01-05-2019, 05:21 AM
Hail and well met fellow warriors,
If I can have but a moment of your time I'd like to tell you about a grand weapon I've recently discovered. One that could make you invincible in the field of battle. Inner dialogues and indulgences will fall by the millions before your indomitable assault. If you suffer from gout, the plague, mosquito bites, or mad cow disease; well this probably won't help. But if a shift to a quieter mind and less indulgent behaviors is for you then read on, for I'm about to reveal the best tool I know of for this purpose.
What makes this tool so effective is that it's perfectly easy for our rational minds to understand it. In fact, once aware of it there's no way not to understand it. No going back now, Bippo! The tool is simply to put a little bit of awareness into mental postures. First, let me define that for you, (it's ok, I can do that since I made it up). A mental posture is the position we put our mind into when we analyze something. Now don't get hung up on the word analyze, I'm not talking about anything too complicated or limited mostly to scientists. I'm talking about the simple analysis we use for most of the judgements we make every day. "Am I having a good day?", "Do I like this pizza?", "How about this song?". Of course, sometimes we do analysis about questions which tend to have greater emotional importance to us, and for these questions it's even more useful to become aware of the mental posture we put ourselves in while we do so. "Did America choose right in the last presidential election?", "Am I a success or a failure?", "Should that girl I adore be with me or that rich guy?".
Once again, a mental posture is the position we put our minds in when we do these analysis. The last question makes for an obvious example of how this works. How would we approach that question if someone we were head over heels for was dating someone else? Would we judge the other suitor fairly? Or would we look for any tiny thing at all to cling to as to why that person was the wrong one for our beloved? I think the latter is probably the more common approach by far. In fact here it's even been put to music.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6XmNoauuOo
That's "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors. As the singer explains, the girl should be with him because he knows what a prince and lover ought to be, unlike that other bastard. If you click the link and give it a listen it's pretty obvious the mental posture demonstrated is not one of unbiased appraisal of the other suitor. When considering the mental posture the song is obviously written from, it's actually quite comical what a desperate attempt to justify that posture the song is.
Another thing I need to point out here. Once the mental posture is selected, our analysis usually involves coming up with a couple reasons that support that posture and then we're done. We're pretty lazy thinkers most of the time when you get down to it. What we call analysis or even thinking is usually just an attempt to justify the mental posture we first went into regarding a particular topic. Think about that statement a moment. Most of the time we say we're thinking all we're really doing is coming up with a couple of reasons to say why the mental posture we chose is supported. Considering this, doesn't it seem like we ought to pay attention to the mental postures we adopt and how/why we go into them?
Let's consider the question "Did I have a good day?". I've asked myself this question a number of times in my life, and I've answered it in different ways. Sometimes, I've had a task checklist for the day and I've answered it based on how well I did on completing it. Other times I looked back at the events of the day and decided based on how many of them I saw as positive versus negative. After using either of these methods I would then answer the question with a yes or no and change my mood a bit to fit that answer. Another way I might answer the question was that I would be in strong mood and that mood would almost by itself determine the answer. If I wake up with the flu, accidentally burn my lunch, drop a heavy weight on my foot, spend hours fighting with my parents, and then win the lottery I'm likely to say afterward that it was a good day. This reveals something interesting. Not only can our mental posture change our mood, but our mood can change our mental posture. It works both ways. I know people whose mental posture towards Trump is such that the mere mention of his name will bring them to anger, their mental posture changing their mood. On the other hand, some of these same people in a very good mood will adapt a more forgiving posture if someone whom they feel has wronged them manages to seek reconciliation at that time, their mood changing their mental posture.
