89 seasons

The Last Colony

2010-02-07T15:03:00.003-07:00

I just finished reading John Scalzi's The Last Colony. It didn't have the "I can't put this down" feeling that I got from his other books (Android's Dream, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades).

Recent Readings

2010-01-31T13:56:00.004-07:00

Revelation Space - the story was pretty decent, but the character development wasn't that great and so it took me a while to finish it.
The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why -- only read the first 50 pages; this book wasn't for me:-(
The Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks -- I couldn't put these books down!! They were absolutely amazing -- but very sombre, which I didn't expect. The characters were really amazing. Overall, it was tons of fun!

Fear

2009-10-15T23:36:00.001-07:00

I watched David Lynch's Dune a few weeks ago. I thought it was OK (I guess I didn't "get it"). I really liked this line from the movie: "Fear is a mind killer."

Robin Chase

2009-10-04T21:04:00.002-07:00

Fascinating talk by Robin Chase, co-founder of ZipCars. Its a very creative solution to the problem of pollution and congestion. Also, I'm sure there are tons of people who don't want to own cars (and the headaches that go along with it), but find them necessary every so often (they even rent cars by the hour). Their story is quiet interesting.

Bounce

2009-09-27T14:22:00.003-07:00

The market is shifting. And your company is facing hard times. But you don't want to just survive it; you want to move to the next level. And maybe predict where the market is going and be ready for it.

The book, Bounce, deals with such a scenario. I'm sure thousands of books have been written on this subject matter. This one deals with the situation using new terms ("Bounce", "Manage the Mission", ...) and a new way of looking at it: from the perspective of Rangers in the Army and the training they go through to perform under enormous pressure. I think this book was mainly written for managers, so I couldn't connect with it.

But I've been seeing more and more business books of this sort: a long (made up) story that illustrate a few short principles. I think Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box and The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict are two of the best books in that category. (They are also amazing books in general.)

Three Laws of Performance

2009-09-26T23:32:00.003-07:00

I finished reading The Three Laws of Performance a few months back. I'm pretty sure that its an amazing book, but the concepts were a bit hard to understand. So I'll need to read it again to be able to explain what's going on in it. (That's why I didn't take any notes on it -- or maybe I was just lazy :) Anyway, here are the 3 laws (which in the book are illustrated with some amazing stories):

How people perform coorelates to how situations occur to them.
How a situation occurs arises in language.
Future-based language transforms how situations occur to people.

Born to Run

2009-09-24T22:46:00.009-07:00

I just finished Born to Run. A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. And it is one of the best books I've read in a long, long time! Why? Because it has great stories (and stories within stories within stories...), lovely characters and great science that links humanity & running.

But I was really fascinated by two things. First, by what the human body can achieve. The book follows ultra-marathoners who run 50-150 mile races! It takes them anywhere from 6-25 hours to complete them. Quiet amazing!

And second, by the critical role of feedback:

the more cushioned the shoe, the less protection it provides (p173)

So with a modern shoe, with lots of cushion, while running, the foot comes down hard and pushes "through the soles in search of a hard, stable platform." But when it comes against a hard surface, the foot goes into self-defense mode. And so, you come down lighter. Thus, without that "harsh" feedback the foot get fooled, and this is said to cause all sorts of running related injury.

But the best part is that I now have an urge to run, just like the people described in the book

Simple & powerful teachings

2009-08-15T01:37:00.004-07:00

Masters teach simple & powerful truths. Here are the ones I've come across along with my understanding of their teachings:

Byron Katie - your thoughts cause suffering. Don't believe them! They aren't true.

Eckhart Tolle - Now is all there is. Be aware of it.

Alan Watts - This is it! This is reality.

Jim Rohn - work harder on yourself that on your job

Louise Hay - you can heal yourself by loving yourself

Small experiments are the key

2009-08-08T18:45:00.003-07:00

"The Right Plan is to Not have a Plan", a blog post by Tom Peters

While planners treat the plan as holy writ, searchers live by rapid trial and error and learn through constant experimentation and adjustment.

In that blogpost he quotes from William Easterly's book:

In foreign aid, Planners announce good intentions but don't motivate anyone to carry them out; Searchers find things that work and get some reward. Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them; Searchers accept responsibility for their actions. Planners determine what to supply; Searchers find out what is in demand. Planners apply global blueprints; Searchers adapt to local conditions. Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom; Searchers find out what the reality is at the bottom. ... A Planner thinks he already knows the answers; he thinks of poverty as a technical engineering problem that his answers will solve. A Searcher admits he doesn't know the answers in advance; he believes that poverty is a complicated tangle of political, social, historical, institutional and technological factors; a Searcher hopes to find answers to individual problems only by trial and error experimentation. A Planner believes outsiders know enough to impose solutions; a Searcher believes only insiders have enough knowledge to find solutions, and that most solutions must be homegrown.

