About Discoveries - The SUV One of our older collogues at work had bought a land rover - A discovery. It was expensive to ride such a vehicle in this part of the country, as the vehicle itself had to travel miles and miles in the sea, just to see the tropical beach. But fact that he bought it made it clear to everyone that he is a big shot in the gang. I am sure he was moved by an enormous urge to buy that vehicle and made him happy. I am not going to spoil his fun by saying there is no fun in riding an expensive Luxury vehicle. But I realized I would never be able to do that, even if I wanted to. So, far I did not have the urge. Otherwise, I would be running here and there exerting myself, the mind and the body to earn more money. Without writing articles, reading Jack London, and learning partial derivatives, for no reason. The SUV Two kinds of people - two kinds of games of life I see two kinds of people playing two kinds of games of life. One kind of people, play the external game. They are the collectors, creators, and value generators. They build wealth, and success, promotions and tours. Other kind of people play the internal game. They try to separate themselves from the games of the external and try to learn about themselves. But this distinction is arbitrary, like anything else in life. As a matter of fact, we all do play both games. If you are doing a job, I would say that is an external game. If you are thinking about your own death while at a funeral, I would say that is the internal game. I wouldn't make the mistake of arguing that one game is superior to the other, as sometimes, I can see the difficulties, and hardships of the external game gives me lessons about my internal game. Ants Sometimes, I find myself looking at ants on the floor. Crawling tiny creatures, with an invisible brain which only operate on instincts. They do not realize that there is a giant looking at them, who is so powerful that would hold the fate of their future. They are not worried about the Emeralds , Gold , or the Stock price . Driven by hunger, it just walks to find any crumbs left scattered in the corners of the room. If I could summaries my life, I would point out to the ant and say, that is life. Stripped out all the non-essential emotional baggage, and the prejudices, and the expectations, build upon lattice of information. Life is essentially driven by cravings. Like the ant, searching for crumbs. Again, I wouldn't say this is a bad thing, or a good thing, or the thing that we should do, or thing that we shouldn't do. If I do, try to move from understanding, I will make the mistake of creating another craving. And there would be a pursue, like the ant. A simple form of life Conclusion I am not sure how, when and why the craving ant, got complicated with the passage of time and evolved into a human, craving a SUV. It doesn't seem correct. Was I not an ant, once craved breadcrumbs?

Definition of a second. One second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine energy levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom. If you need to understand the world. You need to understand the change. Time is just another word for change. I posted this online and received with variable responses from the philosophical community. Some argued it is not. Some agreed it is giving evidence. After all It appears only one group of these individuals is correct by default. Unless we are living in a quantum universe where both of them be correct with a variable probability. If we exclude that as an answer, there are ample evidence for me to say time is just another word for change. And roots of this idea, actually extend both into western and eastern philosophy. Fish. Time and change - historical references Aristotle “Time is the number of motion with respect to before and after.” (Physics, Book IV) Buddha The first noble truth is, Annichcha, which is another name for change or impermanence. Buddha taught: All conditioned things arise and pass away. Nothing stays fixed — bodies, feelings, thoughts, even identities. Instead of asking “What is time?”, Buddhism asks: What happens when we see that everything changes? You do not have to go somewhere to see the evidence of time is just a change. Every time we talk about time, we have to talk about a change of something. From the time you sleep to the time you wake up, you know time exist only when you realize there have been changes. If the sun did not rise in the morning (change), and if you did not feel hunger (change), if the rivers did not flow (change) butterflies flap their wings (change) or the earth did not rotate (change) Your body did not decay (change) and you did not have ability to move (change) and the consciousness remained like a rock, with the same thought into the eternity (change). If all that happened there would be no way we can say time exist. It is merely a feeling in one's consciousness which arise due to Side effect of observed change in the environment, or in the state of mind. In the one second definition above agreed by scientists, is just another "Change" which happens in the environment. But, when we adhere to these objective definitions, frequent question which comes to my mind is what if? What if the universe is within another universe and this outer universe somehow caused our universe to expand. If so, everything in our universe would expand, including all the observations. So, called objective time would change, but ever not showing subjective evidence of it. rain Eastern philosophical approach. Somehow, I like the eastern philosophical approach to the time. Once we have enough understanding, time is not what we see on the clock, but some feeling due to observed change. "Change" becomes fundamental "thing" to be observed in the universe. If "change" is the fundamental nature of the universe, the life, becomes part of this. I can see where this leads to. If life is fundamentally change, the permanent happiness, the success, the peace that we are seeking needs a second consideration. Are we going to achieve anything? I am not here to shatter your dreams of future and to push you into nihilistic absurdism. But, if you learned the lesson, just observing the change in the nature might teach you something, that only wise people might be able to see. Let's be vigilant, and observe how, A raindrop becomes ice crystal in the winter A leaf changes its color in the Autum Kids grow into adults Adults end up in graveyards Perfectly healthy cells become cancerous Global temperature rises Days become nights again and again Parties end Rich becomes poor and poor becomes rich. Winners become losers Status of mind changes throughout the day. The real question is can you look at the change in a non-judgmental way? A thing that is neither good nor bad?

