4 ms·

I think a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves when it comes to the advice "writing your thoughts down". Perfectionism, or the memories of being fo

I think a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves when it comes to the advice "writing your thoughts down". Perfectionism, or the memories of being forced to take notes in school, kicks in and you start to look for how-to:s, format and guides. Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Not some breathing techniques, how to focus your mind, posture etc. That comes later, very naturally, after you get curious about improvements. Same goes for writing down thoughts. Just take a blank A4 paper from the printer and write away. Not sure what to write? Write about that, the fact that you're not sure what to write. Throw the paper away if you don't like the thoughts you see, or at least do it with that mindset. It's not about writing something novel, just as meditating is not about reaching some enlightenment

rpastuszak 3y ago
Hi, I eat my own dogfood so to speak and built an app for stream of consciousness writing: https://enso.sonnet.io https://enso.sonnet.io I've been using it for 4 years, every day, every morning. We also have a small, but community of users using it regularly. Finally, weirdly enough I wrote about morning notes, processing emotions through writing here: https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+Notes https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+N...
numtel 3y ago
Before I graduated from college, my aunt gave me the book, The Artist's Way, which prescribes this basic task as you've described as the foundational exercise for creativity. The suggestion given was 3 pages a day no matter what.
- criddell 3y ago
  Did you pick up the practice? If so, what are your thoughts after doing it for some time?
  - mtalantikite 3y ago
    Not OP, but I went through the Artist's Way a while back and kept morning pages up for two or so years after it. I'd still probably do morning pages every day if I didn't move on to sitting at my piano in place of them (and would do both if I had time in the morning). So in that regard I think it was a success -- it got me back to having a healthy relationship with music making and artistic practice. The content of the workbook at places doesn't totally resonate with me, but I'd say there's enough in there that it's worth trying out. It definitely asks you to confront and reflect on a lot of things that have happened in your life, so it can be uncomfortable and bring up a lot. But that's of course an important part of art making. I'd say just try it out, it's only 12 weeks and you can always bail if it doesn't work for you!
- electrondood 3y ago
  Bingo. The Morning Pages technique is also the cheapest therapy on the planet. The effect, for me anyways, is virtually identical to the catharsis I feel from a $200 therapy session.
mtalantikite 3y ago
> Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Similarly, no matter how much instruction I've gotten in meditation over the years, I still go back to Tilopa's advice all the time [1]. Just rest. [1] https://unfetteredmind.org/tilopas-advice/ https://unfetteredmind.org/tilopas-advice/
- rramadass 3y ago
  Nice! In case you didn't know of them already, you might find the following books interesting; 1) Mind Training: The Great Collection translated by Thupten Jinpa. 2) Essential Mind Training translated by Thupten Jinpa - This is a subset from the above collection.
  - somsak2 3y ago
    can't tell if this is satire or not
    - rramadass 3y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong
  - mtalantikite 3y ago
    Oh awesome! I have Atisha's lojong, and also Chogyam Trungpa's mind training (which is more of a commentary), but these look great. I'll definitely pick it up, thanks again!
barapa 3y ago
Which stock A4 should I use?
- p1mrx 3y ago
  No one can be told which stock to use. Buy reams from at least 3 different manufacturers, take a random sample from each, and have a neutral third party number and randomize the specimens. Sharpen your pencil and write one full page, noting how the graphite glides against the wood fibers. Leave a margin of at least 3 centimeters, and if you must erase, use only natural rubber.
anon-3988 3y ago
> Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Not some breathing techniques, how to focus your mind, posture etc. That comes later, very naturally, after you get curious about improvements. Chilling != meditation. Like I get that chilling is helpful for you but words have meaning and that is not meditation.
- tomjakubowski 3y ago
  Becoming able to tolerate boredom still could be a good step on the way to learning to meditate.
- kortilla 3y ago
  Chilling is not “doing nothing”. When people use that word they usually mean consuming content (listening to music, watching shows, reading book) or doing some other relaxing thing (knitting). You’re right that words have meaning, and purposefully doing nothing at all to the point of being uncomfortable with it is antithetical to “chilling”.
  - anon-3988 3y ago
    OP says that: > The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored Without any proper technique or guidance, this is just chilling. What does it mean to "focus on doing nothing here?". I can apply this sentence to binge watching 10 episodes of Friends, getting stoned, just slouching on the couch, staring at walls etc etc. That is what it means to chill. OTOH, to meditate is a very explicit, focused action which requires technique and discipline.
    - iammjm 3y ago
      Watching Netflix or getting stoned is clearly not doing nothing. If you take it literally then it becomes clear what is meant: just being, without indulging in anything, not even our thoughts. I agree this requires focus, but i don't think it requires technique but rather practice. As for discipline, i don't even know what that is
qwerasdf5 3y ago
Try taking an edible, sit down in a quiet room in front of your text editor of choice, and write down ideas. The next day, look at the stuff you wrote and pick out the good stuff.
satvikpendem 3y ago
There was an app or site I remember using that, every time you typed a sentence, it disappeared so that you only focused on the sentence in front of you. After you're done, you could export the entire document. I wonder if we could add some LLM features to that too.
- prometheon1 3y ago
  I knew I remembered this app, but almost couldn't find it. Was it this one? https://write.sonnet.io/ https://write.sonnet.io/
  - rpastuszak 3y ago
    Hey hey, author of Enso (write.sonnet.io) here -- thanks for the mention! I actually wrote an article about a similar subject and shared it here yesterday: https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+Notes https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+N...

