Knowledge curve Imagine development of human communication. About 5000 years ago there were barely literate people. Very limited documentation, in the form of cave paintings, and clay plates. Even carvings on stone. It took few more millennia for humans to develop a system of written communication. Printing press was made 1450. But newspapers became into circulation in 1600s, Radio 1920, Television 1940 Internet 1980s Smartphone 2000. And communication is one of the fast-growing knowledge areas in human history. Can you see its growth is somewhat exponential by just looking at products we use to communicate we can see that. AI generated image of the knowledge curve Every field is advancing faster and faster. It is not smartphone; everything seems to be getting faster and faster. Every knowledgebase seems to be advancing faster simultaneously. Consider mathematics, consider chemistry, consider art and literature. There are more labs, more calculus classes and more artists than 20 years ago today. And they are vastly interconnected by smartphones, sharing knowledge, which have become a positive loop to drive the speed of the knowledge like a propelling rocket just out of atmosphere. Have you ever wondered how this is going to end? Is there unlimited knowledge? Will there be an ultimate answer to our all problems? Perhaps a M theory. Where do we stand today? Edge of the knowledge. Where we currently stand on this exponential knowledge curve is our edge. We can call this the edge of the knowledge. This is true for any domain. More and more scientists, artists and humans are working at the edge of the knowledge trying to expand it in a positive direction, every day. And it seems they are remarkably successful, in keeping the momentum. Like a group of hunting dogs, looking for new territories, they do discover something new every day. Co-operation is their tool, and paradoxes are their enemy. Limits of the knowledge and nothingness Paradoxes uncertainty principle and probability of truth. These are some of the hard problems that we have encountered along the way. Perhaps they make us humble to look at our knowledge base holistically. Will us ever reach the limit of our knowledge? Is there any meaning at this point? Consider the probability of truth. It is conventional wisdom that any truth is just a probability, quantum or not. So, there seems a limit for us to find 100% truth. As a species we can make more effort to reach higher speeds of knowledge by scientific method. But if we really want to jump into the asymptote of the knowledge we need entirely different approach. Perhaps the key is mindful awareness of the now function, which gives momentum to all these. There we might find "nothingness"

Homework It was a rainy day. The sky was pouring down like it was sad for something, all afternoon. Lily White was watching the raindrops through her window all morning. And she started her homework in the afternoon. She was doing English homework. And she was filling a table of things and places, persons and animals. She had to choose which goes in which box. It was easy, could you do that if you were given? A tree: https://unsplash.com/@jmacca88 This is just a part of her list. Ant -> animal Uncle -> person School -> place bird -> animal chair -> thing monkey -> animal Rose -> thing Tree ? "Well, that is strange. I do not know whether a tree is a thing or a place?" So, she asked her father. "I see, it is easy Lily. A tree is a thing !" Father said. "But father, an ant lives their whole life on a tree, birds nest on a tree, I have seen some monkeys just having a nap the other day on top of the tree! It is a place for them, and it is my favourite place to be in the garden too." "hmmmm.. I cannot disagree, Perhaps it is both?" "So, which box should I put it in? the Thing box or Place box?" "Put it in the thing box" "But, that is wrong. If I put it in the thing box, I should also put it in the Place box" "Why this is so hard" "Ah poor Lily, don't think about it too much. Sometimes there are no correct answers to some questions. We just have to select one which seems right." "Why is that?" "Its because.. " "Its because..." "hmmm... They are just imaginary!" Hmmmm... Lily was thinking. "What did he mean by its imaginary?" She finished her work and thought about everything imaginary during all afternoon. And before bed, she put a note in her book. Lily White's diary -Imaginary things and places. Today I learned things can be places. If I imagine myself an ant, a tree will be a place. If I imagine myself a giant, our house will become a thing. Like my father said, it is all imaginary. Guess I am really good at imagining things and places. So, a tree is a thing just because I chose it to be.

