Shy guy likes you body language

Introduction
Someone reading this book may wonder what sort of audience is being targeted here. They may also be confused as to what the endgame is behind such a book. The aim of this book is to parallel the different religious & mystic traditions & connect them to the tropes that we find near death experiences propagate. They often are reconnecting us with what ancient texts have said but in the modern secular world where materialism is the norm we have become numb to the meanings & impact behind such text. These texts are often considered archaic & primitive. Unable to contribute much to the modern world they may only be useful in prayer chants.
Thus I aim here to revitalise the spirit of these traditions and connect them to what many call the modern day scriptures. The study of near death experiences, neuroscience, consciousness & other paranormal phenomena.
The endgame of the mystic is to connect, achieve union, knowledge and self growth. Thus by approaching all these texts and the various evolving thought that emerged from it, we can explore the parallels and connections that bridge the gap between traditions. The beauty of mysticism and perennial philosophy is the freedom it offers in interpretation.
This book doesn't focus on the question of whether scriptures are divinely inspired, man made tools written for sociological and political agendas or some sort of corrupted divinity. That discussion is a debate that will never end. Rather the focus here is on the possible wisdom & theological beliefs which parallel and mesh together well in forming a higher meaning & connection to the divine. Whether it be a higher power, an all pervading source or a metaphysical truth. You aren’t required to literally believe the divinity of these texts. A simple level of curiosity & intrigue is sufficient.
However one may contend that it is easy to parallel traditions when they are in harmony but when they differ they directly contradict rendering these connections meaningless and superficial. Therein lies the limitations of this book. Therefore the following concepts won’t be discussed in here. These are mainly :

• Unverifiable supernatural claims such as ancient miracles for instance Moses parting the sea, Jesus walking on water, resurrecting etc. For someone expecting this book to be a source of evidence for a specific religion it unfortunately won’t be. However there are multiple correlations and connections and these may act as subtle signs of evidence for a specific faith or multiple of them.
  
• Reconciling contradictions between belief systems and scriptures. For example whether the Divine is a trinity or a unity. Whether a certain sage was superior to another. For instance comparing the personality of Jesus with Muhammad, whether the Bible is morally perfect or not & a plethora of other beliefs that may not agree with one another. The book simply assumes they all are imperfect systems.
  
• The scientific debate on whether NDEs are classified as hallucinations or genuine supernatural occurrences. Whilst an interesting topic in itself, it is out of the scope of this book with many other books discussing the science behind ndes. However when necessary nde claims will be contrasted with naturalistic explanations.
  

The primary focus is in following a don't throw the baby out with the bathwater approach. Some may also contend that this book follows a shopping cart style of cherrypicking from texts and discarding beliefs from texts one subjectively finds inappropriate. To this I would simply say that the approach here is one of finding the parallels that align well together and acknowledging when a belief doesn't align well. Not necessarily a pick and choose system. An approach I would call the rational mystic.
The rational mystic is one who is simply open to what may be beyond their senses. They may be mystically inclined, fascinated and open to the plethora of supernatural ideas. However they will not blindly believe any and all beliefs. They will discern using rational faculties what of mysticism is most compatible with reality, what the data or evidence shows & what is more probable than not. I believe people of all beliefs or no beliefs can fit this definition. Whether you identify by a religion, as spiritual but not religious, non religious, atheist, deist or agnostic. Thus a skeptic or believer may able to gain an appreciation for these belief systems.
This book dives into the verses and parallels of ancient texts such as the Old Testament, Gospels, Quran, Hadith, Bhagwad Gita, Dhammapada, Tao Te Ching & Gathas of Zoroaster. Other older parallels such as from Vedic India, Ancient Egypt, Greece & Mesopotamia may be referenced.
Alongside that are the testimonies of NDEs and how they may parallel or differ to these texts. This book also attempts to provide commentary on major philosophical themes & elaborate on various exegesis, mystical traditions such as Kaballah, Sufism, Advaita Vedanta, Neoplatonism & Chinese thought. Since mysticism is ultimately about experience it relevant and useful to enhance these discussions by contrasts to various scientific ideas, philosophy & pop culture.
NDE Filter Methodology
One of the problems with ndes is the fact that they are subjective experiences which we cannot objectively verify or replicate. This makes them a weaker form of evidence compared to empirical studies which can replicate the results. These present a challenge. An individual nde may therefore be subject to embellishment, fabrications & delusions. Therefore in picking our choice of NDEs here we can only look at ndes as a whole in terms of statistical patterns that form. This is the methodology used in NDE literature by various academics including neuroscientists & philosophers researching the phenomenon.
To elaborate we therefore will discard testimonies that appear embellished with fantastical details. These fantastical details may also be subjective from person to person. Calling an otherworldly journey fantastical is simply irony. However in following the certain patterns that appear cross culturally in ndes it is much easier to identify reports that are considered fantastical. The following tropes appear the most across multiple nde studies.

• Out of Body Experience
• Tunnel of Light
• Meeting deceased relatives or unknown beings
• Perceiving a highly luminous pervading light
• Feelings of absolute peace, comfort & love
• Arriving at an otherworldly place ie a meadow, garden etc.
• Life Review
• Border of no return
• Pluralistic message about love & wisdom

There are of course other concepts that ndes reference which appear from time to time. These allow ndes to be flexible and not rigid experiences. After all no two nde experiences are the same. However using these motifs listed we can filter through unreliable ndes. These include

• NDE reports that are highly coloured with religious fundamentalist tropes particularly tropes promoting an exclusivist attitude to religion.
• NDEs that appear too detailed, fantastical & unrestricted appearing more like a science fiction or fantasy novel. For example nde claims of multiple lives on other planets or large scale prophecies & apocalyptic predictions & generally things that differ wildly from the core themes
• NDEs that talk too much about one specific spiritual concept, portraying themselves as special, prophets or mediums turning their nde into a narcissistic or monetary agenda through spiritual coaching, multiple books etc.

Finally one may say that the chapters of this book attempt to hint at the veracity of a religion & this book is a subtle attempt to proselytize that faith. I will reiterate that this book isnt trying to prove any specific religion. There may be subtle signs from one faith that fit better with the nde phenomenon than others. The following theories I would say explain these subtle signs. I leave it up to the reader to decide what they feel is the best explanation.

