11 Aug The Risk of Delayed Gratification
On a hot day a cold glass of water is refreshing now, necessary later. Should I drink it now or will it evaporate before I need it?...
09 Aug Albert Einstein
"The exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler." Albert Einstein was identified as having "impostor syndrome," having doubts about his significant accomplishments and talents and fear that others would ultimately realize he was a fraud, not the extraordinary genius they held him to be. Impostor syndrome is not a mental illness, rather a psychological behavior pattern. Other luminaries with impostor syndrome include Tom Hanks, Sheryl Sandberg, David Bowie and Serena Williams. While impostor syndrome may reflect underlying insecurities, in Einstein's case it reflected his enlightenment. Like Einstein, enlightened individuals have a terrific sense of humor and interesting insights about the nature of the universe. They happily welcome each day as it is the first and last day of their lives; grateful, optimistic and free from karmic prisons. The foundation of karmic prisons is the belief that we are the same person today as the people we were in passed days of our lives. (Passed days of our lives is what several spiritual practices refer to as our past lives.) The stories we and others tell about those past people define our roles in the play of life. Our roles imprison us by limiting our perspectives as we experience the world not as it is but in the context of what we "learned" in previous lives (our stories, characterizations, categorizations and general descriptions about the world). The foundation of karmic prisons crumbles when we come to know the nature of reality, that the universe is forever changing, eternal and beyond description as everything is unique. It is what it is whatever it is. We are not the same people we were in passed lives. Our experience of the universe need not be limited by what we've learned and our memories but by our imagination.(1) Einstein didn't suffer from impostor syndrome. In describing himself as a willing swindler, he realized that he was simply another physics researcher among thousands in the world; that he was not the genius who long before made the great discoveries associated with him; that he was a fraud by willingly acting in the role assigned him as the greatest mind of the 20th century. That is true genius. (1) "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." Albert Einstein....
08 Aug Puns and Pundits
Puns are a play with words or phrases that reveal certain truths; that things are not necessarily as they conventionally appear. Pundits are serious, well-educated and opinionated, never in doubt but often wrong. We embrace their views as they provide us a sense of certainty, however false, in an uncertain world. Puns are more insightful than pundits....
05 Aug The Mind is a Prism
The mind is a prism refracting light into a spectrum of colors. Each color a mood. We choose the color through which we see the world....
04 Aug Way Of Way 159
Those who know they know nothing are childlike. Those who think they know everything are childish....
04 Aug Better to Laugh than Smile
If we can't laugh, we can't afford to smile. Laughing is a great rejuvenator. It dispenses pain and stress and energizes us. Otherwise, pain or stress consume much of our energy. If we can't laugh at pain and stress, we can't afford to spend energy on smiling to cover our distress. Better to identify something funny about our painful or stressful circumstances....
03 Aug To Happiness via Suffering
The best things in life we take for granted. Suffering can awaken us to this truth which can lead us to happiness. Suffering is when we desire that which is not available. When we suffer, we can have flash recollections of how relatively fortunate we were before our suffering. Moreover, we can realize that even in our suffering we have much for which to be thankful as our current circumstances could always be worse. This is gratitude. As well, we can take solace in knowing that our suffering will at some point come to an end as all things are constantly subject to change, hopefully for the better. This is optimism. Gratitude and optimism are two of the three pillars of happiness....
01 Aug Learning by failing
Our failed efforts can be very valuable. They are valuable if they teach something about ourselves as that increases our chances of realizing success in the future. If we blame others for our failures, our failures are worthless. ...
31 Jul Mary had a little lamb
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is a 19th century nursery rhyme familiar to most American children. A simple rhyme, yet befuddling without an understanding of relationship and context. Does Mary had a little lamb mean that Mary had a pet lamb; that Mary had a small vagina; that Mary had sex with a lamb; or that Mary ate a little lamb? It's a matter of context and relationship. In the context of Mary's father reading the rhyme, it's clear that Mary had a pet lamb. However, Mary's boyfriend talking with his buddies likely means that Mary had a small vagina. Mary's kinky friends might mean that Mary had sex with a lamb. Mary's dinner partner would mean Mary ate a little lamb. Context and relationship defines meaning....