I love this post. I love this very much. It's reminding me of a time at a party when a bunch of us were tasting a few bottles of wine. People were trying to use "wine" words to describe their experience, but that felt bland because none of us were familiar. Instead I suggested that we try to describe the wine in terms of scenes and metaphors like "this tastes like reading a book on a quiet afternoon with some friends who aren't quite close yet." Turned out to be super fun and engaging!
Goddamn Sasha. Thank you for this gift. I loved your line “You know this is really working when you feel pride for the success of the creator, like they’re a friend and you earnestly want to send them an email thanking them for what they’ve done.”
Reading your stuff often makes me want to do that. Note to self: actually hit send
Of all the pieces I've read in the last couple years, this gave me the strongest sense of
1) "Wow I come from the same place as this person"
2) "Wow I want to go where this person is headed"
Wonderful insight, astonishingly clear descriptions of messy/tricky phenomena.
I've been stewing on this over the past couple days and came up with an addition that really resonated:
Watch Things Happen On Their Own. When doing the dishes, flossing, exercising (especially juggling) your body will perform extraordinary feats of coordination and finesse. Switching from Manager mode to Appreciative Audience mode is a real treat. For the rest of your life, you can just watch yourself shave yourself (with the relaxed mindset of being at the barber)
This is wonderful, and I was surprised by how many actionable tips you were able to articulate. The emphasis on enjoyment as an almost contemplative art reminded me of classical Indian tantric writers.
I recently memorized Keats' Ode to a Nightingale, an 80-line poem, and the detail I latched onto was the line "Perhaps the self-same song that found a path through the sad heart of Ruth." It's now one of my favorite examples of alliteration :)
You created the opposite of an anti-meme, a self-amplifying meme — a meme that self-perpetuates, strengthens and bootstraps itself while you are processing it in a way beyond normal passive memetic catchiness.
There are a lot of things I love and connect with in this post. None more than the callout of “You Oughta Know” having a sick and overlooked bass line. Yes.
Oh shit. Sasha, I will write to *a thoughtful fan email *soon apparently. I am just amazed by it. How long did it take you to write it? How did you started to collect these micro-skills? I really wonder the backstage of this piece.
This is lovely, and you sent me down some very enjoyable music rabbit holes! Based on some of what you linked here, I think that you might also enjoy the band Songs for Moms (https://songsformoms.bandcamp.com/music)
this is functionally identical to literally every single pinterest girl "just decide to be happy, teehee! ^w^" post ever. congrats on never experiencing a day of true depression in your entire life. must be nice to live in a perpetual state of clownish glee
I'm flattered that you would think that. I was severely bullied as a kid, suicidal for years, and had very erratic mental health for about half of my adult life. Through a product of a lot of work on myself, and a lot of luck, I got to a place of being irritatingly happy a lot of the time, and I've written about many of the steps a lot on this blog. From this perspective, it's pretty clear to me that well-being is both a skill and the product of chance. I hope you are irritatingly happy at some point too.
I love this post. I love this very much. It's reminding me of a time at a party when a bunch of us were tasting a few bottles of wine. People were trying to use "wine" words to describe their experience, but that felt bland because none of us were familiar. Instead I suggested that we try to describe the wine in terms of scenes and metaphors like "this tastes like reading a book on a quiet afternoon with some friends who aren't quite close yet." Turned out to be super fun and engaging!
Goddamn Sasha. Thank you for this gift. I loved your line “You know this is really working when you feel pride for the success of the creator, like they’re a friend and you earnestly want to send them an email thanking them for what they’ve done.”
Reading your stuff often makes me want to do that. Note to self: actually hit send
Of all the pieces I've read in the last couple years, this gave me the strongest sense of
1) "Wow I come from the same place as this person"
2) "Wow I want to go where this person is headed"
Wonderful insight, astonishingly clear descriptions of messy/tricky phenomena.
I've been stewing on this over the past couple days and came up with an addition that really resonated:
Watch Things Happen On Their Own. When doing the dishes, flossing, exercising (especially juggling) your body will perform extraordinary feats of coordination and finesse. Switching from Manager mode to Appreciative Audience mode is a real treat. For the rest of your life, you can just watch yourself shave yourself (with the relaxed mindset of being at the barber)
also— ask someone you love who loves the thing to explain why they do!
Wow what a brain full of joy you have, thank you for sharing.
What the hell sasha. Why are you rad
This is wonderful, and I was surprised by how many actionable tips you were able to articulate. The emphasis on enjoyment as an almost contemplative art reminded me of classical Indian tantric writers.
I recently memorized Keats' Ode to a Nightingale, an 80-line poem, and the detail I latched onto was the line "Perhaps the self-same song that found a path through the sad heart of Ruth." It's now one of my favorite examples of alliteration :)
solid detail, also goat description of wine in verse i think
“Oh for a draught of vintage, that hath been cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth…” it gets better from there!
You created the opposite of an anti-meme, a self-amplifying meme — a meme that self-perpetuates, strengthens and bootstraps itself while you are processing it in a way beyond normal passive memetic catchiness.
Thank you Sasha for this awesome collection! It really is amazing how a bit more focus can reveal so much nuance in everything.
There are a lot of things I love and connect with in this post. None more than the callout of “You Oughta Know” having a sick and overlooked bass line. Yes.
Beautiful, smooth, and helpful. Your writing supports me in getting in touch with the richness of life. Thank you <3
Oh shit. Sasha, I will write to *a thoughtful fan email *soon apparently. I am just amazed by it. How long did it take you to write it? How did you started to collect these micro-skills? I really wonder the backstage of this piece.
I wrote it in a couple of days and didn’t think anyone would like it
Happy new year. Post reminded me why I subscribed in the first place. Cheers!
This is lovely, and you sent me down some very enjoyable music rabbit holes! Based on some of what you linked here, I think that you might also enjoy the band Songs for Moms (https://songsformoms.bandcamp.com/music)
In fact they are great, thank you for the recommend!
this is functionally identical to literally every single pinterest girl "just decide to be happy, teehee! ^w^" post ever. congrats on never experiencing a day of true depression in your entire life. must be nice to live in a perpetual state of clownish glee
I'm flattered that you would think that. I was severely bullied as a kid, suicidal for years, and had very erratic mental health for about half of my adult life. Through a product of a lot of work on myself, and a lot of luck, I got to a place of being irritatingly happy a lot of the time, and I've written about many of the steps a lot on this blog. From this perspective, it's pretty clear to me that well-being is both a skill and the product of chance. I hope you are irritatingly happy at some point too.
Great article! I was reading my notes on the Savoring book last night.
You linked to Kanye West's White Dress, not Lana Del Rey's.
An unforgivable error, now corrected, thank you...