• Universal Divine Theory : This is the idea that prophets, mystics & sages from different cultures have been inspired through revelation from the same source & this explains the shared insights of a religion & ndes.
  
• Mystic Wisdom Theory : This simply means that certain religious writers and founders were simply wise spiritual men, mystically inclined honing on their intuition & knowledge.
  
• Intertextuality Theory : Each new religious founder simply built of older religious ideas assimilating it into their theologies.
  

Whilst these theories may suggest a subtle spark of corresponding truths, generally NDEs dont explicitly point to any religion. Some say its simply the case that a Christian will see Jesus, a Muslim will see Allah, A Jew sees Yahweh & a Hindu sees Krishna. This of course is not entirely true. The portion of ndes that claim to see Jesus form a minority & interestingly they too dont point at specific doctrines. NDE experiencers may simply describe a sentient light they perceive to be God. This being doesnt tell anybody that I am Yahweh or Allah. Experiencers will say that religious texts fall short of describing this being. It is beyond what people are taught in religion.
Those who are familiar with NDE reports and studies will know that NDEs tend to be very religion agnostic and at best subtly imply a religious correlation but rarely do we find massive amounts of nde reports cross culturally presenting exclusivist dogmas such as follow holy book x or you will burn, believe Jesus died for your sin or you will burn for eternity. When an nde does present this its seen as a red flag since this doesn't occur with the majority of other ndes. The most we have are subtle religious correlations. However NDEs do present us with certain philosophical dilemmas when it comes to religion.

• If NDEs are vague about religion how are we to interpret these religions ? Are we to see them as man made socio-cultural constructs ? Are we to see them as inspired by God but limited to their time ? Are we to see them as partially divine partially man made scriptures ?
  
• If NDEs prove that religions are man made we must ask what purpose the creator has behind the nde. If the creator has allowed man made cultures to negatively influence and control the world throughout history and has not intervened or communicated with humanity one must wonder what point there is in a nde being a message in the 21st century. So on one hand the NDE presents us with a deistic God who doesnt intervene and let false religions begin and on the other hand the God of the NDE seems very personal, involved in human lives, keeps tracks, feels love and joy for humans etc
  
• If one, many or all religions are truly divinely inspired why do NDES never directly point to this ? NDEs seem more concerned in lessons but not in pointing people to a religion.
  

Some may ask what difference does it make that it doesnt point to a religion. if anything NDEs show us that God is far beyond the narrow confines of religions. It makes an immense difference when we factor the fact that religions have influenced entire cultures and civilisations in good and bad ways. Religions have been used to wage war, cause destruction, control the masses, brainwash, confuse and build fear into the human subconscious. And on the good side religions have given hope to the world that suffering isnt in vain, that life has meaning & that justice and ultimate happiness exists.
For alot of people the need to connect to the transcendental is insatiable and religion provides a whole structure of beliefs that one can organise themselves on. For some this is very restricting and enforces a cultural dogma on to everyone. They may prefer a shopping cart version of religion where they take whats good for them and discard what they disagree on. For others they prefer to deny all religious concepts as dogma and cultural beliefs. One could argue that humans need the cultural clothing of customs and traditions to keep their lives going, something which they can use to relate with to the divine. Not everyone can believe in an abstract deity that they cannot conceive of in the absence of symbols such as scriptures.
Religious texts provide at the very least a gateway to which one can relate through stories of heroes, morals and metaphors of the divine. Of course none of this leads us to whether said divine being has revealed these texts, whether they are inspired but corrupted by man or fully man made. These symbols act as aids in feeling like we have a piece of the divine soul with us thus giving comfort and hope. Thus whilst some have no need for religions, for the masses religions have immense value.
So why dont NDEs prove religion ?
There are no clear answers to this (unless somebody has an nde and asks whoever they speak with to tell them in specifics what religion is from God and whats not) all we can do is speculate. The ndes that do ask or do mention a scripture are so few that we cannot form any conclusion on this.

• The simplest answer is that all religions are man made for good or bad intentions but this would of course lead us to the philosophical deist dilemma.
• Perhaps the NDEs message focuses on the lessons and ideals itself and sees scriptures and religions as redundant (even if there is a divine hand behind some) After all these are mainly symbols and cannot compare to a direct mystical experience (something fundamentalists struggle with)
• Perhaps an attempt to promote any specific faith would lead to an assumption that the nde message is about exclusivist salvation and leading to the worship of scriptures/religions (something fundamentalists struggle with)
• Perhaps this proves that religions are limited to their century and context and that we should only look to them for the universal timeless message they offer not the specifics. After all all major scriptures teach the core values that NDEs have revitalised ie love, mercy, kindness etc

