Casino Example of handling the risk. Imagine three guys walk into a casino. Three friends. One tall, one medium one small. They are different in character. The tall guy keeps his hands in his pocket. He takes them out only when he is offered free beer. He doesn't engage in play. He doesn't even change his money for chips. He is just on a sight-seeing tour. We can say because of his preserved mentality he has the lowest risk of the three guys, and lowest chance of getting bankrupt tonight, or any other night. He is a hedger. Now consider the small guy. He is the opposite of the tall. He has come up with large sum of money, and according to him he wouldn't mind what happens on the table. He would keep on playing until he wins. Actually, for a couple of rounds he will win, Maybe double his money. But winning streak is always ending, always followed by a losing streak. Hence before the night ends and he will end up in empty pockets, hands sweaty, drunken and minus dollars. He is a speculator - or a gambler. Who tries to win by speculating the future. Arbitrager, speculator and a Hedger The third guy just walks. Inspect tables and learn the play. He sees how the house always wins by gaining marginal benefits from each play round. After each play round the house will grow positive dollars. And they do by exploiting wrong doings of speculators. Although speculators win short term, their addiction on the game doesn't keep them from enjoying their win. House takes minimal risk. But it is still part of the play. He learns the system, not how to play a game. He opens his phone and buys some stocks of the casino. Why shouldn't he? He thinks the business is booming, and he place a long-term bet on its success over ten years. Not about the profits tonight! He is the Arbitrager. How to play the game of life? The casino example although show three different identities, when it comes to game of life, these are not separate. They can be present in same individuals, in different aspects of play. One day we might play the speculator, another day a hedger, when we feel insecure. Only if we are aware of what we are doing and why we can take the role of an arbitrager. I am not saying speculation and taking a bet is a bad thing. If you are 100% sure of a win, why not take a chance. This only applies to situation, when you have a choice, and when the data is not very clear on what will happen in the future. Now imagine starting any new long term or short-term project. Without being a hedger and avoiding anything threatens your tactics, or without being a speculator and blindly be positive on everything, we can play the role of an arbitrager. By analyzing the situation, considering both positives and negatives. Choosing a career, choosing a partner, taking a course. It is not about what you do once you have made the choice. But spending enough time on the choice while still you have time to decide otherwise. In other words, we can play the game of life safe, if we choose to do what is important and not urgent, and by prioritizing this over hedonistic pleasure, or greedy hedging. Of course, the improvement will be slow at first, until it breaks the ceiling with massive growth. (See, I am just speculating :) ->LOL)

Luxury harbors evil at its core. Modern man has to struggle with choices. Not one Not two but thousands of them, day in and out. If you wondered on the street in a Sunday morning, in chilling cold of November, and thought about a hot coffee. You are not wrong. That was a feeling even the cavemen would have had. Compared to him you have the luxury of buying one for few pounds, without wasting valuable calories. But there is a choice. There are seven or eight varieties at the shop, even more. And one of them can be favorite of yours. There are ten coffee shops along the way. And some even sell buns. And you might calculate what better use you can put that money into, as a coffee is not a necessity of every man, but a luxury of modern life. This might put you through a form of paralysis called analysis. Even if you have no paralysis on your morning coffee, I am sure throughout a routine day, you will feel the uncomfortableness of making a choice. As luxury offers many choices, at a wide range of prices, never letting you be satisfied and free from its evil grip. RR Evils of Luxury at work Even the ordinary man spends a luxurious life, compared to then a farmer who lived in Babylonia. There is no way you can escape the evil grip of luxury. Even if you are a beggar, you might receive a burger for lunch and free healthcare. Evil of the luxury does sicken your brain. It pushes you into a race of chasing numbers. Number of doors to your car, one with a sunroof? Number of feet of your yacht measures, or number of sails it has. Number of people who came to your party. Number of birds you photographed on your vacation, and the percentage of exotics in it. I would rather miserably fail in counting. Like Mark Manson once wrote, it seems "not giving a Fu*k" is not a subtle art but a philosophy of handling the evil. So, do not come up to me with your numbers. Give me your problems, failures, sorrow, sadness, the trampled heart by the skyrocketing expectations powered by advertisements of capitalists. I might be able to listen. Agree that you are consumed by the system and formulate a plan for us to heal. The liberation Let us heal from inside out. Let our bodies relax, eat when hungry, not when there is free promotion lunch. Eat one burger, when two is given on Thursday. Sleep when eyes are tired of a hard-working day, not when you they are Screaming from staring at the Netflix screen. Donate some money not when we are rich but, when we have enough, and let it enjoy the happiness of someone else. Let us share with others what we are willing to share with only our family. Maybe that if repeated will drive away the evil nature of our soul, implanted by the luxury life. When or if you try to do that, the system will resist. It will bombard you with stories. Like there is one more experience you have to have before you become a content person. And that one more is just a mirage. You are liberated now or never. If you are not liberated now, you are just a prisoner. Freedom is a choice, not to have any choices.

