fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Why You Should Never Follow Your Intuitions
Tags: Thinking, Future, Trump, Pandemic, Reflections

Drawing by me

Sometimes, I’m amazed by how bad I can be at predicting the future.

I could never have guessed that Donald Trump would win the election 4 years ago. Even worse, back then, I was reassuring my few friends who did believe he stood a chance, fighting every argument they had with the confidence of a diviner. Same thing when the pandemic hit and people were starting to get worried : I was the loud kid making fun of it all.

This year, I was wrong on so many occasions, about big things and small things… wrong, wrong, wrong! It’s like every time I had an intuition about something, the exact opposite happened.

So I started to wonder why my intuitions were often so incorrect. Of course, I was not alone. From what I have seen around me over the past few months, most people have been wrong about most things. But why is that?

The first answer that came to me (which is a bad sign from what I understand) was that it’s because we are not specialists. Why would we be able to foretell the election of Trump without studying politics and analyzing every move of the campaign? Same for the pandemic : most of us knew nothing about viruses and infectious diseases. Yet, we were all talking about it like we knew how this was going to unfold.

But I don’t think that’s the only reason. And it’s definitely not one we can do a lot about since it’s impossible to become a specialist on everything. We should also note that in both those cases, so many specialists were wrong about what happened.

So what makes our intuitions so unreliable? I think I found another answer.

I think it’s because we care.

When Trump was running for president, I didn’t want him to win. So much that my mind never even considered for that to really be a possibility. I was trusting my desire for it not to happen more than any other fact or data.

When COVID-19 started spreading across the globe, I never would have imagined the impact that this would have on our lives. The day they started the first lockdown, I even told my father that this virus was only gonna become a boring film in 10 years. How far from the reality was I? Not only because I didn’t know all the facts but because I never allowed myself to really think : but what if this was serious? Because I didn’t want it to be serious.

Because I care.

The good news is that we can all do something about it : we just need to stop caring. But maybe this is bad advice. I don’t know.

I guess we will see.
The meaning of life ; as told by a seventeen year old
By: Sophie Benbow
Tags: Life, Thinking, Motivation, Philosophy, Meaning

Photo by Ulvi Safari on Unsplash

Hi. I’m Sophie. I’m 17 years old. I live in rural Australia. I work part time and am enrolled in the local high school. I enjoy all kinds of music, from rock to classical, and I love reading. I play 4 instruments (life’s too short to just stick to one), I keep my room neat and above all, I have a passion for life.

As you were reading my lil’ blurb about myself, I bet you were wondering how someone so young could have the meaning of life all sorted out. Usually, this type of “claim” comes from the dry and crusty mouths of old people. Those who have lived their 90 years and have had plenty of time to reflect and reminisce. I’m not arguing that they’re wrong, I’m arguing that they are right; and so is everyone else.

Everyone has their own passions. My sister loves nothing more than baking and belting Harry Styles’ songs. My Dad loves tinkering around in the backyard. My neighbour is really into pilates. No single activity is suited to everyone. I cannot bake for the life of me and I highly doubt my Dad would participate in a pilates class. I believe that the meaning of life is the exact same.

To solve this complex and infamous question, my first step was to give up. Think about it, “the meaning of life” has been one of those puzzles that people have thought about for centuries. Some of the greatest minds in the world could not state a simple answer. Rather than continue to brood over such a question, I propose that we change the wording; just slightly.

So I ask you this,

“What’s your meaning of life?”

It’s something that you have to decide for yourself. Do not wait for someone to tell you what the meaning of YOUR life is. How ridiculous does that sound?

You have complete control and power over your goals and what it means for you to lead a life that you love. If that means walking your dog every day or pretending to be a rockstar in front of the fogged-up bathroom mirror, then so be it.

Our perception of life can only come from ourselves. I mean, sure, we can imagine what it would be like to be other people, but we will never truly know. So in all honesty, the great question was flawed to begin with. There is no answer, but everyone’s theories were correct.

You may have your own answer already, that’s great! However, even if you don’t, you have plenty of time to figure it out.

What sparks inspiration for you?

Who do you love the most?

What do you love to do?

So there you have it. I just answered the biggest question of all time. But in reality, I didn’t.

You have to answer it now.
Assumptions
By: Bill Lennan
Tags: Skepticism, Journalism, Thinking

Are a trap

And we step in them daily

When Google launched

almost everyone asked “why do we need another search engine?”.

They assumed they understood Google’s game, value, and future. I seriously doubt any of them could have foreseen the Alphabet of today.

Assumptions can be useful — and they can also be traps.

The trap side is what scares me — when other people have assumptions that are seriously limiting.

