Well if you've wrote about your subconscious subway and autopilot mode, you have indeed "examined your life". I think being mindful of not being mindful can be a thing too! And surrendering is such a virtue, sometimes we stress ourselves too much, on being mindful no exception. Thanks for this refreshing take of the other side of conscious living.
There is definitely value to "autopilot" and I totally forgot about it until these two weeks. It's certainly draining - I love a 30-min journaling session after a well-rested night of sleep and I had to forego this during the fortnight - but I couldn't have moved at that speed if not for autopilot.
Love the comparison of our autopilot mode to the subconscious subway, it’s so fitting!!
But also, being aware of the things you’re doing automatically or without thinking, as you’re doing so in this piece, is a kind of retrospective mindfulness too xD
"Socrates said an unexamined life is not worth living, but that’s big talk for a dude who was alive before the internet was a thing." Ha ha, loved this opening line Becky. Made me chuckle.
I'm glad, Rick! Now that I'm reading it... I should have said "Socrates said... but that's big talk for a dude who didn't have a job." since it flows better to the second paragraph. Writing is just forever rewriting I guess :)
I've been thinking about doing logs, too! But I'm not sure if I could keep it up or if I'll enjoy the process, especially since I often take expansive notes.
What's the distillation process like for you, and what's the one benefit you enjoyed the most?
There's definitely no right version to do logs. I thought about doing this because I often search my Substack feed very widely to find that ONE THING I wanted to reference but couldn't find it. So I thought doing a log - as expansive as it is - would make things easier.
One thing though is I don't put too much of my own private, personal thoughts into these logs. These are more like highlights or paraphrasing. The essay ideas and thoughts are always half-baked so I didn't want to put these out yet before they're ready.
A great benefit is having everything in one place. I don't do much distillation, mainly just copy-pasting from my notes that all get synced into Readwise. All the distillation happens in the essay drafts on google docs ;)
Man, it's always cool when you share the process of how you do things. I've been thinking that logs would have been a fun way to share what I'm learning. But with the way I take notes now, you helped me realize it might actually take up a lot of work for me. So I guess it all depends on the lifestyle - I'll keep the idea in mind though.
Can I just say, I love the image.
thank you so much! I definitely did not follow this guy from cart to cart just to get this frame...
Well if you've wrote about your subconscious subway and autopilot mode, you have indeed "examined your life". I think being mindful of not being mindful can be a thing too! And surrendering is such a virtue, sometimes we stress ourselves too much, on being mindful no exception. Thanks for this refreshing take of the other side of conscious living.
There is definitely value to "autopilot" and I totally forgot about it until these two weeks. It's certainly draining - I love a 30-min journaling session after a well-rested night of sleep and I had to forego this during the fortnight - but I couldn't have moved at that speed if not for autopilot.
Love the comparison of our autopilot mode to the subconscious subway, it’s so fitting!!
But also, being aware of the things you’re doing automatically or without thinking, as you’re doing so in this piece, is a kind of retrospective mindfulness too xD
That's so true! Take that, Socrates!
"Socrates said an unexamined life is not worth living, but that’s big talk for a dude who was alive before the internet was a thing." Ha ha, loved this opening line Becky. Made me chuckle.
I'm glad, Rick! Now that I'm reading it... I should have said "Socrates said... but that's big talk for a dude who didn't have a job." since it flows better to the second paragraph. Writing is just forever rewriting I guess :)
I've been thinking about doing logs, too! But I'm not sure if I could keep it up or if I'll enjoy the process, especially since I often take expansive notes.
What's the distillation process like for you, and what's the one benefit you enjoyed the most?
There's definitely no right version to do logs. I thought about doing this because I often search my Substack feed very widely to find that ONE THING I wanted to reference but couldn't find it. So I thought doing a log - as expansive as it is - would make things easier.
One thing though is I don't put too much of my own private, personal thoughts into these logs. These are more like highlights or paraphrasing. The essay ideas and thoughts are always half-baked so I didn't want to put these out yet before they're ready.
A great benefit is having everything in one place. I don't do much distillation, mainly just copy-pasting from my notes that all get synced into Readwise. All the distillation happens in the essay drafts on google docs ;)
Man, it's always cool when you share the process of how you do things. I've been thinking that logs would have been a fun way to share what I'm learning. But with the way I take notes now, you helped me realize it might actually take up a lot of work for me. So I guess it all depends on the lifestyle - I'll keep the idea in mind though.