Interesting read:
backreaction.blogspot.com
Somebody sent this to me last week. Enjoy, have fun!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Losing control
What I am trying to lose control of?
It was hard for me to make my friend understand why I changed my mind after just one drink? It was not so much of an experience as it was a reflection on what you want to gain through drinking. Have you ever done something crazy, something that really is out of line behavior for you? Like say….Enter a class full of 30 students and shout something really crazy to get their attention! Oops sorry I guess I do that very often now. Although, it took me some time to do that without any thought of a back reaction. Say enter an unknown party and do something really stupid like dancing alone on the floor. That "letting yourself go", and hence losing the control is different from losing your brain’s judging capability. What do you say? This may seem a little self contradictory to most, as doing something out of line usually involves breaking so many complexes a person has. And it requires discipline to change oneself, right? hell no! not always.
I remember, as master’s student we were ragged in girl’s hostel. Not serious kind of ragging at all! They asked me to dance. I was fear struck I could hardly move my feet, damn! I did something really funny and ended up being more embarrassed than ever. Not that I don’t like dancing, but it just didn’t occur to me that, I can. I tried learning and now I am pretty good at it, but still I cannot put my step down and say - let us dance girls! I know you will say get drunk, dance and once you have done that you will not feel this kind of block in your mind anymore. Well what you consider success, if it doesn’t come out of your sound mind, does it really make any sense? To be totally awake and then experiencing the magic of change is so consuming than anything else that you can ever imagine.
It was hard for me to make my friend understand why I changed my mind after just one drink? It was not so much of an experience as it was a reflection on what you want to gain through drinking. Have you ever done something crazy, something that really is out of line behavior for you? Like say….Enter a class full of 30 students and shout something really crazy to get their attention! Oops sorry I guess I do that very often now. Although, it took me some time to do that without any thought of a back reaction. Say enter an unknown party and do something really stupid like dancing alone on the floor. That "letting yourself go", and hence losing the control is different from losing your brain’s judging capability. What do you say? This may seem a little self contradictory to most, as doing something out of line usually involves breaking so many complexes a person has. And it requires discipline to change oneself, right? hell no! not always.
I remember, as master’s student we were ragged in girl’s hostel. Not serious kind of ragging at all! They asked me to dance. I was fear struck I could hardly move my feet, damn! I did something really funny and ended up being more embarrassed than ever. Not that I don’t like dancing, but it just didn’t occur to me that, I can. I tried learning and now I am pretty good at it, but still I cannot put my step down and say - let us dance girls! I know you will say get drunk, dance and once you have done that you will not feel this kind of block in your mind anymore. Well what you consider success, if it doesn’t come out of your sound mind, does it really make any sense? To be totally awake and then experiencing the magic of change is so consuming than anything else that you can ever imagine.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Why people drink?
Why do people drink? Oh ho! Let me point the finger towards me and ask why did I drink? I had my first and probably the last drink on 21 st Aug 08, on my friend's successful Ph.D. defence! Wow need to keep track of "dare" things that I do in my life right!...assuming that it matters somehow!
I had one drink, my best friend had two. We wanted to know how it feels getting drunk? What happened after that? How did it really feel? Someone wanted to know this and I couldn't tell right away what it was like. Not that I hadn't given it a thought, but because I knew his reaction. It takes time for me to digest my own conclusions sometimes!!
To be true, I found no pleasure in losing balance. I felt dizzy for 10 mins at the most, my friend felt dizzy for may be a little longer. Well aise hi kaha hosh mein rehte hai ke pi ke hosh gawaye! But I really think one ought to try it once atleast! You should know why you don't drink. Let us assume you get baited into having it by some weird crazy circumstance, what will you do then? Get addicted to it?
Find the reason why you don't want to drink! For me it was simple - "I find no pleasure in losing control over my body!" Call that a typical desi girl attitude or whatever! Infact, nobody will ever call that a "typical desi" attitude taking into consideration of how many desi girls around me have it on regular basis without any inhibitions.
