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by Agenty Duck

December 28 2017 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Instead of making a resolution,

meditate on… • What have I gained in the past year? In what ways do I feel augmented compared to the self I remember from this time last year? How do I feel about that? • What have I lost in

by Agenty Duck

August 8 2018 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

How To Smell

Most of the ideas in this post come from the book Being A Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell by Alexandra Horowitz, which is my favorite nonfiction book I’ve read in a long time. She, in

by Agenty Duck

August 22 2018 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Photo Studies

When I was in Indiana, I took dozens of snapshots of a slide. This slide. It was out in a field with a whole collection of elderly playground equipment, and I found it visually interesting. So I did

by Agenty Duck

September 29 2018 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Person-Framing Language

Starting last weekend and going until March, I’ll be spending every other weekend in yoga teacher training, learning how to be a yoga instructor. I have a lot of reasons for doing this, one of

by Agenty Duck

October 2 2018 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Creative Focusing

1. This post will make no sense at all if you don’t know what “Focusing” is. Focusing is a method of making info from squishy automatic cognitive processes accessible to deliberate reasoning

by Agenty Duck

July 7 2019 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Discomfort During Exercise

A friend who is interested in building muscle told me, “I’m curious how you relate to the pain of doing exercise.” I asked them what they meant by “pain” in this case, and they seemed

by Agenty Duck

July 14 2019 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Learn the Author's Taste

One of the best things I've added to my repertoire of study tools is trying to learn the aesthetic taste of the author. When I feel something in the vicinity of disagreement with X, I write a little

by Agenty Duck

November 27 2019 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Gratitude

What It’s Like While remembering a recent discussion with a friend, I find myself feeling grateful. There’s warmth in my chest. I have an image of watery light radiating out of my upper torso

by Agenty Duck

December 29 2019 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Shame Processing

I wrote up my shame processing method. I think it comes from some combination of Max (inspired by NVC maybe?), Anna (mostly indirectly), and a lot of trial and error. I've been using it for a couple

by Agenty Duck

August 24 2020 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Hey Logan, what do you think of free verse?

Great question, thanks for asking! I've been wondering that for a while myself. In short, I think that it’s wonderful, and I’m worried it’s ruining everything. What is free verse? Actually,

by Agenty Duck

January 30 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Catching the Spark

Linkpost: I've got a new essay about curiosity and naturalism over at LessWrong (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9cbEPEuCa9E7uHMXT/catching-the-spark)!

by Agenty Duck

April 25 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Study Nature With Me!

Starting May 16th, I'm running a nature study course called "Original Seeing With a Focus On Life". In one month of study, we'll become better naturalists. EDIT: This round of the course is all full

by Agenty Duck

May 14 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Staying Grounded

I struggle a lot with mornings. If I'm not very careful about what I do in the hour or two after I first wake up, I become extremely stressed and anxious. It's as though my mind has to take some time

by Agenty Duck

June 16 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

How To Get Poetry (Part 1)

[I wrote this in 2019, and just decided to post it here. Then I made a follow-up post (https://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2021/06/how-to-get-poetry-part-2.html).] Someone observed to me the other day

by Agenty Duck

June 16 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

How To Get Poetry (Part 2)

I think the reason I sat on that last post (http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2021/06/how-to-get-poetry.html) for two years is because I said what I think people are doing wrong, and I said what the

by Agenty Duck

July 8 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Announcing "Original Seeing With a Focus On Life"

In May and June of 2021, I ran an online nature study course with about two dozen participants. I had three goals: • Help people create or deepen a personal connection with nature. • Learn how

by Agenty Duck

July 17 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

The Importance Of Being Bored

One of the assignments I very often suggest to students of naturalism is "be bored". I'm exaggerating a little when I put it that way. I don't actually mean that painful experiences of weary

by Agenty Duck

October 1 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Why Is History So Boring?: An Open Letter To My Middle School Self, To Be Read Beneath the Desk During Social Studies Class

1. Read one random sentence of a history textbook and pick out the most mind-numbing phrases. I'll go first. "In 1958, Heinrich Berlin published a detailed analysis of inscriptions on the

by Agenty Duck

November 12 2021 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Investigating Fabrication

I've got an essay up at LessWrong that definitely belongs here as well, but that's where it's all nicely formatted so I'm just gonna link

by Agenty Duck

February 24 2022 · Edited Jun 4, 2026

Intro To Naturalism Sequence

I've written an entire sequence introducing "naturalism", and I've just finished publishing it on LessWrong. You can see the whole thing at this link (https://www.lesswrong.com/s/evLkoqsbi79AnM5sz).