does anyone else feel like family gets in the way of trying to astral project? If so what do you do?

[StrawHatPro]

I have a bad habit where I start to really get into trying to astral project and then I don't. Then I get that drive again and then I don't. I feel really dissapointed with myself because I really DO want to astral project, but I just can't bring myself to put my headphones in and find a track. I don't know why because I enjoy it once I'm doing it. Having my parents not really know that I do it anymore dosent help either, so I have to be kind of secretive about it. When I first told my parents about it and that I was trying it they thought it was silly and fake. So now when I do try it it's always in the night when I go to bed when I'm a little tired. Any other time and it raises suspicion. I'm looking forward to living on my own so I can mediate at any time of my free time, but that won't be for the next few years... Does anyone have any similar issues like this? And what did/do you do when you felt like this?

Thanks

[DarkChylde]

calmly lying down in bed and meditating to OBE raises suspicion ? how delusional are you parents?

what are they like when you play loud music ? have friends in that cause a uproar and raucous (because they are young people and that's how they are).

Or other times when you slam the door (well you are young and young people have tempers and their feelings swing a lot) shut yourself in and refuse to talk to anyone?

or maybe even the time your room smells outright suspicious ? oh come on! , the other thing is if you are young enough to be living in with your parents yet still then you are just likely of the same age to be smoking things that aren't necessarily just plain good old tobacco .
And trust me your parents have smoked tobacco because cigarettes were no big deal when they were growing up that'd be from late 50s to late 70s smoking was a fashion and a trend.

If you think things are hard that way then it's time to experiment with your boundaries.

Oh yes well have psychic boundaries.

Very early in my training in Occult Ritual Majick , I was living in a dorm in China , I was practicing ritual chants which require the magician to ululate and raise their voice lest the incantations are faulty or ineffective.
Some girls heard it and correctly surmised what was it that I was doing (they gossiped of it) I found them the next day I very frankly told them that they had incensed my anger , if god forbid I was in the middle of practicing majick I would've hijacked the whole spell and aimed it like an armed nuke at them.
I told them carrying such huge amounts of occult magic isn't easy , If confounded by frustration the magician is very likely to say "if we can't achieve this target then let's destroy all those who stand in it's place".
I told them that they could treat this as sheer hocus pocus and utter nonsense , mambo jambo if they will - but would they want to risk it?
All I had to imagine was the girl with the ugly ponytails would wring her neck falling over stairs while the fat one with braces would have a car hit her right in the gut (no because I'm psychopathic or malicious) but because I'm human , I react and most importantly magick can't exist in void (my feelings of anger would be misdirected at them as targets because the matrix of reality is in constant flux and a spell's magic cannot thrive in vacuum).
But damage had already been done , at such a frustrated time (the start of study and practice of ritual majick is the hardest) these girls became my target , thereafter I strongly suspect I did them much harm (unknowingly and not by intent)

All I'm saying is that you could be in 10 different kinds of very real trouble that be of more concern then just being in your and silent in bed for long amounts time.
UNLESS this extremely suspicious (like you are a recovering addict of a severe sleep-pill addiction) , then being silent in bed for long periods of time would surely be a source of concern - but that's a very very remote possibility no?

[CFTraveler]

You can always say you're taking a nap. Or reading.

[ButterflyWoman]

I just can't bring myself to put my headphones in and find a track.

I don't want to sound like I'm picking on you (so please don't take it that way), but there's something holding you back right there. I know you say you want to do this, and that if you get past the initial push and do it, you enjoy it, but there's something there that's creating a stumbling block.

What that is, I can't begin to guess. I'd recommend gently focusing on finding whatever it is (it can and will reveal itself in various ways if you intend to find it) and then re-assess the situation.

[StrawHatPro]

I don't want to sound like I'm picking on you (so please don't take it that way), but there's something holding you back right there. I know you say you want to do this, and that if you get past the initial push and do it, you enjoy it, but there's something there that's creating a stumbling block.

What that is, I can't begin to guess. I'd recommend gently focusing on finding whatever it is (it can and will reveal itself in various ways if you intend to find it) and then re-assess the situation.

Sorry for the late reply, and it dosent sound like your picking on me at all, don't worry. I do have doubts about it being real which I think is what keeps me back. I know these thought will only hinder me but I just can't get rid of them no matter how hard I try. I'm a pretty sceptical person by nature, and I think that's why I get those thoughts.

[ButterflyWoman]

Ah. Reality. Well, the bottom line is that the ONLY thing we have in this thing called "reality" is the experience of it. That's it. Some experiences are widely repeatable and follow certain rules. Some are highly personal and deeply esoteric, but we still experience them, remember them, are affected by them. Are your dreams real? I would argue that they are, because they're experiences, they're things you remember (sometimes, anyway), they can be messages from your subconscious. The same can be said of OBE or any other kind of spiritual experience, vision, etc. The experience is always real, always valid, always your own. Many things in life are worth experiencing, whether or not they're literally true.

Just something to think about.

[StrawHatPro]

Ah. Reality. Well, the bottom line is that the ONLY thing we have in this thing called "reality" is the experience of it. That's it. Some experiences are widely repeatable and follow certain rules. Some are highly personal and deeply esoteric, but we still experience them, remember them, are affected by them. Are your dreams real? I would argue that they are, because they're experiences, they're things you remember (sometimes, anyway), they can be messages from your subconscious. The same can be said of OBE or any other kind of spiritual experience, vision, etc. The experience is always real, always valid, always your own. Many things in life are worth experiencing, whether or not they're literally true.

Just something to think about.

Thank you very much for this, and I agree. Reality is built up off of experiences and that's it. For all I know my colour red could be your colour blue but you think your blue is red so the message gets across and we have no communication errors. I always love to think about life like this. It makes things feel a lot more personaI I suppose.

Sometimes though, it seems as though my reality takes a break for a few miliseconds because as I'm going through my day nothing feels real. It only lasts for a few miliseconds but it feels like reality is closing in on itself.

[ButterflyWoman]

Sometimes though, it seems as though my reality takes a break for a few miliseconds because as I'm going through my day nothing feels real. It only lasts for a few miliseconds but it feels like reality is closing in on itself.

Yup. Happens to me sometimes. Or everything kind of dissolves into "zeroes and ones" and all the meanings and labels fall away. Can be disorienting, but I'm mostly used to it now. It's something that probably happens to most people, but only the ones who are open to reality being maybe not what they think will notice it.

[Honeybadger400]

My wife likes to touch me with her ice cold feet in bed. It really breaks my focus. I think that counts as "getting in the way" and there's nothing I can really do about it, lol

[CFTraveler]

Buy her pretty socks. Tell her they say socks feel warm and help relax at night.