Community Archive

🧵 View Thread

🧵 Thread (16 tweets)

Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

I never really understood the whole ā€œempty your cupā€ and ā€œunlearn what you have learnedā€ thing until maybe a couple of years ago. Like, intellectually it sorta made sense, but... is it really that big a deal? It actually is, IMO, and I’m wondering now how I learned to see it

287 38
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

I think it mightā€˜ve been a consequence of being exposed to a much larger number of people and having lots of conversations - over time I noticed that some people were bringing all their baggage to every conversation, while others were listening intently https://t.co/KNfvIZVFU6

Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 7 years ago

Many people are too burdened by past obligations to see clearly with fresh eyes what’s happening in front of them, what’s around them, where things are headed. Have you ever been too tired to get ready for bed? https://t.co/h5uhyayYPa

Quoted tweet image 1
393 37
167 15
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

ā€œnever be looking so hard for something that you fail to see what is thereā€ - there’s a quote like this and I’ve seen people retweet saying ā€œah it’s about journalismā€ and others saying ā€œah it’s about scientific discoveryā€ and ā€œah it’s about parentingā€ ~~It’s about life~~

156 15
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

If you start looking for it there are tonnes of gems throughout the history of art and culture and storytelling that try to convey this. In TDKR, Batman couldn’t make the leap until he let go of the rope. A metaphor for letting go, more broadly, in general https://t.co/jZhqbR7SpI

Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

30. Hans Zimmer – Why Do We Fall? [2012] https://t.co/6UDgCY1yRR

Quoted tweet image 1
30 3
58 1
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

We can probably graph this in some way. When we’re holding on to preexisting ideas abt what we’re looking for, who we’re talking to, etc - there’s a sort of Procrustean effect. We mostly only see what we’re looking for. It makes us slow, stupid. We fail to notice nuance, surprise

96 7
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

We might *feel* fast and smart, but we’re only fast and smart within the narrow bounds of the game that we think we’re playing. When we are fixated on the game we think we’re playing, we close ourselves off from playing a bigger, better, more interesting game https://t.co/M0Ur5FKu05

Tweet image 1
114 8
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Circling back to ā€œactive listeningā€ - that’s another thing that sounded dumb to me. I hear what you’re saying, why do I have to be all... wooey... about it? But I’ve grown to realize that words they say are like ~20% of what’s being communicated https://t.co/fvewalLpsU

Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

The nuance in this GIF is pretty challenging to convey in text. ā€œI’m pretty sure you’re wrong, but I don’t want to shut you down - Iā€˜d like you to reconsider this, now that you know I’m not too cosy with the way you frame it.ā€ Body language + tone of voice can be 80-90% of comms https://t.co/81pPr9wJXZ

Quoted tweet image 1
62 4
60 0
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

The best questions you can ask someone is in that space where you’re paying close attention to them - to their face, their expressions, their body language, and you notice that they’re holding back in some way. They might not even realize themselves that they’re doing that! https://t.co/uycjsv2nZD

Tweet image 1
114 2
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

This is true for regular conversation too, and I think it’s true of comedy, wit, and of business - IMO I almost always want to be willing + able to drop my current routine/pattern instantly in order to respond quickly and nimbly to what’s in front of me https://t.co/0bpT0AwC1L

Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Flirting is a conversational OODA loop Teaching a single formula then can be counter-productive, because good flirting is about switching formulas on the fly, appropriately and adeptly so much so that in practice it’s ā€œthe formula of no formulaā€

143 8
66 1
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

At the heart of this, I think, is a question: do we allow life to surprise us? Bc everything we think we know is a *tiny* fragment of the world. The world *will* surprise us, in both good & bad ways. Emptying your cup is about refusing to be in denial https://t.co/zQO7traLAn

Placeholder
Dinesh Raju@dineshraju• about 7 years ago

Your personal experiences make up <0.0001% of what’s happened in the world but 80% of how you think the world works. When experiencing a fraction of what’s out there but using that to explain everything you expect to happen, you'll be disappointed & confused by others’ decisions.

318 103
119 7
5/17/2019
Placeholder
james, the giant peach@JimmyRis• over 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

@visakanv ~immediacy~

0 0
5/17/2019
Placeholder
james, the giant peach@JimmyRis• over 6 years ago
Replying to @JimmyRis

@visakanv Immediacy brings flow, flow brings ADVENTURE

1 0
5/17/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

emptying your cup is about making room to be surprised https://t.co/eamUtBb7Mw

Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

This is the script of no script, the formula of no formula, you just pay really close attention to the other person in a curious, non-judgmental way without the burden of expectations, and look for anything surprising or interesting - and ask about that in a supportive way

446 29
65 0
6/6/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

yes. read the room https://t.co/ysRsY1WVwX

49 1
8/15/2019
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 1 year ago
Replying to @visakanv

"attention consists of suspending our thought, leaving it detached, empty and ready to be penetrated by the object" https://t.co/9Le6CGBgTY

Placeholder
Abstract Fairy@AbstractFairy• over 1 year ago

full quote is nice as hell h/t to @loydweldy for the pointer, and i can't help but feel like i've read smth like this somewhere else https://t.co/ujyTNeOq5H

Quoted tweet image 1
62 17
47 8
4/20/2024
Placeholder
Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 1 month ago
Replying to @visakanv

"it takes effort to hold awareness in clumps" https://t.co/9E4eDsiApm

Placeholder
Michael Smith@Morphenius• 9 months ago

I'll give examples in a sec. But the overall thrust is: Awareness can coagulate. Like how milk clumps when it curdles. I find it takes effort to hold awareness in clumps. That clumping is also how I consciously examine details and solve problems. But…

130 4
7 0
7/30/2025