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Monthly Archives: July 2017
Rude, the new normal
Every day, I look around, astonished, at the amplitude of rudeness around me. An auto rickshaw comes towards me, at me, on the wrong side of the road, and stares sullenly, audaciously. Voices rise at dissenting views, affronted by the … Continue reading
The struggle with mindfulness
Hold the experience, I’m told. Stay with it, be in it. I take my agitation in a fierce gaze, in a bid to stare it down. Don’t react. I squeeze my eyes shut tightly. If I don’t see it, I … Continue reading
Posted in buddhism
Tagged anger, buddhism, meditation, mindfulness, reaction, relief, Shantideva, sitting, stillness
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The desire to be liked
For all the assertions of individuality and uniqueness, we humans have a primal desire to be liked. Millennia after we stopped being primates, we still haven’t let go of the instinct to be accepted, adored and worshipped by our peers … Continue reading
Posted in human behaviour
Tagged conformity, evolution, groups, individuality, instinct, rebel, survival instinct
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Fresh starts
Fresh starts. We all seek them, especially around new year’s. It’s now July, and some of us, steeling our nerves, will be revisiting those new year’s resolutions we made so fervently and passionately on 1 January. So how’re we doing … Continue reading
Posted in Habit change
Tagged discipline, fresh start, grit, January 1, kaizen, marathons, motivation, New year, perseverance, resolutions, start, Weight loss
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Stream of consciousness
The other day, I wrote about how only amateurs wait for inspiration to write. The real writers write, no matter what. But what if I can’t think of what to write? My mind is blank right now even as I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in buddhism
Tagged buddhism, meditation, rambling, spaciousness, stillness, writer, Writing
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Is “woman” an adjective?
I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Freakonomics, today, which featured the Harvard University president, Drew Gilpin Faust (what an awesome name). She talked about how, soon after she was appointed, someone asked her how she felt to … Continue reading
Posted in human behaviour
Tagged Drew Gilpin Faust, gender, harvard university, president, sexism, woman, writer
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On writing
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get going.” – unknown I’m a new writer, by which I mean that I’ve just in the past few years mustered the courage to write my thoughts and … Continue reading
You lost the weight, congratulations. Now, how do you keep it off?
Over and over, I see folks around me taking drastic steps to lose weight. Fruits only! Meat only! The high-fat diet, stuff yourself silly with bacon, cheese, butter. Change that, kill the fat totally. The urge to transform is so … Continue reading
Archana and more 