"As we grow in this practice of attention, something else becomes clear: much of what occupies our thoughts is unnecessary. The mind is cluttered, filled with concerns that seem urgent but, on closer inspection, do little to serve our deeper well-being. Simplification is not just a matter of decluttering our physical surroundings—it is a way of thinking, of living. As we quiet the noise within, we see more clearly what truly matters. We focus, not on everything, but on the essentials. We pare down, not by force, but by choice."
Our information-technology driven culture does not help; the algorithms and shiny objects they push undermine our attention-ability.
This may be the culture, but one can largely choose to not participate in it. E.g. not having social media accounts and curating your news sources with a focus on unsensational, fact-based reporting.
I’m working on this as a personal project so I’m interested in other’s solutions!
I’m not working on it toooo hard. This is something I think some AI software tool might swoop in and solve before I can build something I’m happy with.
News Minimalist [1] is one way, where it aggregates stories across outlets and uses LLMs to remove clickbait from titles. It also assigns loose 'scores' to each story to approximate how 'important' it is, which I've found to be directionally useful.
Ultimately, it comes down to why one consumes news at all. If it's to have something to discuss around the water cooler or dinner table, that's a very different use case than someone trying to pattern match on world events for trading stocks or selling their wares.
This is why I don't wear a smart watch. My phone is always on silent. Sometimes i Ieave it in a different room. There's nothing good on here. 99% of notifications are just trying to sell me something or bad news. Go do something you enjoy and put down the devices, the notifications will still be there in the morning. That is to say, dedicate a block of time for that stuff if you must, but otherwise tune out the Internet.
There are however a great deal of things people can do to make the same information available to a wider audience.
Formatting, fonts, colours, structure of argument, visual aids.
Clicking [reader view] on this article aided me immensely in being able to take it in. As one of the many ADHD people who encountered this, the white on black, wide page, and a serifed font were all non-informational aspects of the page that made it difficult to take in.
You are wrong that sometimes there is no tl;dr In the absence of someone putting in the work to make content accessible the emphasis merely falls upon the dr of tl;dr.
No-one requires you to make things for everyone, but you cannot expect to reach everyone without consideration of them either.
>You are wrong that sometimes there is no tl;dr In the absence of someone putting in the work to make content accessible the emphasis merely falls upon the dr of tl;dr.
On a technical level I agree.
>But how does one begin? It is not with grand declarations or bold, sweeping changes. That would miss the point entirely. Rather, it is with a gentle attention to the present, a deliberate shift in the way we move through the world.
That's a pretty good TLDR right there.
But on a cosmic level, I see nothing more ironic than asking for a TL;DR on how to take back your attention. Showing you have some interest in a topic but not enough to fully read it without shifting to yet another topic your brain runs you to. Thus failing the "gentle attention to the present".
I suppose design is subjective, but these were more to demonstrate that there are simple ways to make a website read good, instead of "looking good". I'd figure readers of Hacker news's web page design would sympathize.
These are no JS websites and I believe the first website is a total of 7 lines of CSS to help with margins. The second one's takeaway is to avoid pure whites and blacks (which from discussions is apparently a very controversial topic) and make a little use of typography
I like the message of the article overall. And I am skeptical when “liberation” and “freedom” are used when not clearly defined because where I am from (US) these words are thrown around flippantly. If I follow this approach of quietness and attention, will I be free from hunger (ie have food)? Free from fear (eg security from violence)? No, clearly not. There are other freedoms.
Also, a left out item that we have direct access to sense, manipulation, cultivation: our bodies.
good points. the first could have been a better choice, or a better explanation. the second? that's a much longer piece about the three brains and how we integrate them.
my read on it is that it’s liberation and freedom in a very buddhist sense.
you won’t be free from hunger, but it may reframe our relationship with food so there is less compulsion and mindless consumption.
it won’t take away fear in the face of imminent danger (that’s a good thing, we have to survive) but it may reduce background anxiety that’s present in our daily lives.
the concept of freedom itself kind of is hard even in a stricter context like politics.
like, I cannot freely choose to do X today, because (iE: capitalism environment) demands me to do certain other things that bring in money to live comfortably. I could make a tradeoff somewhere, but that very tradeoff itself limits actual freedom.
therefore to maximize actual freedom, we're looking at eliminating constraints that limit freedom, like the need to make money somehow, which would be a dramatic society change not everyone agrees to.
its hard. and wonky. so everyone uses it only through a personal belief lense.
Well written! I can relate to most of the article. However, I find that
> To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow.
doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flies", and it's distractions that end up throwing men out of the zone.
agree that the "clock of life" is a strange beast, when compared to the clock on the wall. i try to quit paying too much attention to the latter, and time becomes more nuanced and textured.
What you're describing is a state of flow which is good for things like work but the article seems to be talking about time metaphorically.
For example, imagine you're going to your daughter's piano recital and spend the whole time thinking about work. You would be missing out on the experience of watching her perform and grow. If you become mindful of these habits and say "My mind is focusing on something that I cannot change right now, I should be present" then you'll be able to fully experience a moment in your child's life. So rather than feeling like life is passing you by, you're able to experience it in the moment. The surrounding sentences of the line you quoted don't read like the author's describing time like you are:
"But in this process, we must remember something important: life is not meant to be rushed through. It is not a race, nor is it a problem to be solved. It is an experience to be lived, and living well requires presence. ... Moments become rich, textured. Even the simplest of tasks takes on a new significance when approached with care, with attention."
Maybe you're both right? Staying on the example of recitals. When I concentrate hard listening to the music they seem like they last forever while also being over in the blink of an eye!
Similar sensation to being in an isolation chamber
I think this is correct. Time is not, metaphorically, just the perception of elapsed seconds. There is a dimension of depth. And while it may “fly by” it can feel slow if it was spent with depth.
An hour on social media and time laughing with friends can both be fleeting but one will feel better spent.
What I think he meant is that time slows down for him in the way that time around him speeds up while he can stay focused on one thing.
Now of course I’m not the author so I’m not sure but yeah the way you’re describing it (real time flying when you’re locked in on something) is how I feel it goes for most people
Yep that’s my reading too. I like to see it from a dynamical systems perspective: as a system approaches an attractor, the phase flow slows down, while the wall time marches on steadily. If we consider the “perspective” of the system, which is wall time divided by phase flow, we get the time speeding up part.
I have experienced slowing of time in improvised couples dancing. I may have to react to very complex situations in a time frame that feels impossible.
For example, at the same time my follower can be so tense that she cannot feel leading/following signals as well as if she was relaxed, and she mis-interprets my lead and goes where I was not expecting her to go, her clothing gets stuck, another couple comes into the space I have directed our dance and we are about to crash etc. All this while I am interpreting live music in an interesting way. (This is an extreme example, most of the time things go smoothly.)
It may be unbelievable that it is possible to be able to solve such problems in split second, but it happens all the time in improvised couples dancing. The analytical mind is way too slow for it, however. If I am experiencing time that has slowed down, there is ample time to do everything. It does not even feel I need to rush it, but I can stay relaxed, and continue improvising go the music.