For example — people who assume everyone sees the ocean as frightening while many of us see the ocean as a playground. Or my son who assumes he can’t apply to a job because he doesn’t have a good resume. Or the people who assume they are stuck in a job or company because they don’t know how to translate their skills.

Assumptions hit everyone.

Google assumed everyone would use their social media products (remember Circles), Buick assumed people would buy their cars, and Nokia assumed everyone would continue purchasing their phones.

check twice

The world is changing rapidly and assumptions should be checked regularly — because sooner or later, they will become false. That moment could have been yesterday or last month or the assumption may have never been true.

On the plus side

here are a few positive assumptions that still look valuable.

Daily exercise is good for our health. People are doing the best they can with what they know. Confidence is earned by learning more skills and overcoming obstacles. And fresh ground, small batch coffee is delicious.

My Mom

was an old-school journalist. She was a demon on research and fact checking. It made my school years torture. Happily that high school torture has transformed into better thinking patterns as an adult. You can always find opportunities where others see blocks (Elon lives for this).

As you go forward, take a lesson from Mom — cross check the facts. Experts are frequently wrong and over a long enough time span — experts are 99% wrong.

What are

your assumptions? How often do you check them?

I want to hear your stories :-)
UI and UX: Similar yet different. UI and UX, terms used mostly together…
By: Quecko Inc
Tags: Thinking, Design, UX, Ui Ux Design, UI

UI and UX, terms used mostly together, have been coming more and more into use as technology develops further. UI design means User Interface design while UX design means User Experience design.

UX refers to the experience of a possible customer with the product or the features of the product. This experience is what satisfies the user. UX design involves the effectiveness of the product that pleases the customer. UX design is what gives the product properties that will meet the customer's needs and desires.

UI design is a digital term. It is what the potential customer will interact with while looking at or using the product. Basically, it is the visual appearance, feel, and interactivity of the product. It involves fonts, spacings, text, lights, color schemes, icons, images, and much more, all that provides the customer with a visual appeal to the product.

In designing a product, UI and UX have an overlapping relationship but have different contributions. UI is how a product appears and UX is how the product functions.

UX designers research the needs of the customer and help address these needs by designing solutions to all kinds of problems they will face. UI designers research the visual appearance of the product and design all the small details the customer will see while looking at the product.

UI design is about creating aesthetically appealing interfaces to visually please the customer while UX design is all about finding user problems and solving them. UX design comes first as the idea of what the product is, while UI design makes it appealing. UX can apply to any kind of product, feature, or service but UI is only applicable to digital products.

While most people mix up the terms and their meanings, UI and UX are very different from each other. Both complement each other and for a successful product, one cannot exist without the other.
you have an effect on everything you touch
Tags: Thinking, Mind, Influence, Philosophy, Universal Consciousness

everything is influencing you. and you are influencing everything.

this is the only way it could possibly be because life is the system.

every little piece of the universe is interacting with one another. this movement makes the creating of the new — the change — possible.

influence is a given.

applying this logic to our everyday life helps us look at how the world (outside of us) is influencing our worlds within.

an example of such influence is between people. for ex., you see your friends. during the conversation, you exchange your views

on life in general, on topics that interest both of you. you influence each other through the exchange of thoughts.

another example. you go online and search for something, which makes internet bombard you with the ads of similar things. you influence your own self twice. how useful, a? you can totally use it for your own benefit by following the pages of people that promote doing the things you think you should do more. and, magically, you create a desire to do the same. and you do the same.

We all know how that works. Why do we keep complaining about surveillance which can potentially work for our own benefit?
Think But, Do not Overthink
By: Maliiha H. Daniyal
Tags: Thinking, Anxiety, Overthinking, Brainstorming, Depression

The gloomy brain is however so different than a normal brain as it does not only contain 100 million neurons but a brutal corner where thoughts are floating on the brain’s fluid causes a pessimistic sense of inadequacy , despondent lack of activity along with the supplementary feeling of fear, and the worrisome state of hypervigilance in a person who thinks more than his capability of thinking. This is what overthinking is.

The person who overanalyzes the situation is the person who is having a brain that is like an empty jar filled with solicitude, fear, judgmental thoughts and the anxiety which brought the person into disastrous conflict. Overthinking rises when the thoughts contradict the desire. This happens when a brain is holding two opposing thoughts fighting to reach the final destination just like a road having two different paths but the only one can lead to the destination. This creates disharmony in the mind and gives rise to serious mental distress.

Overthinking leads a normal person to such a disastrous stage where his mind works through difficult, complicated, excessive, mope, repine, unsettling thoughts, emotions and experiences to achieve something which his heart desires.

