Being yourself

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Hi, the Youtube video here is of Eckhart Tolle, a spiritual teacher, talking about 'being yourself'. Eckhart's teachings have really helped me to overcome issues of social anxiety, depression and feelings of low self esteem. I highly recommend watching some of his stuff. He has also written a great book called the Power of Now.
I realise now that what I am cannot be confined to any 'thing'. Nor can it be explained as a list of attributes of characteristics. What I am defies conception. This realisation has been highly liberating and has transformed my experience of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j42cTkiGdXY

Same here, i was into self dev and meditation for a while when i encountered his book. What it did for me was give me a much clearer picture of some things i was discovering on my own and it sped up the process.
Changed my life aswell. I try to put his teachings into practice everyday, and often listen to him on youtube. Just listening to the audio of his videos makes me more present, and can shift me from feeling down to feeling great.

I'm sorry, but this kinda seems like spam

most of the topics in here are spam, people in l&d spamming their poisonous attitudes and some people like the op spamming whatever helped them improve their life quality.

I do not see the problem here, he is not trying to make you buy anything. Almost everything in the books is available as video on youtube.

There is a difference between spam to spread positive things and spamming for your own self interest.

I've found that over the past three years that things have been a lot easier for me, since I've decided to be myself. I like positive threads like these.

Would you rather be yourself, or would you rather be a cookie cutter?

Hello TB, Rax, JanuaryMan & CockneyRebel,

Thank you for sharing your perspectives.
I posted this item because it was the wisdom that teachers such as Tolle convey that assisted me in putting an end to a great deal of suffering that I previously experienced. The suffering was kind of instrumental in helping me to realise the benefit of the wisdom, so I guess the suffering had some value. I still suffer, those in far less intensity and frequency than I used to.
As one positive Aspie characteristic is the ability to concentrate, I think this is possibly why Aspies who practice some form of spiritual activity: meditation, mindfulness etc.. can really gain a lot. Thats not to say that Aspies won't face the same challenges in terms of inncessant thinking, like anyone else but the ability to focus is key to becoming 'present' in the moment.
Feelings of social isolation, being misunderstood, lonliness, feeling low-self esteem seem to be common amongst us Aspies. Whilst NTs do experience these things for sure, I think they are likely to be more common amongst the Aspie population. For one, NTs typically have innate social skills, so socialising isn't even an issue. Not having these skills and feeling the isolation that comes with that can lead to feelings of great pain. It certainly did for me. And spiritual teachings have taught me to cope with the pain that comes up and pain from before. They have also taught me not to try and be someone who I am not (though I struggle with this in the presence of NTs).
Recently I have wondered whether Aspies might be predisposed to spritual realisation. The reason for this is that the Aspie may not have so much of a fixed sense of who they are, due to their lack of an innate ability to socialise. This means that an Aspie may not develop such a social identity as an NT might simply because the Aspie struggles to learn stuff that NTs don't even have to think about. Thus the Aspie lags behind the NT in socialising, but also the Aspie does not develop such a strong sense of identity. Socialising can be a huge source of mental identity, and for many it is the absolute basis for who they understand themselves to be (the basis of their ego). Yes, Aspies may identify with being the mental conception of being an Aspie (as who they are) or take identity from their preferred interests or dislikes, but somehow I think there is more 'ego fuel' for the NT who quickly develops many concepts of who they are through their social experiences.
So I be interested to hear your views on this if you have any.
In the meanwhile, may we all be happy and at peace.

S

personally, I dont need someone else to help me spiritually. while I do read spiritual books to gain understanding,
i feel its best for me to let whatever happens in my life be decided by me

Regarding being pre-disposed to spiritual realisation, I think it is often because we feel so detached from society. We often seek spiritual frameworks with which to understand the world which seems so alien to us.

I'm agnostic but my life has been a continuous quest to understand the world, through reading books, immersing myself in culture (no matter how alien it feels) and seeking relationships with people I consider to be more knowledgeable than myself. I'm a typical aspie information addict. For me it is also kind of a moral quest, an attempt to sort out what really matters on the big scheme of things, from what is superficial.

I cant find this Family Guy clip on YouTube so I'll just quote it