Ever since her mother made crepes for Lily she wanted to make them on her own, whenever she was hungry. So, the other day she wrote down the recipe on her diary. And kept it with her. One Saturday, she wanted to make some crepes. First, was to melt some butter into a bowl. That was easy, she just cut some butter put it in a bowl and heated it in the oven. Second was to crack an egg to another bowl. She hit the egg with back of the knife just like her mother asked to do. Kept it over the bowl and cracked it open with fingers. Oppps! suddenly the egg cracked with force and egg was spilled everywhere except into the bowl! Crepes :https://unsplash.com/@maxniceman "Oh dear" Mother said sympathetically, and Lily was sad. "Egg is spilled all over my frock, and on the floor, and I ruined your cooker mom. It is everywhere!" "Do not worry dear, why don't you go to the bathroom and change your dress, we will crack another egg" So, Lily white cleaned herself and let her mother crack the eggs and mix the ingredients. She did not want to do it anymore as she was very sad. "I am never going to crack the eggs; it is so hard!" So, Lily did not, crack the eggs next time they made crepes, or waffles, or anything which needed eggs to be cracked. It was about a fortnight later, they were at the kitchen, and this time Lily wanted to crack the eggs again. She had almost forgotten last time, what disaster it was to spill eggs all over the kitchen. And she cracked an egg and this time it was far worse. The egg was broken again with so much force that it even went on her hair. She had a full change of clothes and a bath, before eating "Mom made" crepes again. And she told Rosy, "I am never going to crack eggs ever again". "Oh, Lily that was just an accident, I want you to learn how to make crepes. So, we can make them whenever we are hungry. Grandma doesn't know how to make them, so when Mom is not there, we can do it with her" "Hmmmm... I will think about it. I will try one more time. Cracking eggs is the hard part!" So, in a few days, Lily was seen in the kitchen with her father this time. She wanted to show him how to make crepes. And once again she tried to crack an egg into the bowl. Blooooob... The egg did crack this time, half went into the bowl with butter, quarter of it on the floor and quarter of it spilled all over Lily's dress and even on her face. And it was a rotten Egg ! It was stinky like a dead rat. Lily was crying and everyone tried to console her. Rosy was looking at everything from the dining room with her nose closed. It was the worst smell of all. Project crepe was an utter failure. They stopped working in the kitchen. Father ran a bath on Lily and sprayed water on her, like she was a puppy. Half and hour rubbing with all kinds of soap did not make the odor go away. It took almost one day for it to completely gone. "I am never going to make crepes again" She was sobbing and crying. "I think you should try again Lily" "Why?, it is going to happen again" Lily said. "I know it is going to happen again, but what is the worst can happen? You have cracked a rotten egg! There is nothing worse than that. If you want to make crepes. I guess there is no way out. YOU NEED TO CRACK YOUR EGGS! " "Hmmmm.." It was only after another two weeks Lily finally cracked her own eggs, completely into the bowl. And she already knew how to do the rest. They did a cooking demonstration to Grandmother next day on "How to make Crepes". There was a note on Lily White's diary, and it was about Crepes. How to make crepes Ingredients 1 cup (125 g) flour 2 eggs 1½ cups (360 ml) milk 2 tablespoons melted butter 1 tablespoon sugar (for sweet crêpes) ¼ teaspoon salt DO NOT PUT BAKING POWDER! Mix the ingredients, until it is smooth. Like mom says, no amount of butter is less or more. And no baking powder. After mixing I ask my mom or dad to cook it for me. Hardest part of making crepes is breaking the eggs. I am getting better at it. It is good that I did not stop after I cracked the rotten egg. Although I feel stinky when I remember it. We love crepes. Me and Rosy would never ever be hungry again when MOM is not here! The best part is how Rosy loves it when I make them instead of mother.

