We have almost everything in common.
When we celebrate and are curious about the differences
life is rich

What we do not have in common, is mostly belief,
Which is most likely the glue we use to fill the gaps
in our understanding.

Which is totally cool,
so long as we remember that
glue can be hard to let go of 
:)

thank you, I am glad you found it worth reading

sometimes when return to some simple movements, trust in the flow of events returns 

then I begin to have fun and naturally am nicer to be around

Our life situations bring us many experiences
The wisdom is in the experience itself
They affect us personally, but they are not personal unless we make them so.

Without story, nothing is personal.

Story is not bad, story is just a temporary framework for "storing" or sharing concepts.

We can never share sensation, however, just as we can not pass a skill. 
Skills must be learned directly
Wisdom is much like this.

Stories are no substitute for wisdom
The wisdom is an invitation to live your own experiences 

Rich in sensation, devoid of opinion
understanding is bound to arise :)

Welcome back, good to see you again.
Relationships are very difficult,
Sometimes I feel it is better to focus on the actions that we enjoy

The ones we want most to appreciate us, rarely will.
It can make us really crazy when we believe we deserve their 
acceptance.  

We do not have to agree with people but everyone needs to be felt "heard" by someone. 

It is a bit sad that we tend to become addicted to people who do not accept us. Praise from anyone else is not worth as much.

Really, that underlying "need" to be validated is our own.
Nobody can take that away, no matter how much love they offer.
Only we can let go of the "feeling" that there is something missing.

Peace be with you.

Hey there, these seasonal lows, allow us to have compassion for others when they too feel down. It will pass. 

Life is simple, relationships are not. 
Life is eat, breath, sleep, do what is required to get food, energy, money, entertainment etc.

We share the same reality, its the perceptions we add to it, (meanings) that we do not share. 

Trying to update someone else's meanings is the biggest mistake I keep making. 

What returns me to feeling alive again is coming out of my thoughts and meanings. There is no aliveness in my thoughts.

Taking some action that forces me to pay attention to actual sensation - this is the only way we can ever be in relationship with reality.

We all find this in our own way. If your lucky you can return to it by taking a walk.
If your less lucky, you will need extreme sports lol..
Same thing though, wether feeling the breathe or screaming towards  hard objects at high speed. 
Attention in the now, through the senses is the on-ramp back to the aliveness that was always there...until it is not

dont waste a drop :)

If pain is all you have right now, then sit with pain, be curious about it, but do not judge it, simply allow it to be as equal to any other sensations that are arising and passing - this is the most difficult and the most rewarding action I know of. It is the complete opposite off and the deepest cure for, addictions.

Good luck Brother

Reality is what is common to all living things.
The way they are able to relate to reality is through their sensory organs.

Their behaviour is either chosen or instinctive.
I do not see instinct as a claim to knowledge, 
I see it more as a conditioned response to stimuli.
Belief operates the same way when it is anchored with the perception of threat. Mostly to threat to identity.

perhaps, contrary to Ayn Rand, I see Identity as a selection of preferences that are 99% conditioning. taught and learned within a culture motivated by ideals that may or may not align well with their habitat.

I do agree that anything that can not be experienced directly can only be held as belief.  Memory is not actually very good at storing sensations, thoughts lack texture, they are inherently lacking in sensation beyond the emotions they invoke. 

The only way to know reality is directly through the senses. Identity as a selection of emotional assumptions is more likely to filter out much of that.

Pure identity is the ability to feed sensations that are at that  moment unique - into a central nervous system. The moment we add belief or preference to them, we are moving away from reality.

Without applying meaning to those sensations, there is no opinion, no persona no fear or emotional tension - that does not mean that there is no ability to respond though quite the opposite. 

When applying meaning  - we immediately enter the realm of mysticism as meanings are made of words that are conventions and symbols. 

We can not accurately describe a 3D dimensional infinitely inter -elated flowing environment. the most accurate way to know it is to just be with it.

Philosophy is just as useless and meaningless as science. Perhaps it is less  arrogant and more responsible, because it looks at the Why rather than the How?

The cosmos does change, we needn't add anything to that and when we do, it mostly reduces the richness of biodiversity. 

The worship of the self and the need to go fourth and do great works to "make a difference" is largely a rhetoric of blind restless fear and self perpetuating dis-ease.

Ayn Rand, was brilliant and vastly intelligent, but was she able to sit alone and quietly accept without labelling and defining and "needing"? 

That is a requisite for honestly allowing what is to be known as it is. Even then it can not be accurately captured, even by philosophy :)