Actualism flow diagram

So this is my first attempt, it is pretty quiet at work atm and I always thought something like this could be useful for people getting into actualism to give somewhat of an idea of how the day to day application of the method plays out in practice.

You will have to excuse my poor computer and design skills though :stuck_out_tongue: I would be interested in hearing what additions/amendments you guys would make to those steps based on your experience and also if anyone better at design wants to make a prettier version that would be great :smiley:

Kuba

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This is really helpful :slight_smile: I think add some pics of some cute animals around the feeling good part would be lovely xx

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The thing I was trying to make clear in the diagram is that there is no step from ‘feeling bad’ to ‘conduct investigation’. As in get back to feeling good first then investigate but I am not sure if the arrow came out looking like ‘feeling bad’ leads to ‘conduct investigation’?

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No I think it’s pretty clear that the arrow goes from feeling bad to feeling good first xx

Also I would like to report that after being triggered by my boss not long ago for taking time away from work to write this diagram, I successfully navigated the diagram back to feeling good :smiley: :laughing:

I like it !

I think the investigation one should come out of / back into feeling good though. Ie make it clearer you get to feeling good first and then investigate

I like the “abandon Actualism” box :smiley:

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@claudiu Yeah I agree that is a key point and I don’t think it is very clear in the chart at the moment that feeling bad cannot lead to investigation. Investigation currently goes out of the ‘see the silliness’ and back into ‘feeling good’. I will have a little play around with it when I get a chance.

It should really depict - get back to feeling good first - then option to investigate if warranted.

Kuba

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OK I think this more or less has the gist of it all now. I went through the various scenarios and this is pretty much how it would play out for me day to day.

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Investigation goes both in and out of feeling good and is pretty much a separate ‘tool’ in its own right, it applies as and when necessary but always with the background of feeling good.

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I find it a great complement to Richard’s neuropsychological diagrams (more practical, in fact; the others are more theoretical).

I’d only eliminate the link between “Conduct investigation” and “Overwhelmed by emotion”. I think that only the two-way link with “Feeling good” should be kept.

When an investigation leads us to feel overwhelmed by emotions (as it often does) it would actually be another “Trigger” that would go through “Feeling bad” and may end up in “Overwhelmed”, but also could be nipped in the bud, etc.

Ah indeed, maybe the investigation box can go above the feeling-good one, and feed into the trigger in that case…

Other thoughts in no particular order:

  • maybe a ‘start here’ box, which has dotted lines going into either ‘feeling good’, ‘feeling bad’, or ‘overwhelmed by emotion’
  • and the ‘this sucks, abandon actualism’ box can have a dotted line going into the ‘start here’ box, to allow a re-entry to actualism once one has abandoned it… :smiley:
  • other though is to move it around a bit and draw a big box around feeling good and the enjoy & appreciate train, and label that all “The Actualism Method”, to make it clear that these are what the method consists of
  • and then possibly there can be an exit from the other parts (delight etc…) into ‘trigger’, since we can have triggers even in those states.

but adding too much, it might get too busy and erase from the simplicity … just thoughts

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Yes I think the simplicity was the main aim with this. I would assume that anyone looking at this has already familiarised themselves with the main information regarding Actualism. As such they understand the basic concepts, direction and goals and now they might benefit from a visual example of how those typically play out.

I agree investigation does not necessarily have to go directly into ‘overwhelmed’, so any issues that crop up whilst investigating would go through the ‘trigger’ pathway instead.

And yes all the bits you mentioned @claudiu I thought about, I even thought about a ‘detour into good feelings pathway’ but again that would begin to take away from the simplicity when the very purpose of something like this is to simplify something that one might be finding confusing to begin with.

The one suggestion I definitely like is ‘this sucks’ going into a re-entry into actualism, I’ve done that cycle a few times myself :stuck_out_tongue:

I will have a little play with this when I can. I actually don’t have a proper computer (or skill :joy:) to do this stuff on other than at work so if any of you computer wizards wants to play around with this feel free.

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This is awesome!

I’d suggest changing the terminology a bit because the ‘feeling bad’ box should really be the ‘good or bad feelings box’ (as in the loving and affectionate feelings, and the sorrowful and malicious feelings)

And then that might make the ‘feeling good’ box potentially confusing because it’s using the same word

Also an idea, make the ‘feeling good’ or ‘feeling bad’ boxes the same size, to make them the obvious starting points: in this moment, am I feeling felicitous/innocuous, or am I feeling sorrowful/malicious/loving/affectionate? And you immediately know where to start

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Screenshot 2022-03-17 at 11.06.11

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New and improved version :slight_smile: I tried to add the things that you guys mentioned whilst keeping it still relatively straight forward.
@henryyyyyyyyyy Feeling good and feeling bad didn’t end up as starting points as it was difficult to then convey that it is usually a trigger which leads to feeling bad first and also that trigger can be nipped in the bud before one starts feeling bad.

What do you guys think? Simplified (previous) version or this one?

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I wonder if it’s worth having ‘investigation’ in the blue colour to highlight the fact that it is a tool that might/might not be used but it is not the method (green) in its own right :thinking:?

I like the new one!

I like how the start is “HAIETMOBA” – and the anwer to the question is the feeling good or feeling bad. I think this makes it clear the method is enjoying & appreciating, but everything else is in service of that.

A few more thoughts… don’t take them as ‘they must be done’, just thoughts :smiley:

  • Instead of the right being ‘detour from the method’, just leave the left as ‘actualism method’. and move the investigation box into the right half. This way it is clearer investigation isn’t the method, but also investigation isn’t a detour …

  • might be fun to have an arrow come out of feeling good an back into feeling good itself without going through any other boxes, i.e. a positive feedback loop

  • “Feeling bad (‘good’ + bad feelings)” – i can’t think of a better way to put it, the only thing that’s a littel off is that ‘good’ feelings aren’t ‘bad’, but it seems cumbersome to say “Feeling not felicitous” instead of the simple “feeling bad”…

    maybe the ‘feeling good feelings’ would be a separate train. trigger can go into either feeling bad or feeling ‘good’ feelings (i.e. not felicitous feelings). and that would go into its own box of “See that the ‘good’ feelings ultimately take away from enjoying and appreciating” or something.

    or maybe leave this flowchart just for feeling bad, and feeling good feelings get a separate treatment lol. that may be more appropriate…

  • just for visual look - i’m not skilled in visual arts, but … maybe align feeling good with the other boxes on the left? and the arrows into feeling good can merge instead of each having a separate one, it looks a bit busy.

  • i agree on blue boxes for the tools. maybe conduct investigation, nip in bud, see the silliness, focus on getting back to neutral, all should be blue?

I could see there being a few more iterations of it… i dont know what it ‘should’ look like, but we will probably know when we’ve hit an end point lol

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Yeah I think they’re all good points I will play around with that. The tricky one is as you said the ‘good’ feelings, I guess like you said it could be a separate box from feeling bad but it would be going in and out of it to demonstrate that the good feelings are the flip side and prevent the felicitous and innocuous feelings.

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