Interesting Stuff From The Web

Friday, October 31, 2014

Recent fitness gains….

Over the last several weeks I have made some strides working out. Fitness is an aspect of preparedness not often discussed – unless you are a frequent visitor to Ryan’s site.

Started getting up and running in the morning. Not long distance – about a mile. Really gets the metabolism going. I continue to do Crossfit and I coach a Cardio HIIT class on Tuesday nights. I have been feeling like lifting heavy so that’s what I have been doing.

Bench press – 280 for 1 rep. Front squat – 245 for 1 rep. For whatever reason I like front squats more than back. Back squat 265 for 1 rep. Deadlift – 365 for 1 rep. Clean – 1 rep of 185…..barely.

Ball Slams!!!!

I find as I get older working out is getting more and more important. Not necessarily always weightlifting or Crossfit but ANYTHING – running, walking, biking, HIIT, etc.

If interested in reading a little more on my thoughts on fitness – check out my FITNESS page here on ModernSurvivalOnline.

- – – Rourke

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Lucid Dreaming | How Long Until Your First Lucid?

How Long Was It Until Your First Lucid & What steps did you take in order to get there? Was it Worth it? How many Lucid's have you had since? Did having a Lucid make it easier for you to have the next?

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Lucid Dreaming | Varying your Mantra?

So I was curious, In MILD, the point is to preform verbal (or sometimes written or mental) affirmation that you will lucid dream tonight, and the purpose is to get the idea to stick subconsciously? And the generally accepted idea is that you simply repeat the same phrase over and over again, and that the longer that you can stick to that one mantra, the better.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

I know when I am dreaming.

It's easy for me to do that for a very, very long time. Because I can just copy and paste it. In the same way, when I spend half an hour auto-suggesting that phrase in during my commute, I will start up with autosuggestion thinking about it, but very quickly, I find myself saying it without giving any thought to what it actually means. So it's pointless and I might as well listen to music or daydream about something else.

Now you could make the argument that the purpose of MILD is to get your Mantra stuck in your head when you are falling asleep. But this doesn't work for everybody. Either they keep themselves up half the night or end up drifting off on other thoughts and becoming frustrated by their inability to focus. And of course you have the issue of your brain simply repeating the phrase on 'auto pilot' without thinking about what it really means.

I personally think that varying your mnemonics is more effective. It forces you to put more thought into it.

I know when I am dreaming.

My dreams are clear.

I always remember my dreams.

I am good at lucid dreaming.

My dreams are congruent.

I will reality check when I see a dream sign.

I will remember my dream goals.

My lucid dreams last a long time.

If I am in outer space, then I am dreaming.

If I am on a beach, then I am dreaming.

If I am at high school, then I am dreaming.

I am in control of my dreams.

If I see my dream guide, then I am dreaming.

If I see a tsunami, then I am dreaming.

My dream goal is to bend all four elements.

I lucid dream every night.

This took me about five minutes to type out, and took a lot more thought. In a way, I try to think of everything that I should focus on. Recall, Clarity, Becoming lucid, and what I want to do when I become lucid. It helps to keep the mind fresh and focused while you focus on your mantra.

Better yet, if you want to repeat something like this, then more power to you. You're going to have to put much more thought into what you are saying if your mantra is more complex. Same goes for writing it or mental affirmation. And the way I see it, It's the thought that counts, especially in lucid dreaming.

So... Thoughts?

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Lucid Dreaming | Scriptural quotes on basic self awareness and lucidity

POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I hope these quotes, while unavoidably directing the reader to spiritual/religious terminology, will inspire one to build confidence, or even faith and devotion, on the practice of simplicity ( in the sense that our life is unnecessarily complicated)

Quote:

The degree to which one becomes familiar with the practice can be measured by the extent of one's control over the dream state, recognizing one's dreams to be dreams while still dreaming. Through practice, day by day one overcomes attachments and so sensations of pleasure and pain no longer condition the individual. One finds oneself in a state of integration which is in no way clothed in conceptions and judgments (ma gos mnyam-nyid ngang). Because primal awareness is present, all appearances arise as friends who can help one on the path. In fact, everything encountered along the path can now be something utilized to help develop one's practice. Therefore, one can interrupt the continuity of illusory visions ('khrul-pa'i rgyun chad) and one finds oneself in the state of the dharmatii, the real condition of existence.

