Journal

I had this idea since about two years ago and over this time, I found lots of signs to prove it. For all of us there were times that we were somehow shocked to see how our brains act that even we ourselves didn’t expect it, however I think there are more to get from these minds!

First of all, some facts: You may know there is a mental disorder named Schizophrenia. A person who is diagnosed with schizophrenia may experience different unreal things. He may see things or hear voices that don’t exist. He may even have an imaginary friend who he talks to or walks with or even dances with! I mean just for a second think what a brain can do!

Another example: Hypnosis is a branch of psychology that you can get control of your mind and your unconscious. Once I heard (and it was a trusted source) that if you cut a hypnotized person’s hand, he can even stop the bleeding by just his mind! This is not something supernatural! This is an ability.

I can give you more examples but for the sake of time, I’ll leave it here.

I said unbelievable power of mind and by ‘power of mind’, I mean the power that you can control your mind (actually your mind controls itself!) and you can control your whole body at any given moment. I gave those examples to show what are the abilities of brain but I don’t want to see imaginary people or stop my hand from bleeding! The thing is we can do lots of things by just controlling our minds. If you want to sleep right now, you can. If you want to run faster than anyone else, you can. If you want to memorize a whole book, if you want to forgive the worst person on the earth, if you don’t want to hear someone, if you don’t want to be angry, and if you want to be happy, energetic, successful and the best that you can, maybe the only limitation is yourself! The only one who is standing against you can be just yourself. I know this can seem irrational but this is exactly the point I reached over last two years. I understood that by controlling my mind, I can achieve lots of things. I can be what I really want to be in any second and through all my life. I know – and it’s true – that lots of things have effect on happiness including society and environment but I think deep inside, we should be happy ourselves and we should be happy inside. And if we were, we could be happy in the worst situation and if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be happy in the best situation. (and you know by this ‘happy’ I don’t mean a shallow happy-go-lucky person)

I’m not saying I have this power or if it’s easy to get it but I’m saying there is such a thing and it’s completely worth the try!

::samic::

Obviously we all want to be successful, but it seems we can’t achieve it by just wanting! We need to put lots of thoughts and energy on how to get there and how to stay there! First of all I think being successful can’t be in just one field. You should have balanced and complete success in all aspects of your life. And it’s not something easy to get! You may work hard, stay awake all the night, work for long hours and in one word, run and run all the life but it’s not success! You may achieve lots of things, you may get lots of trophies but if you’re not happy in all aspects of your life, then they don’t worth anything at all. Success is a comprehensive concept.

But how can I become successful if I’m not supposed to suffer sometimes?! That’s the art!

The thing is we all need to do or obtain things that aren’t very enjoyable or even bearable but are necessary for our goals. (exercising? studying? working?!) But just a successful person knows how to get them without suffering and feeling the pain! The one-line formula is “Just do what you enjoy!”. Doesn’t seem very sensible and rational? Change your mind!

There are lots of things we love to do, lots of things we enjoy doing and not all of them are killing time! You can get to very important things by just giving time to what you enjoy! A person who enjoys cooking can end up as a head chief in a very popular restaurant! Even if his major is computer science! What’s wrong about it?! He will do what he enjoys and also gets paid because of it! But not all our activities and priorities are as simple as this. There are situations that we need to do things (that mostly we don’t like them) to achieve higher and greater goals. What about them? It follows the same rule except that instead of doing what you enjoy, you should turn what you have to do, to what you would enjoy! This is really art but completely possible and doable. To give an example, let’s assume you don’t like reading history books but for some just-God-knows-why reasons you should get some information as a procedure of getting ready for a project in your company. Ok! you don’t like reading history, see some interesting films about that event, go to a museum with your friends and make fun of everything there! Call a history-related magazine or institute and introduce yourself as a researcher and ask them to give you some information just there by phone!! There can be lots of options that just you can come up with, but whatever you do, don’t do it the hard way! Don’t force yourself that I should read this book entirely by this week and everyday get upset about it! Even if you couldn’t found anything else than just reading the thing, don’t let the sadness to win! Just start reading a chapter that seems more fun from somewhere and then read the chapter before it! Don’t obey its rules and play with it. I’m sure you will end up having fun by yourself and besides getting done most of the work.

Maybe it wasn’t a very good example (or solutions!) but you got the idea!

::samic::

I’ve recently watched some films (Bucket List, If Only, Life or Something Like It) that the main character finds out that he/she is about to die soon and this shocking piece of news changes his/her remaining days in a complete different way that he has never lived before. It’s very interesting to know what would you do if you understand you’re going to die soon. We may decide to do things that we’re normally unwilling to do for some reason. Going to places you have always dreamt of, talking to people who you haven’t talked to for ages, saying words you have always wanted to say, asking for forgiveness, trying to excuse people who have been mean to you, showing your suppressed feelings, saying “I love you”s you’ve never let to be heard by who you loved. It’s really more like a dream!