And in another post, Peters talks about systems thinking: (Systems Thinking):

My article claimed that "planning" was highly overrated. The best performers, I said, seesawed back and forth between "ideas" and "actions." That is, they had a "big idea." (Or a small one, for that matter.) Rather than think it to death, they immediately got the hell into the field and experimented with some element of it (a prototype). They watched what happened, adjusted, and then quickly ran another experiment—in the meantime the "big idea" also was trimmed or expanded to fit the incoming "real" data, the results of those experiments. As far as I'm concerned this approach, rather than a "planning-centric" approach, is the best (bold assertion) route to success.

And he recommends a book that seems pretty interesting: Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate

Rules

2009-08-08T01:50:00.001-07:00

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something
--Thomas A. Edison

Obama

2009-05-27T01:35:00.003-07:00

I just finished Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. And I loved it! I especially loved the parts about him growing up and scenes from his everyday family life. Unfortunately there wasn't too much of that.

In the book, he mainly talks about many of the problems we all (as Americans) face and on ways to resolve them. And some of the solutions he suggests deeply connected with me. It opened my eyes to what could be possible. And so really did give me hope on things I had kinda given up on. I'm glad that he is our President now and can't wait for the next book he'll write...

Unstuck!

2009-05-23T00:18:00.002-07:00

It is hard being stuck to an idea. It becomes the center of your universe. And all you other thoughts converge towards it. When this goes on long enough, it probably becomes a belief, which defines the way you live your life and the experiences you have in it.

But by questioning/inquiring (the hard part), you can remove the idea from the center and consider it to be just another one of your thoughts. And then, Poof! - the idea lets go of you.

Henry David Thoreau

2009-05-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. --Thoreau

Books

2009-05-03T13:19:00.011-07:00

Lately I've been reading 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons To Make Love Last by Linda and Charlie Bloom.

It is quiet wonderful: each lesson is 2-3 pages long and contains a mini-story about a key principle. Some are obvious (like #30. Expectations set us up for resentment). Others are surprising (like #38. Vacations are necessities, not luxuries & #44. If you think, "You're not the person I married," you're probably right.) Overall, it is fantastic book on how to cultivate a great marriage. And not only do the Blooms' share stories about their patients, but also about their own struggles in their marriage!

A few other books I've found very interesting, but haven't bought yet:

The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life
Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming
The Gift of Fear
Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America -- this one was recommended by Bill Gates during his inspiring TED talk (if I remember correctly)

Recent books

2009-01-11T22:44:00.009-07:00

Here are some books that I've read recently:

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi - very enjoyable; I read Sci-Fi books while on my exercise bike, and so I don't even notice the time go by...
The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life by Thomas M. Sterner -- Sterner prepares & maintains pianos for concerts, which requires long hours of concentration. So he talks about how to get to that level (basically, by living in the Now) and what it takes to be an expert in something (basically, deep, intensive practice). I noticed something similar when I first started playing basketball back in high school. There was a difference between practice and playing, and those who started playing, without practicing the fundamentals, never got very far. And, also, when you have the choice between practice or play right in front of you, it is easier and more fun to go play with others than to practice.
Love is Letting Go of Fear by Gerald G. Jampolsky -- this book is kind of a summary of A Course in Miracles (which is extremely popular in some New Age circles). Jampolsky lists 12 principles and illustrates them with personal examples. Here are the 12 principles:
1. All that I give I give to myself
2. Forgiveness is the key to happiness
3. I am never upset for the reason I think
4. I am determined to see things differently
5. I can escape from the world I see by giving up attacking thoughts
6. I am not the victim of the world I see
7. Today I will judge nothing that occurs
8. This instant is the only time there is
9. The past is over -- it can touch me not
10. I could see peace instead of this
11. I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt
12. I am responsible for what I see

Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects by Dmitry Orlov -- Orlov paints a frightening picture of what would happen to America if its economy totally collapsed; like what happened to the Soviet Union in the 80s. He believes that things would fare much worse in America.
Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran. Easwaran's writing is brilliant, poetic and moving. Here are some quotes from there:
(p42) Artistry in living begins with learning to be flexible for the sake of those around us.

