Because there can be newly registered people who are actual spirit keeping experts from other sites but just finally came around to joining the CH forum
(Lol it's hell typing on this phone)

Criticism is never appropriate in any endeavor. It just serves to discourage development of any ability. It is always possible the person has a blockage that needs to be worked with. Encouragement is the way to help in most cases. You never know how much effort the person is putting into what they are working on so why criticize them. It is better to give advice and support than discouragement.

Criticism is vital to development of any kind. Insulting, however, isn't, and it's not the same as criticism.
If someone criticizes a person in a constructive manner, that person should consider the criticism and use it to improve. If it holds no value or isn't founded on reality, disregard it.

Both encouragement and criticism have educative value, in different situations. Unless it's downright insulting, it should only affect you intellectually, not emotionally.

Imagine you are someone like me (no effort at all for some of you because my description of myself matches at least 75% of Americans)...barely able to sense anything and completely blind to spirits. Then you meet someone like Huffette who can see and hear spirits as easily as you sense a train going by 15 feet away at full speed. And that person begins telling you things with no possible way for her to know, thereby proving beyond any doubt her credibility. That's where I was 33 years ago. In my mind now, there is nothing impossible. It took me at least 2 decades to learn to trust my inner self to do what I can do now. I have heard a spirit try to sing me a lullaby to put me to sleep. I have commanded a ghost to go away and leave me alone and he did. I have successfully commanded a very bad storm to end. I have seen her huge dragon attempt to intimidate me by showing himself. I have seen a parade of faces go by( my spirits faces and one of them made me laugh . imagine a canine , my barghest, trying to smile without being frightening). I have smelled incense suddenly at a time and place you would think it was impossible. Once while driving, I saw one of my djinns. So I KNOW beyond doubt these things are real. And yet it is still a rare event for me to see or hear spirits. I still have a long way to go, but I never gave up.

Alikat13 wrote:It's okay if those newly registered people actually do have experience with their own beings and can provide insight though

True. Some folks already put in the time and effort to learn to perceive meta things, prior to discovering spirit-keeping. That's how I was when I found CH.

It'd never be my place to judge whether the meta path is for someone. But I assure you, I don't mind reminding people that it takes TIME and EFFORT. And unless we're talking about someone who was born with senses wide open, it's likely to take plenty of both time and effort. And PATIENCE. And PERSISTENCE.

I just feel so bad when I see someone going through the pattern of "Hi, I just discovered spirit keeping and CH" to "I ordered my first spirit!" to "My spirit arrived" to "AAAGH, I bought all these bindings to increase sensitivity and all these spirits, why am I not seeing and hearing?". The trouble is, we get from the first of those items to the last one in the space of just a few weeks' time, or maybe a couple months, tops. I'm more than willing to remind someone that they have to be in this for the long game, and think in terms of months and years, not weeks and months. Doubly so if they came to spirit keeping with zero experience in perceiving meta things.

So if someone wants results NOW NOW NOW NOW, then maybe they need to either re-think the path or re-think their approach to the path. Otherwise, keep practicing and carry on, and be willing to be patient. (And at some point, be willing to stop buying more bindings and work with the existing ones, because I know we all have a finite amount of funds to draw from. No bazillionaires post here that I'm aware of, lol.)

I am not saying that people have no right to feel frustrated when they don't see results and others are posting about their vivid experiences. But take a look at the join date on some of those folks' accounts and you might see that they've been doing this for years. Or ask how long they've been doing these things, if they have a more recent join date. (I started in March 1976, at age 12, so obviously I've been at it a bit longer than my join date might suggest.) They might be among the "got involved in meta way before finding CH" folks. They might have already put those months and years of effort in. A beginner shouldn't compare themselves and their experiences to those of a person who's been at this for years. That's not a fair comparison, and the beginner is not being fair to themselves if they do that.

I can only preach patience and persistence to anyone who is seriously determined to start having meta experiences. That's a lot less fun than being able to say, "Here you go, here's the instant solution that works for everyone". I wish there was an instant answer (to this and to a lot of other things out there, meta and muggle). But there isn't one.