Hurray! Ek baar hi sahi I could shout for fun "Talli ho ke girne se seekhi humne gravity!" By that rule, one can learn gravity only if one gets drunk! Beware of those who are good physicists, they must be quite drunkards too! I am a bad one for sure...now what follows what is upto you to decide. ;)
I had one drink, my best friend had two. We wanted to know how it feels getting drunk? What happened after that? How did it really feel? Someone wanted to know this and I couldn't tell right away what it was like. Not that I hadn't given it a thought, but because I knew his reaction. It takes time for me to digest my own conclusions sometimes!!
To be true, I found no pleasure in losing balance. I felt dizzy for 10 mins at the most, my friend felt dizzy for may be a little longer. Well aise hi kaha hosh mein rehte hai ke pi ke hosh gawaye! But I really think one ought to try it once atleast! You should know why you don't drink. Let us assume you get baited into having it by some weird crazy circumstance, what will you do then? Get addicted to it?
Find the reason why you don't want to drink! For me it was simple - "I find no pleasure in losing control over my body!" Call that a typical desi girl attitude or whatever! Infact, nobody will ever call that a "typical desi" attitude taking into consideration of how many desi girls around me have it on regular basis without any inhibitions.
Hurray! Ek baar hi sahi I could shout for fun "Talli ho ke girne se seekhi humne gravity!" By that rule, one can learn gravity only if one gets drunk! Beware of those who are good physicists, they must be quite drunkards too! I am a bad one for sure...now what follows what is upto you to decide. ;)
Monday, May 21, 2007
To be nice or to be right
It is amazing how some people can be nice to everyone 24x7. They are never angry, atleast they don't seem to be angry;)! They will help anyone and everyone never mind how are they treated. It is amazing how someone can achieve that state....so amazing that at times it seems unworldly!
Why can't I be like them? Why can't everybody be like them?
The human element as we call it is made up of all the states of mind and its interaction with the environment(other humans). Every state of mind is reflected in how we interact with others. It is natural to be angry, it is natural to be sad, it is natural to be happy...all these things make you human being. What would a person be without any emotions...a machine?
To be nice no matter what is different from to be doing the right thing. Sometimes doing right thing is to get angry and let yourself express it. Why is that a sin? It is more humane I would say! Not expressing something in the form of anger doesn't mean one does not feel bad. And if one does feel bad why not express it?!
Learning how not to hit the extremes is always important! Balancing doesn't mean being goody good 24x7 it means understanding the situations and circumstances before reacting to it and reacting in the right way.
E.g.: If you kick me, I will ask, "hey why did you kick me?". And if you answer, "it wasn't your intention, you just happened to...blah blah blah..." . I will believe you. But if I sit there not reacting like a dead person instead of questioning you I must be either touch insensitive or must have entered the zone where nothing penetrates my thick skin, whether good or bad. (There is no good or bad anyways, but that is a different story entirely.)
Watch this from the movie.."Raising Helen":
watch the part where she gets angry and says.."Btw, You are not a bad person, but this is a very bad behavior" Not that this is the only way to handle the situation but I really like the way she pulls herself back and redefines her anger!
Why can't I be like them? Why can't everybody be like them?
The human element as we call it is made up of all the states of mind and its interaction with the environment(other humans). Every state of mind is reflected in how we interact with others. It is natural to be angry, it is natural to be sad, it is natural to be happy...all these things make you human being. What would a person be without any emotions...a machine?
To be nice no matter what is different from to be doing the right thing. Sometimes doing right thing is to get angry and let yourself express it. Why is that a sin? It is more humane I would say! Not expressing something in the form of anger doesn't mean one does not feel bad. And if one does feel bad why not express it?!
Learning how not to hit the extremes is always important! Balancing doesn't mean being goody good 24x7 it means understanding the situations and circumstances before reacting to it and reacting in the right way.
E.g.: If you kick me, I will ask, "hey why did you kick me?". And if you answer, "it wasn't your intention, you just happened to...blah blah blah..." . I will believe you. But if I sit there not reacting like a dead person instead of questioning you I must be either touch insensitive or must have entered the zone where nothing penetrates my thick skin, whether good or bad. (There is no good or bad anyways, but that is a different story entirely.)
