Categories
Mental

Optimism vs Pessimism

  1. The discussion on optimism vs pessimism is as old as time itself
  2. Either side of the camp hated the other side
  3. Optimism gets things done but the downfall will be from overconfidence. Every major scandal, if you observe around you, stems from this trait and blinded by this problem
  4. Pessimism views the world in a more realistic way (i.e. more accurate picture of reality), however overwhelmed by pessimism, they will not take action
  5. If you look at the book of Ecclesiastes, you might on your first impression, think that the book is pessimistic
  6. However, note that it is written by someone who had it all. It is written by an optimistic person who thinks a dose of pessimism is important
  7. Ecc 2:10-11 “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.”
  8. The book ends with an encouragement to be bold
  9. Ecc 11:4 “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.”
  10. However, it offers no way of balancing the two. (Ecclesiastes just drowns you in pessimism and asks you to be optimistic at the end)
  11. If we draw a line depicting this, and put optimism at 100 and pessimism at 0, ideally we would like to be somewhere in the region of 75
  12. Enter self compassion
  13. Self compassion is the concept where we forgive ourselves for the mistakes we do and in doing so we continue to forge ahead. We tell ourselves that to err is human and we continuously learn from our mistakes. We will not be like the proverbial deer caught in headlights. Inaction kills.
  14. If we are too optimistic and do not have a sense of pessimism, we will be slaughtered by overconfidence
  15. On the contrary, if we are too pessimistic, we will not take any action to better ourselves
  16. So using the concept of self compassion, be at 75 on the scale

Suggested reading

  1. Ecclesiastes (click here for the link)
  2. Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker

Categories
Mental

Mental Experiment: Incoming train

Imagine there is an incoming train. Do you have anyone in mind that you will:

  • Jump down to the train track to save the person at all costs
  • Extend your arm to save
  • Do nothing
  • Give a kick to the person down the track

This is a mental experiment – there won’t be any repercussion of any kind at all. No one will notice. Among all the people that you know, who is in which bucket?

Count the number of people in each of the 4 buckets

Now, after it has given you extreme satisfaction on Bucket C and Bucket D, consider this – the incoming train might never come, but it is within our control to remove all those people in these two buckets from our life.

Or at least minimize them in your life. That’s 100% within our control

Food for thought?

Categories
Mental

Are we happier than the medieval poor?

The topic on happiness is an elusive one; much has been said and discussed but I have not found a truly conclusive argument from them.

Categories
Mental Social/Emotion

[Guest Post] What’s the real noble truth of love, Attachment vs Genuine love

Prologue

Buddhism defines love into separation of attachment love vs genuine love

We are almost never satisfied after an argument outbreak. We felt tired, exhausted thinking over and over again on what went wrong. What should we correct, what we deemed is right and we refuse to change for our other half. Trying to think what our other half is thinking, we want them to change, we want them to understand the pain we go through, we need them to understand.

Categories
Mental

Rule 9: Be Fucking Precise


Today marks a happy day as I just started working after a long break from 2018 Lunar New Year. It’s the year of the dog and the accompanying element is earth. And I have found something so important that I intend to add this rule to my Top 10 List. Recall that Top 10 List (click here for Rule 8) is my attempt to summarize everything in life that I deem important. The project started in 2011 (first post back then). And this will be the 9th rule. My game plan is to further refine the rules after gathering 10 rules. I might change/enhance the rules along the way. Hopefully by the time I’m 70 years old these 10 rules will be as solid as gold.

Categories
Mental

What Makes You Happy?

Daniel Kahneman, the famous psychologist explained that we have two selves, (a) the experiencing self and (b) the remembering self. 

The experiencing self lives in the present and is only concerned with the present moment while the remembering self is like the judge who decides everything for us.

Categories
Mental

Hanlon’s Razor

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Categories
Mental

Rule 8: As One Thinketh

I have wanted to collect the top 10 best ideas and so far I have found 7. I’m going to add the 8th one today*.

Categories
Mental

One Step at A Time

Have you had anything that you wanted to do but did not? Then you should just do it:

Categories
Mental

The Power of Meaning

Emily Esfahani Smith.

I was wildly stirred the other day when I read that someone has written a book titled The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters.