What is intuition - definition? Intuition is the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning or explanation. Does it really work? You may ask, and if it does how? 9/11 We all have heard about miracles happening all around the world from time to time. In fact, it is not very uncommon. In times of 9/11 attacks after the initial chaos calmed down, we started to hear the stories of some lives which were saved that day. Some, who worked in the World Trade center, did not go to work just because they felt like not going. And it saved their lives while all the others did perish. WTC: https://unsplash.com/@karmy Flight 1549 If you have watched the movie about Captain Sully and his famous landing Airbus A320 in Hudson River, I am sure you should have appreciated the intuition more than you think. He had sudden emergency of losing both of his engines of the aircraft within few seconds of a bird strike, and intuitively he has decided to land on the Hudson River in the middle of the winter. And Guess what? He has saved all the lives on board and had become a national Hero. What would have happened if he started to self-doubt and calculate all the risks and benefits of landing on the Hudson River vs desperately trying to land in a runaway? Lamborghini Imagine you are going to buy a new car. And you go to the car sale, and you buy a brand-new car, the model that you are most keen on buying. Your friend chose just the car next to you, same brand, almost same number, maybe those two cars spent their entire lives from factory to the yard beside each other. Yet, after driving same amount of distance for a one year, your friend's car starts to give trouble, and spending time and money to be in the garage more often than necessary, while yours is working in tip top condition without any trouble. If we look at the latter scenario, we know that the same intuition which brought happiness to you have brought unhappiness and trouble to your friend. Yet how can we really know why intuition works that way? Lamborghini: https://unsplash.com/@craventure How or can we ever harvest the power of such intuition for our advantage? I would say this is another billion-dollar question. Before we know how to use, we have to know how it works. Here, our little mindfulness wisdom comes into play. Previously I have written on reasons beyond reasons, in the article why we should start with why . Where I have explained some simple observations of life are really bound by countless causes which happened before them and still happening around them. Science have really explored some of immediate and obvious causes yet knowing everything is impossible. Why intuition happens? As an example, we can tell that apple fell to the ground because of the gravity, after its released from the apple tree. But Why gravity? Why apple? Why tree? Why it is an apple tree? If there was a banana tree apple would never fall. So not having a banana tree there is also a cause for an apple to fall on the ground. On the other hand, having a witness to the falling apple is also a reason. Hence, nobody can ever list out all the reasons for a simple observation we make about the outside world. Yet we can say it is countless reasons. And nobody would ever know all the reasons. And that is exactly how the intuition if happens, happens. The reasons for intuitions are never known. Someone can say it is fate, someone would say its Luck, or bad luck if it is negative intuition. But the reasons are unknown. Unknown Reasons: https://unsplash.com/@jessica_anderson Harvesting intuition? So, if the reasons of intuition are unknown, how can we ever harvest the power of it? Can we just attract it by saying a positive mantra throughout the day? Is that what is suggested by the Law of attraction? To pray for things to happen. I can stuff you with hundreds of positive quotes here, like a puffed-up toy panda. Yet, I would not do that, as I want your intuition to focus more on peace , than success in life. Infact, I think a better way is to be mindful. To be aware and understand the fluctuating nature of life. Notice the life carries on even when bad luck happens, and good luck seems to be far away. There is space for laughter and peace even when intuition works and not. And that would be a better attitude towards a meaningful life .

“Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.” Albert Camus What is a Greenstick? If you had been a product of nature, I am sure you know about greensticks. We used to play with sticks when we were kids. When you want a stick, you break a one from a bush. That is easy, unless it is a greenstick. When you try to break these young sticks, they do not break straight away. They just crack and bend but strongly attached to the rest with some fibers still. Often to break it completely you need to twist it and repeatedly bend. Why do greensticks do not break? If you compare a greenstick to a mature branch, you will notice that is due to its consistency. Mature sticks are stronger, but their tensile strength is less. They tend to work better with compression forces but when tension applied, they just snap. I am sure there are many more reasons, and mechanisms behind this however that is not the objective of this article. Objective of this article is to notice the difference of mature stick to a greenstick. Greensticks https://unsplash.com/@jacobbrog What else are greensticks? Just like young greensticks, young children are also greensticks. They are having bones inside them, still growing. These bones are not mature, different in consistency than adults, hence they behave like greensticks when applied forces. If a long bone of a forearm of a child is forced to bend in a fall, it might just get a so called "Greenstick fracture". And it is exactly like what happens with greensticks in nature. It just cracks on one side but bends on the other, And fractured parts not completely separated from each other. So, these fractures need minimal interventions in healing. "Blessed are the hearts that can bend (Greensticks), they shall never be broken" As you can see although Albert Camus do not talk about greensticks you can appreciate the similarity. If something is bendable it is less likely to fracture. Not only greensticks, but it is also evident when we recently experienced hurricane Milton . The bendable trees did withstand the force of nature while more rigid ones had no choice but to go down. If you would ask an engineer, he would explain how they build these skyscrapers, to withstand wind, and earthquakes, without snapping in the middle which otherwise would be a disaster if happened. "Blessed are the hearts that can bend, they shall never be broken". This is the wisdom of Albert Camus, on greensticks. Maybe he is referring to the hearts of children. But I would say otherwise, more likely he is referring to hearts "like" children. They have ability to bend, on command, to anyone. They are blessed. And shall never be broken because of inherent resistance it provides against tensile strengths of nature. Just like young bones of growing children, they might make a greenstick fracture, but would heal without a problem, with just rest and good direction. I can understand many meanings from the quote, and each is equally possible when we consider. Maybe it is empathy that he is referring to, or down to earth nature l ike a bamboo. Maybe it is nature of someone to follow in a flow . Maybe it is accepting the nature and be at peace . And for each one of us I am sure it means many things. But everything means something good not bad. Bend https://unsplash.com/@davidhofmann How can we be greensticks? There can be many ways, but one is to observe greensticks. Meaning observing the nature. Using mindfulness as a tool we can observe nature day in and day out. And try to understand our world and ourselves and realize the incredible capacity of the " Lump of clay " which we call ourselves. Then day by day I am sure we will start to feel like greensticks against forces of nature, until we become so greenstick that we would be called "Water" and start to take the shape of every cup that life has to offer. And we will blend with nature, or more correctly speaking, realize that we are the nature in the first place. I am sure Albert Camus did not mean us to get a meaning so deep from his quote, and he would feel a stranger on his own novel. Yet I think we can, and we should, think beyond words. Broken twig Old twig Old twig stood so proud With all the medals of fungi on its shoulders When it hugged the ground with rest of the twigs He was a hero among ordinary in peace at last

Story on peace in a garden. Once upon a time there was a young monk. And he lived in a monastery in a faraway land. In a remote Island. And in this monastery, there was a garden. The garden had a beautiful landscape with plenty of flora and fauna. And after some time, people noticed the garden is transforming into a picturesque form. The hedges were pruned. The paths were laid with white sand. And sometimes with pebbles in beautiful patterns. Like it has happened magically. Garden People came to see the garden from faraway places. On pilgrims and visited the monastery. Met the monk and they thought surely there is something. There is something attractive in that Monastery which pointed everyone that it is a sacred place. As nobody knew who the gardener is. People always like to see miracles. And they will start talking about it even after days. The news of the monastery spread rapidly and even reached the wise old teacher of the monk. One day the old monk came to the nearby village and wanted to visit his disciple. And hearing the stories old monk was curious to see what happened. And he went to the garden early morning and hid behind a bush. And in the time of dusk, he saw a silhouette of a monk appeared and started to clean the garden. Removing all the bad leaves, picking them by hand. Separating them according to the color and lay them in patterns. Re arranging the pebbles in foot paths, mixed up by the crowd previous day. And he worked with so much effort for two hours and he did not even notice his teacher coming up to him and holding his hand. And he turned around. "Master" he spoke. Teacher asked. "What are you doing? I knew it must be you. You have become a fine gardener!" The young monk was a little bit ashamed on the remark and the kind old monk knew this. He went to pick up a handful of dead leaves and spread them in air. And they fell all over the place. And he spoke. "Son, Peace is not always in places tidy. It's hard to be mindful in places where there is chaos. But that is exactly what we should do. That's what we practice for." End Story on peace Peace with Garbage Peace with Garbage Have you walked on your street when the garbage pick-up truck got delayed? Have you walked on a road, after a hurricane , after a rain. In autumn, when there are heaps and heaps of rotten leaves, stinking piles mixed with leftover food thrown away by the homeless? Have you had a clogged drain once in a while, a messy room after party. Have you been to a pig farm ? I am sure you have, experienced even one of these. What reaction does your mind have in these places? I am sure you tried to run away or blame someone or do something to change. And you were not happy until you were done! And that is exactly what most of us would do I would say which is the correct response. And also, I can see opportunity to observe behavior of mind in chaos in such places. Like the wise old monk suggested such places are obviously most difficult places where we cannot maintain our mindfulness. We cannot be mindful until our drains are clean, cloths are nicely arranged, and gardens are nicely swept. But obviously these beautiful places exist only relative to the clogged drains, untidy gardens and stinking cloths. It is our mind which judge the nature and give a positive or negative value to make it trouble our peace either way. And when you understand the duality of nature , you will know how to at peace even in chaos. In summary, to practice mindfulness in places it is disturbed, we need to understand it is by our own judgement that peace is disturbed in the first place.

