It is the way of neurobiology - learning and forgetting - synaptic plasticity. The easiest way to stop a problem habit is to substitute something else. Try to not even think of the problem habit and if a slip happens it is just part of the route to change, dwelling on self-recrimination just keeps the brain pathways focused on that topic. Get busy with the new thing so the mind is busy building new pathways and recycling unused ones -literally building new habits and dismantling old ones. Sticking with it hopefully will reach a point where the old habit doesn't even seem familiar/routine anymore.
I like that, Jennifer, and have been recently contemplating how neurology should be factored in. For example, with anxiety. It short circuits (among other things) your amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. But, being acutely aware of this process feels empowering when it comes to managing an anxiety disorder.
I've loved Fuller's ideas since I was a kid. They're revolutionary, especially the concept of building something that better serves human needs. I've tried. It's not easy. I found my own limitations, other people's too, as well as contexts that militate against anything more than short term success—at best. In my autumn years, I've drawn back to an attempt at creating very small models, things I can maintain with Deb, e.g. neighbourhood urban agriculture.
So basically you have to be pro active. Activism creates change. I told my son I do not like the destruction of the past because we can learn much more by analyzing the wrong and making a new and better future
Omigod! We used to have a community radio station in Maine that was pretty decent, but I stopped giving them money when they ran a Democratic Party program which was spreading anti-Russian (there's that word) propaganda. I told the dude on the phone that I didn't mind them having on a DP program -- he said he couldn't stand it and would bring up my concerns with the BoD -- but not something spreading hate.
Well, that said, I turned on the radio a few weeks ago and the first words I heard were TRANS and QUEER. Turned off the radio. Turned on the radio on Tuesday and it was supposed to be a program about PFAS (big deal in Maine). What did I hear: "Bucksport Pride"! Then the next guest? A woman complaining about Maine's day length!!!!! It was only 1 November so I sort of relish how she'll feel by the Solstice. Why would anyone move to a state that runs through the 45th Parallel and then complain about day length? and I unfortunately know the answer: a bunch of spoiled well-to-do children who most people here wish would disappear.
Where attention goes energy flows. So, yes, I'd say the more we are anti anything the longer that thing will be around. Ignore and create your own loving world in your own backyard and live the way you choose.
I've never read B. Fuller except when he was mentioned in the books I was reading at the time. Namely political philosophy texts and related material. I do know that I'm keenly anti-establishment from some of my earliest dealings with what I saw as a manufactured existence(a later conclusion) I didn't particularly care for. "Conformity" was all the rage in the 1960's as I was attending primary and early secondary school. One was termed a thorny branch to be trimmed and reabsorbed into the masses.
So I kept quiet on my actual views to stay in grace for the powers(that shouldn't be) shaping my views attending class. Staying invisible, keeping quiet, mostly, was a survival tool against the general push to 'conform' to society's norms. Hence my adoption of some of the hippy movement's anti-bourgeois attitudes. Sadly, most joined the establishment and the mad wheel of ambition, exploitation, and capitalism's relentless drive toward extinction. Then lately while exploring the Pharma cartels, as a result of the pandemic, has opened my eyes to what I used to trust for my health. How to fight this? I haven't a clue, they are just too powerful. Like billionaires in general--in my alternate world they shouldn't be allowed to exist. We are still our own best advocate. Peace, The Ol' Hippy
I'm not interested in engaging in some other version of identity politics. I am interested in caring for the world, caring for humans, caring for animals, caring for plants.
"The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
This is why the thing that has pleased me the most in recent history (the only thing) is some people's attempt to care for the living world. I don't feel I have done much in life, but the woods I live near have not been abused in 37 years, the fields were taken out of corn (this was before GMO but atrazine was spread and didn't bother the "organic" farmer who lived here) and allowed to grow grass, which grows very well in Maine, and the old house which had been neglected has had some of the work done on it (very sturdily built in 1840). I think we need to focus on our work, do our best to understand what in hell is going on around us, and just live our lives as best we can.
😶
It is the way of neurobiology - learning and forgetting - synaptic plasticity. The easiest way to stop a problem habit is to substitute something else. Try to not even think of the problem habit and if a slip happens it is just part of the route to change, dwelling on self-recrimination just keeps the brain pathways focused on that topic. Get busy with the new thing so the mind is busy building new pathways and recycling unused ones -literally building new habits and dismantling old ones. Sticking with it hopefully will reach a point where the old habit doesn't even seem familiar/routine anymore.