Understanding past. I am not going to trick you and divert you to some AI generated hypothesis to discuss current hypothesis about time travel. But simply, I am going to discuss how, what and why understanding past has an enormous impact on my own life. So, if you follow the arguments, you will see this also apply to your life too. If it doesn't, fine, you can move on to the next article or the cat picture you need to see on your screen. The past, as I have discussed before has no evidence to its presence. I can give you a memory of the past. Something happened 80 years ago like Hiroshima bombing. But to create the feeling of the past, first we have to imagine that there is a one! By bringing out a memory which mind has gone through before. But we forget when we do that, that memory location is not in the past. That memory location points exactly to the present. What we are doing is, filling up our now, with a past experience. So truly speaking, I can say there is now, but not the past and the future. Past: https://unsplash.com/@jack_1 It is important to contemplate on the above fact, as long as necessary. Do not let it slip your mind just as a nice idea. As understanding that would have enormous impact on everything that you do. Everything ordinary, extraordinary that you are planning to do today would depend on your past and future projection. Your meaning and values stand on the believe that there is Time, like a continuum. However, this is just a one interpretation of the understanding of the world. There are few people who find fault even do not believe that this interpretation is wrong. And they are not wrong either. Only when you contemplate on this fact long enough in various situations you would understand the illusion of life. After all this blog is about mindfulness. What better practice there other than contemplating on Now? Can your chang your past? Absolutely Yes! The solution comes from the form itself. If past is just a memory in the mind which we interpret in the present, perhaps we can interpret it better. So, we feel more productive and alive. As an example, imagine some stupid thing you have done in the past. I am sure there are loads of things in your memory bank. When you remind of this thing, just cut off the label Stupid, and look at it just like you would look at a thing. This stripped naked thingness in everything in life is neutral. From there you can put a any topping you like. You can think about alternative routes you could have taken and ask "Then what" until you find the meaning of all of this. As an example, consider you are on a vacation and now you think you should have been at home. Ask Then what? What would happen if you were at home? You would do ordinary stuff, walk to the park, watch some TV. Ask Then what? You would sleep and the day would end. So, a couple of days would end, and you will meet yourself in the future. Ask then what? The life will go on as usual. As you can see, there is no end to it. Nothing remains in the mind including your sad and happy thoughts. But the past would be changed indirectly with your interpretation. Another thing you can do is to think about exact circumstances that lead to your decision during that time. We take decisions with available information, although when viewed in retrospect, we might find faults, we cannot recreate exact circumstances in mind, and these will be never replicated in the future. So, truth is past is merely a gone function. There is nothing to learn from it by thinking back. Whatever gained can be used as information for current decision making. Other than that everything can be discarded the moment it arises in mind like a piece of a rotten banana. So, that is it. So far I have given two ways for you to recreate your past. One is to create a new painting over your previous picture. Other is discard your old ones entirely with rational thinking. Hope this helps.

Hi ren Recently I came across the song in the name of hi Ren, by the artist of the same name. He seems to have flown over the coco's nest to tell us a story about good and evil. The song is about the mental battle inside the arena of his own brain. The fact is I cannot recreate what he has done with words, emotions and melodies. So, I invite you to listen to the song instead. Fight between good and evil. Fight between good and evil is well known. We saw it in Tom and Jerry, in superman, spiderman or even a classical romantic movie with a villain. And we make inferences, draw out conclusions from these movies that we have the ability to be good while gaining material success. But for a conscious self with awareness someone can see something else is going on. It is neither we are good, nor we are bad. It just fluctuates from good to bad. Bad to good. Whatever the observer is good and bad. During different time frames of the day. Sometimes these changes are so rapid, so we call a man violent. Sometimes they are so subtle we call a man patient. But if we look at life with the lenses of good and evil. With this judgmental attitude we have to label either good or bad. So, there is a problem. As neither is going to last forever. https://unsplash.com/@owekiofu There is nothing eternal in life! In real life there is nothing eternal. Everything flows. Everything changes. So, whatever we label as good will eventually be rotten and bad. Consider a banana, it starts green, so no use while it is on the tree. When it is ripe and consumable It is yellow. And everyone likes a good yellow banana after lunch. But if we do not consume it, will eventually turn brown and rotten. Everyone would try to get rid of the rotten banana, once your banana is gone you will choose an apple instead and play the game all over again. So, in life, good always turn evil. Evil will always turn good. Only when we step aside and look at life objectively, we can see the battle itself is the one which is flawed. The peace that prevails today in most of the world is not a result of our good behavior. It is the result of a brutal war, which killed thousands of people per day. Bigger the war, bigger the loss of life longer there would be peace. So, war is neither good nor bad. It is bad for the people who lived in 1940s and immediately after that. It is good for us millennials. As peace which followed let us all unite and focus on more development. Even your own battles, experiences, good or bad deserve the chance to change. It will eventually by naturally, but sticking a label would make the process longer. Alternative route. Instead, we can look at life in a non-judgmental way. Without labelling an experience good or bad we can just observe it neutral. And let the time decide whether it becomes good or bad. Let others decide that. This is a difficult thing to do. But not impossible. Theory applies to everything, including your decision to take a walk vs stay at home. There is nothing inherently good or bad about anything.