Does your nose and ears ever stop growing? My father used to tell us that nose never stops growing. That is why senior citizens have long drooping noses like a birds beak. And I noticed this was true. In fact in cartoons and even in television when someone older and wiser appears their nose seems to be grown far more than any of us. Is this true? Does your nose, and ears never stops growing? Ever growing nose of wisdom Scientific explanation, Myth about ever growing nose and ears. Before going into the discussion of myth and philosophy of pinnochio nose I would like to straighten the facts with science. No, it is not true. Noses and ears stop growing. Actually around age of 20, bones of the nose fuse and they stop growing. Even nose cartilage stops expanding. Yet as we already know we replace cells in every part of our body including cartilage and bone. Hence as a person ages, cartilage changes its consistancy and becomes little soft. So the gravity itself is enough to make the ears and noses of senior citizens droop a little. In parallal with this the cheecks and rest of the face loose its fat and thick nature making drooping ears and nose more prominent. And there is no truth in its association with wisdom or knowledge! Yet I can confirm nose has some erectile tissue in it, which helps to warm and humidify air and not for lovemaking fortunately. Pinocchio's nose. Now this is rarther interesting topic. Not only pinocchio is wooden, he had this remarkable nose, which actually grows. When he lies about anything. I wonder what happened if humans did posess some nose which had the ability to do the same. I am sure such a curse would give miles and miles long noses to some of us. I do not spare myself here. Maybe except for the thief who did not lie , and every kid before being corrupted every one of us in the current human population would have to carry a wheelbarrow to bring our noses with us. I am sure the fashion industry would find some kind of nice jwellary to wear on top of this nose, and they would develop nose gloss or nose paint to decorate it with. Instead of nail centers, there would be deplomas in vocational training facilities to promote such art. While artists find extra use from their noses, engineers would use them to messure distances. I am sure Apple.Ic would make use of these noses to mount some wireless hearing devices in tip of them, so that housewives can hear all the gossip of the entire neighbourhood while cooking in the kitchen! Election debates would be non other than each of the presidential candidate lying about the true lengths of their noses. And I am sure some would use media to generate falsified facts about how short their own noses are than the other. And still the citizens would find it difficult to determine true lengths of their own candidates, and would toss a coin at the booth before marking their ballots. Pinocchio Nose Job of a judge would be easier as he just has to ask questions. There would be no need for a lie detector, as nobody would be dare to speak nothing but truth in the court as they swear. And lawyers duty would be to messure the nose legth of the witness after each such question, forgetting their own nose lengths. On the other hand the job of a priest would be difficult, as he no longer could preach about things he do not know hence a lie. I am sure such would be hard to find even for a funeral or for that matter for a wedding. Pinocchio wisdom Sometimes it is hilarious, sometimes it is dreadful to think about such a society. But I am sure there would be more and more seekers of truth in the world, if we made the truth appear so obvious like a pinnocio nose. As in not so cursed current version of the God's creation, truth always stabilise in the bottom of the river as it is too heavy for anyone to grasp. Only the less dense grabage floats everywhere for us to see. And maybe answer to a more wiser society is in the nose after all. And that is what pinocchio wisdom means.

Warning: This article is about mindfulness and philosophy of metaverse or VR Metaverse or VR why? Metaverse I can't forget the first time I saw this MS dude wearing a helmet of virtual reality. Call me old school yet my initial thoughts were "Well this guy is mad!" I accept that self-made billionaire MS and his greatest invention F******k had impact on everything that we do. Well, we needed that. We needed a place to share our thoughts, and sorrows and to get in touch with old school friends. Ah, for that matter such groups initiated a movement in our country to topple the government which was corrupted to the nose. Yet, virtual reality? That looked an overkill for me. That is like offering a shot of fentanyl to already puffed-up set of drug abusers about to die anyway. Yes, we are the addicted group of borderline generation, constantly craving a WhatsApp message Facebook TikTok or a tweet. Yet, we are not ready to take that fentanyl shot which is called virtual reality. I am virtually angry when these tech giants when try to rob even our life, to make it trapped in a metaverse so they can manipulate it from a program. Are you ready for this? Benefits of Metaverse Well, of course someone can argue the benefits. Someone can argue that we are using the metaverse for virtual meetings. Virtual education and virtual concerts. It can be true with regulations virtual reality might let a surgeon to do a surgery from a remote location, rather than physically being present (which is already happening). Yet I feel sad for the future generation, who will never meet new friends, or touch another human being to feel how warm it feels a hug. How much comforting to have someone to feel the tears when we suffer from our inherently weak physical form. When we fluctuate our mental health, how much comforting a real deal of a real counselor. Yet they will be first fixed to a VR machine, even before kept on the mother's