1. Life is given, experienced before it is explained
   • So, we accept life as a starting point
   • We could philosophize, but let’s stay with the experience for now
2. Let’s imagine that life is a river
   • The river moves with a wisdom larger than our plans
   • I know this sounds too abstract, but stay with me

3. You navigate with your boat
   • The degree of control varies (depending on wind, etc.)

4. There are random whirlpools in the river
5. Sometimes the current gathers and you find yourself carried in one of those whirlpools
   • This prevents you from making progress, and you start running in circles

6. The first step is noticing: “I am in a whirlpool“
7. The second step is making a choice:
   • Stay inside the spin: fuse with it, let it amplify, and slowly forget the one who is steering
   • Or step back, become still, defuse the whirlpool, and steer again.

The river continues, and we learn to be present within it…

A reflective exercise for you. Describe a whirlpool that you encountered during the last week.

• Where were you? What was happening?
• What changed inside you the moment you noticed you’re in it?
• What was the whirlpool about? How did it feel in your body?
• What choice did you make?

$ ./budge-tp.py examples/whirlpool.btp
-- The programmer mind defaults to SEARCH — reaching for a system, a fix, an escape.
thParadox : WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL))
-- Noticing the trap, the mind searches for escape from that whirlpool too. It deepens.
thDeepened : WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL))))
-- Response A: fuse with it. Become the whirlpool. It grows.
thAmplified : AMPLIFY(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL)))))
-- Response B: notice it. Step back. The observer is not the whirlpool.
thDefused : DEFUSE(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL)))
-- The whirlpool does not vanish. It is simply no longer you.
thPresent : PRESENT

• What fragments you?
• What defragments you?
• How are you balancing both?

There are many psychological theories, each aimed at providing a unique perspective on how we view the world. Think of them as glasses that, when you put them on, change how you see things. They are helpful in that they reveal some aspects of an experience that would otherwise not be visible. But there is no single theory that reveals everything. After a psychological theory is developed, it can be used as a framework for person and personality analysis or therapy.

Now, each of the theories is composed of building blocks (dimensions) that define it. Think of any building block as a dial that can be turned to some position. A unique configuration of dial values can roughly describe a specific psychological theory.

🎛️

Let’s explore what those basic building blocks are.

I analyzed 700971 bytes worth of journalling data for 2025. Here are the most common patterns, ready to use as sticky note reminders for myself.

Insight is to experience what a theorem is to a proof. We know that 2+2=4, but to understand that on a deeper level¹, we need to look at the proof.

Similarly, these insights are checkpoints of some destinations I reached during my travels. If you are curious more about the journey rather than the compressed insight, I wrote it in more detail in my fourth book, The Mirrors In Us.

We suffer when we substitute cognition for love, and we heal when cognition serves love.

1: In some cases, the depth of understanding I needed was too large, burdening me. Accepting a specific depth rather than spiralling forever was crucial 🙂

Right after waking up, I didn’t remember exactly what I had dreamed about, but I did remember the system: Do Kinder Acts. It is a very simple system, where everybody is inspired to do better, ever kinder acts.

It isn’t about doing grand things. It is about the small, simple things. For example, John helps Jennifer carry her groceries. After this act, Jennifer feels inspired to reciprocate by doing better, kinder acts, perhaps by helping two people carry their groceries, Bob and Alice, instead of one.

This isn’t a utopian fantasy, either. A personal example: While driving my car once, another driver started using their horn aggressively. At the moment, I chose to move my palm up and down to indicate “slow down, we’ll fix this”. The driver shook his head in disbelief and leaned back slightly, as if he were waking up from some sort of trance. He became calmer. Now, imagine an opposite reaction, where I react with aggression; then we would both fall into the same trance. Aggression transmits aggression. Calm transmits calm.

What’s a kinder act? How can I do something that the other will perceive as kind? Those are the questions worth directing our energy toward.

I wrote about On Positivity. The tl;dr is that when people are positive, when they feel heard, understood, and accepted, their world and perspectives become wider; they start accepting more, growing more flexible, and their love and understanding expand. In a negative state, they contract, the world becomes narrower, their focus shifts to the negative; naturally, to get rid of it.

A system like this could change the default tone of human interaction, resulting in peace, harmony, and love.

Starting is simple, too. Reflect on these two questions daily:

1. What kinder acts did I perform today?
2. How can I perform better tomorrow?