M.Q. Numero Uno
“As I’m sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.”
-David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
January 25, 2009 at 4:50 am
Indeed.
I wouldn’t have my sanity now if I hadn’t been trained to do that at an earlier age.
That kind of training is useful when you’re getting over someone. It’s hard not to obsess and think of them all the time…unless you can actively and successfully know how to pay attention to certain things.