Author: Ara

Creator and consumer who researches the link between public health and personal happiness. Educated in public health and human behavior. Masters of Public Health from the UT College of Medicine.

The most effective strategy to gain control of your day

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Ctrl and Esc

My mind  during this morning’s meditation was like a puppy in the park. A ping pong ball between two paddle-wielding Chinese Olympians. But even after my poor meditation, I have more awareness over my thoughts for many hours after. And with that awareness, I get a measure of control, because I can sense all my emotional reactions, my anger or anxiety, immediately, as they flare up. Without this awareness, my reactions run unchecked, and they distract and destabilize me throughout the day, and throughout my life.

Given that your brain is the most powerful muscle you have, the measure of control you get from even a terrible meditation is huge.

After a few weeks, even after just a few days, meditating will probably be the biggest action you take to change your life, from your relationships to your work.

So get your ass in the seat. Every day. If you don’t have 10 minutes a day for your peace of mind, then… what’re you doing here?

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

Please feel free to pass this along if you think others would enjoy it.

Can we just let Dad drive?

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Russell Brand

(2 min 30 seconds to read)

I used to laugh off the extremists. Those on the fringe left who discourage offensive language, encourage patience with repressive Islamists, and promote a US conspiracy as the cause for the Muslims fighting each other .

I used to laugh off the birthers who criticized everything Obama did, as if he was any less authoritarian than George W. Bush. I used to dismiss those who thought the country was going socialist, while they ignored the fact that we all have our social security cards and the government was subsidizing big industries, from agriculture to oil to our banking system.

Then I really laughed at those who reacted to these dramatists on the fringe. The reactionaries on twitter and youtube who amplified and contested every emotional outburst  from social justice warrior and libertarian alike, whether the post deserved attention or not.

The 24 hours news cycle that needed to be filled by CNN and FOX and other big media networks was no longer.  You and me, our posts, podcasts, and tweets, were filling it now, with our feelings saturating the digital space.

And so now I wonder who out there doesn’t have a camp. Is there anyone left who won’t outright dismiss a statement coming from “the other side”? Have we become so emotionally charged, so easily led, that we cannot be allowed to have meaningful influence of government?

I was most sympathetic to libertarianism, because I think that large institutions are prone to soul-crushing and domineering, whether the institution is governmental or corporate. I put more trust in people. I value people’s freedom, not the institution’s. I believed the best change, the most meaningful change, came from the bottom up, not the top down.

I wanted to empower the people. But not so much anymore.

I wonder if it’s better to accept the liberal elitism which favors disempowering the population, in order to keep us from hurting ourselves.

“Son, I know you’re 18 years old, but let me have the keys. I’ll drive you wherever you need. It’s easier and safer for everyone.”

Maybe we do need a paternal government which limits our options and controls our economy, our paychecks, and our lifestyles.

Because from what I see, so many of us are thinking with our heart, or from our gut, but we’re not thinking about issues with our minds.

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

Please feel free to pass this along if you think others would enjoy it.

Observation is good. Sharing is better.

 

How to cook broken rice

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broken rice

I just bought some of this strangely named stuff from the Asian market, and with no instructions on the water to rice ratio to use, I went to the internet. Specifically, I went to google, and the top website hits for “broken rice water ratio” indicated to use almost equal water to rice. Some suggested more water than rice. I’m here to set the record straight, after doing some experimentation.

If you like gummy rice, then use equal water to rice. If you like gelatin rice, use more water than rice. If, like most of us who are well-adjusted grownups who still have their teeth,  you will want your rice fluffy and with texture, so then use 3/4 cup of water to 1 cup of broken rice. (This is after soaking and rinsing the rice, of course. I do about 30 minutes soak)

Broken rice is named as such because it’s in pieces. Or that it was raised improperly, perhaps with the father missing, or maybe he was there, but he drank too much. Anyway,  broken rice is on the lower end of the price range of rices, but you can find larger volumes of less-broken rice for as cheap as the broken, and maybe without daddy issues or severe shyness that drives it to pornography and video games.

Hopefully this will serve as a useful resource to the next newbie to broken rice who goes to the internet to search for water to rice ratios. And unlike me, they will find this website before getting lost in the mishmash of ignorant posts up there now.

[I recommend this rice, by the way, despite its low-quality rep. It’s granular, like couscous, and tasty with stews and liquid-based dishes]

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

The best way to make money work for you

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s

(40 seconds to read)

Money influences government. But really, it influences almost everything. Because we like money.

Most everyone’s actions are fundamentally driven by it. Moneyed elite? They are elite because we like their money. Not because they’re elite by some inherent power from the money itself. Our reaction to money gives them their power.

It’s never been about us versus them, or them versus us. The class-warfare argument that divides us never seems to go away, because our love for money hasn’t gone away. But it’s never been about money.  It’s about how we value money.

