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2012

If 2011 was the year of indulgence and hedonistic excess, 2012 is the year I pay for it.  There isn’t a more literal way to learn about cause and effect.

Fewer and fewer people are writing online.  I hope even if not online, they continue writing elsewhere – it would be a tragic waste if our experiences are lost to the sands of time, never to be relived (and learned from) by the future generations.

Newton’s Laws

1. Every object in the state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

If you are headed down a direction in life, only an external force can change your course — be open to external forces; even if you aren’t able to change your own course, they can.

Everything that happens triggers something else to happen.  The manner in which this happens may not be immediately obvious, but rest assured that it is a matter of nature and therefore does not ever fail.

Life hangs in the balance.

Hope I get out alive.

Oh wait, no one does.

Previous Post

Are you completely at ease with who you are, what you think, what you say, what you do, and what happens around you?

If not, change.

Deal with it

Often the easiest way to deal with a problem is to not deal with it.  ”If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”.  We are taught to be black and white, to be sure of our convictions, but we all have our double standards which come into play at one point or another.  Where are they now?  Would they be valid 10 years from now?  What do we put up with when we are with some people that we wouldn’t put up with among others?  What is the reason for such biases?  Is there a professional or personal agenda being served, or are we simply that insecure of our principles that we make and destroy them as we see different people throughout the week?  At some point we have to reconcile all these differences and account for them.

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
- Abraham Lincoln

Smile

What does a smile mean?  When we begin life, a smile indicates happiness or pleasure at something.  At least that’s the norm.  We are all conditioned to conform to some one set of rules or another.  We are taught when and when not to smile.  Then as time passes we begin to form our own opinions as to what does and does not make us smile.  Most of us do this unconsciously, and thus our personalities are forged.

In time, a smile’s meaning changes.  In time, a smile may no longer indicate happiness nor pleasure.  In time, a smile may be all we have to show the world because there is nothing left inside.  In time, we smile because the muscle memory is associated with something pleasant which we try and try to relive.  In time, a smile becomes something we do to show others, not to indicate our own feelings.

Personality

They say our personalities are established when we are young, and reinforced as we grow older.

Although certain traits may increase and / or decrease in intensity over time, the major traits themselves largely remain similar, with few or no new traits gained or lost.

Don’t know if this is scientifically proven, but it sure seems that way.

Appsumo Book Raffle

Appsumo is giving away the top 40 books for entrepreneurs.. sounds interesting.  Check it out:

http://appsumo.com/~yvu1

Some notes

Restructured my Chrome bookmarks – for some reason I kept limiting myself to one browser window before – thought it was more efficient.  Then quasi OCD-ness made me keep rearranging tabs so that tabs in similar categories were close together.  No more – they are now all their own folders, to be opened group-mode in separate windows.  My first 30 minutes doing this has been a revelation – so much smoother, especially when combined with Mac’s trackpad magic.

Note – Keep eyes open to new opportunities to improve, even in the unlikeliest of places

Took a page from my project – started tracking more items, but in personal life.  I believe all knowledge and experience should be documented, what more when gained alone.  It is the only way to pass it on to the future generation – document now, we can deal with how and when to pass it on later.  Google Docs are really powerful – I think I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what can be done with it.  On that note, it seems like we (now) have alot more technology than we know what to do with.  The last time I remember being in control and using technology to the fullest was with my Nokia 6600 – 6 years ago?  Since then, things have evolved by leaps and bounds – losing my Android phone in 2010 also contributed – but I now have a better appreciation of what I truly need / use.

Note – There will always be extras – the trick is to be certain about criteria; about needs vs. wants

I will be making some interesting choices this year – they will be in the spirit of taking the road less taken.  Though I’ve been given lots of opportunities, the past 3 years have shown me that there are whole worlds out there yet to be explored.  The hope is to continue doing what’s meaningful to me – not simply earn a paycheck.  I realize this is a luxury, but only through doing meaningful work does one’s best emerge – this is something smart companies would do well to not ignore.  Again, a question of needs vs. wants.  Only time will tell.

Note – The only limits are those we put on ourselves.

2011 in Pix

Come Into Your Own

What a year.  Crazy ups and downs for everyone.

Some people got attached / engaged – gained loved ones.

Some people lost family members / friends – lost loved ones.

I suppose this is what time does.  It gives you a chance, an opportunity, with each passing day, to come into your own.

Any change in our lives requires us to give up a part of ourselves.  Gaining someone requires us to share ourselves.  Losing someone takes a part of ourselves away.

Whether we willingly gave it up or it was forcefully taken away from us, whatever remains of ourselves has to be that much stronger to continue living.

We are a little fearful and nervous because with each passing day, we are reminded that things are changing; transitioning from being supported to supporting ourselves, and others.

Yet here we are.

The people I know reading this are a strong bunch.  We do not give in, we do not give up.  We do not know if we can make it through the year, but we will live as though we will.

We will gain strength, lose weakness.

We will gain wisdom, lose folly.

Most importantly, we will look to the future – what we can still change – and not forget, but learn from and appreciate the past.

Come into your own, and all the best for 2012.

Love

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