The anxiety, another name of overthinking is a disorder with the capability to overthink everything, everywhere at any time. Overthinking is obsessive thinking or ruminating that feels like a person can’t turn off its brain from the racing thoughts wandering here and there in the brain like a rat on the floor.

If we talk about the main reason for ruminating or overthinking about a situation that surely doesn’t even exist, it is the fearful “what-if” scenarios about things that are wild and created by ourselves due to the wrong imagination and incompetency.

A famous philosopher, Anthony Hopkins once said, “We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap”.

Well, it’s a fact that overthinking kills the person slowly and steadily because nothing in the world can trouble a person as much as his own thoughts. The flow of overthinking and negative thoughts that originate from what-if scenarios is bombarding the consciousness of a normal person every second which is a serious mental and emotional disorder so stop being the prisoner of your own false thoughts that do not even exist at all.

Some people misinterpret things in order to cause controversy. If people believe that by thinking over they can get a meaningful result or reach the best verdict so it is totally wrong as overthinking can only cause negative vibes in a person. Overthinking is nothing but, the art of creating problems.

Concluding the topic with a pro tip that being patient while things are unfolding. Learn to be calm and centered and how not to be controlled by other people’s negativity because you cannot walk around with a button that can easily be pushed.
About Open Philosophy
By: Aaron Crow
Tags: Life, Thinking, Self Improvement, Philosophy, Advice

From a young age, my parents instilled in me the idea that everyone you come across in life has something for you to learn.

A few nights ago I was thinking about this lesson and decided that I wanted to read about all philosophies in order to reach a better understanding of life itself.

Then a thought occurred to me — why don’t I go through a list of philosophies and share my findings through a blog?

This publication aims to gather ways that anyone can incorporate the teachings of not one, but all the philosophies and religions of the world. I’m a strong believer that there isn’t a sole correct belief system, but that they all have positive aspects and lessons regarding how to live your life to the best extent.

If you’d like to publish your own findings to Open Philosophy, feel free to send an email to OpenPhilosophyBlog@gmail.com, or tweet me @OpenPhilosophy.
Pensamiento divergente y convergente
Tags: Thinking, Novel, Ideas, Creativity, Create

in Go Into The Story
the anti-vaxxers MAY be right…(you decide)
By: Rick Martinez
Tags: Writers Life, Thinking, Vaccines, Life Lessons, Covid 19 Crisis

“There is freedom waiting for you,

On the breezes of the sky,

And you ask “What if I fall?”

Oh but my darling,

What if you fly?” ― Erin Hanson

***********************

I love that poem.

It can be interpreted in so many ways for so many topics, and because yesterday I wrote about taking the vaccine (and got tons of replies!) I thought I’d give tongue in cheek, pithy, maybe chuckle-worthy, a nugget of truth, reply that perhaps we SHOULD be considering.

But first, the thing about the current vaccine argument is that it’s binary.

This vs. that…

Good vs. bad…

Yes vs. no…

Safe vs. Unsafe…

Etc…

Feel me?

It’s seemingly two-sided with some imaginary line drawn right down the middle and simply because we’re so used to being shoved info down our throats by media, talking heads, Fauci’isms, and whatnot that we forgot to think for ourselves.

So.

What if we fly?

I mean, if an email copywriter and oft weird thinker like me would tell ya, back in 2019, that in 2020 you’d lose your way of life due to a fella chomping a rabid bat in a back alley wet-market in China, you’da had me locked up fo sho.

AmIRight?

So.

What if we fly?

Is it so weird?

Ok…lemme dial it down a notch.

What if, after taking the vaccine…instead of growing a tail or my toenails falling off, I develop the uncanny ability to break telephone poles with my own two hands. Or… ​​​​​​​I suddenly can hold my breath underwater for sixteen minutes at a time.

I mean, think about it.

Or lemme dial it down one more notch.

What if my hair STOPS falling out and grows back thicker…

Bob’s pancreas starts producing insulin again and he is no longer a type 2 diabetic…

Is that so dang weird or outlandish to consider as an “unknown” side effect??

Why do the unknowns always need to be

bad…

evil…

destructive…

etc…

What if the unknowns actually morphed us into BETTER.

Better anything.

Or get this…what if the vaccine actually caused the early adopters to simply be more excellent, more caring, loving humans.

That’s all I wanted to say today.

Simply that we’re so accustomed and mind-washed into only considering the bad that we’ve forgotten how to see the good.

​​​​​​​Consider that the next time you’re confronted with what seems like a binary question, conflict, or supposition.

Think for your damn self.

Me?