It might be that programming and other office jobs simply overtrain the analytical mind to the point that we mistakenly think that it is the best tool to ascertain reality with.
Well put, but I think you’re using “focus” in a different sense than the author is.
The article discusses internal (intensional!) focus on the substance of experience itself as it’s presented to your unified Ego, and you’re discussing the much more common idea of external (extensional!!1!) focus, which is almost the exact opposite since it typically requires quieting your inner monologue to the greatest extent possible and letting your subconscious faculties act autonomously.
Author describes experiences that myself can fully confirm. Everything said in this article resonates very strong, including how time slows in observation. This incredible essay is a very organic, honest summary, yet without all the esoteric, of what a mindful presence can be (whenever achieved). A bliss retold in few paragraphs.
Indeed to let go of the worldly rush is truly liberating. What a pity it is not allowed to complement the scriptures with such insights.
I think it is helpful to differentiate between mindfulness and concentration.*
I would associate flow more with concentration. And if there is no mindfulness together with the concentration, time will just "fly by". At least for me.
*As it is done in Buddhism, where both are separate spokes of the dharma wheel.
They seem both similar but very different at the same time.
"Flow" to me feels like allowing the mind off its leash, but having it be completely focused on one task rather than its normal state of unfocused chaos.
Whereas "mindfulness" feels more like allowing the mind to rest and become still.
In the former time slips by so quickly, and the latter time can seem to stand still, but with both time becomes meaningless.
Maybe what both have in common is this disconnection from time.
I do improvized couples dancing, and have experienced time slowing down. It is an unique kind of experience, not just a different conceptualization of an everyday experience.
Buddhists say that you are where your attention is. So if a sound captures 100% of my attention, I am that sound. This feels strange on the surface, but when you look deeper into it, it reveals deep wisdom about the human experience.
In my understanding, it is possible, through years of practice (meditation etc.), to learn to direct your attention. Most of us have very limited capability to direct our attention, because we have not practiced it. Actually, modern life trains us to become less capable of directing our attention.
Based on your description, when you talk about "focusing on one task", you describe a flow state where you are 100% absorbed in the task. In a way you have not consciously decided to focus your attention. (I use a very specific meaning for the word conscious here, it is more aligned with the buddhist sense of the word, instead of western sense of having-thoughts-about the thing).
Your attention has been captured by the task at hand. In a way you are lucky that an useful and productive task has captured your attention.
In my understanding, if you learn to direct and hold the attention consciously, there is a next stage you can learn, where you become able to split your attention, to be conscious of two things at the same time.
If you direct some of your attention to the task at had, and some attention to a part in you observing yourself doing the task, then it feels as if the task is "happening", instead of you "doing" the task.
When this happens, there are effects on the physical experience as well, such as time slowing down. I have been blessed with such experiences when dancing, It seems to be possible to have such experiences also without being able to consistently and consciously direct the attention, as I have been blessed with such experiences in my dancing. But in this case it is accidental.
In sports/competition isn't what you've described the ability to both execute technically extremely precisely while having presence of mind to dictate the flow of the game?
This is a complex question. I have found the book "Inner game of tennis" very interesting in this regard. The book is by a coach for world-class athletes. If you try it for yourself, you will learn that your analytical mind cannot micromanage your body to even lift a spoon from the table.
Yeah when I was watching young family learn to walk it became clear that even things like walking we take for granted and its very complex and isn't meant to be learned analytically and most of us lack the fundamental understanding of what is involved to teach it under an analytical model and yet most of us walk everyday without a given thought
Good write-up. IME, you can meditate enough that you can sometimes consciously choose to slow time down to devote more and more attention to something.
The key advantage of this is you can jumpstart a flywheel: attention -> unmediated effort -> attention. I say unmediated because your talking mind gets out of the way or helps you (versus never shutting up). I have used this during guitar practice sessions and found them both very enjoyable and helpful in the learning process.
I believe the original author referred to the importance of intentionally focusing on something that isn't stimulating enough to create a sense of flow. It requires mindful effort to truly pay attention.
In essence, it's about being present without an occupied mind. In my experience, this can make time seem to pass more slowly, but in a pleasant way, even if it's somewhat subdued compared to a state of flow.
Yes. For many years, working on hard problems was my "drug of choice", because while in that state time disappeared, as did emotional pain -- being fully invested in a problem used up enough of my brain to shut up the internal narrator and the consciousness of pain.
It still does. But eventually you become aware that you aren't solving the key problem, just making it worse by not addressing it.
I read no moralizing or grandstanding in GP’s comment. It’s a valid point - most humans on planet earth will experience some form of mental disorder in their lifetime.[0]
You know, the entire point of this website is to comment on articles with our own thoughts, experiences, and opinions - even if it's moralizing and/or grandstanding.
Can we stop discouraging comments in the comment section? It gets so tiresome.
People largely understand that folks who can't walk can't walk. There is still a lot of moralizing around mental health and treatment. "ADHD is not a real thing, they just need to stop being lazy"/etc/etc.
> Anyone with ADHD, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, and many other conditions simply do not and cannot have full control of their minds without medical intervention.
Who are you and how are you privy to what I can and cannot do without intervention? Where do you get off?
I'm speaking for myself (ADHD) and anecdotal experience from people in my life with these conditions (clinical depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD). I don't claim to speak for anyone.
Your experience may be different, and that is fine and valid. The point I'm trying to make (and that you're also making) is that things that are fundamental truths for some are not always applicable or valid from the context of another person's lived experience.
> I'm speaking for myself (ADHD) and anecdotal experience from people in my life with these conditions (clinical depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD). I don't claim to speak for anyone.
Now you say that. But you made a very clear, absolute statement that these people “cannot have full control of their minds without medical intervention”.
And everyone’s lived experience is eventually respected with some back and forth in these exchanges. But making absolute statements about what people can or cannot do cuts both ways. So it’s best to make your vantage point clear from the start.[1]
I’m personally much more offended when someone says that my “type” cannot do something. Compared to assuming that I can.
Thanks for the clarification.
[1] For all we knew you could have been a medical researcher.
As someone with severe, often debilitating ADHD, I understand not wanting to depend on medication. It was forced upon me under threat of punishment as a child and heavily exacerbated my OCD and tic syndrome, which led to further punishment anyway.
Learning to be okay with medication has taken a long time. But the last couple decades of research have made a few things clear. Importantly, ADHD has been shown to be a genetic disorder, wherein your brain simply doesn't produce the same amount of dopamine receptors as a normal person.
This has a profound impact on your mood, executive functioning skills, motor function and more. Drugs which increase the dopamine available in your system can have negative effects (some extra dopamine gets shunted to your motor cortex and causes motor dysfunction/aggravates tics) but when you consider that 60% of ADHD sufferers are also diagnosed with depression, or in my case a large comorbidity with OCD and bipolar disorder, it becomes clear how valuable medicine can be.