I agree with this. I started reading tarot 10 years ago this month. My husband said a lot of really nasty things to me about reading tarot, and later spirit communication. He did this consistently for 5 years. It was hell. Despite the verbal abuse I went through for it, I stuck with it because I loved it, it made me truly happy to help others in this way, and because I was really good at it.

After a few readings and psychic visions I was getting about him hiding something from me he finally changed his tune. It took 5 years, but now I don't have to deal with his negative attitude about it. If I had listened to him and just gave up like he wanted me to I would've missed out on a lot of amazing experiences. I wouldn't have what makes me happy, and I wouldn't be where I am on my path today.

Point is, do what makes you happy and brings you joy. If someone tells you otherwise, don't be afraid to remove them from your life if it's causing you distress. I've removed a lot of people from my life because they didn't make me feel good about myself and I'm much happier for it.

Cult wrote:Criticism is vital to development of any kind. Insulting, however, isn't, and it's not the same as criticism.
If someone criticizes a person in a constructive manner, that person should consider the criticism and use it to improve. If it holds no value or isn't founded on reality, disregard it.

Both encouragement and criticism have educative value, in different situations. Unless it's downright insulting, it should only affect you intellectually, not emotionally.

This. For the most part, people tell me what I need to hear, and I am grateful for it.

Cult wrote:Criticism is vital to development of any kind. Insulting, however, isn't, and it's not the same as criticism.
If someone criticizes a person in a constructive manner, that person should consider the criticism and use it to improve. If it holds no value or isn't founded on reality, disregard it.

Both encouragement and criticism have educative value, in different situations. Unless it's downright insulting, it should only affect you intellectually, not emotionally.

Agree. I am not sure why anyone would say criticism is inherently wrong. It depends on the intent behind the criticism. Critiques are often sought after by people in a learning process, from professionals or more experienced, in an effort for the learning to improve.

Discouraging people or being a b*tch is something different.

Cult wrote:Criticism is vital to development of any kind. Insulting, however, isn't, and it's not the same as criticism.
If someone criticizes a person in a constructive manner, that person should consider the criticism and use it to improve. If it holds no value or isn't founded on reality, disregard it.

Both encouragement and criticism have educative value, in different situations. Unless it's downright insulting, it should only affect you intellectually, not emotionally.

Most of the criticism I have seen served to affect the other person emotionally. There is no value in that, except to put the other person down. Encouragement can lift them up, and at the same time, give them the critique they are needing.

Noctifera wrote:

Cult wrote:Criticism is vital to development of any kind. Insulting, however, isn't, and it's not the same as criticism.
If someone criticizes a person in a constructive manner, that person should consider the criticism and use it to improve. If it holds no value or isn't founded on reality, disregard it.

Both encouragement and criticism have educative value, in different situations. Unless it's downright insulting, it should only affect you intellectually, not emotionally.

Agree. I am not sure why anyone would say criticism is inherently wrong. It depends on the intent behind the criticism. Critiques are often sought after by people in a learning process, from professionals or more experienced, in an effort for the learning to improve.

Discouraging people or being a b*tch is something different.

Exactly. We call "constructive criticism" that name for a reason, and it's easy to spot because it's trying to make things better in some way. It's offering advice, it's trying to solve a problem, it's trying to make something that is already working, work even better, etc. It's trying to make a negative thing positive or make a positive thing even more positive.

Denigrating kinds of criticism just tear down. That's helpful to no one (except maybe the critic's fragile ego). 1td

Pro tip: when I was in college, back in the Stone Age , one of my instructors in a business class had advice that I've carried with me to this day. "Never point out a problem unless you are ALSO offering a solution to the problem." And he was so right. Nobody wants to work with the Negative Nelly who only goes around saying, "That's no good", "That won't work", etc. But if we say, "The problem with that is ___, but we can resolve it by doing ____", that's going to take us a lot farther. Then we'll be perceived as someone with good ideas, instead of someone who goes around tearing others' work down.