Empty effort – the book for kids

Below the experiment of writing the book for kids with the help of GPT-4

PDF of the resulted book (with pictures, generated by Midjourney. In russian) can be downloaded here: PDF

My request with quotes of the Burno's book

• Natalia, there is a pattern: if a person is excessively worried about something, he subconsciously demands something impossible from himself without realizing it. In this case, if you help him understand this and stop demanding the impossible, he calms down. Let's see if this law applies to you.
• Let's see...
• You said you were too anxious.
• Yes, so...
• How much more anxious than necessary? Than it would be natural to feel in such a situation? By how much? Or by how many times?
• I think it would be six times as much.
• The level of anxiety that would be appropriate, would you simply call it anxiety?
• Yes, I suppose so.
• What's your anxiety about?
• The future.
• In relation to your anxiety and your situation, what do you think is required of you? Or what do you think you should do?
• Well, first of all, I have to make a plan of action. Then change my job. Then continue my yoga training. Ask for support from family, acquaintances, friends. Cut back on my communication with my ex-husband.
• Okay. I understand that most of these tasks are quite specific and doable. Indeed, it's clear how to cut back on communication with your ex-husband, how to ask for support, how to continue your studies. It is clear what needs to be done to do this. Can we call these tasks purely technical?
• Yes. They're all clear.
• And changing jobs? Is there any difficulty here?
• Basically, no. I have already been offered several options. I just have to make the right choice. I think I can think it through, I can weigh it all up. There is a slight uncertainty about it, but I think that's natural.
• And "making a plan"? Is that a purely technical task for you?
• No, technique alone is not enough here. There's a creative part.
• "The creative part"! What's that? Do I understand correctly that you don't just have to arrange your upcoming actions in the order of execution? You have to do something else besides that? Something "creative"?
• Yes.
• What else would you call this creative part of your actions? What's another way to say that you must?
• I have to kind of understand, feel, how to do everything in the best way. No mistakes. How to be in the right place at the right time.
• That would be great! And how do you figure that out?
• Well, you have to be in constant contact with your intuition.
• Is that what you're trying to do? Be in constant contact with your intuition?
• Yes, I try to do that.
• That's a great ability if you have it. Can you really be in constant contact with this power?
• No, but I have to. And sometimes it works.
• Does it work on demand? Do you tell your intuition, "speak," and it speaks?
• No, unfortunately. But you have to make it speak. Or make yourself hear it.
• Both would be great! By the way, it's probably the same thing. Only, how to do it?
• I don't know... It works sometimes when I meditate. Not always, though...
• That's great! So you have a specific way of accessing intuition. It may not always work, but it is a specific path nonetheless. It's something you can actually do. I understand that you know how to meditate?
• Yes. I've been doing it a lot.
• That's good. So sometimes you can access intuition in moments of meditation? And outside of them? You can't meditate all day long, can you?
• Outside of meditation, it can tell you things...
• Or it may not tell you anything?
• Yes, it can be silent.
• Does it depend on you in any way?
• I think so.
• Let's put it clearly: "I can hear the voice of my intuition all the time, even without meditation. Right?
• Right... Although now that you say it, I doubt that I can.
• Let's imagine that you can. Then how? What exactly can you do to hear her?
• Nothing, I suppose...
• What if you tried hard?
• Yes... No...
• Maybe if you try very hard internally you can hear her?
• No... That's nonsense. I understand that now... Either you'll hear it, or you won't.
  or it won't.
• Are you sure?
• Yes.
• So then, all you can do is call on your intuition through meditation?
• Yes, exactly.
• How many times a day and for how long do you think you need to meditate so that your conscience is at peace? So that you can say you've done all you can to hear your intuition?
• I think ... Three times a day. Fifteen minutes each.
• Is there anything else you can really do?
• There is nothing else. Everything else is pointless tension. It's all in my power, though it's sad...
• Good. Listen to your anxiety now? Has it changed somehow?
• It's gone.
• Gone? Are you completely calm? There are still many unknowns ahead...
• She's gone in the sense that she's out of the way. I feel much better. In general, it's easier.
  Do you understand what was going on here? We found an empty effort in Natalia's experience, highlighted it, and debunked it. That is, we showed her that her effort was futile, hopeless, unrealizable. She realized that she was trying to go where she did not know where. As soon as the empty effort is evidently realized as such, it immediately disappears, is eliminated from the mental life. Relief comes, often abruptly, in the form of an insight. For Natalia this happened quickly, just one tool from our arsenal had to be used.

Empty effort is what we call the urge to control involuntary mental activity in a direct volitional manner.