I wanna fly.

that nurse who writes a lot,

Rick “can I take two vaccines?” Martinez
How successful people think?
By: Letsrise Site
Tags: Thinking

What we all do? We all work from our mind but we don’t work on our mind. Successful people work on their mind. Now what is the meaning of working on your mind? It means to stop at a point, analyse what is going on in your mind and see what type of fear is present in it. You should have to analyse the root cause of that fear. If anyone don’t do work on his/her mind then it will lead to a directionless life. On this path one may become financially independent but not mentally.

Everybody has their own definition of success.For some people, success is all about money but from my point of view, it means we should have freedom in our mind for whatever we want to do in our life. For example; if I will do that work which all people are expecting from me, then it means I have no freedom. But if I will do whatever I want in my life then we can say full freedom in our mind.

If our thinking will be in a right direction then only we can do whatever we want otherwise it may be impossible to do it. We can become successful by following four things, which are time, freedom, happiness, money. Now what is the difference between those who are successful and those who are not? Successful people improve themselves day by day but we keep on making excuses instead of doing something.

http://letsrise.site/
Zen and the Art of the Law of Gravity only came into being in 1687
By: Stacey Richter
Tags: Thinking, Philosophy Of Science, Robert Pirsig, Books, Cliff Notes

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Somewhere near the beginning of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the author, Robert Pirsig, mentions Newton’s Law of Gravity. The author asks (rhetorically it turns out) whether this law of gravity always existed, or whether it was born in that eureka moment when Newton sat under an apple tree in 1687.

Of course it always existed.

This was my first reaction.

It took 200 pages for me to understand why I was totally wrong.

Hang with me here, and I can save you 200 pages of reading… or I can cause you 200 pages of reading depending on how you roll.

The author and his kid on their motorcycle.

In the book, there’s a winding narrative about, loosely, motorcycle maintenance that is sly and artful and touching. But here’s a short, blunt, path to one of the places they linger along their journey — Why the Law of Gravity came into being only when Newton wrote it out.

Let’s say Betty is trying to flip heads ten coin tosses in a row. She manages to do it. Hooray! “How did you do it?” everybody wants to know.

“Well,” says Betty, “right before every one of those ten tosses, I tapped the table twice. Also, I was wearing my Philadelphia Eagles jersey the whole time.” Betty goes on to conclude that to flip heads, one must tap the table twice and wear an Eagles jersey. She calls this “The Law of Flipping Heads.”

Question — Did the Law of Flipping Heads exist before Betty made it up?

No, you will probably say. If I ask you why you think that, I expect you’ll answer, “because it’s wrong.”

You might continue to explain that anyone who tries will flip heads 10 times in a row one out of every 1024 tries. It’s math, baby, and Betty got lucky. You will say this so-called “law” (you’ll make air quotes to emphasize your point) only exists and only came into existence when Betty made it up. It doesn’t describe an actual phenomenon in the known universe.

Fair enough.

But hopefully you see that any law, or abstract concept, that we humans create is an interpretation of tangible phenomenon or observations. In fact, every single day we are bombarded by tangible phenomenon and observations. Why do we decide to cherry pick some of them and string them together into laws?

It’s like the stars in the big dipper exist, but the big dipper only came into being when someone gazed into the heavens and out of a gazillion stars to choose from, selected those eight, decided they kind of looked like a punch bowl implement and sketched out a picture on the side of their cave.

The Big Dipper

The big dipper didn’t always exist. It was born the moment someone noticed it and decided it was a thing. The Law of Gravity didn’t always exist, it was born the moment Newton conceived of it. On one hand we have the label for what we think we understand. On the other, we have the set of phenomena we toted together to build that understanding. Let’s not confuse the two.

This idea underpins half this book. I’ve been thinking about it for a month now.
7 Reglas simples para hacer un Brainstorming
Tags: Thinking, Ideas, Creativity, Brainstorming, Group Dynamics

in Go Into The Story
Why You Should Always Think on Paper
By: Fredrik Holm
Tags: Thinking, Planning, Productivity, Thoughts And Ideas, Getting Things Done

Why You Should Always Think on Paper

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

If you want to be genuinely productive, you need to focus 100% on what you are doing. With tasks perceived as fun and interesting, that shouldn’t be too hard; since you enjoy doing them, the focus comes for free.

But if you need to deal with something you don’t feel like doing, like a not-so-interesting work task, then the game changes completely. Depending on how strong your self-discipline muscle is, your mind will start to wander, and it will be harder to stay focused.

How can we deal with this? Often, the biggest hurdle is that we haven’t yet decided what to do and how to do it. As you have already heard a million times before, you should break down the problem into smaller, consumable parts. Not exactly ground-breaking news.

