Like many of you, I have a bit of an ego. Not too big mind you, but certainly big enough to get in my way. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to realise how much of a hindrance an ego can be. Hopefully, I’ll explain to you how my ego has affected me during my personal growth, which can maybe (if you haven’t already sorted yourself out) help you identify your own ego and find a way of suppressing it as much as you can.

Simply put, the ego is one’s sense of self-importance or self-esteem. Now I am not saying that it is a bad thing to have a good level of self-esteem, but sometimes you can begin to feel a little too self-important and arrogant without realising it.

This feeling of self-importance can manifest in different ways. For some, it can come through as hyper-confident, and maybe naive. These people think they can do everything and if they screw up it must be something or somebody else’s fault. For others, a big ego brings shit self-esteem. In this case, they might find that they second guess themselves, and blame someone else for their own shortcomings. They might also think that things can’t get better and that the world is against them (it might be true, who knows). Essentially they are too stubborn to see that they can improve.

Personally, I think everyone has a bit of both and encounters them in different aspects of their lives. The latter is more interesting to me and more relatable. I’ve had moments of self-doubt where I simply can’t visualise myself improving, or being great at anything for the matter. However, time has always passed and while I may not be great at anything, I have definitely improved.  I was wrong to assume and I was wrong to be stubborn. If you had told me three years ago I would have the roster of friends that I do, I wouldn’t have believed you.  It was foolish of me to think that my life wouldn’t improve (not that it wasn’t already good), and honestly, it’s a self-sabotaging way to live. I’m glad I was wrong about so many things in my life because in most cases I’ve overestimated the bad. Just because I had formed the image of failure or embarrassment in my mind it didn’t mean that would come true.

Thinking of the times I’ve made an assumption about the future reminds of something I read in a comic book (Doomsday clock #8) recently where a character, who is temporally omniscient ( Dr. Manhattan) cannot see his own future past a certain event and assumes the worst outcomes (I’m assuming ignorantly, as the story hasn’t concluded). The issue ends with a quote by the architect/author/many things, R. Buckminster Fuller about the scenario: “Seeing is believing is a blind spot in man’s vision”.

 

 

 

Routinely meditating is something I’ve wanted to do for years. Movies and comics made the idea of becoming zen and wise while having extreme focus in combat very appealing. I also, by human standards, have a terrible attention span. For no reason at all it just so happens that now, within the last few months, I have started to – or at least tried to maintain meditating on a daily basis.

And you should too.

Since I started meditating, I feel more productive, I am better at dealing with stress and/or anxiety, and I also genuinely feel zen – at least 5 minutes a day. I also find it easier to manage distractions so it’s easier for me to settle into a task once I’ve begun (hence the existence of this very late post).

It wasn’t always easy however, I thought it was all about sitting down, closing your eyes and then just intensely THINKING about something simple and mundane, like a naked flame. Now keeping this up for 5 minutes will just make you frustrated and feel bad for literally failing to think. I soon realized I was going about it incorrectly.

Meditation isn’t actually about becoming MORE focused or somehow becoming more attuned to what you’re currently doing – It’s about control over your thoughts.
A better method for meditating is too simply think without much effort about a particular idea, concept or phrase and once an irrelevant thought inevitably comes to mind, you gently dismiss it. To start, just sit comfortably, close your eyes and simply breathe (don’t mess this up) and count every exhale and inhale. Once the count gets to 10 I start from 1 again. If you think of something else, simply let the thought pass or let it play out and then start from 1 again. It’s simple and it works.

Of course, it will take some time getting into the routine of meditating daily and I would recommend trying to do it first thing in the morning. The results are obvious. I’m more productive the days I do meditate than the days I don’t. I’m more aware of when I’m distracted compared to when I’m not. But perhaps the biggest change for me is the positivity. Negative and disheartening thoughts can appear at any time with no warning. Through meditation, you can allow these thoughts to pass or stop them taking over.

This is reason enough to meditate.

