Let's do this!

[danl]

6) Anything to add?

I feel I have a better understanding of being in the moment and find myself focusing on direct experience more.

Thoughts of goals and the future happen less. It's not that the goals are gone, there is just less thought about them and more focus on the activity at hand. The same is true with thoughts of the past; they still happen, but not as often, and with less meaning.

Something has changed with me. It is subtle, and I'm still the same me, but more relaxed and less reactive. For example, if I'm needed to work late, I'm not worried or upset about missing something I had planned.

[Armstrong]

Ok. I have asked some other guides for feedback. Please be patient. This may take a while.

[danl]

Thanks, no rush.

[Armstrong]

Please remain patient.

[Armstrong]

Thanks for continuing to be patient. Maybe we'll get some feedback soon.

[Armstrong]

You wrote, 'There is reaction to what is happening and to thoughts, and however I react, life will let me know."

How and what will life let you know'?

Please be sure to answer in terms of direct experience.

[danl]

Thanks for the follow up. That didn't take long.

Life may not be an accurate label, but it can be something as simple as eating too much and feeling stuffed, or staying up too late when there is an obligation to get up early the next day; in that case I don't think as fast and run out of steam earlier in the day.

Another example is when I felt lazy and didn't exercise the dog as much as usual, to later find her blanket destroyed.

I felt emotionally heavy one day last week, and didn't care to look and see why. So I exercised, not so much because I knew it would make me feel better, but because I made a commitment to myself (funny huh?) and because it feels good. I did feel better after exercising, the heaviness was gone, and there was energy enough to reflect. I had not decided how to handle a situation at work. I realized there was nothing really to do until the next day, and let it go. I slept well and the situation worked out the next day without any action from me. In this case, 'life' let me know with a physical feeling that is not the norm. It was actually my body''s reaction to thoughts about a situation I had ignored.

[Armstrong]

Thanks. In terms of direct experience, how do you know those explanations are true? Say you work out - as described above - and you think and say, "I did it because of xyz". How do you know it is true?

Also, what is "life" in terms of direct experience? That is, you used "life" above as if it is a thing. There is a you and a life and they interact. What is "life" like? What is this "I" like that interacts with life, in terms of direct experience?

[danl]

The body feels good afterwards. Is that why I do it? At this point it could be habit as much as anything else. There are other activities that leave the body feeling good. As I look now for a reason, the only thing I see is commitment and the choice to stick to it.

Life is the existence/experience of everything. "I" is the same experience through this body - limited to what this body's senses perceive.

[Armstrong]

thanks for your answer. I am a bit confused by your language.

I've asked you more times than I can remember to answer in terms of direct experience.

It might help if you pretend I am 7 years old as you try to answer this question - if you look now, what is "committment"? Where is it, how do you exprrience it, etc. And what is "choice"? What does it mean to stick to anything?

Let's make it more real - you made a commitment to me that you would answer these questions in terms of direct experience.

You didn't do that, despite me asking you to PLEASE ANSWER IN TERMS OF DIRECT EXPERIENCE.

What is your "commitment" to follow the terms?
What is "your choice" to "stick to" it?

Please answer that in terms of direct experience.

If you can't do this, let's get you another guide. This is wasting time.

[danl]

I've been lazy and have rushed the replies. I've looked at the thoughts generated from the questions as direct experience, though eventually understanding the content of the thought doesn't matter.

I read the terms and thought "sounds easy enough", followed by the thought - "I'll do this every day". Commitment is making that thought (choice) a priority and acting on that choice.
Prioritizing may use labeling the thought of that activity as better than other activities, or it may use 'will' to do the activity even though other activities seem more appealing at that moment.
'Will' - I may not clearly see what will is, but I label not doing something that was committed to as worse than doing something I want to do. So for me, will is another thought followed by acting on that thought.

Apologies for wasting time. I don't want to cause further frustration. I now realize there is typically only about one day a week that I'm committed to giving more time and energy to this. Otherwise I don't want to spend more than a few minutes a day translating my normal way of communicating in terms of direct experience.

No need for another guide. I'll continue on my own.

Thank you for your efforts!

[Armstrong]

We can continue if you'll answer from direct experience.
If you don't answer from direct experience you waste time.

I am not sure if once a week is enough, but maybe it will work.

Do you want to keep going with me? Or would you prefer to stop?

[danl]

I'd like to continue and will work on responding with direct experience. I'll check in daily to let you know I'm still here at least.

Thank you

[Armstrong]

Nice.

Now the only thing that matters is the quality of your responses - as long as they are in terms of direct experience, we're good. If not, there's nothing I can do but ask you to observe.

For a lot of people, their ability to focus is very low. They spend their life lost in their conceptions. So if someone can't look regularly - eg daily - they can't notice things.

I get that you are busy wih other things. So maybe you'll see or maybe you won't. I am willing to keep trying - so please answer, as meticulously as you can, the questions posed above. Take as long as you need.

[danl]

Thanks for your understanding. I won't take it personally if you decide to kick to the curb for being a pain in the ass.

I took a look at what 'commitment' is by looking at my commitment to respond in terms of direct experience and at first it was like looking for 'I' - there was nothing seen; nothing I could point at or find, then almost immediately the thought that there has to be something there arose and the mind started labeling commitment. There were ideas that it is "the choice to answer in direct experience", and acting on that choice, etc. Then the question "what does choosing mean?", and my mind started to go down a path of analyzing what is in commitment and what isn't in it.
Then the thought to "stop thinking" happened, which came from memory of reading or hearing somewhere on this site the command - "don't think, look". So the looking started. All that was noticed when looking to see what commitment is, is a feeling of something like pressure. Not a physical pressure, but the sense of need, - that this action must be taken.
Then there was a decision to look to see where the feeling came from, and this is where it is easy for me to get lost in conceptions. When looking for a source of the feeling of pressure, the thought "because I said I would" arises, then quickly starts going to "taking action on the choice" and "if you don't, then you're lying" which automatically has a negative association. There was also the thought of "I want to", which started to lead down a path of thoughts - "I chose to, because I want to see". Finally there was a thought "it doesn't matter", and looking for the source of the feeling stopped.