Alright, let's get back to that all important question "Do I like this pizza?". A common way I've answered this question is similar to the last one in that I use a checklist. Is it spicy? Does it have topping X? Topping Y? Topping Z? Does it have my favorite type of crust? Is there enough sauce on it? After getting the answers to these and other questions, I would shift my mental posture regarding the pizza towards whichever part of the like/dislike spectrum I had previously told myself each answer suggested. I like spicy foods, so if the pizza was spicy I had already decided I liked it. Ironically, after telling myself that I liked a pizza I stopped the analysis. I paid it very little attention to the taste of it after that point. When I finished with it, I told myself it was a good meal based on my checklist even though I usually paid just a cursory amount of attention to it while actually eating it! The only time I was more attentive to whether or not I was enjoying it was when it had flavors I was unfamiliar with.
There's a lesson here when you consider both of these facts about these kinds of checklists. First is that they pull our attention away from really appraising things, and second that we shift our moods and then make our judgements based on them. Instead of creating these lists, (which are, we have to admit, largely arbitrary), why not just appraise things for what they are? Every time you eat some food, try to put aside your checklist and see how it really tastes. Do so without comparing it to other things. Same with music. Don't worry if it's rap, country, or whatever genre it is. Don't worry about who sings it or whatever else may be in your checklist to decide if you like a song. Just listen to it for what it is on it's own. When you put aside your checklist like this, and listen/taste/experience with pure curiosity you won't have any list to control your mood. Those things you've always liked you'll probably like more, being as now you're experiencing them more fully. Even better, many of the things you formerly didn't like you'll find yourself actually liking this way. At least, that's been my experience. Seemingly accompanying this automatically has come a greater desire for diversity in what I eat, listen to, etc. At the same time, working off of checklists has become much more unsatisfying. Actually, it probably always was I'm just now more aware of the fact.
Here's another song to consider. In this one Gwen Stefani sings about getting dumped. Give it a listen and consider it from the position of her apparent mental posture and see if you can't notice her doing anything to reinforce it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONg4SK39-Kg
Did you notice it? Well, you'd have to be pretty obtuse not to, she does it continuously throughout the whole song! "don't tell me how bad things are... here's how bad things are". By continually repeating her justifications for her sad mental posture she is only reinforcing it with more emotional energy. Will she ever get out of that state? Sure, when she runs out of energy. Perhaps she should be singing the chorus to herself. Actually, there's nothing in the song that says she's not, and it takes on a whole different meaning when interpreted that way.
I suggest continually paying attention to your mental posture and how you are affecting it and vice versa. Sometimes, you may find a mental posture is tough to shift away from. In these cases it can be useful to ask yourself why you have that posture. Where did you get it and what have you been telling yourself that reinforces it? How old were you at that time and what made you interested in it then? What mental postures did others involved have regarding the topic? These sorts of probing questions can lead to events worth recapping to free yourself from being stuck in undesirable postures.
Also I'd suggest dropping any checklists you find yourself having for going into a mental posture. I'm finding it very empowering, and I'm sure I've got a ways to go yet. Without a checklist telling me what to do in response to things that happen around/to me, I choose what mental posture to adopt instead. It's feels like a matter of taking responsibility really. If I feel like something isn't good or is going wrong then I look at it from the perspective of why am I reacting with this mental posture and how do I change it rather than judging or blaming the event.
Consider the case of a rich man who works 80 hours a week and a beach bum. The rich man may argue the other is lazy, and that's why he gets to eat dry aged steaks at 5 star restaurants while the bum will dine on tuna from a can. Without checklists, the bum may very well enjoy that tuna fish just as much or more than he would enjoy the steak were he to eat it, even though the restaurant serving it has ferns! There's a lot of power in that, when such things cannot phase you. Questions that more strongly define us like if we are a success or failure, a winner or loser in various contexts, a good person, intelligent, etc. are great candidates to drop checklists from, as that's where they have the most power over us.
Dropping these checklists silences a lot of the inner dialogue, encourages new behaviors, discourages indulgences, and if we consider that others are responsible for their own mental postures towards us, (whether those are based on checklists or whatever), fights self importance. It empowers us in our tonal, trains us to look at things with care and curiosity, and make it easier for us to shift, (and shifting our mental posture is just a smaller scale of shifting our entire AP).
