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Thank you for this. Less suffering, more flourishing, please!

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Oct 18, 2023Liked by Deven Christopher

This is such a relevant topic and I LOVE this approach as I haven't seen it explained from that angle. I must admit I struggled a little to follow along, but can't put my finger on why. Maybe the acronyms? In any case this is clearly valuable and I can't wait to learn more about it. Keep it up 🙌 Also such BEAUTIFUL visualizations 🖋️

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Thank you, Achim, for your kind words! You have poured energy into my day. I look forward to your thoughts on the new post!

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Hi Deven - I loved this piece! It really spoke to me because I was reading it last night while going to bed early and making a (notably too rare!) successful attempt at precisely avoiding an icecream and late night tv on the couch!

I would love to see an example of what the paper would look like with three sections of Now During and After.

You call it a map but I am not sure what it looks like or how we fill it in?

Is the idea that you do this when you face an AND moment, and look at it in that moment to flip the balance between the two wants?

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Hi Matt, thank you, I’m so glad you liked it!

I nab the term “map” from Antonio Damasio. In many of his books, but in particular, Self Comes To Mind, he describes the term map and its relationship to our brain. For example, he says, “A spectacular consequence of the brain’s incessant and dynamic mapping is the mind. The mapped patterns constitute what we, conscious creatures, have come to know as sights, sounds, touches, smells, tastes, pains, pleasures, and the like—in brief, images. The images in our minds are the brain’s momentary maps of everything and of anything, inside our body and around it, concrete as well as abstract, actual or previously recorded in memory.”

But map is a term we are familiar with. Whether to find treasure when we were kids or to use the app for directions. We use HD to plan conscious movements—to map out the type of behavior that yields a certain outcome—i.e., “treasure.”

HD can be on a sticky note, napkin, or whatever is quick and handy. Follow this link for a quick video …

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRG5x5Xn_Ww/?igshid=NzgyYTk0Y2YyNg==

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This is great thanks Deven! I have ordered the book by Damasio and look forward to reading.

I am curious if you have ever come across The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz? I see a lot of parallels to the homeostatic design process

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I have not read The Path of Least Resistance, but I peeked on Amazon, and it looks good. I'm glad to hear you picked up Self Comes to Mind! My copy is well-worn.

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