ADHD is beginning to be understood as a reward-deficiency syndrome [0] and in this light, meditation/mindfulness and good habits are only coping mechanisms for an underlying condition which is ultimately genetic and massively aided by dopaminergic drugs. The result is literally night and day for many people, especially those who did not get diagnosed until adulthood and never developed coping mechanisms.
> But making absolute statements about what people can or cannot do cuts both ways.
I just lost one of my best friends last year because I moved in with him and experienced incredible prejudice around my disorder, which he was convinced was made up and not real. He would wax on and on about mindfulness, and constantly get defensive and aggressive at the slightest, most inconsequential manifestations of my disorder, and it rapidly deteriorated my mental health at a time where I was already in dire need of a safe space. His bias and increasingly erratic response to my disorder made me feel unsafe until I had no choice but to leave. The entire experience was very traumatic and reminded me of all the times as a child that my disorders lead to punishment and physical abuse. Some people have mild ADHD and it might be a slight convenience for them, but in my case it has been a major defining aspect of my life with a long list of consequences over the years.
You raise a fair point. I think some of this is likely reactionary to some degree. Very often the response to a person struggling with a condition is "just try harder", so it's really, really easy read statements like the one you quoted as being more prescriptive than they are likely intended.
Honestly the bigger problem is probably that creating lasting habits is hard. Everyone knows that exercise is important but how many people maintain a consistent routine?
With mindfulness it's even worse because there is no way to track how strong your equanimity is. You can't know if you are making progress or just deluding yourself.
People are creatures of comfort. That's why I'd disagree with your first sentence. I think creating long-lasting habits can be easy, in fact sometimes you don't even realize it happened until it's too late.
Now getting rid of the bad habits and keeping only the good ones, that is the hard part.
I can only confirm this and still struggle whenever I want to create a new habit. Russel Barkley when speaking about ADHD in children suggests to prefer productivity over quality. Want to work out more? Go for a walk/run every day, start and don't bother about the distance or duration. Same for the gym, as long as you keep going there, doing whatever you improve the likelyhood of doing it better this or the next time.
You're getting disproportionately criticised and having uncharitable replies but, you're right.
Any serious psychiatrist will confirm that medication is immensely helpful to the majority of ADHD cases if not all. Our brains are just different, chemistry-wise.
I don't know why people get so offended by this notion.
People have already responded with their reasons. You can try to hammer on with further digressions from what the submission is about (not even wrong), complete with that inflamed/emotionally charged interpretation, but what’s the point in spilling more bytes on this.
How fragile are you? My comment is about why I don’t think spilling bytes on this question of yours is worth—it was already answered before you posted the comment.
Which is my opinion. Which doesn’t silence anyone.
> immensely helpful to the majority of ADHD cases if not all
Definitely not all. Medication doesn't work for something like 10% ~ 20% of us. In my case it worked well for 6 months and gradually I acclimated to it and the effects went away, I switched medications and had the exact same experience. I gave up after that.
> Anyone with ADHD, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, and many other conditions simply do not and cannot have full control of their minds without medical intervention.
Right - hence "might", not "do"; and "some", not "full".
You're right, but it's a bit of an uncharitable take on the post. Nowhere does the it say that medical intervention is unnecessary for people with conditions requiring it.
The title, and quoted passage, are fully applicable to those with the listed conditions and without. The advice from the post supplements medical intervention for folks requiring it.
I used to think that once I started browsing the internet, it was time for a break. One technique I've implemented, which I haven't seen mentioned is "walking pomodoro technique": for every 25 minutes of work, I get up and take a brisk 5-min walk (or lately, a jog) and come back. One of the most surprising things is that by mandating my own breaks, I browse the internet a lot less.
I suffer from RSI and definitely do not move enough when I am invested in some piece of work (personal or professional). I recently installed workrave[0] and have noticed marked improvements in just a couple weeks of actually taking breaks when it indicates.
I take a 25 second break every 5 minutes, and use this time to do one hand and wrist exercise (I keep some resistance bands and hand exercise balls at the desk). I take a 5 minute break every 25 minutes. I will either do some stretches, or a quick chore (e.g. vacuum one room).
This microbreaks idea is something I've come to myself. I noticed that when reading very difficult stuff (serious math or complex APIs) then I get to that point where I repeatedly read the same sentence over and over again. I realized that at that point I should be taking a break even before my usual 25 minutes is up. Maybe you 25s/5m would help me. I like the numerical aesthetics.
It seems I wrote my own keycounter for RSI last year but I never added timers/lockouts. I'll have a look at this workrave. Thanks.
I have some graduated resistance hand exercise balls and bands for various exercise (different variations on squeezing, mobility, and extending fingers). I stare out the window at things far away while doing hand exercises.
I did pick the times because of the symmetry of the numbers (:
I tried Pomodoro more than once, but so far always failed. I guess I have to follow Russel Barlkeys advice to externalize the internal and replace the Pomodoro app with a physical timer that sits on my desk with sad eyes when I don't use it for more than a day.
I failed at first by either not setting the time or igoring it, but just kept trying to come back to it more and more. Eventually I stuck to it and then it became a habit. I even do it in the evenings now so that I don't sit too long or get overstimulated but that's a bit harder to stick to consistently.
Fun article, thanks for sharing! It always blows my mind how much work people will put into this stuff without consulting/citing the thousands of years of cognitive scientists that have been working on the problem, but that’s more of a systemic problem; it’s what we get for describing the history of science as “first there was silly philosophy, and then in 1600 we finally figured out empiricism and actual/real/true science started”. I absolutely agree that cognitive science in general is about to take the world by storm as we learn more about our neurology (Google “DeWave”), and systematize philosophies.
The DOJ recently filed the first big post-Covid telehealth suit against a California ADHD treatment company (aka Adderal distribution) called Done, and it’s honestly fascinating to read the blog posts written by the founding doctor. His professional and philosophical opinion is that ADHD is a wildly underdiagnosed neurological state that can come and go over a lifetime, especially in reaction to attention-degrading “exocortices” as your article calls them. Obviously his credibility is damaged by the fact that he made ~$2.5M off that stance, but still, I think there might be something there. His favorite citation is Hippocrates, though I’ve never actually looked for the primary source he’s referring to.
The big exception to my complaint above is, in 2024, of course Stoicism, probably because it’s so damn cool (a book by an ancient general on how to be stronger? Sign me up!) and can be downright utopian when summarized in the right way, promising you eternal control. The article above clearly takes the general Stoic framework for granted in the very first paragraph, so I was more than a little surprised not to see it cited directly.
The universally accepted ADHD community’s technique seems to be called Adderall. It is difficult to pinpoint another universally accepted technique. Breathwork is not always good for ADHD from my personal experience and is not universally accepted. So really wonder what this trailblazer thing is about.
Another very apparent shortcut to ADHD treatment, also not universally accepted, is called endogenous adrenaline - the simplest drug molecule as somebody (Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash if memory serves right) designated it, and extreme sports provide a lot of it for free. This article though, does not seem to be about any of these - adrenaline or sports. Extreme sports such as snowboarding, downhill biking, paragliding (not really a sport), motorbiking, etc… are all about said state of flow and attention. No other activities I can think of that impact ADHD so quick and profound. Cause you loose your attention only once with these things.