Morgue I have been to the morgue once or twice in my life. If that experience has taught me anything, it is not to visit it another time. So, I wouldn't do that voluntarily. The morgue is full of formalin and smelly corpses. People who owned these corpses while living may have led very successful lives, average lives, or poor-quality lives. However, now they all are dead, and the pile of carbon and oxygen atoms that they accumulated and recycled over the years is now struggling with the forces of nature to go back to their atomic form. Which they would just do if we did not interrupt the process with funeral arrangements. What do we not do to our corpses before they are given back to nature? We cut them open, remove everything inside, and keep the empty shell (just like we do when we are living). We dip them in formalin and cover all the intimate parts with new dresses (just to make them look like living). We spray substances to mask the fragrance, put them inside coffins of various sizes and shapes, decorate with flowers, and make them appear in neat positions of our preference before displaying. And once displayed, we get emotional over now dead lifeless piles of atoms and start crying over them. Some even start touching, hugging, and kissing corpses. (Well, I have seen that in movies perhaps.) But is this all necessary? Would you cry in front of a fallen tree? In a fundamental form, a dead body is a fallen tree. They need burial or even to be left alone to decompose. Humans are strange! Why magical? I used this metaphor to explain some facts to you. It is absolutely not regarding funerals, or that you should avoid embalming your loved ones, even yourself. That is up to you. I like cultural gatherings anyway, especially funerals as they provide a lot of emotional ventilation to the living crowd. However, I would say you have a lot of corpses, dead bodies in front and around your life, some partially decomposed and making your life stink. Do you have any regrets related to your past lately? Perhaps a traumatic childhood, a crime that you committed, or a deed that you omitted, which keeps coming back as insomnia at night. How about a dead relationship that you are trying to cling onto as you're afraid of a separation? What about an unsatisfying job that is eating your hours daily? Perhaps the boring city which doesn't inspire you to creativity is the problem. Have you ever thought about it? Where you live and how much effect it has on your current and future trajectory of your life? Everything about you will change if you just change the city you live in, like a paradigm shift. Dead bodies :https://unsplash.com/@supardisign How to live with corpses is by burying them. Even if you do not do anything the corpses would decompose naturally. It will be stinky for a few days and weeks, but if you neglect them, and pay attention to everything else happening in your life, they surely will decompose. What not to do is to EMBALM them, and trying to preserve them by mummifying, mourn over them for years. Dead is dead. A dead relationship is dead, there are no lessons, you just need to close that chapter and move on. A broken trust is broken; there is no need to fix the pieces of trust with super glue of tiny gifts until you become exhausted in the process drain all your time and energy. Yesterday is done and gone, even if it has not been so perfect as you wished, there is no need to dwell on it and re-live the experience. If you start doing that, you will miss the opportunity today, and might add another dead corpse to your pile of stinky corpses. Technically this is the hard part, burying the corpses. But I would say it is rather easy. YOU JUST STOP WORKING ON THEM ANYMORE. It is simple as that. And soon you will see that how much stinky pile of corpse you have been decorating daily and spraying scent on. Once you stop and ignore, initially it will be really nasty, and smelly but over time it will decompose faster. Better would be just focus on your gardens, where you plant your fruits and vegetables, and take care of them. Forgetting the failures accepting them as failures and moving on would be a life skill that we have to learn as professionals, CEOs, mothers and even children. Would you ever think any child would ever walk unless they accept the risk of falls and stopped crying about it, and try again? You have been that courageous child once in your life, who was excited about the future than your failures. I am sure you can do it again. So what are the corpses you have been embalming lately?

I donated to world food program. I was just writing an article about how to live a virtuous life. And it was apparent to me this can only be done when I live my life for others. Not even the ones which are in close circle of mine. I can actually do this just now, with my computer. I can donate some of my hard-earned money to the world food program. So, I made a onetime donation of 18 USD. I know it virtually looks nothing. Yet I am feeling enormously happy than all the rest of the money I spend on myself. Impact of 18 USD. It says the 18 USD I provided is enough to provide 36 emergency meals. Isn't that wonderful? Someone somewhere in the world, gets a meal. Some water and a smile when they see the packet of food. I know it doesn't virtually transform into a meal and immediately handed over to a person, and I won't be there to see that. WFP