/fringe/ - Fringe

Vishnu Purana says: “O King! It is beneficial to lie down with the head placed eastward or southward. The man who lies down with his head placed in contrary directions becomes diseased.” 

The Varshaadi Nool ( a Tamil treatise on almanac) says: “Sleeping eastward is good; sleeping southward prolongs life; sleeping westward and northward brings ruin.” 

The Mahabharata says: “Men become wise by sleeping eastward and southward.” 

Vastu sleeping direction: 

East: 

Sleeping with head resting in the East enhances memory, health and spiritual inclination. It is usually advised by Vastu Shastra Consultants to plan the children's room in such a way that their Vastu sleeping direction comes out to be east. This leads to higher concentration and retention power. 

South: 

Vastu Shastra highly recommends this direction as your usual sleeping position with head towards the South. This is believed to provide sound sleep and increase the wealth and prosperity in the household. 

West: 

This is not a very advisable sleeping position. Vastu Shastra says sleeping with head resting in West might cause disturbed sleep due to nightmares, some major illness and tendency towards violence. 

North: 

The Vastu sleeping position with head in the North direction is strongly opposed. It might cause major illnesses and sleepless nights for the person sleeping in such a position.

You see, sleep is a funny thing, neurologically speaking. It’s not something that you can conjure like a memory, or solve like a math problem. It’s a trick that your brain does independent of your wants and needs. It’s a complete change in how the grand electrochemical ballet in your head is performed.

This is why it can seem so elusive, like grasping at an object and watching it puff into smoke. You can mess with your conscious mind all you want, but letting go of wakefulness is completely up to the vast network of neurons that supports your consciousness. If they don’t want you to go, you won’t.

That said, it’s not a battle. It’s not you against your brain, with one side insidiously withholding sleep until you’re so tired you want to die. Like I said, sleep is a trick your brain does, like an automatic transmission shifting gears when the right RPM is reached. Your brain is waiting for certain cues, and it’s not going to let you go unconscious until it sees them:

-It’s been a while since your last sleep episode.

-Your body is relaxed and in an expected sleep posture.

-Your eyes are closed.

-You’re done actively processing information.

-You haven’t completely sabotaged yourself with chemicals or light.

Lay in your normal sleep posture, and allow your eyes to close. The purpose of this isn’t sleep, but rather falling into a state of mental and physical rest. Sleep will follow.

It’s time to do a body scan. First, mentally check in to your abdomen. If it’s tense, allow it to become soft enough for each breath to gently cause it to poke out a bit. Continue breathing in this manner for the rest of the meditation. If you find that you tense back up, simply think of making those muscles soft once again.

Starting at your scalp, slowly mentally check in to your body. Check in on how tense the muscles are, and see if you can allow them to become soft, warm, and heavy. This is a process of sinking in to the surface beneath you, trusting it to support you completely. Go to your neck and shoulders, then to your back and abs. If you find any tension, let it melt, allowing the muscles to become warm and heavy. Proceed downward to your hips, allowing them to sink into the bed, softening any tension that might be keeping your legs locked, or your low back bent. Go down into the legs, checking in to your thighs, low legs, and feet.

Once you have gone from top to bottom, consider the body as a whole. Imagine your whole body becoming warm, soft, and heavy. Breath easily, and allow your attention to rest on the gentle rise and fall of your abdomen. Any time that you notice your attention going elsewhere, redirect it back to that rise and fall.

http://bodymindconspiracy.com/how-to-get-to-sleep-when-your-mind-wont-stop-racing/

A Pranayama that can led to quick sleep:

1. Place the tip of your tongue against the tissue ridge right above your upper front teeth. Keep it there for the remainder of the exercise.

2. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound as you do so.

3. Close your mouth and inhale slowly through your nose while mentally counting to four.

4. Hold your breath for a mental count of seven.

5. Exhale completely through your mouth for a mental count of eight. Make the same whoosh sound from Step Two.

6. This concludes the first cycle. Repeat the same process three more times for a total of four renditions.

In a nutshell: breathe in for four, hold for seven, and breathe out for eight. You must inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. The four-count inhale allows chronic under-breathers to take in more oxygen. The seven-count hold gives the oxygen more time to thoroughly permeate the bloodstream, and the eight-count exhale slows the heart rate and releases a greater amount of carbon dioxide from the lungs.

