when September ends...

Have you ever considered this before going to bed?

That you have just survived another day on this lonely planet(since we haven't found another with such rich diversity of lives yet) without suffering from deadly diseases, starvation, violence, torture...

If not, you may want to think a bit about it today? Before September ends?

It can be just another normal day, or you can make it special. It's your choice.

Answer it with Action.

why normal people can become ruthless evil?

Below are the notes taken from a TED talk (sorry i forgot the speaker's name)...

7 social Processes that Grease the Slippery Slope of Evil

Mindlessly Taking the First Small Step
Dehumanization of Others
De-individuation of Self (anonymity)
Diffusion of Personal Responsibility
Blind Obedience to Authority
Uncritical Conformity to Group Norms
Passive Tolerance of Evil Through Inaction, or Indifference

communication at individual level seems to make more sense...

Talked with an acquaintance whose hometown has been in the news headlines lately for social unrest and racial issues...i was once told by another person (from this same place) that those 2 ethnic groups never really get along and they have separate neighbourhoods...

Yet this guy has a neighbour who's from another ethnic group, and they formed good relationship.

On individual level, it seems like we can easily connect with each other.

Collectively, however, we are more likely to fall prey to irrational dehumanization and various prejudices...

Somehow.

Consistency

It's the answer to the question: what's the common quality needed for living both i) a healthy life and ii) your calling?

These are not one off projects, thus it's a bit more difficult to set concrete goals for them. But they can be done.

The challenge is to consistently take care of these aspects in life. To put in the efforts, to pay the price. These are important, long term benefits, requiring you to consistently work on them without an exciting picture in mind and only occasional emotional stimulants.

So? the conclusion?

Habits.

Hit!

When asked: of all the things that he had learnt in public speaking clubs, what's the one that proved to be most useful in other areas of life...

This author & presenter answered without hesitation: the ability to Hit the Point Quickly.

we as a species...

I got a weird feeling that, with the progress of technology, evolution of culture, and breakthroughs in various medical treatments, we have been putting more and more artificial stuff into our body...from plastic surgery to metal used in operations to artificial organs to some kind of micro chip...

These are not necessarily bad things...we should not fall trap to the popular "natural" label and blindly believe everything that's natural is the best choice...

...only that we may soon reach a point where we'll need to redefine what we are, or what we believe we are...

Boy, it's gonna change everything...

Tony Robbins vs. those who only talk the talk...

if tony robbins said sth and he failed (divorced guy with a book called Perfect Marriage), many will still think he's respectable. He's not saint, he's just a human being who's not perfect, but he taught us really powerful and useful stuff...

...what if he started teaching us these powerful stuff after his divorce (but before his fame)?

Watch out, the next person who only knows to "talk the talk", whom you are very likely to frown upon, may carry exactly the same powerful stuff that Tony's got.

technology technology...

Our relationships with technology is a bit like relationships with our close friends or family members, sometimes...

...when we get more and more used to each other's company in our lives, we may gradually take things for granted...when we become so (inter)dependent we can't even live on our own (whether we realize it or not), we start complaining...somehow...

Doesn't this happen to our relationship with technology too...?

pain

Went to fix a long-delayed problem with my tooth...

During the process, experienced several real acute pain that lasted one and a half second...

Suddenly realized, it's been such a long time in life that I had not experienced any severe physical suffering (and those coughs and fever were nothing)...not that I'm sick enough to ask for it...

But if you have similar feeling, you know we have one more thing to appreciate.

p.s. the dentist's skills were good, without narcotics those pain was inevitable...or so i believe...

division of labour...

...is not just about productivity and economic well-being for everybody.

It's about trust.

Whether you are a teacher or beer brewer or banker or dentist, whenever you are chosen to provide your service, your client is giving you their trust that you won't abuse the information asymmetry...

With trust comes responsbility. Take good care of both, play your little role with the big picture in mind.

And don't forget to be proud.

Yeah somebody must have said this before, but somehow we seem to have forgotten it...

it's Now.

another story in another public speaking club from a young lady...

You got the message, it's all in the title.

Stop hoping, waiting, planning, thinking, considering...

...whatever it is, ask yourself: does it really matter?

Then make a decision.

Drop it; or got Get It.

he went bankrupt when he was 25...

Went to a public speaking club several weeks ago. It was a weekend.

A young man was giving his first ever speech in the club, telling story of his first ever business venture, which went bankrupt when he was 25...

The lessons? He said...

1. Business models that worked in the past doesnt't necessarily work now.
2. You should always think outside of the box

Don't seem to be something really new or exciting or record-worthy right?

You won't think so if you Really listen to that Person telling his story, not just the ideas...

confession of your humble blogger...

This post is being posted on 29th...after a long long delay...

There are many reasons I can provide, but they're not important...what's important is this reminder I wish to present to you, my dear reader...

Don't Let a Day Slip by without Really Living It.


No matter how tight a schedule you've got, how stressed-out you are, how your time is beyong your own control...be mindful of what's happening between your Self and your surrounding...