Do NDEs support materialism or not ?
While the aim of this book isnt to debate the afterlife or brain hypothesis, I will say that at the time of this being written, my view on ndes is to say that I consider them a plausible source of evidence towards consciousness surviving death & the afterlife existing. This view of mine may change in time towards either side. The following are some reasons I would argue for them being plausible.
1 Veridical NDEs : Numerous NDES report out of body experiences including witnessing of events in an environment when this should not be possible. More than 100+ veridical cases have been documented. Not to mention veridical cases from across different countries which further strengthens the case. We would have to be radically skeptical to consider all of these testimonies fabricated.
2 Lucid narrative : NDERS experience a highly lucid narrative that usually doesn't end in the middle or chaotically unlike dreams or hallucinations. Their ndes tend to be structured with a beginning, middle and end where they are either told, know or are sucked back into the body. This is quite a strange experience compared to delirium, delusions, hallucinations etc.
3 Deceased Relatives : Most NDES claim to see deceased relatives rather than alive people supporting the afterlife hypothesis. We should expect a mixed cocktail of alive & deceased people appearing in ndes if this was a case of dreams or hallucinations. The population that do claim to see a mixed group of alive and deceased is quite a small proportion of total ndes.
4 Intuitive Reality : NDERS are very convinced that they are in a hyper real reality that makes this world seem black and white, like a dream/illusion as some would say. They are intuitively convinced they are in something real the way we might be talking in person, as opposed to it being just a dream. In one study its believed that nders brain recollect their nde as if it's a real world memory.
5 ESP claims : NDERS may perceive no time at all, may experience a life review such that they can feel the feelings of others and recall memories long forgotten. They may feel like they intuitively know things without needing to learn. Some may report greater vision and detail than waking life, ability to hear thoughts, instantaneously appear, be in two places at once or pass through solid walls.
5 Religious Expectations : NDES often may contradict the beliefs of many Christians, Atheists and Muslims who have varying beliefs about the afterlife. Some may be surprised to experience the things they see & are particularly surprised at the ESP abilities as these are not predicted by religions. Particularly interesting are religious conservative ndes with more exclusivist beliefs who are surprised and end up becoming more pluralist and liberal.
6 Clinical Death Scenario : The best NDE studies focus on scenarios whereby the person undergoes cardiac arrest and thus clinical death. At this time a person has no heartbeat, no breathing, dilated pupils, no light reflex, no gag reflex and EEG reading of little to no brain activity. This is consistent with unconsciousness as no blood and oxygen can fully reach the brain. Furthermore the fact that most undergoing clinical death dont report any experiences means NDEs are odd occurrences & consciousness should not occur.
7 Transformation : NDERS often are transformed in their beliefs with less to no fear of death, detachment from the material, more interest in altruism and spirituality and are impacted by their NDE for decades, remembering it far more than a hallucination or dream. They see it as the most important experience of their life.
8 Double edged sword : The fact that not everyone has an nde may support the idea of nde being more than brain activity. After all if the nde simply was some evolutionary dying mechanism we would expect everybody to have one. This point could also support naturalistic hypothesis (See below)
However there is still uncertainty regarding the nde phenomenon and further data, & studies are required to build a case that is greater than just plausible. These are some opposing reasons to consider doubt in them valid
1 Embellishment : NDEs are unverifiable and therefore we cannot verify which ndes are authentic or which ndes are embellished over time with the nders own thoughts, interpretations or exaggerations. This makes it easier for fabrications and frauds to claim an nde experience.
2 Brain Activity : Since NDES happen during clinical death or unconscious states where a persons brain can be returned to living we cannot be sure that there isnt some deeper brain activity that causes an nde. We also cant be sure than an nde isnt happening in the window where cerebral blood flow hasnt ceased or in the window where CPR leads back to cerebral blood flow. EEG machines also have certain limitations such that they cannot detect deeper brain regions due to the skulls electrical resistance. EEG spikes may occur due to muscle twitches & electrical noise which can often make it harder to differentiate whether this is due to the NDE or not.
3 Cultural/Religious Contradictions : If we keep an open mind, its entirely possible that a Western nde could see Jesus, an Indian nde see Buddha or an Indian nde see Jesus & a Western nde see Buddha. It seems this can be reconciled by the idea that ndes are customized to fit what comforts people subconsciously. Japanese NDEs for example see a bridge/river symbolizing journey to another world, Westerners a portal/tunnel. Westerners relate best to Jesus, Easterners to other figures. However some ndes provide conflicting metaphysical views. This can be an issue with some ndes if nde 1 says they were told to keep reincarnating until they reach nirvana, nde 2 says something more fitting to abrahamic faith. nde 3 says hell doesnt exist and nde 4 says they saw hell realms.
4 Double edged Sword : This point can be argued for ndes (See above) but also against ndes. Only a small percentage 10-20% of those under cardiac arrest are said to have experienced an nde. This point leaves questions as to why aren't all people experiencing an nde. Should we not expect a larger proportion say more than half of people to experience an nde ? If there is a realm beyond the material should we not expect every person to experience an nde. A low proportion may mean that the nde is some sort of brain anomaly. We only have speculations as to why all dont get an nde.
5 Future Science : Current materialistic explanations may be inadequate to explain ndes but this doesnt mean that future understanding of the brain may not yield a new theory/explanation that explains it away. Thus it remains a potential argument.
All of these points are worthy discussions on their own and can be found in various other valuable books. The above points are simply a valuable framework by which the reader may be able to take away what they value out of this book. Everything written is simply my own research into the subject & I always advise people to take it with a grain of salt unless it makes rational sense to you & appeals to your intuition.
Diving into the depths
Spirituality & mysticism can be thought of as two sides of the same coin with philosophy the ring that runs the circumference of the coin. While spirituality deals with the human aspects such as soul, spirit, ego, morality & purpose, mysticism deals with the divine aspects of things such as essences, attributes, metaphors, realities, realms, entities, space, time, substances etc. We aim to dive into the following themes in this book.
The Divine Source : Everything relevant to defining the higher power & source of existence including essences & attributes.

Consciousness & Spirit : Everything relevant to the nature of consciousness, qualia, perceptions, the spirit & soul.
Reality : Everything relevant to the nature of perception, illusion, concepts, space, time, substances, modes, forms & realities.
Spirituality & Purpose : Everything relevant to the nature of human meaning, objectives, purpose & suffering.
Morality : Everything relevant to values, ideals, ethics & morals.
Knowledge & Truth : Everything relevant to the nature of seeking truth, seeking knowledge & attaining wisdom. These include concepts such as beliefs, truths, axioms, speculations, nature of inspirations & revelations.
Awakening & Dark night of Soul : Everything relevant to the nature of materialism, spiritual awakening, seeking inner peace, anxieties, depression, remorse, angst & layers of the psyche.
Divine Sorrow : Everything relevant to the nature of the eschatological souls corruption, redemption, purification, punishment, divine justice & mercy including modes & forms.
Divine Bliss : Everything relevant to the nature of the souls destiny, ultimate peace, happiness, bliss & divine love including modes & forms.