However, if your preferred method to resolve this is to lean back and contemplate, you are doing it wrong. Here’s why:

1. Millers Law

Every thought will lead to another, and soon you have flooded your working memory. Have you heard of the 7±2 rule, a.k.a. Miller’s Law? In short, it states that our brains can only juggle a finite number of things at any given moment.

2. Associations

As an effect of this, you will miss out on potentially useful insights. When your mind enters associative-thinking-mode, it will generate a whirlpool of thoughts. Some will stick, but most of them won’t. Which leads to the unpleasant feeling of having had a marvelous idea, which you cannot recall. It’s all too easy to stray away on a seemingly relevant tangent to the matter at hand and dismiss them as irrelevant. But what if one of those elusive thoughts was an excellent idea for another problem?

3. Distractions

It doesn’t take much to break our train of thought. Even if we find what we are focusing on interesting. Ideas are often elusive in nature, and even a minor distraction can wreck your train of thought.

To summarize, while it sure is possible to reason about complex problems without writing anything down, you will get far better results if you practice thinking in writing.
The Short-Form Posts on Medium Are All the Rage
By: Richard Armstrong
Tags: Thinking, Self Improvement, Choices, Inspiration, Writing

I’m becoming a big fan of the short and sweet story. Let’s make it pack a punch.

I opened a short-form post. The only writing in it was five links to the writer’s other medium post.

Come on, can’t we be a little more creative? Yes we can.

Our old pal, William Shakespeare wrote;

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Being brief doesn’t mean erecting a billboard listing links.

I mean, you could tell us why frogs and toads look the same, but one lives in water, the other on land. Why the difference? There, put a link on the word ‘difference’ linking to your post on how you’re different from your family.

Remember, the card company’s slogan;

‘It’s the thought that counts.”

Let’s all give more thought, use some wit to our short-form stories.

You can do this since you’re a better writer than most others.

Richard lives at @rich-53302
Everything coming in your mind is not real ..
By: Mental. Health .Collective
Tags: Thinking, Mental Health

It was found that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, 80% were negative, and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.

Do not believe everything you think ...
One
Tags: Thinking, Memories, Anonymous, Mental Health

I’m not really sure how to start this interestingly. In school they tell us to start in the middle of an action scene, but my life doesn’t really have many of those. My counsellour says that can be a good thing, because there’s less to think about that way. I think they’re wrong though, because when I have more time to myself I can look through my memories. Maybe this is why I’m bad at talking, conversations I’m in always end up one-sided even when I try and put in the effort. Afterwards, I try and reconstruct the memory and make myself good at talking. I get worried when I realise how long it’s taken me to get it just right, but in the end the new me in the memory is a lot happier, so I suppose it’s worth it. Memories are really powerful I think, sometimes I imagine a little archive in a library somewhere with my name on it, lots of boxes and files worn from me thumbing through every single one. It gets quite busy though, because you can categorise memories in lots of ways, and sometimes that jumbles them up which makes me confused and annoyed. When this happens, I try and sort everything back, each word in each page in each folder in each file, that can calm me down.
Focus on the “we” for deeper conversations
By: K.A. Sweet
Tags: Thinking, Deep Thoughts, Conversations, Friendships

Photo by Qijin Xu on Unsplash

We wake.

We work.

We wait.

We repeat.

At the highest level, our hours are spent before we live them. It’s how it is and how it has always been, at least to some degree. The glass half-full philosophers among us tend to exclusively focus on the latter half of each sentence: waking, working, waiting, and repeating. They end each day with a dull numbness and exhaustion.

In sharp contrast, the positive outlookers take notice of a trend. They focus on the “we” that starts each phrase. The “we” is the shared laughter from a perfectly timed dad joke. Its the communal comfort in a freshly brewed cup of coffee. The quick glance outside to catch the snow falling effortlessly. The joy of timing the traffic lights just right.

We forget about the “we” until we are challenged and the “we” is all we have. It is really about the people after all. For ages, the human experience has been entirely focused on survival. When people could not afford the extras in life, the shared experiences with each other were the gift. The opportunity to catch-up after services with your BFFL, dance at a ball with your crush, or sharing a bottle of wine with your brother were what kept the people going in the days pre-central air. I can’t think we don’t still have these same desires in our bones today.

Tap into the “we” as not only our reward, but as our gift. By doing this, we’ll shift our focus from the continuous wake, work, wait, and repeat cycles. The world needs us to have deeper conversations that challenge our values. Let’s replace Keeping Up With the Kardashians with Keeping Up With Our Friends.
Don’t Put Limitation On Yourself For Love
By: Hassan Siddiqui
Tags: Thinking, Limitations, Life Lessons To Learn, Love, Ageing

You don’t need a special age to love someone.

