I think that negativity bias, like all biases, can be tackled with a bit of calibration. In my case I used to boil too much water, for tea, food or baths. It was running up my bills until I decided that I only ever needed about half the amount I boiled and probably less. So now I stop running the tap at half the time that feels correct, this is the trick I use. Maybe I should do the same when I have a horrible crisis my mind is agonising over. It's only ever half the problem it feels like and probably less.
Also I think the wisdom that comes with age is a good buffer for negativity bias. My grandmother when I speak with her always helps with contextualizing things that seem like existential threats.
Pop culture went through a period of irony, then there was post irony and now we're in a time that is post subtlety and post metaphor. Even understated art feels like it's always performing how understated it is. All of this contributes to the ever present air of overwrought malaise that fills most contemporary art. Everything feels lazy and tired but also like it's doing too much at the same time. Consuming things that possess this shibui quality are a welcome escape from this onslaught. Thank you for teaching us about it Salomé.
Haha, I love your example about boiling water. The metric of "less than what feels correct" is so emblematic of how our sense of accuracy can be distorted despite feeling accurate to us. And yes, even now I can look at the moments that felt most dire in my past and feel amused knowing how out of proportion my analysis was at the time.
I'm glad you see the same kind of conflicted apathy and extravagance in art now. That sense of performing its understated-ness and lazy/tired but doing too much is such an apt description. That ethos in art is part of why I love returning to older movies, music, and art in general now; there's a simplicity in art that isn't concerned with itself that lets us appreciate it in a way that restores us, too.
Thank you so much! Always love knowing someone else enjoys these ideas too.
That's a great question. My writing process is a little chaotic: lots of questioning and lots of research rabbit holes haha.
Sometimes there's a topic I want to learn more about because it feels relevant (like negativity bias in this edition) but other times I find something new while learning about something else (I found out about shibui when writing a past newsletter on mono no aware).
If something catches my interest, I think about how it relates to something else, either everyday life or another topic I want to write on. Finding a connection to something else gives me a window into ideas even if they're completely new to me; it's something like the difference between a fact and a story.
I think that negativity bias, like all biases, can be tackled with a bit of calibration. In my case I used to boil too much water, for tea, food or baths. It was running up my bills until I decided that I only ever needed about half the amount I boiled and probably less. So now I stop running the tap at half the time that feels correct, this is the trick I use. Maybe I should do the same when I have a horrible crisis my mind is agonising over. It's only ever half the problem it feels like and probably less.
Also I think the wisdom that comes with age is a good buffer for negativity bias. My grandmother when I speak with her always helps with contextualizing things that seem like existential threats.
Pop culture went through a period of irony, then there was post irony and now we're in a time that is post subtlety and post metaphor. Even understated art feels like it's always performing how understated it is. All of this contributes to the ever present air of overwrought malaise that fills most contemporary art. Everything feels lazy and tired but also like it's doing too much at the same time. Consuming things that possess this shibui quality are a welcome escape from this onslaught. Thank you for teaching us about it Salomé.
Haha, I love your example about boiling water. The metric of "less than what feels correct" is so emblematic of how our sense of accuracy can be distorted despite feeling accurate to us. And yes, even now I can look at the moments that felt most dire in my past and feel amused knowing how out of proportion my analysis was at the time.
I'm glad you see the same kind of conflicted apathy and extravagance in art now. That sense of performing its understated-ness and lazy/tired but doing too much is such an apt description. That ethos in art is part of why I love returning to older movies, music, and art in general now; there's a simplicity in art that isn't concerned with itself that lets us appreciate it in a way that restores us, too.
Thank you for reading!
Hot damn, you are good. I’d love to know more about your writing process; how you land on an idea then pull together the concepts. This was wonderful.
Thank you so much! Always love knowing someone else enjoys these ideas too.
That's a great question. My writing process is a little chaotic: lots of questioning and lots of research rabbit holes haha.
Sometimes there's a topic I want to learn more about because it feels relevant (like negativity bias in this edition) but other times I find something new while learning about something else (I found out about shibui when writing a past newsletter on mono no aware).
If something catches my interest, I think about how it relates to something else, either everyday life or another topic I want to write on. Finding a connection to something else gives me a window into ideas even if they're completely new to me; it's something like the difference between a fact and a story.