is an enormous program with a big budget. They have provided 121 million people all around the world in 2025. They do have Supply chains, warehouses to store food and transport logistics and paid people working for them. My money is in the pool of 6 billion dollars, where they operate with. But ultimately will provide food to those who need. As I cannot reach a person in need physically and provide a meal, I am glad they have the system established. Singer's famine relief argument. If you do not know, there is a good reason that we should stick to a minimalist lifestyle and spend the savings on relief efforts such as world food program. Imagine a person dying of malnutrition in somewhere around the world. Am I not responsible for that death? Maybe not, because I do not think I am killing some people when I buy a car. However, it is really possible to save such lives when I am aware that there is a possibility for me to save money and spend it on saving lives instead. What better way is there other than providing food? Battle against poverty WFP is not a battle against poverty. That needs policy makers of each country to deal in a humanistic manner. WFP just feeds hungry lives which are immediately in danger. Worlds create enough food for everyone if distributed properly, nobody should go hungry. So, it reaches were food normally scarce. What can you do? Whenever you are spending, save some dollars. Put them in a jar, which reminds you of all the hungry children malnourished with pot bellies crying for food from their mothers who hadn't eaten for days. And do not even think twice when you feel like donating. Just do it. It doesn't matter there is a heaven or hell where we go. It's not about creating a equally good return. It is by all means not a good investment. But it will be the best investment of your life years and years after you have done it. The dollar you donate today when you are poor has more value to your life than a dollar you spend when you are rich. If you have a job, a roof and a shelter there is no reason you shouldn't donate. World food program - LINK

Today, Man The man woke up early morning, without feeling tired. He jumped out of the bed, as he could not stay there for a one minute. There was the piano waiting for him to play. Blank pages were ready on the table asking for him to compose. And he knew exactly what he was going to compose today, as it was already planned and written on a piece of paper. There was a Jug of water for him to drink, and an apple on his table to munch while working. All around was silence triggering his thoughts than any other. His mind could wonder into deep crevices of the brain to pick up memories and feelings he even did not know exist. Memories worth of decades about to be lost forever, he could recover and put on paper. He did not feel sleepy, as he had already slept a good deal. He had a sound sleep without any disturbances in a dimly lighted room. There were no phones and no screens, but few books he wanted to read, were already there with bookmarks. Books were specifically picked up to spark his creativity by the Yesterday Man. When he felt a little tired, and sleepy, he got up and walked. Planned his day, this time on paper. By the time when the neighborhood woke up, he was already getting ready to go to work in the cold autumn day. His blood was warm, heart was fresh, as inside he was feeling triumphed like an already winner. He knew not to expect any change of course of his life in immediate future. He did not even want that, as today was a totally perfect day thanks to yesterday, Man. Planning tomorrow today. :Unsplash Yesterday, Man Imagine that imaginary man was you. You may think, nah.. that is not me. It is not even possible. I have tried the trick you're talking about 1000 times in the past and failed. I agree if you told me you struggle with your dreams, and manifestations. There is not one single reason. But I bet ironically, there were 1000 reasons why you failed today. Demotivated, Depressed and too tired to feel and even move your butt out of your couch which had rooted onto the ground after years and years of wasted time. My advice is giving up today. Consider it already failed, before even it ends. Yet you can focus on tomorrow. In the above example, the man who woke up did not start his day from scratch. It was already planned, and half done. Everything, from his morning tea to exercise and snack, were no decisions for him to make. What he should compose was already written, by himself, during the previous day. He felt well rested, as he was granted with a good sleep by himself by going to bed early to have enough sleep. His bed was neat and ready, as he himself prepared the bed beforehand. As you can see, there really was an invisible man. But the invisible man was only "Yesterday himself". Won't you agree it is easier to wake up to a half-painted dream, so you can just carry on without any resistance? The fact is you can be your own invisible man today. Although we agreed today is a failure, at some point you need to turn your odds into success. Why not focus on tomorrow? How to be a tomorrow, Man Imagine yourself as three men. Your main goal for today is to anticipate every problem you are going to encounter tomorrow and make plans to overcome them. Not one, not two, but 1000 tiny plans that you make for 1000 obstacles. So, your routines are not to