Daisy world. Imagine a world with only black and white daisies. Black absorbs heat and cool down atmosphere, and White emit heat and makes it hot. And if only these conditions govern the temperature of the earth, the daisies will regulate the atmospheric temperature like a warm-blooded animal regulate their body heat with similar feedback loops. Can we apply this principle to the biosphere of our world and see it regulate the condition of the earth by maintaining its atmospheric and ground conditions? Does earth's biosphere act like a gigantic warm-blooded organism? This fundamentally is the "strong Gaia" hypothesis. "Weak Gaia" hypotheses merely agree to the fact that there are negative feedback loops in biosphere to regulate earth's condition. Not necessarily considered as a single organism. daisies Gaia hypothesis definition The Gaia hypothesis, proposed by James Lovelock (with contributions from Lynn Margulis), suggests: The Earth behaves like a self-regulating system Living organisms (plants, microbes, animals) interact with the atmosphere, oceans, and soil These interactions help maintain stable conditions (temperature, oxygen levels, pH) suitable for life Example: Plants absorb CO₂ and release O₂, helping regulate atmospheric composition. The hypothesis attracts different Individuals for different reasons. For mindfulness enthusiasts like me it shows some interconnectedness of animals and elements of earth. Similarly, the concept itself changes the thinking pattern of biologists, chemists and environmentalists. It seems like although we tend to separate individually or as a species, yet at a much bigger scale we are connected to other plants and animals and what happens to them. Imagine a world with only either black or white daisies. The planet would inevitably become too hot to live or be frozen in an ice age. Significance of Gaia hypothesis and Daisy world. Yet I can agree that one with a strong scientific background cannot reconcile to the fact the biosphere functioning as a single organism as Gaia hypothesis and daisy world example suggest. It seems too mystical in scientific eyes. It might sound like merging science with fiction. My own mind is divided between these two views as well. When we consider mass extinctions and ice ages, which had happened, against the biosphere's resistance mechanisms, the earth seems holding a harsh grudge against all of us living. More like there is no particular control command system. But the hypothesis itself doesn't ask for intention or free will. It merely talks about these feedback loops which keep the earth atmosphere constant and stable for life (Weak Gaia). As long as possible, as long as it is. Until it is disturbed by Alien forces like gigantic asteroids from outer space. Maybe it is time for me to plant some trees, spare some animals and quit burning fossil fuel, and let the trees do the work before they are too exhausted from too much toxicity I created. Some daisies in my garden perhaps recycle the CO2 I made during all winter by the end of this spring.

This article covers some philosophical aspects and mindfulness practices. I cannot forecast which at the beginning, as it just flows. Consider a leaf floating on water. Can you predict exact position in an exact time duration? Even with Modern scientific wisdom and calculus you can only approximate its position. (take a limit) If you measure the position it is going to be different with your prediction every time with a margin of error, how much small this margin, there will always be a margin. This is very significant phenomenon, as we can only approximate any truth but never reach it with science. But mind seems to be remarkable organ, as it doesn't follow science in its thinking. It can, just jump from a state of unknowing to knowing, with no elapsed time in between. Things Everything is a concept. I listened to a podcast by Kapil Gupta who spoke about everything being a concept. And I couldn't agree more. If you follow your mind, a day in and out you might see different things appear and disappear. Like on a TV screen. And every one of these mental objects have same characteristics. They seem appear without intention. They disappear on their own. And every mental object is a result of what came before it. This last character, we can summaries as everything is a concept. Concepts are built upon one over the other. If you learn the concept of Photosynthesis - which is an object which can arise in a mind, (so is the concept of Marriage) It is build upon knowledge of a "Leaf" "chemistry" "energy" "catalyst" "water" "chloroplast" "Alphabet" etc. However, that each and every component which build a concept themselves are concepts. You can trace back any one of these things and end up in nothingness. (Which again is another concept :)) So, what are concepts you know? Following is a list of