Two weeks later,
I have touched into Stage 2, but am still predominantly at stage 1. Have kept up the sitting, at least 120minutes every day, with the exception of last night. Have been practicing a bit of Tonleng which I find helpful, and also a mindfulness practice of noticing "ego-clinging", noticing selfing.
These last 2 weeks have been overall very positive. The daily metta and compassion/tongleng practices are having a strong effect, sometimes very strong. Doing tongleng during an argument with my housemate yesterday helped me take a position that seeked both of our benefit and mutual understanding with a compassionate perspective and after we were done I didn't feel any stickiness to any of the judgments or anger/criticism that was thrown my way, nor any judgmental thoughts towards her, I attribute this directly to the compassion practices.
Is good to notice too how the compassion for others gives a strong energy to overcome unhelpful habits that I might otherwise see as not harming anyone (and rationalise that they aren't harming myself even though they are). I notice this in "small" things like indulging a snack and so on. From the compassion perspective I lose interest in it completely, seeing how eating this snack doesn't benefit anybody and will hinder my energy and thus my ability to be good in the world, whereas otherwise it's more like a battle with myself trying to argue the case for eating it or not eating it, weighing pro's and cons, craving vs commitments, etc.
On a deeper level I feel like any time I act on a self-centered thought such as a craving for a sugary food, I am strengthening ego-clinging and strengthening these types of thoughts that are concerned only with myself and my own well being. And so from that perspective it's really important to let go of these thoughts.
