I completed reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari and what a read it has been. It was long but the wisdom I gathered is baffling. I am very sceptical when famous people like Elon Musk and Bill Gates recommend a book but I did read this one and it has been an eye-opener. There is one topic which Harari talks about a lot and that is Capitalism. And in this article, we’ll see how too much of it is ruining our life. ...
Hope is the remedy world advocates to all the problems in life. How could ever being optimistic be a bad thing? I am a firm believer that optimism can solve almost all our problems, but recently I found out that maybe sometimes it’s okay to lose hope. Excess of anything is not good so is true with hope. If you ever become so hopelessly hopeful about an event happening you will overpower your intelligence and instinct and stay in limbo wondering about things that might never happen. ...
We all know the story of the clever crow who used stones to get access to deep water in the earthen pot but what if I say that it’s not the complete story? What if it was the utopic version of an utter disaster? And his cleverness the cause of his death? The crow, albeit clever, and with a good intension started dropping stones in the pot. When he saw the water level rise he was ecstatic. He was very thirsty but now that was not important. The adrenalin rush of having used his brain to get access to something that no one else could was giving him joy. He was enjoying himself and then he obsessed and here is his downfall. ...
It is highly underestimated how much importance we put in instant likeness. We value what we like naturally. This might not be a bad thing per se but we ought to understand what this method of decision making brings with it. We all have known by now that there are no silver bullets in life and that holds for this behaviour of ours. I’ve observed that the things that have given me longer-lasting happiness were things which I didn’t like at the first glace. Sound very weird, I know but I have examples from my own life that I’ll share. I’m forced to believe that the deliberate persistence and hard work we do towards anything can give birth to liking and that lasts more than our instant infatuation. ...
We are faster than a flash when we judge and slower than a snail when we accept mistakes. It’s been clearly understood by every sane person that judging is not right. We can only judge what we truly know and we truly know nothing. Less we know about ourself and lesser about anyone else. Then why is it so easy to judge? As Daniel Kahneman explains in his book Thinking fast and slow we have two types of thought processes, one which is fast and automatic and the other which is slow and logical. They both have their place and should be used for the right job. We, humans, are lazy and we let the automatic and fast mind direct us the majority of the times. We look and make a judgement without waiting for the slow and logical mind to think about the background. This is a deep-rooted habit pattern as our ancestors were required to make quick decisions. It was a do or die situation but things have changed. Today we are not always in a perilous situation and can take time to stop and reason but it takes conscious practice to fix this. ...
Dear Ankit, I know that you are doing great in your life. The numbers are moving fast, the numbers of age, money and mistakes. I also congratulate you for all the hardships and struggles that you have overcome. Come on, I know you want to believe that it was nothing and people have worse and I agree. But that won’t mean that what you have achieved was easy. Applaud for your efforts even when many of them might have failed. Thank yourself for trying out new things and having the courage to work on your inner self with the highest priority. ...
The title can mean different things to different people. For me, the only fortune is my time and love. My firm belief is that we love without expectations and I am the one who needs my love the most. We all have limited energy on any given day and to invest it on someone who doesn’t give a damn about you is not a great way to spend it. I love you and I always will and that’s not going to change. But if what you bring on the table is selfishness and only concern about yourself, that’s a bad vibe. I am there for you when you need me and time gets hard and I’ve always been. But I’m not going to run after you, chase you and be constantly present, to be drained of my energy. I’m going to prioritize my peace and work on being happy myself first before I help anyone else. And if this hurts your feeling, fuck you! ...
When I pondered about my likes and then about the likes of some of my closest people. It soon dawned upon me that we don’t like much. I would challenge you to take one minute pause and think of 3 things you like? I’m confident that you are going to have a hard time listing even three of them. When someone like me tries to itemize them, they come up with travel, sleep and hangout(~hangover). ...
A happy couple was living in the fast-moving city of Bangalore. They would work hard every day in the cubicle. They took pride in what they did but there were days when nothing seemed right. All the efforts they put felt useless. While there were days when everything looked perfect and today was such a day. They have bought their first car. Working in a day job, living in a big city and owning a car seems like a dream for a middle-class family. And yes, of course, it includes putting in sick leaves on a lazy day, exploring the best brews in the town and going for a drive to the one favourite Maggie shop. ...
Question is undoubtedly the most powerful tool in the quiver of an inquisitive person. It is like a shovel using which we dig the dirt of ignorance and try to understand reality. It is also the torch we point towards the pit to better see in the darkness of falsehood. It is the chisel we use to carve our own personality. The way we question reality, nature and anything around, shapes our complete being. Buddha asked if sickness, old age and death would reach him? Newton asked why the apple fell down from the tree? A child asked why the star shines and how is there water inside the coconut? ...