[TT 004] Interests, Clean Language, risky meditation, connection, healthy life, skin canvas
Howdy Thrivers,
It’s that time of the week, and I’m honored to join you in your inbox.
We are in the middle of a gloriously beautiful snow storm, but not all the nation are so warm and cozy. On Tuesday, it was warmer in Anchorage, AK than it was in Austin, TX, and Austin’s entire city infrastructure collapsed (electricity, water, roads). On the plus side, that meant we had to postpone my brother’s COVID talk so there is still time to sign up! (Write up & sign up link in the last newsletter).
Separately, this past week I wrote up my Table of Interests. The root intention is the intellectual equivalent of kids on a playground - I like these toys, do you want to play? In other words, if we overlap on topics of interest, then there is a very easy entry point for us to connect more richly and efficiently. It's a first pass and certainly incomplete, so I'll keep filling in over time.
In a fascinating and unexpected twist, as soon as I hit “publish” I immediately wanted to start writing my Table of Disinterests. More on that later, and for now I’ve added it to my writing queue :).
Also, next week I’m excited to start David Perell’s Write of Passage cohort 6. It’s spendy, for sure, but I’ve heard rave reviews from smart, capable people so I’ll just chalk it up to my Thrive budget (legitimately a thing I have now) and see what comes of the experience.
Some really interesting (and disinteresting) reads this past week so let’s just in to this edition of Thriving Thursday.
On clean language
🥸 🙊 In a recent workshop, Mark Kilby brought up the concept of Clean Language (explanation + example) as developed by David Grove. Caitlin Walker has a lovely TEDx talk that speaks to the value and structure of clean language and clean modeling.
At first, the stilted language felt a bit clunky and off-putting to me, but listening to Caitlin’s talk made me realize some of the potent value of this methodology. Specifically, it’s
- non-judgmental - This is huge! When done well, I can see how this instantly creates a safe space for me to explore my own psyche in a way that isn’t accessible in the milieu of judgment that is modern society.
- non-directive - I get to lead the ship of exploration. I sense a surge of empowerment and excitement when I have explicit permission and encouragement to go wherever I seek to go in that moment.
- landscape-building - In exploring and finding new aspects of myself, I can now more clearly understand subconscious symptoms and expressions in my life. In essence, this efficiently allows me to build awareness around my own experiential (metaphorical) model of reality.
- simple & scalable - This one cannot be overstated. There is 1 structural syntax and a handful of question formats that mix and match. It’s simple enough to teach a 5 year old, and can seemingly scale to large groups as a mixed introspection & share exercise.
I’ve recently been noticing how directive my questions can be and, in that way, they certainly do not feel “clean”. I’m fascinated by this framework and see the immediate value and application for myself and my relations.
Specifically, I’ve recently been implementing my version of Brandon Toner’s Atomic Journaling. I’ve added a prompt collection focused on Clean Language and I’ll be curious to what comes out of that in the coming weeks and how that develops over time.
On the risks & side effects of meditation
🧘🏻 📿 David Chapman is an American Buddhist author that consistently makes me question my reality (a trait I admire :) ). Most recently he pointed out that devoted meditation practices can have serious risks and side effect.
As I read the long and involved article, I could palpably feel each paragraph chip away at my worldview anchored around “meditation = good” until the whole thing crumbled. Apparently, there is growing academic literature around adverse meditation experiences with much work pointing back to NIH-funded Jared Lindahl at Brown University. This well-cited study noted 7 categories of challenges, and many more advanced practitioners experienced all of them.
There is even an organization devoted to meditation-related crises called (I wonder why …?) Cheetah House. Sounds more like a strip club to me, but I’m glad they’re doing what they do whatever the name.
Now, there is a ton of academic literature plus anecdotal evidence, not to mention my personal first-hand experience, about the values and virtues of meditation practices. None of that goes away or is invalidated. The big opening for me is that (surprise!) it’s not all rainbows and roses. In retrospect, this lack of awareness is a mixture of my own naïveté coupled with my low dose approach to meditation. Glad I’m a little wiser and more understanding in the meditation corner.
David’s “engineering first principles” approach to various Buddhist traditions is fascinating and resonant to me. I am deeply inspired to learn more about the history and core philosophies of the various threads. It’s out of scope for Year 1 of my master plan but when I cycle back to the sacred in Year 3 I’ll dive into David’s work more deeply.
On a crisis of connection & America Together
🤗 😪 For many years of my life, I felt very disconnected (from myself, my relations, my work, my lineage, my cultural heritage … you name it!). From a few years before college through my late twenties, that manifested as a manic drive for work while I oscillated between rage (at everything and nothing) and depression (for clear and completely obfuscated reasons). Many things have changed since then, and one of the most root system changes was a clear focus on bowing to and cultivating connection.
That’s why this recent article on the crisis of connection really stood out to me. I resonate with their core thesis:
The consequences of this clash between our caring nature and our self-obsessed culture is a crisis of connection.
The list of recommendations seem rock solid to me and I giggled (with glee? skepticism? something in between?) when I saw the respective author’s various institutes: NYU’s Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Harvard’s Making Caring Common. I had no idea this type of work was happening and I’m grateful to see brilliant minds fostering interconnectedness through The Listening Project, free courses, and research on caring in education and at home.
Perhaps what struck me most was the bold claim that this needs to be addressed at the level of the surgeon general:
If confirmed, our hope is that Dr. Murthy will not only help fight the coronavirus but also change the culture so that it better nourishes our nature and creates a more connected, just and humane society for all. But we need to help him do it. America First could then become America Together.
And why not? The absence of connection and belonging has been conclusively proven to have negative clinical outcomes. That sucks for the individual and it puts a real strain on the fabric of our society. Come to think of it, America Together has a nice ring to it …
On healthy life expectancy
🍽 🤮 Did you know that the World Health Organization (WHO) publishes data on healthy life expectancy? I have heard of life expectancy, and how it’s been going up for a long time now, but I hadn’t heard about healthy life expectancy until reading Jeff Nobbs’ article.
The main point of the article is that Americans are getting sicker even as we’re living longer, so that means more years of diseased living. I suspect that’s not news to anyone in the US that’s moderately aware of our declining health (and ballooning healthcare costs), but comparing us to the rest of the world is stark and depressing.
Basically, we’re on par with war-torn and economically collapsing nations Yemen and Venezuela. Even Libya and Syria are doing relatively better in improving their healthy life expectancy. Well … about that double-fried Twinkie I was about to chomp on …
Jeff doesn’t venture into a solution space in this article, but philosophically he is part of a growing Real Food movement. It's a buzzword that is somewhat amorphous but generally points to eating real foods (in contrast to lab foods) that are grown / killed / harvested in sustainable ways (that’s a doozie to unpack as well). So far, I’ve been impressed with the approach and definitions set out by the student-run Real Food Challenge and especially their very detailed and thoughtfully written Real Food Standards.
On skin as a mind-warping canvas
🎨 👩🏼🎨 Dain Yoon’s optical illusions are stunning. The mastery of her skill is outrageous. I can’t get over that cubist interpretation …
If you crave more jaw-dropping creativity, check out Dain’s instagram or her website portfolio.
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OK, be honest - how long did you get lost scrolling through Dain’s work? And what happens just before humans are driven to create such utterly impractical things just for the sake of beauty?
I’ll be meditating (side-effect free, I hope, or it’s off to the Cat House where I might become some real food) on that this coming week.
Connectedly yours,
~Henry