Wednesday, July 29, 2020

You're Enough



Does anyone ever feel like they're perfect the way they are? Or are we all feeling inadequate in some way? When will we ever feel like we're enough or just as good as anybody else? Why is it that the perfect picture of ourselves never matches our reality?

"Other people see in us what we see in ourselves." 
-David J. Schwartz

Life insecurities is getting in the way of living to the fullest. To just be and let it be sounds simple but it definitely isn't'. This isn't something that becomes better with age as I've seen many people in the last stages of their lives still not being at peace with themselves. It's something that we first need to identify as a problem and work towards improving.

"The key to winning what you want lies in thinking positively toward yourself. The only real basis other people have for judging your abilities is your actions. And you actions are controlled by your thoughts. You are what you think you are." 
-David J. Schwartz

It's difficult to feel confident when we feel inadequate. What  can we do to work on this? We need to attack this problem on two fronts:

  1. First, and most importantly, we need to think positively towards ourselves. Sure, we may have some bad sides but we also have some good sides. There are good and bad things in all of us - this is what being human is all about.
  2. Second, there are some things about us that we definitely need to change. If we have addictions, for example, it's not enough for us to simply think positively about them - we need to get rid of them altogether.
To recap, think positively about yourself, identify the things that are a nuisance and fix them. Even when we fail to change, just the thought of seeing ourselves as a project to work on is sometime enough to see the better side of us.
It is better for us to identify our own problem than to have others identify them for us. Fixing ourselves is our responsibility - nobody can do that for us.



Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Look Your Best But Don't Overdo It

*David by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

We're a society that's very appreciative of beauty which places a, often unfair, pressure on people to look a certain way. There are some good sides of this as it sometime inspire people to make dietary, or lifestyle, changes in order to bring out, what is widely considered, attractive physical features. This becomes a problem, however, when taken to extremes. Some people don't feel pretty unless they look like they can lift a car.

The pressure to look a certain way can be so great that some people will get all sorts of surgeries to "fix" what they think is wrong with them physically. If you have no reason to get a new nose, other than you think it's too small or big, then why do it? Note that there are no surgeries that will allow us to look 20 years old once we reach the ripe old age of 60. Plastic Surgeons are obviously not against this trend as it allows them to own a few cars and a condo in the Bahamas.

"Exterior beauty without the depth of a kind soul is merely decoration."
-Anne Marie Cummings.

On one side, it's great to live in a society where we have the option to change our physical appearance but I hate the fact that it is so widely used for the wrong reasons. Somewhere along the way, we have lost sight of what true beauty is. It's not about how you look as much as who you are. There are no surgeries available that can fix a broken soul. It is far more pleasant to be at the company of someone with a kind heart than someone with nothing but a pretty face.


Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Virtue is Happiness



"The highest good was the virtuous life. Virtue alone is happiness, and vice is unhappiness." 
-Take from the introduction, from an unknown author, in the book "Meditation" by Marcus Aurelius.

Inner peace can be easily achieved by those that live a virtuous life. Inner peace is something that we should all work towards as there's no greater joys to be had in this life than to be a peace with it.
When we live a life of vice, or a life that goes against our moral values, it is the vice that is in control and not the other way around. We may think that we have control over our vices but it's an illusion. If you can stop your vice "anytime you want" but don't then you are not in control of it. You only really gain control over it once you accept it as one of your flaws and work towards getting rid of it.

There can be no inner peace if the mind is preoccupied with vice. If there's no peace then there's no happiness. How can you be happy when it is the vice that is in control of your life instead of you?

We don't have to look too deep to find our vices. The difficult part is to see them for what they truly are: an hindrance to our inner peace and happiness. Dedicate your life to being the best version of you that you can be. Start by removing your vices.


Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Religion and Tyranny



A Tyranny is a nation under a cruel or oppressive form of government. Leaders of such parties often shows a religious side for no other purpose than to better control the populace. Hitler was a tyrant that used religion to convince a nation that the Jews were bad people for their involvement in Jesus' death. If Hitler was, truly, the religious man he professed to be to his people he wouldn't of committed such atrocities.

Religion can be a wonderful thing when it is used for its intended purpose but a really ugly one when used as a mean of control or as a way to meet some selfish, tyrannical, end.

Tyrants using religion as a mean to control the populace isn't a new, nor original, idea. Aristotle said, almost 2500 years ago in his "Politics" book: "...Also he should appear to be particularly earnest in the service of the Gods; for if men think that a ruler is religious and has a reverence for the Gods, they are less afraid of suffering injustice at his hands, and they are less disposed to conspire against him, because they believe him to have the very Gods fighting on his side..."

This was as much of a problem then as it is today.

According to the "planetrulers.com" there are currently 50 dictatorship in the world. Tyranny and dictatorship are interchangeable terms. I don't have data on how many of those dictatorships uses religion as a mean to control but I find it frustrating that there are still so many of these oppressive forms of governments around in this day and age. Don't you find this frustrating?

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

The Best Thing About Me



Even though I work full time, I often go through interview exercises in my head. I do so to prepare for future job search.

One of the questions I ask myself, during these imaginary interviews, is "What is your best quality?" and there's one answer that comes up more so than others which is: I understand the importance of staying humble. 
A person stops learning as soon as he considers himself an expert. Daniel R. Castro, in his book "Hidden Solutions All Around You", said "Don't be blinded by your own expertise." Richard Feynman refers to it as the "ignorance of experts".

I believe strongly in this philosophy because I have seen it first hand. I saw people come to my project being so confident in their abilities that they didn't bother learning the new things to accomplish the task at hand and that ultimately lead to their downfall.
If an expert is not humble then he not only set himself up for failure but he may also come across as arrogant, rather than confident, to his peers.

I believe so strongly in this philosophy that it's been the motto of this site (listen to those with the fruit from the tree) from the very beginning. Be humble my friends and learn until the day you die.


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