I have once again failed to write. But I am resolving to change that today. Sat in a coffee shop on a sunny London day, and the creative impulse is too overwhelming, so I’m going to brain dump all I’ve been thinking about and doing.

Currently Reading :

One Hand Clapping : Unravelling the Mystery of the Human mind

Excellent book exploring human evolution, from the first chemical replicators to formation of cells, DNA, life. Mind-bending and awe inspiring, as any good science books tend to do. Pair it with this veritasium video.

I see Michael Pollan also has a new book out on consciousness which I’m excited to jump into next.

Currently listening :

The Rest is Science. I’ve managed to binge listen to all of their episodes and now I’m hungry for more science podcasts.

Reading online

The pile of unread books we have on our bedside tables is often referred to as a graveyard of good intentions. The list of unread books on our Kindles is more of a black hole of fleeting intentions. Craig Mod

I was reading this article by Craig Mod (written in 2015!) in which he dissects through the differences between digital reading and physical books.

I typically read fiction on my kindle, and non-fiction in a hardback format where I can annotate, flick through and return to sections I want to understand deeper. I then read any medical articles/textbooks online via PDF.

Distractions

I’ve downloaded an app called ‘Freedom’ - actually recommended by Craig Mod. It seems to be working. My main guilty pleasure is … checking email. I can’t help but click on my email app everytime I open up my iPhone. I had long ago removed any social apps from it, but in their place, email and whatsapp took over. The other vice is compulsively checking Reddit, so I’ve blocked both.

In their place, I hope to write more! Especially about what I’m reading on the internet. Otherwise, seemingly, I just keep on consuming without ever actually digesting what I read.

Pair this with : The last days of social media

Thoughts on work

Choose a job where you have the option to abandon. If it doesn’t line up with your values, ambitions and curiosity - you can walk away. This may not be an option for everyone, but it should be an aspiration.

Staying alive as you grow older

I recently listened to the latest Tim Ferris podcast with ‘Jim Collins, a 70 year old something consultant. I don’t know much about him, but I found the topic of the conversation fascinating : ‘why do some people preserve the sense of vitality as they grow older, whereas others do not?’

“why would some entities or some people have a life of continuous self-renewal rather than a life of this followed by just a long degradation”

If you divide people as they get older into two camps (I’m sorry) : those who continue to learn, grow, maintain open mindsets, have energy, joy - despite the years and the tragedies of life - and not numb out. Versus : those who fall into some addiction, numb out, space out, shrink and just simply exist.

They use the term ‘self-renewal’, which I like. As if you are crafting a new ‘self’/persona/identity at each epoch of your life.

One aspect has to do with energy. Those who continue to show up maintain a high energy level - that seems to be a commonality. Therefore, most people who get to maintain this self renewal, have a physical practice. Weight training, marathon running, yoga, pilates, you name it. And they tend to be slightly obsessive over their diet.

Another has to do with an ability to let go of identities and to craft new ones. Collins talks about his wife, an ultramarathoner who had to give up running after a hamstring injury. It was “dying, a certain kind of dying”. He calls these events cliff events - times where there is a radical shift in your existence in the world. There is a before and an after.

One has to do with crafting a sense of purpose. We all go through this phase of ‘what is life about’, but that question is not one of be answered. Like a good koan, it’s one you are meant to sit with and not fully answer, but the very act of positing the questions, alters everything. Your purpose will look different from when you are 20, 30, 40, 50 – so an aspect of it is keeping the question alive.

‘Expending energy…in things that I derive tremendous intrinsic pleasure from doing’. Mental health has to be part of it. Having cognitive ‘defence systems’ that self renew.

John Vervaeke talks about having an ecology of practices ; embodied practices (yoga, running, tai chi, swimming etc), contemplative practices (prayer, meditation) and cognitive practices (techniques that allow cognitive reframing).

I suspect those who are capable of self renewal, have an ecology of such practices, but they may not be named. Clearly, they are not sitting in front of the TV/tik tok/instagram just consuming all day. They are going out into the world, maintaining social networks, creating something, sublimating themselves in a vocation/craft/art, maintaining a fit body and mind.

What looks like discipline from the outside, is actually just intrinsic enjoyment. Clearly the people who train for decades, or meditate, or practice a craft etc – they enjoy (dare I say love) the process. Collins says “It’s almost a form of compulsion, which isn’t discipline. And if it’s sheer love of the actual doing itself, well, how’s that discipline? I just love doing it, so that’s one”

It’s not actually about ‘reinventing yourself’, but circling back to things and extending outwards. Gives the example of ‘Robert Plant’ from Led Zeppelin - extending out into bluegrass, playign with trance musician etc.

Describes the ‘fire of youth’ as burning red hot. You think that if you’ll lose that you’ll lose your drive, and you need to carry that intensity forwards. But Collins says that it’s more like a ‘sustaining warm glow’ now - he doesn’t have the insecurities, self importance etc that creates that painful red hot burning. The warm ember is much more enjoyable and sustaining.

Consumed with a ‘problem’ and in love with it. I’m reminded of Karl Popper

“I think that there is only one way to science — or to philosophy, for that matter: to meet a problem, to see its beauty and fall in love with it; to get married to it, and to live with it happily, till death do you part - unless you should meet another and even more fascinating problem, or unless, indeed, you should obtain a solution. But even if you obtain a solution, you may then discover, to your delight, the existence of a whole family of enchanting though perhaps difficult problem children for whose welfare you may work, with a purpose, to the end of your days.”

Self knowledge - working on things and problems that are interesting to you. Not what someone else is telling you is interesting.

Collins calls these ’encodings’ : “durable capacities that reside within, and they’re awaiting discovery through the experiences of life’. You discover your ‘fit’ by doing things in the world.

Tim asks if there are certain ways of finding out your strengths or proclivities - shortcut the time spent and just jump to what your encodings suggest you would love. Collins says a lot of the time it is about trusting your experience. You’re getting clues all the time.

How to maintain social networks?

David Whyte talks about if you’re still making friends, that means you are still alive for the next seasons of your life - it’s a good marker
Schedule things on the calendar
Join groups]

Quotes and Ideas

Hofstadter’s law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law.