Psychic Weight

how igor ticks

Imagine a weight tied around your body, imagine it dragging behind you, slowing down your motions, preventing you from going where you want to go. Imagine never taking it of, and getting now relief regardless of when you sit or sleep. Now imagine that’s not a physical weight, but instead a mental weight, a psychic weight if you will. Psychic weight are the thoughts that prevent your mind and emotions from being fluid and light.

Types of psychic weight
Antidotes
Examples from my own life
Useful thoughts.

Types of psychic weight

Aversion and the resistance

Aversion is the desire to not face something. This often results in procrastination, and in extreme cases addiction. When left too long aversion can result in shame, and paradoxically the thing that you refuse to face, can often be tackled, and once tackled feels invigorating.

Personifying emotions can be helpful, and aversion (and procrastination) are personified by the resistance.

Mind monsters

Say you have a prize horse that you’re training to win the Kentucky derby. Do you feed this horse ketchup and peanut butter? Of course not - you need this horse to win so you feed it the highest quality oats you can find. Now, isn’t your mind far more important than a race horse? Surely you shouldn’t be focusing on silly things like anger and ego, these unhelpful thoughts are mind monsters. Make sure there are no mind monsters in your Idle Loop

Triggers

Like the trigger on a land mine, we have thoughts that have caused us damage and emotional scarring. These thoughts are triggers, and when they happen we have a “un realistic” response to them. o

Analogies:

Land mines
RSI
Aggravated sports injury

Open decisions

Open loops

Beating yourself up

Grasping

The desire to not lose something - make less money, have someone die. The antidote here is realizing that everything is impermanent, in fact you will die at which point you can keep nothing.

From the prophet:

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them to morrow?
And to-morrow, what shall to-morrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

Antidotes

Separate pain from suffering

Eat the frog

Loading (/frog)

Getting things done

Loading (/gtd)

CI/CC (Circle of Influence, Circle of Concern)

Talk it through

Meditation

Loading (/siy)

This too shall pass

Emotional First Aid

Examples from my own life

Bathroom remodel feeling “f@#$” over

During our bathroom remodel, I felt the contractor was trying to f#$ us over, and I got incredibly worked up, I couldn’t sleep for multiple days. Ultimately, the contractor corrected the work, but me getting worked up, just made me a mess.

Insecurity around money

I used to be very insecure about money, I couldn’t buy a 1/2 gallon of milk because it was more expensive per ounce then buying a gallon of milk. And don’t worry, this was happening well into the time I was buying 100$ on my bar tabs.