Norbu Rinpoche, The cycle of day and night

Quote:

When one practices the essence of this yoga both day and night, the whole of our dimension of life enters into contemplation. Becoming familiar with the practice, our passions will arise on the path (as something useful to us). Certainly we will attain the full measure of accomplishing the benefit of beings, whose numbers are equal to the vastness of the sky, because of realizing the three dimensions of our existence. (44) The measure of our familiarity (with this practice is the degree to which we are able to) recognize our dreams to be dreams while we are still asleep. Since attachments to sensations of pleasure and pain (will be overcome day by day), we find ourselves in a state of integration, in no way clothed (in concepts or judgments). Because primal awareness is present, all appearances arise as friends (who can help us on the path). The continuity of illusion is thus interrupted and we find ourselves in the presence of the state of the real condition of existence. (45) Since the practitioner of Atiyoga, throughout both the day and the night, remains without moving from this state of the real condition of existence, it is said that he or she may realize Buddhahood even in the instant between two breaths. So it was said by that great being Garab Dorje.

Norbu Rinpoche, The cycle of day and night

Quote:

The Essence of Wakefulness - A Method in Sustaining the Nature of Awareness

Homage to the glorious Primordial Protector.

When sustaining the nature of awareness, the three stages of recognizing, training and attaining stability will gradually occur.

First of all, scrutinize the naked and natural face of awareness by means of your master's oral instructions until you see it free from assumptions.

Having resolved it with certainty, it is essential that you simply sustain the nature of just that.

It is not enough just to recognize it, you must perfect the training in the following way:

You may already have recognized the face of awareness, but unless you rest in just that, conceptual thinking will interrupt it and it will be difficult for awareness to appear nakedly.

So, at that point it is essential to rest without accepting or rejecting your thoughts and to continue by repeatedly resting in the state of un-fabricated awareness.

When you have practiced this again and again the force of your thought waves weakens while the face of your awareness grows sharper and it becomes easier to sustain.

That is the time when you should abide in the meditation state as much as you can and be mindful of remembering the face of awareness during post-meditation. As you grow used to this the strength of your awareness is trained further.

At first, when a thought occurs you need not apply a remedy to stop it. By leaving it to itself it is, at some point, naturally freed - just as the knot on a snake becomes untied by itself.

When you become more adept, the occurrence of a thought will cause slight turmoil but immediately vanish in itself - just like a drawing on the surface of water.

When you train in just that, you gain experience that transcends benefit and harm, at which point thought occurrences cause no problem whatsoever. Thus, you will be free from hope or fear about whether or not thoughts do occur - just like a thief entering an uninhabited house.

By practicing further you perfect the training so that, finally, your conceptual thinking and the all-ground along with its moving force dissolve into un-fabricated Dharmakaya.

That is the attainment of the natural abode of awareness.

Just as you cannot find any ordinary stones on an island of gold even if you search for them all that appears and exists will be experienced as the realm of Dharmakaya.

Attaining stability is when everything has become all-encompassing purity.

In the same way, just as conceptual thinking gradually falls under the power of awareness during the daytime, at night you do not need to apply some other instruction, but should simply understand how the recognition of dreams and the luminosities of the shallow and deep sleep correspond.

Until you attain stability, by all means continue with undistracted diligence like the steady flow of a river.

This was taught by Mipham. May virtuous goodness increase!

Mipham Rinpoche

Quote:

CULTIVATING LUCIDITY DIRECTLY

One of the best ways to lay a firm foundation for attaining proficiency

in lucid dreaming is to train in the shamatha technique

of settling the mind in its natural state. In this practice one's attention

is placed neither on the tactile sensations of the body nor

on the breath but on the phenomena of the mind itself. That

means that your object of attention will be the space of the mind

and whatever thoughts, emotions, images, and other kinds of

mental phenomena arise in that domain of experience. The goal

is to simply observe this passing parade without becoming

involved-without cultivating, investigating, being attracted to,

encouraging, or rejecting any mental phenomena that appear in

your mind. You maintain an even, calm presence whether those

phenomena come fast and furious or few and far between. You

have no preference as to what might appear. Just attend to what·

ever arises.

