Someday I get lost in the past. Papa shared a picture of mine with my grandma, I would have been 5-6 years old I am assuming. I have been thinking about my grandma, my village and the summer holidays.
I am not sure about others but I am lucky that a good part of my childhood had village life in it. Be it swimming in the village pond or bathing in boarding pump in paddy fields. I have had a share of it all.
Not to forget all the love from my grandma which meant favorite meals, money to buy sweets. Sometimes when parents would get mad at me[cos of not studying], I would go to the village and be with my grandma.
The summer holidays were 60 days long. Eating mangoes, sugarcane and guava were past times, few times we did get caught by Mali.
Fishing right outside my home during the rainy season as a result of monsoon floods. Our school would get closed for a few weeks.
We are all vulnerable. So with our identity and others with reaching somewhere. Being vulnerable can be a burden and burns lots of our neurons. We start self-doubting, questioning everything happening to us which can be good or bad.
We should ask ourselves why situations or conditions make us vulnerable. What can we do to get over it? Is vulnerability a manifest of our own mind?
My friends keep telling me, Instead of living now I am preparing for old age. My response to this is simple: I have to stay healthy and independent.
To be both healthy and independent I don’t have t prepare or wait for old age. It is a virtue one can inculcate now and live every moment. When you are healthy, you can act/think and operate more rationally. When you are independent financially you can live life on your terms.
I find the airport center of innovation. Every time I travel I get to see something new. The premise is more efficient, making things get done quickly. Be it luggage drop, security check or getting your booking pass.
Once you are inside an airport, you find a complete cosmopolitan. People from various sectors, society, backgrounds immersed in a single place. Each has own reason for the travel: leisure, vacation or health reasons.
I also see elderly escorted by their sons and daughters.
With the advancement in technology, our lives have gotten much better. We are traveling more, spending more and have gotten closer to the world.
Our brain is the most volatile organ. It is the operating system of us. If the brain is in shape, we are good. If the brain is out of place we are fucked. In the book Behave, Robert Sapolsky throws some light on the same. For simple reading, I have collected my learning about the brain. It is a collection of many other books.
The brain gears:
Basal Ganglia The controlling instinct sits at the base of the brain. Simple survival (fight/flight) and decision making are controlled from here.
Limbic System The emotional part of the brain which helps us associate behaviors, memories with positive and negative experiences.
Cerebral Cortex The part of our brain which does all the thinking. It utilizes its effort in gathering and analyzing information before making a decision.
What we eat defines who we are. Does that mean eating can affect our thinking and responses to a certain situation? Going by current research on guts aka the tiny colonies of bacteria residing inside us it indeed us. These bacteria are alternate brain. These gut bacteria communicate with our brains and let us thrive.
People We become what we read and the people we are surrounded with. As a hunter-gatherer, we were always worried about our survival. This has continued with us until now. With advancement and consumerism, we got into hoarding and seeking more of everything. Surrounding ourselves with virtues people will help us become better and avoid falling for the trap and living life of a mouse always chasing cheese.
Habit Our brain is lazy, it takes shortcuts. It helps in saving energy. It loves automaticity. When you have a daily habit of something glass of coffee and reading, the brain will fight less and let you read. The same applies to brakes and changing gears of your car. Your brain has automatized it for you.
Exercise and meditation It has been proved by science that meditation and exercise have a great effect on our brains. The flow of blood in our brain helps in better functioning of our brain.
References:
Behave by Robert Sapolsky
Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work
Guts by Giulia Enders
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
Spark: How exercise will improve the performance of your brain
Why do we have an opinion over something or someone? Are we all not trying to live a life of our own? Don’t we have our challenges and limitations? Why can’t we put ourselves in others’ shoes? Why don’t we realize that this life of ours is limited?
Ever imagined about the story of you cabby, cook, guard or cleaner. We are so busy with ourselves that they are nonexistent. If you ever get an opportunity, you will hear inspiring stories. Your hardship, grit, and perseverance will not come close to theirs. Every day is a new challenge, rebirth.
At times my friends tell me I am competing with a certain product, market or industry. This conversation gets dragged to infinity at times.
I have a standard template for the reply, I am painting my world with a unique paintbrush. I am working on solving customer’s pain points while sitting next to them. The only competition I see is ensuring customer happiness and delight.
Do I always succeed? I don’t, but I try to.
We need a small set of anchor customers and we have to delight them. Spending time on competitors is a distraction.