This headline is like a bad r/nosleep title. Someday, somehow, I hope we move past this dumb clickbait style.
Yeah, I couldn't get very far in to it. Something about the author's tone and writing style was awkward and offputting.
I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
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Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#12This headline is like a bad r/nosleep title. Someday, somehow, I hope we move past this dumb clickbait style.
You think it's an article on the downsides of excessive patience or zen meditation, but no, TBI. As a tangent: I learned how to enter a waking ideation / guided daydreaming state associated with sensory deprivation without extreme stimuli removal. It is good for startup ideas (not that they're any good but for generating them), fiction novel outlines, and letting your subconscious out. Edit since I can't comment belo…
> As a tangent: I learned how to enter a waking ideation / guided daydreaming state associated with sensory deprivation without extreme stimuli removal.
Awesome. How? Any books/articles/resources that could help?
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#13A few years ago I got some kind of brain illness. Doctors were unable to come up with a strong diagnosis, which is apparently quite common for such cases.
One of the effects of the illness was that I essentially became stupid. I couldn’t focus on anything (even trivial activities like watching television), I couldn’t compose emails, I would get disoriented easily. It was absolutely terrifying not knowing whether or not my mind would come back. At the time, I would have preferred having a disease like cancer because at least I would know what I’m dealing with. Eventually I did start to get better. Like the author, I think I’m probably not quite back to who I was before getting sick.
A couple things I learned from my interaction with the medical system - 1. Like any other industry, 90% of medical “experts” are totally incompetent. 2. The state of diagnostics is pretty abysmal. So much of medicine is completely nonscientific guesswork. Most doctors aren’t even aware of the latest diagnostic developments in their own fields. Think about the people you know who learned Java in college and then never learned another programming language; chances are, your doctor is that kind of person.
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#14Really well written, especially considering the author's plight.
Regarding this bit:
>The day of the accident I had been working on a project to improve how homeless people are placed into shelters. I say out loud, “I don’t care about homeless people” to see how it feels. It doesn’t ring true; I do care about homeless people. I just don’t feel like working.
I wonder if that's directly to do with the brain damage or not. I survived a particularly rough "you're gonna die" type cancer. And I have similar issues with depression, motivation, procrastination, and so on. Which I know sounds counter-intuitive. I survived, and the physical aftermath isn't really bad. So I should be grateful versus depressed, right? I have tried a variety of depression meds over the 5 years that have passed. I really can't tell if any of them work. I suppose partly because I'm not despondent really...just mostly unmotivated. None of them changed that.
Anyhow, just to say that near-death experiences, even without physical damage to the brain, seem to have mental consequences.
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#15To de-clickbait this article: the author had a traumatic brain injury which eliminated her racing inner monologue.
perhaps ... which temporarily impaired her executive function.
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#16Really well written, especially considering the author's plight. Regarding this bit: > The day of the accident I had been working on a project to improve how homeless people are placed into shelters. I say out loud, “I don’t care about homeless people” to see how it feels. It doesn’t ring true; I do care about homeless people. I just don’t feel like working. I wonder if that's directly to do with the brain damage or…
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Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#17This headline is like a bad r/nosleep title. Someday, somehow, I hope we move past this dumb clickbait style.
the attention economy demands it, as long as it reigns supreme we'll never be free from this dumb shit
It's not really new. https://www.google.com/search?q=yellow+journalism+headlines&...
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#18> Of all the injuries we suffered, mine is the worst. My brain injury has shaken my confidence in my own personality, my own existence.
I don't exist. That's the secret. This concept took me years to grok but now I know.
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#19Cars are so incredibly destructive to society, in so many ways. But most people are so blasé about them.
They really are. I’m reminded of George Miller, who created and directed the Mad Max movies. Those movies are about how cars are terrifying death machines that shred human bodies. Miller said he was “inspired” after working several years as an ER doctor, seeing the damage firsthand.
Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it
#20Cars are so incredibly destructive to society, in so many ways. But most people are so blasé about them.
America has nearly twice the car death rate of Canada (and Canada hardly has substantially better weather or density than America). It's crazy.