In Denmark where I am from mindfulness is actually a rather big part of ADHD mastering (or whatever they call learning to live with it these days). Exercise and medicine are also part of it, but learning skills to help you function are bigger. I think breathwork as you point out is individual. Here they tend to have you try out various ways of gaining focus through mindfulness though. The one which worked best for me is holding hands under water, like washing hands, others meditate, others again so the whole breath focus thing and so on.
I do think this article plays a little light on what you can do, and how much of it you’ll need to do, to actually tame your attention. I do a lot of things. I don’t keep my mobile phone near me when I don’t want to use it. I do mindfulness. I plan to head out at 9:00 if I’m really supposed to head out at 9:15 because that means I’ll get out at 9:13-9:17 and not stress about it leaving more energy to focus my attention. I do the drugs, in my case Lisdexamfetamin is the least shitty. I ride my bike everywhere. I walk in the woods. I do a lot of things like that and it helps, but it’s not like it’s quite as simple as this article might make it sound. Even if you do it in small steps.
I think the biggest difference between how we deal with ADHD and attention here and the article is that we don’t focus on attention. We view ADHD as an “energy deficiency”. This is because you pay attention to too many things with ADHD, which means you run out of energy sooner than regular people. At which point you can’t pay attention to things that aren’t interesting to you. What is worse is that you’ll hyperfocus on things that, are, interesting and that will drain your energy as well. You’ll probably also forget to eat because you don’t really feel hunger, again draining you. Anyway, to live with ADHD in Denmark is in large parts about managing a fuel tank which is simply much smaller than everyone else’s. Because you need the fuel to pay attention.
With awe and inspiration perhaps. I don’t think author of comment above means a particular substance. You can also get energy with sleep, you see.
This reminds me of a popular saying by Vivekananda
‘Everybody’s mind becomes concentrated at times. We all concentrate upon those things we love, and we love those things upon which we concentrate our minds.’
This search/yarn for attention/concentration is a core principle of yoga, and only more relevant with the bombardement of information we have to take on daily base.
As a disclaimer: I’m baptised as an Orthodox Christian (in an autocephalous church which is neither Russian, nor Greek), so you can take the above from a philosophical not religious perspective.
> to live with ADHD is in large parts about managing a fuel tank which is simply much smaller than everyone else’s
Isn't the fuel dopamine? What you said reminds me of this explanation of ADHD from /r/explainlikeimfive¹:
“When you know you have to do something, your brain requires a certain amount of chemicals (including dopamine) for you to start and stay engaged in that activity. A person without ADHD will go "I need to write my essay." And the brain will go "ok, here is 1 unit of "starting a task" chemicals to get you started." A half hour later the person says, "hey I found interesting information on something else, but I need to stay focused on my paper" and the brain will go "you're right. The paper is more important. Here is a unit of concentration chemicals, use them for the paper" And this repeats basically until their task is complete, then the brain goes, "yay! You finished! Here's some happy chemicals, and an extra shot of dopamine" the dopamine hit solidifies a positive relationship with getting the paper accomplished.
A person with ADHD will go like this: "I need to write my paper. Brain, can you give me concentration chemicals?" And the brain says "I'm sorry I don't have any, no." So they struggle with getting focused. If they manage to force themselves to sit, they may see something else and think, "this is really interesting, but I need to stay focused on my paper." But the brain goes "hey I found some concentration chemicals, but you can only use them for this other thing. If you so much as look at your paper I will destroy all the concentration chemicals we have! Plus, I'll send out unhappy chemicals and you will be miserable and possibly even feel pain, but yeah I'm going to dump an ungodly amount of concentration chemicals on this other thing so good luck"
So basically even if the ADHD person WANTS to write their paper, the brain will not produce them chemicals necessary for them to stay focused on it and even if they DONT want to do "the other thing" their brain chemicals won't let them stop focusing on it.”
I just got diagnosed with ADHD in 2023, but been addicted to adrenalin all my life. And I must say it had tremendous effects. The times where I was doing active extreme sports (Downhill mountainbiking or Motocross in my case) have been those where I had my mind in the clearest possible state. It's not only that my mind would calm down in that exact moment, but it lasted for quite a few days.
At first there was the adrenaline spike, when it wore off then the body exhaustion kicked in, and when my body started to recover, the week was almost over again and I could get another dose.
Over the past couple years I tried to avoid the risk a little and been just doing "easy" mountainbike tours. And oh boy, that's the thing for me. I think only my brother can relate how that feels to me. It starts out like a normal bike ride, but my eyes are always on the outlook for some fun spots (where can I jump up/over/down? How long can I wheelie today? You name it..). This combined with hours of just mundane paddeling is the way for me. Keeps stress levels low and my mind at ease, plus a few fun adrenaline spikes.
BUT ritalin is still a great great relieve for me. Though I wish I would not need it. For now it works, but I'll try to find habits that will hopefully make it obsolete one day. And the diagnosis was a good starting point for that, because now I know why my brain behaves different than others
Ritalin is not something everyone can take, contrary to amphetamines which seem to be super adopted, and particularly in the form of pseudo-ephedrine. My friend in Europe gets nausea from Ritalin and is considering obtaining Adderall from the black market. Even though this automatically means he stops driving cars. He is also potentially interested in micro-dosing psylocibine where anecdotal evidence exists it relaxes the adhd condition. Surprisingly even MAPS (maps.org) don’t do research in this particular direction even though they are pushing hard for FDA approval for many studies.
Everything else totally matches my experience and also resonates very strong and could potentially imply link between adhd and extreme sports. Would love to see an article on this topic, but I’m not trained in medicine so I can’t do it with reasonable credibility.
> The universally accepted ADHD community’s technique seems to be called Adderall.
I wouldn't call it technique. ADHD is the one condition of the mind that can be treated with medication with greater success than any other, and yet it is under-diagnosed in children and adults.
Attention is good. Building the habit of paying attention is hard. Many people who get good at meditation underestimate the effort required. Highly recommend BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits for more on how to get started on anything important. Similar to the OP's separate article on kaizen:
The power of Being (simply existing mindfully) as opposed to the Doing we feel compelled into.
When you Are who you are, you will Do what you do, and likely find greater success because it comes from who you are, not what someone is telling you to do…
To the author : I find your article really insightful. I want to read more but I realize this article is not on your homepage. There might be more stuff that you have written and is unlisted. How can i find it all.
I can recommend the Waking Up app. It has a well paced and well done introduction to mindfulness in a very similar style to the linked article. If interested, I can share a link for a free 30-day trial.
I have no affiliation and get no kickback. It has simply been quite useful for me.
I was reminded of my all-time favourite book on meditation / mindfulness: Mindfulness in Plain English by Henepola Gunaratana. The article had a similar style. Gunaratana’s book is full of humour and beautiful writing and I’d recommend it as a brilliant guide to anyone interested in this stuff.
