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you literally cannot warn people not to do something by depicting it. it doesn't work. you have to depict what you wish they were doing instead

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· Dec 6, 2021

“focus your energy on what you want to see more of” has some distressing implications for the whole genre of dystopian fiction. it suggests that dystopian fiction doesn’t successfully act as a warning, and if anything makes dystopias look cooler, more familiar, more thinkable

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every depiction is first and foremost an opportunity for imitation thus is it said: "be the change you want to see in the world"

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· Dec 22, 2021

he gives a bunch of verbal instructions to his tennis students and it just tenses them up as they *try really hard* to follow all of them, vs. he demonstrates to them the desired behavior and asks them to imagine and then imitate it and it works perfectly

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Malcolm Ocean in Glasgow (37/100 vids)

if you focus your attention on avoiding the tree you will hit the tree. focus your attention on the road

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@Malcolm_Ocean

· Mar 7, 2020

Replying to @Malcolm_Ocean and @takecarecactus

I've heard stories (possibly apocryphal) of people on long deserted roads hitting a single tree or post next to the road, because "don't hit the tree, don't hit the tree" fixates their attention on the tree and so they steer towards it. Contrast with "stay on the road".

jonathan d.

ppl always talking about this with prayer too. you pray/wish/manifest for what you want not what you _don't_ want.

jonathan d.

I've heard something before like the universe ignores "negatives". So I don't want to be poor get's heard/received as "I want to be poor" 🤔

jonathan d.

I don't fully get this but I'd like to. There's also the general "worrying about things" kind of attracts that thing. I think there's something to this I've definitely gotten pretty neurotic about in the past (policing my thoughts/language, doing that w/ this tweet even!)

yeah better avoid avoiding stuff that will definitely work 😅

LOL 😳

worrying about worrying

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but seriously you may be interested in checking out this thread i linked

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