Yesterday. Yesterday I spent whole day inside, reading books, watching films. Dancing around with kids. There were no big fancy restaurants that we visited. No big events that we participated. We did not go deep into the serene senescent Forest, to be connected with nature. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, pretty ordinary stuff. Yet, at the end of the day I felt fulfilled. I am sure kids, although they went through several cry and laugh cycles, they might have felt accomplished too. Winding down to sleep felt natural and easy. So, I am fresh to write about it today. If I had to go back in time, 24 hours before and start the day over, I would change nothing. Past About time (film 2013) This is the exact advice James (father), gave to his son Tim Lake, in the film About time. The Duo had the ability to time travel, with limited use. I am not here to argue about the "Plot holes about time travel" presented in the film. That is the critics and pessimistic cohort of the film watchers. My argument is that the advice itself may give some insight to how we should spend our days. Without anxiety, pressure, or anticipation about the outcomes. "Tim, spend the day ordinary way, doing ordinary stuff, the way you would do it like every day with all the worries and anxieties and emotions. But at night, before going to sleep, spend the exact day again. This time focusing on the sweetness of all those same experiences." There was no need to change anything, just the perspective, so he would not have the pressure to do anything. Adaptation of the It's About time life advice. You may think it is pretty easy to live a life, without worries, anxieties and whole lot of emotions. It is not! that is why antidepressants and anxiolytics with sleeping pills are created in billions in the world each and every day. It would have been easier, if we all possessed the ability to travel in time, and live the same day twice. But simply we cannot. So, how are we going to adapt the above advice so we can use it practically in our lives. Anxiolytics If you looked at it carefully you would see the change from the first time to second time living the same day is not at all, about what happens. It is about our attitude about life. Afterall, if we adapt that the attitude of Gratitude more into our lives, we could spend the day, to the fullest of our ability, and satisfaction the first time. There is no need to relive a day. To be honest, I think reliving the same day again, seems little boring. If we did put little effort in mindfulness and notice the positive aspect about things happening around us. To do that, you will need to understand the actions are not bounded by consequences . In other words, the so-called control one has about life is limited, except at the exact moment something happens, we cannot relive the past or the future.

Why are you relaxed at the hotel? Being in a hotel is expensive. I am sure you can spend two weeks at home leisurely for the cost of a one night at a decent hotel. Often the destinations we seek are far away from home. If you are at the beach you would want to be on a top of a mountain cabin for your vacation. If you are at the mountain top, you would want to be on beach. If you are in Europe maybe you wish to go to USA. If you are in USA you may want to be in Japan, watching Tokyo Drift. Being far away from home in an unfamiliar setup is not the only reason you would feel relaxed in a hotel. I think there are more reasons to it. Relaxed in a Hotel More reasons to be relaxed in a hotel In a hotel, you are also not supposed to do ordinary stuff that you do. Imagine being in the home for the weekend, unless you are a grandpa on a wheelchair, there would be no time to relax. There will be dirty laundry, clogged drains, and unpruned hedges. You are supposed to cook and clean your dishes. You cannot just keep the bed as you slept, and the working studio in a dirty state. You are supposed to wash and clean and service your car. The ordinary stuff you are supposed to do before you lie down on your couch few minutes to the obvious deep sleep. Now, imagine the hotel. No matter what you mess in the hotel room it's just a matter of giving a call and everything will be re-arranged. Of course, it is because you paid the money. But- mind would not see this as a direct consequence of a financial commitment. Instead, it will just relax, as your actions, are not directly bound by consequences. I repeat, if you missed, while on vacation, while in the hotel room your Actions are not bound with consequences , you are OK to mess up things. Now let's look at this famous quote from Bhagawath Geetha. Generating best outcomes for life. BG 2.47 : " You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction." The Bhagavad-Gita is an episode recorded in the Mahabharata , a Sanskrit epic poem of ancient India. It is an influential religious text in Hinduism that takes the form of a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. In it the above quote describes a philosophy/ principle that one should adhere to when it comes to work. Let's discuss what it means. It's not just the location. Imagine you are allowed to do whatever you are struggling right now, without any consequence. Imagine you are allowed to study in the university without the pressure of getting high grades. Imagine you are allowed to work in your company without that end of year goals, and you will get the bonus regardless. Imagine you are allowed to live free in this world without consequences. Imagine you are ok to mess things at your home, that magically it re-arranges. Such a world does not exist. But if you think about this carefully, focusing too much about the outcomes of our actions, is the reason we cannot perform best. If you ask any sportsmanship, they will agree to that. Target fixation is going to crash your whole effort. Hence success as it depend on the action itself, and only on action itself, the worry is just unnecessary and excessive. Just like after the action "The fruit of your action" is not yours. Either its triumph or the failure, it has no bearing in your life. This again does not mean inactivity. As inactivity will lead to no result. It really means you're ok to mess up your bedroom, or even the work. If there is a trick that could generate the best outcome for your life, I think it is this. This doesn't mean physical at all. It is totally mental process of taking down your connection between action and the consequence. It cannot be achieved just by forcing yourself. It can only be achieved by knowing, deeply enough about the true nature of life, with all its absurdity. We all are going to be dead one day, so we can just trust the wisdom from this ancient Quote. Combined with the Inspiration - motivation trick, it might just be the thing which can help you relaxed at home like you are in a hotel.

