Is there anything beyond the futility of the external world, governed by fierce competition, ambition and baseless pleasures? Where does one take refuge from the constant treadmill of busyness that encapsulates our day to day working lives? One is inclined to ask, is there anything outside of the status games played within our society, trying impress others through fame, fortune or luxury consumer goods. A … Continue reading In Search of an Inner Life
Philosophers have long sought to understand how we make sense of the world. Each have brought forth their own ‘maps’ or ‘lenses’ of how they comprehend reality. Some focus their analysis on the individual while others seek to dissect the patterns of the collective (e.g., society and culture). As social animals, humans are always embedded in larger structures. We interact with others and the natural … Continue reading Searching for a Unified Vision: Exploring Different Maps of the World
What can we learn from Indigenous cultures about being better stewards to the natural world? After all, Indigenous Peoples were the original caretakers of the land thriving in complex societies long before the arrival of European settlers. As a Canadian citizen, my country along with the rest of the world, has been slowly learning about the violence inflicted on Indigenous Peoples and the horrors of … Continue reading Indigenous Knowledge: A Roadmap to Belonging Again
First of all, let’s just take a moment to enjoy the aesthetic decadence of that word. It’s zippy, it’s got zest. In some ways, as we will see, it captures a greater than zero percentage of the zeitgeist. It is every bit the equal of “zozzled,” a Jazz Age term for drunk. But “zugzwang” isn’t merely a synonym for inebriation. Many of you may know … Continue reading Zugzwang
Amidst the rise in digital technologies and new avenues for communication, the general quality of our public discourse has declined. As I have explored in this series, modern society has become increasingly fragmented and polarized. We are no longer able to search for areas of compromise or entertain opposing viewpoints. The cause of the issue stems from our inability to truly listen to one another. … Continue reading The Power of Listening
Over the course of our lives many of us will have gotten into arguments with friends, family or loved ones which goes somewhat along the lines of: “You are not thinking, can you hear yourself? You need to stop being so hard headed and stubborn, and just listen to the facts. Can’t you just be a bit more reasonable!?” Notice how we are quick to … Continue reading Why We are Mostly Emotional, and Sometimes Rational
A look at how we all can be heroes Continue reading The Hero Within
Art doesn’t owe me (or anyone) any favors. It didn’t sell on becoming an artist like it was talking you into a time share. Art says, “You want to be an artist? Great. Best of luck,” and then it walks away, probably on its way to a gallery opening in the West Village, and leaves you to do the rest. Continue reading Art: It’s Just Not That Into Me (Or Most of Us)
Take a deep breath. Open your eyes and observe what is around you. Look at the sun beaming through the blossoming trees. Listen to the birds singing ecstatically with feverous joy. Touch the different textures of plants in your garden as you await a bountiful feast upon harvest. We didn’t earn the pleasures of the awe inspiring world that we were born into. Rather they … Continue reading Living in the Gift
Martin Buber’s book “I and Thou” is an inquiry into how our relationships with others shape our reality. His main thesis, which runs throughout the course of the book, is that there are two different modes in which we encounter the world, namely through ‘I-It’ or ‘I-Thou’ relationships. Let’s take a closer look at these concepts in more detail. I-IT I-It relationships are entered into to achieve … Continue reading An Exploration of Martin Buber’s “I and Thou”
“Enlightenment is when a wave realises it is the ocean.” – Thich Nhat Hanh What does it mean to be enlightened? How would you define enlightenment? How does one attain it? I’m curious to hear your thoughts. *** You can find AP2’s personal blog here at: https://clear-air-turbulence.com You can also find him on Medium at: https://anxiouspilot2.medium.com Or on Twitter at: @AnxiousPilot Continue reading Question of the day: Number 551
Nihilism is a dangerous belief. The inability to make sense of it all leads many to conclude that life is entirely pointless. This, in turn, can lead to the belief that there is little point in trying at anything. Now, I’m not here to debate the existence of a grand creator. (Thank God, I hear you say.) I certainly don’t think there is anything wrong … Continue reading The Meaning of Meaninglessness
Proposed by SnapDragon X. What would you do if you were no longer afraid? Oh, the possibilities! . . . SnapDragon is a writer, artist, and sucker for M&M McFlurries. Follow her Two-Bit Musings and more on Snippets of SnapDragon. Continue reading Question of the Day: No. 521.
Every one of us wants a good life, right? I don’t think there is anyone in this world that says: “F*ck good life! I want to live as miserable as possible!” The thing is that a good life is formed of multiple areas, which has different levels of importance, depending of what you want (career, family, friends, health and so on). What strokes me the … Continue reading Losing Focus: An important problem nowadays?
Have you noticed that you feel different in different environments? I’m sure you have so you probably wondered how is that impacting your life, besides your mood, thoughts and emotions. As for everybody, this pandemic had a huge impact over my life, especially since I’m working from home since March. Because of this and the fact that I’m very comfortable in my environment, I concentrated … Continue reading Can environment kill creativity?
You and I know both know that each book, good or bad, has a beginning and an end. However, even though a book comes to an end, reading and learning never stop. This is why I’m sharing another 5 books that changed my mindset, in addition to the top 5. Here are the books, in a random order: #5 The Subtle Art of Not Giving … Continue reading Another 5 Books That Changed My Mindset
Over the years I realized how different perspectives coming from different people can change our own perspective about everything, and, therefore, our life. The most important part is that we don’t even to know those people or directly interact with them, but we can interact with their perspective through their writings. Throughout my life, whenever I was in a tough place, the only thing that … Continue reading Top 5 Books That Changed My Mindset
My Dear Friend, You’re in a tough place now, I know. You see no purpose or joy in life right now, I understand. There is a dark cloud following you everywhere and you see nothing but pain and… nothing, you’re right. You wish everything should stop with all costs, and no wonder. Everything seems pointless and you have a strong belief your future will be … Continue reading Letter for Depressed Moments
Two – three weeks ago I wrote about why driving brings out the worst of us. However, as always, it’s all about perspective, therefore there are some psychological benefits of driving, under some circumstances. As I mentioned in that post, “I believe the car acts like a shell, a secure place where we can feel free, especially if we’re alone in the car. When we’re … Continue reading The Up Side of Driving – Not everything is bad!
Provided by Evan from Mind Power Grow I’ll admit it. This is something that I did for a long time and let me tell you – it’s a bad habit. When I was younger, I was very non-confrontational. I was the type of kid who thought that everything could be resolved without conflict. I learned that if you just said sorry and moved on with … Continue reading Don’t Be Sorry. Apologize and Grow Stronger
