Becoming Eden

Tag: self-reflection

  • Developing Object Permanence Around Flinches

    —

    by

    divia
    in

    Many years ago, I did an exercise where I made a list of thoughts that I flinched away from. Then, I made spaced repetition cards with the thoughts. The cards were statements like: “As of March 2009, I am currently uncomfortable with the idea that quitting my job might be the right move.” (Totally fake…

  • What Has Changed my Political Beliefs

    —

    by

    will
    in

    I think it’s safe to say that political beliefs are one of the most sticky types of beliefs we commonly hold. By some measures partisan polarization is at record highs for the modern era (though these figures are also debated). Politics are also beliefs that provoke some of the strongest arguments between differing viewpoints, and…

  • New Perspectives on IFS

    —

    by

    divia
    in

    I did some IFS with a friend last night around his nail-biting, an area where he hadn’t gotten much traction working on his own. Early in the process, when he expressed some judgements about the nail biting, I clarified that I wasn’t interested in getting him to stop biting his nails if we couldn’t first…

  • How to Build a Tribe

    —

    by

    will
    in

    It is important to preface this entire document by saying that I had very specific objectives for creating a tribe. In particular, I wanted a group that was emotionally vulnerable with each other, who are reacting in real time to each other’s responses, where we create a safe space to say and feel and process…

  • Hypothetical Apostasy on Nutrition

    —

    by

    will
    in

    As many of you know, I am a major proponent of paleo/primal/ancestral/etc type diets. At this point the term “paleo” has come to be applied to many very different diets, but for the record my own personal beliefs coincide most strongly with the Perfect Health Diet. Whatever you want to call it, it is certainly…

  • Where I’ve Been, and a Brief Taxonomy of Bad Patterns

    —

    by

    divia
    in

    I didn’t post yesterday because I was traveling all day. I got up extremely early and took Lydia on a cab to SFO for a flight to JFK, then took another flight to Portland, ME, then another cab, then a ferry. Add in time being pushed three hours ahead, and that’s the day. I also…

  • Summary of A Guide to the Good Life

    —

    by

    will
    in

    A Guide to the Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy is a handbook of Stoic philosophy by professor William Irvine. He points out that Stoicism is very different than the stereotypes we have developed about unfeeling robots, and in fact it contains a lot of timeless advice for psychological well being. This is…

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

    —

    by

    will
    in

    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…

  • Beyond Rationality

    —

    by

    will
    in

    I called this post “Beyond Rationality” because I wanted to move past the unfortunate connotations and bad habits associated with the word “rationality” in our culture. With tongue firmly in cheek, Divia and I often refer to the cluster of ideas I am about to present as post-rationality, and you may well encounter us using…

  • The Promise and Perils of Rationality

    —

    by

    will
    in

    In my previous post I laid out what I did and did not mean by the term “rationality”. While I addressed what I consider to be misconceptions around the word rationality and how self-described rationalists would behave, I do think that there are some common problems that real-life rationalists run into in practice. In this…