Internet is a strange place, where I come across some random things which gives profound understanding of life. Consider following saying by Dr Kapil Gupta. "The best marketing is not selling" It seems a paradoxical quote. After all the objective of marketing is to sell. He did not provide any explanation to the quote in the original podcast. He just asked the moderator to contemplate about it. As the listener I did contemplate about it and these are my reflections on the subject. A Walk in the fashion district. Imagine you took a walk on your fashion street in your city. While walking with some cash in your pocket you will notice there are items to sell. You will see various things which fit your budget. And also, you will see there are some expensive brands. That you would dare not even touch. It may be an expensive watch, a dress or a car. However, the fact remains that you cannot buy that yacht. But here is a thought. I am sure those expensive items production cost is only one fifth of what the selling price is. But that is not a coincidence that high price tag. It seems the shop owners are just teasing your mediocre life with showing you things and keeping them unaffordable for majority of people. If they wanted to sell, they could lower down the price for a reasonable number. But they wouldn't. Just like they want to decorate the shop with the fancy hat! Can you see the applied philosophy of Guptas quote? Not for Sale An artist who does not Sell Let me explain in simple terms what a sale looks like. It all boils down to value. Imagine you are a painter. You make a living by painting. You sell your paintings as the money; you're getting is more valuable to you than the painting. However, in your attic you keep your best painting so far. You are not going to sell it. Not for a million dollars. Not for a billion dollars. That painting is the pinnacle of your career as a painter. It's not for sale. But if you show it to your clients and say that it's not for sale, imagine what would happen. They will offer you prices. Which even might make you reconsider your decision of not to sale. Without knowing you have used the principle, the best marketing strategy. This is true for everything. If something is not for sale, which means it has an enormous value for the owner of it. Generally, this makes a scratch who also see this. Even if the thing we talk about do not have an intrinsic value. Consider a pound of flesh . Or your upper arm. Surely that Is not for sale. If Jeff becomes offers his entire wealth you might consider. But there are not many Jeff's out there who can manipulate it to happen. I only know one. This is why torture works. It is there in every action film. Surely, I can talk about it in a philosophical blog without being criminal or labelled a s a serial k*****. That there is marketing at its best. Best marketing strategy - not selling Yes, we are still talking about marketing. Not about tutoring people and chopping lim**. However, the message is clear. If you want to value your product more, do not sell it to a cheap price. Just say it's not for sale but make sure they see it. This is not at all about sales. In relationship too, in doing a lecture too, in writing a book too. How boring would be a detective book if the solution is given at the first page? Maybe your life needs some intrinsic value (which is not there by default) which you can gain by marketing. Not for sale - "Sold Out"

Happily, ever after. I am sure everyone wants to be happy all the time. If possible. And If I know it's my duty to tell you exactly How. I have been searching for the fountain of happiness just like you. Remember the times when we watched the movies, when the princess and prince Kissed and lived "Happily ever after". But nobody showed the movie beyond the kiss and the marriage. Not until recently. Nobody showed a fairy tale of a "Divorce" or a "serious illness like a Cancer. That was not for children. So, you know what happened? I tumbled across problem after problem and wonder where the "happily ever after is gone". I am not talking about financial troubles and relationship problems. Even getting out of bed and going to work feels like cancer sometimes. Hopefully latter is far away in the future. Happily Ever After I am sure this is your problem too. Not exactly the same but a different version of it. No need, I am not going to ask what it is. But as you can see both of us are looking for the same thing. The Peace of mind from the chaos . The struggle of life. Have you tried to meditate lately. That is f*****g hard. What was wonderful about it was that I noticed I had two legs. And they could not stay at a one place. When I crossed them, they wanted to be straight. When I straightened them, they wanted to be crossed or on side. It was a struggle with the legs. Mind you I still do have my hands too, and ears, and eyes and the Back. Oh. the hurting co-operate crushed back of mine was the most troublesome. I was looking for peace by doing meditation, but that itself started to become a struggle on its own. On a different frequency. Have you noticed this phenomenon in your life? Whenever you try to solve a problem, it becomes a problem itself. Should I not go on searching for answers? Should I give up searching for solutions to the permanent happiness question? If I cannot be happy sitting by myself, I am sure nothing