freedom

We want to live independently and seek freedom. For each one of us, the definition of freedom differs. Some want enough material wealth to retire early. Some others seek for fulfilling their parent’s wish list. Many others give back to the community by opening non for profit or spending hours in a month for a cause.

Above all, true freedom is about knowing who we are and being aware of our actions. As long as we are in it with complete awareness, the purpose will lead to the cause for freedom.

castle

I was speaking with Jay last night. We got deviated from regular chit chat to wealth. The summery was short in simple: what will I do with 100 castles when in the end I have to sleep in one each night.

The difference between a poor and a millionaire boils down to our needs and how we see our world. A poor can be happy, healthy and a millionaire can be sick, vulnerable.

The castle is our mind, our thoughts.

noise

The recent Hidden Brain podcast features Daniel Kahneman author, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment.

The author describes noise as a mental construct loaded with our bias and environment in making decisions. He cites examples of various court judgments which resulted in people spending too long or less time in prison. Kahneman suggests the use of algorithms to work alongside judges in making better decisions.

We are in an era of algorithms. Be it dating, getting married, picking a cab, watching movies, ordering vegetables: algorithms are part of life.

Another specific term author mentioned was naive realism, our defined worldview. Most of us don’t see the world beyond it and don’t even care if it is right or wrong, In simple being ignorant and sedating our narcissism.

bored

Bored: Let’s travel: pay to Airbnb, Uber, Expedia.
Bored: Impulse buying: Amazon.
Bored: Order food online: Grab
Bored: Watch movies: Prime, Netflix
Bored: Connect with friends: Twitter, Facebook
Bored: Want attention: Instagram, TikTok
Bored: Hookups: Tinder, Bumble
Bored: Buy stocks and Crypto: Robinhood, Coinbase.
Bored: Smoke pot or drink alcohol: Order online(Legally)
Bored: Online bet:
Bored: Play online games: EA Sports.

Phew, this list is endless. 🙁

Isn’t our boredom a multi-trillion-dollar industry?
There is a price for every action of ours: boredom and loneliness foster the modern economy and keeps the consumerism treadmill going.

cheat day

Lockdown has resulted in overeating and zero running. At the same time, food cravings have gone on to their peak. I have gotten into ordering food one or the other day. The laziness won over me.

Thankfully for the last few weeks, I have gotten in the zone of a cheat day. I try to avoid eating wheat, sugar, and milk as much I could. But to not let monkey mind run over me, I have come with an affirmation, Sunday is a cheat day. So eat all carb, sugar, or milk one day a week.

I hope it works. Fighting the monkey mind is a challenge in itself.

MLM

Social media has turned into an MLM Ponzi scheme. The so-called thought influencers from various industries are faking it. This post title: The Great Online Game, and it talks about the same in detail.

We are living in the era of gathering quick bucks, respect, and everything else. Everyone aspires to be next Naval, Elon Musk, Charlie Munger, or Marc Andreessen. Most don’t like to work hard but expect to posture and amplifying their tweets, blogs, posts, etc.

rain drops

It rained last night. After a long time, I was out of my zombie mode(mobile, social media) and sitting silently on my balcony.
The noise of vehicles or YouTube was missing and, it was a perfect void that made me listen to the raindrops. Raindrops were like playing their unique tunes. Some were falling on the tiles, some on the plastic pipes, and some on the rooftops.

The rain bought down the heat. I remember being scared of a thunderstorm. I would get comfort because I would be with my parents around. While growing up in my hometown, the rain was all about running to aam bagicha(mango orchid) and plucking fallen mangoes. We would spend time listening to frogs orchestra.

Things have changed now; rain means the overflow of sewers and traffic jams followed by humidity the next day.

cult

A group of blind believers over some ideologies, belief results in a cult. It could be a common purpose, ideologies, and beliefs. Our past has it all religious sect, a cult leader, psychedelic hobbyist, or a religious guru.

In the modern era, a cult has transformed into consumerism, and being part of it has become a status symbol.

Look around and observe, how much of your buy, belief is the result of yourself fitting into one of these cults?

Are you getting blinded, robbed, and brainwashed or in FOMO? Think.

who

The current life we are living is right out of a Hollywood script. I had not imagined seeing humanity coming to a standstill due to a virus. Most of us are suffering and recovering from the grief of losing our dear ones. The trauma is not going over anytime soon.

At the same time, we have to live our life. Make the best of what we have. We know we have nothing as the system has collapsed. But if we give up and become depressed, what will happen to dependents: kids, parents, employees?

Our actions directly going to impact and affect their family. In simple terms, the calamity has struck and, who other than us/I/me/you will take ownership and fight it head-on? We can deal with the government, politicians, and others when this calms down. But for now, it is us, we have to act, lead and sail through this.