{"id":47753,"date":"2022-08-21T09:50:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T09:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/?p=47753"},"modified":"2022-08-21T10:03:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T10:03:53","slug":"the-game-of-no-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/2022\/08\/21\/the-game-of-no-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"The game of ‘No thanks’."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I just did this.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spontaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a practice or something I do regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just seemed like an interesting thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you\u2019re not in the mood for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And maybe you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If so: try it for a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call it \u2018No thanks\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about declining EVERY invitation from the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about just sitting on your ass, watching the endless creation of new thoughts, and not let them force you to respond or react in a way that captures you and sends you off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let your single response to whatever arises be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be grateful for their appearance, if you wish, then pull your attention back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t follow ANY of the thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the confusing or judging or critical or anxious ones, but also not the encouraging or curious ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You should do this more often, let\u2019s make a plan!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This is amazing, how does it work?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Good idea, awesome, let\u2019s write a blog about it and start right now!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t fall for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treat all of them with the same respect and the same neutral attitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This is stupid.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This is awesome.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What the fuck is this?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep it simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t pick it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t explore the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t consider it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t chew on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t fight it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks\u2019 is more than enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s EXACTLY enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a while, you\u2019ll notice the different questions and ideas and warnings that start to arise, and a change in urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s crazy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the more automatic and stoic it becomes, the more the mind will try to change the game and throw compelling stuff at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels that the end of its crushing power is near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will tell you that you can\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will scream that you are sliding towards the abyss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will do ANYTHING to stay relevant and important and dominant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s okay, you know what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘No thanks.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just see where it leads you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most interesting, most spectacular, and most liberating thing, is discovering that you’re aware of your thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s realizing the awareness itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s there all the time, before any thought, during, and after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know that you’re thinking and what you’re thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know you are here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘No thanks’ comes from a different place, a place before anything else, a deep and trustworthy place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is that knowing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when that awareness becomes more important than any mental idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by @huskerfan3, for Unsplash)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just did this. Spontaneously. It\u2019s not a practice or something I do regularly. It just seemed like an interesting thing. Maybe you\u2019re not in the mood for it. And maybe you are. If so: try it for a couple of minutes. I call it \u2018No thanks\u2019. It\u2019s about declining EVERY invitation from the mind. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[99,102,97,117,100,116,113,107,103,112],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47753"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47757,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47753\/revisions\/47757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}