Relatable fictional characters

Reaper wrote:

SweetSlumber wrote:Nobody talked about me because this thread isn't supposed to be about me.

Nobody even talks about you in threads that do discuss forum members.

It sucks to be you.

What really sucks is being a celeb on a forum for mentally ill people. You couldn't become a mafia boss, so you settled for the next best thing

gately wrote:Wasn't much of a gun, and the inference there is you've read or attempted the Big One, so you're probably pointing it at yourself as much as anyone. Yours is possible simultaneous to many others: the meta-fiction thing, the entertainment thing; the straight-up genius thing. All powerful agents on their own terms. You're a Dostoevsky fan?

Blame the gun restrictions in this damn country.

I'll be honest, your last sentence made me run every anti-virus program currently on my hard drive at least 5 times. Dostoevsky is far up there. Very far. Crime and Punishment was the first book I ever read. Yes, I read my first book when I was 19, grew up in the urban steppes, never went to school, started working at 14 and haven't been unemployed for over 3 days since. So don't mistake me for a man of literature. You're clearly dipping your head, while I'm only knee-deep.

Michael Chabon.

Na man, I've just had 9 months of rehab to get up to speed. Doing it all in chronological order so haven't reached Chabon yet (and only have Summerland) but can tell that I'll like him. Presently working through Joyce. Dostoevsky is a master. Easy to pick based on your Wallace objections.

F-ck George Eliot.

Hope you're utilizing the skeleton key, adventurer. Joyce is a feat. Anyways, I'm not the right man for this discussion. By contrast to our environment, it might seem like it, but I can tell you're young and conscientious, and also a non. You could use a sage.

Do you speak more than one language fluently?

Early 30s; mentioned as much previously, but if you've deduced non-ness from these posts alone, good for you; and no.

A red licorice. I preferred the black ones. Young comparatively. Good luck, magnate.

Same to you, mon frere.

Courtier wrote:Briefly, Flow is a mental state described by psychologists as an arousal state inspired by optimal stress/challenge and perceived skill/ability, where self-consciousness completely diminishes and you feel a loss of sense of self, having no distance with the object or activity you're engaged with. Athletes describe it as being 'in the zone' though that's been bastardised to mean 'on form'. Flow state is conductive of autotelic engagement which is to mean activities are intrinsically rewarding rather than hinging on some other benefit like monetary gain. It's similar to a hyper focus that people with add might experience. Time and other externalities cease to exist and you are engrossed fully.

Interesting. If this is what I think it is, I've never been in such a state but I did witness someone once. He was being incredibly efficient. He was engrossed, but the product of his work was very smooth.

Most professional instances of Flow seem to stem from use of mathematics and logic in competitive or time constrained projects. It requires a dynamic environment with simple moves and clear objectives. Of some 400 professions studied, computer programmers, professional poker players and financial traders all described this state, being "wired in," "down the pipe," and the like.

Other places it's commonly found is in sports like tennis and in musical performance especially in jazz. I remember reading that martial artists also can experience this semi frequently.

I'm sure nearly any activity can induce flow but there seem to be ones that have a greater potential for it than others. Surgery is another example where it's been studied as being prominent

Meditation can come across a little pretentiously, but five's point that it helps induce an uninterrupted focus on the present is spot on. The 'flow state' Courtier described is exactly the experience I've had during and for a short time after 10-day Vipassana courses, and if the practice is maintained for an hour each morning and evening, you start functioning within a zone pretty much impervious to any kind of distraction. So much so that after experiencing it for the first time, the contrasting memory of your previous lack of efficiency seems extraordinarily wasteful. Work-rate goes up, the internal monologue dials down, conversations become more controlled, and emotions become chosen and compartmentalised; it's basically what enabled me to overcome the borderline traits I had. But it needs to be done at a level of intensity much higher than most alternative groupies and DBT practitioners recommend.