breast for a sip of milk and a hug of warmth. Sad truth is they wouldn't even know why they are sad. They might even feel happy living in a virtual reality. Is it good? Warmth of a Mother : https://unsplash.com/@kellysikkema History of metaverse and virtual reality 2500 years ago It reminded me a little story which happened 2500 years ago. There was a very wealthy and wise king. And he had a son. When the son was born prophets said that he will either become a universal king or a monk. And the king wanted the former. So, he decided he would create a virtual reality for his son. He created three palaces for each of the season. For winter summer and autumn. He gave only best of best food and wine. Most comfortable cloths. And there were no old people to be seen. The prince was served by only prettiest girls in the kingdom. The prince has never seen a slum or sick. A true Goldilocks land . Yet, the king failed to keep him in the palace and he became a monk. Why? It's because, the finest palace was not fine to the prince as he had not seen a slum. Finest food was not finest for him as he had not consumed a rotten apple Prettiest girls were not pretty for him as he had not seen old and sick women. Beauty was not beautiful for him as he had not seen ugly truths of life. Virtual Food: https://unsplash.com/@foodess Philosophy of metaverse What does this little story teach us about metaverse? That metaverse is not going to be a solution for our problems. We forget that we are creations of nature. Our minds workings are inherently complex. Like the prince who did not find happiness in a finest castle, we would not be happy in a metaverse unless we look into ourselves and find out what does it means to be happy. I am sure we should focus more on ourselves individually, like the wise prince. As surely answers are not there in the mars or in a metaverse. Let's make every journey count, in mindfulness .

Maybe you are in the process of building a house . A shed or anything. And you feel tired, waiting for it to finish fully until you become happy. Maybe you are walking across America 3000 miles , and you await to see the California sea, to be happy. Maybe you are awaiting a response from your latest interview, maybe you are awaiting to Graduate to become fully happy. Maybe you are awaiting your marriage next year, or expecting a baby, to become fully happy. Riding Massive Waves How to not let go? As we all have aspirations, goals for future, often we deny ourselves our own happiness until we break up in tears of the stress and pressure of those aspirations. It happened to me countless times in the past. Until I saw one grey hair in twenties becoming hundreds of them in thirties. I have denied myself happiness. Happiness of this moment . Not only when I look at the goals of the future, but goals of the day also come into play. I deny myself happiness until I send that email, finish my days tasks. Until I write a blog post, I deny myself a cup of tea. I deny myself pleasure of feeling food in my mouth as I am overwhelmingly thinking about tomorrow. I seek a calmness in meditation yet forget to observe the wondering mind now. I seek a silence in the moment of sounds of the sea, or disturbing cry of a baby in an airplane. I forget to appreciate the secret to not to fall, is to understand the wave. Riding the Waves of life. Just the other day, I saw a surfer riding a wave. That was not a small four foot wave. It was massive. It was seven or eight stories high. Maybe even more. And compared to this massive waves the man looked tiny. He looked like an ant in a basin. What does he possess more than me to do a thing of that brave ? I am sure you have seen, such a ride. And I am sure he was afraid of death at first, when he rode small waves when he was young. Now at the prime of his surfing, he has overcome his own fear of death to ride a massive wave even someone on a ship would not approach. If you know you have ridden a bicycle, for that matter any vehicle. We grabbed the wheel with all the force, as we were afraid of crashing. And only after doing it so many times, we have learned, that art is not to grab the wheel tight, but very light, let it go otherwise, just show the direction when it needs correction. Riding waves of life - Poem WFozStories . When the going gets rough and there’s an overwhelming feeling of being bogged down in worldly stuff it helps to remember in the end, none of it matters. And the best shot way is to hang ten and be brave enough to let go and ride the wave through the feelings of a life in tatters. The art of letting go The art of letting go When we grab onto life in fear, we tend to suffer more. We get stressed more. And if we grab each and every wave of life with fear, we will never learn to ride a massive wave of life. And from time to time, they will come for everyone. It can come as a breakup of a relationship. It can come as a loss of a job, or a loss of a pound of flesh . Unless we let go of the fear of life, we would not know how to respond this kind of surprises of life. And if even letting go of little fear of life is difficult, how can I expect myself from letting go of inevitable? So, I say to myself, It is ok to get angry. It is ok to get disturbed by the Noice. It is ok to wake up to a cold day, or a little bit of rain. It is ok to spend a day with boredom It is ok to not to be creative but dumb. It is ok to do a math wrong It is ok to live in a half a build house It is ok to never be in a car or drive a broken one It is ok to have a cold It is ok to listen to a song It is ok to feel sad or bad about myself It is ok to be fat or thin It is ok to want or not want It is ok to feel sad It is ok to die, be afraid of death As long as I learn How to let go It is ok to be as you are. Letting Go of fear is letting go of everything. Letting go of fear happens, when we understand the valuelessnes s of fear.