As much as I love the sentiment, these sorts of pieces (written or verbal) always contain contradictions, usually important ones relative to the claims.
These contradictions (?) may be rooted in the reader’s assumptions about the world: the writer says A and B, but to the reader B implies (not A) because of their world view. In short they might not be actual contradictions.
This might seem very vague but a discussion on something so first-person as the mind is ripe for that kind of thing.
Which is resolved with dialogue. If the contradictions are brought up.
Contradiction is socially disruptive, and ignored/policed quite thoroughly, denying access to Humans of pretty substantial portions of reality which is instead represented by illusory proxies/heuristics.
For me contradictions are unavoidable when speaking about the mind. Usually the aim is not to give you specific objective truths, but to evoke something in your mind that feels evidently true to you. That is why usually the most effective communication tools that are used are metaphors. And communicating that way correctly is very very difficult. That means that most of these sort of pieces are going to be very bad... But I actually think that this one is not that bad
> For me contradictions are unavoidable when speaking about the mind.
"It (seems like it) is my opinion that {some opinion}" has very few ways of going wrong, and has the side benefit of reminding one that they're dealing with a subjective map, which is in part the goal of most authors of such pieces, imho anyways.
It's a writing choice at the end of the day. If you have to spend so much time reminding people that this is your opinion, you're going to get the same criicism of pacing and meandering that any other fruity prose does to people who want to get straight to the point.
Sometimes you just need a footnote in your profile of "thoughts are of my own" and to not worry about the peanut gallery.
This is a really great description of why a meditative practice is worth taking time on and also why it’s worth railing against todays constant attention deficit and lack of empty, quiet spaces, both mental and physical. Excellent writing!
Ads Industry would rather not you to have any control over your attention. Indeed, if ads can't distract you, can't steal your attention, then those ads can't make money.
The first paragraph reminds me of the following from The Joy Luck Club.
It started to rain again, just a light rain. The people from downstairs called up to me once again to hurry. And my thoughts became more urgent, more strange.
I asked myself, what is true about a person? Would I change in the same way the river changes color but still be the same person? And then I saw the curtains blowing wildly, and outside rain was falling harder, causing everyone to scurry and shout. I smiled. And then I realized it was the first time I could see the power of the wind. I couldn’t see the wind itself, but I could see it carried the water that filled the rivers and shaped the countryside. It caused men to yelp and dance.
I wiped my eyes and looked in the mirror. I was surprised at what I saw. I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind.
I threw my head back and smiled proudly to myself. And then I draped the large embroidered red scarf over my face and covered these thoughts up. But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself.
I'm grateful for this advice. Will put into practice immediately. Death being a certainty, it is difficult to determine what time is actually worth using for. From an individual perspective, religion and knowledge are part of a conceptual world that will end with death. If there's actually anything post-death, it has to do with what it is here being called attention. Something beyond memory and thinking.
It's a bit heavy on the purple prose (though I was guilty of a very similar writing style in my 20s, and as I got on in life the purity of the idea became more important than its surrounding ornamental structures).
The gist of the article reminds me of a quote from the famous pianist Clara Schumann who would admonish her more virtuosic students for striving to play through passages as rapidly as possible.
"Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?"
> It's a bit heavy on the purple prose (though I was guilty of a very similar writing style in my 20s, and as I got on in life the purity of the idea became more important than its surrounding ornamental structures).
Wow, great piece, thanks for sharing it!
While reading it I was absolutely sure I've already heard it. For the first part I thought it's the transcript of the text they read in Vipassana retreat, and for the second I thought it must be from Alan Watts. But from the rest of the blog and from the comments here I understand that it's neither, and that it's just your thoughts. It reads really nicely, like a river.
I also noticed that your previous blog's name (stormrider) is somehow similar to mine (cyclinginthewind) haha.
> And it is then, perhaps, that a subtle truth begins to emerge: the only thing we truly possess, the only thing we might, with enough care, exert some mastery over, is our mind
Well, that's not true at all.
When people make sweeping simple statements about matters that can't possibly be trivial - it makes me wonder how much most people resemble LLMs.
I'm sympathetic to spiritual matters but the field is littered with people who are deeply confused.
I'm going to be That Guy and say I didn't particularly care for this piece. it reads like every single self-help or mindfulness book I've had the misfortune of skimming or having pushed down on me.
That isn't to say I fully discount mindfulness but rather the art of people being able to say a lot about ultimately nothing.
really depends on your stage in life. If you see self-actualization advice but you are still trying to work 18 hours/day to pay rent and keep a roof over your head, this advice won't resonate as much compared to a well off a cushy tech worker who may still feel a bit satisfied with their life projections.
I am partial to the mindfulness idea. But that doesn’t mean that I like everything that it is written on the topic. Some pieces on the topic are a bit too opinionated on what exactly mindfulness and attention are. Too opinionated to be short pieces on it. But this one just says that you can be curious about what the mind does and observe that it has a mind of its own. Which is true in my experience.
I appreciate coming across writings like these. For me I easily forget to just chill out, one day I’m full of whatever mindfulness i gain from nowhere in a quick hit of inspiration then as quick as it came I’m back to step one lost, until I come across something like this.
I've found cannabis to be extremely helpful. It adds a tinge of paranoia - so if you're paranoid about not reaching your potential, it can kick you into gear.
nah I found cannabis to be counterproductive in my case. It was never only a "tinge" of paranoia. It always comes up in bouts. And it was a slippery slope. I'd often keep getting distracted with other things like YouTube, games and social media to keep the anxiety and paranoia away.
> Each small effort, each moment of renewed attention, builds upon the last. Over time, these moments accumulate, and what was once difficult becomes second nature.
This! One thing is to find an oasis of attention from time to time, but the goal should be to fill it so that it becomes the sea, and that is extremely difficult (for starters due to the traps of modern attention seeking algorithms, but not only...).
Great article. The physics and neurophysiology of Nowness and attention are also complex.
Toward the end of his life Einstein had a conversation with Rudolf Carnap (ca 1953-54):
“Einstein said that the problem of Now worried him seriously. He explained that Now means something special for men, something essentially different from the past and the future, but that this important difference dies not and cannot occur within physics.”
Einstein was still struggling with counterpoints made by Bergson in their famous 1922 debate on time and the meaning of duration.
Neuroscience is just beginning to give us more insights into Now and I am reasonably confident that we will find solid (satisfying) physical explanations for human temporality (more so than those of Bergson, Husserl, and Heidegger). But this will not remove the personal mysteries of attention and being in the flow.
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[ 1.7 ms ] story [ 332 ms ] threadOur information-technology driven culture does not help; the algorithms and shiny objects they push undermine our attention-ability.
I’m not working on it toooo hard. This is something I think some AI software tool might swoop in and solve before I can build something I’m happy with.
Ultimately, it comes down to why one consumes news at all. If it's to have something to discuss around the water cooler or dinner table, that's a very different use case than someone trying to pattern match on world events for trading stocks or selling their wares.
