5 ms·

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 yours

by Tagbert 9mo ago

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 consumer of thoughts.

ugjjhgvjb 9mo ago
So… stimulate yourself? > Work on becoming a source of thoughts rather than a consumer of thoughts. This is the classic “sounds deep but actually means nothing” vague statement that’s only meant to massage one’s ego and try to reenforce an unsubstantiated idea in a faux-philosophical way. You are always “sourcing” thoughts even when “consuming”. Being able to sit still, quietly without having to stimulate oneself is, by all means, exactly that: avoid stimulating oneself. Looking around and trying to come up with small stimulations based on your surrounding is merely replacing one object (say, your phone) with another.
- bovermyer 9mo ago
  In order to avoid all stimulation, there is but one recourse, and it is rather final. Generally, I prefer just sitting quietly and not worrying about the definition of stimulation or whether I'm doing it correctly.
  - fragmede 9mo ago
    A session in a sensory deprivation tank isn't final so I'd recommend that over some other solution that is final.
    - bovermyer 9mo ago
      Ah, but that isn't complete lack of stimulation. It's just minimization of external stimulation! That said, I agree with you.
exe34 9mo ago
> You can observe your surroundings, make up stories about what is happening. I had to sit still a lot as a child, since I wasn't allowed to have friends or go anywhere. I read a lot, but a lot of the time I was to tired or bored to read, so I'd just defocus my eyes, and disappear into my imagination. It would look like I'm reading, so I wouldn't get punished. In hindsight I'm not sure it's terribly healthy, as I now find it impossible to put up with boring people (which is basically everybody who has time to sit around chatting, almost by definition).
- vlod 9mo ago
  I have a feeling I had a similar childhood to you (strict/smothering). I also find it problematical to deal with people who live 'normal/standard' lives who are not curious about the world and how everything works. Being put in a conversation talking about sports, gossip, celebrities is intolerable for me. I've come to accept (and I think some people here may resonate with) that this is can be a blessing or good filtering mechanism.
- robocat 9mo ago
  > I now find it impossible to put up with boring people (which is basically everybody who has time to sit around chatting, almost by definition). You're being judgemental to call them boring. Plus widening your opinions to be a "definition" sounds like an unhealthy worldview. You likely appear boring to others. Then again I have a saying I use when anyone says they are bored - I say they are boring!
  - exe34 9mo ago
    > Then again I have a saying I use when anyone says they are bored - I say they are boring! This is a very clever come back, I wonder if it might qualify as the best thought terminating cliché I've seen this year! I never say I'm bored. The universe is too interesting a place to be bored. I did mean it, that most people, individually, are what I find boring. I'd rather withdraw into my mind and work on something interesting, whether it's about figuring something out, or trying to design something. The painful part is pretending to care long enough to get away without somebody getting butthurt. The "almost by definition" is that the people I find interesting are usually busy doing interesting things, so the boring ones are the only regular people at social gatherings. I do not go to those anymore.
johnisgood 9mo ago
I end up being consumed by depressive thoughts and lots of body scanning. I hate it.
- RussianCow 9mo ago
  Maybe your exercise can be to direct your thoughts elsewhere. Start with 5 minutes instead of 30 and actively try to think about something else when your thoughts become too negative. I can't guarantee it will help you but it's a sort of meditation that's worked for me when I felt like my brain wouldn't turn off.
- dwaltrip 9mo ago
  Sounds like your body is telling you something? Time to find support that you trust and face whatever is going on under the hood. For me, the three major turning points were quitting my job, later starting somatic therapy with the right therapist, and then finally getting diagnosed with ADHD. Good luck to you :) wish you the best
  - johnisgood 9mo ago
    Well, I have MS and I have muscle spasticity, spinal hyperactivity, etc. The feeling of not having control over your body is terrible.
    - dwaltrip 9mo ago
      Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds very difficult.
bradlys 9mo ago
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.
- seba_dos1 9mo ago
  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.
- tmn 9mo ago
  Exercising is doing some activity that is good for your health. You’ve reduced this to some narrow set of activities that presumably make you stronger, faster, or better at some other easy to measure metric. I assure you it’s easy to enjoy exercising if your incentive is longevity and simply healthy living by a more subjective metric
- senbrow 9mo ago
  It seems very likely to me that the sensations experienced during exercise are highly variable among individuals. I say this because my experience is very different from yours: I get a very perceptible "high" once I get into the rhythm of a good workout. Think mild euphoria, mood lift, and general feeling of "rightness" in my body once it's been well wrung. This only happens if I'm in decent shape, though. If I've fallen out of shape it's a slog. Edit: I can't remember the podcast, but I recall some discussion of emerging clinical evidence in exercise response variability along many dimensions that may help explain the disconnect.
  - socalgal2 9mo ago

by Tagbert 9mo ago

ugjjhgvjb 9mo ago

So… stimulate yourself? > Work on becoming a source of thoughts rather than a consumer of thoughts. This is the classic “sounds deep but actually means nothing” vague statement that’s only meant to massage one’s ego and try to reenforce an unsubstantiated idea in a faux-philosophical way. You are always “sourcing” thoughts even when “consuming”. Being able to sit still, quietly without having to stimulate oneself is, by all means, exactly that: avoid stimulating oneself. Looking around and trying to come up with small stimulations based on your surrounding is merely replacing one object (say, your phone) with another.