Today is not yet started. It is still dark and silent. Kitchens are not filled with housewives. Birds are still sleeping in nests. The sun is barely visible in the sky. It amazes me when I know only me and frogs are just up for an early start. Perhaps frogs never slept because they had a wedding last night. So, while this background chatter is going on I was contemplating about yesterday. Yesterday. Was typically ordinary. Kids started early in the day. We skipped swimming classes and decided to go to a children's park instead. I can tell you many things as this is very fresh from the memory. But particularly interesting was That I had a chat with the park attendant. Who for no reason discussed about the power-cut which happened during the day, and how it had affected the bouncy castle. Apparently, it was deflated during the power cut and went off while kids were playing. I spent a minute of my time talking to him and we drove back. Apart from this guy I can remember the Ice-cream vendor, Slippers of kids, the old man who took my umbrella at the book shop, and a little girl who wanted the exact same book I chose without realizing it was already taken also the moment we stayed in the car as there was a power cut. If someone asked me 20 years later, I would not remember anything about yesterday. Memory is a weak force. The power of it lies in record keeping. More importantly the mindful observation of ordinary things would let us make memories which are everlasting. I am sure I might not even remember as a day of a Power cut. But might remember how I spent times in the car with the kids due to heavy rain, while they were reading books still fresh from the bookshop. Flower: https://unsplash.com/@tsuyoshikozu Living a mindful day. Living a mindful day has enormous benefits. It is not for improving your productivity when you are working, but to increase number of entry points to your past day, which you will remember for life. Perhaps, you won't remember how many tasks you completed, what you ate, or what you were worried about. But an ordinary moment, a conversation you had with a friend, a bird that chirped at your window, a Moth that was stuck in your bedroom. We cannot predict which will be it, that we remember but have obviously will change who you are over time. You cannot do that without being mindful about yourself and everything around you. So, let's practice it today. Your daily mindfulness checklist. Here are five simple creative things you can do to improve your mindfulness during today. They do not cost a thing, and more than few minutes of your time. Close your eyes if you feel tired and listen to the sound. Let the eyes relax in darkness for few seconds. Feel the world like a blind man. Take a mindful shower, while recognizing the water flowing on your skin, trying to feel the warmth, or coldness of the water. Make a habit of watching the rain. How raindrops fall from the sky, on dry earth. How it starts to flow. Drink your coffee with nothing in your mind. Like it is the last coffee you would have before the doomsday. Simply try to watch a Post in your social media, without scrolling to the next.

Following is a part from the book "What is time ?". Hope you would enjoy reading. It is about understanding time in a novel way, so we are one step closer to the truth. London skies, where there are more airplanes than buses on roads. I was sitting on a park bench in south london, looking at the skies. Noticed an airplane running over my head, above the clouds making a shadow on clouds, took a sharp turn at the edge of the cloud and toward horizon, progressively lowering itself towards the airport and vanished from sight after flying into a faint shadow above low lying tree tops. Before it disappeared, I noticed another airplane, joining its path coming from the north from the far corner of the sky. Before it disappeared, another plane followed, one by one each following its path there were many each minute passing by. It seems that Gatwick is a busy airport over the weekend. It's a three day holiday and people are traveling. Even the skies are busy ! Fig 28. Even the skies are busy It brought back memories from my past. When I was a little boy, I used to play with my brother in a nearby playground. Among many games we used to play there was one in particular. We used to catch leaves which fall down from nearby trees into the playground. It usually happens prior to a rain, when clouds are roaring up, winds blow, signs of a typical monsoon rain, all the other kids who play on the ground have gone home leaving the whole ground to us ( we were living closest to the ground !). The old leaves of different sizes and shapes from tall trees start to fall one by one loosened from the gales. We jump here and there trying to catch these leaves, which is of course very difficult as it is very unpredictable to follow their path before they hit the ground. It was very challenging and exciting, as kids jumping here and there following a leaf is all that was needed to bring happiness and smiles. Since when has life become so complicated? Fig 29. Since when has life become complicated? This brings back to the question of linearity of the time. If we describe events of the ‘leaf catching game’ according to time someone would say, at time (event 0) the leaf got separated from the tree, and it traveled through air x amount of time until it landed on the ground (event 1 )or caught by the kid ( which is myself and my brother ). It gives a good picture of what happened, we can use it to describe it or write it down. But if we look at the time line there are a lot of seconds that we do not describe. And we can say something happened to the leaf at each and every second, and it did, otherwise it will never land on the ground. Fig 30. Leafline and numberline If we compare this to a number line, as you can see there are many other numbers between 0 and 1, an infinite amount of numbers. So, there should be an infinite amount of time intervals between events 0 and 1. If there is an idealist who wants to describe an event he should describe an infinite amount of information which happened over an infinite amount of time intervals. Which is impossible as we see ( it will take an infinite amount of time to describe what happened in half a second ), so whatever the descriptions we make about events which happened over time is fundamentally not the absolute truth. Its relative, its useful, it is necessary but it is not absolute truth because the leaf from the tree detached at time 0 and landed at time 1 are just two fixed points in a continuum. Is it a continuum? This gives us a novel perspective to explain. Let's imagine me and my brother observing the same leaf detached from the tree at time 0 (event 0). Until it lands on the ground at time x (event 1) there are an infinite amount of observations about the leaf which could be made by an observer. However I only