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 … More 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, … More 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 … More 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 … More 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 … More 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 … More 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 … More 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 … More 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 … More Most important week of my life so far
A review of Victor Frankl’s ‘Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything’ … More 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? … More 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 … More 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 … More 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, … More “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, … More 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 … More 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 … More 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. … More God At My Table
Hello! Let’s talk about life transitions today. As you might know, I recently finished my dissertation and I will no longer be a student. I have been a student for about 24 years by now. So, this new chapter in my life is very exciting and I am looking forward to it but also a … More How to handle transitions in life
As noted by the philosopher Aristotle, humans are ‘social animals’ who exist and thrive in communities. We have the ability to devise sophisticated institutions enabling us to co-operate with others across cultures and borders. We can see how interwoven our lives all are through the complex interdependencies in our economies, societies and in the natural … More Expanding Circles: Spiritual Exercises as a Bridge Towards Cosmopolitanism