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Hello everyone,

My name is Rob, and about a month ago a friend of mine approached me in a time of inner conflict and turmoil. This friend suggested I try to meditate, and maybe through that I could find resolution and peace. I had run out of ideas so I decided to give it a go. I knew nothing about meditating and the only resource I had was my cell phone, so I downloaded an application that said it would help teach meditation. It gave me a good start and I began to meditate twice a day. I do this right before I go to bed, and as soon as I wake up in the morning, and I tell you what, it is amazing what meditation does for a person! I feel much more at peace and relaxed throughout my days, and it has helped me coping with the problems that were plaguing me.

I was searching through applications on my phone yet again and saw some things under the Buddhism search, the two that really caught my attention were the Diamond Sutra eBook and Liao-Fan's Four Lessons. After reading them (over and over) it made me want to reach more spiritual awareness, and to really look into Buddhism. I live in the mountains in Oregon and haven't been able to locate any gatherings or anything of Buddhists anywhere near me, the closest was about an hour and a half away and with no car that wasn't very feasible right now so i did an internet search for Buddhist Forums and found this one!

All that said aside, I am really hoping to gain two things at this point. The first is some guidance on how to dig deeper into Buddhism. Books, practices, anything I can dig in to and find a deeper spirituality. The second is any guidance I can get on meditation its-self. I am not very good at it, my mind whirls and whirls and I have trouble clearing it when trying to meditate. My meditations have helped greatly, but I can't help but feel there is much more I can get out of it.

Thank you in advance for any help anyone will offer, and I look forward to hearing and conversing with you all.

-Rob