Review of Incognito Chapter 5: The Rivals of the Brain

Reviews | Moose

The Brain is a Team of Rivals.

Have you ever found yourself arguing with yourself? Arguing about decisions you may have made, and how disappointed you are with yourself for making such an impulsive decision?

If you haven't, please know that you are probably a robot. Or Superman. (Let me know!)

This past chapter of Incognito was another interesting one (I'm getting tired of saying this - at some point there has to be a boring chapter!!). It suggests that there are a number of different "experts" within the mind designed to determine the ultimate decision that should be made in a situation. Each 'expert' will then try to shout the loudest in order to make their suggestion the final decision.

An ultimate decision is made. And it is made by the most confident "persona" in that situation. Much like the typical Alpha Male persona that we see in the animal kingdom.

Side thought: The reason some people find it hard to be assertive is because the "expert" has not been fully developed.
Side side thought: Are we neglecting the persona that best fits us by being someone that we are not? (In fact, it has been really good to devote my time to this Patient Approach venture. I truly believe in the potential of mankind, and I genuinely know that I can change the world. By trying to find myself a job and put myself into a certain situation, how much time for development have I lost?)

When we find ourselves in a familiar situation, the action that we have become comfortable with (most often the action that didn't "harm us"), will become the desired action, and therefore, it will assertive itself as the voice in your head that deals with this situation. If I am not physically harmed by not chatting to that group of people, then as I am still alive, what can I be disappointed by?

It's about making yourself uncomfortable, so that you can allow yourself to grow.

In fact, by putting yourselves in the uncomfortable situation, the aspect that previously dominated your persona will diminish (just like if you keep putting yourself in your comfort zone, your desire to jump out of it will diminish).

No one was born a certain way. As human beings, we have the potential to quickly learn and grow, and ultimately, we can alter aspects that we are uncomfortable with. Put yourself in a situation that is unknown to you, and do it a number of times. Watch this have the positive benefits you desire.

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At the beginning of my read, after finishing the introduction, I asked whether we are all secretly Schizophrenics. I guess we are. Some persona's are more dominant in other people, and therefore, their different characters become more obvious.

Fascinating reading!

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You can buy the book anywhere, but if you're in the US or the UK, you can follow the respective linked amazon websites.

Our Promise to You

The Patient Approach | Moose

Milo and I met up yesterday to discuss the next year of The Patient Approach.

The best thing is that we seem to be on the same page on almost everything that we chat about, and we have a seamless plan for the New Year which we will update you on as soon as possible.

Before I go on, I am fully aware that it is the first day of the new year. I did not want this to be a "New Year, New Me" post. I think all of that is bullshit. If you want to make a change, why not start on the day that you intend to? If you want to become an actor, why don't you start practising now? Why are you waiting for tomorrow to quit smoking? The actions that we take each day are reflections on how we intend to live our lives. So instead of sitting there wishing that you're going to be something, make a start! Planning, Preparation, booking yourself on classes, going for a run! Fuck waiting. Your dreams will not wait. That role that you are envisioning yourself in will be someone else's if they are working harder than you right now. And make it something that you are really interested in! Why be "comfortable" doing something that you don't enjoy when you can be happy doing something that you love.

This reminds me of an Alan Watts video (continue reading below):

Rant over. Good to get that off my chest.

Mission Statement:
"As The Patient Approach, we want to redefine what it means to live a meaningful life in the 21st Century, by creating artwork that instills faith in our own potential as human beings."

The values that we will abide by:
- We will not lie or provide false information. We will diligently research each of our topics.
- We will make sure that the stories we tell and the ideas we share fit the facts. As above, we will make sure that we as factually accurate as possible. It does not help anyone if we alter a fact to make it fit the story, furthermore, if people are really going to listen to us and take the meanings of our works on board, then we are doing a disservice by sharing misinformation.
- We will be charitable to the facts and opinions of other people. This means that we will reference the original ideas and who created them. We do not steal!
- We want to be genuine and have integrity. We won't produce any clickbait articles, and we will write about something that we have an invested interest in. Also we will not recycle ideas, and will stand by what we say (well, unless our opinions change - which is only natural)
- We will commit time to posting on here as much as we can. Furthermore, we will keep you updated as much as possible to what we are doing.

