I started a new project. Head over to Chilled Soda!
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
Jan 17, 2012
Oct 24, 2011
The Star
I don’t personally believe in tarot cards. What I do find interesting though is a particular card. It’s called ‘the star.’ What it represents is something that is true to the world.
The story of the card is beautiful: A fool sits on a rock. He is broken hearted and very sad. He has no idea where he wants to go, or what to do with his future. Everything is bleak. A girl then joins him, a beautiful girl. She gives him some water and fruit to eat, both of which help heal his pained heart.
He looks up at the stars and remarks that they are beautiful but so distant.
“They are,” The beautiful girl says “Like futures. But if you keep your eye on one you will never go astray...” as the tale goes she fades away telling the fool to follow his star.
The meaning is simple but may not be what you expect. Sure, having a single point in your future to work towards is a good thing... but what this card says is that good will not come instantly. The person you love may not like you, the promotion you want may not be coming. But in time good things will come. If you keep fighting and working for what you want, good things will happen.
It also states that there are people and organizations that want to help you. They will be there along the way. You aren't alone. Right now you may not be able to find happiness, but you can find peace and healing.
It’s not perfect happiness, it’s not instant gratification but neither really exists.
The good times will come.
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
Oct 9, 2011
Emotion and logic
I do not claim to know that much about the brain. There are people who spend their entire lives studying it and even they still don’t understand it completely (seriously, my friend has a Masters in it) but I do understand one simple part of it.
Logic and emotion are not connected in any way.
I have never in my life heard someone utter the term ‘I’m happy for her/him’ and actually mean it. there is always some deep rooted emotions hitting as they say it. Jealousy, fear, annoyance, etc. People hide behind this false veneer of logic.
People use logic as a way to hide or maybe control the emotional part. They say they are happy for someone, or that they wish them the best. In reality their emotional side... I guess their heart, is screaming something completely different.
We are human beings, not Vulcans or robots. We are incredibly selfish and emotional. Instead of hiding these emotions, bottling them up and doing something stupid later:
Just be honest.
Tell me you’ve secretly liked me since we were kids and absolutely hate that girl I’m dating.
Tell her you are jealous of the inheritance she got from her father.
Tell him you don’t think he deserves the promotion.
Logically you know that these people deserve what they have, or that you should be happy of their accomplishments. Emotionally though, you feel something completely different.
No matter how much you try, the logical side of you is NOT going to be able to change that emotion you are feeling.
I much rather the honest answer that hurts me now rather than the lie that hurts me later.
Another important fact is that logic will NOT change your emotion. Telling yourself all the reasons you should feel something is not going to change the way you feel about a situation. If you’re scared you are going to stay scared, if you’re annoyed you probably won’t stop being annoyed just because you think “I shouldn’t be annoyed.”
Time, on the other hang, CAN change the way you think.
Logic and emotion are not connected in any way.
I have never in my life heard someone utter the term ‘I’m happy for her/him’ and actually mean it. there is always some deep rooted emotions hitting as they say it. Jealousy, fear, annoyance, etc. People hide behind this false veneer of logic.
People use logic as a way to hide or maybe control the emotional part. They say they are happy for someone, or that they wish them the best. In reality their emotional side... I guess their heart, is screaming something completely different.
We are human beings, not Vulcans or robots. We are incredibly selfish and emotional. Instead of hiding these emotions, bottling them up and doing something stupid later:
Just be honest.
Tell me you’ve secretly liked me since we were kids and absolutely hate that girl I’m dating.
Tell her you are jealous of the inheritance she got from her father.
Tell him you don’t think he deserves the promotion.
Logically you know that these people deserve what they have, or that you should be happy of their accomplishments. Emotionally though, you feel something completely different.
No matter how much you try, the logical side of you is NOT going to be able to change that emotion you are feeling.
I much rather the honest answer that hurts me now rather than the lie that hurts me later.