made y amount of observations ( which takes k time ) and my brother made z amount of observations ( which takes l time ). If there is a finite amount of time my brain takes to make an observation and if y > z does that mean i have felt time passed more slowly than my brother? Does that mean time which we feel is dependent on the number of observations we make? And what does my brain do all the rest of the time, which is not observing. ( x- k). Did the time exist during that period of time? Fig 31. Leaflines for two observers What is time? Time is created in mind as a side effect of comparing two events in mind, in now. If the above is true, the more events we observe between two fixed events the more time ( gaps ) there will be. That can partially explain why children ( who are good observers ) will have more time than adults who do everything that has become routine rather than novelty. There are less and less fixed events in our days when we get older as we hardly pay attention to everyday occurrences around us. And it will explain why a traveler feels he has long fulfilled life as he has created opportunities to become more observant in what is happening in the world by traveling and its novelty creating more and more observations per day. But his grandfather in the garden doing some gardening creates the same number of new observations about his fresh vegetable plot and feels fulfilled about his day. Who can argue which is better. Either is relative. Fig 32. Grandpa in the Garden. If youLook at your life, when you describe your life to someone else. You will notice that we do the same. We describe fixed events from our life to give a picture of what happened. Which is never the truth. There is no system to exactly record all the events accurately and there never will be a perfect such system as infinity is unachievable. Although we feel time is continuous when we carefully examine time, we see it's just a feeling, we never feel a continuum, to experience time we have to jump from event to event, describe each event then the illusion of continuous time creates in our minds. The truth is we would never know whether it is a continuum, in the first place we are the creators of time. So if it is not continuous for us should it be not? Looking at the falling leaf simile, we can try to describe what is happening in the mind. When we get thoughts as the day unravels, jumping from one thought to the other, is the only way we can understand what is happening. We can never understand thoughts as a linear continuum.(Actually there is only a finite amount of thoughts happening during one day, and scientists estimate this number to be around 6200, it may be bigger or smaller but the fact remains it is finite ) It is impossible because there would be an infinite amount of information necessary to describe each day otherwise. Only way to understand it is to jump from one thought to another. Just like describing a falling leaf. But that is not the truth. That is not the true picture of what happens. We can never know what truly happens when a thought is processed in the brain. Fundamentally it is relatively true when we say we think, one thought and another. It is not absolute truth because that is not what happened exactly. It should be continuum but understood as fixed frames. (Recently I discovered that "time bending" is similar to above argument. Popularized by French Philosopher Henry Bergson, as pointed out by one of my readers. However, there are Suttle differences.- Part 2) Link to the book.

My story of how I lost my cash Yesterday I lost my cash. I was distracted, I was sleepy so, I had some cash in my hand which I lost somewhere. I realized it only when I woke up next morning that the cash was missing. I needed that as it represented my time, I have spent working. I cannot take back those hours, as I traded it with this cash that I lost. However, there was nothing to do. I tried to recover it in vain. Looked for it everywhere. Asked everyone. But it was gone. Vanished forever. I couldn't enjoy the fact that someone has got it and regard it as a bonus to their existence, given by God. Did they enjoy a good meal? Buy a new dress? Or simply paid some debt? I really wanted to know. But there is no way I could quench this thirst as there was no way I could find out who took it. Cash: media from wix Now what? This was not the first time, or the largest sum I have lost. I have had it lost in the past as well, as financial loses or even simply losing it somewhere. However, losing it somewhere seems to have always a bigger impact. I have noticed this creating an exaggerated response in the mind. Far bigger than the lost money itself. Sometime pushing the mind to hours of regret and self-commentary. "Why have I been such a fool? Why couldn't I notice it earlier? Why I wasn't being careful?" Yet, none of these thoughts were helping me back to recover and return to normal mental wellbeing. What I did? - Contemplate on it like a philosopher Instead of making this an avalanche of emotions that would last for days, I decided I am going to chose the response this time. I decided I am going to make it a positive experience instead a negative one. Why am I getting these thoughts? Obviously, I am greedy. Although philosophically I know money has no value, my stupid brain fails to understand this. It lives in this subjective reality in a world where the value exists. I just needed to shift my perspective into the objective reality where there is no value in anything. Just understanding this philosophical perspective would save the rest of my day, which could have been filled with regret and shame. What else I did? - Try to cash in the experience like Elon Musk Later I realized there is another reason the lost money keeps creating thoughts in my head. What would happen if I lost a dollar? Nothing, right? It happens all day. However, the loss appears bigger when I compare it to my total earnings. It is a day of work! This was why I was sad mostly. The amount of pain I have endured to earn it made it more painful to lose. Imagine someone bigger budget than me. Imagine Elon Musk (I am not sure what he is doing, still making rockets to go to Mars?) lost amount of cash I lost today. The news would not even reach the guy, as he does not keep cash in his pocket! So, the part of the reason I am feeling painful is I am not earning much. I really need to back up my bank account with an enormous pile of money, which I could lash out to anyone who needs a free meal, Like Elon Dude. So, with this thought in mind, I immediately dropped down my regrets and started working on it. This article is just a part of that process. Guess after all it had been a positive experience for me. But I know you struggle, otherwise you wouldn't have read this. What would you chose to do after you have lost your money? Would you contemplate on it like a philosopher or cash in like Elon Musk?