Let's do this together!

Moose

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Writer's Block

Writing Exercises | Milo

A short piece about procrastination and writer's block by Milo

"Ok I'm happy with this paragraph," I think aloud to myself because I talk aloud when I write, and my voice is a low, raspy drizzle of slurred words and nonsense. It works for me though, it helps me to stay on track and to check whether the sentence I have just written flows nicely. 

I start the next paragraph and the first sentence is easy enough: 

"Therefore, he had to take this investigation to the next level, he had to speak to Marta and Paulie and find out whether they held him responsible for what happened."

Fuck, what do I write next?
 
"Come on," I mutter but the trick isn't working. I force myself to write and to be creative, however the song I am listening to in the background...I don't like this song right now, it's putting me off, I switch to another track. I don't like this one either, I don't like that one, no sorry not in the mood for Cities Aviv, not in the mood for Thrice, not in the mood for Kuedo. I'm pacing my room and I'm looking at the clock; maybe I should take a break? A break will help right? Or better yet, maybe I should just jack off? Yeah I'll jack off.

I'm stuck with that sentence for two weeks and it's glaring at me, staring at me every single time I open up that Word document. I'm bored of it. Ah fuck it! I’ll take another break from writing today, and maybe I’ll be more fortunate tomorrow. 
 
Another night has passed and I decide to re-read and edit instead of adding something new to the mix, and so I go back and edit what I have previously written. Oh my days, there are so many mistakes! Did I seriously think this was well written? Just proves that you can't trust anybody, not even yourself...

I need something to set me straight, and so I look up at the inspirational print outs posted on my wall; all plucked from the webpages of Brain Pickings. I see tips from writers as diverse as Zadie Smith, Walter Benjamin and Henry Miller. This one picture in particular stands out to me, and it is a black and white image of Henry Miller with the caption:

"When You Can't Create You Can Work." 

https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/02/22/henry-miller-on-writing/

Hmm, I like that. It works for me. I was too worried about trying to "create", I was too stressed about building the house when weeds still existed in the foundations. I can work. When the words do not flow and you are lacking in inspiration, and you find yourself procrastinating then stop trying to create: work instead. Work on your technique, work on your grammar, check your spellings, read a book, read your book, grab a sheet of paper and map out your story. You can even buy books or search online for writing exercises, but whatever you do it make it easy and work.  

You can jack off afterwards.

So Here's The Deal

Ideas and Opinions | Milo

Here's a few parapgraphs I wrote after a prompt from Moose, and it's about the relationship between a reader and the writer. Milo Out.    

So here’s the deal.

Moose and I were chatting the other day and he’s charged us both with writing something interesting and life affirming by the end of today, and I intend on beating him to it. However, I wasn’t initially sure what I would write, nor what the point of it would be and if I was to be entirely honest I’m still not sure I know. However, hanging vaguely in the imagined pink, gloop that is my mind is an idea, and I’ll follow wherever it may go.

So here’s the deal.

That phrase stuck with me as it danced onto the page, chasing the blinking “dash” on my no longer blank Microsoft Word sheet, and those four words have contracted me. Those four words now commit me to explaining what the “deal” is, and offering it to “you”, whoever you may be. You see, I am somebody with aspirations of being a writer, and it is through the written word that I am most at ease and full of expression; quite ironic for a podcaster you might think! Nevertheless, I am sure you might have noticed that I have a habit of speaking, and speaking and speaking often restarting and rephrasing the same point several times until I am happy with its weight, oration and clarity…much in the same way that a writer writes, I find myself speaking.  