focus on today, but to let tomorrow flows smoothly. When it becomes tomorrow, which I am sure will happen, you would feel the presence of the invisible "Yesterday Man" by half done work for you. You just have to follow his paths and instructions. There is no room for self-doubts or hiccups of normal life, as these were already planned. There is no chance that you'd fail as yesterday man already failed and made today success possible. Once started, and finished your today's assignments, you can just be a tomorrow man. And repeat all those tiny things you have done to make it successful tomorrow. This would be far easier to do this time around as you know it is going to be a fantastic day tomorrow. Evident by today. Finally, you'd be able to break the cycle of modern man's doom, and step away from the clutter to craft your own future. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. — Albert Einstein Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today and you make your tomorrow. — L. Ron Hubbard Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. — Epicurus

3 Reasons: Highly accomplished people are serious hobbyists You already enjoy doing this Gives you more opportunities. Why should you restart your hobby? Yes. Nobel prize winners are highly accomplished people from all of the planet, and they are serious about their hobby. I will give you a list of such hobbies at the end of the paragraph. More importantly why? It could be due to the fact that, learning different domains of knowledge gives you an edge over others who are just having a tunnel vision on their own subject. Maybe the reason is a serious hobby lets your mind to relax like in a meditation, so it can wander deep into the memory and make new connections and hypothesis while doing that (diffuse mode of thinking.). Maybe hobby is a form of mental rest. As there is no pressure of achievement hobby teaches your life is not always about results. So, maybe you should too. Even if you do not win the Nobel price (it is a mathematically impossible task for everyone to win a Nobel price) you might enjoy little bit of your own music today, if you just remind yourself how important you felt just doing that. Albert Einstein — played the violin and piano, particularly enjoying Mozart. Richard Feynman — played drums, drew, cracked safes, and explored different crafts. Alexander Fleming — enjoyed painting as a hobby. Santiago Ramón y Cajal — was an accomplished artist as well as a scientist. Niels Bohr — was interested in philosophy and football. Rabindranath Tagore — wrote poetry, composed music, painted, and worked in many artistic fields; he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Kenzaburō Ōe — had strong interests in literature, philosophy, and music. Hobby - reading Dictionary You already enjoy doing this. Play is an essential component in any progressive career. Sometimes you may be restricted by professional boundaries, where you can engage in play while you are at work. Although you have a creative idea, you may not be able to put it into action, as that is a new risk for the company you are working. Do this repeatedly you will lose your enthusiasm for life and opportunity to feel fulfillment. And the work will become boring, hence that is the only thing you are doing for all your adult life, life would be hard and everyone will be hearing your complaints. But with your hobby there is no restriction as such. You already enjoy doing the act. There is no performance anxiety, and there is no risk you shouldn't be taking as there are no rules when it comes to hobby. Any rule you follow is just yours to make and alter as necessary. If you would not know, this is an essential part of any skilled person. The hobby if you are serious can take off, if given enough momentum, like an aero plane. Once it is flying in the sky, you just have to relax and enjoy the sceneries rest of your flight as, long as you are up in the sky. It is when the flight tries to land there would be a crash not while it is in the sky in a smooth flow. Smiles that you create would fill over to other parts of your day. It gives you more opportunities. Imagine two people are climbing mountains. One is a professional climber, a sherpa. And the other one is a hobbyist. Both of them apparently climb the same mountain, same views and same atmosphere, same snow-covered caps rise all around them. Who would you think enjoy most? For the Sherpa, it is work. He is climbing with the responsibility, and this will drain all his mental power throughout the climb. He will have less chance for enjoyment as he is stressed just like a cleark in an office. But for you this is a novel experience and there is no pressure of performance. You will enjoy everything along the way. And this is not the only mountain you climb. Your family life, and your professional life are some other mountains you aim to climb simultaneously. Each will help you to have more opportunities which were not there, as always when you climb a mountain, a rock or even a big tree you will get a bird's eye view of everything surrounding you. You are less confused about destinations and directions you follow. Slowly your hobby will make your day more fulfilling, even if you do not score in your other domains. These are not the only 3 reasons, why should you restart your hobby. But the idea is to motivate you for a start, in few minutes.