My visit to the zoo.. I have been to the zoo. Where poor animals are kept in captive for the entertainment of the superior maniac animal called humans. I am not sure the Orangutan who lives in an isolated tree, separated from its family in the Jungle think that we are Non-Orangutan Barbaric species. But who cares, he would not speak for himself in his lifetime. Let the NGOs to deal with the animal cruelty. I am here for the task of contemplating life looking at animal Holocaust. We went from the Orangutan Isolation to the chimpanzees, lion cages, rabbits and Birds. Even fish. I know it is an exhausting experience for the parents with kids. That may be the reason I did not write about it for many years. But here I am now. So, what did you see when looking at the zoo, last time? Was it not like in the wild? Not like a safari? In a safari there are no barriers, between lions and deers. Deers and rabbits, Rabbits and snakes, Snakes and mice. But here they are in close confined spaces. What will happen if you remove all the barriers in the Zoo? Zoo: https://unsplash.com/@daiga_ellaby What will happen if you remove barriers in the Zoo? I would not say the zoo, if barriers are removed would last a day. All the animals would eat all the other animals, and there would be no more zoo animals. Obviously, this doesn't happen in a jungle. Have you ever thought why? In wild, although there are predators, and predators of predators, animal lives in natural habitats. Each one has a unique advantage in life. Rabbits can run fast and reproduce fast. A croc can live a year without taking a meal. A beetle is camouflaged against a tree trunk. Ants at the bottom of the food chain, a snake for every frog outnumbers every other species. They survive in enough numbers as they are living in their own habitat with their unique advantages. But zoo without barriers do not offer protection or help with their survival. What is your unique advantage? This is a question we should ask ourselves, often in life. But it is not like "OK I LIKE PAINTING LET ME F>>G PAINT REST OF MY LIFE". It is not a onetime question. Each year, each hour each day in our lives we change. We are not what we used to be last decade. And similar to circumstance, our habitats change. Your unique advantages disappear when you move to another city. And you can have more advantages and opportunities when you are in a new city. Maybe packing your bag and moving to somewhere you always wanted to go, might save your future years of trouble. It may be the family, it may be a resilient mind, it may be a talent, it may be a genuine smile. It may be a taste for good food. It may be a liking to reading, it may be your ability to fast type on a keyboard. Unless you examine your life carefully, like a therapist, you would not identify your unique advantage. And over next year or two, when you feel bored and tired you can work on this. Make iterative effort to improve your unique talent, so you can enjoy life while doing that. How about it as a new year resolution? How about new year start Today! Who knows you might make a personal brand. Competition is very high; however, audience, and opportunity have never been fairer.

Father was cutting some mangoes. For Lily and Rosy. Lily White loved mangoes. While he was at its Rosy suck into the Kitchen. She was smiling. "Father, do you know what Sea Is made out of?" "I do not know darling." "Dinosaur pee! " Father could not stop his laugh, so he asked. "Who said so?" "You know my friend Daisy, she says the dinosaurs peed so much that it all made a river and made the sea. Scientists do not know it is Dinasour Pee, so they just call it sea. If you're drinking sea water, it's Dinasour Pee, that's why it is so salty" Father wanted to tell Lily about why sea water is salty. But he didn't want to spoil the fun with science. So, he offered a plate of mango To Rosy Red. Dinos. - Unsplash "Eat some mangos Rosy" "Oh, no Thanks." "No? Why not?" "It is not tasty" "Oh, Rosy, why do you say it is not tasty? did you Eat that?" "No, but that looks not tasty" "Now, stop their little Lady, Taste is not something that you can decide by looking! Unless you put it in your mouth and feel it on your tongue, how can anyone know what it tastes like?" Hm..... Rosy started to think. She seems to be contemplating a lot. Puzzled with her blue eyes, with a smile she asked. "So, are you telling me taste is not in the Mango? But in the Tongue?" "It is not in the tongue Either Rosy. It is something you feel when they come together." "I don't understand" Rosy did not understand. But soon she forgot she did not understand. Until later that night she wrote it in her diary. Rosy Red Diary - Mangoes. Taste is not in the mango. Father says it is not in the tongue. Then it must be in the brain. I read butterflies taste from their feet. So if I had a tongue in my hand I could taste the mango by touching it. That's nice.

