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I ask myself this question as a first-level defense against propaganda.

The first correct answer is “because I put myself in a position where this message became physically visible to me.”

Take ownership. Of everything. Yes, meteors fall out of the sky and can bonk you on the head. But the reality is that almost always I did something to put myself in the metaphorical line of fire.

I kept seeing shitbags be shitbags on Twitter. And I would get agitated, which means that my life was worsened by some unknown person’s bloviation.“Why am I seeing this?” gave me a simple answer: because I installed the Twitter app on my phone, logged in, and started scrolling.

What’s in my control? The existence of a Twitter app on my phone. What’s not in my control? Shitbags shitbagging.

Obvious problem solved with the obvious solution. Far, far more effective than telling shitbags they are wrong and that they should stop shitbagging. Yeah, good luck with that.

The second step in anti-propaganda is to listen to the statement made and say, “Well, that’s a thought.”

As soon as I remind myself that the random shitbag’s utterance is just a thought, and there are many other possible thoughts, I remove the urge to agree or disagree with the statement.

That gives me permission to leave the topic undetermined and unsettled. I don’t have to choose amongst an infinite number of possible thoughts, and I certainly do not have to agree/disagree with the propaganda presented to me.

Deflect by taking yourself out of the line of fire. Disengage by realizing that this is just one of many ideas.

Carry on with your day. Take care of what you control. Ignore the stuff outside your control. Life gets better.

And no. It isn’t necessary for you to “keep up with the news and everything that is going on.” Because what you think is “the news” is not what’s going on. It’s propaganda presented to you for a specific reason that probably doesn’t affect you at all.

What is necessary is your character and integrity. That’s in your control. Own that task and pursue it in your daily life.

That’s my speech to myself today. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk to myself. (Picturing me on stage talking to one person in the audience in a vast auditorium, also me).

Music with vocals.

Lyrics are affirmations. Do I really want to be installing those affirmations into my brain? Probably not. Listen to instrumental music instead.

Modern music. Is any random song #Lindy? Probably not. Just think of all of the songs on the radio when you were a kid and how few still get air time. Listen to old stuff.

How old? How about 200 years or more, as a rough threshold? Chopin and Liszt, sure. But that’s about as modern as I care to go right now.

And if you’re going old, allow sacred choral music. That a good affirmation to install. This is an acceptable exception to the “No vocals” rule.

Minor key music. I noticed that this is my preference. Let’s switch it up to major key.

Podcasts. In the effort to level up I run a steady stream of podcasts into my ears. No. Time to do, and learn by doing. Not learn by listening. (Exception: learn a language.)

Or install silence. That’s what I’m doing right now.

Let the brain be undistracted by music or podcasts. See what thoughts come up and gently let the thoughts go. See where the brain and self-talk settles in, as default mode. I’ve been shouting it down for my entire life. I have avoided silence.

Yeah, I read Max Weber’s The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in college. So did you.

I’m now realizing that I have about five productive hours in me every day. Then the intellect and the hunger and drive to succeed isn’t so sharp. But my The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism brain module doesn’t turn off and I keep grinding for hours more, to negative effect.

Apparently the book describes something real in me. Or it spun a myth that I took as true.

It’s something to look at.

Probably isn’t compassion. It probably serves the giver more than the recipient of seemingly compassionate acts.

Anon is a good way of life. It keeps true motives visible.

I’m back here for journaling and writing and thinking. I created a Twitter anon alt. It’s easy to publish, easy to write. Got into a rhythm. A good, self-reinforcing rhythm.

What’s also easy is the distraction. Even though I followed only one person (a relentlessly positive poaster), I found myself off in the weeds of the Itchy and Scratchy Show that seemingly infects all who inhabit Twitter. And many of those who did not play the political bashing game seemed to be playing the commercial marketing game. Lemme sell you something. Or the ego game. I’m so smart, look at me.

No more Twitter. Back here. No agenda, no distraction, no commerce, no ego-stroking. I’m just here because it’s an easy, low-friction way to get stuff out of my head, with the added benefit of “I done did something!” because I hit “publish.” Yes, I am that shallow. There is no commerce because I’m not selling anything. There is no ego because I do my best to stay anon.

There is a Twitter account to accompany this blog. @reality_laughs. That’s me. It’s there. I think I will just leave it sitting, unused. It was a hidden method to promote readership of this site. That’s my ego, so the Twitter promotion must cease.

. . . is a thing. When looking at the environment for clues, remember that you are seeing the survivors — people, ideas, businesses, intact families, etc.

Some of these have stood the test of time. All are still being tested; their failure date has not yet arrived. Be mindful of this, too — just because it exists does not mean it is a survivor. It is a survivor up to now.

Time is the filter. Remember that everything worthwhile is Lindy.

But most of all, in your day-to-day life, remember this single imperative, your goal above all other goals:

The big lesson of survivor bias is that you should optimize for being a survivor.

Thank you @visakanv for that insight.

I think most people are lost, frankly. Only a few people do the inner work that is necessary to be at peace.

People give the facade of spiritual development and inner peace but they don’t have it.

People give the facade of “I got my shit together” but they don’t.

All it takes is imperfect efforts at spiritual growth. You don’t even have to be good at it. Just sincerely desire to change and take whatever shitty efforts you happen to be capable of at the moment.

Put those spiritual pennies and nickels in the piggy bank and after a while you have some real spiritual money. Everything is OK.

Who dares wins.

Passive income is a conjecture that the future is going to look like the past.

@dvassalo on Twitter

This is an important business insight.

It is also an important spiritual and personal insight. There is no “one and done.” There is no glide.

Keep working.

describing a desired outcome is a much more powerful signal than listing a set of attributes

@visakanv

Twitter thread from @visakanv:

1. Reality is whatever you want it to be

2. Reality is also whatever everyone else wants it to be

3. The ensuing infowar of all against all leads to consolidation…

4. reality now seems quite a bit more constrained than (1)

but the underlying power of 1 is still real…

you can repeat this whole thing with

1. you can do whatever you want

2. everyone else can also do whatever they want

3. ensuing conflict leads to consolidation – laws, enforcement, jobs, bills…

4. it appears that you can no longer simply do what you want

however…

the tension between 1 and 4 is uncomfortable to hold within oneself – (man is born free…) – and so a lot of people conclude that 1 is simply false, ie no longer true, that the era of action and initiative etc is past.

It’s less stressful to live like that in the short run…

… but in the long run it can be a kind of self-abdication, self-abandonment, like giving up one’s freedom, sovereignty, self-respect, etc etc. one becomes Institutionalised by Society, come to depend on the very walls that one resents

the opposite of being Institutionalized is to see how reality is just a sort of temporary consensus, full of chaotic noise and nonsense, and that you can hit Inspect Element to study it, examine it, and figure out opportunities that everyone else is missing bc they’re not looking

There is no spoon.