I can buy from a shop will make me happy. The experience itself seems to be temporary. Struggle of other lives. I see this phenomenon happen all around me. Drivers struggle to drive. Teachers struggle to teach. Kids struggle to learn. Doctors struggle to heal while patients struggle to be healthy. Farmers Struggle to make crops, while shop owners struggle to sell goods. Co-operate owners try to increase the value of their equity, while writers struggle with words to come up with a good novel. Struggle seems to be the cornerstone of life. While some people struggle good, some people struggle bad. Maybe they do not realize, there is no "Non struggle life". In other words, it is a hell of a responsibility to be yoursel f. But answer to the forever happiness remains hidden inside the question itself. I will take you to a memory from my childhood to show you that. Life is a no Knot. I remember when I was a kid, I use to race to the school with my brother. There were 100 stairs to the top. My brother was a couple years elder than me. So, obviously he was faster and if there was a race he would always win. So, I did not want to race. It made me sad that I could never win against him. But he would not stop. The moment he stepped on the first step he would start an "Imaginary race" and hurry up to the top. And smile like a winner. I couldn't get over it. I cannot remember whether I cried. I didn't even race it was just an imaginary game that he invented, but I became a loser. I felt sad over nothing. Now after so many imaginary races, I have realized how stupid I was in the past. There is no real race in life. Life is a no Knot . Just be happy where-ever you are the Solution How can I be happy all the time? The solution. If you want to be happy all the time in life you have to "Step out of the Game" altogether, like Naval Ravikant says it. Not because you're afraid of losing. But because all the games we play in life are imaginary. Including the wealth and success game. I am not sure how to convince you of this as tomorrow when someone offers you a million dollars You would take the bait and cry like I did when I was a kid when you lose it. But I can just remind you everyone loses everything at the end of life. Not because they achieved anything in life. But what they achieved had no meaning in the first place. Once you understand this as a fact and contemplate enough with your own experience, there you will find a place for permanent happiness that you can smile at the sun, or a leaf or a tree, or spilled milk and a million dollars lost in a crypto crash.

Algebraic Symmetry A short AI summary: Algebraic symmetry describes situations where a mathematical object remains unchanged under certain transformations, and these transformations form a group  because they can be combined and reversed. For example, consider an equilateral triangle: rotating it by (120deg), (240deg), or doing nothing leaves the triangle looking the same. These rotations form a group called the cyclic group (C_3) . In algebra, we say the triangle has symmetry because the set of operations (the group elements) preserves its structure. This idea extends beyond geometry — in equations and polynomials, groups describe how variables or solutions can be rearranged without changing the underlying relationships. Symmetry After reading above passage, you may ask, so what? I am struggling to find my left shoe. Or I am trying to write this damn thesis on God knows what. So, why should I learn about Algebraic Symmetry. If you have that question, my answer is Don't. (You may still carry on mathematics if you are "Born" to do that.) But the reason is Algebraic symmetry is hypothetical. Let's look at some of the examples from daily life. If you see, there is nothing you can imagine think of doing without knowing basic understanding of mathematics. After all, who ever thought when we share a plate with sibling, we were looking for algebraic symmetry of a piece of Brownie? Examples of Algebraic symmetry from day-to-day life. 1️⃣ Sharing money equally If two friends share Rs. 100, we can write it as[x + y = 100] Swapping who is (x) and who is (y) doesn’t change the total. The equation is symmetric — fairness and equal exchange use this idea. 2️⃣ Balancing a weighing scale A scale is balanced when both sides are equal: [a = b] Adding or removing the same weight from both sides keeps it balanced: [a+c = b+c]This “do the same thing to both sides” rule is an algebraic symmetry used daily in measurements and cooking. 3️⃣ Arranging seats or teams Suppose two teams A and B play a match. The result “A vs B” is the same as “B vs A” in many schedules. Swapping labels without changing the outcome reflects symmetry, similar to symmetric variables in algebra. 4️⃣ Patterns in art and design Floor tiles or rangoli patterns often repeat in a balanced way. Behind the scenes, designers use repeating rules like: [f(x,y) = f(y,x)] which means swapping directions keeps the pattern unchanged — an algebraic symmetry idea applied visually. 