Spirituality Revealed

OK PLEASE READ before you comment! I acknowledge in the video in the part about cure all’s that meditation, mindfulness, and breath work can be helpful regarding the things talked about. I did not say they have no EFFECT. I said there’s no evidence they are CURES (because thats what some people claim they are). (sorrry- im not yelling i just don't know how to make it bold)

I do not need everyone to tell me that mindfulness helped with their anxiety- I believe you! and said in the video that I agree that those things can help. I feel like I'm going insane- everytime I post a video, there's always people disagreeing with things I didn't even say or are telling me things that I myself said… but as if I said the opposite.

Idk what I can possibly do to stop having my words be twisted every single video?

I suppose this is just part of youtube so I should get over it, but please someone let me know how people can watch this video- and actually listen to the words I'm saying- and think that I said meditation etc cannot at all help anxiety etc when I said the exact opposite.

ALSO I am not claiming that anything talked about in the video are core aspects of new age, they are just things that some people promote!

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let me know your thoughts on this cuz i was thinking about it while editing: do you think that a lot of people take things to extremes when it comes to new age and have black and white mentalities or do you think it’s just those who do who are the most polarizing and therefore get the most attention and are the most well know because of that?

17:27 I was really into the whole social media new age thing two years ago when I just started university. I was honestly contemplating quitting just because every New Age Influencer talked about how college is a "waste of time" and everyone should just go traveling instead. I really looked up to Claire Michelle (who Anna talked about in a previous video) and similar influencers and desperately wanted to live a life like theirs not realizing that all I could see on their Instagrams and Youtube Channels was just 1% of their lives. 

Cody Ko made a video about travel influencers once and there's one thing he said that stuck in my head: "Yes traveling is cool, but you know what else is cool? Starting a family, getting a degree, having people in your life that actually care about you"

I'm in my last year of my Bachelor's degree now studying to become a psychologist and I'm so happy and proud of myself for following that path and not quitting two years ago.
Plus, I unfollowed all those New Age people on Instagram that claim to "inspire" their followers but most of the time just make you feel depressed for not living the kind of life they are portraying on social media.

p.s. I'm still into New Age spirituality but I'm practicing it in a more healthy way now.

This was really interesting. Thank you for pointing out about the aesthetic of spirituality, and how it is largely a product of our materialism. I've long been drawn to the concept of voluntary simplicity, or even the vow of poverty, and trust me, some of how a person living in voluntary poverty looks is not going to be aesthetically pleasing. Anyway, lots to think about.

Wow, I'm currently reading "The subtle art of not giving a F ck".
We think now negative feelings aren't normal and we should always be happy. But we end up miserable in a way. When you go on this path you might end up getting stucked. Journal writing, positive thinking…. Like the book said you don't have to compliment yourself when there isnt something to compliment. You say you're perfect in front of the mirror everymorning because you don't feel beautoful. Of course positive thinking is a weapon. But when it gets to denial negativity, and this is where we are with social media, it's a little toxic. And you might live like that your whole life without realizing the things you've missed.
Meditation ect are HELPFUL
BUT
they don't make you HAPPY. Happier up to a point, but not CURE YOU like you said.
My parents told me "Your generation is so complicated. We just lived like that. I never put labels on my feelings and I'm happy. Life is hard, ect ect" and I would tell her "But it all depends on your point of view, we're just a generation of mindfulness, we work towards a perfect happiness, and if you think life is hard it means that deep down you're not truly happy."
But now I think she's happier than all these mindful people.
I could talk about this for hours.
Experience thinking, after I got an eating disorder I started denying all sufferings. I thought I was aware of them, but I decided to think only positively. People would get mad at me, like my family, saying I'm a little extreme, and they weren't tjat complicqted. And I would say "If you practice meditation everyday and see the world as it is, you will see everything is so beautiful. That waking up in tje morning is beautiful, and I tell myself everyday how GRATEFUL I am for everything. Ect. Ect."
Just like you, I don't think it's bad. Spirituality, meditation, postivie thinking is actually very good and powerful. But it's only thinking. And nowadays it leads to a toxic positivity like you said.
When you tell yourself you're beautiful but in the day you don't feel that beautiful and you wanna chase the feeling away by thinking positively "I am perfect" while there's nothing to prove it, and you don't really act you just stay there, thinking positively. And then you go back home at night and after denying your insecurities for a day you tell yourself smiling in front of the mirror "I am grateful. You did great today, you're perfect, and one day you will see your worth."
This could work if you did this like 3 times a year and then took action, like REAL action, while facing foe REAL that something SUCKS and yeah your bad feelings aren't unreal or something you can chase away by thinking thinking thinking and feeling the beauty of the world everyday, ane how you're grateful to be alive. No, our bad feelings they SUCK for real, it's annoying and it's gonna stick to you if you don't take action. And taking action doesn't mean long term chasing it by THINKING the opposite.

I'm grateful that I learned to be grateful, and meditation, and all this positive thinking.
I think only experience will make people wake up.

Maybe the final answer for life and the existence of the universe is black or white. Like maybe the universe is perfect and we all are beautiful. I still believe it.
But through my arguments and personnal exoerience I grew other opinions too. That my problems are here I see them I feel them everyday, and now I don't positive think, I just spit on my problems, try to solve them and if it doesn't work I'll call it a day and live with it. It's just another way of thinking.

We don't know if we're right or wrong. Maybe in your mindfulness you think you are and yes maybe you are. Surely it has helped you through hard times. But when time will pzss like it did with me, you'll get stuck and you'd be lying if you said it didn't feel a little toxic.

