TEMPLE_ARCHIVE

STATUS: INACTIVE // READ-ONLY

Blog

  • I Hate Listening to Music! (but, I love playing it)

    I’m lying to you. I don’t hate listening to music.

    But, I kinda do…

    (huh?)

    Wait…I’m still lying to you.

    The truth is, I haven’t played music much over the past few months.

    (But, I do like it. Honest.)

    “Michael…what are you talking about?”

    I have no clue. I’m trying to figure it out as we speak.

    (Wouldn’t it be awesome if this topic were socially acceptable and something I could have already figured out when I was a kid?)

    OK, let’s see…

    • I don’t like going to concerts.
    • Rock concerts are too loud.
    • Classical concerts are too boring and have too many rules.

    When I was a kid, before I ever played the piano, I listened to music. I was inspired by George Winston’s piano playing. I used to fantasize about playing like him while listening to his CDs.

    But, I never listened to music the way the other kids did. It wasn’t to fit in or to be cool or to keep up with the latest fashions. Even in the classical music world, I never cared about fashion. Sometimes I listened to music, sometimes not.

    Playing music is a different story. I love touching the piano, moving my body, training myself.

    This is separate from “music”. It’s a tactile, energetic thing.

    Why can’t we all just get along?

  • Weekly update for July 24, 2021

    Here’s your weekly update on happenings from at Michael Korman Headquarters.

    It’s a bit late, if you haven’t noticed.

    Hope it makes your week.

    News

    I’m looking for people who are willing to have a conversation with me and answer some questions. It will take 30 minutes, and it will help me make things that will help more people. Please sign up if you are interested in helping me with this.

    I’ve resumed the @katie.sula.exists posting.

    Instagram Posts

    Find these posts on my Instagram account (@no.michael.here).

    • Hi, I’m Michael. Here’s what I do.
    • You could write a book in a weekend.
    • Meditation masters vs. Meditation beginners
    • Why you don’t have enough MONEY
    • Hoping to get feedback, but no
    • STOP trying to feel GRATEFUL about money
    • Why I Never Watch Movies (and how to spend money in alignment with your values)
    • Welcome to @no.michael.here
    • You can’t force yourself to build HABITS
    • Empathizing with people who are yelling at you
    • 30-day challenge: bring value to 2 people
    • Empathy, whiny bitches
    • Don’t let your “friends” hold you hostage
    • Practice = Posture

    YouTube

    You can find a bunch of my videos on YouTube. I try to upload the good ones. You might find that useful if, especially if you don’t have an Instagram account.

    Facebook posts

    “Please stop posting about everything great in your lives. You’re making the world worse.”

    Blog post: Why You Don’t Have Enough Money and why you’re not letting yourself have enough

    Those moments when you spend money are the ones that shape your attitude toward money.

    Rather than “I have to spend this money”, it should be “I get to spend this money.”

    Don’t spend to maintain your lifestyle. That’s feeding an addiction. Spend to make the world better. Give money to charity.

    Don’t pay rent to avoid being homeless. Pay it because now you get to come inside and keep your stuff there for another month. (Read more)

    Medium

    I’m on Medium.

    New podcast episode (Loneliness and Social Anxiety)

    Is loneliness good or bad? Social anxiety. Could you survive on a desert island? Should white people be singing spirituals? Finding flow in your speaking (like Rush Limbaugh). Amplifying your singing and speaking voices. (Listen)

    Work with me for free

    I’m offering a limited number of free Discovery Sessions per week. This is your opportunity to work with me without paying anything. Sign up here

    Pay to work with me

    If there are no Discovery Sessions available this week, you can sign up for an Exploration Session. Sign up here

    Getting Unstuck on Writing

    An online workshop for writers (novelists, Instagram influencers, piano teachers, etc.) who get stuck. (Learn more)

    Here are some of my favorite tweets from the weeks.