5️⃣ Passwords and encryption apps Many everyday apps use cryptography built from algebraic groups (like cyclic symmetry). The math ensures that encoding and decoding follow structured transformations that preserve certain properties. Whenever you can swap, rotate, or change parts of a rule without changing the result , you’re seeing algebraic symmetry — whether it’s sharing money, balancing objects, or designing patterns. In life even without mathematics we have been doing these things, day in and day out. But as you can see there is a problem. Call me obsessive, but I cannot see any symmetric pattern which exist in the world. It seems algebraic symmetry is just an "Approximation of the reality with a critical error of assumption" not exactly the reality itself. Lessons from Origami. Origami Tulips I used to do Origami. Not like an expert but like a kid. If you do not know, in Origami, you are supposed to fold the paper, mostly in symmetric manner. However, I had hard time getting perfect fold. Likely I was clumsy at folding papers. But I saw my friends doing worse. When it comes to the edge, there would be a tiny miss alignment that I could not help noticing. It didn't bother me all these years. Now when I read about bending square papers and talking about algebraic symmetry in a mathematics book. My mind goes, that is wrong. You can mathematically show that there is symmetry. But all that mathematics is just approximation of reality. In real world there are no symmetrical Folds on a square paper. It is because there are no perfect squares in real world. They are just Platonic forms in human minds. A perfect square is Unreplaceable imaginary dream. I know, a lot of people would disagree with that. But the argument holds. The symmetry that we see is just an apparent one. Everything built upon this simple math is just another form of imagination. (From addition to subtraction) Here is another twist. If you include time as a factor, we can argue the paper, in the past is not the paper in the present. And there is no way of bending the paper through time. Every paper including we seems to be in a continuous motion through time without achieving any symmetry. I am not sure what you are going to do with this piece of information. Maybe some quantum Physics? :) "Algebraic Symmetry is just an approximation of reality. Reality does not have true symmetry at all"

I was screening through the shelves of the Library the Other day and came across a book named Roses. A botanica's Pocket -Roses it said. However, it clearly would not fit into anyone's pocket. If it was a novel, it would be the size of two volumes of the Count of Monte Cristo. Over 1000 pages of more than 2000 listed roses. I borrowed the book. Obviously not to read cover to cover, but to fascinate myself with the "Queen of the flowers" in afternoons for a fortnight. So, here are few facts about roses and what amazes me about "Roses" Roses The Rose Map. This is not a specific map of roses, but Hardiness zone maps are the ones which divide the world into "Zones" according to minimum annual average temperatures observed. Roses being sensitive plants, have their own habitats and will be grown in different climates, hence zone maps are used as a guide to show where you will approximately see different kinds of roses and best places to garden them. What fascinated me more was the sheer number of roses. I cannot include them all here, but can list out some of the roses started with letter "H" for you to get an idea. Roses that start with Letter H. Hakuun (White Cloud) Hamburg Hamburger Phoenix Hampshire Handel Hansa Hansa-Park Happy (Alberich) Happy Child Happy Wanderer Harison's yellow Harlekin (Kiss of desire) Harmonie Harry Wheatcroft Harvest Fayre Hawkeye belle headliner Heart of gold Hebe's Lip (Reine Blanche) Heidekonigin (Palissade Rose) Heidelberg Heideroslein Heideschenee (Snow on the heather) Heidesommer Heidi Heinrich Munch Helen Traubel Helmut Schmidt Henri Martin Henry Hudson Henry Kelsy henry Nevard Heritage Hermosa Hertfordshire Hiawatha Hidalgo High Hopes Highdownensis Hilda Murrel Himmelsauge Hippolyte Holy Toledo Homere Honeyflow Honor Honarable Lady Lindsay Honore de Blazc Honorine de Barbant Hot Chocolate Hot Tamale Hugh Dickson Hula Girl Hume's Blush Tea-scented China Hunter Hurdy Gurdy The book of roses The book contained a little chapter on history of roses, to how to garden them. More importantly pictures of these wonderful flowers from all around the world. Obviously one of the most colorful books I have ever seen. It made me ask few more questions. If subject of "Roses" is big enough for someone to write a Book about, (mind you this was just a catalog of roses) how big subject is "flowers". If "Flowers" is just a big subject then How about "Trees" "Rocks" "Gravity" "Water" "Earth". I am sure I cannot finish learning about just "Water" in my whole life. There will be more things to learn and I would start to forget the previous things I have learned about water. More roses How about the subject of "Earth" which includes all these subjects. How about "solar system" or the "milky way" which might include uncountable number of rose species which we can never write a book about as it is beyond our power of documentation. Yet I can still live a reasonable life, without knowing all these facts, as still in my mind roses are just beautiful flowers with, red, pink, yellow and white, which I have to be careful when touching due to thorns. If life is a book, with all the information, we just have read the covers of each book. So, how foolish for someone to call themselves expert in something. The "Queen of flowers" had just made me so humble individual. What about you? What you have been reading lately?