The most interesting thing is that you will be yourself by all means (the person usually says ‘who cares! I’m going to die! lets be happy!’) and this is the reason that this kind of life seems to be happy for people. In each day of our daily life, we’re challenging with lots of limits. Many of them are there by environment, society, laws, etc. But lots of them are just in our mind. Not if it’s wrong to have limits for ourselves but we usually don’t like them. After all who likes limit?!

We have to put some rules and limits for ourselves because we define ourselves by these dos and don’ts. Not that all those limits are wrong because for example you don’t bother or harm someone, you don’t insult or cheat and you don’t lie to your friends even if it’s not prohibited by law! We have these don’ts and for most of them we’re happy to have them and act based on them but the problem starts when we have some unreasonable don’ts! Mostly the tradition or wrong ideas and philosophies. We draw a line between ourselves and things that shouldn’t normally be banned. We trap ourselves in some illogical beliefs that we look forward to our death time to get rid of them! If this is the case that we love those kind of films, we should really think again about what we’re doing and our set of beliefs but there can be another reason too!

If you’re about to die in a weak, do you care about your salary, your rent, taxes, insurance, your future, your health, your body, your clothes and lots of daily worries, trivial matters and long-time priorities that come across your mind every day and make you worry, terrified or sad? Of course not! you would just try to enjoy as much as you can and forget about your past, present and future. Just like a kid who enters a fun fair or an amusement park and runs toward a merry-go-round without any worry or fear and most importantly without any responsibility! And this is it!

Aren’t we just enjoying those films because of the freedom of not having any responsibly? Anything that requires lots of thought and energy to achieve and to hold? To work hard for every little thing and having a constant challenge with life difficulties? Isn’t it like the dream of having lots of money so you can do whatever you want? I think one side of the scenario is the joy of free will, the joy of freedom and not caring about anything.

So if the first case shows a problem with our own limits, the second case is worse. A bigger problem in the whole system of one’s beliefs and attitude to the world.

::samic::

We should respect the old. This statement is considered as true and logical to many people, not to me! First of all I should draw a line between respecting and acting with respect, as I believe there is a difference. This is my idea so these words may not be precise enough for you. I think acting with respect is when you are not rude or cheeky and you act politely and with gentleness. For example someone says hello to you and you answer at least with a nod and smile or someone says thank you and you say you’re welcome. You act with some kind of respect when the other person is not your friend nor your enemy.

But in my idea, respecting somebody is something else. When you respect someone, you consider him/her as superior to yourself. You act more than polite around that person. You may behave with devotion and sacrifice. Or at least this is what people think of when they say we should respect the old. Let me give an example to clarify the issue. Many people think that if there are somewhere that lacks vacant seats and there is an old person standing, they should give their seat and stand as a respect to the old. At first I should say this is not helping! When you help someone you don’t give away something you need, this is sacrificing. Not if it’s a bad thing but if there is a believe that we should help others, certainly no one can expect others to sacrifice!

Also I understand that if I have lots of energy and it doesn’t bother my to stand for a while, I can give my seat and stand but if it’s after a long day of working and when I’m as tired as anyone else or even exhausted, there is no reason to sacrifice while I’m in need of a little rest.

But after all if we want to be logical and rational isn’t it more logical that the old should give their seat to the young?! Because the young is the source of work and production and the old is more of a consumer! This was just an example and as you saw there can be lots of problems but this is something that have many instances.

Once I had this discussion with a friend and his reason was that we should respect the old now so we will be respected when we are old too, and I said that I have a life insurance so I don’t need help and also I don’t want to be respected after all! There is a problem in many of middle east countries that some people think they should respect someone and as you will find anything you’re after, they find someone who thinks others should respect him and the problems begin!

I think these problems are more related to custom and tradition than the way people think because I see many people expect such things without a good reason. To me, age numbers are just some digits. They don’t have value by themselves. If age numbers could result in  respect, we should all respect tortoises as they live more than 120 years!

::samic::

There’s no doubt that we all need to exercise and what’s better than doing a sport regularly but not all sports are equal and not all of them are good! A sport is usually a game or physical activity that people do to keep themselves healthy and for enjoyment; and I think this is the point that separates good and bad sports!

The first thing that is needed in a good sport is that the physical activity should be complete and involves all the body. It should improve all the muscles in a balanced way. I have a friend who always makes fun of people who play golf, especially as they use golf carts when they want to move around in the golf course. Certainly golf is more of an enjoyment that a sport (not that if it’s something wrong about it). I always used to think that a good sport is the one that is a little harder than a usual life so the usual life gets easier for you. But later I understood it’s not enough. Another very important element in a good sport is enjoyment (the thing I had always ignored!) The thing is when you do a sport that is just about exercising, you will get tired very soon and after that, you will be still tired until you for example get some sleep but when you are doing an enjoyable sport, first of all you won’t get tired during that time and even you will get more energy as a result of the joy you receive and second of all, you will be full of energy besides of having a little negligible tiredness afterward.

For example if you choose running or jogging as your sport, you don’t enjoy it much while doing it and soon you’ll be tired but if you choose a team sport like football or basketball, (and if the game is friendly and between friends and the score doesn’t matter at all) you may play for hours but you won’t feel tired. You’re laughing with your friends and playing and even after hours of playing you’re still full of energy because of the joy of playing and having fun. This is a good sport!

If you have chosen a bad sport you must convince and force yourself to go to the gym every time but if you choose a good sport you seek a time to go to the gym and have fun!

::samic::

It’s article number four of the universal declaration of human rights that says slavery shall be prohibited in all its forms. I used to think why it is still there (isn’t it supposed to update?!) while – I assumed – there is no slavery in the world anymore. But later I found that we can’t really say that we have completely eliminated slavery from the world. Once I heard someone was saying that the man didn’t stop the traditional slavery because of his change of opinions and ideas; but it was a result of the fact that the traditional way of slavery wasn’t economical and acceptable anymore! Therefore man found a better solution! If you force someone to be your slave, you will face lots of problems such as legal problems or public opinion, while you still need to give the slave food and shelter, but what if you force someone to work for you most of his life and instead you give him just enough money for basic needs (or a little more!). Isn’t it just the same thing as slavery?! Although this way is legal, acceptable and no one can protest against you. This is the story of our lives, even though we call it work!

This is what actually happens in reality: You have to work to make a living, you have to work something like 40 hours a week, you get enough money for your basic needs or a little more, you don’t have any time for yourself, and you are doomed to this for the rest of your life!

The routine working hours is about 40 hours a week or as they say, 9-to-5. It means that as you wake up at the morning you have to leave for work and you will get back around 6 o’clock – considering the time you need for transportation – and on the other hand you should be in your bed soon enough to wake up on time at the morning again and this goes again and again forever! To be more clear, let me put it this way that you actually have around 4 hours a day for yourself which is after a day of working with all the tiredness. Even if you get a good salary, when are you going to spend it?! And spending on what?! For example you might buy a bicycle but can you ride a bicycle at 6 o’clock after a day of working hard?! It’s like a joke! You can just lie on a couch and be a couch potato like others!! Let’s face it, this is exactly the same thing as the traditional slavery except its name!

I know all of us should work as in some sort of exchange for the services that society provide us, but the amount of work we should do is not reasonable and it prevents us from spending time for ourselves, to improve ourselves and becoming better people.

I remember once I read this quotation somewhere: Some people are just selling their sleep to buy bedrooms!

::samic::

How should we decide and what should we do to prevent regretting? I usually see people who are regretting all the time about past and how they went wrong and decided not properly and on the other hand there are people – of course because of bad experiences of past mistakes – who are afraid of deciding at all. I think these people not only simply don’t know how to decide but also their lack of knowledge doesn’t end here!

First of all I think we should define a good decision before anything else. When we want to decide about something, we should first have enough knowledge about that problem or situation and other things related to it. But here is the main problem! We could never get all the information because we don’t have all the knowledge and even the science itself isn’t complete and won’t be ever! So what can we do? We know we don’t have all the information and we know we need it for the best decision so there is nothing to do unless we choose another way to approach the problem! The thing is you can just gather the required information as much as you can and just decide rationally based on them. But is it failed proof? Of course not! So what was the good of such a decision? It’s because we want to and we need to live! We can’t just sit there and say oh! there is no guaranty to prevent failure! We have to decide and move on because not doing anything is the worst thing to do! But wait a minute! If we’ve decided on all the information that we were able to have and we’ve decided rationally and in the end we face a failure, can we say we were wrong? I don’t think so! If you had two options and you knew that one of them is known to be wrong or had a chance of being wrong and you’ve chosen it nevertheless, that’s the time you can say you were wrong but if you had two options and based on your information at that moment both of them could be potentially right and you’ve chosen one of them rationally and it has ended in failure, you can’t call it a wrong decision! You can call it an experience or even a bad experience or a bad luck but certainly it was not a wrong decision. Of course we’re not talking about trial and error; we’re talking about making a good decision based on the best information of the time and ending up in failure. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s fault of the time or the science of that time but definitely not me! I can just do my best and hope it will end up good but I can’t see the future. No one can guarantee anything with certainty because there are millions of different factors influencing everything which lots of them are unknown to us. So if I weren’t wrong, how can I regret?!

