Comment by mindwok
12 hours ago
Agree. My personal take on this is a boring one: Like all things, it's a balance.
I'm introspective by nature (I'm sure many of us on this site are) and metacognition can be a very comfortable trap. It's a space where you can convince yourself that you can solve your life problems by spending enough time and effort thinking about them, the same way many of us approach engineering problems or other aspects of life. This is even worse in the era of AI, where you can have a helpful assistant to talk through your problems with and encourage analysis even further.
Turns out that's not true. You can spend as much time as you want thinking about your life, circumstances, emotions, experiences, etc. Eventually, you'll have to actually do something and go have some contact with reality.
It's helpful to examine your life and engage with your problems, but taking it too far is just another way of escapism. At least it was for me, YMMV.
Any advice for getting out of the introspection hole?
A stronger communal life and volunteering of some kind. Therapy may help, but I think it's still too focused on the self. Get out, meet people, talk to them, and most importantly, listen to them. Ask questions. Find a way to get curious about other people and the world around you. Find groups of people with shared interests, but also try to find new interests.
> Any advice for getting out of the introspection hole?
For me, it is activities that "stop" the thinker - which include exercise (running), listening to music, sports etc. What stopping the thinker does is to get out of the world-models that we are trapped in.
The issue with "thinking" is an up-front realization that not all problems can be solved with thinking. There are "higher-orders" of logic at play and it is vain of us to hope for a thinking solution in the same frame that created the problem. Now, this doesnt mean that thinking is bad - as thinking serves to clarify our world-models. Only that, it needs to be paused every-so-often for the cosmic-resonance to soak in the vibrations so-to-speak which then become conceptual fodder for our subsequent thinking and refining of the world-models.
For me, it actually is writing. Whether it's about writing down plans or past experiences, putting them on paper (or even digital) makes it easier to drop the thoughts from my mind. Also, it creates distance: it's much easier for me to analyze a written sentence than one that's echoing around my mind.
Have a baby! You’ll definitely live in the moment when the attention is on another rather than yourself. It’s hard to wax philosophical when you’re trying to keep another human alive.
Therapy is a great way of doing that. Even if you just see it as another person to "bounce ideas against", it can help you zoom out a bit without feeling like you completely abandon the introspection hole for "living in the moment" or whatever. Takes some time to find the right therapist, but once you find the right person it feels worth it.
I am still trying!
I’ve found it extremely difficult. Another commenter mentioned Zen Buddhism which is also my current focus. It’s really nothing more than a philosophy that says stop thinking and go experience life.
Unfortunately it’s very simple, which us introspectives hate. But that’s why I like it!
Try Zen tea ceremony.
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