appendix 2: preliminary/auxiliary practices (full)

This appendix the full contents of the preliminary/auxiliary practices. For the names of the preliminary/auxiliary practices, only, see this appendix:

[appendix 1: preliminary/auxiliary practices (names only)]

For information on what the preliminary/auxiliary practices are and how to use them, see this section:

preliminary/auxiliary practices

The practices:

do less:

If you happen to find yourself doing something, and you can stop doing it, and it’s ok or good to stop doing it, then allow this stopping to happen or participate in that stopping happening.

[This prelim/aux practice, and many of the others, are intended to be done while sitting quietly, but they can be adapted to other contexts.]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sense now:

Deliberately, in ways that are ok or good and safe, attend to and be aware of, consciously experience, sensations as such and know that that’s what you’re doing while you’re doing it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sense meta:

• If you happen to remember to try to do so, effortlessly rest in already effortlessly being aware of being aware [sic] of sensation(s) as such as it’s/they’re vividly and veridically happening right now.
• Said more pithily, be aware of being aware.
• Or, perhaps more accurately and evocatively, without having to fully parse the first bullet, be aware of being aware of what you’re being aware of. [sic]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

blend:

[Even or especially for "bad," "distracting," "unimportant" "incidental" stuff:] If it’s safe enough to do so, really play it up, get behind it, prime the pump, egg it on, [if applicable: reach for your best feel of that really being true, allow yourself to fall into the world where it is true], take that leap and ride the wave wherever it takes you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

unblend:

Be, like, huh, that’s funny, huh that seems weird, huh why do/did I think that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be moved:

To the degree you can allow yourself, to the degree you feel it’s safe or safe enough to be moved, to just find yourself doing/moving/vocalizing/twitching/acting/dramatizing/being/expressing/enacting/reenacting/feeling/dreaming/wanting/desiring/indulging, and to allow it to continue, to go with it, to go with the flow of it, do so.

comment:

e.g. shoulders hiking up and all manner of things --- you can gently participate, gently facilitate, gently help*; that's not always the right thing to do, but it often is.

*(but recommend against pushing, forcing, "making something go," etc., etc.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have experience:

As it is ok to be lost in movement, thought, or reverie. It’s also ok to be lost in sensation as it happens, e.g. in music or visual beauty or conversation or sex or other sensuality, etc. And it’s also ok if you can’t do this or it never (yet) happens.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel your body:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel your feelings:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

relax muscles:

Thus or e.g. experiment with “progressive relaxation.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel more:

Explore ways to change your posture, relax your muscles, let your chest and torso and stomach soften, etc., in a way that facilitates feeling your feelings and body sensations more easily or possibly more intensely and to possibly have more sensations become present.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel what feels good and bad and neutral:

Deliberately seek out positively valenced feelings and/or other sensations. Deliberately seek out negatively valenced feelings and/or other sensations. Deliberately seek out neutrally valenced or unvalenced sensations.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore what you (seem to) know, understand, expect, and remember:

Explore what you know. Explore your understanding of things. Explore what you expect. Explore your memories.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

put things into words, slowly, and maybe revise:

Thus; And consider writing by hand when you’re doing this.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

say or think truth:

Verbalize a maybe seemingly relevant maybe seeming truth / "truth". [sic]

comment:

Maybe gently repeat, let it go, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore *how* you’re thinking:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore *how* you’re believing:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore *how* you’re expecting:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

attend to things and sensations:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

imagine:

Imagine or simulate something, involving the use of visual imagery, if possible.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

move grossly the “attention/​thinking” muscles:

Deliberately move your eyes, jaw, tongue, head/neck, glottis, lips, palate.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice and light move/influence the subtle “attention/​thinking” muscles:

Notice, and possibly lightly influence subtle muscle activity and subtle sensation of the eyes, jaw, tongue, back of the neck, back of the head, glottis, lips, palate.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

interrupt thought:

Interrupt or suppress thought or other mental activity, or catch it/them before it/they start(s) via (smooth/abrupt switching to) attending to things/objects or sensations or awareness of now or the present moment as such/being in the moment. Interleave or switch between thinking/imagining/reverie, interrupting thought, attending to locations on or in the body, and feeling your feelings.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be breathed:

Release the voluntary component of your breathing as much as possible and let involuntary breathing take over.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

interrupt anything:

Interrupt, suppress, distract from, switch from an emotion, a response, a reaction, a feeling, an urge, an impulse, a craving/thirst, a thought, inner verbalizing, reverie, automaticity, movement, an intention, a train of thought, pursuit of a particular goal, a local plan, attention to a sensation...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

concentrate perfectly on something:

Pick a sensory object, e.g. a visual patch, and reflectively attend to it. Don’t just look; see. Don’t just touch; feel. Don’t just listen; hear, etc. Notice subtle or gross wavering or interjection.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be here, now:

Thus and notice subtle or gross wavering or interjection.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

just this:

Incline towards in the seeing, just the seen; in the hearing, just the heard, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do deliberately:

Do something deliberately.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meaning-making:

Consider or say something, anything new. Or experience what comes prior to that, liminally verbally or completely nonverbally.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meaning-dissolving:

Find something that was true, meaningful, or coherent, that becomes untrue or nonsensical when you consider it anew or when reflectively considered for this first time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fill-in-the-blank:

Create or find a sentence, assertion, or statement with a blank. Incline towards filling in the blank.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

wonder about something:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pose a question:

Pose a complete, well-formed question. You might right write it down and refine it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

incline towards answering a question:

Pick a well-formed question. Incline towards answering it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find a disendorsed belief:

Find and be aware of a batshit crazy, schizophrenic, ugly, mean, fantastical, from childhood belief or “seeming-ness” that you’d rather not have/believe/experience. For now, just allow it to be or see if it naturally changes.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice yourself talking to yourself:

Notice yourself talking to yourself, the reminding, convincing, suggesting, denying, etc. For now, just allow it to be or see if it naturally changes.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice the experience of other-ness:

Notice other/​alien/​foreign/​friend/​enemy/​parental/​sibling/​group/​communal/​cultural/​global voices and impulses in you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice “feared truth”:

Notice a “feared truth” (or the “shadow” of one), something that would be terribly bad or would have terribly bad implications or ramifications if it were (definitely/decisively/actually) true.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reason with yourself:

Agnostically, impartially, gently, infinitely patiently, non-coercively reason or dialogue with yourself.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

jump:

Attend to a “random” spot on or in the body.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sequence:

Attend to a “random” sequence of spots on and/or in the body, the sensory surround, or knowing or meaning or anything.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

bodymind talks:

Allow words to come, ideally without presupposition or preconception. Let the bodymind talk to you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explain something:

Explain how something works to yourself, to a rubber duck, to another person.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

the beginning of explanation:

About something, ask, what explains this? How did this come to be, and, what’s going on, here?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

purposefulness:

About something you’re doing/feeling/experiencing or you intend to do, ask, for what purpose am I doing this? For what purpose is this happening (to me)?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

articulation:

Try to put something inchoate into words. When you have some words, see if they fit, and see if there are parts which don’t have words for which you need to find more words.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

single word:

See if you can find the right, single word for something.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

subtle and fast:

See if you can find a place in you, on you, or outside of you where your sensations are subtle and fast-changing.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hard to attend to:

Notice where it’s hard to pay attention. Don’t force yourself to pay attention there, right now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

problem and solution:

Pick a problem you have and try to come up with a solution in any way that comes to you to try.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be there for yourself:

Thus, and, whatever you need, try to give it to yourself, directly, right now, in the right way.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be there for yourself, age-appropriately:

Thus, and, whatever you need, try to give it to yourself, directly, right now, in the right way. And, try to take into account any felt age, how old the relevant parts of you feel, any feeling-of-being-there sense or memory.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be a mother, father, big brother, big sister, mentor, teacher, most-trusted-friend-to-yourself, age-appropriately:

Thus, and, whatever you need, be the person that can give you the right thing, directly, right now, in the right way, and do so as best you can. And, try to take into account any felt age, how old the relevant parts of you feel, any feeling-of-being-there sense or memory. If safe, perhaps they know exactly what you’re thinking and feeling, and can respond exactly appropriately with exactly what you need.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual resourcing:

Alongside what actually happened, imagine a better version of a memory. How could it have gone in some other world (that ultimately, downstream, might provide you with exactly what you need right now)? Let it be complementary to the original memory or experience in sense and fidelity. Explore what, in some other world, could have been the best possible age-appropriate you, immersively there, then.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual avoidance:

Alongside something bad that actually happened, as best you understand it, how could you have avoided that? Or, how would that not have happened, had you only know... what?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

imaginary conversation:

Imagine a conversation between two people, complete with possibly hazy setting and dialogue.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

imaginary self-insert conversation:

Imagine you’re dialoging/conversing with someone, about whatever topics you’re drawn to.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

planning:

Explore planning or your plans.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

goals:

Explore goal setting or your goals.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

todo lists:

Explore your physical or mental todo list(s) or explore what might go on one.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ideal day:

Concretely imagine how you’d spend a “normal ideal day.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

positive and negative motivation and evaluation:

Explore the objects and experiences of current and remembered

(a) thirst, craving, impulse, urge, appetite, motivation, “intrinsic motivation,” self-nudge, love, limerance, meaningfulness, hope, desire, longing, liking, loving, wishing, dreaming, lusting, wanting, desiring, needing, and

(b) that which is beautiful, wonderful, extraordinary, awe-inspiring, delicious, delectable, awesome, staggering, disarming, heavenly, divine, glorious, completing, be-all-end-all, the-whole-point, only-thing-that-matters, true-reason(s)-to-do-anything, elegant, sublime, hot, sexy, devastating-in-a-good-way, perfect, destined/fated/inevitable-in-a-good-way, satisfying, warming, fulfilling, relieving, engaging, likable, and

(c) that which is disgusting, evil, bad, hateful, gross, undesirable, horrible, terrible, unwanted, noxious, aversive, desperation-related, out-of-control-ness-related, dislikable.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

inner conflict:

Explore current inner conflict, the goodness, the badness, the endorsement, the disendorsement, the good but feels bad, the bad that feels good, the bad that should feel good, the good that should feel bad, what hurts so good, what hurts so bad, what you want to want, what you want to not want...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

inner confusion:

Explore current inner confusion.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

self-soothe [jd]:

Reassure yourself. Hold yourself. Be gentle on/to yourself. Talk to or treat yourself like you might a young child.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

relax [jd]:

Take deep breaths. Take it easy. Loosen up. Untense. Relaxxxxxxxx.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

think with your body [jd]:

Explore what it’s like to “think” while attending to or moving attention through your body.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

live lightly [jd]:

Make yourself a cup of tea. Go for a walk in the neighborhood. Read a book on a porch on a sunny day

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

trust your body, trust your mind [jd]:

Trust that the thing that's currently/presently/ongoingly happening is the right thing. Trust that your body and mind know the best path forward. Follow its lead. Listen to its clues.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don’t run away from the present / explore the present / return to the present [jd]:

What is good or bad, right here, right now? What is going on, right here right now? What could be improved or better, right here right now? What could be tweaked or different, right here right now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel your feelings [jd]:

Let them move, shift, expand, spread. Let it flow. Let it flow through you. Allow it (all). Surrender to it. Fully fall into it (if it's safe to do so)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

label [jd]:

Label (put words to) your experience. What’s happening? What's going on?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find good, find bad [jd]:

What is (presently, ongoingly) happening that is good or bad? What are you (presently, ongoingly) doing that is good or bad?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

embrace nebulosity [jd]:

If it’s good to do so, lean-in-to/embrace the churn/uncertainty/not-knowing/intensity/confusion/ambiguity/unknowing/chaos/(meaninglessness?) of the ever changing flow of experience, whatever that might be or where it might go. Notice the aversion to doing so, and the impulse to retreat to the safe/reified/conceptual.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

welcome experience [jd]:

Welcome, allow, accept, receive, let in, make space for, give breathing room to ... whatever is happening in experience.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

examine avoidance [jd]:

Notice: is there anything you are currently/presently/ongoingly avoiding or running away from? If so: would it be good to not do so? are you able to not do so? is it safe to not do so?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do what feels good:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

patiently wait with what feels bad:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

patiently wait with “something’s bad but don’t know what or where”:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

uncrush crushed desires:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

physically dramatize, physically act out:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore the experience of masculine gendered power:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore the experience of feminine gendered power:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore the experience of feminine gendered intimacy/​connection/​compassion/​warmth/​love:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore the experience of masculine gendered intimacy/​connection/​compassion/​warmth/​love:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore childlike power:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore childlike playfulness:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore childlike connection, love, etc.:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore masculine gendered sensuality:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore feminine gendered sensuality:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore masculine gendered desire:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore feminine gendered desire:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

go crazy; dance, flail, yell, jump, fuck:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore not orgasming; explore magnifying sexual desire/​arousal/​motivation:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do something all wrong; do something incorrectly:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore joy in another’s success or happiness:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore reluctance to forgive; explore grudgingness:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hang out with “chakras” and extremities:

Steadily attend, for a prolonged period of time (but not too long), to your hands, your feet, or (particularly your lower) “chakras”, near the surface or in the depths of your body: root/perineum, (sacrum), genitals, tan tien/dan tien, navel/hara, solar plexus, heart...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

attend to nonsymbolic cognition:

What were you just thinking about, even if that thinking wasn’t in words? It was probably about something, real or imaginary.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

attend in, on, or outside the body:

Decide whether you’ll attend to sensations inside, on, or outside the body. Then do just that for a bit.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

just sit or stand, deliberately, reflectively, actively, with perfect posture:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

facilitate drive, motivation, grit; psych yourself up to *do*:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

plan with your whole body, not just your head:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel your plans/​intentions/​goals change (or not) in your body:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

change an intention, plan, or goal:

Thus. Change what you’re going to do, if you can (at this time). You might see if, unforcily, you can have the change be effortlessly, unreflectively stable, until you you fulfill it or it makes sense to modify it. (The change might be an addition, removal, or modification of an existing intention, plan, or goal.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

figure or dont:

Work on figuring something out. Or, do something besides, do you anything besides, figuring something out

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do something without asking permission:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be actually good to someone without their consent:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

solve or dissolve:

Explore whether you’re (a) altering your plans and intentions for changing the world or (b) altering your beliefs and desires to shape yourself to the world or (c) both, in this moment. (Note that (a), technically, is shaping yourself to the world as well.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

directness or indirectness:

Explore whether you can just directly go after something and have it, do it, be it, or achieve it. Or, are you planning, learning, preparing, etc. If you are doing the latter, why not the former?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore a conflicted desire:

Thus; explore how bad if feels (for whatever reasons); explore how good it feels (for whatever reasons).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

concretely imagine:

Imagine something in full, concrete detail, perhaps including first-person experience from a first-person perspective.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reminisce:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

desire backwards:

Follow the evolution of a desire backwards in time. “Float back” using a gradient of the feeling of that desire, the feeling of those times...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual desire:

Imagine what you would have wanted then had it been ok to elaboratively want it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice interjection:

Notice when thoughts or feelings come up that are against your “main forward direction.” Explore good and bad ways to interact with those interjections, e.g. ignore, befriend, tolerate, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

retrospective self-giving:

Imagine you’re giving your younger self exactly what they wanted and needed then; experience the “immersive feel” of this.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

honor or respect all of your desires:

Thus, across all times, places, ages, parts of you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice distantly related yet contradictory desires:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice unreflective automaticity:

Thus, as if you are waking (to/)from a (lucid) dream.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pose questions to yourself:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore having two different things in mind simultaneously:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what you want, you want:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

body agreement:

Before taking a physical or mental action, see first if the body agrees, and abide by any disagreement.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

play games with symbols( e.g. words):

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

question problem basis:

As a provisional alternative to trying to directly make something ok, through mind (thought) or action, try exploring the presuppositions and premises that make X not ok in the first place.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

give up; let go; fail completely:

Thus. (if/when it’s safe and actually good to do so)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

scan in, on, or outside the body (body scan; environmental scan):

Decide whether you’ll explore sensations inside, on, or outside the body. Then systematically/comprehensively do just that for a bit.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

take a break:

Thus; do something completely different for at least three days, ideally without cheating/without exceptions.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch for beginnings (of awareness of sensing and knowing):

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch for endings (of awareness of sensations):

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch for changes (in knowing/​seeming/​expecting):

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch for “was there all along” experiences:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch for “real reasons (for doing/​being/​feeling)” (that were “previously just out of view”):

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

quiet, stable, fine-grain examination:

As best you can, have a quiet and stable mind. Examine the changing of sensations (perhaps investigating momentary in a single place or “place”) at the finest grain of detail.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

freewrite:

Without forcing, write or type whatever comes to mind, keep going. Make the word count as high as you can. Free-draw, free-anything.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

parts:

Ask what a part of you or a thing in you is. Ask what it’s doing. Ask what it wants, what its purpose is, what it’s for. Ask yourself what’s good for you about that part or thing being there doing its thing. Ask it what it has that you yourself want or need? Ask yourself what good thing is it doing for you? You might temporarily release/drain your own will from that part or thing, let it do or be exactly what it wants, pretending or making it so you can’t directly affect or control it; and, then, as above/previously, only ask questions and make and follow suggestions, requests, and counteroffers.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

goodness of badness:

Explore what’s good (or useful or necessary), if anything, about bad things, including feeling bad or being bad, in general and for particular badness.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

soften:

Explore if you can become soft where you are currently hard.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

chain questions:

Thus, that is, ask a question and use the answer to that question (or parts of that answer) in a new question, and repeat with that answer in a new question, and so forth.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

beginnings and endings:

Look for beginnings and endings of presence (of experience) and absence (of experience). (ideally “minimally; without adding anything or taking anything away”)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stability and change:

Look for stability and change

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore symbolic mediation, lack thereof, and how you might take a break:

Look for how verbalizing, categorizing, symbolizing, organizing, listing, structuring, narrativizing, referencing might be getting in the way. See if you can temporarily set all that aside.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

chose enjoyment:

When in doubt, choose the enjoyable option (and fully enjoy).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

chose nonverbal:

When in doubt, choose the nonverbal/wordless option.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

flesh out worlds:

Imagine how things might or actually be, even if you are uncertain as to whether those things are actually the case. Imagine more parts of the worlds you might be in.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

solutioning worlds:

Imagine fantastic, near-realistic, and realistic worlds where all your problems are solved.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

getting and gearing:

Notice when you’re “getting yourself” to do something versus it just happening. Notice when you’re “gearing yourself up” to do something versus just knowing you’re going to do it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

dwell in safety:

Find and dwell in safety, if only temporarily.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be insane:

Be insane; be crazy; be batshit insane.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be bad:

Be bad; be evil; be malevolent

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be good:

Be gentle; be kind be; compassionate.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be out of control:

Find a way to be safe enough, and then be dangerously out of control

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask about goodness and badness:

Ask, “What’s good about that?” Ask, “What’s bad about that?”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be as human as you happen to be, right now:

Be human; be imperfect; be flawed. (You can/could truly aspire to true perfection, but allow yourself to be what you are right now, say, which is inclusive of that aspiration.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterexample:

Find counterexamples to thoughts, beliefs, assertions, written content, things that other people say...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

perspective-taking:

Take person A’s perspective. Take person A’s perspective on person B’s perspective, and so on. Take person A’s perspective on your perspective. Take person A’s perspective on your perspective of person A’s perspective.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

encourage it; egg it on:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

leave your comfort zone or explore leaving your comfort zone:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore doing what feels wrong to do:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

try temporarily letting go of your sacred objects, your sacred touchstones:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

temporarily and briefly block resist refuse some impulse/​urge/​inclination/​reflex/​action/​doing:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

study your sensations as such for the purpose of understanding:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be liminally verbal; on the edge of almost not quite words/language:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

identity:

Ask yourself, “Who you are being right now?” Ask yourself, “Which one are you right now?”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

noninterference:

Enter into something allowing it to be exactly as it is.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be a self-friend:

Would you treat a dear friend that way with respect to X? Treat yourself as you would a dear friend with respect to X.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

take a long, slow, dreamy walk in a safe place:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

study:

Study particular sensations or knowing so as to figure them out.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seeping into; keeping company:

Seep into yourself or into some sensations or keep some knowing company. Don’t try to change any of it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

describe:

describe what’s happening, describe what seems to be the case, describe what’s salient, describe what’s relevant

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explicate/​articulate:

Put knowing into words; what is relevantly coming up that you know right now, that you might not have known that you know?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

bare sensations as such:

regard/construe all real time experience as bare sensations as such

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mind-only:

explore how everything (or not) is just an expression of your mind (or not)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

acquiesce:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

give X exactly what it wants:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

become:

(Temporarily or not) become X.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

relevance:

List what’s relevant and maybe try to determine why those things are relevant.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

state awareness:

Decide in what ways you’re in a temporary state right now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe fear:

Make it safe to feel fear and to know what you’re afraid of.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore intuition:

Explore taking intuitions seriously, including those for which you don’t have any obvious rational evidence (or whatever). Be psychic. Be clairvoyant. You can hold intuitions provisionally while you explore them.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

question inner things:

Ask questions of distinct things in/of you: What are you? Who are you? Where did you come from? How did you come to be? How did you get here? What do you want? What would be good for you?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

minimality:

Back off, utter lightweight-ness: do the lightest most minimal possible version of whatever you’re doing or want to do or want to try.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have fun:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be openminded:

Be radically open to what might be true. Be unfiltered in your consideration of what might be true.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ok to hate:

Hate until/if you don’t.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

shackles:

Ask, is X “shackles on” or “shackles off? [via Martha Beck’s Finding Your Own North Star and Steering by Starlight]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel all towardsness:

Feel or allow yourself to feel your desire, wanting, longing, preferring, taste, hoping, wishing, needing, craving, thirsting, hungering, lusting...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

your heart sing:

Remember/imagine (concretely) something that did/does/would make your heart sing (at least the first time or every time).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

exhaustivity/​comprehensiveness/​systematicity:

Ask, is that it? Is there more? Anything else? What is the next thing? And the next? How do I know that I’m done? How will I know I’m done? How do I know there’s more?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

go down a prefab list:

Run through all these practices to find ones that feel/seem good, currently. Run through all main practices to find ones that feel/seem good, currently. Try the meta protocol if you haven’t for a while. Try other collections besides ones in this document.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

locate a deep felt sense [h]:

How do you really feel right now? What deeper feelings are beginning to surface? What nebulous thing is going on at the edges of your awareness? The vaguer the better. Try to put it into words, or not.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

compare/align sensory streams [h]:

Hold two or more different sensory streams in awareness at the same time, notice how they complement/corroborate/contradict each other. For example, while walking, pay close attention to what you see alongside sensations coming from the feet. Or while tapping a tabletop, pay attention to what you hear alongside sensations in the hands.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

iteratively examine motivation [h]:

To what end am I doing what I am currently doing? And why that? And why that? &c. Can be meta-applied as well: in the course of inquiring what one is doing & why, one may inquire as to what one is doing in inquiring as such, and why.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

refactor agency [h]:

À la V. Rao (https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/11/27/patterns-of-refactored-agency/). Notice a thought or framing of some occurrence, and split/clump/invert/rotate/refactor the agency/will of whatever is involved. Some examples: “Those flowers are alluring” → “Those flowers want to be admired”; “I want to eat the doritos” → “The doritos want to feed me”; “I hate this traffic” → “This traffic jam is angry with itself”; etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

invent a concept [h]:

Name the heretofore unnamed. Slice reality along a new axis.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mindful hygiene [h]:

Practice hygiene slowly, attentively. Brush your teeth; floss; brush your hair; shave; wash your hands/face; bathe; trim nails; apply ointments/lotions.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mindful eating [h]:

Eat slowly, attentively. Do you want another bite? Which bite do you want? How does it feel when you put it in your mouth, as you chew? Temperature, texture, flavor? What happens when you swallow? Can you feel your stomach receiving the food?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

examine time [h]:

Examine the passage of time (perhaps while attending to a particular sensation, such as an ongoing noise, or perhaps not).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do it more slowly [h]:

If it’s okay to do so, slow down in whatever you’re doing. Slow down more. And more. And juuuust a bit more.

Also: Take something you do in a split second and do it over 2-15 seconds.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hug yourself [h]:

Hug yourself. Touch yourself lovingly. Caress, rub, massage, hold. Which parts want attention? Let your body be an instrument of care for itself.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

want everything [h]:

To whatever degree(s) it’s good & safe to do so, allow yourself to fully and totally desire everything desirable, large & small, good & bad, immediate & far-reaching. Want it all.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

want nothing [h]:

To whatever degree(s) it’s good & safe to do so, allow yourself to fully and totally release/forgo any and all desires. Accept this & now as sufficient and complete.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

disclaim (and reclaim) volitionality:

Interact with yourself, or parts of yourself, or what’s in you, only through a respectful interface; disclaim volitionality for what’s behind the interface. Drain your will from it. Temporarily treat it as not you. How can you affect it, now? What’s the right way to interact with it under these conditions?

Also: Do the opposite. Reclaim as makes sense, which might be an equal amount.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

take a break:

Take a break from everything. Take a complete break. Totally rest, temporarily.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

listen:

Listen for something faint and distant.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

imagine/​hallucinate:

Try to hallucinate life-sized, three-dimensional people, appearing/existing around you in your present physical space, as a problem-solving tool, a general exploratory tool, for fun, for sexual fantasy.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

desire factoring:

Imaginatively remove (and maybe put back) things from something you desire until you figure out the essence of what you desire in the thing.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore dimensions of phenomenology:

In what you’re experiencing right now, explore meaning-laden, phenomenology; explore meaningful phenomenology; explore valenced/unvalenced phenomenology (pleasant/unpleasant); explore the absolute, mediate, and immediate causes and conditions of phenomenology, explore the and immediate and mediate effects of phenomenology.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pain of lack:

Feel the pain of lacking, the pain of not having.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

wanting versus liking:

Explore the relationship between what you want (to do/have/experience) and what you, at least historically, *know* you *like* to experience. Explore the relationship between what you want to avoid and what you know you don’t like to experience.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

resource testing:

Imagine yourself with various extra resources, only one or two at a time (money, very nice clothing, healthy solid relationship)—what changes? How would things be different?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

only this moment:

Temporarily pretend only this moment exists.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

exactly what it needs:

Imaginatively/bodily/experientially give something exactly what it needs, exactly the relationship it needs, with the person/entity it needs (friend, parent), in the language and concepts it needs, with the emotions it needs, that that something can feel, experience, and understand.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

as a friend:

Ask, what advice would you give a friend about this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

querying ability:

Ask, could you do that? How would you do that? How would you solve that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

its job, it’s goal:

Ask something in you, that might not be you, what its job is, its goal, its purpose. Ask what it needs. Ask what’s good about it being there? Explore its felt goodness and badness.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

bad counterfactual actuality:

Ask, would it be bad if this/that/X weren’t true? Ask, would it be bad if this/that/X were true?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

state/find the X:

State the inner conflict, state the contradiction, state the physical impossibility (such as “those two things can’t coexist in the same space or be done with these resources or go faster than the speed of light or teleport). Or just find it; you don’t have to state it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seek implicit understanding:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seek explicit understanding:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find the sparkle:

Find the childhood and/or teenage parts of you that sparkle with wonder and joy and appreciate and enjoy them and embody them

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

intention:

What are you intending, planning, willing, right now? What is your intention [with respect to X]?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual closure:

Ask, what you could have done differently, along with some minimal other changes to a situation, so that X bad thing wouldn’t have happened? Or that would have made the bad thing ok?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stretch [h]:

Like a cat that just woke up from a long nap. Try while standing, lying down, or in some other position. Shoulders back, chest out, get on your tippy-toes & arch that spine, yawn, vocalize, release!

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

connect deeply with purpose/​value/​meaning/​goodness [h]:

Notice your current situation/trajectory, and connect as deeply as you can with how this situation/trajectory is (now & ongoingly) meaningful & valuable, what purpose it serves, what broader good(ness) it relates to, etc. In what ways is today good/meaningful/valuable? How does the goodness/meaningfulness/value of today connect to the goodness/meaningfulness/value of your entire life?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice the past [h]:

Notice momentary or ongoing conceptions of the past.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice the future [h]:

Notice momentary or ongoing conceptions of the future.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice discomfort [h]:

Are you (greatly or subtly) uncomfortable right now? Which sensations tell you that you are uncomfortable? Why doesn’t everything about right now feel great/fine/perfect?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

attention pulled:

Let your attention be drawn places and maybe actively stay there for a bit once you get there.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

volitional attention:

Attend somewhere two-dimensional or three-dimension or n-dimensional or non-dimensional, specifically, for at least a brief time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

liminal/nonverbal [inspired by h]:

Do what you’re already doing but deliberately move towards going it liminally verbally or nonverbally.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

curiosity for disagreement:

Have respectful curiosity and inquisitiveness for what happens to be in you or is a part of you, that you disagree with.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

resist attentional capture (1):

Some of the time, temporarily, concentrate (on something). Facilitate attentional capture.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

resist attention capture (2):

Some of the time, temporarily, have a wide, open, fuzzy focus. Concentrate on everything or no-thing. Relax, do this minimally, minimally reactively, as minimally involved as you can.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

balance foreground and background [cf Lippmann and Culadasa]:

Become aware of everything you can become aware of, in the “background,” while also attending to a “foreground” object. The background is in your peripheral awareness (cf. peripheral vision). Look both at and “through” the foreground object. Balance the salience of foreground and background so that they are potentially seamless in brief moments or stably.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look past (interpretive) overlays:

Look at something; look past that at “what’s really going on.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

the really truly possibly really good in the bad:

With the expectation that there’s something good and important, there, a wisdom of some kind: Ask would it be good to keep doing this bad thing? How would it be good to keep doing this good thing? Would it be bad to stop doing this bad thing? How/why would it be bad to stop doing this (at least partially) bad thing?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

the chakras:

Attend for some time to each chakra, bottom to top, including genitals. Hara. Hands. Feet.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

microcosmic orbit:

Move attention slowly through microcosmic orbit (loop around front and back of body from crown of head to perineum and back) in the direction [down the front, up the back; up the front, down the back] that feels most smooth.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

bad to know/​understand/​see/​be-able-to-tell:

Ask, is it bad to know [about] X, bad to understand [something about] X, bad to be able to see [something about X], bad to be able to tell something about X? If so, how did that come to be? Why? How do you know? How did you come to know?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

homomorphic ostension or reference:

Come up with a metaphor, simile, allusion, allegory, analogy, or story for a relevant thing that might be otherwise hard to put into words. In that, what’s the problem, in that language/structure/ontology? What could be added inside that language/structure/ontology/logic? What’s obviously missing when seen from inside that? How would manipulate that to solve the thing, strictly inside or that language/structure/ontology?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

being/from:

Ask, is this from me? Is this from you? Is this me? Is this you? Is this him/her/per/them?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

somatic refactoring:

Feel and relax your way into beneficial “somatic refactoring.” Let the body naturally and intricately change.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore the body:

Exhaustively, but loosely, sensitively, being willing to back off or let go, explore the entire value of the body with your attention, little by little. If you can’t attend somewhere, don’t force attention into the area. Explore what feels good and bad about this and what seems good and bad about doing it in different places and a different times.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fix/solve/solve:

Ask, can you do X/that? Can you fix X/that? Can you solve X/that? Can you handle X/that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

provenance and historical explanation:

Ask, how did that/X come to be?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

looking/checking with what you already have:

Ask can you look to see whether that’s true or not? Can you find that out with what you already have? (If not, can you get more information if you need it? How? Can you do that? Will you do that?)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

personal evaluative comparison:

Ask, for me, why do I want/choose/like/desire/pick/etc this/X versus that/Y. Which is better or worse? More good or less good versus each or the other?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meaning:

Ask what does it/X/that mean?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ghost/energy hands:

Touch your body or feel into your body with ghost/energy hands.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fractured reality:

Feel the fractures of reality. Feel how reality is broken.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look down through the body:

Look down through your neck into your body from the inside

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look at the back of you head [after Headless Way?]:

Look at the back of your head from the outside without the aid of a mirror, phone, anything.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be (pop?) zen:

No goal, nowhere to go, nothing to do, no escape, start or where you are, gateless gate, stateless state.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stop trying to escape the now:

Temporarily stop trying to escape from exactly what’s happening, exactly how it’s happening, and exactly what it is that’s happening.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

take a break:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

collect simultaneous attentional objects:

“Collect” things in your awareness to pay attention to, and attend them sequentially or simultaneously.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ghost/energy body:

Be physically relatively still, but walk and move with your “ghost” body or “energy body.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

acceptance:

Accept that this is your life now or in fact always was.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

instantaneous immortality:

Noticed that in this moment you literally cannot just directly and successfully choose to die.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

expand:

Expand into the available space, “outer” or “inner.” Accept/become the available space, “outer” or “inner.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

broken phenomenology:

Feel your “‘broken’ phenomenology”; rest in it, all of yourself with it, as it is.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

inability/​can’t/​ability/​can:

If you find you can’t do something, explore how to phrase it conditionally:

(You might ask, why can’t I do this? How can I come to be able to do this? How did I come to not be able to do this? How do I know I can’t do this?)

can’t X while Y
can’t X when Y
can’t X until Y
can’t X since Y
can’t X where Y
can’t X because Y
can’t X without Y
etc.