(p44) A big ego has sharp angles and corners that stick out everywhere; we cannot get near such a person without getting hurt

(p51) "Do what brings pleasure, avoid what brings pain." To act in freedom, we have to unlearn this basic reflex.

(p98) [Quoting Ramanuja] "What we seek as our highest goal depends upon what we believe ourselves to be."

A Deepness in the Sky...

2008-12-13T02:09:00.000-07:00

Whoever knows he is deep tries to be clear, whoever wants to seem deep to the crowd tries to be obscure. For the crowd supposes that anything it cannot see to the bottom must be deep; it is so timid and goes so unwillingly into the water
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Favorite books

2008-11-29T22:14:00.015-07:00

1 Man's Search for Meaning
2 The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict
3 Leadership and Self Deception: Getting Out of the Box
4 The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
5 Zen and the Art of Happiness
6 Take Your Time: How to Find Patience Peace and Meaning
7 Your Inner Awakening: The Work of Byron Katie: Four Questions That Will Transform Your Life
8 The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
9 A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
10 The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life
11 Autobiography of a Yogi
12 Tibeten Book of Living and Dying
13 One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way
14 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
15 The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance
16 Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment
17 Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance
18 The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battle
19 How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling
20 Mad Bear: Spirit Healing and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man
21 How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis

Naikan & the ToDo Institute

2008-10-26T14:24:00.008-07:00

Quotes:

To me, grace comes from an examination of one’s life in which you realize that you don’t deserve what you’re getting, yet you’re getting it anyway.

We’ve gotten into the habit of seeing only the problems, because they are more dramatic. That’s what gives a story value.

It’s hard to imagine compassion in the absence of attention. The people I think of as being the most compassionate also tend to be the most attentive to others. It’s a great shock to realize how much of our attention is constantly on ourselves and how rare it is for us to focus our attention on someone else.

Research shows almost every psychological disorder is associated with self-focused attention. That doesn’t mean that self-focused attention causes tbut it’s an important element of the problem.

A beautiful interview (Many Thanks, Gregg Krech on the Revolutionary Practice of Gratitude - PDF link) with Gregg Krech, founder of the ToDo Institute.

Naikan practice is based on 3 questions, focused on a single person:

What have I received from THIS PERSON?
What have I given to THIS PERSON?
What troubles & difficulties have I caused THIS PERSON?

Truth

2008-09-17T22:02:00.002-07:00

From the wonderful Ted talk by Jonathan Haidt:

If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between "for" and "against" is the mind's worst disease. -- Sent-ts'an, c. 700 CE

Derek Sivers

2008-09-09T21:02:00.002-07:00

Derek Sivers speech to Berklee College of Music from Derek Sivers on Vimeo.

Lama Anagarika Govinda (Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism) on Modern Physics, etc.

2008-05-13T00:55:00.001-07:00

The ultimate concepts of physics may lead us to a greater understanding. It is very interesting, for instance, that in modern physics the more logical you are, the more wrong you are. This shows very clearly the limits of our logic. Actually, the universe often seems unreasonable to us because we apply our own logic to something which is not of the same category. We never can say where a particle is and what it does, and so we can only guess, or define it as either particle or a wave. Yet it is neither one nor the other, but both. You may ask, for example, about the "logic" of reincarnation. I don't feel we can reduce the idea of reincarnation to pure logic. Since our beginnings are infinite, and the causes are also infinite, the combinations must necessarily be infinite. It is impossible to explain such things with our linear logic since the cause and effect, from the universal point of view, are multi-dimensional. For instance in the Lankavatara Sutra, I was impressed by the description of karma as "habit energy." Having done something once, we are impelled to do the same thing again under similar circumstances. Karma is indeed habit energy, and the moment we get out of the habit of something, it is gone.

--Lama Anagarika Govinda (Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism)

The illiterate of the 21st century...

2008-05-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. -Alvin Toffler

Time for Something Different

2008-02-14T23:20:00.001-07:00

I like re-inventing myself. So it is time for something different. Bye!

Zen & the art of Happiness

2008-01-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

I just finished Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentiss. According to the book, the main key to happiness is to just be happy. (Yeah, that sounds weird!) But how do you go about doing that? Well, whatever the situation, just adopt the belief "Everything that happens to me is the best possible thing that can happen to me." And no matter what situation you are in, look at it from the viewpoint of that belief. When you do this, you not only are more happy (with less stress), but you open yourself up to solutions to the "problem."