Moby Dick is all about whales and whaling and everything else. If you find anything connected to a whale you will find some mentioning in the Moby Dick. Consider it to a dictionary on whaling. In a time of scarce resources like 1800s, I wonder how Herman Melville gained all the necessary information, from where? From a library? From newspapers? By interviewing people? Maybe majority of his novel is fictional, yet I am sure at some point he referred to history books when writing chapter 55: which is about artwork of Whales. There he lists out all the places where you can find a picture of the Levithan, from ancient Indian culture to illustrations in old scientific books. A whale: Illustration by MML Resources he mentioned. Ancient Hindu sculptures Ancient Egyptian sculptures Ancient Greek sculptures Elephant Caves, India Guido’s painting of Perseus Rescuing Andromeda William Hogarth’s Perseus Descending Robert Sibbald’s Prodromus whale illustrations Jonah’s whale in old Bible prints Whale illustrations in old primers (children’s textbooks) The bookbinder’s whale — dolphin and anchor emblem Whale illustrations in old scientific books Shop signs depicting whales He uses these resources to discuss about how art imperfectly represent the reality although the artist is supposed to do that correctly. Although illustrations provide some information, most of them are erroneous due to various factors. Such as not being able to see the whole extent of the whales, at an era where underwater cameras are not there this was a major obstacle. To him even scientists can make mistakes, and the complete whale is not a creature which can be fully represented in drawing. So, our representations of reality are not necessarily the reality itself. What is reality? Melville's conclusion about reality, still applies today. Even today scientists discover "new" theories and discard old ones. Even today artists make mistakes, deliberately on canvass. Knowing that it is nothing but a distorted reality. Consider impressionist technique. But now we are better at our technology to capture a moment. We now do have underwater cameras, to capture full extent of a whale. We can record videos and sounds that they make. If you really want, you can even picture inside a whale with a video endoscopy. Use a thermal camera to map its temperature. All these provide valuable information about a whale. The question still remains; do we now know what is a whale better than what we knew 150 years ago? Why Reality is ungraspable Although our technology has improved, still reality is ungraspable. As everything not reality is not reality itself. So a picture drawn about a whale is not a real whale. A video about a whale is not a real whale. An Xray of a whale is not a real whale. How about an experience about a whale? A memory about a whale? A sight of a whale? Is a sight of a whale a real whale? It seem all these things are related to subjective reality. We always see a part of the whale, no matter how much better our cameras are our eyes are not capable of seeing everything. It only sees a tiny area of the reality at a time. Even this is just a representation in our brain which appears to be tangible only when connected with past experience of a whale. A good question to ask here would be has anyone seen a real whale ever? If you would like to explore this idea, you can read the article Thing1 and Thing2, these are characters of Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss. As a conclusion, we can say the more we are aware of our experience, more will question the reality we see. And better our understanding about it. And we can thank Herman Mellville for this ageless wisdom in his classic MOBY DICK. Moby Dick chapter 55 conclusion from Moby Dick chapter 55 as given by Melville "For all these reasons, then, any way you may look at it, you must needs conclude that the great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last. True, one portrait may hit the mark much nearer than another, but none can hit it with any very considerable degree of exactness. So there is no earthly way of finding out precisely what the whale really looks like. And the only mode in which you can derive even a tolerable idea of his living contour, is by going a whaling yourself; but by so doing, you run no small risk of being eternally stove and sunk by him. Wherefore, it seems to me you had best not be too fastidious in your curiosity touching this Leviathan."