Excuse the language, but how the fuck do you handle negativity? I wake up, or get woken up and the first thing I hear is how much someone hates their job, how they wish they could relax, or everyone that died and how they’re not going to make it far to that age and how life is depressing, how vices are ruining their life, and how their dreams will never come true and can’t be changed and that I’m wasting my 20s because I can’t find the energy or willpower to live it and that it’s my fault. Or that I won’t survive out there. EVERY VERY EARLY MORNING UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Then I can’t leave for the day because I’m watching/taking care of things and helping and I also have nowhere to go. The rent is luckily unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else and they’re good people. I only have the energy to scroll and watch others live their best lives. All I hear is complaining and when I try to help nothing does sometimes. Im trying my best to be positive and grateful but it’s killing me.
I can’t fucking live like this anymore. I too am not perfect but I do not want to leave my bed. I’ve been in bed for years. I feel sick and am crying all the time. Then one roommate comes home and starts complaining about how I’m there and how I’m not doing anything with my life and not progressing and starts telling everyone things I told them in private, really personal things even though I pay my shares and might annoy them but then they recruit the others. Then I get forced to do things I’m not comfortable with then I’m told I’m overreacting but when someone else requests it it’s done with no problem and that I shouldn’t even be there so then I feel bad because I shouldn’t. I NEED to leave but I can’t even fucking find the energy to move my limbs and I have no where to go where I’d feel safe. I’m so fucking stuck. Everything piles up so fast.
But when I’m the only one there I have ZERO problems I clean, cook, apply for more jobs, comfortably cry about my own things and feel better after without people adding to reasons on why I should ACTUALLY be crying, I go above and beyond and enjoy myself doing “chores” or whatever adulting thing I have to do. It only happens every two weeks for a couple of hours. I get more done in those few hours than I do in months. I thought it was me but I think it’s my environment(and me). I can’t thrive here but it’s the only comfort and aid I know. I have no happiness or hobbies or friends, just scrolling depressed.
None of them are doing this on purpose so it’s not their fault. I need to leave but I don’t want to leave the space I built for years. I can be alot too but I don’t want to be anymore.

Hi guys, I am a gay guy and an stark atheist. I don't understand how a lot of gay guys are still Muslim? I mean why would you follow a religion that is hell-bent on annihilating you? And when I ask them about it they are like "I can't answer that question" or "you have no right to questioj my religious belief" or "I close my eyes to this."

Hello,
Well, I wanted to ask a question...
I live in the US, and for all my life I have been fine with gay and lesbian people. I do not mind them, some of my friends even go under those terms.
But last year I was called "cis," a transexual girl used that term with me because she said I was not a woman, but a "cis-woman."
After that experience, I started to think more about transexuals and the LGBT community. When I shared my thoughts with a friend, she called me "homophobic," even though I do not show hate towards anyone.
Here is what I told my friend...
"I do not like the change of pronouns if I see you as a guy I will use HE and if I see you as a girl I will use HER. The only person who can use the pronoun THEY is a pregnant woman because she could be referred to as 2 people. If a guy uses a dress and refers to himself as a woman, I will not go along with his joke. I am a born woman, and I will never become a man (respectfully, I do not hate men or anything). I see the change of sex/gender as a popular trend or a subculture. For example, when I was younger I went through an Emo phase, then in high school, I had a hip-hop phase. In those subcultures, I enjoyed copying the fashion style and music, but it was just a subculture."
After I shared my personal opinions with her, she called me "homophobic" and I was surprised. Apparently, nowadays you cannot have a personal opinion because it makes you the villain?
I wanted to share and hear the opinions of others. I am not even comfortable with sharing my opinions nowadays because of how sensitive some people are.

I've only been using computershare for the past couple years but now that the price is more volatile computershare's settlement time feels like ages. What apps have you guys been using to set limit orders or buy the dips? Preferably one that has little to low share transfer fees.

Hey 25M here and when it comes to relationships I have things that give me anxiety, of course depending on few cases I've seen particularly in recent times.
So Most of the girls I've seen (seniors, batchmates) they usually say 25 is too early for marriage and they say they want to get married around 27-29 ish just before 30. I don't have anything for or against this opinion of theirs, but it's their logic that makes me more anxious about marrying a girl. Few cases when this marriage topic came up, they usually say, they have to see the life, experience and set their career and Focus on them selves. Which sounds very ideal. But their actions doesn't just add up, it all just comes to staying in the job that pays just enough to live like they want and I never seen any of them till now doing investments or plan on savings, anything of that sort. Now coming to commited relationships, most of these girls were not single at all, they're already in their 2nd/3rd+ relationship and well aware they're not dating that guy to marry. But he fills the role of companionship for intimacy/validation/attention, while they live their life at their will with option to break it off whenever they wan or promote him for husband only if their family agrees.
So now, the anxious part, So for a typical girl who spent life from 21-28 in this life style, now goes for an arrange marriage for a well settled, high earning dude who shouldn't give a fuk about their life choices till then. My question here: is it fair to give all the energy, time and efforts at the best of your youth to partying, frnds and on&off relationships and whoever the dude, whos going to marry you and spend rest of his life, all he gets is that left over trauma and wornout version of her in the name of maturity..? Do women just think marriage as some backup plan when they feel tired of their lifestyle..?
Your honest opinion can really help, I know a girl who does exactly that and someone I know might be her fiance, if things go well. I have no plans in saying anything to anybody, but I needed some place to let my thoughts go.
Open to every opinion.. Except: "Age is just a number, 30 is new 16 bullsiht"
Age is measure of our time in this world and time can bend one to his knees. Those things only work partially when one's super rich or just genetically blessed. So kindly keep those opinions to yourselves.