Now you might have a hard time taking up this belief -- especially when things aren't going so well. But, Chris gives an amazing insight into how this can be true. He states that the above belief is really an Universal law. And that all Universal laws "are in favor of the continuation of the Universe." And since the Universe want to keep going, to keep expanding, it'll only allow the best possible events to happen -- only the perfect events to happen. Because, once it allows an imperfect event to occur, they that event might lead to two imperfect events and so on, and the Universe might come to an end because of that. So anything that happens to you, is really the Perfect Thing that can happen to you!!

So some inspiring quotes:

The Zen of doing anything is doing it with a particular concentration of mind, a calmness and simplicity of mind, that brings the experience of enlightenment and, through that experience, happiness. [p 10]

A situation only becomes favorable when one adapts to it. [p 88]

How you conduct yourself along the path that is your life determines how your life unfolds. [p 94]

The Universe always strikes you at your weakest point because that's what most needs strengthening. [p 116]

Events are the language of the Universe. [p 134]

What good will come from this? [p 141]

In the middle of the book, Chris talks about his son's addiction to drugs. He narrates a difficult story of the ups and downs of this son's life during that time -- and his (the son's) inability to break the addiction. Finally, the story ends abruptly -- Chris states that his son had a reason (an underlying cause) to use drugs and only after the reason was discovered, was he able to stop his addiction. Thus father and son, with their experience were able to open up Passages Malibu, a holistic addiction cure center. I was kind frustrated by the fact that Chris doesn't really give the crux of the solution -- what his son's reason was and how to go about finding that reason. Instead he refers readers to his other book, The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery. Well, after reading the book -- I'm not frustrated by the above -- its the best thing that could've happened -- now I have a great opportunity to read a book on addiction & its cure. I wonder "What good will come from this?" [p 141]

Update: Here is one other thing I got from this book -- my thought: "Pretend you have your dream Job (or dream Life) and do the things you would do if you actually had that Job (or Life)."

Catching the Big Fish

2008-01-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I picked up a copy of Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch at the local Barnes & Noble. And I finished reading it in about 2 hours in. Lynch is a Hollywood director (Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks) who practices Transcendental Meditation. And he talks about how you have to dive deep within yourSelf to catch the Big Creative Ideas. And meditation helps you do that. You become more conscious and more aware of things.

He also talks a bit about teaching kids meditation in schools to help them deal with the stress of life (after all, kids probably have as much stress as their parents!). Quiet interesting. He calls it Consciousness-Based education and funds schools via the David Lynch Foundation.

Here is a quote from the book:

[page 5] I have never missed a meditation in thirty-three years. I meditate once in the morning and again in the afternoon, for about twenty minutes each time. Then I go about the business of my day. And I find that joy of doing increases. Intuition increases. The pleasure of life grows. And negativity recedes.

For sometime now I haven't been good and buying a book, finishing it and moving on to another book. I have at least half-a-dozen books that are half read! That's going to change in 2008!

Follow your Bliss

2008-01-03T14:19:00.001-07:00

From the Joseph Campbell Foundation:

Bill Moyers Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

Joseph Campbell All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. [...] My general formula for my students is "Follow your bliss." Find where it is, and don't be afraid to follow it.

That's my new year's resolution: find my bliss & then follow it.

How come nobody understands me?

2007-12-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

Its like I speak:

ekfdl fldleod dlfjldf sljf fljdoen kd ieo fkfi fkfeol ddof if fk fkf jf. ldifl, lsleifj dkdkdf eie kdkd fifen? dlf iefl ldje sjs s as sdlf edoeo sosojfwf w sfjfo dsls dsdsd sksd dd sjsfjoew slsl owf w wefwe ss sosos sf slu ufe wu weqcmc, q0sow wouwc...

The Gap: there seems to be a gap in all relationships that I have seen. Within this gap resides the "What the hell are the thinking?", "They don't know anything", and "Oh my God, that person is dumb" -- non-acceptance, resistance towards the other person, misunderstanding the intentions of the other person.

This gap used to trouble me a lot. But now days, I mostly ignore it and pretend that it doesn't exist. That makes life a whole lot easier.

I guess one way to close the Gap would be to accept whatever reasoning the person gives. And withhold judging it.

Napoleon Hill's Thought For the Day -- December 7, 2007

2007-12-09T00:33:00.000-07:00

For Napoleon Hill's Thought For the Day

You can be absolutely certain that when you feel you are being most unfairly tested, you are being prepared for great achievement.

