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Shane Melaugh's avatar

Love this! I've been thinking for a long time that there are "push through" problems and "let go" problems. And it's pretty disastrous to not recognize this difference and apply the wrong approach. I caused a lot of suffering for myself by treating everything as a "push through"/yang problem...

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Daniel Brottman's avatar

woah, super useful definition

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Michelle Akin's avatar

“Ways that putting in more effort and planning can drain and wreck you, pull you into a habit of constantly pushing energy where it doesn’t naturally flow, eventually leaving you with nothing left to give.”

you just perfectly described my experience of burnout. wow

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Indy's avatar

The healing example really resonates with me. I wonder if the flow of energy into habitual patterns can be used to go deeper, understand what is needed and from that place the blockage is released and the energy can flow. Like a leaf getting stuck on a rock, once understood it is ready to leave.

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Caelan Huntress's avatar

Leave it to somebody named 'river' to give you a profound explanation of flow

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River Kenna's avatar

What else would I be here for

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Jay Vidyarthi's avatar

Very succinct and accurate. It lines up really well with my exercise and yoga practices too… when I need that yin vibe, it works best if I listen to my body and just let it move the way it wants to (vs trying to hit some prescriptive “yin” pose)

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Maria Made in Cosmos ✨'s avatar

Wow, I had no idea I needed this! I never thought too much yin could be a problem for me because historically I’d always err on the side of pushing too hard, but apparently this is where I’m at right now.

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Peri Doslu's avatar

Incredibly helpful frame. Thank you River.

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Bashu's avatar

Very useful definition

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Bb's avatar
Mar 17Edited

On a similar wavelength. It reminds of Surviving and Thriving from SSC: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/04/a-thrivesurvive-theory-of-the-political-spectrum/

and a wonderful followup from Daniel Bottinger applying this same theory: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/triple-tragedy-and-thankful-theory

Basically, the 'personality test' questionnaire I like to ask myself is: 1) What scale am I focusing on (work, interpersonal relationship, spiritual practice, etc) 2) Is my intention for 'surviving' or 'thriving' in that arena 3) Does this involve continuity or discontinuity from the present moment? 4) Does this involve directed or not-directed (yang or yin in your example) 5) What do I do with this knowledge?

Its a fun thing to do with a team that we are working on- and often will see different opinions based on different scales or wishes re: surviving/thriving or whether directed/non-directed action is best

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cavan young's avatar

This is profound and on point.

Perhaps what is needed is an ‘offset’.

A reference that is not the thing.

Like running an experiment where only you will know what’s signal and what’s noise.

Yin

Like a flag fluttering in the wind showing you direction and intensity.

Yang

Like a niggling doubt about some drive to to the net that makes the goal feel like a compromise

Seems to me there is always more yin (entropy, gravity) than any yang you can muster (so aikido or using yang as an orientation to the wind to tack and flow.)

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Rishika's avatar

Oh wow. This feels simple and powerful. And makes clear some ways I'm getting stuck in the world. Thank you. I'm going to be feeling into this frame for a long time.

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