Anxiety and depression are disorders of attention.
From Ran Prieur’s 066.
I completely agree with this point. I find the term “mental health” incredibly misleading, because the difference between a healthy use of the mind and an unhealthy one really has to do with attention. Moreover, I wouldn't say that anxiety and depression only have to do with your mind, they are also consequences of being utterly disconnected from your own body, and having little agency in your own life, so overall I like the summary provided by the quote, though obviously you cannot capture the entire situation with a short sentence.
I am not sure how I generally deal with them actually. I can list some of the shifts for me but it's difficult to say if it was because of those that my internal state improved, or because of something else entirely. But anyway:
§1. Establishing a continual connection with my body made a massive difference, because often I would engage in behavior because of sensations in my body, like being tired, hungry, or stressed out, but I didn't do the direct thing that would address it. Now if I'm tired I close my eyes and do nothing, 11 if I'm hungry I eat, and if I'm stressed out I do jumping jacks, shake out my body and slow down my breathing. The way I like to remain embodied is to pay attention to my feet once in a while, because they really are the ground of your being, literally and metaphorically
§2. Being better at doing the things I want to do also helps a lot. If you start out the day with a small win, then the rest of the day feels better, whether or not you keep working on stuff. And the main way I've become better at doing things is honestly to let go of the expectations I had regarding them. Writing down words and making some improvements if I don't like some sentences, putting down lines without allowing myself to erase, and seeing where that takes me, etc. It doesn't make sense to optimize a routine if you don't even have a routine in the first place. If you're in that situation, focusing on quantity over quality is genuinely helpful, so you can build a momentum in your activities.
§3. Not taking things so personally. This extends the previous point about doing things as well. If you don't feel like spending time on your projects, then that is worth listening to. It doesn't mean you are lazy, but instead there is simply a desire to try out something else, or maybe there is something about your environment that makes it unenjoyable to get things done: distractions, too much friction before you can get started, not satisfying enough, etc. And then in daily life, not taking what people say so personally. Most people have their own problems, so what they say or do says more about that than anything specific about you.
§4. Surrounding yourself with better influences. Changing yourself is difficult, but changing your environment is far more tangible and you keep reaping the benefits without having to do much extra work. Many people complain that social media swallows all their time, but few actually do something about it. What is it about social media that keeps you there, and can you shift to something more wholesome? Why doesn't your feed feel inspiring, instead of it being demoralizing? Can you make it easier to naturally reach out for things that are healthier for you, and harder to do the things you eventually regret? The book Atomic Habits is worth mentioning in this regard, it's very straight to the point about how to shift your environment.
§5. Allowing play and silliness. It is far more efficient to rest and play because you end up doing things for so much longer than without them. The usual outlook on productivity doesn't take into account your morale with regards to your project, and that is honestly a major oversight. The difference between my worst mood and by best mood can easily reach a factor of 10 when it comes to my output. People think that they are serious because they get themselves to grind, but a really serious creative would look at all the people burning out around them and think about ways to avoid that. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, because it is obvious that people who play don’t burn out for instance.
The thing about this list of things is that it is just that, a list. Ultimately changes in life are far more unpredictable, and also far more subtle. It's about shifting your relationship to yourself and what you're doing, not just adding more stuff to do. But the problem with subtle shifts is that they're difficult to convey. For instance, my inner dialogue changed so much that it is difficult for me to even remember what it was like 5 or 7 years ago. 12
So I don't really know what I would say to someone who was really deep in that. In an important way, I never was, so I think it is crucial to make a distinction between "reasonable problem" advice and "really traumatic" advice. I do the former and not the latter, because I’ve never experienced the latter.
But as a simple starting point, I think any practice that puts you more in touch with your body is very good, though I wouldn’t recommend exercising in a way that is too overwhelming because that has a way of making you more disembodied actually. But for instance, intentionally making your breaths longer is useful. Long inhales and exhales with some pause in between, which connects you back to your body and allows you to see the contents of your mind more clearly, and not take every thought too seriously. The mind is very powerful, but more powerful than that is the ability to shift you attention to whatever is most useful at any moment, and sometimes the mind just spouts nonsense which is best to completely ignore, like background noise.
5 Obviously taking any idea to its extreme can lead to similar conclusions, but my point remains that “eliminating suffering” is a very bad goal even within reasonable bounds, because it directs all your attention towards what you do not like.
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2024-08-25