Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Advice, Eckhart Tolle, Life, self-help, The Now
I don’t edit this content. If Sagar can’t speak english, that’s his problem.
What if I were to tell you that there is a voice inside your head that never shuts up and pretends to you be you, but isn’t actually you? You would probably think I’m crazy.
A few months ago I started reading the works of Eckhart Tolle. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tolle, he is a spiritual teacher who preaches that most human beings spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. As such, he argues that the only thing necessary in order for one to achieve spiritual enlightenment is to transcend thought.
I know, easier said than done.
Can you recall a time when you were staring at something beautiful, a sunset on a lake perhaps, and for a brief second, there was a certain unique stillness, an unmistakeable inner peace within you? That was you living in the moment. Of course it didn’t last, and you likely weren’t consciously aware of what happened. In reality, that was actually you escaping your mind.
Life tends to pass us by while we’re busy thinking about how not to allow life to pass us by. So here is a new spiritual practice for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously. Accept the moment, as it is, right now. When you accept it, no matter how imperfect it may seem, all the inner conflict within you disappears, you will find yourself at peace.
Thoughts are very powerful, they lead to emotions, and emotions lead to reactions. Reactions lead to conflicts. That’s why there is so much conflict amongst human beings.
Everyone is familiar with the Buddhist saying: No self, no problems. Buddhists believe that all pain is creating as result of desire. What they mean when they refer to “self” is your mind made image of you, something that is conditioned by the past, and never satisfied, at least not for long. In actuality, that is not you. “You” are something much deeper. “You” are an energy that is one with this world and the truth of the matter is no thing or person in this world can affect “you.” When you think something has, it has really affected your “self” — your mind made image.
Your life is always right now. When you think of the past, you can only remember it now. What you remember is an event that happened in the now, and you remember it right now. When the future arrives, it will arrive as the now. There never was and never will be a time when your life is not right now. So why not embrace it? Make friends with the moment, and then see what happens.
For the longest time in my life I used to externalize my own happiness. I would depend on other people, objects, or places to make me happy. The problem with that way of living is those things cannot give you true joy. Yes, they can make you “happy”, but there is a fundamental difference between being happy and true joy. Happiness does not last for long. When something makes you happy, it will do so for a brief period of time, and you will then start looking for something or someone else to replicate that effect.
Once you begin to realize that no object or person in this world can provide you with lasting fulfillment, everything changes. You will still meet and interact with people but are able to accept them as the passing and imperfect creatures they are, there is a sense of joy deep down which always remains unaffected by what happens around you.
Do you find yourself worried a lot, or anxious about the future? You’re likely creating situations in your head, which is leading to anxiety. The truth is you cannot deal with those situations, because they do not exist. They are figments of your imagination. You can only deal with the present moment, and that’s all you’ll ever have to deal with.
So what’s left when we’re not wound up in our thoughts, worrying about the past or being anxious about the future? Stillness, inner peace, joy.
Some years ago I was speaking to Matthew Good about young kids trying to “make it” in the music business when he remarked to me: “If it’s not enough for someone to play music in their bedroom by themselves, it will never be enough.” I never quite understood what he meant by that. Looking back on that conversation now, he couldn’t have more correct. Ultimately, everything we do in life should be about the journey, not the destination.
Carpe diem, they say.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Community, Deactivating, Facebook, Internet, Network, Online, Sagar Speaks, Social, Social Media, Turning Off, Web 2.0
At the time of posting this, Sagar had already reactivated his Facebook account.
Remember a time when if you wanted to get in touch with someone, you’d pick up something called a telephone and ring them? Yes, I know times have changed, and being a web developer I should be embracing this sort of technology but seriously, this whole Facebook thing is out of control.
I don’t care how many FarmVille points you have, I don’t want to be a vampire, and if it was someone’s birthday today that was close to me, they would get a text message from me the minute they wake up. So what’s the bloody point of Facebook? The truth is I’m well aware of what everyone that I care about is doing right now.
