Hello @outtayourbox, there's an amount of good and wise advice that could be given but I feel that in this case it is completely useless. I know how it feels to be like an empty shell. When I feel like that, it's not the fucking "positive thinking" what helps me for sure. I don't like the two words taken singularly, imagine having them in the same sentence.
Hi again! I know the feeling, almost like anesthetized pain which can't be placed.
Yeah positive thinking doesn't work for me, I find having a schedule/things to do I actually like helps.
I feel your reply very much @outtayourbox, I was worried I have been too heavy in my comment but you understood me. Mine is not even a pain but an existential absence.. is there something behind these feelings that I learnt to show and use as masks? "Positive thinking" usually depresses me hahah. The schedule is a very good solution in my opinion.. and try to forget your ego, I know it's not easy at all as much as it's not easy to shut down the flow of the thoughts.
No it wasn't heavy at all I can relate to what your saying.
I would say to try to remove the masks if they are not being true to a 'genuine self' (I say in quotes as this is difficult to pinpoint exactly); despite the external conditions you are in.
Forgetting the ego is similar to a labyrinth, you think 'oh I have done enough X [meditation/focusing on the present] to remove the ego for a moment', but what if that thought is the ego telling you that? (there probably are layers of ego)
To your reply I would just add that to remove a masks first you need to recognize that you are wearing one. As a matter of fact, what happens it's not a mask but a series of layers (as you pointed below), one deposited after the other (altough the mask simily is nicer). About the ego, yes I agree with you..and that's the trap of meditation I guess. I found a cure with karate, a moment in which your spirit can express itself through your body, and focusing can find a more phisical dimension, letting the brain "rest" in a way. I don't know if I managed to explain. (I guess there's room for an article haha, that's what happens with nice conversations).
Does another mask appear straight after removing a previous one, or was it always underneath, influencing it?
You definitely should write about that :)
Maybe the lack of stillness in karate, through movement allows the mind to not be able to think.
Maybe both of your hypotheses! I will, when I have something interesting to say about it, probably first i need to brush some existentialism, Pirandello or whatever else hehe :-) I would say that the mind in karate thinks differently..what we look for is harmony. Harmony through a fight means to fight your own demons first..it's pretty cool :-P