Then, if it might be good to able to do X even while the conditions obtains, you might ask something like:

How might I be able to do X even while Y? What are some worlds where I might be able to do X even while Y? even when Y? even if it’s not Y yet? even if Y has since obtained? even if Y holds? even if Y? even without Y?

Or, if it might be good to not have the condition obtain so you can do X, you might ask something like:

If Y prevents: How might I not have Y obtain? Are there good worlds where Y doesn’t obtain? What might such a world look like? How might I know I were in such a world? Might I be in such a world already or how might I arrive in such a world?

If Y enables: How might I have Y obtain? Are there good worlds where Y does obtain? What might such a world look like? How might I know I were in such a world? Might I be in such a world already or how might I arrive in such a world?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stimulate all your senses [a]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

minimize sensory input [a]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

shackles:

Ask, is X “shackles on” or “shackles off? [via Martha Beck's Finding Your Own North Star and Steering by Starlight]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

exertion [ae]:

Exert yourself past a few layers of muscular and cardiovascular exhaustion, but not so many that you have to stop, to achieve a difficult goal.

comment:

This one needs refinement of scope and clarity, and also careful consideration of safety in the most literal ways. For me comes from climbing, hiking, alpinism: "Exert yourself past a few layers of muscular and cardiovascular exhaustion, but not so many that you have to stop, to achieve a difficult goal." I'm pointing at something that feels qualitatively different to me than HIIT-type pushing to failure. It seems important that there is a summit or whatever to get to (and come back from!) and what you are doing is ultimately unsustainable but will last you just the next hour/day/relevant medium term, and somehow you are doing a bunch of inference to figure out just how hard that means pushing yourself right now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don’t despair [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

dwell in unknowing/​uncertainty/​confusion [j]:

(Allow/let yourself) dwell in unknowing/​uncertainty/​confusion.

comment:

cf Keats’ idea of negative capability (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

play a character [h]:

Thus.

comment:

a character whose traits are very different from the ones you typically embody; can happen either in private or in public; can be an existing character (e.g. gandalf) or an archetype (e.g. motherly woman) or something else entirely; how does your character move, think, speak, carry him-/her-/itself? what is different, when you’re this character, than when you’re not this character?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stream-of-consciousness writing [h*]:

Allow yourself to transcribe your stream-of-consciousness as best you can.

comment:

can be centered on a topic/feeling/thought/idea, or unconstrained; find a pace that works & capture on paper as much as you can that enters your awareness — don’t worry about structure or coherency; then reflect on what you wrote, or not.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore gratitude [h*]:

Ask, what are you grateful for, right now? How do you know you’re grateful? What does it feel like? What don’t you feel grateful for? What is it like not to feel grateful? What causes gratitude or non-gratitude? What is different about your relationship with [thing you’re grateful for] compared to your relationship with [thing you’re not grateful for]?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore courage [h*]:

Ask, what would the courageous thing to do be, with respect to X? How does it feel to [imagine] carry[ing] out courageous action? How does courage relate to fear? Without forming intentions to actually execute them, explore scenarios of enacting courage.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mindful pooping [h*]:

Poop mindfully.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do something uncomfortable or difficult [h]:

Non-coercively do something you find uncomfortable or difficult (but which you will retrospectively endorse). E.g. take a cold shower; chat up a stranger; fast for a day; etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice your voice [h]:

Carefully listen to & feel your own voice as you speak in daily life.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

consider death [h]:

Consider [the idea of] death, as much as it is safe & good to do so. For instance, what is death? What memories, concepts, thoughts, and feelings arise in connection with the idea of death? Are you afraid of death? What would it mean not to be afraid of death? Can you imagine facing death right now? What specifically would be bad about dying right now? What about the deaths of others? Do non-living things die?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be broken [h]:

Be broken, crushed, shattered, utterly defeated, crippled, collapsed, damaged, riven.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

affirm everything [h]:

To anything expressed by yourself or another, respond: “totally.“/”definitely.“/”100%.“/”right on.“/”yeah!”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

catch flinching [h]:

Notice when you flinch, turn away, shut down, distract yourself, change the subject, compulsively open reddit in a new tab, etc. Don’t try to do anything about the flinching, yet.

comment (a*)

See also: affirm nothing, flinch volitionally, explore cowardliness ...Do you really want these things? Or are you in fact too afraid to be a coward, now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

maybe [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

temporarily stop planning:

Temporarily stop planning and just see what happens next, see what you do next, as much as that feels safe.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

talk to yourself as if [j]:

Talk to yourself as if you were an elder or older, wiser version of yourself (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reinterpret [h]:

Search for new interpretations of X. X can be an interaction, an event, an image, a place, a concept, a memory, an intention, a feeling, etc etc. Can also be done by taking new assumptions along with X. For example, “how can i reinterpret that argument i got into, if i take the new assumption that the other person wasn’t trying to hurt me?” (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice what, notice how [h]:

1. For whatever you’re doing/saying, notice what exactly you’re doing/saying. [the ends/purpose/goal/intent/function]
2. For whatever you’re doing/saying, notice how exactly you’re doing/saying it. [the means/style/method/manner/form] (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

back to the drawing board [h]:

Go back to the drawing board, regarding X.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do something symbolically meaningful [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

devise new/​better/​relevant auxiliary practices [h ht j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore/refactor the concept of meditation itself [h]:

What does it mean to meditate? What does it mean to meditate well/correctly or poorly/incorrectly? What activities/states/situations are incompatible with meditation? In what ways is your method of meditating self-defeating? What would improve the experience of meditating by 5%? by 500%? Would it be ok to never meditate again? why or why not? etc etc

comment:

[similar to meta-protocol] [similar to doing p1 with the concept “meditation”]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

forgive [h]:

Forgive that which it’s good to forgive. Forgive others; forgive yourself.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

repent [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pray [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fart around [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

tingles and non-tingles:

Gently and softly and dreamily track down tingles and non-tingles. (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hold contradictions [h]:

Hold/be/embody both/all aspects of seeming contradictions within yourself. Dwell in contradiction/paradox.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

check out:

Completely check out. Play. Total nonvigilance, total vacation, deep-dive into hobbies, interests for minutes, hours or days. Notice if you can’t.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

get absorbed in something:

Get lost in something. Lose yourself in something. Become absorbed in something. Forget about the world. Notice if you can’t.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

constrain yourself [j]:

Arbitrarily (or not) make decisions, add constraints, give yourself less degrees of freedom, give yourself less breathing room, put stakes in the ground.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sleep on it [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

surround yourself with beauty/goodness [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pray to be and/or have and/or have happen:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

embrace the [almost completely intolerable] “cringy inner chaotic hellscape”:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

“enjoy” the [normal] almost perfectly intolerable infinite[ly and critically] bad electrically agonizing awful cringe:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

try enjoying it [h]:

Thus.

comment:

a sort of in-joke. whenever someone’s having a bad time, [...] asks “have you tried enjoying it?”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

just [actively] sit, bravely and skillfully:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let whatever happens happen:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let you attention dance:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be shameless:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

time off [j*]:

Give yourself the day off. Give yourself the day/night/hour/unit-of-time off.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

respond with “maybe” [j*]:

Respond to your questions, certainties, concerns, etc, with “maybe” “Oh my god I can’t believe X is happening. This will be terrible.” “Maybe” “Will it be good if I Y?” “Maybe”

comment:

Inspired by the Taoist farmer story

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice the ways in which you are safe:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

allow yourself to be doubtful:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

endure:

Simply endure, allowing awareness and feeling as best you can, as best you can without shutting down, white-knuckling, teeth-gritting, but only if that’s safe.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

recurring dreams:

Notice your recurring dreams.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

permission:

List who or what you currently need permission from, even if you disendorse needing it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

not allowed:

List what you’re not allowed to do, even if you disendorse even the entire frame of “not being allowed.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

posture continuum:

Pretend posture lies on a continuum from (A) comfortable fetal position to (B) standing tall and loose (or even walking slowly or ad hoc tai chi or qigong). See if it might be currently good to move more towards (A) or more towards (B), and do so if so.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

physically exhaust yourself [h]:

Thus.

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examine a flower or a leaf or a stone [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

chat with/talk to your X-year-old self [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be someone else [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

locate the tragedy/​mystery/​joy/​etc in X [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice what’s forbidden [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

trace the origin of X [in oneself] [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

make a list of everything [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

list possibilities [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do whatever is necessary to X [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

locate the sacredness of X [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice feeling connected to or disconnected from others & self & nature/​world/​environment [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

adopt a rigid moral code [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

dissect language [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pay attention to the X content of communication [h]:

Pay attention to the emotional/​intention/​timing/​sensitivity/​feeling content of communication.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pay attention to the Y content of communication [h]:

Pay attention to the words/​phrasing/​conceptual/​structural/​thought content of communication.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

play with “X happened to me” vs. “I chose X” [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what pattern is X part of? [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice that you’re already enlightened/​perfect/​fine/​good/​good enough [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

write a song/poem/rock opera [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

study the cringe as if you were a scientist [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice what happens when you notice [h]:

Thus.

comment:

For me & probably others, there is residue from the way I was taught to meditate, namely from instructions like “if you notice you’re thinking, return to the breath” or similar. There are some very tight hooks in my mind such that when I notice certain things, I immediately have some internal reaction. There are lots of them, but one which is probably pretty common for people who’ve tried pop meditation is: notice thought -> interrupt it & pay attention to something else.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

cultivate/dwell in solitude [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

take solace in the journey [j*]:

Taking solace in the exhaustiveness of the journey. Or, like, in non bypassing ways the thing you’re working towards is such a big exhaustive total something thing that a lot of things that stress you out currently are rounding errors ultimately or something or ok or something.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

connect with proximal ideal future concretes [aj*]:

Connect with the concrete details + felt sense of your ideal experience 3 years from now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

improvise, or see/frame your life as improv [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask for what you want/need [j]:

Thus.

comment:

Or ask yourself, ‘can you ask for the thing you want/need?’ are you safe and/or able to do so?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

make small, little bets [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

shake, shiver, quake [aj*]:

If shakes come, let them.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

release all technique:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

release all conceptions about how the mind works or should work:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mind doing and state release:

Experiment with avoiding “doing things with your mind” and avoiding “trying to have your mind be a particular way”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no mind:

Provisionally try on the idea that there is no such thing as minds and you don’t have one, but everything else is the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no self:

Provisionally try on the idea that there is no such thing as selves and you don’t have a self and aren’t a self, but everything else is otherwise exactly same as it is right now. what now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

flat mind [j*]:

Provisionally try on the idea that the mind is “flat” or “just-in-time” or that the contents of awareness in some sense don’t exist until they’re constructed for that moment (making no metaphysical commitments about anything else).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no containment:

Provisionally try on the idea that there is no such as inside and outside nor things inside other things, nor anything inside or outside anything else, but everything else is the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no boundaries:

Provisionally try on the idea that there is no such as boundary or separation, but everything else is the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no thought:

Provisionally try on the idea that you never ever have to think another thought, but everything else is the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no people:

Gently, gently, temporarily, provisionally try on the idea that there are no people and there never was a person, but everything else is the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no things:

Provisionally try on the the idea that there are no things, no objects, not even any stuff :scream: , but everything else is exactly the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no time:

Provisionally try on the idea that there is no time, that it doesn’t pass, that it doesn’t exist, that it never did. but, everything else is exactly the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no space:

Provisionally try on the idea that there is no space, no spatial relations, no adjacency, no empty space, no things occupying space, no delimited volume, that these don’t exist and that they never did. but, everything else is exactly the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

embrace identity:

Explore if/that/whether you are one, in particular that you are this one. and not that one or any of these or those other ones.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

already dead:

Consider the idea that you’re already dead but everything else is exactly the same. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

right before you start:

Notice what happens or what you do in the split seconds before you “start meditating.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

forget how to think:

Pretend you’ve forgotten how to think. What now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

psychic how to think:

Pretend someone doesn’t know how to think and you can show them how to think psychically, mind-to-mind--they can watch your mind do things, directly. what do you do with your mind to demonstrate thinking to them?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

psychic how to meditate:

Pretend someone doesn’t know how to meditate and you can show them how to meditate psychically, mind-to-mind--they can watch your mind do things, directly. what do you do with your mind to demonstrate meditating to them?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

simultaneity:

Have two or more things happen in your mind simultaneously. also for gross motor movement.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sequentiality:

have two or more things happen in your mind sequentially. also for gross motor movement.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

play with vibe:

Try on different vibes, different global (outward-experienciable) feels.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

inner safety:

Pretend other people can’t infer your inner state or know it in any way. Explore if you have any new or different affordances or insights while pretending this.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no nos:

Pretend no/not/negation (even nothingness) don’t exist. what now? [seriously] (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

trust your perceptions:

Trust what you observe, plain as day. Rest in what is obvious and veridical to you right now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

honor mediate wrongness:

If something feels wrong, even if you can’t put your finger on it or you can’t speak it, know that something must be wrong, somewhere.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

call bullshit:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

remember relevant assertions:

Remember all the ways people/books/websites/etc have asserted or implied what people are, what minds are, how minds should be used, what’s good and what’s bad, what’s true and what’s false, how truth works and how it must be found, how minds work and how thinking works, how thinking should be done, what’s good to do, what’s bad to do. Do you agree, disagree, or are you uncertain? What must you believe or disbelieve? What do you endorse or disendorse about this?

comment:

This stuff gets in, it gets reified, some portion of it’s good, some portion of it makes us rigid, blocks our truth-seeking, our creativity, our joy, our seeking. (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice judging/blaming [h]:

Thus, and develop a method to inquire/analyze/understand/orient around it (or not).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice pressure [h]:

Notice the ways that everyone is subtly or overtly pressuring each other all the time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice support [h]:

Notice the ways that everyone is subtly or overtly supporting/encouraging/loving each other all the time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have patience:

Have perfect, sensitive, intricate, painstaking, long-game patience. Pocketwatch watch-building and watch-repairing, where the gears are normal tiny size but the watch is as big as a moon, and different tiny parts on different sides of the moon might need to precisely co-vary, so you might need to go back and forth between them. Sprinkling colored sand, not geoengineering or even shoveling dirt.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

not too much/too large:

Remember the mind is big but you can practically get through it “all,” in a first pass, in a fraction of a lifetime.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

immaculate provenance:

Provisionally assume X isn’t your fault even if it is now your responsibility

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

total responsibility:

Provisionally assume you will have to solve X completely deeply and fully.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

strategic deferral:

if you can unforcily and endorsedly put something off until later do so.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don’t overthink things [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

unsurprising-surprising dissolve:

Explore that so many things you might never ever have to solve because they’ll truly turn out to either not be a problem or that they never were actually a problem.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

comfort yourself [h*]:

Thus, or: offer compassion to yourself] thus, as genuinely as you can [but no more genuinely than that]

comment:

i have gotten a lot of mileage out of saying “it’s okay [...], you’re doing a great job” to myself, either spoken or written. but it seems to be important to actually express it in one way or another; i.e. simply thinking the thought doesn’t do nearly as much as writing or speaking to self does.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

separate (don’t) want/might (to) be true [h]:

Separate things that you really really do/don’t want to be true from what is/might actually be true.

comment:

might be a cleaner way to say this. like “earnestly, fearlessly sensemake”.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sort out good & bad [h]:

Make a list of all the things that are good, and all the things that are bad. Be as nuanced or not as you like. Notice contradictions, omissions, & anything that doesn’t fit in either list.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

get comfortable [j]:

Make yourself comfortable. Prioritize comfort. Take actions one after the other until you feel totally and utterly comfortable, even and perhaps especially if it "doesn't feel worth it".

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

spotting [aj*]:

Pay attention to how your level of activation changes as you move your eyes to different positions in xyz space.

comment:

Moving my eyes seems to cue different attention patterns to my body and near-body space. Something like linear search across x then y, then z seems to zero in on activating coordinates well. Fascinating. [See maybe: Kenny Dennis; Brainspotting]]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

basis:

Ask, what is the basis of this? What does this depend on?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

privilege effortlessness, costlessness, and intuition:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask who/​with/​what/​good/​bad [h]:

Ask, “who or what is calling X bad[/good]?“, or “X is bad[/good] according to whom/what?”
Ask, “with what is X’s badness[/goodness] in contradiction with?”
Ask, “what if X were good[/bad]? what about X is good[/bad]?”
Ask, “is it possible to have/do/be X in a way that is good[/bad]?” (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no good, no bad [h]:

No good, no bad: provisionally assume that there is no such thing as good or bad.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

embrace imperfection:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

embrace “analog”:

Embrace analog/​aconceptual/​preconceptual/​transconceptual/​nondigital experiencing.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meditate poorly; meditate incorrectly:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

tinker:

Tinker, experiment, see what happens, iteratively.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feel broken:

Feel into experiential/phenomenological and visceral brokenness and uselessness.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask for whom:

Ask, for who(m) and why? Ask, along what dimensions and according to what schema?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

forgive yourself [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

trust [j]:

Trust that this experience/moment you’re currently having/experiencing is in some sense, the right one. That there isn’t something wrong (in some sense) with the experience. Trust it’s rightness. Cf: relax, ease, acceptance, non-resistance,

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let yourself be supported [j]:

Feel the ground underneath you. Notice how little you have to do to be held, and how much support the earth can provide. Relax/ease into this support.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

abandon reason [j]:

Act/​say/​do/​want/​request/​believe/​assert/​head-in-the-direction-of... just because you feel like it, even if you don’t have reasons, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if you don’t understand.

