Thoughts on Mark Manson’s “3 Ideas That Can Change Your Life”
| July 15, 2012 | Posted by Koanic under Learning Koanic Soul |
It’s a pdf. You can download it here.
I found the second and third sections (pareto principle and valuing beliefs by usefulness) not particularly useful to me. But the first – the two minds – was quite interesting, and gave me a new koan.
The two minds are the thinking mind and the observing mind. The latter is the one that remains when your mind is still and you’re present in the now. The former is your inner monologue.
Mark recommends that you dissociate from counterproductive emotion by saying “I FEEL” instead of “I AM” x feeling. I feel Koanic Soul does this one better, by building a strong identity that is always on, a default answer to the “I AM” question.
However, there was one technique I found valuable - feeling gratitude for your counterproductive emotions/ideations.
Resisting these is a major source of distraction and dissonance. I want to eat, but it’s too late at night. I remember a shameful episode from my past. I’m nervous before talking to a girl. Whatever.
My koan for dealing with these blips: “Gratitude for outframes.”
Outframes means I’m simply viewing them as bad frames in a film reel. Momentary, slight corruptions.
What kinds of gratitude can I practice? Maybe it’s a signal that something is wrong. Maybe it’s just an opportunity to exercise strength or build character. Or whatever. Gratitude doesn’t have to have a reason. But feeling gratitude towards the outframe instantly prevents you from either resisting it or denying it. It gives a healthy ready-made emotional resolution that closes the loop.
I love the method, and it’s now the last koan on my list.
