Self-Programming Lessons

by phil on Tuesday Sep 23, 2003 9:44 AM
self-programming

Things I've learnt about me and my complex meta-cognitive system.

I need some sort of system, philosophy set, or model. The majority of the time, I'm dependent on some sort of set of rules and suggestions about what to do, when to do it, why, etc. I have employed nihilistic systems at times where I don't care about anything, but those are unstable equillibria, and I usually return back to a rule or a set of rules.

Be careful with Moment2Moment intererence. Is there something you fall back on to shape your thoughts on a minute scale For a lot of people, they have simple invocations that they use every 20 min. or so, like, "be cool" or "get real." From my personal experience with them, short-invocations work for a good 5 min. Also, whenever I force myself to have a positive attitude, I suceed but only for small islands of time in a single day. Eventually my mind rejects moment 2 moment interference. The only m2m thing I've found that is sustainable is just listening to how I feel and trying to express my emotions... My guess is that because in those cases I'm not trying to craft a specific emotion but instead am listening carefully to what is already there.

Solving life's problems from the inside-out works. When I've found some problem, such as being socially awkward, or worrying too much, I find that by trying to solve the problem directly is not as effective and solving the problem indirectly. For example, I had some specific problems and weaknesses I wanted to correct in my life, so I came upon a few other random suggestions that didn't provide obvious solutions to those problems. For example, I chose to spend more time with nature or do more community service... and those activities somehow fixed some of my other problems... also maybe because it got me to stop focusing on the negative problem at hand and do something positive.