Don’t feel a need to justify or provide reason (to yourself or others). That which doesn’t make sense. That which you don’t understand.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

walk it off [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

experience the elements [j]:

Purify yourself in water. Cleanse yourself in the wind. Feel the grounding of the earth. Warm yourself by/in the fire.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

follow the signs [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

breadth-first [h]:

Do/go/explore/play/incline/work breadth-first, broad and shallow.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

depth-first [h]:

Do/go/explore/play/incline/work depth-first, narrow and deep.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

think nonverbally [h]:

Incline toward thinking nonverbally — spatially, visually, conceptually, tactilely, kinesthetically, mathematically, musically, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice unconscious patterns [h]:

Notice unconscious habits, body language, attitudes, thought patterns, behavioral patterns, vocal tone, speech style, posture, positioning, mood shifts, inclinations, desires, etc. Don't do anything about them, yet.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

play [h]:

In whatever domain you happen to be in, see if you can play. Notice if you can’t.

comment:

“Explore childlike playfulness” already exists in the prot. The two feel different to me.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

keep going [j]:

So, you just discovered/encountered/realized the truest truth [sic], or the most perfect plan? Before you rush off and buy those plane tickets, consider holding your discovery lightly, and keep going, keep turning the (relevant) crank(s). cf error checking, letting it flow/shift/change

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

where and when:

Realize that you are here, now, not there, then.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

concreteness/​abstractness:

Realize it’s concretely this, not abstractly that.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be impulsive [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

from fear or love [j*]:

Consider whether you are acting/deciding/doing/etc out of fear or love

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ignoring and listening:

Explore how and when to safely and temporarily ignore; Explore how and when to safely and temporarily listen, with part or every fiber of your being, or not.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

how do you know:

Tired, sad, hungry, anxious, etc. – – ask how do you know [you are] (that) [right now]? How do you know, of things like that, what you are right now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

commit (for the purpose of potentially dissolving):

Really commit to the taboo, illegal, immoral, frivolous, dangerous thing you want to do, to do/be/have/get/experience the thing. Start to plan, start to pre-enjoy. Start to figure out how to make it happen.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

love, compassion, sympathetic joy:

Reach for your felt experience of these, with or without object.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

error perspective:

Remember, it’s ok to find that you’ve “been doing it wrong.” That means it’s working. That means you’ve been doing it right. And you are doing it right. Perhaps feel into this.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find your can’ts:

Find your “can’t beliefs”: can’t do X, can’t learn Y, could never Z, could never in a million years do Q... These can be both “inability beliefs,” where you straightforwardly can’t do the thing (or so you belief, or right now but maybe not later) or “won’t beliefs,” like, you could but you won’t because of something else--too risky, too emotionally intense, too emotionally risky, etc. For all of this, it can get more subtle--can’t do X with my mind, can’t learn to program, can’t learn to factor these numbers. So, things from your past, too, say, maybe early in school or before school. It can all the way to “deep sensory processing” type things--“my mind won’t/can’t do that” or “no minds can do that.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

deathbed:

Imagine good, bad, best-case, worst-case deathbed scenarios. What’s happening, who’s there, how do you feel about it?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

other people:

Explore the ways, whats, whens in which it does and doesn’t matter what other people think of you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

revisit things of the past [h]:

When the time is right, revisit memory-laden objects, songs, movies, photographs, places, etc

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

picture your child, having your childhood [aj]:

Call to mind your child (or future child, or friend’s child) having the exact same childhood you did. Every sorrow and hope. Fly on the wall for every challenge small and large.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

assume you have no idea what "play" is [aj]:

What changes? What would you do to figure it out from scratch?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe to look:

Ask, for a there a way to come for it to be safe to look?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

better than this:

Ask, is there a way to come to something more good/​better/​nourishing/​correct/​I/​me/​myself than this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

more or less real:

Ask, is this more real or less real?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

younger or older:

Ask, is this younger or older?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

good/​bad forwards/​backwards:

Ask, is this good-forwards, good-backwards, bad-forwards, bad-backwards?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

really real:

Explore whether there’s something that seems more real, more causally upstream, more important than physical reality.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let itself:

Let it do/undo itself. Help it do/undo itself.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

models [h]:

What are your implicit and explicit world/self models? How are or aren’t they serving you?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

deeper:

Ask, is there something deeper?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

underneath:

Ask, is there something more underneath?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

unknown unintended consequences of omission and commission [m]:

Consider the unintended consequences of the things you do and don't do. Consider how you don't know what almost any of them are..

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe anger:

Explore how to make it safe to feel (extreme, white hot, perseverative, repetitive) anger, rage, hate/hatred, outrage, disgust, fury (fear, envy, jealousy, horror) at specific/​particular/​concrete people in general or for specific/​particular/​concrete behaviors/​actions/​inactions/​commissions/​omissions, for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks. Deem them as horrible and bad as they are, to you or in the absolute. Explore how to make it safe to not suppress this, to not talk yourself out of this, to not try to (prematurely or otherwise) forgive them, to not try to (prematurely or otherwise) understand them or walk in their shoes so as to humanize, empathize, etc. (You can surely do all those things, but also explore the former things, too.

comment:

People do things completely outside our expectations, sometimes outside our expectations of anyone, anywhere doing such a thing or being such a way. A natural response is potentially the emotions above. They might be more extreme or last longer and more repetatively than you thought possible or good. But allowing those emotions, when there’s enough wisdom/slack/space in the system, when it’s safe to allow those emotions, facilitates processing, model building, wisdom. On the other side of those emotions is wisdom--sometimes it’s forgiveness, sometimes it’s forbearance, sometimes it’s surgical competence, sometimes it’s love, and many other things. Can’t predict the specific shape of wisdom (I think; though it can be healthy/smart/good to try). (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stay in (the) flow [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reactions:

Explore how to make it safe to be allowed to have your (patiently extended) reactions. [sic]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

self-censoring:

Explore how to make it safe to not self-censor. Try not self-censoring (or as best you can).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

feedback loops [b]:

Pause all your feedback loops.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

plan evaluation [j]:

Consider: how do you know everything isn’t going exactly according to “plan”? How do you know anything truly has gone wrong or is bad? (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

listening and ignoring:

(1) Try/explore broadband (fullband) listening/opening/entertaining, to the farthest reaches, at the finest grain (while still differentiating self and other). (2) Try/explore broadband facilitating/helping... (3) Try/explore broadband ignoring/keeping-out/relevancing/prioritizing/concluding, to the farthest reaches, at the finest grain.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no language [h]:

Temporarily provisionally assume/act as though language doesn't exist

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

open mind:

Explore having an open mind about particular things that come up (beliefs, assertions, certainties...), as they come up, one-by-one or otherwise: Might it actually be different than that? What might it be instead?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

already-ness:

Turn towards what you are and have been already effortlessly ongoing-ly aware of. (edited)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reaction owning and backlog:

Own your reactions, let yourself have your reactions to the degree it’s currently safe. If you have a backlog of reactions, let them start to come up, one by one, to the degree that it’s currently safe.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

cry:

Thus/Let yourself cry.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

experiential envelope:

Find and rest in the entirety of the “experiential envelope.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ongoing teleportation/slide attempting:

Explore whether you’re ongoing-ly trying to, right here, right now, instantly, instantaneously do/have/be something, someone, somewhere else, to have self or world be different in this exact particular moment or the one immediately next, and next.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

entirety of the thing:

Let yourself always already be the entirety of the “experiential envelope.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

infrequently attended:

Ask, where on or in your body or anywhere or anywhen have you not paid attention recently or since time long forgotten? Is there a way to safely, non-force-ily, safely incline there (or then)?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

standing tall:

Stand tall and balanced. What feels weird in your body?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

say a thing is something [m]:

Say a thing is something. Perceive that it is not.

comment:

"whatever you say a thing is, it is not." (—Korzybski)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

body on mind:

Ask, what does your body think about what your mind is thinking?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

according to whom:

See what you believe about something. Ask, according to who/whom?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

lightly experimentally intensify:

Lightly experimentally intensify the (at least seemingly partially) bad thing e.g. sadness, muscle tension, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

something wildly different:

Stop what you’re doing and do anything wildly different than what you we’re doing on one or as many dimensions as you can.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

won’t:

Ask why you won’t do X? I won’t do this because...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

overall:

Ask yourself, what is the overall thing you’re doing?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

how:

Ask yourself, how are you doing what you’re doing?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pairwise cross-correlate long-range disparate body discomfort points:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

completely check out; play:

Total non vigilance, total vacation, deep-dive into hobbies or interests for minutes, hours, or days. Notice if you can’t.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

forget:

Get lost In something, forget about the world. Notice if you can’t.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

try on X:

Try X on and accept it as if it were you, were deeply a part of you temporarily. How would that be ok if that were actually the case, in the world where that was actually the case?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

strange believing and seeming:

Explore how to have it be safe to believe the strangest truths--maybe they’re true or it’ll change to get more true over time, maybe the belief will be transient and something even better will come in time.. Explore how to have it be safe for the world to seem the strangest of ways, through-and-through. Maybe that seeming is correct or good, or it’ll sculpt to something better over time. Maybe it’ll be transient and something even better will come in time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

radical intuition:

Explore how to have it be safe to trust, to act on, or to merely openly entertain “radical intuition,” knowing without there being any seemingly reasonable or correct or even possible mechanism, basis in experience and/or method for a particular (or any) knowing, believing, seeming, expecting, acting, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

terrible truths:

Let yourself believe terrible truths or let yourself disbelieve terrible truths, in the service of reaching better, healthier, saner, more correct, more humane, more good truths. Believe, enter, embody, when safe, for the possibility of change and/or letting go.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seek beauty:

Thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seek your aesthetic:

Thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sensory landscape:

Ask, what do you want to see, hear, feel, touch, taste, smell, contemplate?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ability lack identification:

Ask, what ability or play or way of doing this, if I had it, would solve this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ability building:

Ask, how might I do this or come to be able to do this? What would I do here that would make this and/or everything around it doable or easier?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

appreciate X:

Thus. See the good in/of X.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

enjoy X:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

directness:

Sometimes can be helpful (and sometimes counterproductive) to ask, is there are more direct or immediate thing? Why can't I just straightforwardly (do/be/have/go after) X, right now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

learn from your mistakes [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

love:

Love. Or consider whether love, some form or type of love, or just love, is the answer to X.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

current limitations:

embrace precisely current but not necessarily future limitations, inabilities

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

in-this-moment inabilities:

Enjoy your in-this-moment inabilties.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore temporal continuity:

Explore perfect temporal continuity/continuousness/nonfragmentation/smoothness/non-gap-py-ness of attention

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

slow it way down:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do it without skips or jumps or gaps:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

break it into syllables:

Break it into syllables. Say it syllable by syllable.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do subtle:

Do subtle, barely perceptible things with body or mind.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

gravity, bone, and muscle:

Explore the relationship between gravity, bone, and muscle.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

posture differential [h]:

Incline toward "perfect posture". Incline toward your body's natural posture. What changes?

comment:

Not perfectly formulated, and for some reason I'm not totally thrilled with the concept behind this one. Maybe at least needs comment about how problems can be on either side — one's posture can be imperfect due to eg muscle tension; or one's idea of "perfect posture" can itself be imperfect. Maybe I'm not thrilled because reifying the idea of "perfect posture" could be harmful

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don’t overthink things [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

make your body available [h]:

to the degree(s) to which it’s good to do so & in the way(s) in which it’s good to do so, make your body available for feelings, felt senses, urges, impulses, instincts, reflexes, whims, ideas, postural changes, movements, shifts, twitches, shivers, spasms, pleasure, pain, (dis)comfort, expansions, contractions, forces, energy, vibrations, waves, etc to come through & manifest.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stop holding [d]:

Stop holding your current posture. Stop holding.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

check in with yourself [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

underthink [d]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

think ahead [d]:

Blend all your actions into one continuous smooth motion.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don’t overthink things [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

surrender [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

allow [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be patient [jd]:

Be/cultivate/surrender-to patient/patience.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

commune with the plants [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

commune with nature [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

align yourself with the natural flow of nature / the natural world [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

love [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

enter your heart space [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don't do [d; “metaaux”]:

For a practice "do x", don't do x.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do not [d; “metaaux”]:

For a practice "do x", do not-x

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

passively have happen; already the case [d; “metaaux”]:

For a practice "do x", have x happen to you, or have it so you become such that x without acting in order to do so.

For a practice "do x", imagine that x is already the case

comment:

I'm thinking things like "imagine a string attached to the top of your spine and hanging down from it" or "imagine your shoulders moving away from each other". I'm not sure off the top of my head how those AT directions are phrased, I'll have to look back on them

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

wait and see [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

slow down [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

listen to nature [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meditate with crystals [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

prioritize being over doing [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

prioritize feeling over thinking [jd]:

Incline towards / prioritize feeling over thinking.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let things get messy [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

take the dive [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

use your strength [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

rest in restlessness [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

get underneath the level of story [jd]:

Thus.

comment:

Story, narrative, etc. What’s underneath? What’s ‘deeper’? What’s below?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice directness or indirectness:

Explore whether you can just directly go after something and have it, do it, be it, or achieve it. Or, are you planning, learning, preparing, etc. If you are doing the latter, why not the former?

comment:

An alternative name/stance for this practice is, “notice complex versus simple.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

thing behind the thing or bask directly:

Ask not just what’s good about something, but also, what’s useful about it, compelling, attractive, persuasive, glorious, beautiful, perfect along some dimension, etc.

comment:

Compare with the practice of simply asking what’s good about something.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

bask in the goodness of badness:

Bask in the felt e.g. compelling nature of some bad thing.

comment:

Compare with the practice of simply asking what’s good about something.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

everything against everything:

Try checking each (and every) possible change [you make] against everything. check everything against everything. Or how does absolutely everything [that’s [in/of] you] incrementally feel about what you’re doing? down to smallest part/pixel/voxel/intention/stake/impulse/doing/will/whatever. Check in, touch base, with all of you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

total self-consensus:

try moving forward only when 100% of you is ok with the forward thing. if 100% of you is not ok then try a slightly or very different thing, which might be exploring the not ok-ness(es) or something else.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pattern attending:

explore attending to places in different repeating patterns, switching up the order in which you attend. cf microcosmic orbit, forward and backwards, as well as anything else.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

total ordering:

Play with attending to “everything in order” and then repeating, so everything in order, over and over again, while playing with what “everything” (what’s the whole? what are the parts?) and “the order” should be.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

top down unilateral vs top down listen vs bottom up:

Ask, in the next moment, should I unilaterally do something, should I listen to everything and then do something, or should I let everything move me?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

collect past self-resolutions:

collect past resolutions, declarations, promises you made to yourself about behavior and the future

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

selectively embrace the dark side and feel/​enjoy/​appreciate its power:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

problem behind the problem:

Ask what’s the problem behind the problem? the need behind the need?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let go and rest in self-earned self-trust:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mechanism:

Ask, how does that work? What's going on, here? What's this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

voice:

Ask, what does it say? What is it saying? What would it say? (To whom, if anyone?) is there a one-sentence essence or distillation of that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

rub your face:

Rub your face in a way that feeels good until you get bored. (Maybe wash your hands first.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

verbally distill:

Write down distilled/concise/summarized insights as they come to you, as sketches, first drafts. On a new line write a new version, or an addition, or anything. And so on. Maybe keep them all in a single document.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

imagine the worst:

Imagine the worst case, the worst outcome. Is it as bad as you thought?

Ask, what might someone be feeling in a case or situation like this? Might you be feeling that somewhere? Where? How?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore an aftermath:

Ask, what would you do if x stopped, went away?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

identify the/an ideal:

Explore for and imagine the lived ideal version of the wanted thing in a/its context.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

causal chain:

Ask, what’s the causal chain that led up to this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

map or territory:

Ask, is that a property of the map or a property of the territory?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

encodings:

Ask, are you encodings in words or memory or being or...?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look for how to non-manage:

Incline towards it being safe for it to take care of itself, no need for propping up.