This is part 2 of Jim Carrey philosophy . This time it comes from the movie "Yes man". Plot Yes man Movie. In the film "Yes Man," Jim Carrey stars as Carl Allen, a man stuck in a rut who often says "no" to new opportunities and experiences. His life takes a turn when he attends a self-help seminar and adopts a new mantra: to say "yes" to everything. This change leads him to unexpected adventures and a new outlook on life, as he embraces new relationships, challenges, and opportunities. However, the constant agreement also brings chaos and complications. Ultimately, Carl learns to balance saying "yes" with making thoughtful decisions, leading to personal growth and a deeper connection with others, especially with a woman named Allison, played by Zooey Deschanel. The film conveys a message about the importance of seizing opportunities and embracing change. Yes man After watching the movie although it felt hilarious, saying yes to opportunities seems to be the way forward. But what is the balance? What is the balance between saying yes and saying no. Should we say yes to every opportunity when it comes to us? And where do you think opportunity is abundant. Imagine you went to las Vagas for a vacation and there you decided to become a yes man. And you entered a casino. And I am sure 😌 if you start saying yes to all the opportunities you will end up in streets with empty hands, losing all your lifetime of savings. And you will learn that becoming a yes man in a casino is impossible. But it would have worked for Jim Carrey if he went to Vagas. This observation leaves us with the question of philosophy of being a yes man. At least I found the mathematical model which can closely linked with the above scenario. Mathematics of becoming a yes man - Prospect theory This discussion is highly theoretical. When you are taking important decisions there are so many variables to consider. Yet, for the purpose of discussion this is good enough. The math of becoming a yes man is the prospect theory. It is a behavioral economics model developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979. Here is the explanation on how you can become a yes man. Imagine a coin toss which has 50/50 chance of turning heads or tails. If someone bet you 100 dollars, would you play the game? Most likely you would not. What if someone toss a coin but this time, he offers 101 dollars and if you lost you only have to give 99 dollars? Most likely still you would not. But let's tweak the scenario. Now think about the second option but this time he is going to offer you 100-coin tosses instead of one coin toss. And now you might take the bet. What about 1000-coin tosses in a row? Let's do some math on this. Math of simple coin Toss. If the coin toss is fair, in 1 toss You might lose 99 You might gain 101 In 100 tosses you win 50 he wins 50 You will lose 4950 You will gain 5050 Net gain -> 100 dollars In 1000 tosses you win 500 he wins 500 You will lose 49500 You will gain 50500 Net gain -> 1000 dollars As you can see when the number of coin tosses are increased you are guaranteed you will gain more than you lose as long as it is a fair game. And that is the secret to become a yes man. And as you can see you have to choose which time you are saying yes to, and you have to do this consistently for some time to see the results. I am sure Warren buffet would agree to this as it was what he has done his entire career. Game of life As you can see it is the same strategy used in casinos. But instead giving you 101, they will take 101 if you lose. And in the long term everyone will be scammed although occasionally it appears someone would hit the jackpot. In summary. In summary, in life when opportunity arises, we can become a yes man as long as it is a fair game, and chances of winning is 50% or more. Having said that, life seems to hide more truths than simple math. So, I wouldn't say its total truth, as it is hard to define rules of a real-life game. And comparing stock market to a coin toss is not at all wise. However, knowing this helps me to become a yes man at least for some opportunities. This is not the only application of prospect theory, in fact there are some more interesting facts, which you can read here .