Watch this from the movie.."Raising Helen":
watch the part where she gets angry and says.."Btw, You are not a bad person, but this is a very bad behavior" Not that this is the only way to handle the situation but I really like the way she pulls herself back and redefines her anger!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Objectivism/A car cannot run on the fuel of belief
After TAing in US for 2 years i am getting acquainted with fairly sizable number of young undergrads. Teaching Physics is fun...both scientifically and philosophically.
Some might argue that the two things are uncorrelated. i.e. A person may have different philosophical approach and different scientific approach. A priest can be a scientist...ha ha :D Why not? Many teachers preach their beliefs, teachings etc. But wait a minute, I can talk about this later....right now let me tell you something interesting..
Some of my students answer the physics question with a "belief" that the answer could be wrong because they "believe" that they are not good enough at experiments. Or sometimes they say that they "believe" that the results should be so but are getting otherwise. For well proved theories let us say the second answer is fairly acceptable. But not all the theories are full proof. Questioning with a fair amount of objectivism is necessary...which is what a scientist would do. But how does one teach/preach such an attitude?
Some might argue that the two things are uncorrelated. i.e. A person may have different philosophical approach and different scientific approach. A priest can be a scientist...ha ha :D Why not? Many teachers preach their beliefs, teachings etc. But wait a minute, I can talk about this later....right now let me tell you something interesting..
Some of my students answer the physics question with a "belief" that the answer could be wrong because they "believe" that they are not good enough at experiments. Or sometimes they say that they "believe" that the results should be so but are getting otherwise. For well proved theories let us say the second answer is fairly acceptable. But not all the theories are full proof. Questioning with a fair amount of objectivism is necessary...which is what a scientist would do. But how does one teach/preach such an attitude?
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Cruel maturity
Cruel enough....
....my life sucks!
Inspite of all the bad things happening around me I try to keep faith....faith in the goodness, faith that every person has a good heart. But my heart breaks everytime someone behaves badly. And now it seems that it is breaking for good. Wish I could wake up every morning like a new born child with absolutely no memories from past and heart wide open to everything and everyone. Why is growing up so difficult? Are we getting molded into someone rigid who doesn't see the other side of the world? Is this what is called maturity?
Hope that someday I will become mature and not feel bad about it :)
~ES
....my life sucks!
Inspite of all the bad things happening around me I try to keep faith....faith in the goodness, faith that every person has a good heart. But my heart breaks everytime someone behaves badly. And now it seems that it is breaking for good. Wish I could wake up every morning like a new born child with absolutely no memories from past and heart wide open to everything and everyone. Why is growing up so difficult? Are we getting molded into someone rigid who doesn't see the other side of the world? Is this what is called maturity?
Hope that someday I will become mature and not feel bad about it :)
~ES
Monday, March 12, 2007
Being in Control
What does mean by being in control?
It means to be able to do what you want. It means not yielding to scary thoughts and situations. It means not getting influenced by the people around you who you feel are trying to put you out of control. It means peace of mind and concentration. It means sound sleep and being healthy.
Alright what does it mean???? Somebody controls you???.....
Who decides on/should decide on:
1) What you want?
2) What should scare you?
3) Who decides to be out of control?
4) Who decides when should you be afraid?
5) Who has the right on your mind?
The problem is solved the moment you realize that answer to all the above questions is YOU!
It means to be able to do what you want. It means not yielding to scary thoughts and situations. It means not getting influenced by the people around you who you feel are trying to put you out of control. It means peace of mind and concentration. It means sound sleep and being healthy.
Alright what does it mean???? Somebody controls you???.....
Who decides on/should decide on:
1) What you want?
2) What should scare you?
3) Who decides to be out of control?
4) Who decides when should you be afraid?
5) Who has the right on your mind?
The problem is solved the moment you realize that answer to all the above questions is YOU!
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