(possibly to be revised later, I'm tired.)
If I can have but a moment of your time I'd like to tell you about a grand weapon I've recently discovered. One that could make you invincible in the field of battle. Inner dialogues and indulgences will fall by the millions before your indomitable assault. If you suffer from gout, the plague, mosquito bites, or mad cow disease; well this probably won't help. But if a shift to a quieter mind and less indulgent behaviors is for you then read on, for I'm about to reveal the best tool I know of for this purpose.
What makes this tool so effective is that it's perfectly easy for our rational minds to understand it. In fact, once aware of it there's no way not to understand it. No going back now, Bippo! The tool is simply to put a little bit of awareness into mental postures. First, let me define that for you, (it's ok, I can do that since I made it up). A mental posture is the position we put our mind into when we analyze something. Now don't get hung up on the word analyze, I'm not talking about anything too complicated or limited mostly to scientists. I'm talking about the simple analysis we use for most of the judgements we make every day. "Am I having a good day?", "Do I like this pizza?", "How about this song?". Of course, sometimes we do analysis about questions which tend to have greater emotional importance to us, and for these questions it's even more useful to become aware of the mental posture we put ourselves in while we do so. "Did America choose right in the last presidential election?", "Am I a success or a failure?", "Should that girl I adore be with me or that rich guy?".
Once again, a mental posture is the position we put our minds in when we do these analysis. The last question makes for an obvious example of how this works. How would we approach that question if someone we were head over heels for was dating someone else? Would we judge the other suitor fairly? Or would we look for any tiny thing at all to cling to as to why that person was the wrong one for our beloved? I think the latter is probably the more common approach by far. In fact here it's even been put to music.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6XmNoauuOo
That's "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors. As the singer explains, the girl should be with him because he knows what a prince and lover ought to be, unlike that other bastard. If you click the link and give it a listen it's pretty obvious the mental posture demonstrated is not one of unbiased appraisal of the other suitor. When considering the mental posture the song is obviously written from, it's actually quite comical what a desperate attempt to justify that posture the song is.
Another thing I need to point out here. Once the mental posture is selected, our analysis usually involves coming up with a couple reasons that support that posture and then we're done. We're pretty lazy thinkers most of the time when you get down to it. What we call analysis or even thinking is usually just an attempt to justify the mental posture we first went into regarding a particular topic. Think about that statement a moment. Most of the time we say we're thinking all we're really doing is coming up with a couple of reasons to say why the mental posture we chose is supported. Considering this, doesn't it seem like we ought to pay attention to the mental postures we adopt and how/why we go into them?
Let's consider the question "Did I have a good day?". I've asked myself this question a number of times in my life, and I've answered it in different ways. Sometimes, I've had a task checklist for the day and I've answered it based on how well I did on completing it. Other times I looked back at the events of the day and decided based on how many of them I saw as positive versus negative. After using either of these methods I would then answer the question with a yes or no and change my mood a bit to fit that answer. Another way I might answer the question was that I would be in strong mood and that mood would almost by itself determine the answer. If I wake up with the flu, accidentally burn my lunch, drop a heavy weight on my foot, spend hours fighting with my parents, and then win the lottery I'm likely to say afterward that it was a good day. This reveals something interesting. Not only can our mental posture change our mood, but our mood can change our mental posture. It works both ways. I know people whose mental posture towards Trump is such that the mere mention of his name will bring them to anger, their mental posture changing their mood. On the other hand, some of these same people in a very good mood will adapt a more forgiving posture if someone whom they feel has wronged them manages to seek reconciliation at that time, their mood changing their mental posture.
