PROMPT: Negative Feelings

Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

Feel them, but don’t feed them. By that I mean take time to be aware of the feelings, but do not let the mind go into its default mode of fixation upon the object informing these sensations and worst-case scenario building. Give the feelings your attention but recognize that you influence your experience of the world and don’t give the mind free reign to build an illusory scenario that it accepts as its reality. (i.e. Remember what Mark Twain said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”)

The biggest problem with negative feelings is that the go-to modern strategy is attempted distraction (by vice, by entertainment, by activity, etc.) this leads the body to turn up the heat. If you give the sensations your attention without adding value judgements, it becomes impossible to obsess. For yoga practitioners who’ve done Yoga Nidra (Yogic sleep) the experience will be familiar. One often begins by being attentive to sounds, by giving the sounds attention without judgement, your mind starts to lose interest and it becomes harder for those sounds to distract you throughout the practice. This approach to negative feelings is much the same.

Also, breathwork that extends the exhalation component of breath will shift the balance toward rest and digest activity.

Ultimately, realize that these feelings are just sensations your body and brain use to turn your attention in certain directions. They have no more power than that, other than what one grants them. They are not identical to — or inextricably linked with — the events of the world that triggered them, and — therefore — you get to be the master of, and not the slave to, your feelings.

The next time you find yourself getting bogged down by a negative feeling, give the feeling a minute or two of pure undivided attention, and then think, “This is a wonderful opportunity to learn how my body and mind work.” See what happens.

PROMPT: Lose Yourself

Daily writing prompt
What activities do you lose yourself in?

Lately, swimming… and, of course, rap battles.

PROMPT: Rewatch

Daily writing prompt
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?

No TV series. Though there might be episodes of “Seinfeld” that I’ve seen that many times (but others I may have never seen at all.)

Re: Movies: “Kung Fu Hustle,” “The Matrix” (the first one,) and “Kung Fu Panda” (the first one.) Nothing else comes to mind, but there probably are some. (Back from the days when cable ran the same content over and over.)

Five times is a lot of times to watch the same thing. If it’s really good, it will be too mentally / emotionally draining to watch repeatedly. And if it’s too bad, it will be tedious to do so. It needs to be in the sweet spot of light, but incredibly entertaining.

PROMPT: Superstitious

Daily writing prompt
Are you superstitious?

No. I’ve trained myself to recognize factors, such as selection bias, that contribute to superstitions. And I try to hold all beliefs only so tightly as they can be shaken away by better understanding, particularly beliefs that aren’t strongly supported by experience and reason.

PROMPT: Animal

Daily writing prompt
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

A mythical one to be sure. Cobbled together and a product of pure imagination. Griffin, Minotaur, Dragon, Vietnamese Unicorn (not to be confused with the kind hung as posters on the walls of pre-teen American girls,) or something of that nature.

PROMPT: 100-year-old

Daily writing prompt
Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Dear 100-year-old self,

In the unlikely event that we’re still alive, go play with the wolves. Let them have their meal, meager though it may be. We’ve had a good run, and – unless I miss my guess – are not feeling vigorous of either mind or body. If we are feeling vigorous of mind and body, please disregard until such time as it’s not true anymore. In said case, I’m very curious about what kind of scientific breakthrough occurred (or magic fountain we fell into,) and look forward to learning about that in due time.

Signed,

Your younger self, the one far more afraid of dementia & incontinence than of death-

PROMPT: Middle Name

Daily writing prompt
What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?

Gerard. As far as I know, the only significance is that it met the twin criteria of: a.) there being saints of that name (having been raised in a Catholic household, that’s a must); and b.) having sufficient penetration into Ireland to be considered an acceptable name for one of Irish ancestry. (Though I believe the name’s origins are Germanic.)

Though there’s a good chance I have a same-named ancestor of whom I’m oblivious.

PROMPT: Learned

Daily writing prompt
What is the last thing you learned?

I was just reading George Bernard Shaw: A Very Short Introduction and learning about how his philosophy informed his plays. In particular, I learned why the play Pygmalion, which I recently read and which is the origin of the popular musical My Fair Lady, has an odd appendix which tells of the main characters’ continued life stories after the events of the play — as Shaw imagined them. Apparently, audiences pined for a love story between Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, and Shaw never wanted that. Apparently, when Shaw saw what actors and directors were doing to tilt the story toward that love affair, he felt the need to add a postscript to set things straight.

PROMPT: Hated Question

Daily writing prompt
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

Being a traveler who lives abroad, the answer is simple: “Where are you from?”

As a traveler, I can’t grasp tribal / jingoistic people’s obsession with where one fell out of one’s mom, and it always feels a bit xenophobic — as though, noticing one’s foreignness, there is a rush to determine whether one is one of the tolerable foreigners or one of the really bad ones.

As an introvert, the question offends my preference to be talked to by people who have something to say, and to be left alone by people who are just playing out social programming with the objective of breaking silence that they find objectionable (but which I, as a rule, find delightful.) (Even being highly introverted, I can converse for hours with someone who has something to say on a topic that is neither themselves nor me — i.e. I love ideas but hate small talk and interaction for the sake of interaction.)

Plus, it just gets annoying being asked the same question sixty times a day when I’m in more remote parts — a question, the answer to which will be forgotten in three minutes and is merely sound for sound’s sake. In the unlikely event that one hopes to have an actual conversation with me, one must start with something that is not your culture’s default socially programmed question. One must get to at least the second most commonly asked question, a question varies from person to person (in my case, it’s: “Why are you such an asshole?”)

PROMPT: Failure

Daily writing prompt
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

If one fails and one tries again, one will make course corrections. Keep repeating that cycle, and one is bound to home in on success.

Psychologically, I think juggling is a fantastic skill to practice because one must fail a million times and keep going. Furthermore, one must learn to choose failure over a spastic success (and condition that behavior in on the fly.) By this I mean, one must learn to let the ball drop rather than lunging to make a frantic catch, because if you are always making wild reaches, you’ll never achieve a smooth, natural rhythm. In other words, a catch that keeps the ball in the air for one or two more throws is not truly a success if it trains a wobbly, unsustainable movement pattern. More generally, one must redefine what constitutes success or failure at a fundamental level.