Another important fact is that logic will NOT change your emotion. Telling yourself all the reasons you should feel something is not going to change the way you feel about a situation. If you’re scared you are going to stay scared, if you’re annoyed you probably won’t stop being annoyed just because you think “I shouldn’t be annoyed.”
Time, on the other hang, CAN change the way you think.
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
Oct 4, 2011
My (Failed) vow of silence
I’m Sorry.
Due to circumstances outside of my control I am being forced to break my vow of silence before the full week is up. I was able to not speak a single word for 48 hours straight. I would have liked to go the entire time but simply can not.
I can give you some of my observations from the experiment:
One being that in Canadian culture I seem incredibly rude if I do not say ‘sorry’ on a regular basis. People on the subway and bus look at me with utter shock on their face when I do not say sorry if I so much as lightly tap them.
Communication in general became strained for obvious reasons. It’s interesting how complex our speech really is. Things that can be said in a few words are impossibly hard to sherade. Even writing things down was rarely very effective as people would get impatient if I had to explain anything that took more than a word or two to write.
It also became harder to show emotion for some reason. I noticed myself making much larger gestures than I normally would. I guess I would usually say something that helps display the emotion and lacking that I had to compensate by exaggerating it.
I am NOT good at physical humour. While I can usually get a few good guffaws out of people throughout the average work day, I sadly got NONE whilst being silent.
I don’t believe I did this long enough to notice any massive changes in my perception to be honest. I would like to do a full experiment at some point. If you have any questions you can ask them in the comments.
Due to circumstances outside of my control I am being forced to break my vow of silence before the full week is up. I was able to not speak a single word for 48 hours straight. I would have liked to go the entire time but simply can not.
I can give you some of my observations from the experiment:
One being that in Canadian culture I seem incredibly rude if I do not say ‘sorry’ on a regular basis. People on the subway and bus look at me with utter shock on their face when I do not say sorry if I so much as lightly tap them.
Communication in general became strained for obvious reasons. It’s interesting how complex our speech really is. Things that can be said in a few words are impossibly hard to sherade. Even writing things down was rarely very effective as people would get impatient if I had to explain anything that took more than a word or two to write.
It also became harder to show emotion for some reason. I noticed myself making much larger gestures than I normally would. I guess I would usually say something that helps display the emotion and lacking that I had to compensate by exaggerating it.
I am NOT good at physical humour. While I can usually get a few good guffaws out of people throughout the average work day, I sadly got NONE whilst being silent.
I don’t believe I did this long enough to notice any massive changes in my perception to be honest. I would like to do a full experiment at some point. If you have any questions you can ask them in the comments.
Ps: I ended my vow of silence with the words: "And so it ends." I'm starting to think I should have said something more important.
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
Sep 30, 2011
I will be taking a vow of silence
I have decided that from Monday, October 3rd to Sunday, October 9th I will be participating in a vow of silence. I will be pointing a lot of confused people to this site during that time so I will try to explain the rules and my reasoning:
First of all, the rules:
I can not speak at all during the time.
I must live as normal a life as possible (social interactions etc)
I may still use technology to communicate (texting, MSN, Skype, Email, etc)
I can not answer my phone. If you call me I will be forced to text you in response.
Now on to my reasoning:
I am doing this as an experiment. It is not religious or spiritual in any way and it is more about communication, self discipline and just plain curiosity. I want to see if my perception changes at all during this time.
I will be writing an article that goes over my time being perfectly silent. I may post it here but I might try to get it published somewhere else first. I will certainly update this blog though.
You can ask questions, offer encouragement, call me stupid or give me advice in the comments.
First of all, the rules:
I can not speak at all during the time.
I must live as normal a life as possible (social interactions etc)
I may still use technology to communicate (texting, MSN, Skype, Email, etc)
I can not answer my phone. If you call me I will be forced to text you in response.
Now on to my reasoning:
I am doing this as an experiment. It is not religious or spiritual in any way and it is more about communication, self discipline and just plain curiosity. I want to see if my perception changes at all during this time.