[1] https://www.newsminimalist.com/
"Today ChatGPT read 6997 news articles and gave 0 of them a significance score over 6.5."
It’s why sensory isolation is valuable.
Shut out the world and hear what’s being drowned out by the mad scramble to control our attention…
Formatting, fonts, colours, structure of argument, visual aids.
Clicking [reader view] on this article aided me immensely in being able to take it in. As one of the many ADHD people who encountered this, the white on black, wide page, and a serifed font were all non-informational aspects of the page that made it difficult to take in.
You are wrong that sometimes there is no tl;dr In the absence of someone putting in the work to make content accessible the emphasis merely falls upon the dr of tl;dr.
No-one requires you to make things for everyone, but you cannot expect to reach everyone without consideration of them either.
or
https://perfectmotherfuckingwebsite.com/
if you're feeling venturous.
>You are wrong that sometimes there is no tl;dr In the absence of someone putting in the work to make content accessible the emphasis merely falls upon the dr of tl;dr.
On a technical level I agree.
>But how does one begin? It is not with grand declarations or bold, sweeping changes. That would miss the point entirely. Rather, it is with a gentle attention to the present, a deliberate shift in the way we move through the world.
That's a pretty good TLDR right there.
But on a cosmic level, I see nothing more ironic than asking for a TL;DR on how to take back your attention. Showing you have some interest in a topic but not enough to fully read it without shifting to yet another topic your brain runs you to. Thus failing the "gentle attention to the present".
These are no JS websites and I believe the first website is a total of 7 lines of CSS to help with margins. The second one's takeaway is to avoid pure whites and blacks (which from discussions is apparently a very controversial topic) and make a little use of typography
It’s okay if you’re waiting for the comic book edition, but I don’t think it’s on the horizon.
Also, a left out item that we have direct access to sense, manipulation, cultivation: our bodies.
you won’t be free from hunger, but it may reframe our relationship with food so there is less compulsion and mindless consumption.
it won’t take away fear in the face of imminent danger (that’s a good thing, we have to survive) but it may reduce background anxiety that’s present in our daily lives.
like, I cannot freely choose to do X today, because (iE: capitalism environment) demands me to do certain other things that bring in money to live comfortably. I could make a tradeoff somewhere, but that very tradeoff itself limits actual freedom.
therefore to maximize actual freedom, we're looking at eliminating constraints that limit freedom, like the need to make money somehow, which would be a dramatic society change not everyone agrees to.
its hard. and wonky. so everyone uses it only through a personal belief lense.
> To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow.
doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flies", and it's distractions that end up throwing men out of the zone.
For example, imagine you're going to your daughter's piano recital and spend the whole time thinking about work. You would be missing out on the experience of watching her perform and grow. If you become mindful of these habits and say "My mind is focusing on something that I cannot change right now, I should be present" then you'll be able to fully experience a moment in your child's life. So rather than feeling like life is passing you by, you're able to experience it in the moment. The surrounding sentences of the line you quoted don't read like the author's describing time like you are:
"But in this process, we must remember something important: life is not meant to be rushed through. It is not a race, nor is it a problem to be solved. It is an experience to be lived, and living well requires presence. ... Moments become rich, textured. Even the simplest of tasks takes on a new significance when approached with care, with attention."
Similar sensation to being in an isolation chamber
An hour on social media and time laughing with friends can both be fleeting but one will feel better spent.
Now of course I’m not the author so I’m not sure but yeah the way you’re describing it (real time flying when you’re locked in on something) is how I feel it goes for most people
For example, at the same time my follower can be so tense that she cannot feel leading/following signals as well as if she was relaxed, and she mis-interprets my lead and goes where I was not expecting her to go, her clothing gets stuck, another couple comes into the space I have directed our dance and we are about to crash etc. All this while I am interpreting live music in an interesting way. (This is an extreme example, most of the time things go smoothly.)
It may be unbelievable that it is possible to be able to solve such problems in split second, but it happens all the time in improvised couples dancing. The analytical mind is way too slow for it, however. If I am experiencing time that has slowed down, there is ample time to do everything. It does not even feel I need to rush it, but I can stay relaxed, and continue improvising go the music.
The article discusses internal (intensional!) focus on the substance of experience itself as it’s presented to your unified Ego, and you’re discussing the much more common idea of external (extensional!!1!) focus, which is almost the exact opposite since it typically requires quieting your inner monologue to the greatest extent possible and letting your subconscious faculties act autonomously.
Indeed to let go of the worldly rush is truly liberating. What a pity it is not allowed to complement the scriptures with such insights.
I would associate flow more with concentration. And if there is no mindfulness together with the concentration, time will just "fly by". At least for me.
*As it is done in Buddhism, where both are separate spokes of the dharma wheel.
They seem both similar but very different at the same time.
"Flow" to me feels like allowing the mind off its leash, but having it be completely focused on one task rather than its normal state of unfocused chaos.
Whereas "mindfulness" feels more like allowing the mind to rest and become still.
In the former time slips by so quickly, and the latter time can seem to stand still, but with both time becomes meaningless.
Maybe what both have in common is this disconnection from time.
Buddhists say that you are where your attention is. So if a sound captures 100% of my attention, I am that sound. This feels strange on the surface, but when you look deeper into it, it reveals deep wisdom about the human experience.
In my understanding, it is possible, through years of practice (meditation etc.), to learn to direct your attention. Most of us have very limited capability to direct our attention, because we have not practiced it. Actually, modern life trains us to become less capable of directing our attention.
Based on your description, when you talk about "focusing on one task", you describe a flow state where you are 100% absorbed in the task. In a way you have not consciously decided to focus your attention. (I use a very specific meaning for the word conscious here, it is more aligned with the buddhist sense of the word, instead of western sense of having-thoughts-about the thing).
Your attention has been captured by the task at hand. In a way you are lucky that an useful and productive task has captured your attention.
In my understanding, if you learn to direct and hold the attention consciously, there is a next stage you can learn, where you become able to split your attention, to be conscious of two things at the same time.
If you direct some of your attention to the task at had, and some attention to a part in you observing yourself doing the task, then it feels as if the task is "happening", instead of you "doing" the task.
When this happens, there are effects on the physical experience as well, such as time slowing down. I have been blessed with such experiences when dancing, It seems to be possible to have such experiences also without being able to consistently and consciously direct the attention, as I have been blessed with such experiences in my dancing. But in this case it is accidental.
The key advantage of this is you can jumpstart a flywheel: attention -> unmediated effort -> attention. I say unmediated because your talking mind gets out of the way or helps you (versus never shutting up). I have used this during guitar practice sessions and found them both very enjoyable and helpful in the learning process.
In essence, it's about being present without an occupied mind. In my experience, this can make time seem to pass more slowly, but in a pleasant way, even if it's somewhat subdued compared to a state of flow.
It still does. But eventually you become aware that you aren't solving the key problem, just making it worse by not addressing it.