I noticed that my boss Geoff earlier today posted an update about how he was just about to de-activate Facebook. He went as far as to hit the delete button, when Facebook displayed a message telling him certain friends would miss him, that his friends had birthdays coming up, so he caved and didn’t do it. Tactical guerilla marketing at it’s finest.
The breaking point for me was when I logged in to Facebook today, and it showed an ad about staying close to my friends and family this Diwali. How the hell does Facebook know I’m brown, and what’s more, how does it know I celebrate Diwali? I could be Muslim. I’m sorry, but that’s just creepy. So I decided it had to go.
Of course as soon as I saw that I told Kavi. He didn’t think I would do it. But here we are. I told Geoff I just did it and he applauded.
Okay, back to the point. Facebook is, in actuality, a collection of people’s egos mingling on the internet. EgoBook would be a much more accurate name. The word ego is thrown around a lot these days but in the context of this post, I’m suggesting that it is how one perceives the world to look at them. That is to say, Facebook is a portrayal of who people want you to think they are, not who they actually are. It’s fictional. It’s amazing how you can look at someone’s Facebook and try to gether a thing or two about their personality, then meet up with them and real life and realize it’s not at all who they are. In fact, I’ve known people who would go so far as to update their status, then delete it if nobody comments on it. Self-conscious a bit?
The reality of the danger in sites such as Facebook is that nobody reads the fine print. I’m aware this subject has been covered ad nauseum, but we just had a discussion at the office here about a guy who was walking down the street and noticed a picture of his sister on the side of a bus. Apparentely, as he later discovered, the picture had been licensed by Flickr to advertiser, and it was absolutely within their rights, as Flickr states in their registration agreement that they reserve the right to re-sell people’s photographs. That’s pretty scary to think about
I’ll not sit here and pretend like I’m above it or that I’m in any way different from anyone else. I’m just as much a narcissist as everybody else who’s on Facebook, and as my co-workers suggest, I’ll likely be back on it the next time I randomly meet a woman. Further to that, I was just told Facebook doesn’t actually delete any if your information, it just hides it until you log back in again. Weird.
For now though, in the interest of my peace of mind, I’ve decided to enjoy life in the real world for a bit.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Canada, Clickfest, Contests, Fun, Humor, Humour, Office, Prizes, S.i. Systems, Win
We all have funny office stories to share. We all have office horror stories to share. You know you can win $5,000 if you share your office story, and it’s voted as the best of the best?
Canadian IT recruitment firm, S.i. Systems Ltd. is running a contest called Clickfest.
Some people click, some people don’t.
Think the office drummer, the loud phone talker, or the office fridge thief. We’re looking for funny moments in the office environment where someone just doesn’t click. Embrace your inner actor and post a video, photo or write a quick story. Share your account of someone that just doesn’t click. If your entry generates the most votes, you win $5,000.
For examples, you can see these Youtube videos here.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Cotton Fields, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Music, Song, Week, Youtube
Here you go, song of the week. This is what happens when you spend too much time in Paul’s car.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Advertisment, Blog, Endorsement, Gatorade, Michael Jordan, New, Single Serving, Slam Dunk, Sports, Tumblr, Web 2.0
So I’ve gone and done it again. I can’t help it. I love tumblr and the single serving blog. I’ve combined my love of sports and ads to create this: fuckyeahsportsads. It’s a shrine to the sports advertisement and endorsement. You can even submit your own! I’m having a lot of fun with this one.
Filed under: Humour, Interesting | Tags: Culture, Health, Laughter, Life, people, Sagar Speaks, self-help, Wellness
My friend and co-worker Sagar is really into social dynamics lately. Last night, after working some hard overtime, we walked to the subway together. On our walk he started talking about why we laugh. I said he should write something about it and put it on my blog. He did.
I was walking home yesterday with Kavi and began ranting to him, as I usually do, about a seemingly mundane topic that I recently took an interest in: laughter. Kavi mentioned that he was intrigued by the arbitrary subjects I go on about and suggested I write an entry on his blog about my findings, so here we are.
