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Clarity comments on Open Thread, Jun. 1 - Jun. 7, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Gondolinian 01 June 2015 12:45AM

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Comment author: Clarity 06 June 2015 10:17:06AM *  1 point [-]

Sorry, this was an useless post so now it's gone

Comment author: ChristianKl 06 June 2015 03:21:30PM 1 point [-]

"Trying to control your thoughts" sounds like a recipe for failure. If you exert force on trying to change a thought pattern you often strength it.

On the other hand there are a variety of ways to influence your thinking. Meditation is useful.

I use a variety of techniques to interact with my emotions. Most of them not easily describable.

Goal setting is a good way to prime thinking.

Comment author: Clarity 07 June 2015 01:53:16AM *  0 points [-]

Sorry, this was an useless post so now it's gone

Comment author: ChristianKl 07 June 2015 03:04:35PM 0 points [-]

I have asked this question to see if anyone has stumbled upon a sweet spot of control and how they would even approach that task.

And I answered. You don't try to control. Mediation isn't about doing something. It's about sitting and doing nearly nothing.

Comment author: Clarity 08 June 2015 04:17:08AM *  0 points [-]

Sorry, this was an useless post so now it's gone

Comment author: ChristianKl 08 June 2015 11:59:25AM 0 points [-]

I'm not specifically referring to zazen. You can't force yourself in a sustainable way to be mindful. You can only set conditions that make it likely to happen.

The fact that beginners prefer meditation instructions that seem straightforward and easy to understand doesn't mean that those instruction set provide you full information.

Comment author: Clarity 09 June 2015 08:01:29AM *  0 points [-]

Sorry, this was an useless post so now it's gone

Comment author: ChristianKl 09 June 2015 08:37:42AM 0 points [-]

If you are constantly busy trying to do something you are maxed out. You have no free capacity. Most of the time if we try to do 10 things at the same time we get nothing done.

I think a lot of akrasia in myself and on LW comes from being overstretched.

Comment author: ChristianKl 07 June 2015 05:56:31AM 0 points [-]

edit 1,2,3: I can't seem to get the hyperlink right!

There should be no space between ] and (.