>>47367

How are you supposed to control where your head rests, maybe when you start sleeping but afterwards you might vhange position without noticing. Also is the bed's position important or just where your head is pointing?

>>47373

Thanks man lol I always sleep on my stomach guess it's time for a change.

Don't expect to sleep less hours because you've read this thread however. The body will require less sleep depending on how healed and developed the body is and not the other way around.

I naturally parked my bed south after being pissed at my bed. Then I removed the bed completely and can now enjoy sleeping with a mattress on the floor.

Another good way to spend the night is to sleep with a grounded wire. That way it will be similar to walking barefoot on soil during the whole time one sleeps. It heals the body very quickly.

Well shit you beat me to it.

Here is some stuff I've discovered.

>consume fruits / sugar stuff early in the morning

>consume meats and other stuff that digests really slowly before going to bed in order to fuel the body without it burning out during sleep

>get black pillowcases and everything else black you possibly can

>even paint the room black or really dark colours if you can

>during the day if you feel tired use a tablet or something to set a 20 minute timer, then lay down and try to rest during the 20 minutes, then get up immediately when it's over regardless of whether you've slept a few minutes, the whole 20 minutes, or not at all

>then wait an hour and do other stuff before trying to take a nap again

>goat's milk enhances sleep and the brain functions in general

>the brain requires fatty stuff, fatty stuff helps cognitive functions

>if you've been laying down for about 15 minutes trying to sleep and you still aren't getting an automatic feed of thoughtforms that aren't based on visual or auditory suggestions from the day and aren't projected, then you need to get up and make some adjustments to your mind and body in order to sleep, just laying there is vanity and won't work

>to sleep you need an automatic stream of spontaneous astral stuff being shown to you

>thoughtforms from any intense concentration throughout the day may be created that can disturb sleep or at least distract you from achieving the automatic stream thing

>radio / audio thoughtforms are the worst, but visual thoughtforms from drawing all day or playing a game all day can be pesky

>drawing actually enhances sleep if you draw random shit without having any idea of what you're going to do, it seems to help you connect to the astral

>so draw lots of random shit and you'll see plenty of spontaneous astral activity happening

>emotions can be your key to the astral, create some thoughtforms with them to draw yourself out of the body

>if you are too weak-willed, emotionally numb, basically unable to work up the emotions needed get up and do something else whether it's shitposting online or walking into another room and preparing and eating food or carefully examining an interesting object and brushing your astral hands through it until you've got enough loosh/emotions to create a more powerful thoughtform to get you out of body

>I hate yet to really go through with this plan but I think creating a permanent astral space that I revisit over and over whenever I want could be a key to permanent sleep-at-any-time-any-place freedom

>a tulpa that you have constant association with and don't lose track of also would be immensely helpful

>do not take showers without first rubbing in essential oils and glycerine and stuff into your face beforehand and after, otherwise your skin gets fucked up, and you feel miserable

>generally, avoid showers, except when necessary

>KEEP BRIGHT LIGHTS ON IN YOUR ROOM ALL DAY, my room has 4 windows, but it's too shared outside and not enough light gets in… get the brightest LED lights you possibly can and make your room shine like a lighthouse all day

>doing this makes it easier to sleep at night, even if you look at computer screens before going to bed, the body notices the change from the intense lighting you had on all day until now

>I have a mat to sleep on but rarely ever actually sleep on it, as I pretty much always just end up on the other parts of the floor, possibly because they are colder

>hot heat and humidity utterly fucks your sleep

>keep lots of glass water bottles in your room, so you don't have to leave to get water

>do it faggot

I have many more ideas also that I could describe if someone wants me to but which are theoretical to me for the time being as I have yet to put them into action. It involves further lifestyle adjustments, the use of special thoughtforms, etc.

A note on diet: you can consume more fruits / sugary stuff immediately prior to or during or after intensified physical exertion during the day. If you're going to be doing heavy work the body will be able to actually use that quick energy if you time the input correctly without your blood-sugar level just going needlessly high for no reason.

>>47372

You should start off with an alarm clock initially and then progress to using intentions. You can do this with the 20 minute nap thing, initially use a timer, but then you can try using intentions later to specify very specific times to wake up on and test yourself to see you are succeeding.

>>47372

You can also intend to wake up moments before an alarm clock actually goes off.

I personally feel that the rigid sleep schedule can be only a temporary fix. To become a true sleep master you must be able to sleep anywhere, at any time, and achieve whatever desired mental states you wish during sleep for maximum recovery or other effects. Only then can you be sure to adapt to and perform well under stressful conditions presented by life's challenges.

>>47367

I find myself for some reason constantly ending up in one of two positions when sleeping on the floor. I am not sure what direction I am actually facing on the compass. I ought to find out. It is really weird but whatever initial position I start out in, I never find it comfortable, and I always end up moving around until my head is resting in a certain direction.

Maybe that shit only applies in India btw. Maybe it's different depending where on the planet you are.

Maintaining constant awareness of the astral body all the time can also help make it easier to sleep and get in the astral.

>tfw you have 4 arms, 2 physical, and 2 astral and you're used to using all 4 a lot now

>>47388

To become a sleep master this needs to be mastered:

>Yoga nidra or "yogic sleep" is a sleep-like state which yogis report to experience during their meditations. Yoga nidra, lucid sleeping is among the deepest possible states of relaxation while still maintaining full consciousness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_nidra

>>47383

>consume meats and other stuff that digests really slowly before going to bed in order to fuel the body without it burning out during sleep

But digestion takes up so much energy and causes problems with sleep if there is much to digest during sleep.

The NATURAL BODY CYCLES

noon to 8 pm - appropriation (eating and digestion)

8 pm to 4 am - assimilation (absorption and use)

4 am to noon - elimination (of body wastes and food debris)

- on a ground that's not too soft

- on the back

- no pillow under head

- extremities and fingers not touching each other

>>47393

>But digestion takes up so much energy and causes problems with sleep if there is much to digest during sleep.

Not my personal experience. My body seems to be well adapted to eating meat.

>>47404

Smiley your current technique for getting to sleep is filling yourself with so much fat and protein that your body must knock itself unconcious in order to better process it. I guess for an insomniac like yourself that may be a decent strategy, but your body isn't really doing much "sleeping" it's mostly just digesting all that heavy crap you put in it.

+polyphasic sleep

Anyone else find that the more conscious dreaming you do, the less restful your sleep? Particularly when I have a specific task to accomplish or get in a lot of fights I wake up tired.

Any tips?

Nice thread.

Something I've been doing lately is to, as soon as I awake, jump out of bed and both turn on my room's lights and open my window; I sleep in a pitch dark room so all the light immediately erases all grogginess and desire to crawl back to bed.

>>47567

Unless I'm relieving bad memories with them and I'm not sure they really count as lucid dreaming, since even with me being able to act inside it shit tends to go wrong anyway, lucid dreaming tends to make me wake up feeling a bit more well rested.

>>47567

Within the human brain there is a neurotransmitter called Serotonin. Empirical studies have established a number of things about this important chemical, of which the following are germane to this work on Lucid Dreaming:

Its presence in the brain at the correct level is vital to good mental health. An abnormally high amount of Serotonin causes Mania (paranoia, schizoidal episodes etc); an abnormally low amount causes Depression.

Serotonin is naturally replenished by dreamless sleep: however, REM-sleep (Rapid Eye Movement sleep – the kind in which dreams with strong visual imagery occur) depletes it.

What has this to do with Lucid Dreaming? Simply put, Lucid Dreaming consists of a collection of techniques which aim at stimulating and enhancing REM-sleep, and thereby depleting the brain’s natural Serotonin levels. I mention this because I have come across a large number of people who are interested in the Occult – and who also suffer Depression. I am faced with the growing conviction that the high incidence of Depression among Occultists is either caused or exacerbated by the wrongful use of techniques such as Lucid Dreaming, and like techniques whereby the person retreats into a dream-world.

Therefore, the following pieces of guidance can be put forward:

The excessive use of Lucid Dreaming tends to cause Depression;

If a person already suffering from Depression attempts to become a lucid dreamer, they are making their condition worse;

If a person is on a course of anti-depressants (e.g. Prozac, Seroxat, etc which work by boosting Serotonin levels), attempting to dream Lucidly will vitiate the effects of the medication.

