This tweet has basically become The Central @visakanv Tweet.

focus your time and energy on what you want to see more of

— Visakan Veerasamy (@visakanv) November 7, 2020

I don’t know if I particularly set out for it to be. But a lot of my journey has been like that. Incidental things become the important things. The side-quests become the main quests.

I remember being very bad at focusing on anything at all when I was younger – or to be precise, at focusing on whatever I was told I ought to focus on. I seemed to struggle… y’know, this might be better as a substack essay. Maybe the title might be, learning to focus? Against Obedience?

I remember watching a video of Steve Vai giving a motivational-ish speech to a bunch of people at a Guitar Center, and he said “The level of achievement that we have at anything is a reflection of how well we were able to focus on it.” I rewatched it a bunch of times, felt inspired by it. And for a few years I was torn up about how… how do you learn to focus, if you can’t focus? It seemed like a cruel paradox. But the answer was basically “you keep trying as often as you can remember, and be kind to yourself when you fail. Reward yourself for succeeding. Celebrate your wins. Over time, you’ll get better.”

— 2 —

(2021apr25 thread) I have over a hundred talking points but I think this might be the most powerful and underappreciated, hence I will be repeating it incessantly in various contexts from different angles for the rest of my life

I recommend periodically setting aside like 30 mins to scroll through your own tweets & replies tab to evaluate what you have been directing your (and your friends) attention towards, and whether that’s contributing towards a cinematic universe you find desirable.

re: cinematic universe, the first phrase that came to mind was “contributing to a world” but that sounds preachy and moralize-y. This isnt actually about morals, it’s about aesthetics. Well- the two are intertwined, but… point is, you could be having a good time, even talking about difficult things

even when dealing with cruelty and injustice, I personally believe it’s often possible to do it in a way that is encouraging, inclusive, welcoming, non-scoldy. This is *VERY HARD*, and it’s too much to ask of others — but it’s close to ideal, and the good vibes compound and grow

I think this is the very important job of the pastor, the artist, the busker, the comedian, the public intellectual — not everyone has the capacity to hold space for strangers, but those of us who do can make a very real, substantial, positive difference to our communities

that’s the weak version of the hypothesis. the strong version is that public figures *create* publics, they *are* publics. Regular people co-create this by voting for the public figures they want, w their time & attention. You choose your public figures & they shape your public

btw this is where alts come in v handy. a big part of the challenge w the global internet commons is that everything gets smooshed up everywhere and there’s massive context collapse. There’s a wisdom to saving your unprocessed rage for your locked alts w trusted friends

It’s complicated. Sometimes the public needs to see some rage. There isn’t a single fixed answer. Each new situation has to be negotiated based on its context. There’s a whole art form to this and you can spend a lifetime discerning the nuances of what is appropriate and good.

3.

you gotta zoom out from time to time to ask yourself if you like the way you’re living your life. you can’t be grateful for something you don’t notice. gratitude feels amazing in the body. so be thoughtful about what you choose to notice, where you choose to direct your attention, and you can become a stronghold of joy.

none of this is to be in denial of cruelty, injustice, selfishness, hate, bigotry, etcbut the struggle against these larger forces is infinite, and you cannot do much if you are swept up in despair. love, joy, kinship, gratitude, grace — these are the tools of resistance.