i left tech in the states and officially moved to rural japan about 6 months ago

some learnings along the way: 1) i’m more connected to my consumption

trash is sorted in various categories (paper, plastic, “burnables”, bottles, landfill, etc), thrown away in designated bags, and picked up on different days

this forces a new awareness around what i consume, and how much i consume

some brilliant UX / design examples i've stumbled upon in japan: at ATMs, there are umbrella / cane & cup holders to put your items down when you get your cash

i've received a lot of requests on how to replicate my AI experiment so here goes --

[tutorial] how to create your own "inner child" chatbot using GPT-3

https://twitter.com/michellehuang42/status/1597005489413713921

step 1: acquire some source material

this can range from diaries, personal narrative, any kind of written content that shows your personality / voice / values

if you have no diaries to reference ... do not fear! archived chats should work just as well

✨ creative projects index ✨ i’m a mixed-media digital artist, focused on human flourishing and immersive story-telling

i create everything from this ethos:

https://twitter.com/michellehuang42/status/1343437820216672258

i trained an ai chatbot on my childhood journal entries - so that i could engage in real-time dialogue with my "inner child"

some reflections below: i kept diaries for about 10+ years of my life, writing almost everyday — about my dreams, fears, secrets

the content ranged from complaining about homework, to giddiness i felt from talking to my crush

some days were very mundane, some rather insightful

personal update: i just got laid off my job, so i'm now taking another art / research sabbatical

a thread of notes from what worked and what didn't work from last time, and what i'll keep in mind for this time around to give context, about two years ago, i jumped into my last sabbatical after quitting my job during the pandemic

i was hungry, excited, and definitely a little bit fearful.

finally condensed some thoughts into a chart depicting one of my main learnings from my vipassana meditation practice: the ability to re-program subconscious reflexes through awareness training + repeated exposure

explanation thread below 🧵 at a high level, the graph plots the perception of pain across time, how interestingly - despite initial increase, pain actually changes over time: law of impermanence

https://twitter.com/michellehuang42/status/1374581721698426887?s=20

now illustrating the key stages of experience through an example of a 1 hour sit:

joining in this year's @threadapalooza!

behold 100 tweets of my favorite travel stories from the last few years

here's a photo of the 5 filled journals i'm referencing for inspiration as i write these 1/ I must admit, the experience that has changed me the most through all my travels is undergoing a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in Bodhgaya, India

It was the somatic and continual experience of "Law of Impermanence": that everything changes, both pain and pleasure