Photo By Roxana On Unsplash

Sometimes when we stay single and don’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend while our friends keep relationships, they tell us that we are losing our age to love. This is a limitation that other people put on us, and it forces us to find someone to love when we don’t really want to. I believe it’s perfectly okay to find love later in life, at the time when your heart wants to, regardless of the age you reach. Many of us feel bad for not having a partner just because the people around us tell us that our age is running, and we are getting late. The truth is that you don’t need a fixed or special age to love someone. You can love when you want to, and you can make relations at any point in your life.

The decision to get married should also be only yours, and it should be taken when you want to, not when someone else tells you to do it. It’s incorrect to say to anyone that their time has gone and now they can’t find love in life, it’s a false belief and a flawed assumption. There’s nothing wrong with getting married later than your friends, this thing should not make you feel inferior or worthless. Remember, you are free to make your decisions because it’s your life.

Love is not a race to win before anybody, it’s a journey we choose to go on with the ones who share our path. Never let anybody make you think that you have lost your time to love. And always remember that marriage is not everything, finding someone to live with is not everything. It means you should never feel less than anyone just because you are doing different things, things that matter to you.

Love doesn’t look for age, love seeks desire.
Everything coming in your mind is not real ..
By: Mental. Health .Collective
Tags: Mentak Health, Thinking, Everything Else

It was found that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, 80% were negative, and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.

Do not believe everything you think ...
ABOUT A PANDEMİC
By: Yasemin Yildirim
Tags: Think, Thinking, Coronavirus, Covid 19 Pandemic, Covid-19

ABOUT A PANDEMİC

Do you remember the cartoons we watched as kids? whose purpose is to expand our imaginations. But it contains scary characters. Why do you think there were such scary characters? Was it really the abstract world of its authors? I do not think so. I think we live on the hook with the choices and decisions of some ‘grown-ups’. The “present” is just a bridge between our past and our future. I would say that an “alien” we will encounter in our future with the views and stories placed in our subconscious in the past will not surprise us. Didn’t we watch vampire movies as fans? Did we not think about epidemics or fear that such a world would happen in the future? That’s exactly where we are. Then I ask you; what’s next Actually, this is not just a pandemic, this is the “nomad of the return” where we determine the new shape of our lives. Yes, we are writing a history as the world, we are changing as the world. We make internet access as necessary as breathing in our lives. “Being social” is no longer going to the theater or chatting with your friends. We are now social determines how active we are on our Instagram accounts. Yes, it’s time to think; where were we where are we And where are we going?
10 Principles of Strategic Thinking, or How to Think Strategically?
By: Mohammad Baradaran
Tags: Management, Strategic Thinking, Strategy, Thinking

Perhaps the best explanation for this principle is a proverb that we all know well and tell anyone who is constantly changing. Yes, “A rolling stone gathers no moss” Both in business and personal life!

A young man who was a sailor during World War I when he was injured by a German submarine attack on his ship and had an unusual voice; He was trying to become an actor. In New York, his unusual speech led him to be given only limited plans. After that, he went to Hollywood and again played only short roles in eight films. Everyone thought that his speech problem would hinder his progress and that he had spent all his wealth on his expenses, even though he belonged to a wealthy family. So he returned to New York and auditioned for the role of a gangster in a Broadway theatre.

His speech problems came to his aid here. He could speak in the tone of a gangster. He succeeded in starring in the film when Warner Bros. Film Company bought the film production rights. Again, he impressed the producers, who offered him the original drawings, which he had previously turned down.

Humphrey Bogart showed that despite all the obstacles in the way of achieving his goal, commitment and commitment to the goal led to his success.
How are you thinking?
Tags: Thinking Out Loud, Thinking, Structured, Lateral Thinking

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

Who hasn’t heard of lateral thinking? Just about each one of us- at some point we have all had managers or peers who have highlighted about “out of box thinking” and “lateral thinking “ to solve a not so rule- based problem at work.

And then came along the barrage of other thinking approaches….Systems thinking, Parallel thinking, Non- linear thinking, Art of Science thinking and Science of Art thinking, Creative thinking, Critical thinking and on and on…..

By the way for the ones who abuse and over do these concepts, Lateral Thinking is only a tool to get unstuck. After a brainstorming exercise, one should ideally go back to Vertical thinking. Bono in own book says that- we need Lateral Thinking only about 5% of the times — rest of the times, Vertical thinking is what will help us live in the world!

And then these days, you have the overdose of Design thinking- the Human centered and Empathetic thinking. Well, not only in the tech industry — where everyone wants to be/ to hire ‘design thinking’, particularly among product managers and designers. Its also the much talked about training or workshop in most of the analytics companies.

