It’s not a one size fits all situation. Sometimes illuminating problems is exactly how we prevent repeating old patterns hiding everything in silence doesn’t always fix it.
I think people deserve the grace and time to process in their own way, rather than being told there’s only one path to healing.
Since you excel at doing a deep dive into a whole array of topics, would you consider looking at the impact of too much sitting? The majority of people spend their whole lives in a completely artificial position. I've struggled with pelvic floor issues for decades only to recently discover they were caused by sitting this whole time.
I’ve found some people preemptively share that they are in therapy (sometimes mentioning it twice in first conversation) as a way to get sympathy from me. They seem to think if I know they’re in therapy and “trying to work on their problems,” then I won’t hold their bad behavior against them. I’m almost always on guard from then on as they tend to have a very self absorbed, unreasonable attitude to life.
These people are “locked in” but only in endless self reflection that doesn’t help. Constantly, leaders like Martin Seligman of the APA have admitted that talk therapy has little to no effect on participants.
I’ve found this to be super accurate in my own life since I was a kid. I loved going on mission trips for my church when I was young. They weren’t evangelical, the trips were more so let’s go help people because we can and we should. Anyways, theology aside, those trips were infinitely more enjoyable to me than any vacation. I was usually severely depressed during the summer as a teenager because there were so little tasks to invest my time in and I didn’t know how to create them for myself. I had nothing to focus on besides the boredom and the loneliness that comes with being the kid that moves around too often to have any solid friendships. Even now, I struggle to enjoy time off from my work as a chef, work that comes with an infinite succession of pressing tasks to focus on. I enjoy my quiet time in nature, but extended periods of time without work to do is something I’ve learned to avoid. It reminds me of the old saying, “idle hands are the devil’s playground.”
In my experience, the antidote was meaningful work. This is in addition to taking care of my health, acquiring freedom and autonomy in work, and figuring out that the trick is to value the actual work over the rewards.
A lot of us can't figure out how to create meaning in our lives, so we latch onto groups and their structures to create that meaning. But this an insecure source of meaning and some of us lose the self entirely because of that. I get the appeal. It rescues people from rumination, but the depression manifests in uglier ways directed at out groups.
In the beginning when God created man kind he gave them the task of taking care of the garden and to subdue the earth. He called his creation "very good" and I'd argue that the work man kind was given was part of his "very good" creation.
Poor mental health sounds like a soul who is craving but empty.
Proverbs 13:4 4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
"Just lock in" feels similar to Pointing Out instructions for meditation. Works wonders for insight when it works! But it's not systematic or "gears level" enough to get that insight
Endless mental rumination by talking obviously is bad, but there's a way to release the emotional blocks that stop people from locking in
It’s not a one size fits all situation. Sometimes illuminating problems is exactly how we prevent repeating old patterns hiding everything in silence doesn’t always fix it.
I think people deserve the grace and time to process in their own way, rather than being told there’s only one path to healing.
Excellent point.
We have to take time to process things, but we also have to take action to get different results at some point. As always, its about balance.
Hey Joseph,
Since you excel at doing a deep dive into a whole array of topics, would you consider looking at the impact of too much sitting? The majority of people spend their whole lives in a completely artificial position. I've struggled with pelvic floor issues for decades only to recently discover they were caused by sitting this whole time.
It would be highly interesting if you dived into Ray Peat's ideas. Anyway thanks for all your great work, Joseph
I’ve found some people preemptively share that they are in therapy (sometimes mentioning it twice in first conversation) as a way to get sympathy from me. They seem to think if I know they’re in therapy and “trying to work on their problems,” then I won’t hold their bad behavior against them. I’m almost always on guard from then on as they tend to have a very self absorbed, unreasonable attitude to life.
These people are “locked in” but only in endless self reflection that doesn’t help. Constantly, leaders like Martin Seligman of the APA have admitted that talk therapy has little to no effect on participants.
I’ve found this to be super accurate in my own life since I was a kid. I loved going on mission trips for my church when I was young. They weren’t evangelical, the trips were more so let’s go help people because we can and we should. Anyways, theology aside, those trips were infinitely more enjoyable to me than any vacation. I was usually severely depressed during the summer as a teenager because there were so little tasks to invest my time in and I didn’t know how to create them for myself. I had nothing to focus on besides the boredom and the loneliness that comes with being the kid that moves around too often to have any solid friendships. Even now, I struggle to enjoy time off from my work as a chef, work that comes with an infinite succession of pressing tasks to focus on. I enjoy my quiet time in nature, but extended periods of time without work to do is something I’ve learned to avoid. It reminds me of the old saying, “idle hands are the devil’s playground.”
In my experience, the antidote was meaningful work. This is in addition to taking care of my health, acquiring freedom and autonomy in work, and figuring out that the trick is to value the actual work over the rewards.
A lot of us can't figure out how to create meaning in our lives, so we latch onto groups and their structures to create that meaning. But this an insecure source of meaning and some of us lose the self entirely because of that. I get the appeal. It rescues people from rumination, but the depression manifests in uglier ways directed at out groups.
In the beginning when God created man kind he gave them the task of taking care of the garden and to subdue the earth. He called his creation "very good" and I'd argue that the work man kind was given was part of his "very good" creation.
Poor mental health sounds like a soul who is craving but empty.
Proverbs 13:4 4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
"Just lock in" feels similar to Pointing Out instructions for meditation. Works wonders for insight when it works! But it's not systematic or "gears level" enough to get that insight
Endless mental rumination by talking obviously is bad, but there's a way to release the emotional blocks that stop people from locking in