Disclaimer: This article discusses death and holocaust. Selfish gene I am a selfish person. There is no doubt about that. So is everyone else. We are moved on this earth by a will which is hardwired into our brains, which has only one objective called "SURVIVAL" of the individual. As today, survival is generously easy, we do not find much conflict with my survival to your survival. But it is during hard times that survival matters, and our greed become apparent. In Tsunamis, wildfires, and natural disasters like Nepal Flood, we run for our lives. We do not wait to fetch others, except our own children. But we cannot consider our own kids as a separate entity, as it is engraved by nature that survival of the kids means survival of part of you into the future. That fact cannot be erased as we do not know where the memory location of that is. World Food program : Unsplash Once I read a book about Auschwitz, in the concentration camps, when the gas chambers are activated with thousands of people inside, at the end there would be a pile of bodies in a shape of a cone. As the gas is inserted from the below, to fresh air would be progressively rise up. So do the people. On the bottom of this pile of bodies would be the weak. Elderly and children, more and more stronger people would be on the top. This is just an extreme example to show that we do not care for our elderly and children when it comes to life or death. Weaker one will perish, and that would be the brutal natural law. But the human mind is remarkable. It can override this default setting of the human brain. It is hard but not impossible. It takes years of practice unless there is a tendency. When we consider a virtuous life- some people think of it as a meaningful life. As there is no default meaning in life, often we find ourselves engaged in activities which provide different meaning for us. This version of virtuous life is easy, and what is commonly found. Consider the following list of items which commonly attributes to the virtuous life. What do they all have in common? Honesty Telling the truth even when lying would benefit you Courage Doing what is right despite fear Compassion Taking another person's suffering seriously Humility Admitting that you may be wrong Justice Treating people fairly, including those you dislike Temperance Knowing when enough is enough Wisdom Considering consequences before acting Integrity Acting according to your principles when nobody is watching What is a virtuous life? These characteristics of a person, specially shows how they act in an interaction with others. Simply put, a virtuous life means, not a meaningful life. It simply means a life which is devoted to others overriding the natural tendency for our own survival. When you look back at your memories you would understand that what remains as pleasant and happy are the times you have spent caring for others. Genuinely, without expecting anything in return. Because you are moved by unknown reason during such times. We can harvest this wisdom and put it into routine of our lives. A kind deed done for others despite your own disadvantage will make you smile in a long term. Because that action do need your consciousness to override your subconscious you will remember it longer. You might say, after all it is just a memory. However, memories we cannot just think of them as memories. A life is nothing, but a dream filled with memories. And the most beautiful are the ones where you have sacrificed yourself. So how are you going to create a virtuous memory today? I am sure there would be a lot of ways. How about keeping some exchange in your pocket to buy a meal for some unknown person?

Traditional Games we play Games that we play in life are many. From baseball to cricket, and from the Olympics to the Diamond League. It was not recently that I wrote about the Tour de France. However, this article is not about traditional "Games". There are some games in life we play by default, mostly without an immediate audience. It is important to recognize these games, as our happiness does depend on them. To be honest, one of my friends suggested writing about this article a year ago, but I did not know how or why then; perhaps this answers her question. Wealth Game The wealth game is easy. The medium is money, and we play this by creating value. Those who create value for themselves are "self-employed," and those who create for others are "employees." Those who own other employees are employers or entrepreneurs. Guess who is on top of the wealth game? Learning about leverage, compounding, and money is essential in the wealth game. It will solve all your financial problems. Games: https://unsplash.com/@seabas Status Game or Stardom Some people think the wealth game is evil, mostly because it is hard to figure out how to create value and, more importantly, sell it. It is like the fox who tried to eat grapes and failed. However, they are not entirely out of games. They play a different game called status game. Hollywood actors by profession are masters of status game. They rise up to stardom, and once their star is permanently carved on the pavement, they can start charging any amount from filmmakers for their star power. By refusing money and showing you are spiritual, you play the status game. The status game is subtle. We all play this in the office, in the supermarket, with our neighbors, and in our families. While in church, we try to be recognized as unique. Why humans value this is unknown. Probably it is evolutionary, as being in a group always wins the survival game more than being single. As you can see, this is why being alone is the easiest way to lose yourself. But I would say it is a courageous and almost necessary path in self-discovery. Being religious, being generous, or becoming a philanthropist, being in a cooperation, having a family—all these are essentially various combinations of the above two games. As an example, by being religious, you achieve status in your community, and this will make you feel safe about your future. If a million people share your faith, how can you be wrong? Even if you do feel wrong about afterlife assumptions, you still "gain" status by being religious. Family is perhaps one of the oldest conformations that we used to help play our games. By marrying someone, we play it fair by not having affairs with any other party. We create more opportunities for everyone to be satisfied. And we work as a team to fight for status and money. In