Leading Life

2007-10-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

This came to me early this morning:

Let Life be in the foreground and your Self in the background.

Tuesdays with Morrie

2007-10-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Finished Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom. I resisted reading it for a long time -- only because everyone else was. But I finally gave in. It's a great read. And here are a couple of quotes that resonated with me:

[page 42] The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it

[page 43] So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote youself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

And here is life's greatest lesson: relationships are everything. Relationship with others. And more importantly, the relationship with yourself. Take time to enjoy. Go for long walks. Listen to the other person. Really listen to them. What they are saying. What they mean by what they are saying. How they are saying it. Be present to their thoughts. Their worries. Their story. Because all of it will fade away too fast. All of it will go by too quickly. And the only thing that'll last is the love that you've shown and the love that you've received. Only that will remain.

Family

2007-09-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

From an interview with Terry Warner, founder of Arbinger Institute:

Marlen Jenson says, "The key to family life is to never make a big deal about anything."

What is life...

2007-09-13T01:23:00.000-07:00

What is life, without a good fight?

Sci-Fi and the art of overcoming Resistance

2007-08-18T12:34:00.001-07:00

I just finished Peter Hamilton's Pandora's Star, a 988 page sci-fi epic (and that's just part one). Usually, I'm not too patient in reading sci-fi books -- I try to scan the descriptions to make sure I'm not missing much and concentrate on the dialogs. But this time, I read all the details. Slowly and carefully. It took me about a week or so finish, but was well worth it, because I lost myself in that book. I especially liked to read while biking in the gym -- the 45 minutes would pass in no time!

The second book that I read last week was Steven Pressfield's The War of Art. I read it in two sittings -- each chapter is basically a 1 to 2 page essay. And I really liked the book. Short and sweet. With lots of wisdom. The gist of the book: no matter what happens, sit down and do your work every single day. Period. End of story. (In BB8 lingo.) A professional is someone who sits down and does their creative work regularly and consistently. That dedication is what makes anything worthwhile, happen. Here are some quotes from that book:

Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance. (p24)

The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them. (p37)

Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp." That's a pro. (p64)

The pro shows up to work everyday. The amateur doesn't. The amateur over identifies with his art. (p71)

Why have I stressed professionalism so heavily in the preceding chapters? Because the most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down everyday and trying. Why is this so important? Because ... [when we do that] ... something mysterious starts to happen. ... heaven comes to our aid. [Professionalism or Artist's Code or Warrior's Way is] an attitude of egolessness and service. (p108)

Two other things that I got from this book: you can (and should!) be a pro in at least several different things -- not only in your work but also in several other life skills -- like cooking for lots of people, planning and organizing big events, etc. Things that will benefit your community. The second thing: always be grateful (always say a prayer to your Muse).

So while reading the first book, I became a "professional" reader -- and overcame the resistance to skip over the "boring" parts. And in the second book, I read about that experience! And that was a good combination.

Recent readings

2007-07-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first science fiction book that I've read in a long time: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi. A great story, with many twists and turns and some really funny parts. Highly recommended! And here is a nice list of scifi books -- a place to start if you're new to the field or like me, just getting reacquainted with it: Top 10 science fiction novelists of the '00s -- so far.

And I've just started reading this book, but it is already very engaging: The Best American Essays 2000 edited by Alan Lightman. The Foreword itself is a delightful essay. Just reading it makes me want to become a better writer. I had the same feeling after I read these two books, way back in college: The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel and The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman. I never knew math could be so much fun. Here is a nice essay by Alan who talks about the Foreword and much more, all very interesting stuff: Interview with Alan Lightman.

The Art of Learning

2007-05-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've been searching for a book like this for years: Josh Waitzkin's The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence. This book is absolutely brilliant! We all want to be excellent in something. To perform at the highest levels. This illustrates one path (Josh's path) to become great in any endeavor. I've about 4 1/2 pages of notes from this book. Here are some of the gems:

page 12 -- "[being] unhindered by internal conflict" is fundamental to the learning process

page 35 -- be careful about things that are easy, but very time consuming; he sites young chess players learning, memorizing Chess openings as an example -- not useful when the opponent is equal-or-better player than this Young Chess player, since most of the match will be focused on the midgame and endgame.

page 63 -- "...brilliant creations are often born of small errors."

page 107, 108, through out the book -- it is all about the Ego; if you are stuck in some plane of ability, unable to move further -- it is most like because of the Ego. Steve Pavlina's How to Get From a 7 to a 10 comes to mind. What that basically it says (Pavlina's article) is that when you are Good at something, to become Very Good, you might have to become Bad -- relearn some of the basics over again... Here is where you have to lose your Pride and not be afraid to look bad.

page 172 -- living in the present is the key: "we cannot touch excellence if 'going through the motions' is the norm of our lives"

Also the stories that Josh relates are very interesting and entertaining.