First part of this article is just an AI generated list. Just to show how the self-help evolute over the years. However, in the second part I will write my opinion on these in old school way. Directly out of my mind onto the paper. After all any AI generated content is not to be accepted until we give our own verdict upon it. So, you may comment your verdict after reading. Willpower & Moral Character (Early 20th C.) Success was seen as a result of discipline, virtue, and personal morality. Think : “Build character, control yourself.” Positive Thinking & Mental Attitude (1930s–50s) The mind became central—beliefs and optimism were thought to directly shape reality (e.g., The Power of Positive Thinking ). Goal-Setting & Productivity (1950s–70s) Life improvement shifted toward planning, efficiency, habits, and measurable goals. Success became a system. Human Potential & Self-Actualization (1960s–80s) Influenced by psychology (Maslow, Rogers), focus moved to meaning, creativity, and becoming one’s “true self.” Wealth, Influence & Performance (1980s–90s) Self-help merged with business culture—confidence, persuasion, leadership, and financial success dominated. Emotional Intelligence & Relationships (1990s–2000s) Managing emotions, empathy, and communication became key life skills, not just IQ or ambition. Mindfulness, Wellness & Mental Health (2000s–2010s) Stress, burnout, and inner peace took center stage—drawing from neuroscience, therapy, and Eastern practices. Identity, Systems & Self-Compassion (2010s–Present) Change is framed around identity, habits, environment, and kindness to oneself—not constant hustle or “fixing.” I agree, reading through the above list would not create a practical value to your life. And it seems too complicated list. But I can say that initially people were more focused on controlling their will power, and in the latter parts, more about identifying that it is not possible to fully control our emotions, instead, accepting ourselves as we will ease the burden of over worrying about things which are uncontrollable. In can summaries this whole 8 paradigm shifts into one step. It is not always black and white. Look at the following diagram which explains my intuition. Evolution of self-help summary diagram. In the beginning of the century People were more focused on self-control. Which inherently agrees to the fact that we have a free will. But on the latter part, the deterministic views have become more popular that self-awareness and acceptance have become more popular. On the other hand, we can see, that this idea of self-acceptance was never zero at any point in time. If you go back in time in various eras, you will find philosophical quotes by different intellectuals came into these realizations. However, I would say that was not the popular view about the self, during early years of the last century. "Most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely" - Carl Jung. Another, way to look at it is to see the chronological order of how things happen in an individual's life. First when kids start to learn, we plant a seed of self-control in their brains, so they do not back up when challenges are faces. We encourage them to take challenges, win or lose them. And teach how better tactics, better self-control will ultimately lead to success. It really does work for some time. Then the inevitable randomness of life, makes us meet with impossible challenges. Old age, disease, death are common challenges to any life. Sometimes, even unfair social disadvantages, where no matter how hard some try would not be able to overcome. Now, at this, the self-control is not going to work. Evolution of self help in an individual -> self control - > self acceptance. No matter how much we try we will not be able to "Cure cancer from meditation" or win an Olympic medal in high jump when you're born 4.5 feet tall. It is really impossible to fly into the sky on the edge without wings. In these places, we have to use the latter strategy which is self-acceptance. Self-acceptance that you are a better idiot than I am in writing, and I am better fool at things that you are good at. This happens naturally when people get old. Old grudges go away and everyone heads for the church, when they get old, including criminals and schoolmasters. Then the question of why not use it in the first place. Evolution of self help What if life is about failures, not wins. What if we chose to be failures in life, instead of chasing success. Will minimalism and mindfulness will bring bigger happiness than a pile of money? I would say that is a real possibility and achievable, as longer you observe mind, you realize that the reality is just a narrative of our own minds. So, now I have stopped hoping for a tomorrow without any problems. Life is inherently with its problems. If I chose living as an answer, I have to accept means as obvious problems of it, including death or cessation of this. So, what have been your approach to self-help lately?