Have you ever taken a random walk in your life? Maybe not. It is most likely every walk you have taken is a conscious decision you made. Random walk is a mathematical concept, where a series of steps are taken randomly from initial state and after a given time the final position will vary depending on the steps taken. Imagine you are flipping a coin, staring 0 you add 1 if it is Heads and subtract 1 if it is tails. You do it for 50 times, and path and number you end up is a random walk with 50 steps. Examples of random walk are found everywhere around us. Brownian motion When we were first introduced to biological sciences at school, we were introduced to microscopes and "Brownian motion". It is essentially a random motion of particles suspended in a medium. If you put an ink, drop into a glass of water no matter how slow you put it in, it will slowly dissolve. While looking through his microscope at pollen of the plant Clarkia pulchella immersed in water, Robert Brown saw this motion and described it random. It was named after him. To put forward how important this is, all our cells in our bodies depend on the random movement of these particles, as our cells are essentially drops of water covered by membranes. https://unsplash.com/@raenstorming Genetic drift. Biologically genetic drift is the name given for accumulation of neutral mutations, which doesn't participate in natural selection. Even if you do not understand the biology behind this, it simply means, Total genetic map of a species evolves over time. It is a random process. There are many other places random walks are described in biology, astronomy and even psychology. More importantly in finance and computer science. Stock market. Consider the stock market. It seems the stock market is ever growing. Usually, it is with random fluctuations. Although individuals try to predict the stock market behavior by various models, it is known to be a true random process. There are too many variables come into play. Imagine that it is not. This person or group who can predict stock market are going to earn and "beat the market", while other players suffer losses. World wide web When the Web expands worldwide, travelling from one place to another through this is going to be difficult. How can you cover a lot of ground? Even algorithms behind these massive web giants use random walking in various parts of their applications, from measuring the size of the web to, providing you a list of recommended followers in twitter. Now, let's get back to our question? A Random walk for life Have you ever taken a random walk? How about since your birth? We were born in a random place. With random parents and random siblings. We played with random friends who went to school because they were also randomly born in your age and neighboring your school. How about walking in the park. Imagine you go to a park daily for a long time now. I can bet the path taken from entering to the park to getting out of it, is random in many ways. Imagine number of footsteps, exact location of each number of footsteps, imagine number of people you have met on your way, number of leaves you have stepped on. You may disagree. If you look at it, you may see patterns. Yet if you take a look at the big picture you will understand, some things in your life cannot be understood other than with randomness. If you would not believe me, you would believe Steve Jobbs, right? He was talking about connecting dots of life at an address to university crowd. This is at peak of his life. And it is truly fascinating to understand the nature of randomness in our lives. If you read the article The Boy, the dog and mathematics , I try to explain this pattern of nature in a story. More insights about thinking in general can be found here in Deterministic world and free will. In summary: Random walk is a mathematical concept of taking random steps from a starting point There are many examples for random walk in nature and science world. Our life seems to be a random walk since birth although we do not feel like it. Reasons for everything is not visible, not all the time hence we call it random. Thank you for reading the article A Random walk for life. Have a nice random day!

What is mindfulness? Previously I have written a great deal on Mindfulness, its definition and main objective of mindfulness which is to observe life, and let wisdom grow in understanding truth. However, more can be said about the same subject. Which can help us in our practice or as I call it just Life. This is another such attempt to answer the question What is mindfulness? Walking south Often we have the wrong Idea, like mindfulness is a stepwise process. Where there is certain amount of steps to achieve something. Like a person climbing a mountain to reach the top. Like a runner in an olympic Marathon Like an engineer build a monumental tower from bottom to top Like a writer write a novel starting with a sketch. And in programming this is called waterfall development. Often, when we want to achieve something either this method or Iterative/ incremental development is used. And our minds are so used to this system we cannot understand reality of mindfulness. As our minds always want to identify meaning, or want to give a value to everything we observe sometimes watching in mindfulness doing nothing feels absurd. In mindfulness our minds try to overcome this by delebarately detaching from things. And although mind does feel like we achieve something by this, this is also is the same process. We cannot detach from anything unless we have valued it as negative. Someone can call this trying to win by Loosing. Another way of saying the same thing is trying to become a minimalist. That also would not reach anywhere as you can never reach some place. Whatever place we try to reach from either of these processes is just temporary. If not trying to reach a target, or not trying to reach something both are not the way, what is the true path to mindfulness? Walking north What is natural mindfulness? I would say true mindfulness is a natural process. It is just like flowing water. A flag in the wind . Mind moves of course, all around the clock throughout the day. Yet, by whom? If we ask the question and understand the process with wisdom, we would see it is nobodies doing. Trying to stop this thought process and trying to force it to go to places where we want it to go are both wrong. Imagine you have been to a place, isolated from your everyday clutter. To a beach, inside a forest or a meditation retreat. Not ordinary place, yet somewhere you can just be. In such places mindfulness comes naturally. You would see your thoughts and without objectifying this. But for such mindfulness to occur naurally throughout a busy working day would not be possible, unless our mind has gained enough wisdom holistically. So what is this wisdom which lets us to fall into a natural mindfulness like a waterfall? I would say it starts with delebrate attepmts of someone trying to find themselves within. I can give you a great analogy here. Mindfulness let us know we are already arrived. Meaning of life Imagine a man starting a journey. He has a destination in his mind and start walking south. And he tire himself doing this, and meets a man who returns from that direction and have a chat to see what is there beyond the horizon. And the other guy says the destination he wish to see is not there beyond the horizon and swear on this. Hence he give up. Return to his starting point and start another journey travelling north. This time he cross the 3000 miles on foot and arives at the shore and the destination he wish to see is not there either. He takes a rest for sometime and someone tells it is in the east his final destination is and he start the journey with hopes this time with plenty of experience. And soon he arrives somewhere in a jungle of nowhere and with great difficulty he returns home. Guess what, he doesnt stop there but tries west on top of a mountain peak. The problem doesn't end there, as if you know little bit of math you would understand that there are countless directions from his starting point, and he will tire himself his entire life following directions that others point out. Unless of course mindfulness awakens itself during this process and critically analyse to see the truth in this sisyphean punishment that itself has given to itself. Such a mind would swim deep inside its hidden corners of past present and future, all the darkness and light to understand that it has already arrived. Since then natural mindfulness would be inevitable.

