There are some good ideas here that I can pick up on. Among the things that I already successfully implement, it may sound stupid, but I think of my different brain modules as different people, and have different names for them. That way I can compliment or admonish them without thinking, “Oh..kay, I’m talking to myself?” That makes it easier to remember that I’m not the only one reacting and making the sole decisions, but avoids turning everything into similar-sounding entities (me, myself, I, my brain, my mind, etc.) Example: This morning, I kept getting the feeling that something was not quite right, I felt lighter for some reason. I recognized that feeling as Jeffery trying to tell me something, so I had to stop and evaluate what I had done that morning so far. I realized that I was still wearing my slippers, and probably would not have realized it until I retracted my kickstand to leave for work. I gave credit where credit is due, and thought (without speaking) “Good catch, Jeffery!” (Jeffery [spelled that way because I “mistyped” it both times just now, before deciding that that’s how he wants to spell it] is the one who handles the autopilot functions of my daily life, and while he does his best in unfamiliar situations, usually does not consult and does foolish things unless I have programmed him with routines. He is named after the anthropomorphic half chicken/half goat/half man protector of the “Deadly Maze” in Chowder. I interpreted the Deadly Maze as an allegory for the subconscious mind.)
Interesting, I’ve occasionally experimented with something similar but never thought of contacting Autopilot this way. Yeah, that’s what I’ll call him.
I get the feeling that this might be useful in breaking out of some of my procrastination patterns: just call Autopilot and tell him which routine to start. Not tested yet, as then I’d forget about writing this reply.
It’s as if your own body is a guy that does his job if you train him right, but makes stupid decisions when something unexpected happens. I just take a more literal approach with the interaction. I also refer to him as “my answering machine” when I am woken up in the middle of the night. It took my wife a while to realize that the person she was talking to was “not me”. My answering machine can make perfectly normal-sounding replies to normal questions, but is unable to come up with creative answers to unusual questions, and I have no memory of the events. Another unnamed, possibly separate module runs when my body is alarmed, but I am not yet conscious. It constantly asks for data, verbally questioning other humans nearby, “What is happening? What is going on? What time is it?” Unlike situations with the answering machine, I retain conscious memory of the occurrence, but not from a first-person perspective, more like I remember somebody telling me about what happened, but in this case that person was (allegedly) me.
Funny. I do something similar- Except I call mine “Planner,” “Want,” “Bum,” and “Cynic.”
I never really considered my autopilot mode anything particular. Usually I just do this when I am struggling with motivation, and usually those four concepts are the main issue- Planning to do something, then wanting to do something else, feeling like not doing anything, and realizing I’m not going to do it so why bother anyway… and reminding myself that they’re learned habits and I can get rid of it if I bring in new habits.
But your point of regularly communicating with your various ‘parts’ seems like a really good idea. How well have you maintained this as a habit since your comment?
There are some good ideas here that I can pick up on. Among the things that I already successfully implement, it may sound stupid, but I think of my different brain modules as different people, and have different names for them. That way I can compliment or admonish them without thinking, “Oh..kay, I’m talking to myself?” That makes it easier to remember that I’m not the only one reacting and making the sole decisions, but avoids turning everything into similar-sounding entities (me, myself, I, my brain, my mind, etc.) Example: This morning, I kept getting the feeling that something was not quite right, I felt lighter for some reason. I recognized that feeling as Jeffery trying to tell me something, so I had to stop and evaluate what I had done that morning so far. I realized that I was still wearing my slippers, and probably would not have realized it until I retracted my kickstand to leave for work. I gave credit where credit is due, and thought (without speaking) “Good catch, Jeffery!” (Jeffery [spelled that way because I “mistyped” it both times just now, before deciding that that’s how he wants to spell it] is the one who handles the autopilot functions of my daily life, and while he does his best in unfamiliar situations, usually does not consult and does foolish things unless I have programmed him with routines. He is named after the anthropomorphic half chicken/half goat/half man protector of the “Deadly Maze” in Chowder. I interpreted the Deadly Maze as an allegory for the subconscious mind.)
Interesting, I’ve occasionally experimented with something similar but never thought of contacting Autopilot this way. Yeah, that’s what I’ll call him.
I get the feeling that this might be useful in breaking out of some of my procrastination patterns: just call Autopilot and tell him which routine to start. Not tested yet, as then I’d forget about writing this reply.
It’s as if your own body is a guy that does his job if you train him right, but makes stupid decisions when something unexpected happens. I just take a more literal approach with the interaction. I also refer to him as “my answering machine” when I am woken up in the middle of the night. It took my wife a while to realize that the person she was talking to was “not me”. My answering machine can make perfectly normal-sounding replies to normal questions, but is unable to come up with creative answers to unusual questions, and I have no memory of the events. Another unnamed, possibly separate module runs when my body is alarmed, but I am not yet conscious. It constantly asks for data, verbally questioning other humans nearby, “What is happening? What is going on? What time is it?” Unlike situations with the answering machine, I retain conscious memory of the occurrence, but not from a first-person perspective, more like I remember somebody telling me about what happened, but in this case that person was (allegedly) me.
Funny. I do something similar- Except I call mine “Planner,” “Want,” “Bum,” and “Cynic.” I never really considered my autopilot mode anything particular. Usually I just do this when I am struggling with motivation, and usually those four concepts are the main issue- Planning to do something, then wanting to do something else, feeling like not doing anything, and realizing I’m not going to do it so why bother anyway… and reminding myself that they’re learned habits and I can get rid of it if I bring in new habits.
This is basicaly Internal Family Systems Model tho its focus is therapy, i.e. improving dysfunctional behavior.
But your point of regularly communicating with your various ‘parts’ seems like a really good idea. How well have you maintained this as a habit since your comment?