Ask is there path where this doesn’t have to be propped up or managed, where anything in this space in some form can just take care of itself?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look for “if could only just X”:

Look for places where “if (could) only (just) X”.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

jiggle [h]:

Jiggle jiggle.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

thus [b]:

Thus. Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have fun with the practice [b]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

play with the practice [b]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mind, body, world [h]:

What's happening in your mind? What are you doing in your mind?
What's happening in your body? What are you doing in your body?
What's happening in the world? What are you doing in the world?

comment:

I noticed that this is sort of a way i slice things when i query what's happening

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

outside:

Explore how/whether/if you don’t know anything for sure outside this moment.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

surety:

Explore how/whether/if you don’t know anything for sure about the future.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

cradle:

Make a whole-bodymind “self-interpersonal trauma cradle” where things can arise for which you can comfort and protect yourself.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

non-second-order believing and wanting:

Explore how to not try to make yourself belief things. Explore how to not try to make yourself want things. (Or not believe or not want)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

wretchedness:

To the degree that it’s safe, let yourself be wretched.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

late-stage freakout or triggering:

To the degree that it’s safe, have a late-stage freakout and even later ones. Sometimes the worst is saved for last, or second to last, or...

comment:

It doesn’t mean you haven’t made all that progress.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

systematic suffering:

Intentionally suffer (gently) in various ways, dredge up suffering, (gently, aligned-ly, patiently) find, call up latent suffering, turn towards, catch, go into, facilitate suffering that is present or arises (non-physically, physically completely safely, with minimal drama and extraneous emotion).

comment:

One might add “inhabit,” or “dwell in,” but those seem to connote or imply or presuppose or “pre-conceive” (“too much”?) permanence.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice grasping/​accumulating versus suffering:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

suffering party:

Have a solo or small-group suffering party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

24-7 suffering party:

Have an intentional 24-7 suffering party (temporarily)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

suffering permission:

If it’s safe, (try) give(ing) yourself permission to suffer (maybe implicitly/just so or for a (semi-)explicit block of now-to-future time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

drama and non-drama:

Be dramatic. Do the same thing but be non-dramatic while you’re doing it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore intertemporal self-consistency:

Incline towards your present talking collaboratively to the present. (present-present)
Incline towards your past talking collaboratively to your past. (past-past)
Incline towards your future talking collaboratively to your future. (future-future)
Incline towards your present talking collaboratively to your past. (present-past)
Incline towards your present talking collaboratively to your future. (present-future)
Incline towards your future talking collaboratively to your past. (future-past)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fantasy ideal maybe with realistic swapping:

Imagine a fantasy ideal that would make everything ok. Try swapping in more realistic elements piecewise/partwise, to get closer to something you could really actualize.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

solutioning dependency checking:

Ask, if X was done/complete/good/fixed would Y be done/complete/good/fixed?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

contingency:

Ask, why might this/it/X not work/succeed?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

otherwiseness:

Ask, might it/X/this be otherwise?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

need/​bad/​motivated to (not) believe:

Ask, would it be bad to not believe this/X? Ask, would it be bad to believe this/X? Ask, do I have to believe this/X? Ask, do I have to not believe this?x? Ask, would it be good to believe this/X? Ask, would it be good to not believe this/X? Ask, would it be bad to not have to believe this/X? Ask...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

postural pull [m*]:

Does your body want to move into a particular posture, position, leaning-ness, curled-up-ness? If yes, see if you can help yourself get into that posture. Check periodically to see if there’s a new posture to move into, next.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

gestural expansiveness [m*]:

Explore large body movements of the extremities.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

impartial part helping:

Assume a friendly openness. Ask a part of you, or something in you, how can I help? What do you need? (You might also ask yourself, what does this need?) What would be good for you? What’s good on your terms (in all of that), and how can I help you get that?

Before moving on to something else, you might ask, what would make it ok for me/us/you/this to pause/end/stop exploring this (for now)?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

assume even worse/worst:

Assume an even worse version of the (seemingly?) bad thing that’s (seemingly?) true. Fill in all the cracks of the worse-/worst-ness. What would you do, how would you respond if this worse/worst case were true?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be a baby, be prenatal:

Let yourself be a baby. Let yourself be prenatal. The reality of that, imagined or immersive flashback. Suspend disbelief. What was that experience concretely like, good and bad?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

the opposite:

Ask if there’s a part of you that believes the opposite (of this/X). Is there a part of you that believes that opposite belief, ongoingly, parallel, to the first part of you?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fantasy ideal:

[stub]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual replacement:

Ask, might X be ok, instead of Y? What good things would happen if X? What bad things would happen if X?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

truths, etc.:

Try resting in how things seem vs how things feel vs how things appear vs what might be true or false vs what you know vs what you believe vs what you understand vs what you think vs what god would say is true vs what’s real vs what feels right vs what things look like vs what’s going on, here vs how you’d describe things vs...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

forward vs backward:

Ask, is this/X forward(s) or backward(s)?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

desire, etc.:

Ask, what do you long for, hope for, desire, want, care about, value, lust for/after, love—to do, be have, associate with, pursue, acquire, achieve...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

philosophical meta:

Let your be pulled into thinking about metaphysics, philosophy, epistemology, phenomenology, agathology, cosmology, eschatology, mereology, linguistics...

comment:

Sometimes, often, extreme, abstract meta can be a real, nondeferrable bottleneck. You might see if you can go concrete first, if you can defer that extreme, abstract meta. You might bring in the meta protocol. But, often you relatively can’t!

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

alternatives explanations:

Ask, what are alternative explanations, stories for this/X apparent thing?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

concrete memories:

Gently incline towards experiencing fully concrete, episodic, experiential memories.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

options, pros and cons:

List some options. Consider the pros and cons of choosing each option and not choosing each option. (So every option will have its own collection of pros and cons. And then you might juxtapose the pros and cons of pairs of options, and so on.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

trigger yourself:

Expose yourself (carefully) to things that provoke extreme reactions. If you are accidentally or incidentally triggered, take advantage of it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

intuition:

Temporarily let yourself [come to] know (or understand) without dictating the why of how you know or the how of how you know. (cf. radically unstructured coming to know/understand.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual past additions:

What would it have been good to experience, at any point when you were younger, in the recent or distant past? How might that have gone? What was the experience, maybe sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, feel, meaning...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

memory/​imagination triggering:

Through memory, imagination, or imaginative riffs, trigger yourself, distress yourself.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

urges and impulses:

Feel ongoing and the bleeding-edge arising edges of impulses, urges, impellment, compellment, compulsion

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

three-dimensional, unforced scanning:

Slowly explore the surface and physical interiority of the body with attention. Don’t force attention to where attention doesn’t easily go or where it slides away. Let it go; it will surely open up later, and you will surely come back to it later, possibly effortlessly and costlessly folded into something else.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be gross [h]:

be disgusting, be rotten, be foul

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice expectations [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

drop expectations [h]:

thus, if you can

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

just do what you gotta do [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

eat the shadow [s]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

awareness of space, time, possibility [h]:

experiment with noticing or becoming aware of [for example]

• the space between you and the screen

• the space behind you

• the whole room, the whole building, different rooms in the building, the air ducts

• the sky, the ground, subterranean matter/strata, the insides of objects/furniture, the insides of your body

• the boundary of your spatial awareness, whatever it is

• the past few moments

• the next few moments

• today, as a whole, with “now” contextually embedded in it

• this year, as a whole, with “now” contextually embedded in it

• the continuous arc of time that connected/connects a given memory to the present

• the boundary of your temporal awareness, whatever it is

• what is happening

• what could be happening in a few seconds

• what could be happening in a day

• what could be happening in a year

• the continuous arc of possibility that connects the present to an imagined future

• the boundary of your awareness of possibility, whatever it is

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

imagine variants [h]:

imagine ways something could be slightly or radically different

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

more body do [h]:

continue doing what you’re doing, but see if it’s good to involve some other part of your body in it

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be loved [h]:

let yourself, all parts of yourself, just like this, be loved by yourself or by another, real or imaginary

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe shame [h]:

let it be ok to be ashamed

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe fear [a]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe rage [a]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe joy [a]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe grief [a]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe turn-on [a]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pretend up is down and down is up [mo]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice care [h]:

notice things people do to care for each other, even/especially unspoken, routine, small, mundane, subtle, or trivial things

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore subtle posture [h]:

subtly slowly carefully shift your posture, exploring all degrees of freedom therein

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

minimum enjoyable wiggle [a]:

changing as little as possible, move in a way that feels good.

comment:

use with care -- extremely psychoactive. Move either body or mind or both.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

yesterday [h]:

recall yesterday and what’s good & bad about what happened yesterday

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

tomorrow [h]:

consider tomorrow and what’s good & bad about what might happen tomorrow

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

today [h]:

reflect on today and what’s good & bad about today

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pleasure [h]:

seek out or summon pleasure, here & now, as something to study or to simply enjoy

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reflective posture [h]:

find a posture/position that feels good/better

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

vocalize [h]:

vocalize freely and spontaneously

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be animal [h]:

be wild, primal, animal

comment:

doesn’t necessarily imply/require being in a high-energy state. animals grieve, too, etc

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

treat yourself [h]:

treat yourself to something nice. you deserve it!

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

remember next weekend [mo]:

you did so many things next weekend! it was such a time. think of all the things you did and didn't do next weekend, and how you felt when they were happening.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be perfectly still [h]:

find a comfortable position and be perfectly still, for as long as it feels good

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

dormant energy [h]:

notice, look for, or summon dormant energy

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

rhythmic movement [h]:

move your body in a rhythmic way that feels good, for as long as it feels good

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

examine details [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

try on mythologies of yourself [h]:

without becoming attached to them, explore coming up with grand narratives to explain patterns and connections between possibly seemingly unrelated aspects of yourself, your life, your history, your plans, and your relationship to the world

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

value build-up [n]:

Imagine yourself getting dropped into the world, naked and alone. What values/needs need to get covered? Imagine you covered them. What values appear next? At some point start adding new people to the world, one by one, and notice how this affects your value landscape.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meditation + physical activity [h]:

gently incline toward meditating or doing an/any aux practice while engaging in a physical activity like stretching, yoga, walking/jogging, or dancing

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

backwards [a]:

Reverse “I must do X to get my mind state Z” to “How might I get my mind in state Y so that X is the natural thing to do?”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

violence [a]:

Let yourself feel how it would feel to do the violence you already want to do.

comment:

Allow waves of anger, shame, doing-it-wrong, doesn’t-work-for-me, fear, sadness, satisfaction, arousal to cycle faster or slower than you expect. Allow false starts and false stops.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sit quietly in a room alone [jd]:

thus

comment:

cf. "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone" - Blaise Pascal

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let yourself have opinions [jd]:

Thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be entitled to your feelings [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask your "stupid" questions [jd]:

Thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

go see a therapist [jd]:

therapist/healer/coach/etc

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

cross train [d]:

do X as cross training for meditation

comment:

Practice eating ramen. Train for eating ramen. Eat ramen while distracted. Sit back and gently attend to yourself as you let yourself eat ramen. Let the while of your being become the eating of ramen. God I hope Costco has ramen in stock

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

practice/train [d]:

practice doing x. Train the doing of x.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

unpractice [d]:

do x while distracted, remember how you did it. Sit back and gently attend to yourself as you let yourself do x. Completely immerse yourself in doing x/flow/your whole being becomes the doing of x

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be as irritated as you are, no more or less [*mo]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be no less X than you are [m]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be no more X than you are [m]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask for help (solo) [jd]:

While meditating or otherwise engaged in personal practice, ask for help. Who the ask is directed to may vary per your aesthetics and beliefs. Consider that you might be asking god, or perhaps the deeper parts of yourself, or perhaps no one, or perhaps...

Sentence stems could be: "how do I ...?", or "help me (with)...?"

E.g. "how do I be with this anxiety in a good way?", or "help me be with this anxiety in a good way", or "how do I solve this problem?"

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

use profanity to describe things [m]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be profane [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

FUCK SHIT DICK CUNT [h]:

THUS, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

go all-in on whatever’s happening right now [h]:

thus, with four-part harmony & feeling

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explore and rest in points/manifolds of disconnection [h]:

thus

comment:

disconnection from self, feelings, desires, other people, pain, memories, etc etc

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ok to escape, ok to hide [h]:

let it be ok to hide, from others, from the world, or from yourself; let it be ok to escape, into a room or into your mind

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be with experience in a good way [jd]:

Thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meta-thinking [h]:

what's good to think about? what makes it good? what's bad to think about? what makes it bad?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

stop thinking [jd]:

Cut it out. Seriously, don’t do that. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Quit while you’re ahead...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

instajudge [mo]:

flip a coin. Heads is good, tails is bad. For every thought you have in the next minute, judge it accordingly. Ask yourself what difference that makes.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

accepting resistance [mo]:

if something is so (particularly internally) and you wish it weren't, speak to your resistance and say, eg: "I know you don't want me to feel worthless, but right now I do."

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find your voice [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be alone [h]:

thus, for as long as it’s good to be, wherever and in whatever way it’s good to be

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seek help [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

rest in selfhood [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

follow your instincts [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

here & not here [h]:

Notice the ways that you’re here, now. Notice the ways that you’re not quite here, or not quite now. Don’t try to change anything, yet.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hakuna matata [mo]:

attempt to find a problem and observe that there are none

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

I still can't find a fucking problem anywhere [mo]:

give voice to the part of you that wishes things were somehow problematic.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

peers and nonpeers [h]:

what makes someone your peer (your equal) or not your peer? what is the nature of your differences? what would it mean to be everyone’s peer?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

how are you doing? [h]:

what’s your honest answer, the answer that you want to say, somewhere, but that you might not say to any actual person were they to ask?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

sit with the question "what if I'm wrong?" [*mo]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

too much, too little [h]:

ask, what is there too much of? what is there too little of? what shouldn’t be here at all? what’s missing?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

everything is ok [h]:

imagine a (possibly alternate/parallel) world where everything is ok. go into it, feel it, be there.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mourn [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

forget [d]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

yawn. like a huge frikken yawn where you stretch your whole body and it's super satisfying [d]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pushing & pulling [h]:

notice where you’re pushing. notice where you’re being [naturally] pulled.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what is this drug? [mx]:

If I were on a drug right now, what would it be called? Is this a good trip or a bad trip?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch for reactivity [h]:

thus

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

DIY p3 and/or p8 [h]:

Make new versions of the lists in p3 and/or p8 for yourself, based on your own experiences.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

best attention [h]:

Gently, dreamily seek the best place/orientation/position for your attention, right now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

pay atentionto detail [d]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

own your shit [h]:

Own your fucking shit: your problems, your grievances, your situation, your past, your feelings, your mistakes. They’re yours. Own them.

And while you’re at it: your achievements, your skills, your friendships, your future, your potentiality, your pride, your worth. They’re yours. Own them.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

confront it gently [h]:

Try confronting it in a very slow, easy, gentle way.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

taxonomize phenomena [h]:

Explicitly, provisionally taxonomize/categorize the relevant thing(s)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be fluid [h]:

Be fluid, supple, yielding.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

disobey [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

go orthogonal [h]:

Consider the axis defined by what you’re doing (or trying to do) and its opposite. now go in an orthogonal direction.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

intention shaping [h]:

Play with and perfect your intention.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

only action [h]:

stream of consciousness for doing — don’t think or plan, just [safely] act in the world, for a bit.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

dream big [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be generous [h]:

Be generous and charitable, literally or metaphorically.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look for what’s missing:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

compose a will [h]:

Compose a last will and testament, even a brief or incomplete or inadequate one.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

befriend [h]:

Try befriending it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

wrong [h]:

Directly ask, what might I be wrong about?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

disconnected value [m]:

Ask, what things do I seem to value that seem totally disconnected from the other things I value?

comment:

Main one I'm familiar with is "family".

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

the big picture [h]:

Consider the big picture, or a bigger picture.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

identify the different forces at play [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

repeat an error [h; gpt-3]:

Deliberately do something that embarrassingly backfires or leads to an embarrassing or inappropriate response.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

repeat a success [h; gpt-3]:

Deliberately do something that leads to positive or satisfying results.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

reverie/daydream [h; gpt-3]:

Let your mind wander in whatever direction it wants to.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

focus on what feels best/​worst/​neutrally good/​bad [h; gpt-3]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

focus on the good/bad of a past event [h; gpt-3]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

concentrate on something to the exclusion of all else [h; gpt-3]:

Thus and notice subtle or gross wavering or interjection.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

engage in overt positive/negative self-talk [h; gpt-3]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

engage in covert positive/negative self-talk [h; gpt-3]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

allow yourself to be emotionally affected (be susceptible) [h; gpt-3]:

comment:

Be empathetic for example.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

allow yourself to be intellectually influenced (be vulnerable) [h; gpt-3]:

Notice and allow for an influence on or by your thoughts and/or emotions.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

losing control [h; gpt-3]:

Experiment with losing control. Have it, enjoy it. Then, let it go.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

masturbate [h; gpt-3]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

origins and name [h; gpt-3]:

Ask what’s the origin of X/that? What’s the name of X/that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

all of it [h; gpt-3]:

Ask, is it all of it?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

balanced perspective [h; gpt-3]:

Ask to be balanced in your perspective. Can you see the good, bad, and ugly of X/that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

totality [h; gpt-3]:

Be a totality, or “everything.”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

offer help, accept help [h; gpt-3]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do something that will definitely work:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

funny laugh [h; gpt-3]:

Curiously, genuinely explore what happens if you try to laugh from your deepest place.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

try on new identities [h; gpt-3]:

If you’re not sure what your identity is, or if you’re not sure if you have an identity, try on some identities. Test them. See how they fit.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

get curious about what’s going on inside you [h; gpt-3]:

Go meta, get curious about what’s going on inside you.

comment:

There are lots of ways i can know something, like knowing something consciously (i.e. thinking about it), knowing something implicitly like a word in a language that i don’t know consciously but know implicitly, or knowing something unconsciously like how i can know that i know how to type without actually being able to recall any of the details of how i learned how to type.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

deeper than that [h; gpt-3]:

Ask, is there something deeper than that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

undo [h; gpt-3]:

Ask, how might I undo this or undo its effects?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

not neutral [h; gpt-3]:

Ask, what isn’t neutral about this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

footsteps [h; gpt-3]:

Imagine being a friend to yourself, following your footsteps, the path you took to get to where you are right now. Maybe that friend can point out, here’s the right decision, here’s the one you regret, here’s the thing you’ll be sorry about later, here’s the fork in the road, here’s the leap of faith you took, here’s the thing you should have said, here’s the way you got it right, here’s the way you got it wrong, here’s how you could have gotten it right.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

not the only thing [h; gpt-3]:

Ask, what are three other things like this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

how do you experience things [h; gpt-3]:

How do you experience the experience? How do you experience the experience of the experience?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

private wisdom [h; gpt-3]:

Ask, what is the wisdom you have that you can’t talk about? (That you are unable to say out loud.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

responding and initiating [h; gpt-3]:

Explore the difference between responding and initiating.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

error message [h; gpt-3]:

Give yourself an error message.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

other people’s minds [h; gpt-3]:

Imagine you/your self (or someone else) suddenly and without warning enters someone else’s mind. Imagine the sensation of that sudden entrance. What would you see, hear, feel? Was that terrifying? What about relieving?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

camouflage [h; gpt-3]:

How are you in camouflage? What are you in camouflage from?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what is the model here? [h; gpt-3]:

What is the implicit or explicit model here? What would it mean/be like if that were to change? (Or to be obliterated?)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

just go with it and see what happens [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

keep doing what you're doing until there is something better to do (without necessarily specifically looking for some better thing) [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

opposite [q]:

Along whatever axes seem important, do the opposite of what you normally do.

comment:

reversed stupidity may not be intelligence but it is search

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

create affordance [d]:

Can you turn impossibility into possibility, even if it's with the knowledge you'd never do it?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

active & passive thinking [h]:

Incline toward noticing whether thoughts are “actively thought” or “passively/spontaneously arise”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

implications/​inferences:

Ask, what are the implications/​inferences?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

presuppositions:

Ask, what are the presuppositions?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

premises:

Ask, what are the premises?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

conclusions(s):

Ask, what's the conclusion? What are the conclusions?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

upstream implications/​inferences:

Ask, what implies this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mechanism:

Ask, what causes this? Ask, what does this cause? Ask, what's going on, here, and, how does this work? Ask, where is the causing, starting, stopping, preventing, blocking, enabling? Ask, what exists, here? Ask, what's present? Ask, what's absent?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

intrinsic motivation:

Ask, as far as I can tell, right now, what is my most non-fear-based intrinsic motivation behind doing or wanting this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

someone else:

Ask, do you have an expectation of someone else being there? Ask, who else is there? Ask, how do you know the difference(s) between you and them?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

first feel:

What's the immersive feel of the first experience you had that eventually participated as part of a collection of evidence for this/X?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

age:

How old are you being right now? What are all the ages that you're being right now? What's the feel of all the different ages you're being right now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

spend time with the parts that feel younger:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

how:

How are you doing any particular thing that you’re doing? Are there different ways? Is there an opposite way yet with the same intention?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let it come to you:

Thus, and instead of going there or making it happen, let it/them/X come to you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

exhaustivity:

Gently, exhaustively, explore all of it. Anything left? Is that all of it? And again? And more? And more? Anything else? Is that all of it?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

binaries and mutual exclusivities:

What's the that to this this, or the not this to this this? With nothing in between? (Or, ask, what's the mutually exclusive and exhaustive list?)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

nebulous counting:

Without making there be discrete things, gently try to count and maybe list all the things. Allow any indeterminacy to be as it is. You might talk about that indeterminacy, but you don't have to.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

enumerating nebulous pushing:

Gently count all the ways you're pushing. Don't try to force-dispel any nebulosity. Allow any indeterminacy to be as it is. For each one or any or all nebulous sense, you might ask if it's productive or unproductive.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

start time:

Ask, when did it/that/X start?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

slowly:

Do X really, really, really, really slowly.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

first or already:

What’s your first inclination with respect to what to do with X and/or what are you already preflectively doing with respect to X? You might gently distinguish between these two, if they're both present, and put an name to each or describe each.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

delta:

Ask, what's the delta between then and now? What's the difference? What's changed?

comment:

"Then" and "now" can be milliseconds apart of years apart.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

knowns:

Ask, what are the known knowns? Ask, what are the known unknowns? Ask, how might I know the good to know, knowable, currently unknown, not-yet-knowns?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

give up how:

Give up the "how" of how something needs to happen.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask for help [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

necessary connections:

Ask, is this/it/X necessarily connected or contingently connected?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

body questions:

Ask particular patches, regions, surface, parts, interiorities, volumes of your body questions. What are you? What’s good for you? What’s happening here? Who are you? Who are you being? What do you want? How can I help you? Do you have anything to tell me? What do you need?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

spacious eye relaxation:

Look down at a wide open field and “release your eyes” until you get that zoom/parallax effect that eventually fades or runs out.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

seek sensory wonder in the "external" world:

Thus.

comment:

https://twitter.com/meaningness/status/1260943613833302017?s=21 (last accessed: 2020-08-31) “agendaless involvement in sensory fascination”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

intend versus will:

Explore whether which words feel better: "will," "willing," "intend," "intending," "intention", ...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

need imagining [m*]:

Ask yourself to show you the need in full.

a) imagine never getting the opportunity to have [thing] again b) imagine this thing not actually being the thing you need c) imagine not even wanting this thing, or needing it, and being fine

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

walk five miles:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

why not already:

Ask, why hasn’t this sort of automatically metabolized itself already?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

safe to know, to understand, to look, to be able to tell:

Ask, how might I make it safe to know it/this/X? Ask, how might I make it safe to understand it/this/X? Ask, how might I make it safe to look at it/this/X? Ask, how might I make it safe to be able to tell (if) X/it/this?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

solve or dissolve:

Ask, how can I safely explore ways that dissolve or solve those bad things?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

right here, right now says:

Ask, what does it say that I’m having this experience right here, right now? Ask, what does all this (sense/content/everything) say about everything else?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let a bodypart come to you:

Thus, e.g., let your feet come to you; let your legs come to you, and so on.

comment:

This is in contrast to "going TO something" e.g. with your head, with your attention, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

waiting, here and now, things come to you, periphery:

Patiently, gently wait, inclining towards and resting in the here and now, and let perhaps subtle things come to you, maybe from the periphery.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

waiting, raw/bare sensations, things come to you, periphery:

Patiently, gently, maybe quietly wait, inclining towards and resting in raw/bare sensations, and let perhaps subtle things come to you, maybe from the periphery.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

waiting, one point, things come to you, periphery:

Patiently, gently maybe quietly wait, inclining towards and resting in raw/bare sensations, and let perhaps subtle things come to you, maybe from the periphery.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

waiting, everything, things come to you, periphery:

Patiently, gently maybe quietly wait, inclining towards and resting in everything, and let perhaps subtle things come to you, maybe from the periphery.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have a despair party:

Thus. And, give up, fail, let go.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have a negative emotion party:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

spatially localized attention conceived as such [tcs]:

Put attention on/in specific spatial points/volumes/voxels inside and outside the body.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

"external world":

Allow the "external world" to become salient, e.g. sounds, or a particular sight or sound, etc., everything out there, as/while things might become quieter internally. Let it come to you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

"take a snapshot":

Take a snapshot of an experience that's too fast, too transient, to explore direclty and then examine the snapshot.

comment:

You might anticipate or preemptively "hit the button" a little before you want the snapshot, metaphorically speaking, so as to account for a metaphorical delay in button press and shutter speed.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

primary and secondary attention:

Explore things with "secondary attention," too.

comment:

Be careful not to inappropriately reify primary and secondary attention, awareness, etc.. Secondary attention can be analogous to peripheral vision. If one stably foviates on an object one can stably track things in peripheral vision. Similarly, if one somewhat stably maintains primary attention on something (or looks "through" a primary object, as per e.g. Culadasa, one can explore and track things in secondary attention (Culdasa's "awareness").

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meditation not conceptualized as such:

Meditate without conceptualizing it as meditation. (cf. "anything but meditation")

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

erroneous conception:

Explore how you might be conceiving of something erroneously, e.g. false dichotomies, binaries, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

counterfactual past futures:

For something that ended in the past, imagine a continuing future for that thing, where there was no ending. What happens next? And then? And then?

comment:

You might try this for relationships that ended.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

similarities in possible future plans:

For different things you might do in the future, careers, lives, plans, explore the superficial and non-superficial similarities between them. In what shallow and deep ways are they similar, even if it's not immediately apparent?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

proximal and concrete alternatives:

Ask, is there a more direct way to get X? Can you just directly have that right now or proximally and if not why not?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

concrete first steps:

Ask, what are some concrete first steps to move towards this fantasy/ideal/desire/goal?

comment:

Sometimes exploring concretes will introduce concerns and contingencies that can "bleed into" fantasies, ideals, etc., making them seem less good or possible. Sometimes that's helpful and sometimes that's not! In either case, it can be good to be aware that that's happening.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

goal loops:

Ask, how does X lead to Y, in your plans and dreams? Ask, also, how does Y lead to X, in your plans and dreams?

comment:

Sometimes X and Y are too monolithic and circularly dependent, and exploring circular dependencies can cause helpful "ontological refactorings" in goals, actions, desires, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

real/my version [xx]:

For desires, goals, ideas, beliefs that you've acquired, that seem "grafted on" or in the "wrong ecology" or wrong landscape, ask, what's the real version of this? What's my version of this?

Further, ask, what’s deep-down truly good (feels good, actually wanted) about this for me?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fantasy forward:

Carry a fantasy forward--for past things and future things and dreams, that maybe ended early or didn't happen at all, especially things that you revisit or feel stuck, you might ask, what would/could happen next? And then? Is there a way this (version) ends or completes? How?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

same world:

Ask, can this all be brought into the same world?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

milliseconds before:

Ask, what's happening 600ms before that? 200ms? 100ms? 50? 10?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

milliseconds first:

Ask, what's happening in the first 10ms? The first 100ms?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

give it directly to yourself:

See if you can give X to yourself, directly-ish, to yourself, from you to you, right now.

Or, if something Y is only getting you part of the thing you want, see if you can give *the rest* to yourself, to make up the difference.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what already having would be like:

Explore the felt goodness of what it would be like to already have something that you want.

Explore the felt goodness of what it would be like to completely have something that you're only partially getting or only partially have, now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

badness of not:

Gently and/or imaginatively feel into the felt badness of not doing X.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

causal history join:

Ask, where does the causal history of these two things join in the past?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

intellectual/​immersive recollection:

If you're "top-down, intellectually recalling" something. See if you might find a "bottom-up, immersive feel" for that same memory/event/situation/etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

upstream causal intervention:

If you want something to change, explore how you might do something "upstream" that then naturally/effortlessly/spontaneously causes the more "downstream" change that you started with.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what you're already paying attention to:

Pay attention to what you're already paying attention to, reflectively or otherwise.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

bring to you:

Bring breath, body, sounds, etc., to you, maybe so much so that sounds temporarily get drowned out.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

interest, boredom, curiousity:

Take interest, boredom, and curiousity seriously.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

see what your mind is arleady doing:

Explore, watch, feel into what your mind is already doing, before adding/doing new things.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look for what you're not supposed to know:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

riding a bike:

Treat meditation like learning to ride a bike.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meditate like [xx]:

Meditate like an athlete, a painter, like you're on vacation...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

loose, tall, still:

Be gently, sensitively both loose and tall and relatively still. Find a way to gently do this for an extended period of time.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

talk about the right thing to do in practice:

If it feels safe, talk about what the right thing to do is or feels like, in terms of personal practice.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be open to the possibility of miracles [j]:

Remain/be/become open to the possibility of miracles, instantaneous change/transformation/growth.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

coordinate with breathing [h]:

Try coordinating what you're doing with the breath, or pay attention to if/how what you're doing relates to or interacts with the breathing cycle.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

consider doing something else [ct]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

slow down [j]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

check your notifications [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

watch porn [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

spend an hour on facebook/twitter/reddit/instagram/etc [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

zone out [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

scroll through p/a list without doing any [m]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do not do this practice [d]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

best order [h]:

Ask, what is the best order to do things in, assuming a best global order exists?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explain using different words [h]:

Explain something [see p/a practice “explain something”], then explain it again using different words. considering “tabooing” certain key words (making them off-limits for the purpose of the explanation)

OR [see next practice]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explain in a new way [h]:

Explain something in a way you’ve never explained it before.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

rest in freely available, no-strings-attached goodness [h]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find contention [h]:

Deliberately seek out contention/conflict/resistance/against-ness [wrt X]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

start over [h]:

Stop. Take a break, or not. Start again.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

logical endpoint [h]:

Ask, what is the logical or most likely endpoint here, given everything i know?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

systematically recount [jd]:

Systematically recount moments/times/events(/places?) from your life. For example: every time you've had sex, every time you've had a piece of pizza, every relationship you've been in, every tree you've sat under, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

offer 1% [aj]:

See whether something in the body wants something: e.g. to squeeze the legs together, to raise an arm protectively or in preparation to stab down. Offer 1% of that, do the first millimeter or less, and completely experience that first millimeter. Notice how it feels and what if anything happens to the desire to do that particular thing.

comment:

Don’t overdo it: if doing so activated your system then only a little into it before resting. This is something like opening the “Print Queue” of actions that got added to the queue and were not carried out, either because they were inhibited or didn’t fire in time because something was happening too fast, or something came up before they could find their natural completion. There is a happy percentage (e.g. 1%) that might allow the print queue to clear out, without triggering whatever inhibitted the action in the first place and made it “stuck”.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find missing concepts [jd]:

Take note of concepts people talk about that you seem to be “missing.” Explore the ways you might not actually be missing them, or already have full or partial versions of the thing. Scratch: And over time, track how experiences you have or are having may be that thing

example: “everyone talks about love all the time but I don’t seem to have any!” Love, forgiveness, gratitude, the experience of “missing someone”, etc etc

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

call your mom [mo]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

call your dad [mo]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice obstruction [h]:

Ask, which processes, rhythms, or movements are being obstructed?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hate:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

empty justifications:

Check to see whether the things you’re saying to yourself are empty justifications, and whether there’s something deeper and truer underneaeth.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

weighty feeling/memory:

Explore whether there are feelings and memories from the past that are “carrying real weight” right now.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let your body solve it:

Let your body solve the parameter/combinatorial explosion; calculate with the body (with secondary concern/consideration/error-checking input from the mind)

comment:

...like water knowing the shape of a container as it’s poured in, or a thermose knowing whether to keep something hot or cold.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

body and head:

Let both body and head “test/check for done”/yes/no/good/bad/etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

X milliseconds before:

Explore the first X (10, 20, 50, 100, 500) milliseconds before something.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

first X milliseconds:

Explore the first X (10, 20, 50, 100, 500) milliseconds of something.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

deciding border:

Explore the nebulous border between haven’t decided to meditate yet and having decided to meditate, at the millisecond level (or tens or hundreds of milliseconds).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

meditating border:

Explore the nebulous (or not) temporal border between not (yet) meditating and now meditating, at the millisecond level (or tens or hundreds of milliseconds).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

finer grain:

Seek and/or explore and/or work at a finer grain.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

try treating change like digital logic:

Consider that some particular change won't occur until something is perfect down to the bits, every single one and zero correct. Consider that some particular change won't occur until *everything* relevant to that change is in place, neither too few things there nor too many things. So, not, overshooting or undershooting, but the right particular, specific, concrete presences and absences, fractally, recursively. So not, "generally more or less," but "this and not that."

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

note sense of safety [aj]:

Thus.

comment:

Are you experiencing felt physical safety or not? If not, why?/good to look at why?/make it safe to look and then look. Assess other levels: emotional safety, future safety, lingering past safety, security at all levels and beyond levels

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hold self-distrust [mo]:

Incline towards the question "in what ways don't I trust myself?" Attend to what arises, and encourage yourself to trust yourself exactly as much as it makes sense to trust yourself.

comment:

A:

this has been v valuable to me. or rather, the way i initially interpreted it, which is instead of dismissing self-mistrust when it arises, validating/legitimizing it by exploring the reasons the mistrust actually "has a point" so to speak

B:

Yes! That's very much the intention for it I've been developing a whole framework based on this shift from dismissing to validating, and would love to hear as much as you want to share about your experiences with it Vital to actually building self-trust And applies on all scales, eg to other people, as well

A:

Yes! Totally. There’s an important tension here around “trusting our mistrust”

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

manifest rage at self [mr]:

if it is safe and good to do so, and only to the degree it is safe and good to do so, manifest rage at self. roar. yell obscenities at self. vocalize any relevant parts' felt rage at you.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mine not mine [mo*, jd*]:

What's mine to do? What's not mine to do? What of the undone is mine to do next?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

unblocking via movement [aj]:

What's here? How does it want to move? Is there a reason it hasn't done that already, or is it safe to do the first speck of that movement?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

hide under a blanket:

Thus.

comment:

Meditator used hide under a blanket. It's not very effective.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

explain yourself to a small child [mh]:

Imagine being followed around by a young, inquisitive child who is requesting clear and sensible explanations for everything you do.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

set a good example [mh]:

Imagine that your behavior is on display for a group of children in [age range], and that they'll be inclined to use your behavior as a model for their own.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

make a bucket list [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

vocalize an opinion [jd]:

Thus, perhaps out loud to yourself, perhaps out loud to another.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

vocalize a (seeming) truth [jd]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

articulate an opinion [jd*]:

Thus, maybe write it down, put it into words.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

articulate a (seeming) truth [jd]:

Thus, maybe write it down, put it into words.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

toggle worldviews [mh]:

Toggle between good and bad. Pure land and charnel ground. Toggle faster. Toggle slower.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what are the options? [jd]:

What are the options, besides diving into the big feel directly?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mortality/fragility party:

Have a mortality/fragility party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

24-7 mortality/fragility party:

Have a 24-7 mortality/fragility party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

uncertainty party:

Have a uncertainty party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

24-7 uncertainty party:

Have a 24-7 uncertainty party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

(no escape from) actually/​really/​truly caring/​wanting/​desiring party:

Have a (no escape from) actually/​really/​truly caring/​wanting/​desiring party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

24-7 (no escape from) actually/​really/​truly caring/​wanting/​desiring party:

Have a 24-7 (no escape from) actually/​really/​truly caring/​wanting/​desiring party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

paranoia party:

Have a paranoia party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

24-7 paranoia party:

Have a 24-7 paranoia party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

horror/terror/fear party:

Have a horror/terror/fear party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

24-7 horror/terror/fear party:

Have a 24-7 horror/terror/fear party.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

would it be fun? [*]:

Ask, would it/that/X be fun?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

have you tried enjoying it? [*]:

Ask, have you tried enjoying it?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

perceive with body part X:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what body part X wants:

Ask, what does body part X want?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

origin:

Ask, what within was the origin that gave rise to multiple X’s?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look without looking:

Ask, is there a way to look at it without looking at it? A way to circle around to to be indirect?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

look without pushing and periphery:

Ask, is there a way to attend without pushing, and then to attend and then see if things come up on the periphery?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

adult/new/old percentages:

Ask, what is percent is new and adult and even “received”? What percent is “old/young/deep”?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

light intention:

See if you can place a light intention in whatever global way is good.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

age:

Ask, does that feel like you or part of you or a state you were in or could have been in, at any particular age, in your past or in your life so far?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

after infinite self-care:

Ask, if you had infinite time for self-care, if time stood still while you did that, when you were done, what might you concretely do next, after that?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

subtle energy:

Move “[subtle] energy” in and along your body (minimally and conservatively, though perhaps in a bunch of places.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

really/​actually/​truly want [*]:

Ask, what do you really/actually/truly want?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

starting over:

Ask, what if you were starting over, right now? If you were airdropped into a new life? What would you do differently?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do them nonverbally, telepathically:

Do auxiliary practices involving self-interaction, but especially nonverbally, "self-telepathically," "internal telepathic dialogue," "call and response," "giving yourself space, time to telepathically, nonverbally communicate back."

comment:

"If you're solo working w/ Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS; e.g. w/ the Self-Therapy Jay Earley book) or Feeding Your Demons (see appendices in the back of both books), & they've come to feel laborious or heavyweight, you can do them NONVERBALLY & SELF-TELEPATHICALLY, too." https://twitter.com/meditationstuff/status/1360397644498165763

You can communicate "telepathically" with other "parts" of yourself. And they can do the same, to you and to each other. https://twitter.com/meditationstuff/status/1360398764301811713

Maybe, gently: Try to temporarily treat other parts of you as "completely drained of *your* volition." Disclaimed (and eventually reclaimed) volitionality. And then you can only make suggestions, requests, ask question, etc., across an "interface" presented by that "part." https://twitter.com/meditationstuff/status/1360399334068674562

not just images; *meaning*; feelings, etc. https://twitter.com/meditationstuff/status/1360399647823589376

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

self-trust:

Ask, in what ways, when, under what conditions, overall, now or in the future, where/how do I not trust myself?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

check-in:

Check in with parts of yourself. How are they? How do the feel about it/X/this? Can you check in even before a concern or objection is raised?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

make space for the original argument:

Allow an answer to a question you pose to yourself to come up. Allow a counterargument/​rationalization/​anything to that answer to (spontaneously) form. Gently make space for the original answer, even so, and keep it company.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

follow [the feeling of] X back in time (memories, etc.):

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

find your way back:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

squishy body that sloughs:

Consider that you have a mostly squishy body that sloughs stuff off outside and in.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no escape:

Explore ideas of “no escape,” e.g. maybe “can’t escape the physical universe,” “can’t escape the here and now,” etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

in (personal, custom-built, bespoke) hell:

Let yourself, scenario by scenario, acknowledge the ways you’re already in personal, custom-built, made-to-order, bespoke hell.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

no!:

No! (Thus.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do/block with a feather:

Do something (try to do something) or (try to) block/​prevent something from happening, or stop something that’s already happening, with the lightest and most minimal possible “touch,” “with a feather.”

comment:

You might say something like, ok, I could do X if I really made myself, or overrode myself, or with 10/10 effort. But how about 8/10 effort? (Explore or refactor around that, for a bit.) How about 6/10? … How about 3/10? … How about 1/10? ( = “with a feather”) … How about 0.01/10?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

keep company, hang out with [restatement]:

Keep something company, hang out with it, spend patient time with it, without trying to change it, without trying to enhance it, without trying to make it go away. You might “surf” with, lightly ride any undulations, waxing and waning, ebb and flow, while doing this. (Compare with Ingram’s analogy: touch the surface of the [not necessarily still water], maintain contact with that surface; without letting the back of the hand get wet.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

align with it [restatement]:

Try to get on the problematic thing’s side, in (maybe slight) part, as much as you can and is safe. This can on net make the bodymind “more whole,” and free up more slack, in a way that allows the problematic thing to become less problematic, on its own terms while self-respecting its own needs, in a way that is immediately or long-run better, but or integrative, for the whole. (Not to inappropriately reign any of these “things.”)

comment:

"loop back rotate around inside"

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

best could have gone [restatement]:

Ask, what’s the best it could have gone? How’s the best it could have gone?

comment:

Alternatives: What’s/how’s the best (counterfactually, magically, all-things-being-equally) it [that past thing, etc.] could have otherwise gone?

Related: How can you complement all you can to yourself? How can you give all you can to yourself?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

cause the bad thing:

Enhance it, facilitate it, cause it, invoke it, provoke it, turn towards it.

comment:

Even if there's a dash of forciness, or tiny bit of out-of-order-ness, sometimes, maybe one of the last things you reach for, is directly causing the bad thing. This is in part because we can get in a rut, can be entrenching the avoiding some bad thing, and trying to directly (or semi-directly, or indirectly) cause the bad thing can illuminate entrenched and/​or active "avoidance" that's preventing integration, burn-off--redo-to-undo. Probably previously, the avoiding, protecting, turning away was adaptive, necessary, that's the only option you had. But maybe you kept layering, entrenching, momentum-ing on top of that, even when it was good enough. And then, when it became safe to actually go into the thing, it is/​was/​will be necessary to work through all that layering that ended up on top. And sometimes, right near the end of that, to help you find the last of that layering, trying to somehow directly invoke the bad thing (remember it, cause it [e.g. muscle tension]) can be helpful.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

make it worse:

Make it worse; facilitate it to be worse; cause it to be worse; provoke it to be worse; turn towards it in order to make it worse.

comment:

See comments for "cause the bad thing."

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

allow yourself to care [about it]; admit you care [about it]:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let badness be permissible in your universe:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

X Y (just sit):

X = just, merely, only, mostly, or mainly; Y = sit, stand, or etc.; thus.

comment:

something something bare perceptual/motor loop, but groundlessness and “play,” in the “freely move” sense, so paradoxically, also, anything goes, whatever (wants to) happen(s) happens

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

let the body learn from “every pore and direction”:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

self-updating:

Let the bodymind and everything (thoughtlessly) just be, let it spontaneously "update" itself though thinking and everything and anything can be a part of that.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be true to yourself:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

if you were already structurally fluid:

What would you have done (then and then and then, all those different times and so on) were you already completely structurally fluid, at that time?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

eye phosphenes and blobs:

Allow your attention/​"attention" to be (fully) captured sometimes by light, phosphenes, moving or flashing blobs behind your closed eyes.

comment: This is in the neighbhorhood of the "be moved" preliminary/​auxiliary practice (and many/​several others).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what's actually going to happen:

Ask, what's (actually) going to happen? (with respect to some thing, situation, etc., X)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

(positive) counterfactual historical tree:

At each point back then, what's the best (or better) it could have gone, in that "moment" or "situation"? And that other "moment" or "situation"? (backwards or forwards, maybe very discontinuously)?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

abandon (all) hope:

Thus.

comment:

cf. "abandon all hope ye who enter here"

cf. hell is the absence of hope

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

effortlessly, costlessly, always-already aware:

Let/​allow yourself to be(come) effortlessly, costlessly, always-already aware of effortlessly, costlessly, always-already being aware of what you are effortlessly, costlessly, always-already [being] aware of feeling/XXXXexperiencing (in the body and) everywhere (positively valenced, negatively valenced, and neutrally valenced, in no particular order).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

passive meditation:

Thus; Meditate passively; Just let it happen.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

demonstrate it:

Visibly and audibly act out, demonstrate, model the thing you need or would need from someone else.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

where:

Ask, where? Where is it? Where is this? Where am I experiencing this? Wheere in awareness is this? Where is my attention? Where would my attention be if I could attend to or be aware of this? Where can I find this? Where is this been all along?

comment:

I was cautious about adding this because these sorts of questions can problematically reify directionality and "space itself". But many people do find locational/​spatial prompts very useful, and for many people they'll be very helpful for redo-to-undo prompting (which can happen without such prompting too).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

when / temporally "catch" it:

Ask, when is it? Try to anticipate it and catch it in the act. Try to do that minimally, without any "pre actions," see if you can smoothly, spontaneously rise to meet it (with minimal attention or i.e. mere/​bare/​luminous awareness) exactly as it happens, luminously, without armature or artifice.

comment:

And again and again, in same. This will eventually come from some place spontaneous, automatic, done-for-you, more riding a bike than planning the rocks you'll step on to cross a stream, and/​but the bike is more like a laser pointer flicking around but also the laser pointer spot is liquid and continuous with everything, or something. This may never be particularly salient and may feel like something different to you or like nothing at all. Potentially misleading.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

fist:

Release the clenched fist. Release the iron will. (when it's safe)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

• better movement/​stillness

left out:

Ask, what was left out?

comment:

Alternative with slightly different intent/​meaning:

Ask, what was unconsidered that wanted or would want to be considered?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

helping listen:

Ask yourself, can you gently find a way to help it listen? Can you gently help it find a safely exposable surface area?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

movement/​stillness:

Pick simple movement (repeatable or circular/​"perfect-loop-able", isolated or full-body); or a posture; or line/paragraph to speak.

And then, pick one or some qualities you want (it) to embody (e.g. elegant, economical, graceful, beautiful, poised, relaxed, effortless…).

And then explore/​experiment with doing/​holding/​being/​saying it (the movement/​posture/​speech) with that quality, or (gently, indirectly) incline towards that quality or better versions of that quality.

Later, instead of a specific quality or qualities, try exploring it (the moment/​posture/​speech) (with) just (indirectly, gently) inclinig generally towards “improving”/​/​"improvement"/​“better” (on your terms, wordlessly or perhaps in your own (implicit or explicit) words.

comment:

* The movements, postures, speaking above should be a physical movements, "external postures," or out-loud speech---not a “mental action”, nor an “attentional/awareness action” (solely), nor “thought speech” nor maybe whispered speech. These have subtle pitfalls, so it's maybe better to let these be transformed, through and through, by other practices in the whole, wider document.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

if no longer:

Ask, what (other, additional) bad thing(s) will happen if you no longer had {bad thing}? If you didn't have the {bad thing}?

comment:

e.g. {bad thing} = muscle tension

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

surrender to better ordering:

Thus; Or, surrender to better ordering [of [continuous] meditative-y events]. Allow a better thing to (streamingly, continuously) happen.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

all the time in the world:

Pretend you have "all the time in the world," pretend you even have "infinite time," to do a thing, solve a thing, fix a thing, explore... What would you do differently, then? Is that or some aspect of that somehow useful, now?

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

solve like gravity:

Let (the) "gravity" in/​of body (and the whole phenomenological field) solve/​compute it. Let the solution come from the spontaneity of something like water following gravity, bodymindworld settling//​flowing luminously, naturally.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

allowing salience:

Allow specifics of sight, sound, or body to beceme salient. (in order)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

beauty:

Imagine things, sights, locations, landscapes, interiors, buildings, artwork, objects of extraordinary (realistic or fantastic or unearthly or etc.) beauty.

comment:

Explore, flash on the "raw" / "bare" sensory features, details of these. You might or might not sometimes try to (liminally) verbally describe some of this, or not at all.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

("just") guess:

Thus.

comment:

"Guessing" can help one learn how to use more of themselves, as they find their "guesses" are (almost) "right"(-ish) or useful way higher than chance.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

until not fucked (up) [kq]:

Let yourself continuously / repeatedly fuck up until something not fucked up happens.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

baby yourself:

Thus.

comment:

Also, act compassionately towards yourself, act lovingly towards yourself, pamper yourself, treat yourself...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don't immediately leave:

Find the exits, the edges, the ways out, but don’t leave immediately. (Don't make yourself stay. Just hang out for a bit if you find you can, and it's ok.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

release reality:

Release, temporarily, if you like, your grip on "reality": when safe, let yourself, allow yourself to not know what's real and what isn't.

comment:

And be careful about reifying "real" and "reality," in any case. In the best sense if probably means not what you think and less than you think, etc., etc. "Reality" is "empty," without essence, etc., etc., whether you think it's particles and forces and fields, the cosmological universe and everything else, dual aspect monism, panpsychic, telic, the pregnant void... etc. etc.

releasing grip on "reality" --- allow yourself to locally not know what's real and what isn't (and careful about reifying "real" and "reality," of course.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

notice doing:

• (Simply) notice doing.
• including willing, efforting, subtle (volitional (or not?)) muscular activity, karmic or karma generating activity, pushing, forcing
• pairs/​combines well with simply notice, reverie, surrender, letting go, waiting, patiently waiting, daydreaming, effortlessness, relaxing, calming
• cf. Daniel Ingram’s (Mahasi Sayadaw's) noting vs noticing distinction
• “caught” early enough can sort of be ghostly, barely there, "out of phase"
• can be recursive/​meta; applies to itself (gently, release, or it tangles further)

See also:

• simply notice

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

simply notice:

• Thus.
• pairs/​combines well with notice doing, reverie, surrender, letting go, waiting, patiently waiting, daydreaming, effortlessness, relaxing, calming
• “caught” early enough can sort of be ghostly, barely there, out of phase
• can be recursive/​meta; applies to itself (gently, release, or it tangles further)
• Recall how experience or having experience is inherently effortless and requires nothing (more/​extra).