concepts. Apple, Mountain, Whisper, Ocean, Lantern, Harmony, Run, Crystal, Shadow, Breeze, Thunder, Velvet, Horizon, Jump, Candle, Forest, Mirror, Galaxy, Silence, Feather, Write, Meadow, Flame, Pebble, Think, River, Storm, Canvas, Clock, Dream, Build, Iceberg, Compass, Sand, Coral, Echo, Window, Valley, Speak, Path, Desert, Glow, Thread, Rain, Climb, Leaf, Fog, Pearl, Castle, Night, Draw, Hill, Wave, Spark, Branch, Star, Garden, Cloud, Read, Snow, Light, Stone, Shell, Sun, Bridge, Drive, Flame, Road, Bird, Glass, Sky, Swim, Field, Tower, Lake, Sound, Paper, Wind, Sing, Key, Firefly, Dust, Book, Tree, Water, Laugh, Moon, Chair, Table, Rope, Island, Walk, Flower, Door, Carpet, Roadside, Basket, Plate, Riverbank, Listen As you can see, this is a ChatGPT generated random list of words, which is tangible from your mind. I am sure when you go through each of these words you will understand different things according to your prior knowledge. I am sure it is going to be different from my concepts. But fact that it is so, is fascinating. So, where do we learn these concepts from? Our teachers, parents, books dictionaries, even our own minds connect ideas and create them. We can trace back origins of these concepts into far as minds of ancestors. It seems our connection to the evolutionary monkey is more mental than physical. What is the importance of knowing everything is mental? For me it reduces the burden. If everything is "real" the pain and suffering of to gain something would be inevitable, more would be the pain and suffering of holding to it, and the pain and suffering when I see that getting destroyed. But, when I see everything is mental it forms a hydrophobic layer on my leaf of life, so pain and suffering cannot penetrate into it. Try that. Try reminding yourself everything which comes to your mind is just a concept, throughout the day. It would be a good mindful practice.

I can see a lot of confusion about value. But here in my article I am trying to unravel the mystery for you, so you never get confused. As there is a lot of confusion, we should take a stepwise approach. Trust me, If I had to teach someone one thing from my whole life experience I would tell them " Value is a belief which is confined to a consciousness, it is neither real nor inherently valuable. " But, that claim does require a lengthy explanation. We can start examining dictionary meaning of values. Then what we understand generally by values. Lastly about the claim I made. values Dictionary meaning of Value. The word value refers to the worth, importance, or usefulness of something. It can describe how much something is considered beneficial, meaningful, or desirable, whether in terms of money, quality, or personal significance. Value can also relate to principles or standards that guide behavior, such as honesty or kindness. In everyday use, it often reflects how much someone appreciates or prioritizes something in their life. As you can see value governs everything we do, as it is the fundamental tool for our prioritization. Now let's be more practical and think about our own lives. And formulate what we mean when we use the word value. I have heard this term in following occasions, see you can name a few more. Where do we learn about values? Whenever there is a transaction, we think about monetary value. We judge our friends and give them values, some are best friends, some are just buddies, some are just work colleagues, some are enemies. In a company or organization there are a set of values. We value our own life more than anything or anyone, generally. We have moral values that we adhere to. Some people have opposite values to the general public; they often commit crimes and end up in jail. Olympic Gold medal is valuable more than silver, Silver is more valuable than Bronze. Olympic Gold medal is more valuable than the monetary value of the Gold it contains. The monetary value of Gold is fluctuating each and every second according to supply and demand. gold Brainstorming about values After all this discussion of value, my question is, in all of these wide variety of situations where the word value is used are we talking about the same thing? Or are they different. If it is the same thing, if the meaning of value is universal phenomena, how are they interconnected in these heterogenous situations where we encounter the word in life. In fact, everything you did today is according to your internal scale of values. So, the main driver of modern world is not liquid Gold. It is just the inherent value system of one's own mind. Even the price of the actual Gold. Let's go again the last example in the above list to understand these phenomena better. What is monetary value of Gold? If you look at any auction market - Gold/ stock/ Forex etc., the price fluctuates moment to moment. It looks random process, but it is not at all random. The reason behind these fluctuations is the discrepancy between supply and demand. At any given time these differences are small, hence there are only slow fluctuations. However, once in a while there will be big fluctuations due to various reasons. Maybe buyers don't want to buy anymore. Maybe sellers do not want to sell anymore. However, as you can see, the market price represents how a collection of involved people is thinking about the buying