In light of the above, I can hardly caution readers wanting to know about Lucid Dreaming too strongly. We may laugh at the fundamentalist Christian or the superstitious low-brow who claims dabbling with the occult is tantamount to truck with demons, and against God’s will, but we must laugh at ourselves and our own rank foolishness when the scientist presents evidence to say they might have a point.

The revised and recently-implemented Lucid Dreaming Protocols of the Hermetic Order of Sol Ascendans take this into account, and state that Dreamwork is only to be attempted within a single 56 hour period per Lunar Month – which effectively means on two consecutive nights only. The rest of the time – approximately 26 days – not only is no attempt made to dream lucidly, but every attempt is made to sleep dreamlessly (or as much as is possible). This is considerably more difficult than the former method, which was to at least attempt to practice Lucid Dreaming and its associated techniques nightly. However, it is undoubtedly safer, and strikes what I hope is a balance between the hazards of Lucid dreaming, and its benefits.

I am caught in the position that I honestly believe that Lucid Dreaming is both a very good and very dangerous thing. Good, in that I have used it successfully for a number of purposes, all of which I am very proud to have done: works of Theurgy, healing rituals, and so forth. Dangerous, in that I cannot in any conscience endanger the mental well-being of any eager young neophyte. I speak as one who has himself suffered Depressive moods in the past, which I see with hindsight as nothing but my own fault.

In conclusion, I earnestly advise all readers to take these words of warning to heart. The information presented in this book details “How to do it”, but that should not be taken as an encouragement that “You should do it.”

If you suffer from Depression, or are taking anti-depressants, I advise you Not to attempt to dream Lucidly. If you do not fall into any of these categories, I would nevertheless advise you to deliberately limit the time spent attempting to dream Lucidly – spacing the occasions of practice with long periods of non-practice, perhaps in the manner suggested above, or even less frequently. If you start to fall into Depression, increase the length of non-practice time between Lucid Dreaming attempts or stop it altogether. Lucid Dreaming on a more regular basis than this is at your own risk.

http://solascendans.com/articles/lucid-dreaming/

>>47508

Wow, this is incredible, and indeed makes the other posts ITT seem Meh… Thanks for sharing!

These stood out in particular:

"Tony Wright realized that this is actually going on, and

he found out that you can activate your right brain and

make it dominant by eating raw food. To be more

precise, his discovery is that the other food causes leftbrain

dominance and that raw food causes right-brain

dominance. That is going to tell you a lot about why we

have the world that we have. And that was his thesis.

Doing that research, he found out this whole thing

about sleep, and he realized he was hardly even

sleeping anymore. So then he proceeded to prove his

research. He now has the world record for staying

awake – over 11 days awake. To give you an idea of

how difficult that is, the last person who tried to do that went insane.

So how do we do that? Do everything you love, totally have fun, stay in your right brain, stay

inspired, stay into what is creative and you won't have any trouble. Again, what is causing you

to need sleep? Abacus, bean-counting "this goes there" organizational stuff – that kind of thing.

Basically, things you don't like to do.

So when we get the sleep right and we are able to achieve that left brain shutdown, what we

have is immune system rejuvenation. We are going to get the proper hormone cascades

happening and everything will to go into balance. We are going to be able to use our sleep time

as a rejuvenation time – which is what it is meant to be."

"The yogis thought, "Well, why don't we just turn upside down?"

And what does that do? The first thing it does is it starts taking care of your

back problems. All back problems – as far as I have learned in my life – are

compression problems. They are gravity problems. It's compression. All

you've got to do is flip upside down and then you get the elongation, the extension. All your

back problems go away. Some people say, "No, what about torsion?” Torsion means that your

vertebrae sit on top of each other and one goes like this. "

"Your arm is perfect to keep your spine

completely straight if you use your arm as a

pillow… Or you can sleep on your back or sleep on your stomach. When you sleep like that, you are

actually sleeping naturally. That is how you are supposed to be. And here is what I found: it

cured all my neck problems, all my back problems, everything went away."

>>47567

I find that extremely super ultra-vivid full astral immersion more realistic than life = come back to third density feeling extremely well rested and usually having experienced a near miraculous level of healing

…but less vivid yet still vivid stuff seems to be very exhausting.

…and people who don't dream at all always seem so well-rested to me.