We should just spend the time we put on regretting on making a good decision and accept the chance of failure. Some people have a fear of making decisions (decidophobia) but it’s just because they don’t know how to decide and how to accept the chance of failure. Their past is usually full of wrong decisions (considering that time) and they are living in its consequences now. If we learn how to decide properly and how to face and manage failure, we won’t be afraid of making decisions anymore.

The bottom line is we shouldn’t spend our time on regretting about past or being worried about future, we should just get the most out of our lives and live without fears and worries.

::samic::

Have you ever noticed how many times a day we say “excuse me”?! What are we doing that needs this much excusing?! I think we’re just living our lives and having some public relations. So which part of these is so wrong that requires so much feelings of sorry? I know if I hurt you or harm you or make you some trouble it’s completely acceptable or even an expectation to excuse or feel sorry and try to compensate but I’m talking about times that it’s with no reason. People usually use these phrases when they want to start talking or even ask you to not bother more than this! “Excuse me could you please move your chair so I could leave the room”! I know people talk like this as a way of being polite and also I know that saying a sentence – especially when you don’t mean it! – doesn’t kill anyone but still I think there is something more than simple words behind these sentences.

I think people actually feel guilty unconsciously when they even want to start talking to someone else. Somehow we rather avoiding people and when we have to approach someone we feel so guilty (or annoyed) about it – for example for taking other person’s time – that we just start talking with feeling sorry! You may say I’m too pedantic but let’s assume there is a chance that maybe I’m right!

Actually I find lots of people around me that are full of sense of guilt. It’s not just about public relations but in other aspects too, and the most important one of them is with themselves. Lots of people feel guilty to even think about somethings not even trying to do them! And that’s how lots of people grow old with so many wishes that were actually easy to achieve at the time. It’s another story and needs another time to talk about how we suppress ourselves but that sense of guilt is something serious and we should really put some thought into why we sometimes feel sorry or guilty without any good reason and what should we do about it.

::samic::

When I think about literature, the first things that come to my mind are stories and poems that are talking about something but they “actually” mean something else! I don’t know exactly why my mind acts like this but I think that the experience of years at school that teachers used to read a poem and just started to tell the true meaning behind it, has  resulted in this conclusion. But at first, let me take a look at what literature really is.

We can just imagine how languages have been founded at first. The man started to shout at others when for example there was a danger or to make sounds to call them. But eventually man needed more sounds and more specific sounds to express things. And we can just imagine that how these were the first steps to shape the first language. I mean there is no doubt that the purpose of a language is to act as a medium. But after years and years, people have changed the use to their advantage. Somehow someone in god knows what time decided to say something but meant something else! But why? Maybe he (or she) was afraid of someone and didn’t want others to understand what he was saying. I mean like in some form of cryptography he decided to hide the true meaning among the lines! Maybe he was just too shy to say this intention in a clear way and he gave the chance of understanding his meaning to the other people. Of course he must have been talking to someone! (Otherwise what a lonely mysterious person he could be to write something that only he could understand it!) But what is the beauty in this form of talking? I think when I want to say something but I can’t say it right away, I would be glad to use some sort of hiding and saying it in more obscure way so I can both enjoy the pleasure of not repressing myself and in the meanwhile not being afraid of consequences. It’s just in this way that I can insult you without being worried about your protest! I can criticize an oppressive government without fear of getting prosecuted.

Long story short, I want to say that as much as a culture is more filled with lying, hypocrisy and fear, you should see more people trying to hide their true intentions. And as much as a culture becomes more clear, explicit and open, you should see that more people are just saying what they want, what they need and what they are going to do without any kind of fear and horror in the most transparent way they can.
I think the fact that people are using idioms and sayings much less than the past, is that they prefer to talk and ask more clear and open.

::samic::

This is my first post in my first English blog. I have another blog in Farsi (my native language) but I didn’t have any English blog before! One of my main goals of starting an English blog is to improve my English! As you can see I’m not very good at English so I think this can help me a lot.

I wanted to choose another title for my first post but then I thought to myself that “Hello World” is the best! Here where I live, religious people have a habit of saying “In the name of God” before starting anything! I thought “Hello world” is somehow like saying “In the…” but in the programming world! You must be a programmer or at least have written a single program once, to understand what am I saying! (In case you don’t belong to these categories, take a look at this)

Anyway, as I don’t have anything special to say on my first post, it’s better to finish it here before rambling more than this! In advance I should thank you for your future visits and I hope you will comment on every post as I’m already dying to read them! So until then!

p.s. I use exclamation mark a lot! I love them! They’re usully there because I think there is something more than serious talk in that sentence! So please bear with me!

::samic::