Month: February 2024

one of my beliefs that I haven’t articulated clearly yet: I think the irresistability of a great ask is almost independent of the asker and the asked.

a truly fantastic ask is something that the universe itself seems compelled to honor

a fantastic ask is not the same as a dramatic gesture, which can be imposing. a dramatic gesture is like, sending them 10 pages of DMs. it’s intimidating, overwhelming, selfish, unfair.

a fantastic ask is small but perfect, like a haiku you hear once and remember forever

@visakanv on Twitter, November 1, 2021

My personal, lived experience is that the universe delivers when specific requests/intentions are stated out loud. It has happened to me. And it will again.

Interesting wrinkle, dawning on me as a result of reading this thread: the universe delivers through people.

An ask uttered to the universe at large is useful. An ask uttered to a person is essential.

Ask well. Honor the universe and the people around you by asking well — and answering well when receiving a well-stated, crisp, well-intentioned request.

Can people be taught to ask well? Some, perhaps. A few. I rarely see people who examine and refine their thinking. Should I, in response to a poorly-formed ask, respond first with the fundamentals?

Life lesson here: everything is woo. Everything is work on one’s spiritual progress. Note I say progress: there is no spiritual attainment.

When looked at that way, the indicated action is easy. An ask, poorly-formed or not, comes from a place of spiritual development. Aim for that part of the person. Help that way. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” etc etc.

But don’t take that as a license to be a pompous asshole, and don’t forget that in addition to spiritual needs people sometimes just need a hamburger.

But. For yourself, for myself I should say — ask. I don’t ask frequently enough.

I am awake.

And aware of existence. My existence.

I am Here.

I Am.

One day, I am told, I will not Be. But right now, I Am.

the biggest lie i ever told myself was that i needed to feel a certain way [ready, fearless, confident] in order to do the things i wanted to

@melodaysong

Just go for it.

If you are creating an arbitrary precursor condition to reach up and touch the sky, you will work on that pre-condition, not your dream.

You may surmount that pre-condition to your dream, but if you do, you will keep creating one arbitrary precursor condition after another until you die.

And you will never touch the sky.

There are no pre-conditions to satisfy before you are authorized to reach up and touch the sky.

Don’t make up shit.

Just reach up and touch the sky.

Meanwhile, I’m happy because I decided that it’s OK to be happy.

What do you control?

Nothing outside yourself. That’s for sure.

Within yourself? Your thoughts, your moods, your actions?

Your actions, for sure.

Your thoughts? Well, they seem to drift in and out like clouds. But by focusing thoughts you can crowd out others. “God is with me now.” That worked — and works. Focus on what you want more of.

Your moods? Unclear.

So I’m focusing on what I want more of. Happy.

people asking for advice are often looking for something like “wear mouth tape” or “use blackout blinds” or some other bandaid intervention, but the deeper, truer solution to most persistent problems is more like “reconstitute your entire life around different fundamentals”

@visakanv on Twitter

the most important thing you can do is to actively look for the people you love, and make yourself easy to find

@noampomsky on Twitter

@visakanv idea

Build one for your new idea.

The loop you’re in right now ain’t it. Here you are making big money on a big deal project and you’re dreading it.

This journal is a win_loop. It decants thoughts out of my brain so they don’t bedevil me anymore.

I’ll tell you another win_loop. Get more sleep. You woke early this morning (fucking automatic sprinklers at 6 am), fed the dog and some water, then went back to bed. That extra sleep felt great.

Do more of that. You can schedule your work anytime you want. (That’s not a privilege, bitch. I worked hard for 40 years to make that happen. Fuck you and that privilege word.)

First, sleep.

Be clever if you like.

But keep your eye first on real world constraints.

No amount of clever will help if you are sleepy. No amount of clever will help if you need four people to get something done and you are alone. No amount of clever will solve (most) money problems.

Acknowledge reality.

ps: the ultimate (and perhaps only) true constraint is time.