[0] https://hms.harvard.edu/news/half-worlds-population-will-exp...
Can we stop discouraging comments in the comment section? It gets so tiresome.
My intent was not to moralize and I'm uncertain to what part of my original comment could be interpreted as a moral stance.
The two situations are simply not comparable.
Who are you and how are you privy to what I can and cannot do without intervention? Where do you get off?
Your experience may be different, and that is fine and valid. The point I'm trying to make (and that you're also making) is that things that are fundamental truths for some are not always applicable or valid from the context of another person's lived experience.
Now you say that. But you made a very clear, absolute statement that these people “cannot have full control of their minds without medical intervention”.
And everyone’s lived experience is eventually respected with some back and forth in these exchanges. But making absolute statements about what people can or cannot do cuts both ways. So it’s best to make your vantage point clear from the start.[1]
I’m personally much more offended when someone says that my “type” cannot do something. Compared to assuming that I can.
Thanks for the clarification.
[1] For all we knew you could have been a medical researcher.
Learning to be okay with medication has taken a long time. But the last couple decades of research have made a few things clear. Importantly, ADHD has been shown to be a genetic disorder, wherein your brain simply doesn't produce the same amount of dopamine receptors as a normal person.
This has a profound impact on your mood, executive functioning skills, motor function and more. Drugs which increase the dopamine available in your system can have negative effects (some extra dopamine gets shunted to your motor cortex and causes motor dysfunction/aggravates tics) but when you consider that 60% of ADHD sufferers are also diagnosed with depression, or in my case a large comorbidity with OCD and bipolar disorder, it becomes clear how valuable medicine can be.
ADHD is beginning to be understood as a reward-deficiency syndrome [0] and in this light, meditation/mindfulness and good habits are only coping mechanisms for an underlying condition which is ultimately genetic and massively aided by dopaminergic drugs. The result is literally night and day for many people, especially those who did not get diagnosed until adulthood and never developed coping mechanisms.
> But making absolute statements about what people can or cannot do cuts both ways.
I just lost one of my best friends last year because I moved in with him and experienced incredible prejudice around my disorder, which he was convinced was made up and not real. He would wax on and on about mindfulness, and constantly get defensive and aggressive at the slightest, most inconsequential manifestations of my disorder, and it rapidly deteriorated my mental health at a time where I was already in dire need of a safe space. His bias and increasingly erratic response to my disorder made me feel unsafe until I had no choice but to leave. The entire experience was very traumatic and reminded me of all the times as a child that my disorders lead to punishment and physical abuse. Some people have mild ADHD and it might be a slight convenience for them, but in my case it has been a major defining aspect of my life with a long list of consequences over the years.
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626918/
The OP says "exert some mastery over", which is a far cry from the "full control" you say some people cannot have.
With mindfulness it's even worse because there is no way to track how strong your equanimity is. You can't know if you are making progress or just deluding yourself.
Now getting rid of the bad habits and keeping only the good ones, that is the hard part.
Any serious psychiatrist will confirm that medication is immensely helpful to the majority of ADHD cases if not all. Our brains are just different, chemistry-wise.
I don't know why people get so offended by this notion.
The world isn't limited by your imagination.
I don't even understand what your point is.
Which is my opinion. Which doesn’t silence anyone.
Definitely not all. Medication doesn't work for something like 10% ~ 20% of us. In my case it worked well for 6 months and gradually I acclimated to it and the effects went away, I switched medications and had the exact same experience. I gave up after that.
Right - hence "might", not "do"; and "some", not "full".
The title, and quoted passage, are fully applicable to those with the listed conditions and without. The advice from the post supplements medical intervention for folks requiring it.
one of my favorite books about this that i can not recommend enough is “the miracle of mindfulness” by thich nhat hanh.
https://vonnik.substack.com/p/how-to-take-your-brain-back
There are many techniques to increase our CC. The ADHD community is a trailblazer in this respect.
I take a 25 second break every 5 minutes, and use this time to do one hand and wrist exercise (I keep some resistance bands and hand exercise balls at the desk). I take a 5 minute break every 25 minutes. I will either do some stretches, or a quick chore (e.g. vacuum one room).
https://workrave.org/
It seems I wrote my own keycounter for RSI last year but I never added timers/lockouts. I'll have a look at this workrave. Thanks.
I did pick the times because of the symmetry of the numbers (:
I failed at first by either not setting the time or igoring it, but just kept trying to come back to it more and more. Eventually I stuck to it and then it became a habit. I even do it in the evenings now so that I don't sit too long or get overstimulated but that's a bit harder to stick to consistently.
The DOJ recently filed the first big post-Covid telehealth suit against a California ADHD treatment company (aka Adderal distribution) called Done, and it’s honestly fascinating to read the blog posts written by the founding doctor. His professional and philosophical opinion is that ADHD is a wildly underdiagnosed neurological state that can come and go over a lifetime, especially in reaction to attention-degrading “exocortices” as your article calls them. Obviously his credibility is damaged by the fact that he made ~$2.5M off that stance, but still, I think there might be something there. His favorite citation is Hippocrates, though I’ve never actually looked for the primary source he’s referring to.
The big exception to my complaint above is, in 2024, of course Stoicism, probably because it’s so damn cool (a book by an ancient general on how to be stronger? Sign me up!) and can be downright utopian when summarized in the right way, promising you eternal control. The article above clearly takes the general Stoic framework for granted in the very first paragraph, so I was more than a little surprised not to see it cited directly.
Another very apparent shortcut to ADHD treatment, also not universally accepted, is called endogenous adrenaline - the simplest drug molecule as somebody (Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash if memory serves right) designated it, and extreme sports provide a lot of it for free. This article though, does not seem to be about any of these - adrenaline or sports. Extreme sports such as snowboarding, downhill biking, paragliding (not really a sport), motorbiking, etc… are all about said state of flow and attention. No other activities I can think of that impact ADHD so quick and profound. Cause you loose your attention only once with these things.
I do think this article plays a little light on what you can do, and how much of it you’ll need to do, to actually tame your attention. I do a lot of things. I don’t keep my mobile phone near me when I don’t want to use it. I do mindfulness. I plan to head out at 9:00 if I’m really supposed to head out at 9:15 because that means I’ll get out at 9:13-9:17 and not stress about it leaving more energy to focus my attention. I do the drugs, in my case Lisdexamfetamin is the least shitty. I ride my bike everywhere. I walk in the woods. I do a lot of things like that and it helps, but it’s not like it’s quite as simple as this article might make it sound. Even if you do it in small steps.
I think the biggest difference between how we deal with ADHD and attention here and the article is that we don’t focus on attention. We view ADHD as an “energy deficiency”. This is because you pay attention to too many things with ADHD, which means you run out of energy sooner than regular people. At which point you can’t pay attention to things that aren’t interesting to you. What is worse is that you’ll hyperfocus on things that, are, interesting and that will drain your energy as well. You’ll probably also forget to eat because you don’t really feel hunger, again draining you. Anyway, to live with ADHD in Denmark is in large parts about managing a fuel tank which is simply much smaller than everyone else’s. Because you need the fuel to pay attention.