Or, to put it a little differently:

Empty effort is the urge in a direct volitional way to do anything other than move attention and contract a muscle.

Empty effort is the effort to forcibly influence involuntary mental activity in the absence of the factors necessary for its spontaneous change.

Positive blank effort type 1 is experienced as an attempt to increase one's own mental productivity: to make the brain work faster and more efficiently or to produce something new in one's soul, something to help solve a problem in life.

Patients with negative empty effort type 1 talk about their effort as an effort to suppress "unnecessary" mental movements in themselves caused by a negative situation, to remove, to turn off interfering, "unnecessary" feelings or thoughts.

Based on this dialogue and concept "Empty effort", make up fairy tale stories for children, only shorter by a factor of two, in which some characters had anxiety and others used this technique to help them

GPT-4

Once upon a time in a magical forest, there lived a group of animals who were the best of friends. Among them were Lenny the Lion, Oscar the Owl, Ella the Elephant, and Bobby the Bunny. Each of them had their own unique talents, and they spent their days playing, exploring, and helping one another.

One day, Lenny the Lion began to feel very anxious about his future. He worried that he wasn't strong enough to be the king of the forest, and his anxiety started to affect his daily life. He was too worried to play with his friends and spent most of his time pacing back and forth in his den.

Oscar the Owl, who was known for his wisdom, noticed Lenny's unusual behavior and decided to help him. He approached Lenny and asked him to share his worries. Lenny told him about his anxiety and how he felt like he needed to be stronger to be a good king.

Oscar thought for a moment and then asked Lenny how much more strength he thought he needed. Lenny replied, "I think I need to be six times stronger than I am now."

Oscar then asked Lenny what steps he thought he needed to take to become stronger. Lenny listed several things, such as eating healthier, exercising more, and learning from the other strong animals in the forest.

Oscar agreed that these were good steps but noticed that Lenny seemed to be making an empty effort - trying to control his anxiety by demanding impossible things from himself. Oscar explained to Lenny that he couldn't force himself to become stronger overnight, and that it was important to focus on the things he could actually do to improve his strength.

Lenny took Oscar's advice to heart, and instead of worrying about the impossible, he began to focus on achievable goals. He started eating healthier, exercising regularly, and learning from the other animals. Over time, Lenny's anxiety lessened, and he began to feel more confident and capable of becoming a strong king.

And so, Lenny the Lion learned the importance of letting go of empty efforts and focusing on the achievable steps towards his goals. The magical forest continued to flourish under the guidance of Lenny and his friends, who learned that by helping each other, they could overcome any challenge life threw their way.

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

My prompt

Great, come up with another tale, but add to it a clear, visual explanation for children of what an empty effort is and what we can and can't control

GPT-4

Once upon a time in the colorful land of Emotia, there lived a group of friends, each representing a different emotion. There was Happy the Hippo, Sad the Sloth, Angry the Ant, and Worried the Wombat. They all lived together in harmony, understanding and accepting each other's emotions.

One day, a strange fog rolled into Emotia, causing everyone to feel a little uneasy. Worried the Wombat became particularly anxious, and this made him feel like he needed to control everything around him to make sure nothing went wrong. He spent all day running around, trying to keep the fog from affecting his friends and their emotions.

Seeing Worried in distress, Wise the Whale decided to help him understand what he could and couldn't control. Wise gathered everyone together and asked them to participate in an activity. He asked each of them to hold a balloon filled with their own emotion's color.

Wise then told them that they could only control two things: where they placed their attention and the movement of their bodies. He asked them to focus on their balloons and try to change the color inside by simply thinking about it.

They all tried very hard, but none of them could change the color of the balloon. Worried the Wombat felt even more anxious, thinking he was failing at the task. Wise smiled gently and said, "You see, my friends, this is what we call an 'empty effort.' It is when we try to control something that is beyond our reach."

He continued, "We cannot control the fog, just as we cannot change the color of these balloons by simply thinking about it. But what we can control is our attention and our actions. Instead of trying to control the fog, we can focus on what we can do - like finding a safe place to wait it out or comforting each other through the uncertainty."

Worried the Wombat finally understood the concept of empty effort and realized that he couldn't control everything around him. He learned to focus on what he could control - his actions and where he placed his attention.

With this newfound understanding, Worried and his friends decided to work together to create a cozy, safe space where they could support each other until the fog passed. They discovered the power of letting go of empty efforts and focusing on what they could truly control.

As the fog eventually lifted, the friends felt closer and more united than ever. They learned a valuable lesson about the importance of recognizing what they could and couldn't control, and they carried this wisdom with them as they continued to navigate the beautiful, ever-changing land of Emotia.

And they all lived happily and mindfully ever after. The end.