Things aren’t always as they seem and keeping calm has helped me remember that. Sometimes simply taking a deep breath and relaxing for 10 seconds can remind you what’s really going on, you can be sitting somewhere frustrated and anxious, and that will cloud your mind when you’re really just lying in bed, or sitting in a classroom or outside in the park. The reality is that the danger is in your head and the only thing that matters in that situation is YOU and the coolness you bring. If more people meditated, I genuinely think we wouldn’t become as agitated or aggressive and even begin to appreciate and reflect on some of the great stuff that our mind makes invisible. Give it a try sometime.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for the late (really very extremely late) post but I’m hoping to make it a habit again. I mentioned my attention span was weak and so it was but I’m back and hopefully, I can gain some momentum with my posts.

 

 

I’m going to post one riddle a week of my own creation.

If I don’t – don’t worry, it just means that I haven’t thought of one for that week.

That being said, here is this weeks riddle.

Always at distance; yet never far,

A place where bad things and good things are.

It’s a flare of promise – a hopeful sight.

Still fear is its shadow, but it never meets light.

The answer: The Future <—- Highlight. 

Why are riddles so cool?

I don’t think there is a right answer. So its a shit riddle in that sense. In fact, it’s not a riddle at all. The definition of a riddle is: A question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in ascertaining its answer or meaning. 

This is a riddle appreciation post if you haven’t already guessed. You also must be wondering (though I very much doubt you do) where the interest in riddles comes from. The answer is The Hobbit. The Hobbit is the reason I think riddles are cool. Fans of the book will know of the chapter “Riddles in the Dark” where the titular hero Bilbo and Gollum engage in a battle of wits by asking each other riddles. Its a great moment in the story, but my appreciation for Tolkien will be in another post. I just love the riddles in the chapter. Here’s one:

Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

The answer is Wind <—– Highlight the answer.

I like riddle-poems the best because they rhyme. I don’t think non-rhyming riddles are bad or anything, but having them rhyme means they are fun to listen to. Ultimately to create a well-worded, difficult, and rhyming riddle requires wit, and in no short supply. In fact, you need to be quick and creative to solve a riddle as well. If you ask someone a riddle, and they don’t get the answer immediately then it can be interesting to see a persons thought processes in trying to find an answer.

Not all riddles are to my liking (especially the ones I can’t answer). Not because they are poorly written, but because they have stupid answers. What I mean by stupid is that the answers themselves are probably something nobody knows about, or at the very least something people won’t think about on a daily basis – What’s the point on writing an 8 line riddle where the answer is “pantyhose”? I actually felt cheated finding out the answer to that one. These riddles aren’t fun in a group, they’re only good for one thing – A book of riddles.

Anyway, riddles require wit as we’ve already established and I’m someone who likes to think they have it in spades. So I inevitably went ahead and tried to write my own riddles. The only guideline, of course, is that the answer is something that most people will understand. So I start with the answer and then think of everything to do with that object or concept. Then I try and personify the answer and try and describe myself as if I was the answer.  After that just try to think of obscure words and more abstract phrases in your description, and if it rhymes voila – you have a riddle.

Here’s one I wrote last week:

What is the worst that comes from the best?

That never leaves your mind at rest.

Born in a place now far away,

yet in your chest, it finds its stay.

Answer: Heartbreak <—– Highlight this space.

It helps if you try and deduce the answer line by line instead of tackling it the riddle as a whole.

At the end of the day, riddles are great, but there are more important answers to find. I just think that its a unique bit of fun to ask some riddles every once in a while.

Goodbye. See you next time.

 

 

Technically, this isn’t the first post on this blog. The first post was automatic it was an image of the open sea with a quote about how all journeys are better when you have someone with you. I thought that was strange considering I started this blog on my own. But that doesn’t matter.

Anyway, I have no idea what to write.

Welcome, I suppose.

I want to make a good first impression, but at the same time, I don’t want my first impression to leave an impression because it simply won’t be representative of this blog. In the real world, the first impression you give people is rarely accurate anyway, so I don’t trust anything I end up typing to inform you accurately on what the blog could become. Most of the time I find that most peoples first impression will make them appear better than their usual self or it will completely undersell them. I prefer the latter because it leaves room for pleasant surprise. Which I hope this blog will be.

just like my about page, I’ll keep this post short. I want to to get it out of the way, so I will.

Goodbye. See you again soon.