Hey fellow audhd pals,
I’m not sure if this is more influenced by autism or my adhd but I know it’s incredibly common for us to have sleep disorders either way. Anyway- my sleeping pattern is atrocious and has been for my whole adult life; I stay up for days at a time to try and get myself tired enough to sleep at night and wake in the morning but it only works for one day and then I’m right back to up all night and sleep in the day. For that one day where I wake up in the morning, let me tell you girl I am UNSTOPPABLE! I get so much done, I feel so good about myself, I workout, I reply to people, make plans and then evening comes and I stay up until 6am and just like that it’s ruined again.
My usual routine is stay awake until my eyes are physically closing and then I’ll just allow myself to sleep. I think it’s the actual act of trying to fall asleep that I hate, just lying down in the dark trying to concentrate on relaxing makes me annoyed and frustrated so instead I stay up until I physically can’t anymore. I hate the whole ‘winding down process’ I don’t want a bath, I don’t want to turn everything off but I know that I should. It’s like being a night kid every night trying to stay up late but the only person I’m disobeying is my own self interest!
This has affected my life in many ways as I’m sure you can imagine- it’s impossible for me to ever have a normal proper job because the lack of sleep or inability to wake up and have a good routine mean I’m late all the time and if I am on time its only because I’ve stayed up all night and then of course I’m exhausted all day and irritable, even when I do this (and I do it a lot) I will return home from work having not slept and I will STILL stay up till 3/4am and then inevitably sleep through my alarm and lose another job. I miss opportunities and social occasions all the time because I sleep through them. It really affects me mentally because I feel like such a loser for not being able to do this super simple thing that everyone else just does naturally, it makes me feel like I’ll never be able to have a proper relationship too because in the past it’s caused lots of problems. They would fall asleep and I’d just sit there all night working myself up, even more so if I was at their place rather than mine because I’ve found other people literally just decide they are going to sleep, turn everything off and then sleep so in these kind of situations I’m just stuck there trying to silently play on my phone or something. Anyway, I think you get it; no sleep= sad 😢 so to stop me rambling on, my point is- have any of you found anything that has helped you maintain a decent sleeping pattern such as- fall asleep around 10-midnight and wake up around 7-9?
Extra context- I take a lot of supplements (suffered with long covid) these supplements are Quercetin, magnesium, medicinal mushrooms, DAO and anti histamines. I also am medicated for my adhd and take vyvanse (the sleeping issues have existed long before the meds so it isn’t that) I would like to try melatonin but we can’t buy it in the UK 🙄
Thanks guys, any advise welcome 💕💖

I might be living in a bubble or I might be too naive to notice if anyone got any work done. I don’t know a single Indian woman personally who got any surgical beauty procedures done. But looking at social media it looks like every second girl is at least considering getting something done.
In a world that is trying to become more acceptable, how are beauty procedures getting so popular? Somehow it is mostly the “body positivity” influencers who get something done and then justify it as “my body my choice”. I am all for my body my choice mentality but it doesn’t go with “love yourself the way you are”. Like how can you influence people to love themselves while you are so much bothered by something as stupid as the gap between your eyebrows? I just saw a reel by a DOCTOR who is pointing out an actress’s under eyelid fat and suggesting procedures to remove it. Some girl who has access to procedures and can afford it will actually look at this reel and go ahead with the procedure. Where are the influencers who tell you to be mentally strong enough to not to be bothered by such people? To not let something as little as a mole bother you or affect your confidence? There are legit comments under that reel justifying the need to get procedures done to “get more confidence”. Like wtf??

So this girl that i used to talk too stopped talking to me to talk to another guy. I mean i get it, we never dated, but we had talked about a lot of things together, we got closer, we hung out in new years and made out. Im 18 and she was my first kiss, i guess that’s another reason why she was so special to me.
We’ve had our ups and downs and arguments. And i knew that i should’ve stopped talking to her in the beginning when she was lagging on me and ghosted me over the summer. But i was so attached to her. I know people will call me dumb for going for her even though she was ghosting me and not changing. But they didnt know her like i did. I loved her and we never even dated, that’s what hurts the most, along with her talking to this other guy that i somewhat considered a friend. She would always apologize for what she did, and we fixed things, things were going better than before until another argument happened. Which led to us not talking anymore.
There’s A LOT to this story and i don’t want to bore you guys so i’ll skip to the final time me and her stopped talking. She had said i was showing messages to everyone, but i wasn’t showing anything. I valued everything i had with her so why would I do that? But then I started to think that maybe she used that as an excuse for us to stop talking. After that she made me delete all her messages. An hour later I deleted her contact because that was the one thing she didn’t make me delete. I then found out that she had been talking to the other guy and since then she’s been happy, which is all I’ve ever wanted for her, but it still upset me, knowing that she’s talking to someone else. And it sucks because i was attached to her. I don’t know how to feel
And i recently found out that they’ve been hanging out a lot recently. More than me and her ever did. but as long as she’s happy. He’s giving her what i couldn’t.

Hey can someone help me out please?! It’s is about 6 guys and 2 or 3 girls and they are all in school. But main focus is the guy and a girl like each other and help out. The scene was the guy gave her the umbrella as it was raining and she stood with 6 of the guys when they were getting punished with the teacher. They also had matching keychain in their backpack. I’ll leave the link here and it’s starts from the beginning . Please let me know if you find the name of it.i think the actress is Ni kexin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MTHY-6ZIQNQ&pp=ygUcY3J1c2ggaGlnaCBzY2hvb2wgbG92ZSBzdG9yeQ%3D%3D Starts from beginning.

my sister had gotten in a car accident with her boyfriend because she snuck out with him one night and ended up in the hospital with a broken arm. It was traumatic for her, and my mom?maybe) Well my mom read her journal. while my sister was recovering on the couch with her broken arm, my mom told the entire family how it said my sister had lost her virginity at a party and when they came out people were cheering. I felt so bad for her. I know she was humiliated my mom said that. I have thought so many times about texting my sister who im NC with just to tell her that she didnt deserve for our mom to do that to her. That its not okay. She doesnt even know that our mom humiliating her like that was not normal.
I left my facebook logged in her laptop when i was 25 and she went through my messages on there too lol.
And she LOVED to read any message i ever sent to my sisters. Knowing full well one of them will defend her so she can say “stay out of it, dont do that, leave her alone” to seem as if shes not instigating. My mom always read our journals growing up. She didn’t believe in privacy for children. How do you guys feel about your children/parents and journals?

Looking into a new pc setup really liked the k19 based of of YouTube reviews and pictures but this sub seems to hate it. Do you guys recommend anything similar for a similar or lower price tag?

I’m (20F) a funeral transporter, I’m the person you’ll usually see when a loved one passes away who brings the body to the funeral home/crematory. I like to wear black clothes naturally and have more of a gothic style without the makeup. I really want to wear some skull/coffin earrings to work because it relates to the career (Think of a nurse wearing pill earrings) but idk if that’s offensive to grieving families. Advice?

