Belly Button Lint

Feeling Lint-y?

Tag: habits

  • Theme:

    missing repression

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    1–2 minutes

    Do you find yourself looking for a reason to check in?

    We often think we are doing this for somebody else, doing them a favor.
    Still, it seems to be a means of grounding ourselves: this is who I am, this is where I am, please reciprocate my thinking of you by connecting with me.

    It is a pattern of behavior to reverify ourselves in relation to others.

    Many people complain that checking in is repressive control in a relationship, but once you don’t have the relationship you find yourself looking for and creating the repression you miss.

  • Theme:

    I am (not)

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    1–2 minutes

    First, you are not your emotions: your emotions change daily (if not hourly), displaced by others, though some are more persistent.

    Next, repetitive actions are programmed behaviors: they are mechanically habitual, and you are compelled to enact them over long periods of time, though they can be changed (moderated) with effort.

    Most of the ways you think of yourself, your "self image," are emotional or peak moments, but these are not who you are. You are not passionate or angry; you are primarily the mundane actions you never consider.

  • Theme:

    Trivial repetition as antidote

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    1–2 minutes

    Much of our life is trivial, banal, and absurd. To give it meaning, we focus on something particular and drive it forward.

    The temptation will be to do something grand: become a Mozart or Michelangelo. However, if most of life is trivial, you could choose to excel at the trivial.

    Bypassing society’s heroic values through excellently boring repetition would allow you to find an acute (and more accurate) sense of who you are in relation to the world, sans manipulation.

  • Theme:

    retail therapy

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    1–2 minutes

    When looking for productive boringness, shopping nicely fills the time.

    When disgruntled or overwhelmed, consumerism offers an escapist world of infinite (mostly meaningless) choices into which we can sink, feeling at once active and comforted to employ a well-honed skill.

  • Theme:

    the rain dance

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    1–2 minutes

    Can we invoke reality with effort? If you perform the correct steps at the precise moment and the formula will yield results.
    We all live this bizarre way: we have encoded responses that attract and manifest reality.
    These behavior patterns, or dance steps, are lifelong coping mechanisms that play out subconsciously.

    The question isn’t "do you believe you manifest your reality" but "can you change your dance to create something different?"

  • Theme:

    normalized anxiety

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    1–2 minutes

    The unknown and risk offer excitement and anxiety: the urge to rid ourselves of these extremes drives us forward. This drive is a biological attempt to find peace.

    Yet, we are conditioned to no longer find comfort in rest: we can only find familiarity in anxiety.

  • Theme:

    “I see you” nod

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    1–2 minutes

    Men have a ritual greeting: the head nod or the casually raised index finger while driving.
    I see you: you are part of those who are looking around, aware, and moving through the world. It is a small interaction signaling, "we are all dealing with some bullshit." Through small acknowledgments, we find the solidarity to continue.

  • Theme:

    Memory is redundant

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    1–2 minutes

    Memory is redundant: its repetition makes remembrance more significant.
    Perhaps you only see something once, yet its oddity makes it significant enough to multiply, having an inflationary effect that drowns out other details. Our memory is captivated by intensity and novelty, shaping our remembrance further with the weight of excessive repetition.
    (inspired by Italo Calvino)

  • Theme:

    Size matters: the small things are more important

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    1–2 minutes

    We often dismiss the small decisions as inconsequential because of their slight impact.
    We assume our character is reflected in big decisions: to whom you get married or your job. However, these events happen to you because of who you are.
    Who you are is aggregated daily through small contacts and seemingly trivial chores. Your approach to the small inevitably becomes large.

  • Theme:

    No Virtue in Consistency

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    1–2 minutes

    Self Creation: the path of fixation leads to death, the path of fluidity leads to life.

    There is no virtue in consistency if it prevents growth or change.

    To prevent the death of "one’s self" is exactly what kills us: the inability to grow and transform.