Someone in the astral today tried to give me health advice and said I had too much iron and it was causing some problem (I forget now) and a bunch of other things.

It's probably just bullshit though.

>>47603

>muh outdated left-right brain cliche

Get some better texts.

>>47603

> He now has the world record for staying

>awake – over 11 days awake.

That is not a world record and that is not even hard to do.

>>47603

>"Your arm is perfect to keep your spine completely straight if you use your arm as a pillow…

Absolutely DO NOT DO THIS.

I did this on a wooden bench before when I ran away from my parents years ago.

I laid down only like 10-15 minutes at most.

Once I got up, my arm was in terrible pain, and ever since that day I have had permanent damage to my right arm and unable to extend fully.

>>47660

Think of it as the masculine/feminine brain then instead of left/right. Yeah left brain/right brain is probably an overly simplistic classification. You trying to tell me mental gender doesn't exist bro? You saying the Kybalion is outdated bro?

>>47680

masculine/feminine is even worse

>>47693

>that moment you realize everything is you and you created it

>that moment you realize these crazy scary thoughts and things lingering around you is your own world giving you information

>start to laugh

>done.

Laugh bro

Laugh at how silly it all is - or Love, puppies, kittiens, baby red pandas, a very lovely female, the sweetest of fruits you've ever tasted.

Also.

You put ALL THIS WORK to bring out power from within and you want to banish it back?

only banishing needed is if you bring out lucifer /baphomet / primordial energies… i mean you DO gota close the hood before you drive off after doing engine work..

>>47721

fast for 6 hours

take some very strong cannabis and smoke up in a closet or room you lightproof, do breathing techniques.

That's about the simplest way.

Try moorish rites, try programming a tulpa to clean that shit.

Loving sexual union energy.

OR.

you could just be having muscle tissue issues due to nutritional imbalance.

>>47724

>fast

>6 hours

do people on this board know what fasting is? I keep hearing retarded things like that. fast 1 day minimum come on wtf.

>>47770

Abstaining from food for 6 hours is the general guideline when consuming any substance for the purpose of having an empty stomach. That's what he and others are referencing.

>>47603

Yeah, David Wolfe is a modern day raw food guru of sorts. He has trailblazed but now sells overpriced supplements to housewives with his kinky kike traits.

>>47724

A few questions about this… I have vaped a lot of pot in the past and more recently it seems to attract or open me up to many absurd, annoying thought forms, which did not seem to be a problem til I became aware of the occult. I do love the side effects of the withdrawals when heavily using for a few days.

Regarding your method, can the pot be vaped outside darkness, before entering the dark, once the high has set in?

What specific breathing techniques do you suggest? For how long? Is that the only thing to be focused on for the entire 6 hours?

>moorish rites

What moorish rites do you recommend? Where can I find more information about these? In those First World Radio videos?

>Loving sexual union energy.

Do you have any instructions on the specifics of this? Chia?

>>47663

>Absolutely DO NOT DO THIS.

Alternatively, one could actually read the text from whence the quote is taken and find in the very next paragraph:

"In the beginning, sometimes that is hard to do because we are not used to it. Our muscles aren't stretched out, so we ave to stretch out a little bit more. But if you stick with it and you get off the drug – and you will go through withdrawals. You don't believe me? I have had people come up to me afterwards and be like, "Dude. I had to go to PA. Twelve-step process." Pillows Anonymous."

>>47661

>staying awake for over 11 days is not even hard to do

Nearly every rational person on Earth would probably disagree with you there.

>>47660

>Get some better texts.

How about this?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-His-Emissary-Divided/dp/0300168926/

or:

http://www.personalpowermeditation.com/critique-of-a-right-brain-traits-list/

^This genius covers this topic well on he site.

Perhaps more importantly, his most recent article suggests he may have potentially made the most important set of discoveries of the century. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the physical body.

Dont use a pillow, it fucks your neck. You are allowed to rest your head on your arm, its actually beneficial as it streches your neck and strengthens neck muscles.

Meditate before sleep to cut your rest short a few hours, and still wake up happy & energetic.

If you're short on time, enter a meditative trance state, without falling asleep, you wont wake up tired and you'll be good to go.

Three hours of this equals 8 hours of regular sleep.

Not science, observation. Take care.