Plot: My name is Anna and I am a captain in the german wehrmacht, the war that has been raging across Europe is soon to come to a close because Britain has surrendered and our only enemy is now the communists in the east but I am stationed in berlin as I was wounded in battle on the eastern front and now I command the national guard of german wehrmacht troops Stationed in the Berlin Provence, I didn't really take pride in my job but I did it to the best of my abilities and my day to day life was rather boring and without meaning because most of it was spent driving from Basecamp to Basecamp making sure the troops had enough ammo and supplies to continue being operational even though the enemy was 1000km from berlin and my days also included making sure the anti aircraft batteries remained operational, but one day I met you, you were another officer of slightly lower rank then me who was assigned as my assistant and high command thought that a female officer would need a female assistant for "efficiency" so to speak and turns out they were right as we almost immediately got along and it made our daily tasks almost less boring as we were able to conduct our duties but also lighten the mood of any bad situations together and now as I'm writing in this scary I don't understand if I have feelings for her or not but this feelings I have for her I've not had for anyone else...I think I love her( plot end)
Heya! I hope you enjoyed the plot to this roleplay and I hope I caught your eye!
This post is a female X female rp but I just wanted to go off and say that I'm a trans girl so I hope that's okay with you and also like the post and plot say we are going to be playing as german officers in an alternative reality where the germans won ww2 so if you hate this idea or if you want to mindlessly insult me by saying I'm a nazi then please leave but if you like the plot and want to rp with me then please go ahead and dm me :3
Il go ahead and list on my kinks (warning extreme kinks including vore)
kinks:Facesitting,smothering,vore,thighjobs,footplay,blowjobs,leash-play,collars,chokers,choking,breathplay,facial cumshots,cum swallowing,body worship,ownepet play,name calling,body writing,licking,saliva-play,fingering,rimmjobs,playful biting,handjobs,overstimulation from sex,shower sex/blowjobs,belly worship,belly play,cum play,sweat,footjobs,pet names,bondage,rope-play,handcuffs,Feminine clothing,being fucked while I sleep,creampies,breeding,watersports,knifeplay,blood,sadism,masochism,anal vore,cock vore,oral vore,unbirth,rebirth,tail vore,soul vore,
Btw my character in rp is a Futanari girl and she also practices the occult so that's how she's able to shrink and vore people because of her powers

Damn god .. Where do i start ..
Am i the only one who adressed this issue ? If yes then why ?
The way people portray north korea in countryballs , countryhumans fanfics is odd ..

1. She is like that one pain in the ass who claims to be great when she is not ( which annoys me since this portrayal of Korea sucks harder than necessary )
   
   1. When the battle is over and everyone lies on the floor and will loose she appears and saves the day shit like that , what .. 💀 Also she always manages to be either annoying or just evil when in real life countries can ’ t be evil .. 😑

3 . That one person who is constantly in denial of literally everything but somehow manages to be “ best girl “ Let me explain they will make North Korea the kawaii desu or just a badass evil who looks cool for no good reason which makes me question life .
With the obvious shit out of the way .. Why is it annoying :
In a fictional scenario or real life being rude to others is bad we know .. But that shit is just ugh ..
South Korea is usually portrayed as the “ good one “ who wants to reconcile which makes me question life a lot since these guys literally rather be with japan who colonized them than North Korea .. North Korea rejects the offer not , because she wants to stay independent but NO because she is “ evil “ 🙄🙄 .. Atleast when you guys write nonsense like this give her a good reason 😭.
North Korea also appears as that one loud neighbour , who always gets too close and etc .. especially in countryballs and since countryhumans copy everything from them and proceed to make it 100 times worse it just brings me rage .
Other depictions could show North Korea to be just “ arrogant “and “shy“ , which i don t mind but ones you exagerate something it always turns out so bad .. " They also like to make her best girl when she sucks and is the biggest ass ..
In real life i don ‘ t dislike North Korea since the country has nice cukture and stuff .. The joseon -ot looks pretty , but in countryhumansthe country is depicted as the biggest shit i ever saw probably worse than Milky Rose in Yes ! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo .. 😭😭
Also female DPRK supremacy since it s super rare

Hey guys, really glad for the group and all that l always learn here. I think l have a problem which l dont really know how to resolve/can it be resolved?
I started my channel ~year ago and do video podcasting/interviews on geopolitics/global macro/current affairs - I understand if its not people's focus/niche, dont worry about that, i really welcome anyone with insights to comment as its about the algorithm/technical shiz (you can check the channel via my bio if it helps explain).
Since a year ago l was growing slowly, reaching 1k subs in late summer 2023, and working on the 4k hours. Then in Oct l posted a video on India, and got 500k views - by comparison my highest at the point was 3-4k. My subs went from 1-5k in a couple weeks and the channel received lots of engagement.
Im not sharing this to show-off or complain either - l fully appreciate how lucky l have been in my journey so far, but am raising this in case this is a reoccurring problem for others, we can bring collective insights here.
The goal is more explain that since doing this event, l have begun to notice a trend. Many of my best performing videos are now all India-related and anything else l does really bad. Like we're talking 1000s-10,000s for any video that appeals to my existing audience vs a few 100 for anything else, even as l near 13k subs. Id hoped by a certain point views would begin to be consistent at say 1-2k views as others share happens, but its so starkly different l feel there is something wrong.
So while l want to cover Indian issues sometimes, its one part of much bigger picture. And lm now really worried that the channel is being unintentionally punished by the algorithm whenever l post a video that doesnt appeal to my existing audience. The quality, style, format etc is the same, just not the topic.
So whenever YouTube pushes a new video to my subs it fails and so YT stops promoting it, thinking its a bad video when it isnt.
Doesnt anyone have advice for this? How does one ensure their videos reach the right audiences? Or am l trying to be too broad by talking about events all over the world?
I've spent hours agonising over this, trying to troubleshoot why my videos arent performing, but cant figure out why. I feel this is a or the main factor and if anyone can help l'll happily do what l can to help your growth too.