and selling. What their predictions on value. The actual value is just a label. But individually each and every participant has a value in their own mind. So, for the seller, the value is less, for the buyer the value is more. The market price is just where they meet to make a trade. You would see this heaped up values if you looked at the market depth. There are many asking prices and There are many bidding prices. At any given time, Gold can reach any of these prices (technically from zero to unlimited number) As that is only determined by the peoples' thoughts. What is value? Answer Value is a belief (a thought) which is confined to a consciousness, it is neither real nor inherently valuable. And this fact is not only true for market values, of monetary assets, but anything. Even a plastic bottle has a value, but only determined at the time of a trade, between two humans. So, it is not the bottle which carries the value it is the human mind. Company values, friendship values, moral values, monetary values. Although they seem markedly different from each other fundamentally they are connected as a brief belief arise within human mind. As thoughts are not permanent things, in mind, but fluctuating all day these values are also, not permanent, and inherently not valuable. This is the fact I summarized in the sentence "Value is a belief which is confined to a consciousness, it is neither real nor inherently valuable.". Use cases At this stage, you should ask me, So, what MML? What is the practical value of your point? For that I would reply, knowing your values deeply is the only way you can be rich, either materialistically or philosophically. You will be the smartest guy in a room full of people who are unaware to the fact that their minds creating a valuable reality while you see their mistake and weakness. You will be able to remain wise while they kill each other for thoughts, which aroused in their minds, without them even knowing. Maybe the following poem will be meaningful now. Game of life. Three men played a game, on the canvas of time. Rules were set; the audience was there to witness it all. Good and evil were winning. While wisdom played in silence. For a long time, until it becomes a duet. And they shot at each other, stabbed at each other While the audience shook in horror The wisdom disappeared with the prize Into the thin air.

I'm just a floating leaf on river waters. Flowing downstream, washed by the stream. I go with the flow fast and slow. How far I will go, nobody would know. Destiny awaits in the seas. Why does a leaf float on water? Scientific explanations first. Scientific explanation is that due to the spaces inside the leaf which captures some gas, in its parenchymal cells a leaf is less dense than water and have a buoyancy. However, as time goes by more and more air will be lost and the gaps will be filled with water and the leaf will become heavier, until it starts to sink in water. Some plants living in water makes oxygen, and air trapped underneath the leaves. And this helps them with floating. Examples for this include water lilies lotus and water shield etc. https://pixabay.com/photos/leaf-vein-pattern-foliage-tree-4139030/ Floating life of a leaf on water. Have you ever taken your time to be by a stream. If you haven't let me remind you what I have seen. I have seen, slow moving water streams. When a leaf falls on the water it floats and gets washed downstream. Does it ever go upstream? no, it doesn't. A leaf always follow the water down the stream. When the stream is narrow, it travels hurried in turbulence. When the stream is wide, it slows down and reduced in speed. Sometimes it goes into a stagnant pool of water and stay afloat there. After hours or days, it gets soaked with water and become heavy, and it slowly sink down to the bottom of the sea, to degenerate there and either become food to some small creatures or become elements and enrich the bottom of the sea. Have you ever thought about this? How similar our lives to a floating leaf in a brook? Let's compare our life with a floating leaf and be amazed of the nature. Similar to a leaf, we are dragged by the powers of the nature. When I was a student, I had hard time controlling my feelings. And someone wise said to me "control yourself". The exact words still ruminate in my mind, because I wrote about it. I wrote, "control yourself is the best advice I've got" which was not true. I knew it was not true. But now I know why. If thoughts of my mind is like a floating leaf, it is bound to flow with the current. There is nothing the leaf can do about it. If the leaf thinks the leaf can change the direction, the leaf must be mad. The leaf is powerless, helpless against the nature's forces. If you stop once in a while to look at yourself, you will notice this. From morning till night, the leaf of mind just floats this way and that way, to whatever you hear, to whatever you see, and whatever you feel. The leaf has no choice . Poor, poor leaf. I would feel sorry for every leaf that floats. https://pixabay.com/photos/underwater-photography-pond-plants-1529209/ Similar to a leaf, we cannot go back. We cannot go back to our past and change anything. Leaf can only float downstream. Maybe slow, maybe fast. How far the leaf would travel will be determined by the current. And they travel alone on the river. Although surrounded by some similar leaves, they will separate. They will meet new leaves along the way. But from start to end, only the leaf knows where it has been, what it has seen. So, from the perspective of a leaf, it is a lonely journey. Like a leaf, sometimes we tend to suck in stagnated pools of water. In some places. Nothing seems to be moving. No, interesting sights, no improvement, just floating on the water. Maybe hoping a rain would come and wash away. Often would not. Once you are caught in the stagnated pool, usually a leaf would end at the bottom of the pool. It is all part of the leaf life. We cannot know which leaf is going to end up how. You would say, that is sad and depressing. You should not stagnate. You should push against all the odds and break the barrier and float downstream. I would say to what end my friend to what end? If you look at the analogy you would understand, it doesn't matter how far a leaf would travel, its destiny is at the bottom of the river. It doesn't matter how many flower gardens it had seen, It doesn't matter how many waterfalls it had seen, It doesn't matter how many mountains or trees. If you are a leaf, you end up in the bottom of the stream. Nobody can change it. https://pixabay.com/photos/water-lily-beautiful-nature-blossom-2580950/ So, how are we different from a floating leaf? I would say, not from much, but enough. Imagine being a leaf, knowing what the journey of a leaf is. Imagine the ability to see a leaf from a bridge is given to the leaf. That I would say is the different from a leaf, from many other aspects being similar. We are just leaves with ability to look at ourselves from a bird's eye perspective . But how many of us just float downstream thinking we are boats. Even if you are a boat, bottom of the water is your most likely destination. So, let us take our time to observe more and more leaves in water, so we would not be worried when water is fast and slow and stagnated. Thank you for reading. You may like to read: what is a paradigm shift and how to use it .

Life is a game Sometimes we say life is "like a game" not exactly "it is a game". By agreeing to this hypothesis, we assume there is something beyond this game like perception of life. A higher meaning, a higher target, an enlightenment perhaps. And in back of our minds, we always keep and entertain this belief of a virtuous life which exist outside our day-to-day childish games. By calling "childish" I do not assume they are insignificant. Just look at the "wealth creation game". It could generate a handsome income and a deposit for your retirement. It could mean life or death when a person is struck by a serious illness. So, by significance it is no childish game. But if you consider end game called death everything is a childish game. As there is a physical limit to everything we can achieve before death happens at a time Decided by nature. And only within this framework of uncertain future that we are supposed to play and win these games. Games we play in life. I remember the times we played, In our backyard with cousins. My brother, was a policeman, Catching me and others We hid behind shrubs, and broken walls Of old dilapidated lavatories of deserted houses We laughed we cried we fought against imaginary foes Enjoyed nothing more than hide and seek Till my mother called us all for supper. Playing games Imagine a computer game. Or any other game (one which played in Olympic). Everything about this kind of game is imaginary. Rules which define the are made by humans. There was a time the games which we play today did not exist. At the time of hunter gatherer there exist only game of survival, and game of reproduction rights. They seemed fundamental and natural. However, these games also characterize by originated within mind of the person who is living, and conscious. Only dead people do not play any game. But here is one truth if you must understand. Our happiness and Sadness which fluctuates throughout the day depends on the games we play. Life is a game. We might be playing some games out of necessity. Out of passion, or out of force by others. Whatever the reason, we tend to be either winners or losers at the end of the day. As there are discrete outcomes to these games. Yet, for a wise person, who have investigated the phenomena of self, would reveal that games that we play are entirely mental. And more you see these games as games, more you will be happy and content. As outcomes of individual games do not affect the inherent understanding of the world and self. This is why you should look at everything you do as a game. Not as actual reality, or 100%truth. The detachment from the worldly meanings occurs while it is still being attached to worldly games. Paradoxical it may seem but call that first rate intelligence if you may.

