Blog
Notes on attention
How minds actually work - anxiety, sleep, resentment, money - and what to do about them.
Pillar
The nine attention states: a map of where your mind actually is
Your attention is always somewhere in time and always carrying a charge. Nine positions, one map, and only one of them costs you nothing.
Present + Neutral: the state you do not have to build
The only one of nine positions that starts no chain reaction, and the thing most people get wrong about it: it is not something you build.
Can't sleep because you're thinking? The loop, and why fighting it feeds it
You did not lie down intending to worry. You lay down to plan tomorrow. Somewhere in there the tile changed, and fighting it is what keeps it going.
Replaying the argument
The conversation ended on Tuesday. It is Thursday and you have had it eleven more times. Why the loop runs, and what actually interrupts it.
I will be happy when: why both sides of every circumstance hurt
Having children produces difficult thoughts. So does not having them. Both sides of every circumstance hurt, which means the circumstance was never the source.
Why feeling good is the part nobody trains
We are disciplined when we feel bad and undisciplined when we feel good. That asymmetry is why steady wellbeing stays out of reach.
What anxiety actually is, structurally
Anxiety is attention held in the future while carrying dislike. Not a mood, not a flaw in temperament. A position, and positions can change.
Recognising a thought is not the same as rejecting it
The most common mistake in mental training is treating recognition as a verdict. It replaces one difficult thought with three.