Why listicles are bad at explaining a topic. I am not a fan of listicles. If you do not know listicles are type of articles which gives you list of things. In Magical Mindful living I have few listicles. Majority are essay type articles. If you do a google search today for any topic, you will come across most likely listicle article. This is because they are good for google crawlers, or the bots which index a site. Now these are technical and I am sure you are not interested in this crap. So the point is listicles are good for machines but not humans. I can explain you why. Google - Article Fundamentals of brain function in learning. For this we have to look at blooms taxonomy. And I am going to explain this with a little analogy. First steps Imagine a kid learning colors, you show him green color and let him repeat "green". You point him a tree and make him repeat "tree". Now he has two isolated facts in his/her brain. And the brain does an amazing thing next. Second step -interconnectedness. The brain puts green and tree together. And identify it as a "green tree". And sometimes you never teach a kid a tree is green. But everyone knows right? That is because our brains have remarkable ability in higher order thinking as blooms taxonomy suggests. Identifying interconnectedness of the words, or observing pattersn is the highest form of any learning. When we were kids this is natural. But when we become adults, things have diverted so much from each other it is hard to see interconnectedness. We just think it is lineir. Infact every expert on their own field has seen this connectivity. Even Einstein (science). Even Thich Nhat Hanh (religion). Even Dr Seuss (art). All religions art and science are branches of the same tree - Albert Einstein. Lessons learned from this. As you can see listicles are bad in that matter to properly show you connectivity in ideas. Infact these are written in the opposite direction. Sometimes obvious¹ connections between the ideas are lost when you try to put them in a listicle. Once they become isolated facts there would be no use. The value of it will be lost. What is the point knowing "green" is green and a "tree" is a tree. Unless you know trees are green. In fact now when we see or hear the word "tree" there are so many things which comes to our mind because the facts are interconnected like a web. The other more significant fact of note is the same as above. Think about what we agrgued but this time in a different angle. "Once things become isolated facts, they lose all their value " If you want me to summarise this entire blog of 340 articles I would say the above. It gives you profound wisdom to everything around you. And that would be fundamental nature of things when you look at it from mindfulness. That is the secret of finding happiness in the world like a kid. For a kid nothing is valueble, he would break your TV and drop your iPhone in water. While you cry about it, he would laugh seeing bubbles in water. If you would let he would do it again. Iphone dropped in water I am not asking you to drop your valuables in the sea, like Rose did in Titanic. In fact you should question me on this now, why we should lose our values. And I would answer. Its because it is the truth. Because it matters to know the truth. As even if we keep our values hidden in our hearts, secretly we are going to lose them anyway when life reach its zero .

Who is a universal King? A universal king is a ruler of the world. It is a phenomenon which had been there throughout the human history, which were heavily blooded with wars. From time to time, we have seen dictators trying to develop their kingdom so, they can expand their territory. However, these weak dictators somehow fail miserably, again and again, as they try to rule by force. Nobody wants to follow some idiot who is trying to behead all that oppose. Hence, do not think for a moment a universal king is someone, which is even have anything to do with stupid dictatorship. On the other hand, when we develop ourselves from Godlike qualities, of forgiveness, sharing and to thrive helping each other, with our knowledge and modern development, expanding our boundaries never like before, there is a place for humanity to flourish, just like wars. And it seems miracles do happen on earth. After all a mango seed, is a miracle. It is impossible miracle, as it produces a 'tree' which can give rise to thousands of similar mango seeds during its lifetime. So, nobody can argue there is no place for a universal king, who wish only happiness for all the humans on earth, and animals. https://unsplash.com/@themushroomphotographer Why I like a universal King? It seems, we need a universal King more than ever to unite us all. We have mixed up, because of globalization, our cultures are mixed up. Our languages mixed up, and it keeps mixed up mess, day after day. And our DNA consists of all the ancestors of all the continents, and in few generations time, there is a possibility we could all become a single human race. It may be good, or bad for our survival only our future will answer that question. Hence a universal king is needed more than ever. It will put end to our stupid fights. Oh, do not restrict yourselves to word 'king', as it could not only be a person, but even a system which is followed everywhere on earth would be same. (Is united nations universal King?) Just merely 200 years ago, it took, only 80 days to travel around the earth, and now we can do it within a day. Hence, earth is becoming smaller and smaller. A pilot who travels daily on the plane will swear to the fact that it is so. For a pilot, Paris, New York, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur are just some places on the same huge, ball of our earth. There is no boundary in the sky. Hence why do we stick to the ones on our grounds? United nations and universal