Modern Era. Once it was called liquid Gold . Oil is most valuable source of energy up to date. One barrel of crude oil would do nothing to an economy of a country, but oil is sold in millions of barrels per trade, brought by massive tankers all around the world. Oil is major part of any company portfolio, including famous Harvard institute (Ps: in recent years Harvard PF has reduced their oil exposure to less than 2% but crypto and gold exposure increased). Even surpassing Gold as a way of a class of asset in many cases. Just a few sentences are enough to emphasize the fact that, oil is the real motor of all our economic activity. It may not be in the future. But for now, we have to settle for that fact. Iran war has reduced the doubts in any mind. I cannot even hear, any environmentalist talking about climate change as it is totally obliterated by news on rising oil prices and missiles. Maybe they find it difficult to gain funds to have a media appearance. Victorian Oil Story of oil in Victorian era. Before fossil fuel was discovered in the beginning of the last century, oil came from, plants and animals. In the Victorian Era, the rising demand for oil had made it an industry to tap the sources of oil. The great majority of this supply was harvested from the largest Mammal on earth, the Whale. Yes, I am talking about Moby Dick and whaling industry of 18th Century. In a world where oil was a scarce resource, even than today, to power ever expanding economies and demand, people have killed thousands of whales per day, to harvest their blubber, to extract oil at refineries, like ones we have today. That is the true extent of the bloody nature of oil business. If you search for it, you may still find a video or two where they show how whale hunting occurred and they were skinned, near shore, until whale hunting was banned in 1980's. Today oil is still a bloody business, indirectly responsible for some starvation, and famine and war, in less so fortunate countries. It will be a bloody business until world runs out of oil in the future. Future of Oil Fossil fuel will run out in 50-60 years; story of oil would end there. So, a child born today, would have a peep into this era, of no oil to burn. Hopefully countries will turn into other sources long before it happens. Yet, as for now, it seems a distant future dream. Only 8% of global energy supply is still covered by renewables. But we will not only miss oil. There are thousands of petroleum products that we are so much used to nowadays. From Medical equipment's to clothing, plastics to lubricants. I am not sure there are even any replacement available for every one of these products. At least some of the factories would stop functioning, and some of the comforts we have today would not be a viable option in the future. "It doesn't matter to me" is the right response when I look at it as a capitalist with ever greedy eyes. But, if I looked at is as a philanthropist, I would be more concerned. Plant more awareness, encourage more research and write about it again . Maybe we can change our planet before we think about others if we get together for a purpose.

Why you should practice mindfulness 1 .Markets cannot teach you everything. If you closely followed behaviour of any market, it closely resembles how an average person feels during a day. In a moment we feel fine and positive, and in the next minute there is a dip in emotions. Sometimes, hikes up on the happiness can last a few hours, followed by pensive afternoons and gloomy nights. In fact the stock price burns such emotions of thousands of people into a single number and display on our screen second by second. I am sure, at somepoint, you may have looked at this and thought to yourself that you have figured it out. That you have found a way to navigate through this emotional mess and make a profit like a trader. It is not impossible, for some, but for majority, just a risky move. More important is how you react when market is in a panic buying or panic selling mode. How to react with stratergies, not with emotions. How to respond when all stratergies fail and you are at the verge of bankruptcy? Obviously no matter you try, markets cannot teach you everything. It is better to look other ways when we think how we can gain control over our mind, before even start doing some trading. Market fluctuation You are closer to the truth than anyone else. Mindfulness is all about intelligent guessing, on the presense of mind, while being aware. One important side effect of being aware is you come to know about valuelessness of the experience. Whether it is a high, or low emotion that you feel now, it is going to change just like value of a company or stock price. The coin will always be flipped throughout the day. Ups and downs are inevitable, just like revenue. Unexpected events occur in like, competetors coming and going. Sometimes everything you do seems not working, and you wonder what life is all about. Is there any meaning to what you are trying to build today? So, at the end, if you succeed you become a philanthropist. But unless you practice mindfulness and peek into your own so called self, earlier in your life, you might never have enough time to understand and hypothesize a hoistic view about everything. I wonder why anyone should settle for partial understanding about themselves, when they have offered a good healthy 70 years of life. Remove 20 years from each end, yet, you will have a good 30 years, in the middle for this purpose. 3. You play by different rules. By now, as an enterprenuer/ CEO you may have understood there are differnt rules that you play, than general population. The business you own, if is a cash cow, and employers will milk the customers as long as you give them a fat bonus. If everything works out the capital will grow and you will have enough to maintain a luxurious life, and entertain your craziest dreams. But, then what? I do not think many of us will ever come to that level. It is likely you will end up 800 mill USD in debt. (Like D.J. Trump once did in his career.) Consider the fact, that you are playing a game that two of these extreme outcomes are equally possible. Of course you have to play by different rules than ordinary paid worker in your firm. While doing that, to keep your sanity in check, I suggest you practice some mindfulness everyday. There are so many ways you can do that, take a walk solo. Stay quiet for a half an hour in your office chair undisturbed and write down all your thoughts when it is necessary, or take a mindful shower . I am sure you will find a way. This is not a to do list as I do not treat you as a normal human being. :)