Have you wondered how these all differ? Or ever wondered which of these thinkers do you bracket yourself in?

Or do they all more or less just mean “Structured thinking “ with some glamour sprinkled on it!
Did you ever…?
By: Abhishek Chauhan
Tags: Life, Thinking, Musings, Philosophy, Wonder

Did you ever look out for the spring, just to feel the breeze

Did you ever go out in the summer, just to feel that ease

Did you ever want autumn, to have more leaves

Did you ever want winter, to have less grieves

Did you ever look at the sky, as if there were not enough stars

Did you ever look at yourself, and wish there were less scars

Did you ever wonder, why every story starts with “Once upon a time”

Did you ever wonder why your story’s ending, isn’t so divine

Did you ever gaze upon the world, and see all the pain

Did you ever gaze upon your doings, that all went in vain

Did you ever look at your heart, because it’s amazing

Did you ever say to yourself “I believe…I can do it”
Tonight, I dreamt of you.
By: Sofia Argomaniz
Tags: Lost, Thoughts, Thinking, Short Story Writing, Open Mind

Tonight, I dreamt of you. You came down from your mighty place, sat by me, wrapped me in your porcelain arms and told me everything would be ok. Now, I woke up and I cant find you. You told me you were with me when I was begging you for help. Yet you’re not here. White and dark is what I saw but my damaged mind cant repair the image anymore. Was it white or black? Sitting up and glancing sideways to notice it is just one more sleepless night. But it wasn’t wasn’t it? Why did you wake me up when you didnt finish? Why leave me in this despair of ignorance. Words are healers of the mind and the soul and actions are it’s papers. Words are meant to be written. You seem to always be there for me but you leave in times of need. Just spare me, spare this old mind of this young body. Take me with you, don’t leave me to fend for myself when an ant takes the crown against me. The room feels empty and where you once sat feels cold now. Is it this cold where you find yourself? Should I bring a coat when I stay for good? Or do you live among the flames? The wind seems dead just like a place inside so who am I to judge. Just who once was someone special and now could turn to dust. Decisions, decisions. I cant go back. Can you take me back? I will choose the other path, the simple and straight-lined. I wont stray away so far, you know what lurks in the shadows. People like me. If you do take me back, please, do let me know, until then, I will be the same half-empty soul that reigns this room with a shadow of you as a best friend and stories of once happy times in whats left of this machine. Just please, don’t make me like the others, I’d rather not be than to chase a herd. Humans are complex and so is the mind. If I have none, am I human? Most of them are considered as such but please just take me with you to that world of fantasies you told me about. I want to know the unfinished stories I keep waking up to. My daylight dreams are scary, souls that have one purpose, to serve others and the true demons, the ones who serve themselves. And at night, youre here and you calm me before the storm hits once again. I live somewhere where having darkness is uncommon but being in the dark is everyday-life. My darkness makes me safe, it’s somewhere breathable and it’s also lonely but I’d rather have a lonely place than a crowded one. I can breathe. I don’t suffocate anymore. In me? In myself? I sure hope you come for me. There’s no place better than home.
A rodeo. That’s what I always compared my life to.
By: Sofia Argomaniz
Tags: Thoughts, Thinking, Open Mind, Short Story Writing, Abstract

A rodeo. That’s what I always compared my life to. Everything is passenger, everything is wild and cant seem to be fixed. I can’t be fixed. Nights turned to days and days turn to nights. What day is it? Is it Monday or Friday? I dont know anymore. The rodeo controls my life now and I can’t get a hold of the reins. I am glad to have experienced this, seen what I’ve seen, done what I did but there’s always something. Something hidden. Like whenever you leave the house you feel like you forget something. I did forget many things but i never remembered what they were. Until now. I could tell you how the stars and the planets work, I could tell you how to boil an egg and I could tell you how eat properly but I cant tell you my name or who I really am. I don’t know. Things and people move past me unnoticed and only a few are permanent. Lives come and go just like leaves fall from trees on a windy autumn day. My only companion is you. You shine brighter than all the others. That’s why I always turned to you. I find solace in you. Your light blinds my nights. Sounds of nature surround me while I talk to you, I can feel eyes watching me, maybe an owl, maybe an ant or maybe a monster. I dont care anymore. I got deceived. It was to be expected anyways, I’ve always been told I trust too easily. I know. Ive always known but its like trying to change your dna, I can’t help but trust these incapable lives that live among me. They never deserve it but somewhere in me something says I should. Does that make me a bad person? You tell me. Do you know anyone else’s secrets? Or do you only know mine? Psychologists are crazier than the patients themselves and they try to get inside your mind. Tell me, why would someone want to enter or understand this torn mind? I know I wouldn’t. Everything I did was for a purpose but not anymore, I have no goals anymore. I think and I think and I reach the conclusion that either I’m not good for anything or the world isn’t good for me. It couldnt be the second one surely. I am one in billions so being unique has very slim chances. I will keep trying to find my way back, I’m just running out of energy. Can I borrow some? I will give it back whenever mine gets refilled. A game? That’s what i feel like we are in. We have no real purpose, we can’t have different opinions, we can’t be expressive. All that we are, are characters in an endless game. A game that will never end. If you fall you just get back up with another infinite lives and if those end, you do too. I am just like Mario. Who’s my Luigi then? I feel like it’s you. I do all the talking and you never answer. Feel free to answer me one day. When the number of hearts ends we will find each other again. Until then, Keep shining so that more people like me can confide their secrets to you.
如果您選擇採用這五種心態，那麼您可能會在短短幾年內賺到數百萬美元
By: 胡家維 Hu Kenneth
Tags: Thinking, Money, Self, Mindset, Rich