Alright, let's get back to that all important question "Do I like this pizza?". A common way I've answered this question is similar to the last one in that I use a checklist. Is it spicy? Does it have topping X? Topping Y? Topping Z? Does it have my favorite type of crust? Is there enough sauce on it? After getting the answers to these and other questions, I would shift my mental posture regarding the pizza towards whichever part of the like/dislike spectrum I had previously told myself each answer suggested. I like spicy foods, so if the pizza was spicy I had already decided I liked it. Ironically, after telling myself that I liked a pizza I stopped the analysis. I paid it very little attention to the taste of it after that point. When I finished with it, I told myself it was a good meal based on my checklist even though I usually paid just a cursory amount of attention to it while actually eating it! The only time I was more attentive to whether or not I was enjoying it was when it had flavors I was unfamiliar with.
There's a lesson here when you consider both of these facts about these kinds of checklists. First is that they pull our attention away from really appraising things, and second that we shift our moods and then make our judgements based on them. Instead of creating these lists, (which are, we have to admit, largely arbitrary), why not just appraise things for what they are? Every time you eat some food, try to put aside your checklist and see how it really tastes. Do so without comparing it to other things. Same with music. Don't worry if it's rap, country, or whatever genre it is. Don't worry about who sings it or whatever else may be in your checklist to decide if you like a song. Just listen to it for what it is on it's own. When you put aside your checklist like this, and listen/taste/experience with pure curiosity you won't have any list to control your mood. Those things you've always liked you'll probably like more, being as now you're experiencing them more fully. Even better, many of the things you formerly didn't like you'll find yourself actually liking this way. At least, that's been my experience. Seemingly accompanying this automatically has come a greater desire for diversity in what I eat, listen to, etc. At the same time, working off of checklists has become much more unsatisfying. Actually, it probably always was I'm just now more aware of the fact.
Here's another song to consider. In this one Gwen Stefani sings about getting dumped. Give it a listen and consider it from the position of her apparent mental posture and see if you can't notice her doing anything to reinforce it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONg4SK39-Kg
Did you notice it? Well, you'd have to be pretty obtuse not to, she does it continuously throughout the whole song! "don't tell me how bad things are... here's how bad things are". By continually repeating her justifications for her sad mental posture she is only reinforcing it with more emotional energy. Will she ever get out of that state? Sure, when she runs out of energy. Perhaps she should be singing the chorus to herself. Actually, there's nothing in the song that says she's not, and it takes on a whole different meaning when interpreted that way.
I suggest continually paying attention to your mental posture and how you are affecting it and vice versa. Sometimes, you may find a mental posture is tough to shift away from. In these cases it can be useful to ask yourself why you have that posture. Where did you get it and what have you been telling yourself that reinforces it? How old were you at that time and what made you interested in it then? What mental postures did others involved have regarding the topic? These sorts of probing questions can lead to events worth recapping to free yourself from being stuck in undesirable postures.
Also I'd suggest dropping any checklists you find yourself having for going into a mental posture. I'm finding it very empowering, and I'm sure I've got a ways to go yet. Without a checklist telling me what to do in response to things that happen around/to me, I choose what mental posture to adopt instead. It's feels like a matter of taking responsibility really. If I feel like something isn't good or is going wrong then I look at it from the perspective of why am I reacting with this mental posture and how do I change it rather than judging or blaming the event.
Consider the case of a rich man who works 80 hours a week and a beach bum. The rich man may argue the other is lazy, and that's why he gets to eat dry aged steaks at 5 star restaurants while the bum will dine on tuna from a can. Without checklists, the bum may very well enjoy that tuna fish just as much or more than he would enjoy the steak were he to eat it, even though the restaurant serving it has ferns! There's a lot of power in that, when such things cannot phase you. Questions that more strongly define us like if we are a success or failure, a winner or loser in various contexts, a good person, intelligent, etc. are great candidates to drop checklists from, as that's where they have the most power over us.
Dropping these checklists silences a lot of the inner dialogue, encourages new behaviors, discourages indulgences, and if we consider that others are responsible for their own mental postures towards us, (whether those are based on checklists or whatever), fights self importance. It empowers us in our tonal, trains us to look at things with care and curiosity, and make it easier for us to shift, (and shifting our mental posture is just a smaller scale of shifting our entire AP).
(possibly to be revised later, I'm tired.)