"If your mind is clam and peaceful enough, you will find gratification in just living. There is no need to chase any dream." - MML Instant gratification Curtains. I have been observing my boring mind for few minutes on the mat. Until my eyes started to scan all over the room looking for gratification. Trust me there was nothing of that sort. There were no fancy chandeliers flower bouquets, there were no Banksy drawings on the walls. There were no paintings of African savanna. No Moving pictures. Finally, it ended up on the curtains of the doors. Sometime ago, someone had selected these curtains, which I did not know who. Imagine the trouble that person has gone through to select, perfect color for the curtains. I can remember last time I did that kind of shopping; we went through half of the material on display in the curtain house just to pick up the perfect match for our windows. If it wasn't there, we would have walked away into a different shop. And now I am looking at similar curtains picked up carefully by someone, who chose them because they were aesthetically pleasing for the eye. I have been living in this place for some time now, have I ever appreciated the curtains? For their vivid blue colors, Nice white circles on the light and dark blue background? have I appreciated the fact that these circles were not same size, or in same rows but in the sides of the curtains. Did I appreciate the blue stripes which divided each circle vertically? Maybe I did not up until now. But I feel happy just by looking at these curtains. It is not a boiling happiness when I listen to a standup comedy. Or watch SNL. It is serene, and calm. The fact that someone made this art hanging on the doors, just for someone else to appreciate. And I am sure who ever lived in this place before me, even did not care, with a good reason. When did you appreciate your curtains, like you appreciate a painting in Louvre Museum. I am sure if we just show these curtains to men and women of 1800's they would appreciate not only the colors, but also the texture and technology. Instant gratification floor tiles. Similarly, were the tiles. I wasn't aware or appreciating these floor tiles which made reflections like mirrors as they were polished to the maximum by modern equipment. Now they give a comfortable cool feeling on my soft feet, which is not used to the rough terrain of the earth. I cannot remember the last time I walked bare feet, and mud squeezed between the toes. Or I stepped on a sharp rock to feel pain. But the tiles are amazing. They are of top quality that someone would use them to build the Taj Mahal if these were produced in that era. Here I am living a luxurious life surrounded by curtains with vivid colors and tiles with soft soothing surface. Should I Not be grateful about the life I am living. Forget the fact that I gave a thousand troubles at work, and there are hundreds of problems for me to solve tomorrow. But I am happy as a tiny ant, who crunches on a breadcrumb under my couch. Maybe If you implant some deliberate boredom and dopamine detox , and water your mind with mindfulness you will start to feel your curtains of life. And will have a source of instant gratification available to serve you at any time.

A word of caution when reading lists. Nothing in this world is ultimate. If you are starting out early in a success journey, it is helpful to memories such lists as following, to help with clarity. Yet, the life is not a Tic-tac-Toe game. There is no strategy you can always win, and unexpected turns occur in one's life, not once or twice but repeatedly, making you doubt your strategy all the time. Hence, if you seek the meaning of life , there is a direction we all should look beyond any list. As an adult I may not agree with all the 13 virtues of Benjamin Franklin, but I would agree that is a darn good list. It would make more sense if you follow some articles. 13 virtues of Benjamin Franklin - the list Temperance Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation. Food can either make you sick or healthy. It is one of the joys of the nature, to taste something. It is a privilege to have a taste. But eating is something which can be hard to master and be satisfied with. One who controls their mouth, will have enough discipline to steer their lives in any direction. -> Taste as a side effect of hunger Silence Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Silence is a bliss . I have written an article about silence. Here Benjamin Franklin the Polymath. Order Let all your things have their places, each part of your business its time. I am disorderly being, but I see value of order. Order is something we try to keep against the forces of nature. As entropy is always fighting against order, to make it chaotic. I would rather have a natural order, than artificial order, and preserve my energy leaving chaos untouched. Resolution Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. Action is the most important step in progression. Thoughts in the absence of action is just blips in the universal void. Wasted energy from your food. Hence, every thought, should be made into reasonable steps, one step at a time. Inspiration is perishable , immediate actions would make it eternal. Frugality Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself. Resources are sparse. There is an urgent need of sharing if we would like to survive longer. Singer's famine relief argument suggests, if we consume more, even if it is not immediately apparent