The Friend Manual: How to make friends when you're bad at it

Category: Brain-Based Stuff (e.g., Cognition)

• Body-Based Stuff (Autonomic, Etc.) Brain-Based Stuff (e.g., Cognition) Confusion Drawings Experiments Self-Sabotage Social Skills

  Hi! Can I say something petty?

  

  Every once in a while I just need to say something awful or stupid or exciting or just a jumbled mass of words, paragraphs, images, monologues, or petty grievances. Sometimes the content just a series of successive events that I can’t quite close out. And other times, maybe something gets…

  December 27, 2025
• Brain-Based Stuff (e.g., Cognition) Changing by degrees Drawings Self-Sabotage

  Changing by Degrees – Part 1: binary and restricted thinking

  In the last month, when writing about loneliness, I kept coming upon this idea of changing by degrees – changing small things and making tweaks instead of making sweeping pronouncements or big changes. For someone who struggles with moderation, changing life by degrees is an alien, but probably life-changing idea.…

  September 26, 2022
• Body-Based Stuff (Autonomic, Etc.) Brain-Based Stuff (e.g., Cognition)

  Brain chemistry and friendship

  *Caveat: there are no scientists here, but this is basic stuff. Most discussion of friendship starts with feelings, but I think it’s helpful to take a step back and discuss how the brain and body influences experiences. This is one of the building blocks of my theory, so I’m going…

  August 13, 2022