Background: Yesterday, I attended a carrom tournament organized by our co-worker's union. It was a friendly night, with lot of them playing the game against each other. There were no high stakes, while the players were at it, I was just being a spectator. I watched my friends playing. I wouldn't say the pair were better than the opposition, yet they gave a good fight. Three matches were played and they lost two of them, the final one was the most exciting as each of the team had many chances to win. They struggled with one piece from each black and white, on the board, as they could not sink the queen and their final peace for a win. By the time they came to five minutes from the finishing strike, all the other matches were finished on other tables (there were four of them) and everyone gathered around their table cheering either one or the other group. Can we not take sides when playing a game? maybe impossible, as that brings the thrill to the life. Thrill of a challenge. However, my friends could not come out as winners. And we had a good post-mortem discussion on what went wrong and what went right. Obviously, not each of them were at same skill level and each one felt that they themselves were responsible for the loss. Playing carrom "I think you would have a better chance if you paired up with someone better than me". That was the ultimate conclusion. I myself thought about this statement and found that there were plenty of things which made the statement false. Maybe the loss was just deterministic, rooted by the reasons that started from the time of the big bang. That is as far as what we can reason out from the modern scientific observation of the cosmoses. I agree that need more explanation, after all I did say that to my friend and he did not understand what I meant. So, here is answer to the problem and the unnecessity of the reasons of the self-doubt that created illogically in his mind. There is no alternate universe while we were playing carrom. I was there when they played carrom. I was just watching; they were just playing. That happened clear as day during the middle of the night. They tried their best shots, best nerves, and best strategies, but they lost. They partnered up with each other in the hope of winning and they tried and lost. There was no shame on it. That was exactly what happened. The mind cannot agree to this simple truth of losing, failing, or breaking. So, it stupidly creates alternate universe about something which did not happen. It creates scenarios, about "Alternate universes" where doing this or that which I could have done make "That" game won. This creation of alternate universes just does not improve. It just creates a self-doubt which is totally unnecessary. While watching, I did not see any other alternate universe that things do go in a different direction. It doesn't mean we should not get the experience to do it better next time. It doesn't mean, you cannot win next tournament by partnering up with someone better. I just mean for "That" night for that specific game, there is no alternate scenario. guilt How to overcome guilt of the past- It is what it is. As you can see, this is not just about carrom. Any game you have lost in your life will come back as haunts to you if you do not identify these alternate universes mind creates. If you want to move, forward take those lessons and apply to the next game. That game is lost. It is what it is. The situations cannot be changed when they are in the past. "It is what it is" was said by Rusell Buffalino to Frank Sheeran, in the Robert de Niro movie Irishman. When Frank had to kill his beloved friend and Boss Jimmy Hoffa. "It is what it is" is what I would say to my friend who likes to do postmortems on a lost carrom game which was played for fun. "It is what it is", that we should repeat like a mantra when the stupid mind brings out alternate universes to the inaccessible past scenarios. Life will drag on, and just like a lobster shedding its old used exoskeleton , we should shed our past and move on facing the vulnerability of shame and guilt, sometimes. You have nothing fancy to do, to overcome guilt. It is what it is, simply accept it as a fact.

