Something that I didn’t get the first time I read this concept (but which Qiaochu explained differently to me), is the specific thing of “check in with my stomach.” (Unreal, I’m interested in feedback on whether this is accurate)
It’s not that you’re just doing whatever you “feel” like, in a generic sense. You’re doing something like Focusing on your stomach in particular, which several people have reported useful for getting introspective access into parts of themselves that they aren’t normally in tune with.
Part of the idea, I think, is that many people by default do things that are in tune with some particular part of their body/mind, and there’s a cluster of wants/needs drives that get more ignored by default.
So, in response to the other thread about videogames vs books (which seem a priori like they should be similar), is… well, yeah they are. But in Unreal’s case it the stomach found some of them yummy and some not.
(I’d guess the meta-level principle isn’t to Listen To Your Stomach in particular, just to make sure to listen to yourself generally and see which parts of you aren’t getting attended to and make sure you are free to do them. But there may be systematic reasons to hypothesize that the stomach is a more useful-than-average way to do that for most people)
It’s not that you’re just doing whatever you “feel” like, in a generic sense. You’re doing something like Focusing on your stomach in particular
Yes, this is right.
I also do predict the stomach is where most people should be Focusing on, for getting proper Rest. I think there’s some kind of ongoing battle between the head and the stomach, and people/society tends to favor the head.
But I get mileage out of doing Focusing on all kinds of areas.
Something that I didn’t get the first time I read this concept (but which Qiaochu explained differently to me), is the specific thing of “check in with my stomach.” (Unreal, I’m interested in feedback on whether this is accurate)
It’s not that you’re just doing whatever you “feel” like, in a generic sense. You’re doing something like Focusing on your stomach in particular, which several people have reported useful for getting introspective access into parts of themselves that they aren’t normally in tune with.
Part of the idea, I think, is that many people by default do things that are in tune with some particular part of their body/mind, and there’s a cluster of wants/needs drives that get more ignored by default.
So, in response to the other thread about videogames vs books (which seem a priori like they should be similar), is… well, yeah they are. But in Unreal’s case it the stomach found some of them yummy and some not.
(I’d guess the meta-level principle isn’t to Listen To Your Stomach in particular, just to make sure to listen to yourself generally and see which parts of you aren’t getting attended to and make sure you are free to do them. But there may be systematic reasons to hypothesize that the stomach is a more useful-than-average way to do that for most people)
I assume this is where a “gut-check” came from.
Yes, this is right.
I also do predict the stomach is where most people should be Focusing on, for getting proper Rest. I think there’s some kind of ongoing battle between the head and the stomach, and people/society tends to favor the head.
But I get mileage out of doing Focusing on all kinds of areas.