I will be writing an article that goes over my time being perfectly silent. I may post it here but I might try to get it published somewhere else first. I will certainly update this blog though.
You can ask questions, offer encouragement, call me stupid or give me advice in the comments.
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
Sep 27, 2011
Give something away every week
I guess I’m a bit of a commie but I have an addiction to giving stuff away. More specifically books.
I have a pretty large collection of books and I seem to always be adding more to it. Most of these I’ve read, enjoyed and will probably never pick up again. So why should I keep them? All they do is take up space. When a friend is over and talks about something that is relevant to a book I own I will usually hand it to them and say it’s theirs.
I think it’s a nice thing to do but it freaks some people out.
Not only is this nice and saves a bit of space it really is the minimalist thing to do. Books are simply containers for knowledge. Once you consume that knowledge you no longer need the container. Like when you eat something. Give that container of knowledge to someone else so they can enjoy it to.
This isn’t just for books. You can give away Cd’s, furniture, clothing and more. Give away as much as you can.
I have a simple rule: I try to give one thing away every week. If I can do that I feel I’ve accomplished something.
So what have you given away this week?
I have a pretty large collection of books and I seem to always be adding more to it. Most of these I’ve read, enjoyed and will probably never pick up again. So why should I keep them? All they do is take up space. When a friend is over and talks about something that is relevant to a book I own I will usually hand it to them and say it’s theirs.
I think it’s a nice thing to do but it freaks some people out.
Not only is this nice and saves a bit of space it really is the minimalist thing to do. Books are simply containers for knowledge. Once you consume that knowledge you no longer need the container. Like when you eat something. Give that container of knowledge to someone else so they can enjoy it to.
This isn’t just for books. You can give away Cd’s, furniture, clothing and more. Give away as much as you can.
I have a simple rule: I try to give one thing away every week. If I can do that I feel I’ve accomplished something.
So what have you given away this week?
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
Sep 26, 2011
Cutting off from the world
I always tell people to make big changes in their lives. Do something impulsive and awesome. So right now I’m going to do something AS I WRITE THIS.... Wow, that makes me sound a bit full of myself, but regardless, I am going to start cutting myself off from the world more.
Right this second I have Facebook open, msn, skype, my cell phone and a billion other forms of communication. It’s pretty obvious I’m addicted to being chatted at. Maybe I like knowing people are thinking of me or maybe I just need the social interaction to feel good about myself.
In reality it isn’t helping at all.
So I’m going to cut down on my social and chat services. Stop signing into Facebook so much, close Skype every so often and turn off my phone on a regular basis. Instead of chatting I should be reading a book, practicing piano, writing a song, writing a poem, whatever. I should actually be accomplishing something.
That’s my plan. That’s what I’m going to do. First, let’s close MSN. Everyone there can text me if they really want to talk... Baby steps. Maybe I’ll close Skype next... and not leave it open all day whilst I’m at work.
This is going to be hard. But I gotta practice what I preach.
Tune in for updates.
Right this second I have Facebook open, msn, skype, my cell phone and a billion other forms of communication. It’s pretty obvious I’m addicted to being chatted at. Maybe I like knowing people are thinking of me or maybe I just need the social interaction to feel good about myself.
In reality it isn’t helping at all.
So I’m going to cut down on my social and chat services. Stop signing into Facebook so much, close Skype every so often and turn off my phone on a regular basis. Instead of chatting I should be reading a book, practicing piano, writing a song, writing a poem, whatever. I should actually be accomplishing something.
That’s my plan. That’s what I’m going to do. First, let’s close MSN. Everyone there can text me if they really want to talk... Baby steps. Maybe I’ll close Skype next... and not leave it open all day whilst I’m at work.
This is going to be hard. But I gotta practice what I preach.
Tune in for updates.
This blog is no longer active, my new blog can be found here: Chilled Soda!
