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The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

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Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#241

Post by throwtt4er5 »

spudlyo wrote: post #79

I struggled greatly with this article. There was something halting about it. Something precious. I felt that the author desperately wanted to elevate the mundane into the realm of the sublime. I found myself annoyed. I thought to myself "Are paragraphs a renewable resource? Is it wrong to waste them?" It doesn't matter. In neuroscience, there is a thing called the "default mode network" which is best known for being…

I appreciated the author’s writing format.

For example, I read your first four sentences/paragraphs. When I got to your last paragraph, it was so long that I started skimming halfway and then just gave up.

I think a mix and match of small paragraphs and single line sentences for emphasis is a pretty good writing format for holding my attention, but I can see how others might be annoyed by it.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#242

Post by johnisgood »

Tagbert wrote: post #74
cm2012 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sit still for 30 min without any stimulation at all (no talking, watching, reading) sounds like torture to me.

It can be at first until you get used to it. You can observe your surroundings, make up stories about what is happening. Ask yourself questions. Listen to yourself. This is a bit like excercise. When you first start, 30 minutes of exercise can be torture as your is out of shape and not used to the effort. Keep doing it and it feels better and you feel better. Work on becoming a source of thoughts rather than a consum…

I end up being consumed by depressive thoughts and lots of body scanning. I hate it.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#243

Post by johnisgood »

2ap wrote: post #169
cm2012 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sit still for 30 min without any stimulation at all (no talking, watching, reading) sounds like torture to me.

Part of my job, is that I design protocols to help young children lie in MRI scanners for a living. We have all sorts of techniques to help with this. However, for each new scanning protocol, I like to have had it myself - so I know what the children go through. And, at times lying inside a MRI scanner, detached from the world, with only the noise of the scanner (very reduced with our new noise cancelling headphones)…

What keeps me from going claustrophobic inside an MRI is the sound. It is very loud, yes, but at least I have that to focus on.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#244

Post by NGRhodes »

2ap wrote: post #169
cm2012 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sit still for 30 min without any stimulation at all (no talking, watching, reading) sounds like torture to me.

Part of my job, is that I design protocols to help young children lie in MRI scanners for a living. We have all sorts of techniques to help with this. However, for each new scanning protocol, I like to have had it myself - so I know what the children go through. And, at times lying inside a MRI scanner, detached from the world, with only the noise of the scanner (very reduced with our new noise cancelling headphones)…

I had a very different experience with my last MRI. I had brain slices (temporal lobe Epilepsy) and my head buzzed/vibrated and could not relax.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#245

Post by BrenBarn »

2ap wrote: post #169
cm2012 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sit still for 30 min without any stimulation at all (no talking, watching, reading) sounds like torture to me.

Part of my job, is that I design protocols to help young children lie in MRI scanners for a living. We have all sorts of techniques to help with this. However, for each new scanning protocol, I like to have had it myself - so I know what the children go through. And, at times lying inside a MRI scanner, detached from the world, with only the noise of the scanner (very reduced with our new noise cancelling headphones)…

I was a subject in an fMRI study when I was in college and I found the experience quite tranquil (although this was before smartphones). The hum of the machine was kind of calming. I felt I probably would have fallen asleep if not for the sense of responsibility required to pay attention to the task.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#246

Post by projektfu »

nirava wrote: post #93
polishdude20 wrote: post #42

Anyone else a bit tired of the "The Unbearable Joy of..." Titles? I'm sure sitting in a cafe is bearable.

Nah, every time some parody of this title comes up, it reminds me of the book and the movie. I like that :)

Juliette Binoche was perfect in the role.

I didn't read the book but I read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. An eye-opener for a young college student.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#247

Post by bradlys »

Tagbert wrote: post #74
cm2012 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sit still for 30 min without any stimulation at all (no talking, watching, reading) sounds like torture to me.

It can be at first until you get used to it. You can observe your surroundings, make up stories about what is happening. Ask yourself questions. Listen to yourself. This is a bit like excercise. When you first start, 30 minutes of exercise can be torture as your is out of shape and not used to the effort. Keep doing it and it feels better and you feel better. Work on becoming a source of thoughts rather than a consum…

People talk about this with exercise and I’ve never understood it. As someone who has exercised continuously for years - it has never gotten better.

Which, to me, makes sense because you’re supposed to always be pushing yourself. You’re not supposed to ever feel comfortable or feel better from it. You should always feel shitty because if it doesn’t hurt then you’re probably not making optimal development.

The only thing I ever “feel” good about is purely a mental thing. Eg I hit a new PR (progress), didn’t skip a lift (perseverance), or whatever. The act of exercising itself is always painful and it’s why I always dread it.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#248

Post by bradlys »

sublinear wrote: post #128
dymk wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still leave if you’ve gone out to eat with someone else?

That situation sounds like fun! You let your friend(s) pick something for you. This frees you to do more spontaneous things and keep the social energy flowing. I've personally done this even when there was a printed menu and eating wasn't the point. I think people need to really lighten up sometimes.

Good luck doing this with any romantic partner.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#249

Post by seba_dos1 »

bradlys wrote: post #247
Tagbert wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be at first until you get used to it. You can observe your surroundings, make up stories about what is happening. Ask yourself questions. Listen to yourself. This is a bit like excercise. When you first start, 30 minutes of exercise can be torture as your is out of shape and not used to the effort. Keep doing it and it feels better and you feel better. Work on becoming a source of thoughts rather than a consum…

People talk about this with exercise and I’ve never understood it. As someone who has exercised continuously for years - it has never gotten better. Which, to me, makes sense because you’re supposed to always be pushing yourself. You’re not supposed to ever feel comfortable or feel better from it. You should always feel shitty because if it doesn’t hurt then you’re probably not making optimal development. The only th…

Wanting to "make optimal development" is just one of possible motivations for exercising and not everyone who does it is interested in that. Maintaining good health and generally wanting to feel better across the day are also perfectly valid reasons to exercise.

Re: The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

#250

Post by sublinear »

bradlys wrote: post #248
sublinear wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That situation sounds like fun! You let your friend(s) pick something for you. This frees you to do more spontaneous things and keep the social energy flowing. I've personally done this even when there was a printed menu and eating wasn't the point. I think people need to really lighten up sometimes.

Good luck doing this with any romantic partner.

I'm sorry, but what's wrong with asking my partner to choose something for me?

Am I supposed to get upset with what they choose? I'm not saying I would leave. I'm saying I would stay and let someone else pick something for me to eat.

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