do you know,” Siddhartha, “what word he says when you succeed in hearing all ten thousand voices at once?” Happy laughter appeared on Vasudeva’s face, he leant towards Siddhartha and into his ear he spoke the holy word Om. And this indeed was what Siddhartha also had heard.

Please take care - especially of yourself! This is even a selfish request because we don‘t wanna miss you too soon. 🙂 Mart

(*Due to pending lawsuit no access from German ip adresses to any version, German version.)

@sowithoutaneros 

Ah man, reading always comes first, it's been the best thing in my life since I was a kid.

Strangely I never could get into Siddharta, tried again after someone here warmly recommended it and I still don't seem to get it. Maybe if I try the "25 pages a day no matter what" approach it'll click?  

I've been taking some steps towards better self-care and removing stressful elements from my life, also working on mindfulness. I guess I just need some time to get there. 

@zentai, you‘re fully right, reading this book is a bit like walking in Siddharta‘s shoes and he made some miles, why those „25 pages ...“ may already be too much. The print version counts 104 pages, why I‘d suggest a maximum of 10 pages a day, and even leaving out the weekends, you would only need about two weeks. Cheers, Mart

@sowithoutaneros

Wow, only 104 pages? I have it in electronic format and I was certain it was much longer, I never got very far. I'll give it a shot and report back when I'm through. Thanks again for the suggestion. 

@zentai, well, it depends on the page format. 😉

SUHRKAMP (German) 134 pages,

Penguin Classics; Deluxe Edition (English): 176 pages (paperback)

• Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 40,021 in Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Bücher)
  • Nr. 1 in Buddhism (Books)
  • Nr. 28 in Deutsche Literatur (Bücher)
  • Nr. 127 in Literature

@zentai

I am certainly grateful for the coaching you were able to give me in January and of course, all of your great wisdom on this forum! You are certainly entitled to some time for yourself...take some time to reset and whether you give coaching another shot or not, we all appreciate your presence and friendship on this forum!