Anatomy of Peace

2007-05-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict. As the title suggests, it provides insights into the heart of conflicts -- on why conflicts really occur and what to do about them. Why do conflicts occur? At the deepest level, they occur because we don't treat the other person as a Human Being -- we treat them as objects. What does that mean? Well, it is easier to see how we treat objects. Take, for example, the flashlight. The purpose of the flashlight is to provide light. If it doesn't, then it is broken and it needs to be fixed.

But Human Beings aren't objects. They do things (or don't do things) because they choose to. So if someone in our lives does something different that we aren't used to, that doesn't mean they are broken. And it doesn't mean they need to be fixed. Our view of who they are -- that needs to be fixed. Since we can only change ourselves and not anybody else, that is the only thing that we can do. And this is also the best thing we can do to help the other person from whatever "problem" they have put themselves into.

And, what to do about conflicts? Instead of working on things that have gone "wrong" (example, fixing the other person -- which is what most people do), work on things that'll help things go right for the other person (example, if your child has a problem, then building relationships with those have influence over your child in other areas of their lives, will be helpful -- their friends, their teachers, etc.).

If you find this confusing -- rest assured -- the book makes these thing very clear and understandable. And it really helped me with dealing with conflicts in my daily life.

Take your time

2007-04-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Last book that I read:

Take Your Time: How to Find Patience, Peace, and Meaning by Eknath Easwaran: a beautiful book -- beautifully written (Easwaran grew up on Shakespeare) and conveys profound insights in a very casual, relaxed manner. Talks about: how to live an unhurried life and the benefits of it. On how to do only one thing at a time: you'll not only enjoy what you are doing but will become very good at it.

[Half of the book's back cover was ripped off. Why? Because I wasn't taking my time. I was in a hurry to get to the airport. But that was before I started reading the book :-) ]

And here are some key points that I got:

"...living completely in the present is the secret of an unhurried mind." [p. 34] [My notes: Hurrying makes us miss the beauty and power of the present moment.]

"It is important to realize that we can't read everything, can't keep ourselves entertained every available moment, can't absorb or even catch all the so-called information that is offered to us everyday." [p. 42] These days, while online, at places like reddit or Digg, I click on only 1 or 2 items that really, really interests me and is related to technology. I ignore the rest -- no matter how tempting it is.

"...patience is at the very heart of love." [p. 50]

"The Buddha called this `living intentionally.' It is a way of life. Slowing down is not the goal; it is the means to an end. The goal is living in freedom -- freedom from the pressures of hurry, from distractions that fragment our time and creativity and love." [p. 54]

What every you do, give it your full attention (what Buddhist call "being mindful"). You'll actually enjoy that moment (even if it is something you really don't like to do -- remember, monks do the same thing every single day -- wake up, meditate, do chores, say prayers, etc. -- but from our point of view, that's so very boring. But for them it is something new, every single day. Something delightful. It is because they live in the moment -- they are mindful.); and you'll do a good job of it.

It isn't too hard to control your attention -- whenever your attention wanders, bring it back, gently. In the awesome book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche describes meditation as "...bringing the mind home." I didn't understand what he meant back them -- I think this is what he means.

All problems that people face -- overeating, stress, etc. -- happens because people are giving attention to certain things, cravings. They can get past these problems simply by controlling the attention they place on things.

Inflexibility -- being rigid in one's likes and dislikes -- is a sign that the mind is out of control.

Books that I've bought, but haven't yet read:

Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life by Robert Fritz
Concentration a Guide to Mental Mastery by Mouni Sadhu
Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul by Jane Roberts
The Art of Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. (I want to get back to drawing again -- I'm planning to follow the course outline in The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study.) I love the artwork in this book. With a few pencil strokes, a character magically appears on paper!!

[Of course I don't by all my books from Amazon.Com. Some from a cool bookstore called ChangingHands. Others from local Borders and Barnes&Noble.]

A Technique for Producing Ideas

2007-03-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

I subscribe to Napoleon Hill's Thought for the Day. The Thought for the Day on March 18, 2007 summarizes James Webb Young's book A Technique for Producing Ideas:

Gather the appropriate information.
Work the information over in your mind.
Incubate the idea in your subconscious.
Recognize the "Eureka!" stage when the idea is born.
Shape and develop the idea for practical application.