Understanding Boredom. Have you ever come home after work, went to the kitchen, and opened the fridge only to find it's empty? You then return to mindlessly scrolling on your phone, and half an hour later, you find yourself back in the kitchen, opening the fridge door again. Which part of your brain didn't register that there's nothing interesting in there, first time around? Perhaps your mind was seeking something engaging, not food. Eventually, you'll do something to break this monotonous cycle. You might think it's abnormal to feel this way—lacking energy and feeling bored for an extended period. However, this is perfectly normal and physiological. It's as if your life is just a cycle of recurring boredom followed by quests. A pattern: Unsplash Boring cycle To find an answer to the question of what to do when you're bored, it's important to understand the cycle of boredom first. When the brain experiences low levels of stimulation, the mind begins to wander and becomes unfocused, leading to feelings of boredom. This wandering thinking mode takes you through tasks, memories, and images from the past, essentially taking a random walk through your memory bank. Once it discovers something rewarding, the mind sets out to recreate that experience. As you can see, this is a very basic and mundane pattern. You get out of bed and move like a zombie through the dining room to open the fridge. You either find something or nothing. Depending on what it encounters, the mind either feels temporarily delighted or temporarily experiences failure and sadness. This feeling will influence your emotions for the next few minutes. Over time, the mind gradually adapts to this sensation and forgets it, and guess what? It becomes bored again, starting a new quest. Sensory deprivation -> Boredom-> quest -> suffering to get it-> happy or sad-> adapt -> Sensory deprivation ->bored again So, what are you going to do when you are bored? As you can see, a boring cycle is almost automatic. You do not have a choice about what comes to your mind. Generally, a default thought that you had previously considered would trigger your next quest and stop the boredom. Yet, something interesting happens when your mind is out of options. Imagine instead you go outside your home and sit on a bench in a park. Here, the environment is different. Yet, your mind is looking for a fridge to open when it is bored on the bench. As there is no fridge, it gives up on this and is now left with nothing but to think about other things banked deep inside your brain, or in front of your eyes, making new connections, generating new ideas, and hypothesizing. And once it finds something very interesting, it will rise up from the bench. Without you even knowing it, you will be rushing out of the park to do the next task, as now the brain has picked up something to seek. Motivation is just aftermath of boredom. A lack of motivation or creativity during your day isn't an issue with your mind. It's a consequence of cutting off boredom too soon, before it can inspire more fulfilling thoughts. If you sit in a chair for half an hour, doing nothing but jotting down your thoughts with a pen and paper—without scrolling or repeatedly checking the fridge—your mind will naturally discover something rewarding to do. The paper in your hand would prove this. I suggest making this your next big experiment. Observe how creative and brilliant your mind becomes when it's truly bored.

The sea and the sailor - essay The sea was immense; it was so boundless that there was no end to it. People claimed there was no edge, that you couldn't sail beyond it. Even If you embarked on a journey with a ship stocked with dried fish, water, medicine and other essentials to survive, for months and years, still you would not reach the edge of the sea and would eventually have to turn back or perish in the vastness. The sea was so vast that such a ship is like an ant trying to conquer Sahara Desert, on bare foot, still the ant would not be able reach complete the journey it in its lifetime. A human with canteens of water filled on a back of a camel might barely be able to survive but the ant would scorch just a few feet from start of its journey, by the relentless sun and its sand melting heat. No one has ever made a map of the vast mighty sea. The sailor The sea was deep, so deep that even if a hundred British ships were stacked vertically, they wouldn't reach halfway to the bottom. No one knew its true depth. If you dropped a stone tied to a rope, it would never hit the bottom, and the weight might even drag the ship down. It's in these deep waters that the sea appeared calm on the surface, much like people deeply lost in thought who seem calm outwardly. It's like a focused athlete breathing slowly before delivering a powerful punch to a noisy opponent. These deep waters were the most turbulent when unleashing their power. When storms disturbed the surface, it was these depths that raised the highest waves, rivaling the Himalayas in size. The sea was lively and colorful, like a rose garden in the royal palace of a Roman emperor who conquered half the world to bring home the most vibrant and delicate roses, cared for by the best botanists, planted in their native soil, and nurtured to bloom in an unfamiliar setting for the prince's pleasure. The sea was teeming with schools of fish of various shapes and sizes, crustaceans, sea snakes, aquatic birds, reptiles, whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, seahorses, turtles, and octopuses. It was filled with plants, corals, rugged beaches, and smooth ones, with dangerous lion's mane jellyfish lurking to capture fish with their venomous tentacles. The sailor was wise; beyond his youth, he had a beard and curly grey hair. His forehead and cheeks were lined with wrinkles from the wind and toil of countless voyages. His hands were rough, his muscles as firm as bronze statues in a Greek city. His grip was strong and unwavering, able to hold on for hours without a twitch. He wasn't born this way; he was a gentle child shaped by the harsh paths he had traveled. His heart was heavy with regrets and the harsh punishments he endured for his life's actions and inactions. He loved the sea, evident from the faint smile that appeared around his eyes when the sea breeze touched his weathered cheeks. But the sailor was blind. His eyes, once fixed on the horizon he loved to watch, could no longer see the sun setting in the sky, and he had no hope of seeing it again. His days were filled with darkness, which only heightened his love for the sea in his mind, as there were no distractions from the sky. He could only envision the sea in his mind's eye. He knew its vastness, its depth, its vividness, not just from others' accounts but from years of experience. He could feel the breeze carrying the touch of its surface. He could hear the splashing water inviting him to swim. But he was on a ship, stranded in the middle of nowhere, yet it provided shelter. He knew he couldn't survive in the sea, even with sight, and now he was blind. The sailor was last seen on the upper deck, leaning against the railing one afternoon in the cold October dusk. A cold wind blew, and a thundering storm followed that night. He was never seen again, and he was forgotten within a week. People were content that he was gone.