>>47663

faggot nomuscle detected.

armpillow is superior. make sure to rest your head on the muscle, change positions as you like.

>>47721

Maybe you need them? The gut in your body also has all kinds of terrible bacteria which form a part of your gut ecosystem and help keep you healthy. Those bacteria also need some form of energy to help keep them going too.

/speculation

>>48478

>Using meditation as a substitute for sleep

I heard you need to be at a really advanced level to do this. Otherwise, fucking anyone could just meditate for three hours rather than sleep. Hell, the asians are freaking workaholics, if what you said was true, they most definitely would've exploited this to maximise their productivity.

>>47372

>Sunbath

Yeah be careful with that one. There's reasons people who don't protect themselves from the sun usually look like dirty leather by 30-50

>>48606

that's bullshit, that's from dehydration and terrible body ph level.

the sun is good to us during sunrise - 10 am, then the last hour of sunset - inbetween you should have UV400 polarized shades on.

We're more darkness / nocturnal - our god-mode hormones and chemicals use sunlight yes but they are produced and maintained in the dark

….

we're not supposed to do a lot of the shit we're told we're supposed to do.

Anyone have ideas for the tailbone digging into the floor/ground?

When lying down on a hard flat surface I am very comfortable but when I relax my muscles my tailbone takes on a lot of the weight that my muscles were holding up.

After some moving around and discomfort I can get comfortable with the pressure but if I move even a little bit such as when the sun shines through my window then I will be uncomfortable again. This is mostly fine as it is best to get up when the sun is shining but if I want to get some more sleep for some reason I cannot because of the discomfort.

>>49376

do squats and deadlifts, also try using a pillow like alan watts recommended

Does anyone have tips for good pillowless sleeping positions?

I can sleep without much trouble without a pillow, but I feel kinda lopsided, I could use some help figuring out "what goes where" to keep my body balanced and straight.

>>47716

I've always wondered how "If everything is you" Than others can exist.

>>49722

I've been using f.lux for years now, it's pretty good. There's a similar thing for Android devices called Twilight, but I didn't found it as effective as f.lux.

>>49381

What would be the purpose of the squats/lifts? I already do squats and lifts for several hours a day at work.

Does anyone know a solution?

>>49376

>>49736

more cushion for sitting

>>49736

also, when you stand sideways infront of a mirror - how does your pelvis align? does it poke out? you could have the whole region being imbalanced - check out elliot hulse on youtube for content on posterior balance.

Anybody here use a japanese style futon? I'm considering replacing my bed with one, but it's got maintenance. It's not solid like the floor, but it should at least help a bit until I'm further down the path. And it'd really help with making my room more minimal.

Also bumping because interesting.

>>54459

You could try doing what I do and just fold up a couple of blankets and set them down on the floor to act as a makeshift futon.

It works pretty well since if you want to put it away or clean it, it's just a couple of blankets to fold up and toss into the closet/washer.

>>47531

Is polyphasic sleep good for magick?

Lately my sleep schedule has been all kinds of awful. If I go to bed at a normal time (8PM-12AM) I'll only sleep for an hour or two before waking up and not being able to get back to sleep until much later, around 4-6AM.

Does anyone know anything I could do to help? Like a method to force myself to sleep after I wake up, or a way to feel better rested so I can actually get up before 3PM?

>>47368

I am addicted to my computer. What are some things I can do to occupy my time before bed so I avoid the light?

>>59330

meditation, energy work, etc

>>59299

Read http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/ and the other related articles on that site. 4am-6am are good hours for spiritual practice btw

>>59330

First make sure you https://justgetflux.com/

I recommend a Kindle Paper-white or candlelit reading before bed is good if you are addicted to computer for knowledge purposes

>>59538

Sounds interesting, thanks

at least when I checked a year go e-book readers were shit for reading PDFs, so if you plan on reading stuff you get online that is not just walls of text, you might be better off getting a tablet

Note that tablets still flash a light directly into your eyes so they might not be that good to use right before going to bed, for that you better get an e.book reader. If you don't care about the Kindle store, don't go for a kindle (kobos are probably as good as kindles)

How do I fall asleep immediately? As in within 0-5 minutes. I've been reading Steve Pavlina's article on it. I'm just curious if there's a way to speed up the process.

Any help at all would be appreciated.