    • The biggest #NVC mistake people make is thinking that empathy means “getting confirmation from the other person that you understand them”, or even worse, “getting the other person to stop yelling at you.”
    • I’m in need of empathy and you whiny bitches are going to suffer until I figure out a way to get it.
    • I’m no longer open to talking to piano teachers about piano or singing teachers about singing. You guys are too entrenched in your views and have too much territory to defend.
    • Habits don’t happen because of repetition! But, repetition can help you discover what DOES make the habit happen. #habits

    General themes in my Instagram stories

    • You could write a book in a weekend
    • Graveyard tour (from last fall)
    • Lies!!!
    • Don’t want to be a teacher
    • You can help me with market research
    • My final apology (from July 2020)
    • Why time goes by quickly
    • How to make an exercise habit
    • Why I’m not bad at feelings
    • Why mental illness is funny
    • Put your work out there!
    • Don’t call yourself a “coach”, Michael
    • My Facebook post about money sparked weird debates
    • I don’t think you should meditate/play the piano/be authentic/stop being a Victim.
    • Why I donated $1 to a meditation center
    • I don’t get why people hate Jeff Bezos
    • Empathy
    • The new season of the Michael and Katie reality show
    • How to handle shamers
    • Welcome to @no.michael.here
    • Katie’s dog Lorelei has been stalking me
    • Inspired by Jordan Peterson
    • No longer dating extroverts
    • Awakening sounds like fun until…
    • Love notes from Katie
    • I can criticize myself, too
    • I’m in a horrible mood because the only people who want to interact with me are those who hate me.
    • Why I’m different than most people who started doing yoga
    • Why people join mobs
    • If you think I’m sad and pathetic, don’t distance yourself
    • Nonviolent Communication
    • Normal to be upset when you lose someone
    • Britney’s front and back
    • People calling me “rude” or “polite” as a kid
    • @cornflowerwoman posted some good stuff
    • Questions about my past

    Have a good week.

    —Michael

  • #33 – Loneliness and Social Anxiety

    #33 – Loneliness and Social Anxiety

    Self-Defined Human
    Self-Defined Human
    #33 – Loneliness and Social Anxiety
    Loading
    /

    Is loneliness good or bad? Social anxiety. Could you survive on a desert island? Should white people be singing spirituals? Finding flow in your speaking (like Rush Limbaugh). Amplifying your singing and speaking voices.

  • Why You Don’t Have Enough Money and why you’re not letting yourself have enough

    Why You Don’t Have Enough Money and why you’re not letting yourself have enough

    Those moments when you spend money are the ones that shape your attitude toward money.

    Rather than “I have to spend this money”, it should be “I get to spend this money.”

    Don’t spend to maintain your lifestyle. That’s feeding an addiction. Spend to make the world better. Give money to charity.

    Don’t pay rent to avoid being homeless. Pay it because now you get to come inside and keep your stuff there for another month.

    Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how much money you have. You’ll get used to it and then that will become the new normal.

    You’re already in the top 1% of richest people who’ve ever lived. But, you’re used to it, so you don’t notice it.

    The problem is that there’s a monster you keep feeding who’s never satisfied.

    You have to stop feeding it.

    (Alternatively, you could just keep increasing the amount of money you have. Up up up up up. Like Jeff Bezos. Until you’re literally in a rocket going up into space.)

    Don’t pay rent just because rent’s due today. That’s the problem. Instead, pay because you have a great appreciation for what will happen if you don’t pay, and so you’re paying to change those specific things.

    It’s too hard to change your habit all at once just by telling yourself to think differently about why you’re paying.

    Read that again carefully, because that’s what all the self-help gurus will tell you to do. But, it’s stupid advice.

    Instead, change it going forward.

    Spend one dollar today on something that’s purely optional but values-driven.

    Then, over the years in the future, you can feed that habit until it overtakes the other one.

    Right now, you have an aversion to spending money, which means you also have an aversion to making money.

    That’s because the only reason you’re trying to make money is to feed the monster, which you hate doing.

    (Disclaimer: this all just occurred to me in the shower today. It seems right, but I haven’t tested it. Any accusations of charlatanism will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy.)

  • Weekly update for July 17, 2021

    Here’s your weekly update on happenings here at Michael Korman Incorporated.

    Hope it makes your week.

    News

    I’m looking for people who are willing to have a conversation with me and answer some questions. It will take 30 minutes, and it will help me make things that will help more people. Please sign up if you are interested in helping me with this.

    I’m offering a limited number of free Discovery Sessions per week. This is your opportunity to work with me without paying anything. Sign up here

    Since I started my Instagram account, I’ve been operating basically with 2GB free on my laptop at any given moment. This week, I finally broke down and bought a 2TB external hard drive. BUT…it’s annoying me because I use Linux and blah blah blah lots of technical stuff you probably don’t care about.

