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"If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take."
+ other quotes and takeaways from @naspap3's brilliant salon on Staying the Course. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/staying-the-course-hubris-hedonism-and-other-distractions-ii-salon-tickets-127649967489
+ other quotes and takeaways from @naspap3's brilliant salon on Staying the Course. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/staying-the-course-hubris-hedonism-and-other-distractions-ii-salon-tickets-127649967489
System optimization, “productivity porn” can themselves be forms of procrastination (which in turn is often a strategy for coping with anxiety). Procrastatidying is also a thing. “My room was never cleaner than it was during my finals week.” —my twin and many other college kids
How do you know what’s a distraction if you don’t know what path your’e on? Reframe: “If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take.” —Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland
Idolization of discipline and critique of distraction presupposes that we are working towards something that’s actually meaningful and worth working towards. Cutting out distraction is only useful if you’re 100% certain on your course of action, but we can never be 100% certain.
“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York...
... We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.“ — Henry David Thoreau
I think society generally encourages discipline. But the only people really listening/embodying that are the ppl that are disciplined already, and then they go overboard. The people that “need” to hear that message are the ones that don’t really listen.
Discipline can act as a mask for an existential crisis — being “productive” makes us think we’re doing something important, gives us a superficial purpose. But so much of what we think of as “productivity” (or discipline) is corporate/capitalistic productivity...
... the productivity that feeds the engine of society, that furthers progress (often as defined by $$$). Perhaps a redefinition is necessary — one that recognizes that spending time with family/friends or people-watching in the park can all be productive uses of time.
Most people assume societal values without questioning them, and so the society values are perpetuated and harder to resist. But true meaning/value comes from (at some point) uprooting your value system and reconstructing it.
How do we know that feeling “good” about being productive is a true, authentic “good” vs a superficial “good” from doing what society thinks we should be doing? Authentic good feels calm, solid, and grounded, and does not have urgency or require validation.
(Although it might take some work to be able to clearly identify/feel this bodily state, particularly for those driven more by external forces than internal/intuition.)
Meaning/purpose/change is likely more about iteration and experimentation than drastic shifts. Sometimes the dramatic shifts can be really clarifying, but often we gain a lot more than we think possible through the mindful, small shifts.
The green grass is right there. You don’t have to jump to the other side. You just have to reframe/shift perspective/recognize the little things.
We can invite distraction into our lives as a means of exploring and observing what we naturally gravitate towards — as a means of discovering the path we want to follow.
Is the distraction actually a calling? If intuition can be misleading, when do you know it’s leading you towards something meaningful or not?
What seems like a distraction in the moment might not be seen as a distraction in retrospect (Gretchen Rubin). Sometimes it is in the distractions that we find value. https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/little-happier-whats-a-waste-of-time
Your current way of/model for living has to fail in order for you to change.