I like that, Jennifer, and have been recently contemplating how neurology should be factored in. For example, with anxiety. It short circuits (among other things) your amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. But, being acutely aware of this process feels empowering when it comes to managing an anxiety disorder.
Thank you!
Very welcome!
Behavior change tactics are a focus for a health counselor and I have learned more on my own.
Here's to learning on our own!
I've loved Fuller's ideas since I was a kid. They're revolutionary, especially the concept of building something that better serves human needs. I've tried. It's not easy. I found my own limitations, other people's too, as well as contexts that militate against anything more than short term success—at best. In my autumn years, I've drawn back to an attempt at creating very small models, things I can maintain with Deb, e.g. neighbourhood urban agriculture.
You're still in your very early autumn years, my friend, and "very small" can add up.
So basically you have to be pro active. Activism creates change. I told my son I do not like the destruction of the past because we can learn much more by analyzing the wrong and making a new and better future
Thank you, Nona. My concern is how "activism" has been replaced by virtue signaling.
Omigod! We used to have a community radio station in Maine that was pretty decent, but I stopped giving them money when they ran a Democratic Party program which was spreading anti-Russian (there's that word) propaganda. I told the dude on the phone that I didn't mind them having on a DP program -- he said he couldn't stand it and would bring up my concerns with the BoD -- but not something spreading hate.
Well, that said, I turned on the radio a few weeks ago and the first words I heard were TRANS and QUEER. Turned off the radio. Turned on the radio on Tuesday and it was supposed to be a program about PFAS (big deal in Maine). What did I hear: "Bucksport Pride"! Then the next guest? A woman complaining about Maine's day length!!!!! It was only 1 November so I sort of relish how she'll feel by the Solstice. Why would anyone move to a state that runs through the 45th Parallel and then complain about day length? and I unfortunately know the answer: a bunch of spoiled well-to-do children who most people here wish would disappear.
Many modern people are suffering from anti-authority authoritarianism..
I concur but what about the "other side." If you are anti-woke, does your "anti" status require wokism to exist and remain a threat?
NO!
Where attention goes energy flows. So, yes, I'd say the more we are anti anything the longer that thing will be around. Ignore and create your own loving world in your own backyard and live the way you choose.
I've never read B. Fuller except when he was mentioned in the books I was reading at the time. Namely political philosophy texts and related material. I do know that I'm keenly anti-establishment from some of my earliest dealings with what I saw as a manufactured existence(a later conclusion) I didn't particularly care for. "Conformity" was all the rage in the 1960's as I was attending primary and early secondary school. One was termed a thorny branch to be trimmed and reabsorbed into the masses.
So I kept quiet on my actual views to stay in grace for the powers(that shouldn't be) shaping my views attending class. Staying invisible, keeping quiet, mostly, was a survival tool against the general push to 'conform' to society's norms. Hence my adoption of some of the hippy movement's anti-bourgeois attitudes. Sadly, most joined the establishment and the mad wheel of ambition, exploitation, and capitalism's relentless drive toward extinction. Then lately while exploring the Pharma cartels, as a result of the pandemic, has opened my eyes to what I used to trust for my health. How to fight this? I haven't a clue, they are just too powerful. Like billionaires in general--in my alternate world they shouldn't be allowed to exist. We are still our own best advocate. Peace, The Ol' Hippy
One must be aware of, and defend against mortal attacks, no?
Oh certainly! But how do we prevent ourselves from embracing a version of the same identity politics we decry?
Do not dehumanize "the other"?
Indeed! This is a big part of the great work.
Thanks, John.
I'm not interested in engaging in some other version of identity politics. I am interested in caring for the world, caring for humans, caring for animals, caring for plants.
That is exactly what the Founders did in 1776:
"The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
How to implement the model is the question.
Wow...I did not see that connection at all. Thanks, David!
This is why the thing that has pleased me the most in recent history (the only thing) is some people's attempt to care for the living world. I don't feel I have done much in life, but the woods I live near have not been abused in 37 years, the fields were taken out of corn (this was before GMO but atrazine was spread and didn't bother the "organic" farmer who lived here) and allowed to grow grass, which grows very well in Maine, and the old house which had been neglected has had some of the work done on it (very sturdily built in 1840). I think we need to focus on our work, do our best to understand what in hell is going on around us, and just live our lives as best we can.
Amen.