Varshil

making tiny tools for big feelings @therapynotebks

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

**hard to ignore that

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Sometimes I want to come on here and be like "yay AI so cool" but it is hard to notion that a step function change in technology without a step function change in our capacities for care, compassion, curiosity, etc. likely means that our most challenging problems will get worse.

[Abhijit @AbhiCodes15]

haven’t met anyone working less after adopting the AI

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Slowing down to actually enjoy space vs. filling it with more hyperactivity requires quite the range of capacities - most of which are rapidly atrophying

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Hopefully over time personal agents will meaningfully save people to save time & energy. That'd be great. That said, software was also supposed to give us all back time and instead the exact opposite has happened with the current endless hyperactivity :(

[signüll @signulll]

the irony is that personal assistants are currently behaving more like a new class of notification generating apps.

so instead of reducing cognitive load, they often expand the surface area of possible obligations.

which is kinda funny.

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

@dilipsrajan @ProfCalNewport Totally agree. We are collectively trading off long-term cognitive functioning for short-term "productivity" gains

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

+1 to this take by @ProfCalNewport. What's lost in the AI hype is that we're rapidly losing the ability to think for ourselves...not to mention the ability to feel, connect, be present, etc. You're either experiencing this directly or observing it in loved ones around you.

[Cal Newport @ProfCalNewport]

The problems I focused on in Deep Work, and in my writing since, have been getting steadily worse. In 2016 my main concern was helping people find enough free time for deep work. Today I think we’re rapidly losing the ability to think deeply at all.

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Front & back of this sculpture I stumbled upon - made by artist Dennis Stahl

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Typo or did this awesome airbnb host find my handle??

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

"And then, at some point, you have to sit in a room and be able to live with yourself. At the end of the day, you would want to be able to sit with yourself and not suffer."

[Tim Ferriss @tferriss]

Certainly in the beginning you might think that money is the answer. After that, you might think that more time is the answer. After that, you might think, I simply need to care more for the physical vehicle, or I want to learn more. Then it's really just about acquiring skills, maybe they're productive skills, or maybe they're just for fun.

And then, at some point, you have to sit in a room and be able to live with yourself. At the end of the day, you would want to be able to sit with yourself and not suffer.

If you've checked some of those boxes I just described and you're still suffering, that says to me that something has been missed. Certainly I found myself, after checking a lot of those boxes, still suffering.

It doesn't mean you have to go through that process in that order. In fact, it's much more helpful to dedicate part of your practice and your energies to viewing the psycho-emotional health as a foundation for everything else. And paying more attention to that from the very beginning.

P.S. Compartmentalizing pain and rationalizing it sometimes works. But as I’ve said to a lot of my friends who will sometimes say, “I don’t want to deal with that. I don’t want to open up that Pandora’s Box,” I try to emphasize that, at least from my experience, no matter what, you *are* dealing with it. But you get to choose if you want to deal with it head-on in a proactive way. Or if you want to have these odd side effects leak out the edges, unbeknownst to you, subconsciously sabotaging you day to day.

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

I have a very hard time believing in AI-driven abundance/utopia. Sadly even in the parts of society today where abundance definitely exists, people are (a) unable to stop working toward more power/resources and (b) unable to meaningfully get along & relate to each other.

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Patiently sitting with our distress is the precursor to being able to move through conflict: "...I have come to realize that all fighting is physical. The physicality of what actually happens in our bodies deeply affects our ability to fight or stay."

https://t.co/ZGHiaBdqwW

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Maybe a lot of getting wiser is learning seemingly contradictory ways of being and recognizing which one the current moment is asking of you.

e.g. When should I be cooking vs. when should I be baking? Hard to know how to do both and especially hard to know when to use which.

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

hbd @tanay! reposting this as clear evidence that you're a real one cc @JColeNC

[tanay @tanay]

@JColeNC please stop by Philly on 1/29 and open for @S_C_ cc @sclarawu

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

Headspace had the opportunity to meaningfully broaden access to mindfulness to many millions of customers.

Much much easier said than done but enduring businesses in mental health will focus on patiently building trust & deep relationships with core customers vs. chasing TAM.

[Dan Primack @danprimack]

Huge haircut for Headspace investors...

Scoop: Sword Health to acquire Headspace for up to $300M https://t.co/GIUa44RNcQ

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

herringbone has to be my favorite fabric pattern

literally Vs in fabric form

^ inspired by @PaynterJacket's latest drop 👀

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

What's most interesting is that the initial question was: "What's your relationship with fear?"

His response via this story was: "I respond to fear by overcoming it."

But isn't the paradox here that the need to dominate/eliminate fear is evidence of still being afraid?

[dnap @dnapway]

Sequoia partner Doug Leone reveals he got a root canal with no Novocaine to see if he was really a badass

"I had to get a root canal. And I had to go to a meeting right after that. I told the dentist, drill without any Novocaine.”

“My whole life, I wanted to see if I was a badass or not. Am I a fake badass that has this envelope nobody could tell, or am I really a badass on the inside?"

"He drilled and I jumped. And I told the dentist, I won't move again. And I didn't move again. I used the trick of thinking what it must be like to go to war and lose an arm or two legs. That's pain with consequences. Mine was pain with no consequences."

“It’s just nerve endings from there to my brain to my spine, f*ck it I’m not moving.”

"I had to go home and change my shirt because I was a puddle of sweat. But I didn't move. And so I love fear. It does wonders for me."

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

@tanay petition to bring these jokes back

@akiffpremjee plz sign on to my petition

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

publishing my first tweet so that I can yap publicly cc @akiffpremjee @tanay

[Varshil @varshilmathers]

@voigtscott @ryanholleran @coltbunney I miss arguing with you guys. (But also, +1 to this.)