Using this practice as a complement to lucid dreaming

makes perfect sense. Settling the mind in its natural state

closely parallels the act of lucid dreaming. When you practice

settling the mind in its natural state, you are becoming lucid to

the mental activity of the waking state. You recognize these

mental events as mental events, not mistaking them for events

in the outer, intersubjective world. Normally we are as caught

up in and carried away by our mental activities in the daytime

as we are in the nocturnal mental activity we call dreaming.

Rarely do we step back and simply observe our minds in action,

becoming cognizant of the nature of the reality we are experiencing

in the present moment. It makes sense, then, that if you

can become lucid in your daytime experience, this will greatly

facilitate lucidity when you're dreaming. Settling the mind in

its natural state can also be effective for reentering dreams

when you awaken at night.

Alan Wallace, Dreaming Yourself While Awake

Quote:

A Lamp to Dispel Darkness

An Instruction that Points Directly to the Very Essence of Mind

In the Tradition of ‘the Old Realized Ones’

by Mipham Jampal Dorje

[.................................................. ......READ IF YOU WANT :) ........................................]

The true measure of your familiarity with this is the ability to maintain the state of clear light during sleep. The signs that you are on the right track can be known through your own experience: your faith, compassion and wisdom will increase automatically, so that realization will come easily, and you will experience few difficulties. You can be certain about how profound and swift this approach is if you compare the realization it brings with the realization gained only through great effort in other approaches.

As a result of cultivating your mind’s own natural clear light, the obscurations of ordinary thinking and the habits it creates will be naturally cleared away (sang), and the two aspects of omniscient wisdom will effortlessly unfold (gyé). With this, as you seize the stronghold of your own primordial nature, the three kāyas will be spontaneously accomplished.

Profound! Guhya! Samaya!

This profound instruction was written by Mipham Jampal Dorje on the twelfth day of the second month, in the Fire Horse year (1906), for the benefit of village yogis and others, who, while not able to exert themselves too much in study and contemplation, still wish to take the very essence of mind into experience through practice. It has been set out in language that is easy to understand, in accordance with the experiential guidance of a great many old realized masters. Virtue! Mangalam!

A Lamp to Dispel Darkness | Lotsawa House

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Chess Puzzle | 10/31/2014 - Meaningless Promotion

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Lucid Dreaming | Noise Negates WILD Right?

I couldn't find any threads on this:

Is it possible to do WILD with loud noises in the background? I woke up one morning and feeling like I could do a WILD, I tried to settle myself but I just never reached the point where I enter a dream. I tried many methods, such as pretending I am falling from the sky (this one brought me the closest), but it was like there was something constantly pulling me back to reality. I believe this was the fact that someone was mowing their lawn nearby and it is a very obnoxious noise. Do I need a generally noise-free environment to WILD?

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Tractor Supply LED Emergency Light

Went to my local Tractor Supply to get my dogs favorite treats. While walking around looking at all the goodies I came across this multi-LED flashlight priced at $4.99. It came with batteries and had a spring-loaded clip point on it. It also had a magnet on the backside so it could be stuck on a fridge – or wherever. It also had a second flashlight on one end which provided a pretty decent concentrated beam.

What I have been most impressed with is the grid of 20 LED’s on the front. When turned on they throw out a wide flood of light. Truly – this would be great to stick on the fridge and if the power goes out it can light up the room.

Quality is – Chinese. Leave no doubt this is a cheap item. How long will it work? Good question. The on/off button seems to work well but the battery compartment cover seems to barely be on.

Hey – it’s $4.99. It runs on 3 AAA batteries and with all things considered is a great deal.

A few pictures follow below.

Take care all –

Rourke