I was purposely ambiguous with this tweet about a week ago, to allow my pornbots followers to interpret it as they will, but want to elaborate because I think it makes for interesting discussion.
At face value, I am generally happier the less I know about the world. I purposely avoid as much news and media as I can because I often find myself distracted and dragged down by much of what goes down on planet earth these days.
When I’m able to tune out the white noise and instead hone in on what has the most meaning to me, I feel significantly more upbeat about life.
But another and more profound way to interpet my statement is this:
The less I think about what I know, the happier I am.
So this isn’t to say I don’t enjoy knowing or learning or trying new things. I do. I’m not a complete hermit.
But what it comes down to is putting myself in favorable positions to hit the ever so sweet state of flow.
In essence, I’m looking for opportunities to be so immersed in what I’m doing, that the activity and my actions become one. There becomes a lack of conscious thought during high level tasks, and it’s quite a blissful feeling.
For example, I like to ride my bicycle. Down really steep hills. Really fast. No hands.
This isn’t exactly a simple activity… a lot could go wrong. Maybe a rogue squirrel decides to camp out in my path. Maybe a car honks and spooks me. Maybe a gnat meets its untimely demise in my eye, temporarily impeding my vision.
If anything causes me to lose balance, I could fall and suffer some serious road rash (or worse injury). So this activity does require a certain knowledge about riding 2-wheeled vehicles down a steep incline.
The thing is I can’t really be thinking about balance and coordination as gravity is pulling me down the hill. If I were to be actively gauging my speed, angle, and trajectory, I’d be more likely to crash.
It’s almost a requirement for my conscious brain to shut off in order to perform this activity. It’s an experience more than anything.
And that’s the point I’m trying to make here. When I’m able to hit that sweet spot between challenge and skill, and I’m able to stop thinking so much, that’s when I feel the best.