What is a correct attitude for life? After a hard working day, when the physical and mental pain is at its high, you might have tumbled upon this atricle. Maybe just random scrolling in google got you here. So, it is my duty to wast no more time yours. So, when i came across following idea about life, i thought maybe i should proliferate it here in the blog as it sounded fascinating. Consider the following quote. Persuit " The more you pursue feeling better all the time, the less satisfied you become, as pursuing something only reinforces the act that you lack it in the first place" Alan watts It seems this is true statement for everything we persue in life. It may be happiness -> hapiness monster, it may be success, it may be a satisfyed relationship, academic excellence or trying to colonise mars is your pursuit in life. But if we look at it from where youre today, you will see the truth in it. As you will have to endure suffering of not having that thing you seek. Forget about great things that you want to achieve in life, just take a journey on the bus and do a walk on the most ventured street. You will start to realize you persue everything, from hats, to cars to buildings. Whenever eyes see something pleasurable mind start the game of persuing this. Whenever eyes see something unpleasent mind starts persuing the opposite experience. All day everyday, we are doing this and simply we can call this life. So, from a practical standpoint we cannot avoid persuing things. What can we do for this? How can we get around this problem? What is the correct attitude for life we can generate from above principle? Let's summarise what we have learned so far so we get a better idea about our problem. Fact 1 Whenever we persue things in life we realise we do not have this thing now. This creates an unavoidable suffering in the moment. After all life seems to be a collection of moments, continously becoming another moment. Fact 2 As for living we cannot avoid persuing things as that is the fundemental of living. You have your meal today because you persued that. There was a moment where you craved a meal, where you did not have it in your mough. Potential solution. Choosing your own suffering One potential solution is to avoid the persuing altogether. As you can see it is impossible to do. And even unnecessary as we have the second option. If you chose this as an answer completely then you will be dead in few days as you wouldnt even persue a meal. There is a limit for one can continue non persuing. On the other hand non persuing is another persuing. So if you fail to continue your non persuing you can be sad after some time. Itself can be a suffering. Choosing your suffering Second potential solution is more attractive. I have seen different versions of this given by different philosophers. Some say it is the art of letting go, accepting nature, valuelessness of life, zero of life, etc. Some great people from the past have understood this principle. Here in this solution we can kind of accept that there is no "non -suffering persuit in life" every persuit has to be suffering. On the other hand "there is no life without a persuit". You can see the problem itself provides the answer. Which is to accept the suffering and lean into the least severe suffering for yourself. In otherwords you are allowed to choose your own suffering. Let me repeat this so it sinks into your brain and it comes out later as an answer when you feel the suffering. Coosing your own suffering - means understanding, everything youre going to persue in life will generate some form of suffering. Hence you give up the "no suffering solution" to life altogether. This has potential to bring more happiness to life as acceptance of the current state of affairs in your life is the best thing we can do today. Infact we can call this mindfulness in modern wisdom. I am not sure how far you read into this article. Or whether you underood what i tried to explain in words. Now with this wisdom you can choose any persuit in life, which seems worth for you, with expectation of endurence for suffering. In harmony with it, not with anger towards life. Lets have a great day ttoday.if you do not know how to get inspired read inspiration is perishabl e

I am guilty as a convicted criminal, for pleasuring myself from the world. The penalty for this I think would be the death, as I can see more I am attached to the world more difficult it would be to leave the consciousness function. How, can I not eat the sweet apple of creation, when it looks tasty, it smells tasty and it feels tasty with my perfect senses. Have you ever noticed how delightful the world is? It seems to be just being is enough to give us an enormous pleasure from life. The beach When I was walking on the beach yesterday, I was pleasuring myself as my feet dug in the perfectly milled sand. The sand had no single reason to be there. Sand which might have come from the Mesozoic era, from volcanic mountains, travelling back and fourth. Disintegrated by constant crashes with each other, shredded into perfect powder by the force of waves. Now giving a glorious sensation on delicate free nerve endings on my feet. I just grabbed it, judged it as good, and paid the price instantly when I stepped on the rough tiles of indoors. It wasn't just sand. The waves were rough, but with plenty of drama on the stage with the low singing voice and the bubbles in thousands. Orchestrated throughout my presence on the beach in background. I just had to look if my eyes felt tired looking at the coconut trees or the blue sky. I could listen even when my eyes closed on the hammock hung between the two trees, slowly swinging sideways. I could pleasure myself with the wind which was not stopped by the fishnet on my back which hurts from wear and tear from the long journey of life. The world is remarkably delightful. Sometimes I weep indoors in artificial Life when I know I could have been watching an ant cross a tiny lake made by a Childs hand. I used to be that child. I have outgrown, Outsmarted, and in utter chaos of an imperfect life like every single one of my high school classmates, except a couple who died last year. The world is remarkably delightful still. That, I know for sure, as I can see myself watching happy grass swaying in the lagoon wind in my dreams, like I did in last December. I would watch a tiny octave foot Spider weaving a trap of death in a dodecagonal Shape, without knowing any chemistry, or high school mathematics. Which no matter how much advanced I am, cannot replicate without significant sacrifice of part of my life. Dandelions There is delight in, Watching a spider Dandelions float in summer Listening to the sound of squirrels . Watching the celling from by bedroom. Every dead and dry leaf, if I picked them up and chose to spend my consciousness observing its venation pattern which once used highways by a tree to send a concentrated soup of ingredients back and forth from its cells. World is painfully delightful If you understand this simple truth about life, that just being enough was what the mind ever wanted, maybe just then the content that Jim Carrey talked about at Oscars, is achieved. The world is painfully delightful, being content in it is just a choice. I reminded myself today just before close my eyes, that maybe I can achieve that content, just now when I see the delight of having a sleep. Maybe life is meant to be with whatever the problems it has, and we just make them ours by declaring the presence of ourselves instead of being in it.