Why do you feel disconnected from yesterday? Think about yesterday. What did you do? Did you plan some activities and did not follow through? Did you set your goals and could not achieve them? Does yesterday feels disconnected from today? Does every day feel like it is a new beginning and you cannot get over into a momentum and flow? There is good news, and that it is never your fault. All or non-neurons Why it is never your fault, is an important philosophy. That is due to the inherent nature of our mind. Human mind is dealing with binary data, yes, just like a computer CPU. Your mind runs through many impulses per day, even neurons in your brain follow an "All or non-law" And with these discrete experiences, brain tries to prepare a story for yesterday. As an example, what you think about yesterday is wrong. You just have few haphazard memory points in your brain as experiences. Trust me, these are very few of what happened and what you felt throughout the day. The problem is there is no way we can understand the continuity of yesterday, Other than by jumping back and forth within these data points. yesterday Tragedy of mind Tragic is unless you deliberately create chronological order and peg all your experiences in your brain it is unlikely that this happens naturally in your brain. Trust me there is a great importance in doing this. I know you like a messy desk and a mixed colors on your palate as it sparks your creativity. But meaningful work and meaning from work arise, when those chaotic experiences are streamlined. Why do you think most of the things made by humans run in rows and columns? Think about a vegetable plot, an assembly line, or chairs in a movie theater. Keeping the order against while the forces of nature (entropy) acts in opposite direction is not an easy task. But paradoxically it is very habit forming and also an easy task as you have been doing just that all day every day. You have done this before. If you played video games, had a chat in a WhatsApp messenger and Facebook. Even done some doom scrolling on your YouTube app. You have been creating the illusion of continuity by creating saved values. Saved value is what happens when each time you judge tiny thing as important and peg it with a like, a subscription and even an archive of messages. This archive of "Your" saved values act as an memory location which you cannot get rid of. Whenever you come back, they will, instantly create the illusion of continuity, feeling of familiarity and value. And this is the same method you should be using for your own creative endeavor. Creating the illusion of continuity in your life. Chose few projects you can come back repeatedly. A body of writing, painting, a garden, a personal philosophy discussion. And focus on the coming back habit. Whenever you return think "This is where I left off yesterday". Once you come back know exactly what you are doing during 20 following minutes. Something like 5 minutes for brainstorming, and 15 minutes of creative writing. Make sure you add to the saved value from yesterday, instead of starting new again today. Idea is to plant a seed in the brain which feels like it is growing day by day, not to plant a seed and not care for it. And go on planting another one. If you do that instead, you will never reap a crop. And once you finish, just relax and breathe and enjoy the feeling of continuity for a while before you fill your day with the rest of the things. This will create the continuity in your life, a fulfilling experience. I know this sounds a lot hard. Although it is 20 minutes, although it is a single task, there are lot more things you should be thinking about before you even start doing it. As your motivation and willpower after reading this article would not remain same, tomorrow. So, the task should be designed in such a way, that saved value is enough for you to return to it. Once you get the hang of how to do it, you can fill your day with tiny things which create continuously enjoyable day. As, what you did enjoy yesterday doing is certainly would make sense to repeat today, especially when you feel and notice something is growing. Few things you can try. Mandala technique Coming back habit. Commonplace book

Why I wish I had a mentor? Because life is short, and there is not much of it to live, yet it demands so much to accomplish, I wish I had a mentor. Not just when I am stuck with a domain-specific problem, in a narrow field where I cannot even stretch my arms and free my legs, but I wish I had a mentor to know the places where I should go, instead of struggling to find peace. Who would teach me to create my own pothole of mud in a field, to escape the constant attack of life's flies, if I were a buffalo. Who would teach me how to wag my tail and enjoy munching a mouthful of grass amidst the chaos of life. As I am inexperienced, anxious, and isolated when it comes to insecurities, I feel unsure about how to spend the rest of this life. Am I even doing the correct thing, which is judged by myself at the end of life? Or am I just wasting my time chasing rabbits that run away from me? Would a kind-hearted mentor provide me with insight and tips to make my pretty boring, ordinary life an unimaginably happy affair effortlessly? Not by falsified advice but by example, would he/she not guide me? Why should you have a mentor? Imagine you're an elite athlete. At some point in your professional career, beyond basic skills and regional tournaments, you would need a mentor to push you an extra mile into the national and international level. I am not talking about