Today most of us build our happiness with denial and mositive thinking. I KNOW how it is I still do yoga everyday and breathing ect. It's a tool for me now and not a way of living.
My parenrs would tell me "At the time we were stronger than you" and I thought it was so stupid. That there wzs no strong or weak. And I don't know if I was right or wrong I still think I was right. But in the otber hand now that I see it, I started thinking like this and it made me stronger. But then I kept on living like this and, yes, it made me "weaker". We've all become all talk, people who are like me.

I'm saying all that withoyt any order because im so happy you made this video. This is something i realized not long ago, it was like waking up.

Spirituality and positive thinking aren't wrong. And maybe life doesn't really suck. But bury your problems thinking you're going into a positive paradise, and their stinking smell will get to you a little more consciously someday.

I got most of the way out of my eating disorder with positive thinking and then I realized it got me stucked. I had what they call non vomiting bulimia. Kept telling myself to eat a lot for it not to come back that I deserved not to care about my body.
But I DO want my body to look a certain way. It's my will, I have a WILL, I am not a powerless victim. For tO years i wojld tell myself "Society is sick, being slim isn't the way, we are all beautiful and dear body I wish you knew that. I hope you know you're beautiful and I'll help you and accept you. I won't ever diet again this is sick." but after many experiences for the first time I watched over my food and I told myself" Okay Claire. It's been 2 years and YOU STILL WANT TO BE SLIM. Maybe it's wrong. But the neighbour cuts his bushes wrong, my friend's jokes hurt people, but are they unhappy? People who manage to keep being slim and are still happy, how is it possible? No I'm not my body but I want somthing for it. I'm a dqncer, I love feeling light, I have to study so I should'nt overeat. Yes it SUCKS I DO FEEL FAT EVEN IN RECOVERY, I feel fat because there IS fat that isn't there naturally, I feel ugly because my skin is ugly and saying that I'm beautiful doesn't work for more than a week. My life SUCKS in some ways but I can still love it and be happy and sometimes sad because it will suck sometimes. I'm good at drawing so I should draw more, and fuck this recovery. Bulimka ruined some natural eating cycles out of me but I didn't realize how recovery did it too because I was positively thinking. It became toxic.
So now when I feel a little like bulimia tendencies are clming back I just face it. "Shit, this bjlimia thing is coming back again. But I ain't your tool I do whatever I want. I feel fat and it sucks periodt. My feelings towards food suck, but I have better things to do than escaping from these feelings and get disappointed."

I could go on for hours if not days hahaha

I'm very thrilled and happy these days. Saying things suck, like my noes has hairs and it's UGLY withlht having to think" but everyone's different and beautiful and I should not stigmatise myself like this there are people who have it worse"
No i just tell myself that it's ugly and then K go about my day and gueds what I've acxepted it and I don't think of it anymore . Wonderful.

The gastly ads that came up before this video where a brilliant intro to your video 😂

Preliminary thought on new age stuff and things and such before Iwatch the video: when we decide to widen our horizon, become more well-rounded beings, etc., it oddly makes us much more self absorbed even as we usually mature from it. For most of us it is only for a while, and we now realize and are highly embarrassed by e.g. that one time when our 19 year old selves explained our incredible life insights to that well educated and experiensed 50-year old person generous enough to pretend to be impressed by our inane "insights". Some people though seem to never mature or get their head out of their as ever again and in my experience, they are often born pathologically incapable of true self-observation and reflection. A person I know who loves to talk about spirituality, love, cosmic interconnectedness blablabla was over thirty before the shocking realization that breaking up with someone can hurt that person, sent them into a tailspin! This is a person who saw themselves as being more spiritually and emotionally aware than other people, to the point of offering their spiritual guidance for money!

I think that real personal growth means acceptance , especially when it comes to negative emotions, experiences and traumatic situations. If we accept and embrace negativity as a necessary aspect ( we cannot be happy campers 24/7) we can become a lot more resilient and stronger- provided that we a) can cope with it, b)understand what helps and what doesn't and c) try to ask for help when sth is bothering us. Neither extreme positivity nor extreme negativity help us grow in life.:)

For someone who does their research, it doesn't seem like you've done it right.

Meditation isn't just a cure, it should be mandatory for us to spend time away from exterior influence and come back to our centre.

All of the quantum mechanics stuff that is thrown around in the name of "spirituality" is so ridiculous. Quantum mechanics is a hard subject even for physicist! (I am a particle physics PhD student and still struggle with a lot of things ahahah). "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics" like Feynman said.

Everything in moderation I think. If a person reads one of these ‘gurus’ books and feels a bit motivated I think there is nothing wrong with that. But to think that one of these books, or groups, or people is some quick fix everything, or any type of fix really in my opinion anyway. It is important to be an independent thinker, good to take on points of view and to study and learn, but basing ones whole life and existence on any one thing is probably not so helpful. Or throwing too much money at any of them is not a good plan either!

Just because something can be dangerous, like believing in twin flames, doesn't mean that it is. By the same logic every religion, ideology, political faction, and emotion today is harmful cause it has led people to murder, wars, be mean to others, etc.

I really like your content, you have a lot of skeptical wisdom! If you're looking for real research into meditation and trauma, it absolutely exists, here are a couple links for you. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201601/meditation-reduces-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-symptoms and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5747539/ But I think there is a lot more out there.

Look up Chris hedges to listen to his criticism of the pseudo science psycho babble.

I feel bed that Anna’s generation had to grow up in this ambient nonsense and had to deprogram themselves from this.