You will discover something worthy.

By the way, I'm gonna backdate this post, and some following posts...don't mean to cheat, just that it looks better...

the argument in philosophy primer...

We can't really understand this world because we are part of it.

I first learnt about this idea in a novel-form philosophy primer. Then a quote by Hayek (or some social scientist I can't remember). Then in George Soros' book.

We can't really understand this world because we are part of it + our belief/understanding actually affects the reality.

It seems so obvious it should be common sense...but it never prevail in our mainstream education or decision makers' offices.

When it comes to shaping reality, too many forces are at play. Too many variables, mainly human factors.

So I have to agree with Mr Soros when he attributes the financial armageddon to the prevalence of such fundamental mistakes among elites in our society.

... ...

To simplify and inaccurately put it, collectively we as a species are stupid.

torture of spies...?

Torture of spies is a controversial issues in certain developed countries (reported by Economist a while back). To allow or not to?

The tricky part is that we don't have a reliable or agreed-upon way to quantify the role of torture in getting key information. In other words, if you successfully obtain key info from the spy after torturing him; you have no idea how many percent of the info is attributable to the torturing...you have no idea if you could get the same result (info of same importance with same timing) without torturing him. Some ppl say yes; some say no. No reliable way to prove.

Seems to me, that ultimately it's up to what we, or 'the authority', choose to believe....

Now you know the power of beliefs. It happens in social sciences all the time.

And in natural sciences too, some people said.

if your day sucked...

...why not just let it be?

It just occured to me that we buy into the self-help culture so much we automatically think we should always be happy. Even if we are not we should try or pretend to be...we should be positive and sometimes it's even a sign of politeness...

We can say it's right generally. Often it makes things easier and our lives happier (though we don't really know why in the first place happiness should be so important to a meaningful & fulfilled life).

And we forgot certain 'negative' emotions can be a source of really meaningful efforts or beautiful art works or dogged persistence. And we forgot these can be part of those precious experiences in life through which we grow...that we may savor decades later...

So if your day sucked, instead of rushing to cheer up yourself immediately...why not just sit back and let it be...let your life happen and feel it consciously...

...the moments that are meaningfully and beautifully melancholy.

urban legend by world-class gurus...

Zig Ziglar used it; Brian Tracy used it; Anthony Robbins used it.

The study has been widely cited. It tracked the achievement of Class 1953 graduates of Yale University and found that those 3% with written goals at the time of graduation subsequently did better in their lives.

The staff at Fast Company Magazine did the digging and found that the 'study' didn't exist. An urban legend.

Interesting. A study that didn't even exist has over the years spread all over the world and motivated peoples around the globe. So if my guess is right, there'll be plenty of people who are ready to defend those gurus.

Even if it's not real story, it wasn't their fault. Plus the story has value, etc, etc.

Turned out that what we want is not truth; what we want is story that sounds true and, more importantly, makes us feel better. Marketers know all these very well.

What your humble blogger here thinks?

No blaming here...but no matter how sincerely and passionately they want to help others...consciously or unconsciously, the gurus know it's business.

when they say "everybody has a role to play"...

...they are right, literally. Though this line is often used because of its political correctness.

Despite one giant scandal after another that blew through news headlines over the past two years, economist Dan Ariely told us the largest damage to the economy/business world comes no from a single super-greedy fraud or Ponzi scheme. It's from thousands and thousands of little "misconduct".

Same thing to the honorable & ethical efforts to change the world. Despite our hero complex, real changes are results of millions of tiny little consistent acts by thousands of seemingly insignificant people.

If you aren't those who occupy headlines all the time, it's about you and me.

when they say "rules are made to be broken"...

...they are right, literally.

There are many reasons we make rules. One of them: we need order and certainty. Despite the practical benefits (from order & certainty) that we have long taken for granted, it's mainly a psychological need.

In practice, in reality, there are always smart people who can spot the opportunity to break rules and take advantage from it. They take calculated risks. How about those rule-abiding peope? I'll leave this to you.

In practice, in reality, we always encounter situations where rules look stupid. Really stupid. So we make exceptions, again and again, until breaking these rules seem so natural and inevitable...then we set new rules.

Yeah you get it, once new rules are set, the whole new circle runs again.

9/11

The tragedy we can never forget.

As a matter of fact, I'm not quite sure... I talked about the Sentimental Moments, the period when heavy prices or extraordinary events remind us to be nice, so we treat everyone around with respect and dignity...

...but when the emotional impacts fade away with time, wouldn't we just go back to our thoughtless daily routine (or struggle for survival)? When our generations are gone, wouldn't it become just a little piece of the long & cold & lifeless history?

For those unfortunate who have been deeply hurt, everyday is the day to pray for the souls in the heaven; for people who are really determined to do something about it, everyday is the day to carry on the peace movement.

So why the hype in media coverage and austerity in thinking/conversation on this very day? Does it really make a meaningful difference?

You just never know.

We just have to do it, try to keep the painful memory afresh, with the hope that every year someone somewhere will join the great dreamers+doers trying to make a difference...