Losing pounds

2007-02-22T11:48:00.001-07:00

[Note: this is what worked for me and is posted here as a reminder to myself. Please use this at your own risk. Consult with a doctor first before trying anything here.]

I've been 185 lbs. for the last 5 years. Ever since I stopped playing basketball regularly. I was 185 no matter what I ate or didn't eat. Or so it seemed. It was really frustrating.

But now I've lost some weight pretty quickly. And did so quiet easily. Here is how I did it. And if I could do it, anyone can do it — but you might need to find your own way to do it.

Workout 5 days per week. Started slowly with 10 mins walking, 12 mins biking on the first day. Today (4 weeks later), I jog and bike for 20 mins each. I used Google Spreadsheets to keep a log of all my workout sessions. On the 5th day: as soon as I woke up, my mind kept repeating, "I can't do this. I really can't do this....." on and on. Just ignored it and still did my workout on that day.
Count calories. Stopped drinking soda on Jan 18, 2007. Working out for 30 (tiring) mins to burn 250 calories (avg. calories burned per day, first week), your body more than hesitates to drink that can of soda (140 calories). Started drinking lots of water. I cut down everything that was unnecessary. Example: from 2% I switched to Skim milk.
Don't stuff yourself with food. Started eating about 75% capacity. And after about 3 weeks of that, I noticed that my appetite was considerably smaller than before.
It is OK to be hungry. I formed this new belief. You'll be hungry when you cut down your food intake. I became OK with it. In time, I was OK with being filled to 75% capacity. The first few days, I had day-long headaches — be careful about that.
Eat fresh fruits & veggies. I am vegetarian, and so I like to eat fruits and veggies. I bought plenty of fruits for a whole week: apples, oranges, pears, peaches & bananas (about 5 of each). Veggies (all fresh): peeled baby carrots, beans, broccoli, & brussels sprouts. Fruits for dinner. I usually had soup and steamed veggies for lunch.
Don't be tempted. I've been hungry while all my friends ordered and ate pizza, right in front of me. I didn't think for a second about eating a piece. Instead, I went home later on and had some fruits.
Yoga and meditation 5 days/week.
Just rest and relax 2 days/week. Didn't workout.
Daily schedule.Having a regular schedule, made me do things without thinking about it. And now many of the things have become a habit for me — a big advantage. This was my eating schedule (and still is):
- Breakfast: milk w/ Swiss mix
- Before lunch: about 10 baby carrots
- Lunch: soup + steamed veggies or homemade burritos or salad.
- After lunch: Some organic Yogurt
- Evenings: fruits
Allow yourself to fail. Sometimes I started hating the food I ate and wanted to quit. On those days, I eat something different yet healthy. (Sweet Tomatoes is an awesome place — its a salad bar.)
Become comfortable with the amount of food that you eat. — cause that's what you'll be eating for good.

Update: changed header to "Losing pounds"

overcoming resistance

2007-02-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes at the beginning of a workout, my mind resists by saying "I'm really tired. I can't do this." (Even though I have quiet easily accomplished the workout before.)

Whenever I give in to such negativity, my muscles DO start to feel heavy and I stop quickly.

However, I've noticed that repeating, "Yes, I like this experience. This is the way I want it. I CAN do this" internally, helps me overcome that resistance and makes me feel much more energized.

This follows from a workshop I took a long time ago. In it, they were talking about how you can stop suffering (and you suffer when you resist) when faced with a difficult decision that you feel is forced upon you. Simply pretend that the decision is actually your choice. Say to yourself, "I choose this" and move along. It was remarkable how something so small can make such a big difference.

And many times I don't even notice that I am resisting something. One good way to notice is: if something takes longer and is harder for you (than for others), there is a good chance that you don't want to do that activity — that is, you are resisting that activity. And of course, "whatever you resist, persists." So the key is to not resist. Never fight the system, or something like that.

