Personal Research

Author: bill

  • Recursive Traps

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      "It is often possible to discern a structure to people’s difficulties, in which internal states and external events continually create the conditions for the recurrence of each other."  — Paul Wachtel Blushing is an example of a recursive structure. If blushing is embarrassing for me, then any feedback that I am blushing enhances the physiological…

  • The Soul Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts

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    You are not the passenger. You are the ride. At some point in the evolution of biological creatures, conscious awareness emerged. Abstract processing, which opens the door to self-consciousness, comes with opportunities as well as dangers: The opportunity: The higher mental faculties that come with consciousness—including imagination and abstract reasoning— give you the power to…

  • Ancient Wisdom

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      Nothing to Excess Know Thyself Certainty Brings Ruin Three recommendations were carved above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: Nothing to Excess Excessive appetites [addictive disorders] and excessive emotional reactions [relationship problems and neurotic disorders] are traps that have become part of your psyche as you developed through your lifespan. (To…

  • Irreversible Change

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    We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us, nor spare us — Marcel Proust Even though they know better, otherwise competent individuals repeatedly and apparently intentionally, cause themselves and their loved ones unnecessary suffering. Look back at your own history. Do you see…

  • An Invitation

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    . . . to choose the path of greatest advantage rather than yield in the direction of least resistance – George Bernard Shaw Addictions [excessive appetites] and relationship problems that result from excessive emotional reactivity are traps for the soul. Look back on your own history to see if there are recurring patterns of acting…

  • Studying Your Experience

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    Who looks outside, dreams Who looks inside, awakens — Carl Jung As remarkable and complex a structure as a neuron is, it does not possess consciousness. Consciousness requires a complex nervous system comprised of many neurons and sense organs. The nervous system you were born with is among the most complex structures in the universe,…

  • Attachment to Outcomes

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      Do not become attached to the things you like Do not maintain aversion to the things you dislike. Sorrow, fear, and bondage come from one’s likes and dislikes – Buddha Rational Emotive Therapy If you don’t get what you want you are disappointed, but if you don’t get what you need you will die. …

  • The Karma of Practice

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    Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.  —   Elbert Hubbard Performance becomes easier with practice. In fact, with enough practice, performance can become autonomous—that is, it requires no conscious attention at all. Consider activities such as driving a car or using a computer keyboard. When first attempted, performance is slow, hesitant, and…

  • Ruminative Self Focus

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    The secret to being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.  —  George Bernard Shaw We are all self-focused. Thoughts related to the self —  how I feel, why I feel that way, what other people think of me — are compelling. When this tendency is combined with the recursive…

  • Doing Personal Research

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    We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey than no one can take for us, nor spare us.  —  Marcel Proust The subjective experience of certainty is not an indication of objective truth. It is merely a creation of our cognitive apparatus. We must assume that our perceptions are valid…