It’s always been about us. All of us, as a human society.

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If this is something you care about, then SHARE it.

Less observation.

More participation.

 

How to get the most of your Amazon shopping cart

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Amazon prime

(40 second read)

I get this warm, invigorating feeling when I click into my amazon cart. There’s stuff in there that makes me happy. It’s like a hit of some powerful drug that makes me feel satisfied. I am helpless in my mindset as a consumer, but sometimes I don’t consume anything. I just leave that stuff in the cart, and get high on that feeling every time I login. I feel rich, but I don’t have anything. Yes, I am weird.

I also feel rich when I go to the public library and get a bunch of books, and then at home, I think, Look at that, I have my own library!

But it doesn’t make me feel rich because my monetary situation prevents me from buying tons of books.

It makes me feel rich because I have access to all this knowledge and art and wisdom from human beings across the globe, across the span of human history:  The public library and its computers and internets, open to anyone and everyone.

I think we’re all rich, especially in a place like America. All this power to cultivate, at our fingertips, if we want to.

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

If this is something you care about, then SHARE it. Less observation. More participation.

The day you actually changed

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keep-calm-and-make-it-so-1

(30 seconds to read)

“Everyone is crippled in some area, and everyone is somewhere on the path of evolution, some ahead of us and some behind. In the steps we have walked are the old lessons of life, and before us are new teachings.

There is nothing to feel guilty about and nothing to blame. There is no one to hate, but there is that which is better avoided, and such blind alleys will become increasingly apparent.”

The day you awaken is when you see the blind alleys you turn into.

The day you actually change is the day you know you are not that person anymore.

Quote credit: Dr. David Hawkins

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

If this is something you care about, then SHARE it.

Less observation.

More participation.

Which is the focus? Your Flesh, Breath, or Mind?

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marcus-aurelius

(1 minute to read)

“Whatever this is that I am, it is a little flesh, and breath, and the ruling part. Throw away your books; no longer distract yourself: it is not allowed; Instead, as if you were dying right now, despise your flesh. It is blood and bones and a network of nerves, veins, and arteries.

See the breath also, what kind of a thing it is, air, and not always the same air, but every moment sent out and again sucked in.

Finally, there is the ruling part: consider this: You are an old man; no longer let the mind be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to selfish impulses, no longer either be dissatisfied with your present lot, or shrink from the future.”

-Marcus Aurelius (from Meditations)

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

If this is something you care about, then SHARE it. Less observation. More participation.

The safety of observing from afar

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first row of coaster

 

(Less than 2 minutes to read)

I met people in my life who were full of fear. Fear that keeps them far away, up on their mountain top, earthbound. They stayed up there, like a baby bird who never jumped, but walked around in the branches of the tree, growing into an adult, never trying to leave, never trying to risk itself. And I was no better, so my trying to help these people was pretty futile.

But I’ve left the mountaintop refugee finally. I stopped telling myself stories, and although I haven’t jumped to experience the total experience of being liberated, I’m taking small leaps, restraining myself, finding outcroppings to rest on.  I couldn’t stand the suffocating thin air of that flat-topped prison any longer, complaining about things, but not willing, or courageous enough, to change them.

It’s so helpful to surround yourself with the people doing things you want to, but aren’t. The strong influence of your friends on you is shown in scientific research. But the catch-22 is, you need to be self-aware enough to find these people, or allow them into your life.

One of the most heartbreaking things to see are those with so much potential, but so little  heart, unwilling to step up to the edge and look down to see what they’re missing. So they stay in their refugee, with enough air to survive, but not to thrive.

It’s a lesson to those of us who have decided to leave our nest on that mountaintop: The lesson of letting people go who aren’t ready for change.  The lesson of the futility of trying to pry open a person who has closed themselves off, like a clam. And finally a lesson that helps you face sadness: the sadness of seeing love wasted, missing from the world, from those who are too overwhelmed to open themselves up and share it.

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

If this is something you care about, then SHARE it. Less observation. More participation.

We can do better, if we choose the people who will do better by us.

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plato

“States will never be happy until rulers become philosophers or philosophers become rulers.”

Why are we voting for leaders who are career politicians? Why are we voting for leaders who want to rule us, with their rules, instead of guide us, and empower us?

Actually, we’re not voting for leaders. We are voting for managers, accountants, and technicians. Let’s vote for leaders, instead. Leaders who want to inspire us to do better in our life, not give us a life where the best deal becomes the paternal controls of a corporate employer driven by profits, or putting our retirement money in irresponsible investment bank 401k’s.

We can do better, if we choose the people who will do better by us.

It’s always been up to us. Despite all the money in politics, the biggest factor still comes down to your vote.

Follow me and I will take you away from the everyday.

If this is something you care about, then SHARE it. Let’s get out of the stands and into the game. Let’s interact.