would indirectly affect the fundamental needs of some unfortunate human beings. Industry Lose no time; be always employed in something useful. I would disagree to this. As doing nothing had been most productive times of my life. Would watching a film , a waste of time? Walk in the park a waste of time? But rather, being in a place where you do not want to can be considered a waste of time. If you are thinking of working in your office while at the cinema, then it is clearly a waste of time. Sincerity Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly. This includes being true to yourself as well. If we seek truth, we must be humble to discard whatever prejudices, we had when we are aware of them. Blind faith would work against true wisdom. There is no easy path to the truth . Justice Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting benefits. Opening statement of the novel Great Gatsby, suits here. Hence, I will copy paste it. Be the judge of it. This was advice given to Mr. Carrey protagonist in the story, by his father. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” How to give infinite hope to someone by reserving judgement . Moderation Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. Effort, and anything we do, needs more control and moderation as there is paradoxical effect if we make it life or death situation, each and every time. Cleanliness Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. It seems trying to tackle dirt every time it occurs, is energy consuming as, the world is always moving towards higher entropy. If Benjamin Franklin is just talking about body, cloths or habitation, I would agree otherwise we would have to live with tics and Mice. Read about entropy and why world prefers chaos Here . Entropy in action. Tranquility Be not disturbed at trifles or accidents common or unavoidable. Peace is the Ultimate happiness; tranquility needs deliberate nurturing than spontaneous discovery. Chastity Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness or injury. You may have an individual opinion on this which I would not doubt, or debate upon. Humility Imitate Jesus and Socrates. It doesn't cost anyone anything to be humble. But it might cost everything if you are not. It is a good practice to know and remind what is the Ground Zero in life . This concludes the 13 virtues of Benjamin Franklin. Which one do you like the most?

I haven't written about mindfulness lately. That doesn't mean it has become a less significant part of my existence. In-fact, as I see, mindfulness cannot be separated from life itself. If I am not mindful, my existence is just a dream, during that period of time. If I cannot account every second of my life, it must be just a matrix that I have spent time in, a discontinuity of the function of life. Part of mindfulness is not just watching yourself. But deliberate effort for understanding. I have to be careful here, as what am I going to say next can be paradoxical to the above. Flowers for a change About free will and mindfulness If someone is deliberately trying to do something, and if we accept that as it is, then we spontaneously agree that the free will exist. Same goes, with mindfulness practice, as if there is someone who is practicing. Yet, if you look carefully and live by with your mindfulness, you will notice the contradiction. At the time of mindfulness, there is watching, but watcher disappears. If you try to focus on the watcher, the watcher appears but the object disappears. Watcher becomes the object of watching. What if the watching ceased? Would there be any watcher in the first place? You may say the watcher is always there in the background watching everything. Who is watching? Yet I see, the idea of the watcher is always just temporal relationship of watching. When I see the watcher typing some words, mindful about his presence it is there. And if I am not mindful about it, instead about the bottle of sauce on my table, there is just that. In simple terms I am aware of the continuity of the mindfulness, but I cannot say the same about the knower. He seems to take a vacation sometimes, when mindfulness is deeply focused on something. To be honest, I cannot call this "mind" or "mindfulness" as me. Obviously, the concept of Me has a free will built in itself. Yet I cannot guarantee about the object of mindfulness, what it chose to focus on in the continuum of time is by my free will. I am just aware of the crickets in my backyard moment ago, and mindfulness did this without asking for my free will. Understanding self is best way to understand others If you are confused by this argument by now, I have successfully accomplished my objective. I write for my own understanding, of my existence. It doesn't even matter one ever reads or think about these things. But as the topic suggest you should. By so called living, we all are indirectly trying to solve the problem of our existence, but they just come out as "life troubles". Only the ones with deeper understanding about life would agree to this, as others are simply not aware, as their awareness is not sharp. I wouldn't even call this scenario unhappy. It is just a way of nature. More flowers for more change Why should you hypothesize about your own existence? Everyone is stuck in their own subjective reality. So, hypothesizing about their own existence have in-fact formed the trajectory of their lives. I haven't come to any conclusions yet. But let mindfulness gather its own wisdom in its own phase. Just like a river, flowing without a free will towards its destiny. What have you done lately about the death you have to face in years to come? Would that not be a something to do? Or are you just worried about the oil price? It seems that it is impossible to live without discovering the purpose of your life. And the first thing which a person should do is to understand the meaning of life. But the majority of people who consider themselves to be educated are proud that they have reached such a great height that they cease to care about the meaning of existence. - Leo Tolstoy