Indeed whenever I write, whether it’s an email, a poem for myself, or this piece right here and now for The Patient Approach, I find the task to be “work”, a physically exertive bit of work. If I may be verbose, the task of conversing and conveying a point involves cutting words out of parchment, and chiselling away until you leave it with thick and well defined sentences that are both easy on the eye, and heavy with meaning. Oftentimes, such as now, my exuberance escapes me and what becomes a simple point is soaked until it becomes much fatter and sweeter. Perhaps too fat, and perhaps too sweet. However, when writing I am able to cut off the fat, as I am able to salter the sweetness. I can’t do this when I am speaking, or at least I cannot do this quite so nimbly. Writing and talking are both like sculpting, however with both talking and sculpting once you have ruined the base material the thing is fucked i.e. if you chisel a stone too smooth or cut a chunk too small you’ll surely need a new one, likewise if I say something to offend you eventually my words will only succeed in digging me a hole. There is no easy reset, however with writing there is.  

There I just did it. But you can’t see it. Just now, a number of fatty and decadent sentences were scrapped. In many ways then writing is the domain of the perfectionist.

And yet on another level, writing and its errors are far more frightening and damning than any pitfalls one might find in sculpting or speaking. After all, as I type, I am speaking to dozens of imagined voices in my own head, and I stand in that asylum of distant echoes, sporadic applause and empty heckles that is the writer’s mind. Indeed, on one level I can edit, I can cut, I can delete without fear, but once finished I am contracted. My written words stand before me and cannot be forgotten, they cannot be truly scrapped, and they cannot be truly erased. One this post is on the internet, it is forever, it cannot be forgotten.

It may never be read, but it will never be forgotten.

And in contracting myself, I contract you also. I make a deal with you that you will understand these words as they fall through your eyes and reform in your mind. I make a deal with you, that you will be charitable to any confusion and will seek clarity on any contradictions. You make a deal with me that I will not be a tyrant and that I will act on any feedback, and that I am genuine and accountable for what I have written. You make a deal with me that I will not waste your time.

So I say it again.

Here’s the deal.

Thank you for accepting it, knowingly or otherwise.    

The Milo and Moose Show Episode 6: Are You Sure You Want To Win The Lottery?

Podcast | Episode Description

In this episode of The Milo and Moose Show, Milo and Moose discuss winning the big one, the jackpot, the big enchilada, the luckiest dip, the golden handshake from the BBC, otherwise known as The National Lottery (for those who don't speak like an animated character).

They begin by discussing what they would do if they won the lottery, before going on to discuss whether a lottery win would make life easier or not. They finish the episode by debating whether it's even worth hoping you'll win the lottery, and whether this kind of hope is a good or bad thing to have.

What would you do if you won the lottery? Would you crash and burn after eight years? Would you buy a jetpack? Is blind hope a dangerous thing to have? And who wins the ultimate battle royale between a Killer Whale, a Great White Shark or THE MEGALODON.

And as always people, share your thoughts!

Milo Out! 


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The Milo and Moose Show Episode 6 Preview

Podcast | Preview

Our next episode will be on the lottery, or more specifically, whether it's actually a good thing to win it!

There are numerous reports of lottery winners ending up worse off, both emotionally and financially, after getting the golden ticket. Nevertheless, people still keep playing, and they keep praying that they will win. I myself play the lottery every so often and I do find myself wondering:

"Am I sure I want to win?"

After all, going from seeing a couple of hundred in your bank account to seeing a cool, clean million is not a casual thing at all.  

In this upcoming episode we will be discussing what we would do if we had the winning ticket, before then chatting about the positives and negatives of a win. We'll be looking to finishing off the episode with a discussion about whether the lottery is the ultimate “golden ticket” to a happy life i.e. is it the bastion of hope and the miracle elixir it can sometimes appear to be? 
 
We'll be recording and releasing our next episode Sunday 20th December so keep your eyes on us.

Milo Out

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