earlier days, we used to play hunger games as families. Food and shelter for survival were our main targets. Nowadays, as food and shelter are abundant due to technology, we play different games, even a round of cards when everyone gathers for Christmas. Essential Component of All the Games The essential component of all these games is the imaginary nature of it. Games that we play are not natural. They were created by humans by establishing rules and law. If you see any religion, there is a basic set of rules. If you see a cooperation, there is a set of rules too. If you see a country, there is another set of rules. We have to follow them by default as we are born into these games. However, the rules are imaginary and man-made; always that is the case. You might say, wait a minute, is that true? Once you see every game is imaginary, you would label it as a rat race and start playing a different game. A game of truth, perhaps with a bunch of philosophers this time around. Who stepped Out of every Game? Anyone who makes rules is at the top of their game; in this sense, a politician and a monarch are at the top of the political game. Shareholders with votes are at the top of the co-oporate game. The regulatory authority of FIFA is at the top of the football game. Anyone who doesn't play by the rules is eliminated. A criminal, a robber, doesn't play by the rules, but they still play the game by their own rules. They are eliminated by the system. I wouldn't consider even a beggar as someone who is not in the game. However, I have some idea of the characteristics of a similar person. They are called non-players. Characteristics of a Non-Player A non-player is a solitary person, perhaps a monk, who has seen the truth about all the games we play. He would know a game as a game. He would not fall back into the "game-playing mentality." He would not make rules on his own for his own living, as there is no point in creating another game. He would eat when hungry, walk when it is needed, and speak when it is essential to do so, not because he wants to gain "status" by informing others what he knows about the stupidity of life. He would find no meaning in the games that we play all our lives and would not find meaning by not playing any game either. He would stay right in the middle of awareness so there is nothing gained or lost from the experience. Actions done by such a person are completely pure. I would not call them living, but just a tree.

I am sure you have heard about the 80/20 rule or Peretto principle which states that 80% of the outcome is achieved by 20% of actions. However, there is more to this simple rule and more and more context which it is applied. You might be a student and say 80% of your exam results are due to only 20% of your work. If you are an entrepreneur 80% of your profit is gained by 20% of your operations. Obvious question one would then ask is AM I WASTING MY TIME? Am I wasting my time? It appears so. Imagine what it means by numbers. If only 20% of your actions made 80% of your results it means 80% of your actions were not productive actions but only contributed to 20% of your results. Can you cut off that 80% of your wasted time? Can you just replicate 20% of your action which was productive and spread it all 100% and then achieve an outcome of 400%? (20%->80%, 20x5 -> 100% -> 80x 5 ->400%) Or does this mean, that you can double your 20% of actual work get 160% result and enjoy 60% of the remaining time surfing YouTube or surfing waves in Hawaii? There seems something wrong when we think about in this way. Pareto Principle : Unsplash Myths About the Pareto Principle It is true, there are math equations supporting this principle. However, when you consider a productive activity, this is almost impractical. It is just an observation about past actions and past results. Imagine the 80% of your wasted time as information. Or "FALIURES". As I mentioned earlier, tolerating failure and moving on is one factor necessary for the success in any field. If you treat your 80% as wasted time, that is just making a blame on yourself. Maybe the 20% of your work is the result of 80% of your wasted time. On the other hand, you might not be able to pinpoint the exact 20% of your actions which made 80% of results. More importantly what about diffuse mode of thinking? What if the 80% of your wasted time is where your mind wandered surfing YouTube but created strange connections between ideas and came as creative revelations while you are working at your desk 20% of your time? Pereto principle makes us believe we can be more productive by cutting off 80% of your workload without a reduction of significant outcome. As you can see this is not true. The 80% wasted time matters in your work, and principle itself says it matters for 20% of your results. We need better framework just to apply this principle. Following may be helpful. How to apply Pareto Principle If you need to priorities your work like the principle suggests, you can use Eisenhower principle instead. It gives you a simple framework to engage in activities with delayed reward, as a part of your system. If you need an optimal functioning system with self-iterate, you might need to build it from scratch considering all the factors. Mandala technique would be a good way to do just that. If your work is lacking creativity, novelty and authenticity, the best way is to collect ideas throughout your day. Yes! you need a way to collect all those 20% of your thoughts so that is not added to the pile of wasted 80%. Either act on it immediately or make a physical note. Learning about Pereto principle doesn't make one suddenly a genius at their own line of work. I have learned about it15-20 years ago. However, I did not feel productive, at least most of my adult years. Feeling of productivity needs more ingredients than a simple principle. I would say it needs a very personalized knowledge, about yourself which cannot be gained by reading a single book. But knowing 1000 Peretto principles can make your life slightly better. A personal philosophy, learning about values, and identifying your own talents would help. Being in a field which makes you replicate your 20% productive time, 3 times per day would help. So, I guess there is no easy way to productivity and living a lazy life. A good quote from Mark Manson would summaries it here. "Life is a suffering, once you know it, chose your suffering, which you are willing to endure the rest of your life"