To enter the flow state, an idea should completely infect your mind. And that idea should be something that you strongly desire and yearn for. The half-hearted wishes do not let you fall into immersion and experience the joy that effortless action brings. At that moment, one truly understands what the right action is.
Verschlimmbesserung
It’s a german word and in English, it is loosely translated to bad improvement.
It is the process of spoiling something by overdoing it. The artist does it by giving a few extra unnecessary strokes to the painting. The musician does it by adding more notes, the chef by mixing needless spices, and so on.
The eagerness to perfect something and the will to go above and beyond sometimes is detrimental.
At times, the good is the thing to settle for and not hunt for the best one.
Problems
The problems that you encounter more or less define where you are in life. If the delay of Amazon delivery is your biggest problem to worry then it shows our priorities and the state of our living. Bigger problems put you in a different plane which in turn puts us in a different direction and path. Petty problems, petty life. It’s that simple.
Thoughts
The more we live in our heads, the more reality gets twisted and frightens us. Practicing presence and mindfulness helps us witness a less scary and terrifying world. We feel much lighter if we can leave the mind world for a bit. Treat your mind like a gym where you need to go to do some work and after that leave it and lock the damn door.
Mind chatter and your pampering of it trap you and create problems that never existed in the first place.
Scarcity
One of the important rules for the success of any task we undertake is a paucity of time. Enough time makes you lazy and comfortable. The lack of time gives you focus, prioritisation, and optimal utilization of energy and resources.
People often complain but with scarcity, you put your 100% and try to capture every microsecond that’s available and is given to us.
Serenity
The most practical question we can ask about a difficult situation is: Is it
in our control or is it not? Sweating over situations that aren’t in our
control isn’t the right choice on any given day.
Relationship
If your friend calls you stupid, most probably you shrug it off or say something even more stupid depending on your mood and energy at that moment. However, your shoulders and a big heart cannot tolerate if some stranger calls you that especially when he cuts you off on a highway.
I think based on our relationship with the speaker we determine what kind of meaning and emotional weight words have. For instance, when relatives or family members say even something very trivial we get hurt and decide to abandon them but if the same is done by our partner, we think about how cute those words are. Or if it is by our brother or sister then in fact we take delight in those insensitive words.
So, what we want to take from words and to what extent should we get affected is based on our relationships with the talker.
Biographies
Make sure that at least kids read biographies of people if not grown-up adults because young minds need to know what kind of obstacles, anxieties, fears, questions, and doubts people face when they embark on a difficult journey. And they also remind them about the potential that each one of us has and the kind of character we should embrace to live in this world. They show lives with all their flaws, hopes, and shortcomings. This prepares them for the tides of life.
Is there nobility in suffering?
Definitely not. Being a Dostoevskyian is sick and saddening. Why should any suffering have meaning at all? And we never search for meaning while we are happy. Is it to accept the helplessness and then seek some pride in it?
Friedrich Nietzsche says that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. But suffering rarely made any men stronger. Either they get used to it or become egotistical to accept that they too are weak and can weep.
Even after the Nth time, pain cripples us but humanity and so-called self-advertised strong men find it hard to swallow it.
This has a negative consequence—No one is seeking out help and is crushing their lives simply in the name of being stoic. This is a disease and a plague for us all.
They are dumping the waste into the subconscious and growing their Jungian “shadows” and society is raising sociopaths in the name of strong Spartans.
Acknowledging this can heal the sore souls and spoiled spirits. It’s time to stop searching for meaning in martyrdom and affection in affliction.
3 Things from Rocky Balboa that changed everything.
We all know the famous Rocky speech which he gives to his son about life and how it knocks you down.
The resilience and hard mindset of Rocky are truly inspiring and life-changing indeed.
I saw the movie when I was in high school and since then the wisdom has been around in my ears. Here are a few of them
- 1)Quitting is never an option.
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.
You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you are hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!—Rocky Balboa.
This is perhaps the most inspiring line I’ve ever come across. Rocky teaches about the value of persistence. It’s easy to quit if you think about it. Life knocks you down with that business failure and you go on alcohol and drugs. That’s simple and a safe way out to your La-La land.
But to continue to dream and standing up is hard because it forces you to accept the responsibility and mistakes you made which almost and always shatters your ego. Being sedated is secure and un-troubling.
No one is immune to failure and has a vaccine shot to prevent hits that life throws at you. It’s part of the process and remember the world is NASTY and very mean. People will stab you and put you down unless you take the charge.
Drink that bitter cup of responsibility and be a champion.
- 2)The Doors of change are open to all.
“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” —Friedrich Nietzsche.
This is probably the only idea that matters in your life. It’s not Lao-Tzu-type old irrelevant philosophy but a noteworthy one. Once decided, you can be whomsoever you can be and do whatever you can.
Gandhi was an ordinary lawyer but when he was kicked out from a whites-only carriage in Pietermaritzburg, the incident changed him completely. He changed himself into an activist to stand up against racism and subjugation. That change later liberated millions of Indians from the colonization of the British empire.
Likewise, Siddhartha vexed by life’s shallowness decide to change and sat under a Bodhi tree. Well, he became the Buddha by finding enlightenment and went on to be the light of Asia.
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” That’s what Albus Dumbledore wants you to hear to change your life.
- 3)It’s never about winning.
“The journey is the reward.”—Steve Jobs.
Winning matters but what matters more is the process and the journey. Because the journey changes you like nothing else. Take Elon Musk and Tesla. Even if he had failed, his insane work had already transformed him and place him at the peak where the 1% are.
Suppose you worked for 5 years and the writing career didn’t take off as you expected. You still have less traffic and don’t have enough money. But think about your skills. Five years surely means something. Writing skills made you a better thinker and no one can articulate words as brilliantly as you can among your peers. And you can still go freelance or work for a magazine with that skill you got there in the mind.
Never think that all was a waste in the end. You never know how the dots will be connected in the future.
Hang on!
Thy Vox 