    Instagram Posts

    Find these posts on my Instagram account (@no.michael.here).

    • Questions about ravioli
    • “I know what I want”…no, you don’t
    • Don’t compliment me, apologize to me, or praise me.
    • Forcing 2 posts per day
    • Michael, why’d’ya delete all your followers?

    YouTube

    You can find a bunch of my videos on YouTube. I try to upload the good ones. You might find that useful if, especially if you don’t have an Instagram account.

    No good Facebook posts

    Sorry.

    No blog posts

    Sorry.

    Medium

    I’m on Medium.

    New podcast episodes

    No new podcast episodes this week.

    Getting Unstuck on Writing

    An online workshop for writers (novelists, Instagram influencers, piano teachers, etc.) who get stuck. (Learn more)

    Here are some of my favorite tweets from the weeks.

    • What makes me cry: stories about when people are able to see past the cruelty that is an essential consequence of our culture. Also, chopping onions.
    • The goal is to integrate trauma, not defeat it.
    • I hereby call out call-out culture.
    • Hi, I’m Michael and I am an anti-feminist. (Sorry ladies, playtime’s over.)
    • Meditation will NOT solve the problem of “I don’t meditate consistently.”
    • Suggestion: when you block someone, it should require you both to exchange at least a few more messages back and forth, and not execute the block until this is completed.

    General themes in my Instagram stories

    • Telling stories
    • Columbine
    • Problem solving
    • Whether it’s possible to hurt people with words
    • Took down the stuff about Katie
    • Walking outside helps me think
    • Trauma is the anti-skill
    • Therapists will tell you to be nice to your wife
    • How to deal with insults
    • Carl Rogers was provocative
    • I’m good at logic
    • Why disagreement is good
    • Jesus died for your cringe
    • “Michael, you think you’re 100% right about everything”
    • Relationship advice
    • I have no respect for boundaries
    • How Goenka was rejected as a meditation student
    • Why piano teachers suck and why the right to shut up is in the U.S. Constitution
    • AMA and How often I cry
    • Ways I could die right now
    • How I’d be proven a fraud
    • Can’t get rid of my instagram store
    • Anti-philosophy
    • Amy’s Baking Company (Kitchen Nightmares)
    • Repeat negative patterns!
    • “Why do you ask?”
    • Advice for influencers

    Have a good week.

    —Michael

  • Instagram boddhisatvas

    The boddhisatva vow is about not letting yourself get enlightened until others are enlightened first.

    I bet the guy who came up with this concept was obsessing over the same problems I obsess over.

    When you have an urge to share something, you find that you can also opt to embody it instead. But then you lose the urge to share it (because when you embody something, you stop wanting to talk ABOUT it).

    What happened to that guy after he got enlightened?

    Maybe he never bothered to go back and correct himself.

    Maybe he said, “let those Instagram/TikTok boddhisattvas 2,000 years from now wrestle with this. It will be good for them.”

    What does it mean to serve others?

    Here’s the question on the table: do you trust your true nature or not?

    FACT: You’re not being tested.

    There’s no great teacher in the sky. You can’t do this through an act of will alone. That’s the lesson you need to learn.

    It ain’t that complicated.

    If you don’t let yourself synchronize, you miss an opportunity to learn from pain. But…if you force yourself to synchronize, you miss an opportunity to learn from freedom.

    So…what should you do?

    Again, do you trust your true nature? At the end of the day, THAT’S what needs to be reconciled.

    You can’t do it through an act of will or intellect. You have to trust that the environment you’re in is going to teach you.

    You can’t be both the student and the teacher at the same time. Let the teacher be the teacher. When the student is ready, the teacher will be appear, or whatever they say.

    The environment will train you. Aim for synchronicity with the environment. That’s the goal.

    But…maybe you think that’s dangerous. You think if you synchronize with your environment, you’ll just spend the whole day playing video games.

    Maybe…but, do you trust your true nature?

    If not, then when stuff happens, you’ll get upset. But, that’s its own issue. It’s not exempt from any of this. Nothing is.

    Take your pick. It’s up to you.

    You decide.

>