This reminds me of a popular saying by Vivekananda
‘Everybody’s mind becomes concentrated at times. We all concentrate upon those things we love, and we love those things upon which we concentrate our minds.’
This search/yarn for attention/concentration is a core principle of yoga, and only more relevant with the bombardement of information we have to take on daily base.
Source: https://vivekavani.com/swami-vivekananda-quotes-concentratio...
As a disclaimer: I’m baptised as an Orthodox Christian (in an autocephalous church which is neither Russian, nor Greek), so you can take the above from a philosophical not religious perspective.
Basically everything else is about energy preservation.
https://vonnik.substack.com/p/a-few-ideas-that-made-my-life-...
Another good thing to do is block out the energy-suckers; ie distractions, especially the screen-based ones.
Isn't the fuel dopamine? What you said reminds me of this explanation of ADHD from /r/explainlikeimfive¹:
“When you know you have to do something, your brain requires a certain amount of chemicals (including dopamine) for you to start and stay engaged in that activity. A person without ADHD will go "I need to write my essay." And the brain will go "ok, here is 1 unit of "starting a task" chemicals to get you started." A half hour later the person says, "hey I found interesting information on something else, but I need to stay focused on my paper" and the brain will go "you're right. The paper is more important. Here is a unit of concentration chemicals, use them for the paper" And this repeats basically until their task is complete, then the brain goes, "yay! You finished! Here's some happy chemicals, and an extra shot of dopamine" the dopamine hit solidifies a positive relationship with getting the paper accomplished.
A person with ADHD will go like this: "I need to write my paper. Brain, can you give me concentration chemicals?" And the brain says "I'm sorry I don't have any, no." So they struggle with getting focused. If they manage to force themselves to sit, they may see something else and think, "this is really interesting, but I need to stay focused on my paper." But the brain goes "hey I found some concentration chemicals, but you can only use them for this other thing. If you so much as look at your paper I will destroy all the concentration chemicals we have! Plus, I'll send out unhappy chemicals and you will be miserable and possibly even feel pain, but yeah I'm going to dump an ungodly amount of concentration chemicals on this other thing so good luck"
So basically even if the ADHD person WANTS to write their paper, the brain will not produce them chemicals necessary for them to stay focused on it and even if they DONT want to do "the other thing" their brain chemicals won't let them stop focusing on it.”
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vn1je2/e...
At first there was the adrenaline spike, when it wore off then the body exhaustion kicked in, and when my body started to recover, the week was almost over again and I could get another dose.
Over the past couple years I tried to avoid the risk a little and been just doing "easy" mountainbike tours. And oh boy, that's the thing for me. I think only my brother can relate how that feels to me. It starts out like a normal bike ride, but my eyes are always on the outlook for some fun spots (where can I jump up/over/down? How long can I wheelie today? You name it..). This combined with hours of just mundane paddeling is the way for me. Keeps stress levels low and my mind at ease, plus a few fun adrenaline spikes.
BUT ritalin is still a great great relieve for me. Though I wish I would not need it. For now it works, but I'll try to find habits that will hopefully make it obsolete one day. And the diagnosis was a good starting point for that, because now I know why my brain behaves different than others
Everything else totally matches my experience and also resonates very strong and could potentially imply link between adhd and extreme sports. Would love to see an article on this topic, but I’m not trained in medicine so I can’t do it with reasonable credibility.
Whoever does it may cite comments here. A waiver.
I wouldn't call it technique. ADHD is the one condition of the mind that can be treated with medication with greater success than any other, and yet it is under-diagnosed in children and adults.
https://tinyhabits.com/about/
When you Are who you are, you will Do what you do, and likely find greater success because it comes from who you are, not what someone is telling you to do…
What about the OP specifically appeals? Happy to point you at some other things if I can.
I have no affiliation and get no kickback. It has simply been quite useful for me.
This might seem very vague but a discussion on something so first-person as the mind is ripe for that kind of thing.
Which is resolved with dialogue. If the contradictions are brought up.
In my experience noting contradictions usually leads to evasive memes and anger/unhappiness.
Or, how about if science had only received 1% of the total funding it has?
"It (seems like it) is my opinion that {some opinion}" has very few ways of going wrong, and has the side benefit of reminding one that they're dealing with a subjective map, which is in part the goal of most authors of such pieces, imho anyways.
I think mindfulness gang could up their game.
Sometimes you just need a footnote in your profile of "thoughts are of my own" and to not worry about the peanut gallery.
It started to rain again, just a light rain. The people from downstairs called up to me once again to hurry. And my thoughts became more urgent, more strange.
I asked myself, what is true about a person? Would I change in the same way the river changes color but still be the same person? And then I saw the curtains blowing wildly, and outside rain was falling harder, causing everyone to scurry and shout. I smiled. And then I realized it was the first time I could see the power of the wind. I couldn’t see the wind itself, but I could see it carried the water that filled the rivers and shaped the countryside. It caused men to yelp and dance.
I wiped my eyes and looked in the mirror. I was surprised at what I saw. I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind.
I threw my head back and smiled proudly to myself. And then I draped the large embroidered red scarf over my face and covered these thoughts up. But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself.
The gist of the article reminds me of a quote from the famous pianist Clara Schumann who would admonish her more virtuosic students for striving to play through passages as rapidly as possible.
"Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?"
I can see that.
I also noticed that your previous blog's name (stormrider) is somehow similar to mine (cyclinginthewind) haha.
Well, that's not true at all.
When people make sweeping simple statements about matters that can't possibly be trivial - it makes me wonder how much most people resemble LLMs.
I'm sympathetic to spiritual matters but the field is littered with people who are deeply confused.
And our bodies.
That isn't to say I fully discount mindfulness but rather the art of people being able to say a lot about ultimately nothing.
I am partial to the mindfulness idea. But that doesn’t mean that I like everything that it is written on the topic. Some pieces on the topic are a bit too opinionated on what exactly mindfulness and attention are. Too opinionated to be short pieces on it. But this one just says that you can be curious about what the mind does and observe that it has a mind of its own. Which is true in my experience.
Your critique is fair of course.
Took a while to kick it out.
This! One thing is to find an oasis of attention from time to time, but the goal should be to fill it so that it becomes the sea, and that is extremely difficult (for starters due to the traps of modern attention seeking algorithms, but not only...).
Toward the end of his life Einstein had a conversation with Rudolf Carnap (ca 1953-54):
“Einstein said that the problem of Now worried him seriously. He explained that Now means something special for men, something essentially different from the past and the future, but that this important difference dies not and cannot occur within physics.”
Einstein was still struggling with counterpoints made by Bergson in their famous 1922 debate on time and the meaning of duration.
Neuroscience is just beginning to give us more insights into Now and I am reasonably confident that we will find solid (satisfying) physical explanations for human temporality (more so than those of Bergson, Husserl, and Heidegger). But this will not remove the personal mysteries of attention and being in the flow.