Laughter. Everybody laughs. Truly a fascinating thing when you think about it. It is recognized by all cultures and backgrounds, all over the world. I can laugh with someone from half way across the globe, and despite not speaking a word of the same language, we would both understand each other. It is one of the few universally recognized elements of human language.
Maybe I should back up a bit. What got me on this whole laughter bit in the first place? Last week when I was walking, I came up to a stop light and noticed a homeless fellow singing to himself in a rather amusing way. As I looked over my shoulder, I noticed there was a cute girl standing next to me who happened to notice this guy as well, so we exchanged looks and began laughing. I started chatting to her and we ended up having a twenty minute conversation.
I know what you’re thinking: Nice story, but what does it have to do with anything? Well, as I reflected on that interaction later on, I realized how extremely powerful laughter is. I’ve always had an interest in social dynamics, but it was both bizarre and intriguing to me that two strangers on the street can share a laugh about such a trivial thing and mutually understand it as way of saying “Hi, I’d like to bond with you socially.”
As you may know, laughter is not done consciously. It is not thought, it is not planned. Our brain decides to do it for is. Like most people, before I did any research on the matter, I always attributed laughter to funny things. Jokes, comedians, and the like. Perhaps the most interesting thing I discovered was this: most laughter is not in response to something that’s funny.
Since I read that, I began observing the people around me and those I interact with regularly. Guess what? It’s true. People laugh for all kind of reasons – rarely does it have to do with something funny. Some people laugh as a way of breaking tension. Some people laugh to seek approval. Some laugh as a means of compensating for insecurity, and some people laugh for no reason at all. Despite the myriad of reasons that people laugh, I think it’s generally accepted as a way of conveying good vibrations.
Have you ever found yourself laughing with a group of people, but not sure why? It’s human instinct to laugh when others around us are laughing. Laughter is like social glue. That’s why you would sooner talk to yourself than laugh with yourself. A psychological study shows that people watching television shows that contain sound clips of laughter are more inclined to think of those shows as being funny, as well as to laugh along with them.
I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, and given my short attention span I’ll probably be ranting about something like missile silos next week, but for now what I can suggest is: maybe all the world needs is a little more laughter. Try it, you might agree.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Abortion, Accident, Complain, Mondays, Pro Life, Protest, Rant, Rave, Stupid, toronto
I was driving south on Victoria Park Sunday afternoon, and had passed the intersection at Lawrence. I came to a stop on the other side of the intersection due to traffic. Two minutes later a guy rear ends me because he wasn’t paying attention to his driving. You know why he wasn’t paying attention to his driving? Because he was too busy looking at the “Pro-Life” protestors on the side of the road. Richard put it best when he said, “Pro-Life Kills!” I hate protestors. Abortion protestors and distracted drivers kill.
It’s complain Mondays, go ahead and gripe.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Answer, Life, Nuit Blanche, Question, Wednesday Plans, Weekend, Work, Working Week
So Monday is now Complain Mondays and Tuesdays have become Random Tuesdays. Over a couple of drinks last night after work, which were totally random, Josh and I decided that Wednesday should be dubbed Wednesday Plans: The day people start to decide what’s going to happen from Thursday to Sunday.
Thursday is usually Beers & Cheers followed by debauchery in my calendar.
Fridays, I think that’s a stay in with sweat pants night.
Saturday is Nuit Blanche.
And Sunday is a write off.
What are your plans for the rest of the week?
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: comment, Complain, Frustrated, Gripe, Monday, Vent
It’s Monday and there are a ton of things to gripe about.
It’s windy and wet and it generally sucks outside. The sun peeked out through the clouds for probably only a few minutes, and then ran back behind the grossness. My shoes kind of got wet and I’m not wearing socks, so I’m experiencing an awkward, slimy feeling between my toes.
Complain about something, anything, below.
