Month: April 2013

  • It Is More Vulnerable to Ask for What You Want

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    I was talking to someone one a while back about why it can be hard for people to ask what they want. After all, it’s obvious that you’re more likely to get what you want when you ask. As far as I can tell, the answer is that it is actually much more vulnerable to…

  • 28 Weeks of Lydia

    Lydia had her six-month doctor’s visit this week. Nothing too eventful there. We’re doing the normal vaccine schedule, and it’s been working really well to have her in the wrap for her shots. That way she’s right up next to me and she can nurse right afterwards. Here are some stats: The scale said 7.56…

  • Conscious Judging, Mourning, and Self-Forgiveness

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    One day, maybe I’ll write a post about how “judgement” (like “belief”), is one of those words that is overloaded to the point where using it at all is likely to interfere with precise communication. But today, I’ll just use the word “judgement” as best I can. While I was working with someone the other…

  • 27 Weeks of Lydia

    Six months plus one week! I’m tired right now, but tiredness has not characterized my week overall. We were both pretty happy this week. We’ve been doing solids for another whole week, so that still feels pretty new. We also went to the zoo today, which was maybe the first kid activity I planned for…

  • Preventing Peanut Allergies

    My default position when I started looking into peanut allergies was that exposure to potential allergens (particularly the ones outside our evolutionary heritage) would sensitize children to that allergen in the future. Eliezer once described changing your mind as the penultimate technique of rationality, and I always enjoy the opportunity to stretch that particular muscle.…

  • IFS and Learning to Visualize

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    Last week, I did some first-time IFS with someone whose experience reminded me a lot of mine when I first got started. I used to be one of those people who said I had trouble visualizing. I don’t think I quite said that I couldn’t visualize, but it seemed hard to do so. When other people…

  • Self-Improvement: What It Is And Why We Care

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    We like to talk about this concept we call “self-improvement” a lot. On the face of it, it’s a relatively simple and easy concept to understand: we are improving our selves. End of post! …except it’s still a little bit vague what I mean by that, even in my own mind. Let’s forget about defining…

  • 26 Weeks of Lydia

    Lydia is six months old today! I find this quite exciting. We got her three new toys to play with, and she was definitely into their novelty. The caterpillar and car seem like good toys for her. The car is pretty much the only good rolling toy she has now, and it’s good for chasing around.…

  • Feeling Overwhelmed While Working?

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    After our recent productivity webinar, I did some one-on-one IFS work, and I (again) ran into what I think is actually a pretty common not-so-uselful belief: “Until I’m finished, I can’t feel okay.” I used to think this way too, that I had to feel overwhelmed and guilty until I got all my important things done.…

  • 25 Weeks of Lydia

    Another week! This week wasn’t as hard for me emotionally as last week, nor was Lydia as happy. But continues to get stronger and learn more things. It’s hard to believe that, as of next week, we’ll have been doing this whole parenting thing for half a year! Lydia was born a week late, so…