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How to Use Writing to Figure Out Who You Are
By: Matt Saunders
Tags: Thinking, Writing, Reflections, Mindfulness, Writing Tips

When you surprise yourself

Have you ever sat down to write with a clear idea of what the finished piece might look like, only to find unexpected twists and turns along the way?

That is the writing process doing its thing.

I’m sure you’ve felt frustrated at times when a piece just isn’t coming together, and your line of argument seems flimsier with each sentence. When this happens it’s easy to feel disheartened. The temptation is to plow on, making just enough sense to cross the line and hit “publish”.

But if you do this you risk missing out on the most valuable gift that writing can give you: the ability to figure out who you are.

“I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart.” — Anne Frank

It is possible, through the simple act of putting your thoughts into words, to interrogate and challenge your own value system. And what a reward that can be.

On many occasions I’ve found myself halted during a writing session. I’ve been forced to step outside of myself. This moment offers a space to reflect on my reasons for thinking in a certain way. Why do I hold this opinion? When did I learn this? Could I be wrong?

Spend time with these questions. Don’t sideline them in favour of ‘getting it done’.
Trash Talking
By: Sam Griffiths
Tags: Play, Thinking, Environment, Ideas

Trash Talking

Toffee Geisha

I’ve been working on a series of drawings and paintings that are prompted by bits of rubbish that I pick up on walks. Very 2020! The image above is one, her head is a toffee wrapper I picked up round the corner. I love this way of working. Sometimes the scrap instantly tells you what it wants to be. Other times you really need to worry it, turning it this way and that until it reveals its second life.

There are a couple of lessons in this that I’m trying to learn — there’s always a creative opportunity, even when all you have to work with has no perceived value — and there’s richness and beauty in the small things of life. I’d like to cultivate both these ways of looking at the world, I think it makes life better and more enjoyable.

This image is available as a print here.
Let’s Strive to Be More Factual in Our Speech
By: Maxim Motyshen
Tags: Thinking, Language, Science

For example, even though I generally believe that “broccoli is healthier than sausages”, I have a certain aversion to such a claim as “health” is too vague of a concept. It’s kinda not real, it’s an abstraction. So, instead, we would probably be better off operating with such terms as blood cholesterol and folate concentrations, antioxidant contents, life expectancy, etc. That way we will more or less ensure that we talk about real things.
Change Your Thinking
By: Baale Caleb
Tags: Santa Claus, Thinking, Change

It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room’s only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.

Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band — he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’



Epilogue:



There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness, when shared, is doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.

‘Today is a gift, that is why it is called The Present.’

The origin of this letter is unknown, but it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on.

Do not keep this letter.

I pray you will forward it to all your friends to whom you wish God’s blessings.
Trying to find relief through thinking is worse than hoping to stumble upon a life-saving post on…
By: Pretheesh Presannan
Tags: Short Read, Contemplation, Thinking, Humor, Meditation

Trying to find relief through thinking is worse than hoping to stumble upon a life-saving post on Facebook via endless scrolling.

Moreover, I do not even know whether there is a ‘relief’ in the thinking process, that if I keep thinking I might reach it.

In the case of Facebook, it might make sense if my endless scrolling endeavor is to find a post that I saw early but want to find it again now.

But in the case of thinking endlessly, I do not even know if there is a ‘relief’ waiting for me somewhere down in thinking. And should I waste time or just drop the wasteful game then and there, by not actively participating in the thinking process, ie, not falling for its tricks.

Something to look at if you get caught up in suffering related to wasteful thinking.