The Perfect Burrito

2007-01-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've always made burritos at home — and they always turned out just OK — but a few days ago, I accidentally stumbled upon the Perfect Burrito! Yes, it is quiet Perfect!!
The key: have a good tortilla and heat it on a non-stick pan; don't microwave it! The difference in taste is HUGE!
The best tortillas (in Arizona) are of the "Red Eagle Brand" — available at Fry's. They are produced locally in Suprise, AZ and have a homemade texture to it.
Now when you're almost done heating up the tortilla, sprinkle cheese on top of it (I prefer Kraft Mexican 4-cheese) and let it melt a bit.
Then add the Refried Beans on top of the cheese — heat it up in a pot and add a little bit of water to make it very soft — it should be hot, when you add it.
Then add chopped black olives, vine-ripe tomatoes and onions.
Finally add Pace Red Taco Sauce (Medium) and have Pace Chunky Salsa (Medium) on the side.
This completes the Perfect Burrito.
if (burrito.Taste() != Perfect()) Place.Blame.On(Yourself);
Thanks.

Mastery

2007-01-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

From Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard:

In our scriptures, it is said that there are four kinds of horses: excellent ones, good ones, poor ones and bad ones. The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver's will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones.

You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn to run.

When we hear this story, almost all of us want to be the best horse. If it is impossible, to be the best one, we want to be the second best.' But this is a mistake, Master Suzuki says. When you learn too easily, you're tempted not to work hard, not to penetrate to the marrow of a practice.

If you study calligraphy, you will find that those who are not so clever usually become the best calligraphers. Those who are very clever with their hands often encounter great difficulty after they have reached a certain stage. This is also true in art, and in life.' The best horse, according to Suzuki, may be the worst horse. And the worst horse can be the best, for if it perseveres, it will have learned whatever it is practicing all the way to the marrow of its bones.

swim in the wide ocean

2006-11-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

if something gets more and more difficult as you push harder and harder, you're probably stuck in a tiny swimming pool — its time to swim in the wide ocean

A different kind of pattern

2006-10-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

Eckhart Tolle on egoic patterns (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose)

[page 74] The particular egoic patterns that you react to most strongly in others and misperceive as their identity tend to be the same patterns that are also in you, but that you are unable or unwilling to detect within yourself. ... Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.

[page 75] Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.

Greatness

2006-10-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere (in a book, I think): the greatness of a person is measured by how well they treat those who can't help them or give them anything of value

Here is one that popped into my head: the greatness of a person is measured by how easily they give up something they absolutely love and cherish, to help another. [How easily can they give up their comfortableness to help another.]

Thoughts

2006-09-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts that I have had over the past month :

Find motivation where it doesn't exist
Take things step-by-step: nothing is that overwhelming

This One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way is an awesome book on that

People struggle greatly for things that you might take for granted - so appreciate what you take for granted
Take things slowly and thoughtfully -- what ever action you do make sure to enjoy it
Sacrifice the small (easy) for the large (hard)
Visualize - mind is the most rapid prototyping language
Always think - "How can I make this better?", "How can I make this more efficient?", "...more useful?" - do this for everything you encounter (that's what Don Knuth does!)
Be mindful of what you eat, instead of trying to lose weight (from Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita)

Frank Barron on creativity

2006-08-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

I really like this quote: Frank Barron's Scientific American (Sept 1958) article is quoted in Conceptual Blockbusting, A Guide To Better Ideas (3rd edition, Chapter 7, page 126):

I would propose the following statements as descriptive of creative artists, and perhaps also of creative scientists: Creative people are especially observant, and they value accurate observation (telling themselves the truth) more than other people do.

They often express part-truths, but this they do vividly; the part they express is the generally unrecognized; by displacement of accent and apparent disproportion in statement they seek to point to the unusually unobserved.

They see things as other do, but also as others do not.

They are thus independent in their cognition, and they also value clearer cognition. They will suffer great personal pain to testify correctly. They are motivated to this value and to the exercise of this talent (independent, sharp observation) both for reasons of self-preservation and in the interest of human culture and its future.

They are born with greater brain capacity; they have more ability to hold many ideas at once, and to compare more ideas with one another -- hence to make a richer synthesis.

In addition to unusual endowment in terms of cognitive ability, they are by constitution more vigorous and have available to them an exceptional fund of psychic and physical energy.

Their universe is thus more complex, and in addition, they usually lead more complex lives, seeking tension in the interest of the pleasure they obtain upon its discharge.

They have more contact than most people do with the life of the unconscious, with fantasy, reverie, the world of imagination.

They have exceptionally broad and flexible awareness of themselves. The self is strongest when it can regress (admits primitive fantasies, naive ideas, tabooed impulses into consciousness and behavior), and yet return to a high degree of rationality and self-criticism. The creative person is both more primitive and more cultured, more destructive and more constructive, crazier and saner, than the average person.

a simple test

2006-08-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

test: this is sri, and i approve this blog