A Small Orientation emblem
FIELD NOTES

A Small Orientation

2 min read

Last light over the Sierra; cicadas at the window. A small note before we begin.

Field Notes is a home for people who want change that’s lived, not performed. Letters and tools, side by side. Psychology and neuroscience in conversation with poetry and practice. No grand reinventions. No moralism. Just humane work you can actually do.

What this is

  • Brief essays that name something true.
  • Simple protocols you can try in minutes.
  • Quiet experiments to make momentum feel natural.
  • Occasional maps (how ideas fit together) and science notes (why they work).

What this isn’t

Hacks, hustle, perfection cosplay or shaming disguised as principle. We’re building something durable, Self‑led, and kind.

A first principle

You are not your mind. You’re the one who can notice what the mind produces—thoughts, urges, moods—and relate to them without becoming them. We’ll return to this often: attention that can witness is the ground where real change becomes straightforward. Yes—straightforward. 

What you’ll find here

  • Self, not mind: relating to thoughts and feelings from the witness, not as the weather.
  • Prediction-first neuroscience (guess → update) and body-based clarity (sensations as data).
  • Parts‑aware psychology (IFS and friends) translated into plain speech.
  • Dopamine loops & desire: dating apps, micro‑validation, and how to step out without shame.
  • Regulation in the wild: staying steady with dysregulated people; boundaries that aren’t brittle.
  • Seeking vs. finding: the shift from chasing to inhabiting.
  • Authenticity: coherence between inner life and outer moves.
  • Solitude: not loneliness, but a furnace where voice and courage are tempered.
  • Sex & intimacy: dissipate vs. connect—from numbing to meeting.
  • Manifestation, reframed: attention × action × coherence (no magic, lots of meaning).
  • Emotional hypertrophy: training attention like a muscle so feelings don’t overrun the day.
  • The child you didn’t outgrow: tenderness without regression; integration without performance.
  • Rituals of presence: small returns you can keep.
Underneath the poetics is physiology—the quiet magic of nerves, breath, and hormones. We honor both: the measurable and the felt.

How to use this

Read a note like a letter. Let one line land. Then take one step that matches it—today, not Monday. Keep a tiny log called Returns and jot a sentence each day: “Back. From here, not from perfect.” (Swap the motto when a different note fits.) Skip around. Re‑read what helps. Ignore what doesn’t.

Where to begin

  • If you’re in a dip: Return to the Path (Part 1) — coming back without ceremony.
  • If you want the inner landscape: The Inner Council (parts, Self, truce).
  • If love/sex/solitude is loud: Dissipate vs. Connect (meeting vs. numbing) and On Solitude (strength without isolation).
  • If your phone owns you: Dopamine & Desire (loops, lures, and exits without shame).

I’ll write as a human, not a brand. You’ll see revisions, course‑corrections, and the occasional bad metaphor. You’ll also see a steady invitation: come back to what’s true, and take the next honest step from here.

with care and courage,
Gustav