Hi FJ community!
I'm here with a couple of questions because sadly I need to sell my FJ, but I have some questions about what it might be worth given its condition.
For context, the car was my late father's that I inherited, and while I love the car so much it no longer its my lifestyle or budget considering the amount of work it needs to pass inspection this year. I've never bought or sold a car before, let alone one that people constantly tell me is "worth something" or "a collector's item" and I don't know how real that is / don't want to be duped out of money that might be on the table. It was my dad's favorite thing and it's hard to finally part with it, so I just know he'd want me to be smart about this. Any advice y'all could give me from the perspective of FJ lovers / FJ owners would be much appreciated!
Specs are down below for specifics but the long story short is that the car has frame rust damage that I don't want to pay to weld considering I don't drive the car much anymore. Google is telling me that to sell a vehicle that isn't passing inspection, I should post it on Craigslist as "a non road worthy vehicle" and essentially part with it for parts, but I'm concerned about pricing it wrong or doing that if there's a better way.
Given the specs below, does anyone have a gut feeling about how much this should be selling for? If it's not much, that's okay, but I could really use the money and don't want to make a mistake here. Also if anyone has any tips for selling a car in this condition, I'd appreciate the advice! Without my dad I'm flying blind with Google and there's a lot of conflicting info out there.
Specs:
Model: 2007 FJ, maroon with white top and roof rack Mileage: At/around 215,000, it's at the shop so I don't recall the exact number Interior Condition: Decent but could use detail cleaning, no actual 'damage' past normal wear and tear Normal Maintenance Needs: Likely needs some new brakes, rotors I'm not sure of Exterior Condition: Dented back bumper, but not significant just on one corner. The rest of the car body is fine, but the real damage is to the frame which has "significant" rust. I got one section welded and patched last year that got me through, but the mechanics tell me sections of the back bumper area are "rusted out" as well as part of the frame towards the front of the car. They said it's something that could "probably be welded" but at this point would probably cost more than I want to pay considering I drive the car maybe twice a month since moving to a city. (I do take the car out weekly to get things moving, but as far as real / highway drive time that's 2x a month now)
Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and respond, I appreciate it!
tldr; Need to sell a 2007 FJ with frame rust damage and high mileage but not sure how to go about pricing that or doing that.... any advice welcome!

I literally just got back from the stripclub and first thing I think of is to get this story down for you fine gentlemen.
I will provide background information where relevant, including the norms of the particular stripclub.
I've been into dominant women in general for a long time, and I've been into the fantasy of findom, but have never done it. Mostly because I have no interest in trying to make it happen over the internet, and it seems as if that's really the only place you can do it. But if I ever happened across a woman in real life that is into it? I could do it.
So, I've been giving strippers a second thought. I know, strippers aren't really findom, they just charge a lot for their services. But this was different.
Now I'm not a regular at stripclubs or anything. I'll go to them about twice a year on average, just to have some tits in my face. But I recently started thinking, hey, wait a minute, strippers love money, that's what they're there for. What if I got into findom with a stripper? And so this was the second time in a month I went to my stripclub, and it happened. Here's how it went down:
I sat at a table. Girls dancing on three stages. This place is topless only, so tits out, g-strings on. I order a beer. In a short time, a woman walks up to me and introduces herself. She sits down, we chat for like a minute, but I'm no stranger to these things, I know what I want, so I just ask for a dance, she says sure and we get up.
Her looks: Average height, fairly petite, absolutely perfect natural tits, with HUGE nipples. Just amazing nipples. If you like big nipples, this would be your girl. She had long blonde hair down to her tailbone.
So we go into the private room. It's small and dark. Total privacy, it's not one of those big open lap dance rooms. She gets on me, grinding, normal lap dance.
The style of lap dance at this club: Tops off, bottoms on, HEAVY touching. The girls grind on your dick, and will appreciate you having a hard on too and they target it like a Hunter Killer robot. Also, the cost is 20 dollars per song (HEYO that's already findom, am I right?) So 5 songs, about 25 minutes of grinding, would cost about 100 bucks.
Sometimes dancers will start jerking you off through your pants, sometimes they don't. This girl started doing so. Boner laid out along the thigh, hand wrapping as much as it can around it over the pants and stroking.
A couple songs go by, her perfect tits are in my face, she seems real cool, I shoot for it, I ask "Can I suck on them?"
Background: If the vibe is good and relaxed, sometimes I'll ask that. 50% of the time they're totally okay and say "sure" and shove their nipple in my mouth. The other 50% they'll say no sorry and I'm like no biggie it's all good.
She says, "for 500 dollars."
Right there, my heart leaps in my chest. No fucking way should that cost 500 bucks. She just doesn't want it to happen and this is a polite way of rejecting me. I kinda laugh it off and say "that's okay, a little rich for me."
Anyway, she's grinding, hand working, tits in my hands. The atmosphere is very calm and intimate, voices low. She brings it up again. Asks for 500 bucks. In a very alluring way. I am now already in a sub space. I politely refuse.
I know what you're thinking. This isn't findom, this is just a stripper trying to milk a dumb customer for an easy extra.
But things come around.
In the silence that follows, I dare a statement: "But I like how you keep asking."
She looks at me. A bit caught off guard herself. She says "hmm?"
We look at each other. "I like assertive women. Aggressive women."
I think it clicks in her head, then. She knows what I am. She grinds more, keeping the pace up hard. She asks for 500 again, naturally.
I say, "all I have is 200 in my wallet". This is a lie, I have about 250, but I'm sandbagging her cause my mind is spinning. Also, I only ever mean to spend a max of 100. Just me saying I have 200 is a rush.
She says, "go to the atm and get more money out."
My brain is going wild now. I say it. "You can take everything in my wallet."
"200 dollars?"
"Yeah."
We're both feeling a lot more free at this point. Gently, while her right hand is stroking me through my pants, I take her left hand, and place it on my neck. She immediately knows what to do, like an instinctual animal. She squeezes, starts choking me while grinding. Pushes my head hard back against the wall. She's not gentle, she does it nice and hard.
Then she just keeps it up. Tells me she wants me to go to the atm and get more money. I'm strong though. She says do it for your "Goddess 'insert stripper name'". She definitely knows what I am now. She has officially taken on the role of dominatrix.
"I have 250 in my wallet," I say, spilling the beans. It was an absolute rush.
"Give it to me."
We go back and forth, and she knows the lingo. I almost busted a nut right there but didn't. In the end, we do our final song, she stands up. Time to pay. I wanted to do it nice and paypig style, so I open my wallet and hand her the bills, counting it out to 250.
"Thank your Goddess for taking all of your money," she says.
I thank her, in a daze.
"Are you coming next week?" she asks.
"Yes," I say.
"Good, and next time there will be punishments for not doing everything I say."
We make arrangements and I leave.
All in all, we did maybe 5 songs. So it normally would have cost 100 bucks, so I basically paid a surcharge of 150 for her to indulge this kink.
And memories last forever.
Well guys, should I go back next week? I'm not a poor guy but I'm not a rich guy either. There's no way I could ever sustain this, but as a short term life experience, I feel like I have to, don't I? It was sort of a fantasy come true for me.