Kings? Remember the First and second world war? After chaos there is a period of peace and calmness and recovery. First world war was not big enough; hence peace did not last long. But the second world war was destructive, in a massive scale, that still we have casualties due to aftermath of bombing our own planet. Hence, peace this time lasted more, and after the war, there were attempts for universal rules. United nations! More than anything the tragic end to the war by the nuclear bombing , urged all the nations to form such rules as war, will lead to destruction, whatever side you chose. Hence UN was brought forward with collaboration of many of the nations, with following objectives. The United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945 after World War II. Its objectives, as outlined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development, and upholding international law. Essentially, the UN aims to foster cooperation among nations and address global challenges. 🌍🕊️ (Copilot) https://unsplash.com/@matreding If you read the objectives carefully, you would notice, these are the exact qualities or objectives of a universal king. Although this time we did not have a king because most of the Allied powers were governed and valued by the democracy, an organization was born. But imagine, the Axis powers won. And in this alternate universal, it is inevitable, each axis power would eventually be dictated by a universal ruler. A bad one this time. However, such extreme world wars may have happened in the past. In Indian culture, there is the concept of Chakravarthi King. Who is a ruler of the world. Such rulers who represent the good party, would begin an era of peace and quiet which can last for decades. Fortunate are the kids who would be born in such times, that their lives are inherently taken care of by the good governance. In today's context, we can only imagine how such a peaceful world would be. And in such a world ruled by a universal king, we would be able to truly call our Earth Our home .

Knives out (2019). If you are into Mistry, crime drama genres I am sure you have watched the movie knives out. That was a great film. Obviously, my judgements on films are biased as I would see something to learn most of the films. Even the stupid ones give me intuitions about life. However, Rotton tomatoes have rated this film 97% And IMDB 7.9/10. Hence, I have no hesitation to recommend it to you. Here in this article, we will look at knives from rusty old ones to spring loaded, gravity activated automatic ones. https://unsplash.com/@shotgram?utm_source=wix-media-manager&utm_medium=referral Dangerous knives - Gangs of Newyork (2002). There are many stories I can tell you about knives. To illustrate the fact knives are dangerous we can give one to a monkey. I am sure these mischievous and curious animals will surely cut themselves as they do not know how to use them. So, this is something we associate knives with, dangerous objects. Even when you travel through airport security you cannot carry which can be used as a knife. Even a spoon would make suspicious. However, we all can agree knives are not only considered dangerous, in contrast they are useful as well. If you want to eat a mango, like a human being, you will need a knife. If you want to cut some pieces of wood, you will need a blade. Hence, knives were some of the earliest inventions of humankind. Archeologists and historians would vow to this and will show you loads and loads of examples of knives, from prehistoric era. From, those days up to now, knives have helped us to thrive as a human race. I am sure many of us went through successful surgeries, would be grateful to the inventors of Surgeon's knife, to get cure from cancer. Here is another thought, "Words are more powerful than a knife" as a misinformed misguided mind would do more harm than a knife itself. Words as the medium of information, have the ability to store and transfer data about, even knives. Knives out- Valuable knives I saw a man once collapsed in the emergency department following a stab wound to his left lower chest. He was unconscious when he arrived and the great resuscitation team, regained his heart with chest compression. Blood transfused, IC tube in place, with a tube down his through, he was 'ventilated'. Still kept bleeding from his chest tube and within minutes he was rushed to the theater. Due to some unknown reasons, I was there to see the operation. His chest was opened with precision with the 'Surgeon's knife' with an intention to heal. The great surgeon himself opened the rest of layers to the heart and there was a sprouting wound on his left ventricle(chamber) which was closed with great effort. As his heart was still beating inside vigorously. Rest of it went smooth and he went to the ICU. I visited the man next day, who was seated on the bed and talking to the next person on the adjacent bed. The story was back in my mind for so many years, and what a great time to bring it back to memory, to illustrate the point, the knife is harmless. Knife is just an invention of nature, with one a man almost died, and with another he was brought back to life. Life seems to be a Mistry itself. https://unsplash.com/@mundt_nielsen John wick (2014) and Mindfulness. When I look at the concept of knives, apart from its valuelessness , I see anything can be a knife if not used for its intended purpose. Consider electricity, consider a car, consider a hammer, even a pencil. (If you ask Jon wick, he will tell) Hence it is not the object which holds the value, but the person, or the intention of use which matters. So, if we want to have a better and a safe society, we should start to sharpen our intentions, can clean our minds, not just hiding knives. And what better place to start than mindfulness to do that? Thank you for reading, knives out John wick and mindfulness