A journey of awareness Mastering the art of vitality has been a journey of awareness for me, and this is how it started. A few years ago, I removed the “digital validation machine” that I kept under my dressing table. Every morning, when I got up, I visited that “digital validation machine” and watched the numbers change. They grew higher and higher, and my eyes … Continue reading The art of vitality
Have you encountered these difficulties in attempting to live Stoically? (Living philosophically?) After a conversation I had, some time ago, about living as a Stoic philosopher, I found myself wondering what pitfalls and stumbling blocks a person is likely to encounter when they try seriously to integrate Stoic teachings and practice into their life. Four things came to mind almost at once. I’m going to … Continue reading Four ways we may stumble in attempting to live Stoically
Hi, all. Listen up. The Pointless Overthinking management team has been as busy as a bunch of elves during the early days of December. We’ve been working behind the scenes to make major revisions to the site. Some of them have already been made manifest. However, many others, including a renaming of the website, are still in the offing, so check back over the next … Continue reading The Great Unveiling
Towards the end of the 19th century, a group of economists from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland studied the social inequalities in Europe. By analysing the tax data of several European countries, they found out that in each of them about 20% of the population owned 80% of the wealth. Today is even worse, but this is another story. This discovery was a real … Continue reading Do You Know the Pareto’s Principle?
In our modern age, Kristo and Morpheus would have excelled as ironworkers on the tallest skyscrapers; they moved with confidence and ease high above the ground. At the sound of the whistle, they set down their chisels and hammers and reached for their nearby lunch pails. Their torsos were dark bronze from many hours under the sun. With their legs dangling over the frontispiece of … Continue reading Lunch Break: Temple of Apollo
I would have made a poor Sherlock Holmes, especially when it comes to solving the mysterious case regarding the Truth of our Being. In that regard, I behaved more like Inspector Clouseau, of Pink Panther fame. That’s not to say that I was as bumbling in life as the inspector was with his investigations; but I was definitely a prodigal son without knowing it. Unbeknownst … Continue reading Connecting The Dots
I sometimes get the impression that Stoicism is often taken as, and practiced as if it were, a way to finally control everything, including our feelings. Yet this is quite incorrect. Stoicism is not about becoming able to control everything. It is about finally starting to begin to acknowledge that we don’t and can’t, and to start to begin to learn, to know, in and … Continue reading Note on acceptance, control, and Stoicism
Hello! The topic of this week’s post comes from a discussion with a friend on Friday: manifestation or letting go? Manifestation is a popular term. It refers to the type of activities done to make things you want happen in your life by using various techniques such as visualization, specification etc. Let’s say you want to buy a house. You make a vision board, believe … Continue reading Manifestation or Zero Limits
There is an old saying which states that “fences make good neighbours.” Although this may seem a logical way to deal with conflicts that invariably arise due to the human condition, it is a shortsighted solution. Of more importance, building fences–even mending fences–leaves us subject to judgmental behaviour that ignores our shared oneness. Relying on the fluctuating mentality of the masses only serves to separate … Continue reading Dismantling Fences
The world looks and feels like one nasty crime scene right now! From the carnage in Ukraine; the famine in Africa; the mass shootings in the US; the brutal murders in Palestine; and everything in between! There’s so much pain and suffering. Such negative energy injected and swirling all around the globe. The most worrying part is that energy is contagious! It knows no bounds. … Continue reading MAY UBUNTU FIND YOU!
Hello! This is me in the picture. It is from this Wednesday. I had three graduation ceremonies and one celebration this way. I am finally no longer a student (ever in my life, probably), ever since I started school. I had a crazy week. I am moving for work soon, so I went apartment-hunting last weekend and this early week (hence the lack of a … Continue reading Most important week of my life so far
A review of Victor Frankl’s ‘Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything’ Continue reading The Value of Acceptance: Saying ‘Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything’
Happy Mistakes. Those rare times when something goes technically wrong but turns out better than the originally anticipated outcome. Who or what is responsible for this phenomenon? Continue reading The Happy Mistake: God Taking Care Of Us Or Dumb Luck?
Guilty–as charged! Yes, the title of this article is cliché, but there’s good news: the content isn’t. As you may have guessed, the content relates to service–the real kind; not the smarmy “have-a-nice-day” (insert roll of the eyes) kind. On a deeper level, service can be interpreted as Purpose, with a capital P. Through wisdom, we learn that Being, Life, and Purpose are all so interdependently woven that one thread cannot be withdrawn … Continue reading Service…With a Smile
There are people, and you’ve likely met some of them, hell, some of you may even be some of them, who are, and there’s simply no polite way of saying it, organized. You know the type. The types who always take out the correct recycling on the right night. Who never misplace their car keys or ATM cards or young children. And these people, when … Continue reading Trying To Get Organized
Strange; this life can feel so strange. We are born into an environment that seems to compel us to reach and continue to reach. As children, we learn the rules early: kindergarten is meant to lead to Grade 1, Grade 2, and so on. We are taught, explicitly and implicitly, that we should strive, reach, become more, and make something of ourselves. And to that … Continue reading “Right,” Where I Am
I’m a busy guy. I manage two writing centers at a community college in San Antonio, Texas, USA. That takes fifty hours per week. My wife has a business that I help with. I take care of her purchasing, public relations, and I occasionally assist her with sales. On top of all that, I write, make art, and engage in my own entrepreneurial activities. As … Continue reading Pardon Me While I Ramble
Hello there! How are you doing today? How was the week? I had a relaxing week. This is the last calm week before the storm so I am trying to make the most of it. Here is the question for today: If you were to to explain what keeps us together and helps us going in one word, what would that word be? I would … Continue reading Hope
I think one pitfall we tend to encounter, when we try to put Stoic teachings into practice, is that of becoming unfeeling, “like a stone.” I mentioned four such difficulties in a previous post. Here, I want to expand on this particular one. What this expression means, becoming or being “unfeeling like a stone,” is being emotionless, unfeeling. Or more likely, it means suppressing, or … Continue reading The pitfall wherein we become unfeeling
How fortunate I am to have been raised by loving parents. Although not perfect (for who in human form is?), my parents set many fine examples of how to be in this world. They encouraged–more importantly practiced–honesty, caring, generosity, and industriousness. One of their powerful examples was that of saying grace before eating our meals. As a child, with head bowed and eyes closed, I … Continue reading God At My Table