your coach. I am talking about someone who would inspire you, be compassionate about your progression, and only wish good for you, with relevant background experience in what you're experiencing, to identify and foresee your limitations, and to help you safely navigate across the unknown waters. Someone full of character like a pilot who trains pilots, a navigator who instructs a captain of a ship, a panel of advisors to a ruthless dictator. Would you not want such a person to exist? I am not talking here about self-help gurus who try to scavenge on your success. I am talking about a victorious person who has nothing but to give to society what he experienced in life, with the generosity of a philanthropist. A mentor: https://unsplash.com/@joshsonnenberg Advantage of having a mentor. Advantages are many. In early life, we were like a bunch of kids thrown into pools and asked to swim; if not, we would drown in life. We were like dandelions floating in the air, looking for fertile grounds to plant our seeds and grow our roots. If anyone was present during these golden days, we wouldn't waste our time. Someone who picks up our character and channels our positive energy into unexpected routes we did not even think possible. Consider Usain Bolt, the fastest 100-meter runner on the planet. If you screen all the people on earth for their running ability, you would at least find 100 more men and even a few women who can run faster than Bolt. These are the odds, but all those talented individuals are doing something without living up to their full potential, as they do not have guidance. They lack some ingredient in their soup, which they can never know without the fourth-dimensional look from an external interpreter. A mentor would just give that, as he/she is someone more experienced than you, has lived more life than you, and has more domain knowledge, which is transferable from other disciplines. Company, inspiration, advice, and non-judgmental feedback which you're free to follow if deemed true. (At the end of the article, you will find a full list of roles of a mentor - AI generated) How to find a mentor? You may have someone in your mind whom you wish to have as your mentor. But this is only a potential unless you act upon it. They are busy, they value their time, but if you are keen on building, most good mentors are approachable. You just need to ask relevant questions specific to your problem. Without asking "Can you be my mentor?" which is a huge commitment for them, you can ask, "I am working on this project, or becoming this in the future, is there any insight you can provide me from your experience?" This will give them the value of status, which someone cannot buy from a market. I am sure not many people would turn down such a request unless they are really busy or occupied. But not everyone is capable of teaching or guiding, so when they speak, you will have to be wise and choose what appears relevant for your path. Instead of one, you can have a board of mentors for your career, technical aspect, intellectual, creative, and business endeavors. What if You cannot find a mentor? Is there alternative? I would say a mentor is an asset that is irreplaceable. Because we are all biased in our own narrative, only an external observer can provide us with a bird's-eye view. However, the best alternative, I would say, is to read books written by them, read biographies, and study interesting people from the past. Critically analyze your own day each and every day, as if you are viewing from a distance outside your own ego, trying to figure out how others see you. If you ask your friends an honest question while having dinner, they will definitely give a critical analysis of your situation. Although these actions are helpful, they are not as sustainable as having a mentor. A mentor is like an emerald you dig up from deep underground and hold onto until you die, as they provide value to your life in many ways. AI generated list of advantages of having a mentor (Looks comprehensive :) Shortens the learning curve You can learn from someone else's years of experience instead of making every mistake yourself. Provides perspective When you are stuck in a problem, a mentor can look at it from outside and offer a different way of seeing it. Helps you avoid mistakes They can warn you about common mistakes before you encounter them. Challenges your thinking A good mentor doesn't simply agree with you. They may ask, "Why do you think that?" or "Have you considered this possibility?" Provides accountability Telling someone your goal can make you more likely to actually work toward it. Helps identify your weaknesses You may not notice your own blind spots. A mentor can point them out constructively. Builds confidence Knowing that someone experienced believes you can improve can make difficult goals feel more achievable. Offers practical knowledge Books can teach principles, but mentors can explain how those principles work in real situations. Helps with important decisions A mentor can help you examine the consequences of different choices without necessarily making the decision for you. Expands your network Experienced mentors may introduce you to people, organizations, opportunities, or communities you wouldn't otherwise encounter. Shows what the future can look like Seeing someone who has already travelled part of the path gives you a concrete example of what is possible. Provides emotional perspective During setbacks, a mentor can remind you that failure, uncertainty, and slow progress are often normal parts of development.

Tech Addict I am addicted to screens and technology. Just like you, I am a zombie to the algorithms. It is not my fault, as these tech companies like FB, Google, and Microsoft have spent billions of dollars researching human behavior and hijacking our natural thought patterns and boredom cycle to feed new information they want directly into our brains. So, let's be careful not to lose our happiness to someone else's dream. However, counteracting this force is also possible if we become choosy in what we are going to search, look at, and remember. This is why I bombard my blog every day with new ideas that are worth remembering, instead of calisthenic ads. My record keeping habit Everyone needs record keeping. If you are going to be a king, there must be a record of all your peasants, taxpayers, and numbers of soldiers, their place of living, etc., etc. Otherwise, your memory will not suffice. Part of any professional body is to maintain good records; otherwise, sophisticated systems cannot function. So, if you are trying to live a life, other than like a monk, you need records to keep everything in line. Memory is notoriously unreliable, and every civilization started with some form of record keeping at its core. So, when I started writing this blog, I needed a place to keep my thoughts as they would arise in unusual places, like in the bathroom or when out for a walk. It seems the phone was the correct place to go, so I saved these thoughts on the phone in a note app. It was a harmless habit at first. Other than ease of access, there was no advantage over a book. But recently, I have noticed that this system has more problems than a traditional book. So, I moved to pen and paper. pen and paper: https://unsplash.com/@atelierbyvineeth Why I moved to pen and paper. These apps are too complicated; a simple notebook is elegant by design. There are no unusual pop-ups demanding your attention when your book is open in front of you, but with the phone, I would always end up watching YouTube after 5 minutes of writing. There are so many other apps demanding attention that there were not enough times per day I was motivated to open the note app. The pen and paper feel remarkably physical. After a few days of continuous journaling, I can see ideas in my brain have skyrocketed in number. There are so many things that I have noted down, that during the day, I often come back to it to savor myself with a thought. I can call it a treasure trove, a fertile ground, and a philosophical garden. Part of the reason why lies in its structure. I can flip through an entire month of thoughts in a few seconds. Every thought is in a designated place, and I can create maps and connections of ideas, as they are all there staring at me each time I open the book. Naturally as it is very rewarding act to put it on paper, it has become a habit. I can literally see the notebook is getting bigger each and every day creating an illusion of continuity. I would not go back to the notetaking on the phone. I am sure, if you are a person, you should do the same. Let us give less opportunity to these tech scammers, to steal our time. A book is a proper place for a thought to be planted. I wonder it would become a forest in a decade.

Rosy, Red received a gift for her birthday last year. It was a set of dominos. They were colorful, with all the seven rainbow colors. And there were some colors which were not even in rainbow. Like brown and black and white. Rosy loved to play with them in the living room. And when she did, she made the whole living room available for her. But she had a problem. Before she puts her last domino on the line something would happen most of the time. There would be a wobble, and accidently a domo would fall. Mostly the one she is trying to put straight. And dominos, they do fall one after the other. And everything would fall before she finished building them ! Dominos "Ah they fell again" She cried. "I can't do it, that was almost the last domino. I wanted to see it fall when I hit it." She felt deeply unsatisfied inside. "Dominos are meant to fall, that is why they are called dominos" Father said. He was reading a book on the couch occasionally watching Rosy play. "I know, but I wasn't ready. It always falls accidently and it takes so long to build again" "Maybe you should be more careful when you do the last pieces" "I WAS careful. I was very careful. It still falls. Father, can you help me?" "Hmmmm.." "Maybe you should pause, and keep gaps" "What do you mean keep gaps?" "Let me show you Rosy" So, father got off from his comfy couch finally to help Rosy with her dominos. This time he kept gaps in between streaks of dominos. And Ooops, one was wobbly and fell. Half of the dominos fell. But half remained in formation, as there was a "PAUSE" "That's great! shouted Rosy with excitement. Everything did not fall due to the Gap. Now I get it!" "There you go Rosy. You just have to fill the gap, at the very end, so you have less chance to knock it all at once." So Rosy kept working with her dominos, until she was bored and went to the kitchen to bother her mother again. And at night she wrote in her Diary about GAPS. GAPS: GAPS are spaces we keep when we build long streaks of dominos. Father told me how to keep a gap. So, when dominos fall accidentally, which happens a lot of times, they stop at gaps. I wonder where else I should keep gaps? Maybe I will come back and write it here when I see one again. I will made the biggest train of dominos because of the GAPS today. Lily white stories by MML Dominos