See also:

• notice doing

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

wrong direction:

Meditate in the wrong direction, the bad direction, in the opposite direction; do the wrong thing, do a worse thing. You might even (gently) try: Do the worst thing.

comment:

(sometimes bad is good)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

keep it around:

Gently, patiently keep X around, at least for a while; don't try to first-pass make X go away.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

extra body parts:

Look for extra bodyparts, like an arm or even a head. You might ask, who's arm is this? Who's head is this? and so on

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

enjoy it:

If it's safe, enjoy it---find the neutral, the pleasurable, enjoyable aspects, the not immedately bad, all of related to it, about it, and especially within it. Gently, gently, gently, maybe lightly even seek out enjoyment in it; let yourself enjoy it.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don't push it away:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

mistrust optimism/​hope:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

live without hope:

Thus. (in a way / manner that's ultimately constructive and good)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

if not now:

Ask, for maybe doing X, if not now, when? If the answer is "never," this could indicate an ordering error or possibly an expectation that X is conceptually confused or will spontaneously be addressed, and so on.

messy comment from original notes:

look for not yet and make sure that the answer to when? isn't never sometimes turns out the thing dissolves and so when/never don't make sense. but other times this points to an ordering error if it's sort of a thing that one should sort of do eventually. if not never that doesn't necessarily mean "now" of course. maybe some other time. but if the never dissolves before that times comes, in that world where the thing is a thing, then that's probably net good.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

enjoy muscle tension:

If it's safe enough to do so, enjoy the muscle tension---find the neutral, the pleasurable, enjoyable aspects, the not immedately bad, all of related to it, about it, and especially within it. Gently, gently, gently, maybe lightly even seek out enjoyment in it; let yourself enjoy it.

comment from original scratch notes:

enjoy, don't push away, keep company muscle tension --- find everything pleasurable, enjoyable, good, valuable within, about, related to it, and then bask, enjoy, etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

do what's not allowed:

Do what's experientially/​phenomenologically not allowed.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

transgress:

Experientially/​phenomenologically transgress.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

body hang check:

Standing, let an imaginary string, anchored to the very top of your skull, sort of gently pull you up gently straight, erect, tall, and then sort of let your whole skeleton hang off of that string, or at least let everything hang off of your skull and spine. Check for tension, imbalances (front and back, side to side, higher and lower), "hmm that's weird or not quite right, maybe," throughout and across your body, and things like that. Use that information to continuously or subsequently decide or inform what to do next.

comment:

You can definitely do this sitting or kneeling, and you should do those too, if you are able, but I strong recommend generally exploring / playing with this standing, if you are able.

Pairs well with be moved.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

be "outside":

Be "outside;" "Be here now."

Say, for example, when you're in a quiet room by yourself. Now you're in the room instead of "elsewhere" or "elsewhen." (stated maybe another way, of many ways, in a way, say, where, perhaps, something like "the reality or captivation of the inner world" sort of temporarily recedes)

(gently, let it slip when it wants to slip)

(nothing particular is otherwise required of attention, awareness, etc.)

alternatives: let your self be here, now. encourage yourself to be here, now. help yourself feel safe being here, now. ...

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

welcome anxiety:

Welcome (at-first-hidden) anxiety (if any).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

treat it as infinite:

Treat it (meditation) as infinite (no "done," [as per of course] but/​nor even "asymptotic done;" cf./​vs. impermanence, non-eternity).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

flow downhill:

Let meditation proceed as if by/​as water flowing downhill, let/​find it naturally, spontaneously doing its thing, all by itself, in spontaneous simplicity or complexity.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

instead of:

Try things like:

• Instead of doing, find yourself doing.
• Instead of intending, find yourself doing.
• Instead of planning and working towards a goal, find yourself doing something.
• Instead of willing, find that something is happening.

comment:

[...] in emptiness [...]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

surely anxious:

Consider or pretend or entertain that you have to be anxious about something, that you must be anxious about something, that surely you're anxious about something. Now---what perhaps might that or those something(s) be??? As one option, it's ok to just guess and see what comes up.

comment:

You can do this for things that seem "purely physical," too---e.g., pretend that this sharp, burning pain you feel in the left side of your chest (that, say, even, was so bad you got it checked out by a doctor but they couldn't find anything by sight, palpation, labs, or imaging), that, gently, provisionally, just for the sake of exploration and experimentation, has to be anxiety-related, must be anxiety-related, surely is somehow anxiety-related. Now---what perhaps might that or those something(s) be??? As one option, it's ok to just guess and see what comes up.

see also:

• surely "something bad[-feeling]"
• neutral, elongated, light-but-almost-hanging postures, somatization, desomatization, muscle tension, etc.
• At the not-even-that-extreme, "conversion disorder" or "functional neurological [symptom] disorder," are things. See maybe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_disorder [last accessed: 2023-03-08] Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatization [last accessed: 2023-03-17]

other examples:

Waking-up-at-3-A.M.-with-your-heart-pounding-type things, breathing-type things, etc., which can piggyback on, and amplify, mild or moderate (or intense) "real stuff" (or, not even piggybacking, they might even "completely unravel" leaving no "real stuff" behind whatsoever). Always get stuff checked out by a doctor when that makes sense, etc., etc., etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

choiceless awareness:

Surrender, let go, release, unbiased, any-which-way let your attention/​awareness be pulled, let your attention/​awareness perhaps alight on something, perhaps momentarily, as it pulls or fascinates, perhaps right onto, right through to, the next thing, stuff, anything, anything, anything,---and on,---and the next,---and on,---effortless, smoothly, any-directional, fractal reverse-or-zig-or-zag-if-needed, any-manifold, quick-changing liquid, flowing downhill like water, path of least resistance.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

redirect attention:

Deliberately redirect your attention, (away) from something that is tugging on, or would like to hold onto attention, to something else.

comment:

You might momentarily or briefly sustain this redirection of attention or simply let go afterwards and see what happens.

You might explore "reversibility," whether such redirection "does something" that can be "one-step undone." It's not necessarily a bad thing if not or if "it doesn't seem to work that way."

Redirecting attention could be "doing something else;" it's not limited to just/​only "attending to something else."

The/​which particular "something else" or "(doing) something else" in any particular relevant (pre-)moment might matter more, sometimes, and matter less, sometimes.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

environmental attentional pull:

Add something that pulls attention to the environment, e.g. music, an open window, streaming video, netflix, an audiobook, a lightshow on the ceiling, etc.

comment:

This doesn't mean you should actively avoid the attentionally pulling thing, or that you should or shouldn't get lost in it or that you should or shouldn't enjoy it, or that you should or shouldn't "deconstruct" it, or anything, etc.

See also:

• sleep and distraction:

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

surely "something bad[-feeling]":

This is a generalized version of surely anxious. Please refer to that auxiliary practice as well. So it's something like, this:

Consider or pretend or entertain that perhaps it must be the case, that it's surely the case, that there's something bad, or something bad happened, or somehow, somewhere you feel bad or awful or etc. about something that did happen, or is happening, or could happen, or might happen, or will happen, or may have happened, or is still happening, or will start to happen, or will cause bad things to happen, or can't be prevented, or will inevitably happen, as best you can tell, or feels terrible, or awful, or intolerable, or terrifying, or horrifying, or existentially despairing, in any case, as best you can tell. Now, gently, gently, gently, patiently, for short stints, with lots of breaks, over time, explore where, how, what, why, when, whither that might be.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

maybe this is it:

For the seeming-or-actually-intolerable seeming-or-actually [e.g. doom] thing (seeming-or-actually acute or chronic or terminal health emergency or thing; life situation; money situation; career or job situation; relationship or romantic situation; social situation), explore "maybe this it," no going back, everything different "forever," it will be like this "from now on," "irrecovable," "irreversible," "this is how things are and/or will be, going forward, no going back, not like the past," "this is how it is[, maybe]"---"maybe this is it."

[especially credit to several people for this formulation]

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

worst of:

Gently experiment with or try both:

• If safe, ask, what's the worst of this/​that? (Or, what might be the worst of this/​that, and so on.)
• If safe, let the worst of this/​that come to you, show itself to you. (And/​or, let the maybe-worst [case scenario] come to you, and so on, in its own time, in its own way.) (Or, let the worst of what's implied or the worst of what might be implied come to you, and son on.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

ask it to stop:

If felt-safe for you to do so, ask it to (temporarily) stop.

comment:

Try to request not demand. Might have to actually engage with it, fear of actually engaging with out-of-control-ness or something that might not listen or something for which asking might be a type error, or fear that it might say no initially or perpetually, or might not be "reasonable-enough," in some sense, or it can't or won't or doesn't (yet) know how (you can try to help it figure out how), or it won't be understand or care about why you want it to stop, or it won't know how to win-win synergize and negotiate across a longer time horizon (you can try to teach it; you can try asking what it wants and needs). And of course sometimes it's better to eat more protein or take a vitamin or something than to try to negotiate out of something downstream of a nutrient deficiency or that you are a little dehydrated or etc., etc., etc.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

don't make it worse:

Don’t[/[lightly, reversibly] try not to] (directly) make it/that/anything (locally) worse.

comment:

Things might nonmonotonically get worse, and/​or of course improve, in some pattern, locally or “somewhere else,” but in exploring this aux it’s not directly[/immediately] following as a result of something you’re doing, though it may be enabled/​ungated spontaneously indirectly/​indirectly [sic].

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

plausible and benign:

Generate amd explore at least favorite one plausible and completely (or at least more) benign (alternative) explanation for some disturbing phenomenon or experience you’ve had or are having or for an inference or conclusion or prediction or expectation or assertion [that] you’re considering or that you’ve just drawn or are chewing on, pondering, fearing, or reacting to, or acting upon (or are possibly about to).

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

emergency yes no something else:

Gently ask, is this/​there/​it/​X an [[[actual/​"actual"/​actual-actual [sic]]]] [sic [sic]] emergency?

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jaw tongue check:

Gently play with, as one of many options, gently refraining from meditation unless your jaw and mouth are naturally, lightly "magnetized" closed, taking care of themselves, and you're generally not really thinking about it, and maybe also your tongue is lightly "magnetized" to the roof of your mouth, gently taking care of itself and you're generally not really thinking about it.

You might exercise, or take a walk, and so on.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

vigilance and suffering:

Gently ask/explore:

What is an as good or better alternative that doesn't involve [as much or any] suffering (and again is as good or better than the previous thing [e.g. that you were doing]? [= feel better]

Or, gently, gently, patiently, is there a better way that doesn't involve suffering?

Gently ask/explore:

What is an as good or better alternative that doesn't involve [as much or any] vigilance? (and again is as good or better than the previous thing [e.g. that you were doing]? [= free up resources]

Or, is there a better way that involves much less or no vigilance?

comment:

• Ask what's good about the suffering as such-ish?

• Or what's necessary about suffering as such-ish?

• Or what's important about suffering as such-ish?

• Or what is suffering as such-ish for for you?

• What would be bad if anything about not suffering as such-ish?

• Ask what's good about being vigilant as such-ish?

• Or what's necessary about being vigiilant as such-ish?

• Or what's important about being vigilant as such-ish?

• Or what is being vigilant as such-ish for, for you?

• What would be bad if anything about not being vigilant as such-ish?

Transcript shared with persmission:

"I guess suffering is really important to me. It let's me know that I'm alive. It justifies my craziness to other people and makes me less embarrassed about myself. It makes me hate myself less. It creates a surface area to be loved. It's diffficult for me to know how to be loved otherwise. I'm not sure I know how to relate to people if I'm not suffering. I'm not sure I know what people expect from me if I'm not suffering. I was going to say something about hating myself or hating life or something but it's more like punishing myself, punishing other people, and punishing the world for me not getting what I want. I do want to be unique and special and suffering with respect to not getting what I want confirms that I'm unique and special—and misunderstood. I'm just so sad about the things... I'm not sure what to do with the sadness and grief. I feel like I was promised these things; I don't know by who or whom or how. I deserve to suffer. I hoped I was going to outrun suffering or something—cutting edge of everything; maybe would go different for me [no control but can make choices]. There's no point of I'm not sufferig. There's no meaning if I'm not suffering. It's not real if I'm not suffering. Way to justify my "bad behavior" to other people. s[sense of entitlement/narcissism — felt owed and angry/furious weren't delivered / outrage / so angry, mean, entitled, spoiled, do want to hurt people]"

more:

• suffering justifies my existence
• people won't know I'm suffering (hurting? need help?) if I don't (visibly?) suffer
• suffering is the texture of life
• suffering gives meaning
• suffering makes it so there's stakes
• suffering makes good things all worth it
• suffering makes good things better
• things that happened to me won't matter if there was no suffering; suffering marks their meaning

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make friends with your digestion:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

quiet mind reveals the now:

Look around for some way to "automatically" quiet the mind. This won't always work, depending on what's going on in your life, if you're particularly experiencing a strong emotion or anxiety (though often even then), or when you last ate, or what you last ate, and how long ago, and so on.

Find something to gently pay attention to, that's safe to pay attention to; Sometimes it's something outside of yourself, like sounds; sometimes it's a bodypart or something interoceptive. You want to find something that draws you in a little bit, that's here and now. You might find if you do this that the mind becomes quiet and you find yourself in space, in a room or outside, in the now, where sight and sounds are clearer and your body is peaceful, nothing to do, really.

It's something of a matter of finding the right thing to attend to or also the right "how," so it could be a "move" different than "attending." For some time, I found "making friends with my digestion" to be useful; my digestive system, and being friendly and helpful towards it, even if it didn't need it, was a nice place to rest for a few moments. And what "works" for you might change over time. As with anything, be careful with button-pushing. Treat this as an experiment and something to play with, not something to rely on but certainly something you can try when it seems like it'd be useful.

*

You might find in this state that thoughts, thinking, mind arises in that spatiousness and quietness and experiential nowness, or somewhere proximal, and adjacent elsewhereness, almost with quasi-spatiality. [this line also elsewhere in document]

See also:

• "headyness"/"heady-ness"/"headiness"
• don't be here now (to start)
• p14

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

boredom:

Temporarily make choices the lead to boredom.

(the boredom might be very unpleasant (or neutral or fun), but whatever valence isn't the main focus or any particular requirement)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

what's already there:

Try-to-see*-without-trying what's-there-before-you-[try-to]-look*.

[Try to see* without trying] [what's there before you [try to] look*].

What already there before you look*?

cf. awareness/​experience is effortless; it's already there, already happening

*see, *look = see, look; hear, listen; "interocept," feel-for; feel, emote; savor, taste; smell, smell; know, incline...... [don't take these too seriously; just the general idea in general-general [sic]]

*look = look, hear, sense, experience, know, feel, taste, smell, interocept...

See also:

• search for "safe to look" in this document

• Daniel Ingram's(?) or Kenneth Folk's(?) (very paraphrasing?) "gateway to more is exactly what's already there" (material in general not recommended without extreme meta protocol-esque capability and unless calls to you)

• some narrowly conceived phenomenological investigations that may or may not be useful

• invitation of acceptance (so-called litany of gendlin) but again also search for "safe to look" in this document.

Notes:

• cf. luminosity as in "in the seeing just the seen," "in the hearing just the heard" (but if taking this as an auxiliary practice, don't worry about this at all right now, unless you already are or want to! no deep "unlocks everything" secrets here, unironically)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

lay all your cards on the table (h):

If it's ok, see if it's ok to "lay all your cards on the table", to stop concealing facts or intentions and to be completely honest about the situation.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

trust the instantaneous body:

Thus.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

become a connoisseur/​gourmand of suffering:

Become a connoisseur/​gourmand of suffering without trying to change it or have any particular outcome with respect to it.

See also:

https://xkcd.com/915/ [Last accessed: 2025-01-10]

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luxuriate until:

Luxuriate in pain, suffering, fear, anxiety until it gets worse, burns, sears, in your limbs, everywhere, until/​as it continuously-for-a=while pleasurably burns/​hurts-so-good.

Notes:

Careful of forcing/​layering. This won't always be available, etc.

See also:

• Buteykko breathing
• Young, Shinzen. The Icky-Sticky Creepy-Crawly It-Doesn't-Really-Hurt-But-I-Can't-Stand-It Feeling. 2010.

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]

jawbone:

Let your jawbone float suspended in/​from all directions. (Let all bones float suspended in/​from all directions.)

[Click to go back to the corresponding entry in the "auxiliary names" appendix]