Been a while…

I remembered to come back here because I  spoke about it (The Blog) to someone earlier. It sent me a reminder that I write.

There’s a lot going on in life at the moment, so I have not been as consistent on here. Rest assured, life is moving forwards in a good direction. I can never say that I control the helm, however, the wind is currently favourable.

So much has happened and I am excited! Looking forward to do a list of things that have been in my bucket list. Go a bit crazy haha…despite a gloomy global outlook. One that is worrisome! Of course, the threat of nuclear war is a big worry. But I don’t know whether it’s going to happen or not, just like the uncertainty that I have dealt with most of my life.

Oh, that made me worry! It caused a lot of stress, stress that turned chronic. I was holding on to so much, not knowing how to let go.

Fortunately, there were many blessings along the hardships and many lessons learnt from the hardships. I wish I could say that I am wiser but I cannot. The most I can say perhaps is that, I am wiser compared to who I was. I am content and happy knowing this. After all, this is all I preach right!

Strive to be better than who you were yesterday!

Been a while… but I am grateful for the many blessings. It’s been a while… I am kind of mulling over what I should write about.

I know I said that I would write about geopolitics if things turned sour for Nord Stream 2 (NS2) and other causes of energy security concerns. The topic is too political and contentious for my liking at the moment. Maybe I will post facts regarding energy security concerns and the transition to renewables.

Or maybe I should just write out what I think because this blog has mostly been  a place for me to dump my thoughts.

You see time doesn’t stop for anyone. I speak from the perspective of time in this blog (https://macropassions.wordpress.com/2021/09/08/thoughts-about-running/https://macropassions.wordpress.com/2021/09/08/thoughts-about-running/ Thoughts about running! A Timeless Story)

Time is limited for us in this world. The conditions today are such that the variance is high, some have more time on earth than others because of wars. Others have more free time, and most are enslaved, tied down that they fail to even realise that they are never free.

Freedom! A word that can mean different things to different people. Free speech, freedom to live how you want to, freedom to travel, freedom to choose between right and wrong. The list goes on and on….

Definitely been a while… I am back to being my usual self, spontaneous, jumping from thought to thought. I prefer this way of blurting out my mind. Often quietly, turning thoughts into words on here. Like waving a wand and writing out what I want.

Writing is a form of Meditation for me. It’s a form of therapy. It helps me shed my thoughts to calm my mind. Then when I take a deep breath, I find that I am here in the now, in this moment, in the present moment.

A final reminder: We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.

Knowing this helps me remain humble and adopt a mindset of a student. Taking it step at a time. Although I have bad habits of trying to get ahead of myself, but having a process and holding myself accountable can minimise those bad habits.

What do I talk about when I talk about balance?

One of my starting posts on this blog site was about Balance.

As I write this blog, I want to reflect on balance once more. What do I talk about when I talk about balance? Rather, imagining balance once more.

To summarise my previous blog, if you don’t feel like clicking on the link above or here, I wrote about emotions felt as a result of imbalance. I then, presented 2 ways of dealing with this imbalance to find balance. 1) Solution oriented approach 2) Getting at the root causes approach. I then added a bit of wisdom from one of my favourite characters uncle Iroh. Wish he was my real uncle lol 😆

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Uncle Iroh’s wisdom bombs.

Here’s another one of my favourites

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I could just post all the Uncle Iroh’s pins and end this blog. But let me reflect on balance 🤔

Hope and strength is what you give yourself in dark times. That is the true meaning of strength. This is another one of Uncle Iroh’s quotes. I wanted to expand on hope.

What is hope? If I take no action towards my goals, can I hope to reach them?

If I refuse to change my habits or set ways, can I still hope for a better future?

True hope is having done the work, put in the effort and then hoping for the best. But the temporal nature of this life is such that, amidst this true hope, we can fall victim to other vices that can create imbalance within us.

An example, I write this blog for my self-development, reflections and sharing it so that, others who can relate to my thoughts can perhaps find benefit from it. But then, I start getting big headed and start thinking that I am wise and start boasting about my work and knowledge. This results in arrogance and the kind of arrogance whose roots can grab hold of the thinking, ‘that I am better than others’.

I prefer relating examples to myself because I don’t want to mention anybody else. It’s simple to use myself as an example, it’s also an antidote to keep a check on myself. It’s also a way to keep humble and knowing whether any of these vices taint my mind and/or heart.

While not with this blog, I have surely tried to get ahead of myself in other endeavours. Not thinking of myself better than others, but rather over exaggerating my skills in my own mind. This is also arrogance. Arrogance that makes me forget gratitude. Arrogance that makes me break my rules. Arrogance that causes me to praise myself and think how good I am because of my recent streak, processes and actions. Failing to acknowledge the real cause of my skills and failure to remain humble. Forgetting that all the skills, wisdom, intelligence, good habits that I have gained at all points is attributed to God alone. What I am trying to say is that ‘True Hope’ is having hope in the ‘Divine Decree’, on the condition that I do my best, put in the effort and then hope to not fall into the traps of my ego and whims. Hope to fall in love with the repeatable process to make it my instinct. Hope to improve so I can systematise it. Or better yet, another one of uncle Iroh’s quotes would fit well here.

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Get help from others in areas where you are weak. Doing this over and over, you can start to see some of your blind spots. You can start to see your learnt behaviours and patterns.

I am going to pivot away from all the talk and reflection and finish this by saying, what can help me the most is being comfortable with uncertainty. It is indeed difficult to be patient over something that you don’t have knowledge of, or control. And what helps to be comfortable is meditation. It works well so long as I am not neglecting others areas and aspects of life. It is difficult to move forward keeping everything in balance. Especially when balance is frail in the first place 😅…. even then balance, contentment, equanimity can be achieved via staying and living in the present.

ps. I got the idea for the title from Haruki Murakami’s memoir ‘What I talk about when I talk about running.’

How Rhythm Can Help Execute the good ideas?

Focussed attention and deliberate practise at one task is what sustains success and rhythm.

Bringing our lives in rhythm stacks the odds in our favour. The circadian rhythm, the constellations, the rhythm of the tides and moon cycles, the rhythm of the day and night, the rhythm of the seasons. Everything surrounding us is beating a drum of its rhythm.

Understanding and reflecting upon this rhythm reveals mysteries to many, creative ideas to others and helps finding peace within ourselves.

When practising any arts, the practitioner should he/she wish to become an expert or a master at them, must understand rhythm, practise and hone the skills to develop that rhythm. After diligent practice with focussed attention and deliberate efforts, it is possible to attain mastery/expertise in the chosen art.

Why then do so many talented people fail? Why then do so many creative people and entrepreneurs fail? In my view, a few factors behind the failures are as follows:

Lacking focussed attention

Lacking deliberate efforts

Lacking professionalism

Poor mentorship/ coaching

While the above factors hugely define the difference between success and failure. In some rare cases, success has been achieved without mentoring and coaching.

In terms of ideas that involve working with other people, the success of the ideas depends on the vision of the leaders and a great team that can translate that vision into practicable actions and put the organisation on the path to success.

I have been trying to increase focussed attention and deliberate effort lately but been failing over and over. So, I have come up with few hacks that will probably help shift my subconscious mind in an attentive state, one that can help manifest the rhythm required for the arts. Hacks like weekend preparation, not just the plans but down to some other details that look after my health; body, soul and mind.

Most importantly though, quiet the inner critic, getting back on track when slipping, accepting the things as they are not in my control and finally, increasing the focussed attention, deliberate efforts to follow a rhythm that can help me execute the ideas in practise.