81–90 of 291 posts
This! One thing is to find an oasis of attention from time to time, but the goal should be to fill it so that it becomes the sea, and that is extremely difficult (for starters due to the traps of modern attention seeking algorithms, but not only...).
It's a bit heavy on the purple prose (though I was guilty of a very similar writing style in my 20s, and as I got on in life the purity of the idea became more important than its surrounding ornamental structures). The gist of the article reminds me of a quote from the famous pianist Clara Schumann who would admonish her more virtuosic students for striving to play through passages as rapidly as possible. "Why hurry…
So you're saying that Attention Is All You Need? (badum tss)
Well written! I can relate to most of the article. However, I find that > To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow. doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flie…
Indeed to let go of the worldly rush is truly liberating. What a pity it is not allowed to complement the scriptures with such insights.
Cognitive control is one of the most important issues of our era, IMHO: https://vonnik.substack.com/p/how-to-take-your-brain-back There are many techniques to increase our CC. The ADHD community is a trailblazer in this respect.
Cognitive control is one of the most important issues of our era, IMHO: https://vonnik.substack.com/p/how-to-take-your-brain-back There are many techniques to increase our CC. The ADHD community is a trailblazer in this respect.
Another very apparent shortcut to ADHD treatment, also not universally accepted, is called endogenous adrenaline - the simplest drug molecule as somebody (Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash if memory serves right) designated it, and extreme sports provide a lot of it for free. This article though, does not seem to be about any of these - adrenaline or sports. Extreme sports such as snowboarding, downhill biking, paragliding (not really a sport), motorbiking, etc… are all about said state of flow and attention. No other activities I can think of that impact ADHD so quick and profound. Cause you loose your attention only once with these things.
Well written! I can relate to most of the article. However, I find that > To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow. doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flie…
What I think he meant is that time slows down for him in the way that time around him speeds up while he can stay focused on one thing. Now of course I’m not the author so I’m not sure but yeah the way you’re describing it (real time flying when you’re locked in on something) is how I feel it goes for most people
As much as I love the sentiment, these sorts of pieces (written or verbal) always contain contradictions, usually important ones relative to the claims.
For me contradictions are unavoidable when speaking about the mind. Usually the aim is not to give you specific objective truths, but to evoke something in your mind that feels evidently true to you. That is why usually the most effective communication tools that are used are metaphors. And communicating that way correctly is very very difficult. That means that most of these sort of pieces are going to be very bad..…
"It (seems like it) is my opinion that {some opinion}" has very few ways of going wrong, and has the side benefit of reminding one that they're dealing with a subjective map, which is in part the goal of most authors of such pieces, imho anyways.
I think mindfulness gang could up their game.
As much as I love the sentiment, these sorts of pieces (written or verbal) always contain contradictions, usually important ones relative to the claims.
These contradictions (?) may be rooted in the reader’s assumptions about the world: the writer says A and B, but to the reader B implies (not A) because of their world view. In short they might not be actual contradictions. This might seem very vague but a discussion on something so first-person as the mind is ripe for that kind of thing. Which is resolved with dialogue. If the contradictions are brought up.
In my experience noting contradictions usually leads to evasive memes and anger/unhappiness.
Cognitive control is one of the most important issues of our era, IMHO: https://vonnik.substack.com/p/how-to-take-your-brain-back There are many techniques to increase our CC. The ADHD community is a trailblazer in this respect.
The universally accepted ADHD community’s technique seems to be called Adderall. It is difficult to pinpoint another universally accepted technique. Breathwork is not always good for ADHD from my personal experience and is not universally accepted. So really wonder what this trailblazer thing is about. Another very apparent shortcut to ADHD treatment, also not universally accepted, is called endogenous adrenaline - t…
I do think this article plays a little light on what you can do, and how much of it you’ll need to do, to actually tame your attention. I do a lot of things. I don’t keep my mobile phone near me when I don’t want to use it. I do mindfulness. I plan to head out at 9:00 if I’m really supposed to head out at 9:15 because that means I’ll get out at 9:13-9:17 and not stress about it leaving more energy to focus my attention. I do the drugs, in my case Lisdexamfetamin is the least shitty. I ride my bike everywhere. I walk in the woods. I do a lot of things like that and it helps, but it’s not like it’s quite as simple as this article might make it sound. Even if you do it in small steps.
I think the biggest difference between how we deal with ADHD and attention here and the article is that we don’t focus on attention. We view ADHD as an “energy deficiency”. This is because you pay attention to too many things with ADHD, which means you run out of energy sooner than regular people. At which point you can’t pay attention to things that aren’t interesting to you. What is worse is that you’ll hyperfocus on things that, are, interesting and that will drain your energy as well. You’ll probably also forget to eat because you don’t really feel hunger, again draining you. Anyway, to live with ADHD in Denmark is in large parts about managing a fuel tank which is simply much smaller than everyone else’s. Because you need the fuel to pay attention.
To the author : I find your article really insightful. I want to read more but I realize this article is not on your homepage. There might be more stuff that you have written and is unlisted. How can i find it all.