Like most people these days I have a pseudo-addiction to various mindless activities. Over time I've managed to put a majority of these under my control all be it with occasional relapses. Unfortunately there still seems much work to be done, and I've not managed to consistently reach peak performance for some time. I had the strongest grip on this pseudo-addiction, my life's most productive months, when I could easily access a piano and decided I'd spend at least thirty minutes a day playing. In the beginning it felt like a chore, but as I got better it became a magnificent source of relief. Rather than mandating playing I would play as I desired, and I continued with greater frequency. During that time I achieved more than I ever had before, and more effectively than I have since, the piano acted as a catalyst to my other efforts.
Eventually I found myself in an environment without a piano, and without control sufficient to obtain a new one. I'm only just now realizing that the piano might have been similar to drug replacement therapy, an interactive intuitive institution to compel the mind enough so that it no longer needed those lesser pseudo-mindless activities. Perhaps I'll get a keyboard in a year, one that doesn't sound so poor as to take all the enjoyment from the activity. But until then what is available? What interactive intuitive institutions beyond the pseudo-mindless do you enjoy? Which of these can't be taken away, or lost? Interactive fiction, abstract strategy games, fiction proper, physical art, or portable instruments etc.
While my focus here is on relapse events, at this point the greatest waste of my time is entirely internal, a repetitive day dreaming. I suspect it's all the same however.
"pseudo-addiction" is still addiction
addiction
ə-dĭk′shən
noun
- Physiological or psychological dependence, as on a substance.
- An instance of this.
= The condition of being habitually occupied with or involved in something.
- The condition of using something on a regular or dependent basis.
- An instance of one of these conditions.
- The state of being given up to some habit, practice, or pursuit; addictedness; devotion.
- In Roman law, a formal giving over or delivery by sentence of court; hence, a surrender or dedication of any one to a master.
Using the word "pseudo" doesn't minimize the fact you're addicted, at all
>>2
My daydreaming currently meets these definitions. I added the derivative form pseudo- to avoid offending those coping with more serious troubles.
disappointment.
>>3 I see what you mean, that’s thoughtful and slipped my mind.
Daydreaming isn’t all that horrible, is it? That’s where the ideas flow and how one connects to a larger reality. Maybe your daydreaming is different.
>>5
It's not so bad, no. At least it's a thinking activity (when it's not too repetitive). I tend to plan for what I'd like to achieve, or refine my vision of the ideal. The unfortunate thing is that thinking about a thing and actually doing it are very different. In terms of motivation thinking about a thing without immediately after thinking of all the difficulties involved in achieving it actually decreases motivation. You act as if you've already obtained your goal. Anyway, all this is a bit besides the point, I was just curious what sort of thinking activities folks here did for fun. Do you do anything like this?
>>6 Daydreaming becomes maladaptive when it does not spur you to do anything, exactly as you describe. Some dreams will enter and exit, builds up onto a larger picture if you tend to it, that’s all fine. But if it results in you subjugating yourself to the same monotonous way of living then yeah, something is not working right. When you see how that’s maladaptive, you can begin to see the corrosive nature of media, which could be described as a shared dreamscape!
I suppose it becomes maladaptive when you do not have a /genuine/ ideal or goal.
Certainly I daydream. The best solution I’ve found is to stop daydreaming with others, because if it’s just me at least there’s a sliver of actuality compared to the chain of disappointments others invoke
Turns out daydreaming became a fad due to the lockdowns. Did you meet Draco Malfoy yet?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-021-02439-3
It is only mindless if you do it mindlessly.
There are so many avenues of escape, by doing what you are already doing, by just paying attention.
For example I made multiplayer video games sour for myself by being overly competitive, going in with expectations, not going with the flow.
But if you leave expectations aside, just really BE in the moment, and are aware, you can enter flow.
Try to flow always, and remove wrong motivations from your mind.
Then you can be in the now always.
Practice makes perfect.
>>9
Wrong motivations here being: having to win, wanting to show off, some extrinsic reward except the actual FUN the game provides.
Apply this to all your life situations, sure work is for money (food), but there you can also play, and relaxed everything becomes light.
anything is sinful but allah you monkey.
only a drum is good.
Offline computing.
The internet is full of jews.
Email is ok just don't do anything interactive. Grab an old machine and a tape recorder and sit and ponder.
>>12 SO ISLAM LOSE AGAINST MONKEYS?
Islam is a false religion.
Street Fighter
https://fabiensanglard.net/sf2_sound_system/index.html
I like to do origami. You just need paper, perhaps a cutter and ruler to get square paper from A4/letter. It doesn't usually require a lot of thought which can be a deterrant to sustained practice. You can either fold from diagrams found in books (thousands are available, look around in zlib), or if you can't have a screen in front of you without going to 4shit, you can do tessellations, where you essentially just let your own creativity guide you. If you like to go deeper, there is plenty of interesting mathematics to it.
>>16 This is a good suggestion.
this comment was from one of the greatest minds i've ever known.
there is 0% sarcasm detected in this sector, captain.
man the photon torpedos
Play a musical instrument.
Well said. Think I'll do just that.
1 Lecturing top
The following four requirements of a good lecture do not seem to be altogether obvious, judging from the mathematics lectures I have been listening to for the past forty-six years.
a. Every lecture should make only one main point The German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel wrote that any philosopher who uses the word "and" too often cannot be a good philosopher. I think he was right, at least insofar as lecturing goes. Every lecture should state one main point and repeat it over and over, like a theme with variations. An audience is like a herd of cows, moving slowly in the direction they are being driven towards. If we make one point, we have a good chance that the audience will take the right direction; if we make several points, then the cows will scatter all over the field. The audience will lose interest and everyone will go back to the thoughts they interrupted in order to come to our lecture.
b. Never run overtime Running overtime is the one unforgivable error a lecturer can make. After fifty minutes (one microcentury as von Neumann used to say) everybody's attention will turn elsewhere even if we are trying to prove the Riemann hypothesis. One minute overtime can destroy the best of lectures.
c. Relate to your audience As you enter the lecture hall, try to spot someone in the audience with whose work you have some familiarity. Quickly rearrange your presentation so as to manage to mention some of that person's work. In this way, you will guarantee that at least one person will follow with rapt attention, and you will make a friend to boot.
Everyone in the audience has come to listen to your lecture with the secret hope of hearing their work mentioned.
d. Give them something to take home It is not easy to follow Professor Struik's advice. It is easier to state what features of a lecture the audience will always remember, and the answer is not pretty. I often meet, in airports, in the street and occasionally in embarrassing situations, MIT alumni who have taken one or more courses from me. Most of the time they admit that they have forgotten the subject of the course, and all the mathematics I thought I had taught them. However, they will gladly recall some joke, some anecdote, some quirk, some side remark, or some mistake I made.
recall these dubs
Hegel talking about good philosophers, that's rich.