Reddit mentions of Your Brain: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals)

I don't know if you need to "get in touch with yourself" per se. It seems as though you have a fairly good understanding and connection with yourself, but simply don't like what you've found.


The suggestion of travel seems to have many up-votes at the moment, but I don't know if I really agree that would help you. Travelling to foreign places will force you to pay attention, but if you can't learn to pay attention in familiar or mundane environments then you lack one of the most important skills a person can have. If I ventured a guess as to the problems you have failed to mention I would guess boredom, and travel would most likely not resolve that when you return from your trips, nor would it resolve the problems you have specifically mentioned. If anything travel would give you a temporary sense of resolution from your boredom, leading to a travelling addiction.


I would suggest you develop a habit of breaking your habits and routines, and your pre-conceived notions. The following list includes a few suggestions, but keep in mind you cannot drastically alter your life all at once as you need to incorporate changes (perhaps every two weeks) in to your life slowly otherwise you may feel overwhelmed.

• Try taking alternative routes to and from work, or other locations. If possible leave a little earlier than you need to so you can take routes you've never taken before and will have the opportunity to absorb the details of these new surroundings.
  
  
• When you go for walk, remember to look up. All too often people look down or straight ahead, but if you happen to live in a city or even a nice town the buildings in your area most likely have some interesting features above your normal line of vision.
  
  
• If you make a conclusion as to the purpose of something you have noticed, comment to or ask someone about it if they would likely have more information about it. They may very well provide you with a response that defies your initial conclusion.
  
  
• Take half an hour each day to listen to an educational audio book, such as one of those from The Teaching Company, preferably on a subject you know very little about.
  
  
• Take half an hour each day to read a book, either fiction or non-fiction, but preferably of critical acclaim in its respective genre. Venture in to genres that normally don't interest you.
  
  
• Engage in zazen for twenty minutes each day.
  
  
  Regarding your family and friends: meaningful relationships certainly help make life more enjoyable, but without knowing about your pre-existing relationships I cannot offer you any advice. Perhaps your family and friends treat you maliciously, in which case you should considered finding new friends or seeking relationship advice from a counsellor. On the other hand perhaps you simply haven't given your relationships the proper effort, in which case you should consider how you may feel about yourself and your relationships should your family or friends die in the near future, because they will likely die sooner than you expect.
  
  
  Regarding your career: perhaps someone can offer you better advice than I as my career has troubled me as well. I have learned that you don't always love what you easily have proficient skill at, and sometimes you have to really work hard to develop your skill for those things you love to do with your time. I've also learned that when you can help people with your work it can fulfill you in a subtle, yet deep and long-lasting manner.
  
  
  If at all possible I would suggest you read If You Meet The Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!, Zen in the Martial Arts and Your Brain: The Missing Manual, as they have proven quite helpful to me. Additionally the documentary Maybe Logic has proven quite helpful to me. These products may not prove helpful to you at all, but if you can find a book or movie that does help you it doesn't hurt to read or watch it whenever you feel yourself slipping back to your old habits. With time you should find yourself reading or watching that book or movie less and less, as you begin to develop some skill with your new life.

It really doesn't matter how you spend your time, because there is no meaning to life. Having said that, meaning does refer to life so you've got to ask yourself if you're satisfied spending a great deal of your time living the same life almost everyone else has through widespread video games, television, movies and literature. In the event that you are not satisfied with such a cookie-cutter existence, and that you crave to live your own life, then might I suggest you limit your media consumption to educational programs and focus on developing your knowledge and skills, and explore the (offline) world you live in.

Personally I suggest you consider taking the following courses of action:

• Develop your knowledge and skills of a scientific discipline with the intent of working toward resolving problems facing humanity. Understand that this may require schooling, and you will definitely have to put a lot of hard work and time in to learning either way. There's more problems every day, so you really shouldn't have a hard time choosing a field to work in, although if you honestly think you could assist in combatting desertification or water pollution, these are issues that I personally feel are of the utmost importance at the moment.
  
  
• Educate yourself on topics of psychology, particularly the work of Carl Jung and Sheldon B. Kopp, but understand some of their work may be considered dated by today's standards or even incorrect in light of new information. Educate yourself on this topic with the intention of learning how to improve your treatment of other people, and so that you can recognize poor behaviour on your part in order to develop better behaviour. I suggest you start with Man And His Symbols and If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him! After you have finished with these classics educate yourself on the neurosciences. Your Brain: The Missing Manual is a good book to start with in this regard.
  
  
• When travelling within your own city, leave your home earlier than you normally would. This will allow you to take longer, alternative routes to your destination so that you can get to know your city a little better. Don't spend all of your time looking straight ahead or down at the ground, but rather look up from time to time to see what is above your regular line of vision.
  
  
• Don't get addicted to travel. People love travelling because it forces them to pay attention to their surroundings, as it is essentially new, but the life of travel is a life of fleeting fantasy. Learning how to pay attention within your own community and home is an essential skill to develop, and it's one of the best ways to combat boredom.
  
  
• Attempt to utilize sources such as The Teaching Company as your primary venues for entertainment.
  
  
• Watch Maybe Logic.
  
  
• Work on developing healthy, enjoyable relationships with your friends and family. This will require you to admit when you have been at fault, and to silently take the "higher ground" at times. At other times it will require you to know when someone should not be a part of your life.
  
  
• Discover how you can became an active member of your community for which you can contribute to. If possible consider engaging in volunteer work, but understand that volunteer work is something that requires dedication otherwise your occasional volunteer work can in fact be hurtful. Also consider bringing your friends to community events, for which websites like Craig's List and MeetUp.com often have appropriate listings for.