I posted this in the reboot-section already, but thought it would better fit in here. Im a 22 year old student, going to spezalize in neurology, so its all about the brain for me. Hope I can help you with this: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When your brain is rewired from the dopamine-deficiency due to not habitually triggering the huge dopamine realease through PMO, it is going crazy (remember this). This can in my experience be felt as physical pain or negative thought patterns. If you know that this is completely normal, it will have less of an effect on you (its like you dont take it personal). So what we should do is to make our mind stronger to endure this rewiring. One common way is to delay it through distraction, but sooner or later we will have to face the "pain". This is the case with every detox. There are many different ways to adopt to this rewiring, the most important thing that the adoption should lead to is to be comfortable being unconfortable -> CBU There is no easy way if you want fast results. If you are trying not to suffer at all this guideline will not help you. The 5 second rule is in my opinion a delay of feeling the urges. If you are constantly delaying them instead of being able to confortable feel and confront them, youre constantly escaping. If you want long lasting results you will at many points have to suffer. Through neurological adoption this suffering will transform in a known endurable feeling and will therefore not be considered and felt as suffering anymore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My tips on how to train your mind (the harder it is, the greater the effect): cold shower every morning before breakfast (this will have a great effect) meditation (especiall in the evenings, you will have a better sleep) exercise (especially long lasting exercising like running, climbing, swimming or biking will make your mind stronger) if you dont like exercise, do it anyways, you dont have to like it go out and do stuff, engage in conversations and social activities (even if you´re anxious, you will generally not be controlled by fear pain ecc anymore if you get CBU) try to keep dopamine release low in general (youtube, tinder ecc.), you´ll get the hang of and feel its release, guideline: rewards without work dont reward yourself without working for something practice different skill sets and being creative like socializing, instruments, reading, writing ecc. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ keep in mind: dont force yourself, pressure, but no force (this is key!) (if you want it, youll have a thrive anyways so wont need pressure) generallyl rest a lot! you will need the energy (key #2) generally try to accept yourself as you are (as an unwholesome imperfect being), be proud of yourself that you started this journey and try to cultivate self-love (this is a practice) your brain is being rewiring, this takes time and you will be unconfortable focus on the results, imagine and visualize your life with benefits as confidence, self-love and compassion, loads of energy find higher goals than "just" girls, if you start living you own life and creating an environment you feel great in, girls will notice and you will attract them it is worth it, you will see results after 2 weeks already if you follow this guideline (im starting week 3 and it alredy changed a lot in my life) the more you overcome yourself, the better you will get at it and enter a positive cycle if you are getting testy and , youve reached a point where your mind needs rest, this could be seen as a goal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Work on high energy goals (not "just" girls): deeper relationships job, success impact on other lives feeling great being yourself, being a good friend to yourself being physically and mentally strong and therefore being prepared to make the most of the complexity of life _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ my CBU scedule is (you dont have to do it this way, its kinda tough, but do it if you want fast results): sports 6 times a week, 3 days gym, two times running or soccer, sundays body weight every morning before breakfast going for a 10 minute walk, then small sets of exercises, stretching and after that a cold shower working during the day, 2 hours noon break (I generally rest a lot inbetween, power napping ecc), then until 7pm again (exercising is considered work) power naps 2 times during a working session (max 15 min) also resting at set up times when not completely tired (this will keep you going longer) waking up not too late in the morning during weekdays, absolute max: 8:30am practicing skill set _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ my resuts so far: due to "only" having reached two weeks, not all of the results people are talking about have manifested so far. But as I am already writing this after such a short period, I am convinced they will sooner or later. In these two hugely impactful weeks the following things happened (keep in mind that I´ve lived isolated and depressed) my friends want to do things more often, they hook me up a lot more (phone rings a lot more!) I wake up and am totally ok with what I am thinking, it has less effect on my life got two jobs got a date with a beautiful girl, generally get more looks from girls I´m more ok with who I am more energy stronger during exercising, better stamina a lot more productive to be fair I have to say that not everything is going as I would like to yet, but looking at it from a greater angle, these two weeks had a huge impact and I know if with continuing like this more good things are about to happen. This clear image and feeling is also the reason I´m writing this (its like something is urging me to do it) and I hope to maybe help some of you out with it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is what helped me go through this first two weeks, and i can say that it felt almost like dying many times but there was one really hard an tough day with many horrible hours (a lot of pain and almost relapse) after which I woke up the next day and was pretty sure I wont go back. Look out for this day if it happens to you too that way and be strong hang in there. You will be stronger after this day. Greets David
Woah, this is really well thought out, thanks for posting! I like the idea of becoming a more productive person through rewiring your brain, whether it's during work, recreation, or self improvement time.
commenting to be reminded to come back and reread this when i am not procrastinating lol sounds awesome so far though, thanks man!
This is really well written! I'd started some of these, but not them at the same time and not with some of the guidelines. Like with the shower before breakfast. Love this! I'll be watching this thread and come back to it a bunch!
Great perspective @louhog! Another thing I might add is that rewiring completely takes time. Get comfortable being patient. There are some negative things that happen only on rare occasions in life (loss of job, relationship breakup, sudden loss of loved one, ect..), and if you've used PMO to cope with these seldom occurrences in the past, you may be caught off guard after a long period of successful abstinence if one of these negative things occurs. You'll have to learn cope with the big life stuff without PMO and this may take some time, since big life stuff doesn't happen every day. Great post and best of luck with continued success!
You got a good point there! It is immaginable that the danger to fall back can be there any time like you said even after a long period of time. I will defenetly try to be aware of this, thank you. btw, respect for your 266 days!
Hit three weeks today! another six to come until i stop counting (ideal goal is to make this a livestyle, working hard to get it done as planned) greets to you guys out there, keep it up!
Thanks for the great write-up! I've long been a proponent of living a somewhat austere life and avoiding excessive self-comfort. I've had some really long periods of doing this very well, where my days are filled with an ice cold shower every morning, disciplined schedule, and very little dopamine-dumping activities. It is truly the most satisfying way to live that I've come across. But slowly I seem to be drawn back into habits of self-indulgence and the progress can fade slowly over the course many weeks. Easy to lose that subtle willingness to endure suffering and start trying to avoid it again. I almost feel like there's two related yet separate threads here; one to implement this kind of living and then another one to understand how to stay there despite the turmoil of life or even more dangerously the complacency that seems to set in after long periods of high-quality living. The second part is the one I feel like I still need to learn. But first things first which means getting to a point where we are far away from PMO and have a healthy mind again. It's a bit unpleasant to feel like I already did the work, sustained a long streak, and then ruined it by relapsing and getting stuck in relapse cycle two times now over the past 7 years. Anyway sorry for the rambling just trying to process these thoughts and affirm that your post details some really good and effective stuff which I know from personal experience. Best of luck on your reboot!
Damn man i feel you! You are pointing out a very important point which had occured to me too in many situations of life. Finding out about something new (like a program, a teaching ecc.) and then getting drowned by forgetfulness about its essence. It gets clear how powerful our habitual energies are, this i think can even be influenced by our genetics. There is something in every one of us that wants to avoid suffering, i think that is just how we are made. And to reprogram this natural process needs focused continuous determination. I´ve found my self on the edge of just giving up and throwing it all away because a particular teaching or program "didnt work out". Until finding out that it was not even about the program but about my inner position in the first place. Our own little history is a circle of repeating phases. Like everything in history is repeating. You defenetely had an impact with this post. I realise even more how similar we are in many ways, its hard to talk about this in everyday life. So thank you for this truthful answer and for the important idea to keep up even after a long period of time. Greets
