Cole Hansen - Cole's Chronicle (Page 2)

Cole's Chronicle

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Cole Hansen

Cole is a designer for Two Trees Architects in Ojai California. He doodles and writes about what its like to be human.

Art

Language has its limits. As much as we try to capture the richness of our experience through words, there’s always something that gets lost in translation. The journey from what is to what we can articulate is a complex process—one that falls short of conveying the full depth

Between Language and Reality

In a previous post, I wrote about how language shapes reality. Indeed it does. We associate elements of consciousness with words, which have meaning–but these meanings are not the whole truth. Three other processes occur before we use language to organize information: sensation, perception, and appraisal. Through these processes,

Leaning In vs Pulling Back

As discussed in the last post, struggle can be categorized into either pain or discomfort. Pain should be discouraged, while discomfort should be embraced… well, most of the time. If we’re always advancing towards something, we risk missing out on what’s right in front of us. If we

Pain vs Discomfort

As humans have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, we’ve developed physiological and psychological responses to threats. Our mind, however, doesn’t always distinguish between what’s life-threatening and what’s merely unpleasant. We experience struggle all the same. With some insight though, we can examine the nature

Forms Of Struggle

Struggle is negative emotion. It’s an indicator that something is wrong. Struggle is part of the human experience but that doesn’t mean it can’t be resolved. Recognition of struggle is always the first step towards relief. Once we’ve identified that we’re struggling with something we

Recognizing Struggle

Negative feelings and emotions are part of the human experience. As often as we are up, we are down. Much of the time we’re in a bad mood, however, we’re unaware of it. Something’s off, but we don’t realize it. And when we’re oblivious to

Love

If enjoyment is our metric of personal welfare, then love is our desire for others to enjoy. To love is to wish for the unconditional well-being of other people. Loving someone can bring us great joy, but that’s not the aim. The nature of love is to wish for

Enjoyment

To obtain clarity in our lives, we must not only define success but define the words we use to describe it. Definitions vary among individuals, but it can always be described as your aim in life. I aim to enjoy life and to love people. Enjoyment is an all-encompassing word.

Success

‘Success’ is so frequently used in modern language that we’ve become numb to its implications. We accept how society has defined it and march in that direction–everyone is on the quest for fame and fortune. Societies are coerced into this delusion as nations are forced to play the

Words That Indicate Good

Humans are not perfectly rational agents–we don’t always act in our best interest. This is not because we don’t want what is best for us, but because we lack a clear understanding of it. We don’t know what is in our best interest. The first step

Language Shapes Reality

Words shape our world. Though they are just sounds, lines, or thoughts, we use them to filter our experience. This filter is essential for processing the vast, perpetual flow of information. Instead of perceiving trees as mere fields of light and shadow, we label them as “trees.” Through language, we

Certainty vs Confidence

Our society celebrates assured individuals. We praise them because they seem like they know what they are doing in a world where no one really does. We use words like: “Certain” and “Confident” but these words have completely different meanings. Both the certain and the confident individual are assured but

Efficient vs Effective

Our day to day lives are often dictated by the minute–gain one here, spare one there. Surely if we can do something in less time and with less effort that’s a good thing right? Not so fast. Everything has its tradeoffs. What are you trading for an extra

Routine

Life is unpredictable. Markets shift, technology advances, and people change. Unpredictability is part of life’s thrill, but too much can cause unnecessary stress. Routine can help alleviate this. Routine reduces variability and introduces consistency, but contrary to common thought, it is not inherently mundane. It can be a repetitive