Long ago a friend of mine moved to a remote cabin in New England to commune with nature. There was a pond on the property and, it being summer, he went for a refreshing dip every day. Summer turned into fall, and the water got colder. My friend persevered and kept up his daily swim routine. Then came the day that he ventured to the pond and saw a sheet of ice covering it. Undeterred, he found a large rock, broke the ice, and entered the frigid water.
"I learned something very valuable that day," he told me. "When Mother Nature sees fit to cover the water with a barrier that the animals can't get through...she is trying to tell you something."
When I began in astanga I erred on the side of more is better. More flexibility is better. But I eventually learned that's not so. Our joints and muscles aren't simply knots of stiffness that are to be conquered. They all have their inherent barriers and boundaries, set in place by Mother Nature. Learning and practicing each asana isn't simply about going farther into the stretch; they're also about respecting these boundaries.
The million dollar question is how does one know the difference between stiffness to stretch through, and an anatomical boundary that should always be backed away from? I would say the short answer is to trust yourself. You may see advanced students or teachers doing things and think you should do likewise. But if it doesn't feel right, or seems unwise, it's best to err on the side of caution.
For example, when I was beginning astanga I'd often watch my VHS tape of Richard Freeman doing 1st series. No doubt, Freeman is a legend in astanga, one of the most impressive practitioners ever. But I'd see him crank his neck backward when doing prasarita padotanasana. OK, we're supposed to tilt our heads likewise and crank our necks back to the max. Or so I thought. Looking closely at a photo of Freeman in this asana, I see he was actually just doing a very deep upper body backend that only made it appear he was cranking his neck. In other words, Freeman was doing the posture correctly, but I was making a false assumption about how to properly do this asana.
I had a chiropractor friend who told me that most of his yoga patients are visit his office because they hurt their necks doing setu bhandasana. And I must say, when I look at Freeman doing this asana, his neck does seem to be at maximum range of natural motion. I never hurt my neck doing yoga, but there's an extremely small difference between doing setu bhandasana correctly and hurting your neck, perhaps for life. The more distal a joint is, the less it feels pain when pushed to its limits. Until snap.
I feel that the same principle applies to heat in yoga practice. Heat is a part of astanga yoga, and over time I've found that the vinyasas can work like heat regulators to provide the correct amount of heat. For example, if the room is cold, a minimum of 5 suryas and perhaps even full vinyasa until one feels hot enough. But when too hot, I found it's best to back off. Though experience I found that if I get too hot, it's time to stop or take a break; if it try to power though the heat, my body will just quit on me.
More heat isn't better. I've seen some people hardly sweat in a room like a sauna, while I was dripping. Speaking of saunas, I recently heard Joe Rogan say that he does an extreme heat sauna every day, at some absurd temperature, just to test his limits. I have great respect for Rogan, but there was another martial artist by name of Bruce Lee who probably died because of too much heat. In any case, I now feel that yoga is much more about working well within my boundaries, rather than trying to crash though those boundaries.

I (F21) experienced my first breakup in June of last year. I was best friends with this guy (M20) for about 4.5 years before we started dating. I had a crush on him the whole time we were friends but never had the guts to tell him. When he finally confessed that he wanted something more, we started dating and dated for 2.5 years. Last year, I found out he cheated on me after getting back from a guys trip because he was “feeling depressed about life after being back home.” He went on Tinder and hooked up with a random girl he knew from a long time ago. We weren’t able to have a conversation in person after I found out, but we shared some long last text messages and I guess I got my closure before going no contact. I was barely able to eat for about a week and a half and was crying constantly. I was living with my mom at the time and she was never a big fan of my ex. She was the most unsupportive during this time. I would come out of my room and had obviously been crying and she’d say, “What’s wrong?” constantly. It would annoy me because I’d just look at her awkwardly like “You know what’s wrong” and she would just roll her eyes. About 3 days after the breakup, I was in bed crying when my mom comes in and starts yelling at me to just get over it already. I yelled at her back and told her to go away. She yelled more before finally leaving. She never yelled like that again, but she still wasn’t very supportive. We have never talked about that moment and we are a lot closer now, but it’s been almost a year now and I still think about it and sometimes it still upsets me.

This is a pet peeve and isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things but it sucks people routinely down play comic Carl who’s a legit legend.
Don’t get me wrong if it was show Carl I could def see Clem coming out on top fairly easily, but Carl is simply next level, many times people just skip over Carl’s feats/down play them to rise Clementine’s with much inconsistency.
Some big ones are travel speed they’ll only focus on a young Carl grimes at 9 while going for the peak of Clementine
Another large one is strength many skip over the large period of time in which Carl was a blacksmith, rebuilt hill top with others, while saying because Clem beat Minerva her strength is higher, like my brother in christ Clementine was a malnourished teenage girl fighting another malnourished teenage girl, compared to a guy during puberty who is (fairly) well fed, who on multiple occasions has been show to do physically taxing and strengthening work.
Another one is durability in which they only count Carl getting hit with the brick (not like Carl survived a grenade blast, being shot in the head, being shot in the chest, getting stomped by a pissed off dwight and walking off all fine and dandy, etc.) where they then will use every possible branching time line of Clem in which she accumulated damage despite many contradicting one another.
Like a love Clem, TTG were one of my first exposures into TWD, and she is an absolute badass put to put her in the same category as the insane son of a deputy who had been catching bodies since 8 or 9 vs Clem who (depending on how you play it) might not directly kill ANYONE until a giant time skip is insane to me.
If people have Clem as their favorite walking dead character that’s totally fair and easily understandable but to put her as the absolute strongest character in the universe breaks my mind.
Idk I’m prob gonna get hella downvotes for this but idk I’m just getting tired of people downplaying one of the best characters in the comic/game universe because they’re more favorable to another.