Theory Mending

Did you also notice this interesting phenomenon?

1.
There are tons of articles telling you different ways to find out what your target customers want (demand research & analysis). In some of them, interestingly, you may find at the end the last tip saying this: sometimes your customers don't know what they want...

It's just another way of saying: to hell with demand research & analysis and just follow your heart.

2.
In articles or books or blogs claiming the death of last century's business philosophy, and telling us how to stand out & do something really unconventional & counter-intuitive...you may eventually find something that's not so new at all: business fundamentals.

It's just another way of saying: last century's business philosophy is not dead yet.

I call this Theory Mending.

You have really brilliant ideas, ideas that really help, so you gain people's trust and support. As time goes by, however, people found your ideas don't work wonders in every situation...

It's very normal. Do you still expect human society to be logical and mechanic and running on certain universal laws?

Yet you feel obliged to mend your theory; you need to make it workable under all circumstances. Maybe it's the support you gained, the following you care, maybe it's the psychological need for consistency...for whatever reason, you mend your theory.

It's now more neutral and less mind-blowing.

Is it because of the rationality that we human beings uniquely possess? We put So Much emphasis on the beautiful consistency & harmony of theories (despite the fact that it takes us further away from understanding dynamic human societies), while sometimes even in a lengthy thesis, it's actually those sporadic sparks of inspirations that really make a difference for us...

Do we need conclusion? If so...

i) let's face it, we are mortals, we are not here to give the answers. We spark possibilities, that's it. Even your most loyal fans shouldn't believe in and rely on you 100%. They get inspirations from different sources and create their own philosophies.

ii) I'm not saying we should quite scientfic approach or logical thinking in social sciences and humanities. Just that when you're done, take a break, step back, and take a look at the big picture. We both know the most beautiful theory doesn't reflect the robustly chaotic world we build...

overwhelmed by life...

Somewhere on the journey, something drew you in. Like an ancient cave hidden by the road less traveled.

Then like an awe-inspiring giant fresco, the impact on your mind and senses were so rich and intense and inevitable you could not move or breathe.

It was like forever. The air swirls and freezes and you just can't breathe.

...the sunlight sets in...yet before you got a chance to step back and make sense of it all, another whirlpool rolls you in...

It was like forever.

Embrace it, then. Immerse yourself in it. The flows of life. Dive in.

Before you know it, you'll be lying on a beach savoring sunrise from a brand new horizon.

But now, Dive In.

what do you do with new ideas...?

when you get new info/knowledge/ideas...what do you do with it?

1. try to figure out whether it makes sense with critical thinking first? to see if needs modification? Maybe then you can try to integrate it into your practice and see what happens...

or

2. treat it as a truth first? To put it into practice right away, and change your existing practice if necessary...and see what happens (and then you may modify & adjust along the way)...

Which one is better and more efficient? I'm afraid most people won't be able to give you a clear-cut answer.

We only know the answer lies in trials and experiments. Sometimes you really need to roll up your sleeves and make mistakes before eventually figuring out what works for you.

Not for 'them', for You.

quotes from Albert IV...

It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.
Albert Einstein

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
Albert Einstein

Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
Albert Einstein

End of the "series"...but there are far more meaningful & wise quotes from this superb violinist...go check'em out...

...maybe the reason of confusion...of a shut-out mind...is simply that you're too much into life...

quotes from Albert III...

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.
Albert Einstein

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
Albert Einstein

quotes from Albert II...

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
Albert Einstein

All these primary impulses, not easily described in words, are the springs of man's actions.
Albert Einstein

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
Albert Einstein

quotes from Albert...

...when my mind's shut out of life...i share quotes...

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
-- Albert Einstein

A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.
-- Albert Einstein

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
-- Albert Einstein

the famous MJ quote, longer version

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
-- Michael Jordan

a few things about goals...

1. You don't always need them...
....especially in arts, or in things that you love and enjoy doing, things that make you stay up working until 5am...in fact, you should not set goals in these things. Goals may limit your craziness and potential for superb breakthroughs and innovations.

2. The single most important thing to remember is the Price (despite what they all say).
Whether or not you have a goal, if you want to create or achieve something, you need to i) Decide the price you're willing to pay and ii) Go Pay it. Deciding the price means you make up your mind to give up something else in advance. So you can get distracted less and put in efforts consistently. If you're doing goal setting and planning, when you add one thing to the daily to-do list, considering deleting one item from you daily activity list. That's the price.

If you decided it's best not to have a goal in your poem writing, you still need to pay the price. You don't need to force yourself to churn out how many lines per day but you better regularly set aside some time to put together your thoughts and feelings.

3. Visualization
Yeah you already know that...so what's the smell of in the air and what's the color of your socks?

ruined by mass appeal...

When I say I can see beauty & meaning in anything, I mean it.

I thought it over, and I'm serious about it.

When I say we can learn something from almost anybody, I mean it.

If you don't really believe so, don't act like you agree.

Please.

Sometimes, political correctness ruins ideas and sincere perspectives.