rpastuszak 3y ago

Hi, I eat my own dogfood so to speak and built an app for stream of consciousness writing: https://enso.sonnet.io https://enso.sonnet.io I've been using it for 4 years, every day, every morning. We also have a small, but community of users using it regularly. Finally, weirdly enough I wrote about morning notes, processing emotions through writing here: https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+Notes https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+N...

numtel 3y ago

Before I graduated from college, my aunt gave me the book, The Artist's Way, which prescribes this basic task as you've described as the foundational exercise for creativity. The suggestion given was 3 pages a day no matter what.

criddell 3y ago
Did you pick up the practice? If so, what are your thoughts after doing it for some time?
- mtalantikite 3y ago
  Not OP, but I went through the Artist's Way a while back and kept morning pages up for two or so years after it. I'd still probably do morning pages every day if I didn't move on to sitting at my piano in place of them (and would do both if I had time in the morning). So in that regard I think it was a success -- it got me back to having a healthy relationship with music making and artistic practice. The content of the workbook at places doesn't totally resonate with me, but I'd say there's enough in there that it's worth trying out. It definitely asks you to confront and reflect on a lot of things that have happened in your life, so it can be uncomfortable and bring up a lot. But that's of course an important part of art making. I'd say just try it out, it's only 12 weeks and you can always bail if it doesn't work for you!
electrondood 3y ago
Bingo. The Morning Pages technique is also the cheapest therapy on the planet. The effect, for me anyways, is virtually identical to the catharsis I feel from a $200 therapy session.

mtalantikite 3y ago

> Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Similarly, no matter how much instruction I've gotten in meditation over the years, I still go back to Tilopa's advice all the time [1]. Just rest. [1] https://unfetteredmind.org/tilopas-advice/ https://unfetteredmind.org/tilopas-advice/

rramadass 3y ago
Nice! In case you didn't know of them already, you might find the following books interesting; 1) Mind Training: The Great Collection translated by Thupten Jinpa. 2) Essential Mind Training translated by Thupten Jinpa - This is a subset from the above collection.
- somsak2 3y ago
  can't tell if this is satire or not
  - rramadass 3y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong
- mtalantikite 3y ago
  Oh awesome! I have Atisha's lojong, and also Chogyam Trungpa's mind training (which is more of a commentary), but these look great. I'll definitely pick it up, thanks again!

barapa 3y ago

Which stock A4 should I use?

p1mrx 3y ago
No one can be told which stock to use. Buy reams from at least 3 different manufacturers, take a random sample from each, and have a neutral third party number and randomize the specimens. Sharpen your pencil and write one full page, noting how the graphite glides against the wood fibers. Leave a margin of at least 3 centimeters, and if you must erase, use only natural rubber.

anon-3988 3y ago

> Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Not some breathing techniques, how to focus your mind, posture etc. That comes later, very naturally, after you get curious about improvements. Chilling != meditation. Like I get that chilling is helpful for you but words have meaning and that is not meditation.

tomjakubowski 3y ago
Becoming able to tolerate boredom still could be a good step on the way to learning to meditate.
kortilla 3y ago
Chilling is not “doing nothing”. When people use that word they usually mean consuming content (listening to music, watching shows, reading book) or doing some other relaxing thing (knitting). You’re right that words have meaning, and purposefully doing nothing at all to the point of being uncomfortable with it is antithetical to “chilling”.
- anon-3988 3y ago
  OP says that: > The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored Without any proper technique or guidance, this is just chilling. What does it mean to "focus on doing nothing here?". I can apply this sentence to binge watching 10 episodes of Friends, getting stoned, just slouching on the couch, staring at walls etc etc. That is what it means to chill. OTOH, to meditate is a very explicit, focused action which requires technique and discipline.
  - iammjm 3y ago
    Watching Netflix or getting stoned is clearly not doing nothing. If you take it literally then it becomes clear what is meant: just being, without indulging in anything, not even our thoughts. I agree this requires focus, but i don't think it requires technique but rather practice. As for discipline, i don't even know what that is

qwerasdf5 3y ago

Try taking an edible, sit down in a quiet room in front of your text editor of choice, and write down ideas. The next day, look at the stuff you wrote and pick out the good stuff.

satvikpendem 3y ago

There was an app or site I remember using that, every time you typed a sentence, it disappeared so that you only focused on the sentence in front of you. After you're done, you could export the entire document. I wonder if we could add some LLM features to that too.

prometheon1 3y ago
I knew I remembered this app, but almost couldn't find it. Was it this one? https://write.sonnet.io/ https://write.sonnet.io/
- rpastuszak 3y ago
  Hey hey, author of Enso (write.sonnet.io) here -- thanks for the mention! I actually wrote an article about a similar subject and shared it here yesterday: https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+Notes https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+N...