bovermyer 9mo ago
In order to avoid all stimulation, there is but one recourse, and it is rather final. Generally, I prefer just sitting quietly and not worrying about the definition of stimulation or whether I'm doing it correctly.
- fragmede 9mo ago
  A session in a sensory deprivation tank isn't final so I'd recommend that over some other solution that is final.
  - bovermyer 9mo ago
    Ah, but that isn't complete lack of stimulation. It's just minimization of external stimulation! That said, I agree with you.

exe34 9mo ago

> You can observe your surroundings, make up stories about what is happening. I had to sit still a lot as a child, since I wasn't allowed to have friends or go anywhere. I read a lot, but a lot of the time I was to tired or bored to read, so I'd just defocus my eyes, and disappear into my imagination. It would look like I'm reading, so I wouldn't get punished. In hindsight I'm not sure it's terribly healthy, as I now find it impossible to put up with boring people (which is basically everybody who has time to sit around chatting, almost by definition).

vlod 9mo ago
I have a feeling I had a similar childhood to you (strict/smothering). I also find it problematical to deal with people who live 'normal/standard' lives who are not curious about the world and how everything works. Being put in a conversation talking about sports, gossip, celebrities is intolerable for me. I've come to accept (and I think some people here may resonate with) that this is can be a blessing or good filtering mechanism.
robocat 9mo ago
> I now find it impossible to put up with boring people (which is basically everybody who has time to sit around chatting, almost by definition). You're being judgemental to call them boring. Plus widening your opinions to be a "definition" sounds like an unhealthy worldview. You likely appear boring to others. Then again I have a saying I use when anyone says they are bored - I say they are boring!
- exe34 9mo ago
  > Then again I have a saying I use when anyone says they are bored - I say they are boring! This is a very clever come back, I wonder if it might qualify as the best thought terminating cliché I've seen this year! I never say I'm bored. The universe is too interesting a place to be bored. I did mean it, that most people, individually, are what I find boring. I'd rather withdraw into my mind and work on something interesting, whether it's about figuring something out, or trying to design something. The painful part is pretending to care long enough to get away without somebody getting butthurt. The "almost by definition" is that the people I find interesting are usually busy doing interesting things, so the boring ones are the only regular people at social gatherings. I do not go to those anymore.

johnisgood 9mo ago

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

RussianCow 9mo ago
Maybe your exercise can be to direct your thoughts elsewhere. Start with 5 minutes instead of 30 and actively try to think about something else when your thoughts become too negative. I can't guarantee it will help you but it's a sort of meditation that's worked for me when I felt like my brain wouldn't turn off.
dwaltrip 9mo ago
Sounds like your body is telling you something? Time to find support that you trust and face whatever is going on under the hood. For me, the three major turning points were quitting my job, later starting somatic therapy with the right therapist, and then finally getting diagnosed with ADHD. Good luck to you :) wish you the best
- johnisgood 9mo ago
  Well, I have MS and I have muscle spasticity, spinal hyperactivity, etc. The feeling of not having control over your body is terrible.
  - dwaltrip 9mo ago
    Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds very difficult.

bradlys 9mo ago

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.

seba_dos1 9mo ago
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.
tmn 9mo ago
Exercising is doing some activity that is good for your health. You’ve reduced this to some narrow set of activities that presumably make you stronger, faster, or better at some other easy to measure metric. I assure you it’s easy to enjoy exercising if your incentive is longevity and simply healthy living by a more subjective metric
senbrow 9mo ago
It seems very likely to me that the sensations experienced during exercise are highly variable among individuals. I say this because my experience is very different from yours: I get a very perceptible "high" once I get into the rhythm of a good workout. Think mild euphoria, mood lift, and general feeling of "rightness" in my body once it's been well wrung. This only happens if I'm in decent shape, though. If I've fallen out of shape it's a slog. Edit: I can't remember the podcast, but I recall some discussion of emerging clinical evidence in exercise response variability along many dimensions that may help explain the disconnect.
- socalgal2 9mo ago