How to Be More Aware

 

Having gone through major depression myself, I've made it a mission to continually seek peace. I've now come to value a life founded on peace and stability grounded upon truth rather than a life with endless fluctuations of highs and lows grounded on delusional perceptions. I believe this new-found lifestyle is a happier life, and I wish that more and more people would live this way. It could be quite fun to realize fully and truthfully all the given "rules" of this game of life and strategically navigate your way through success. The challenge for me now is - how can I share this wonderful lifestyle with others? Are there words to explain any of it at all?

Perhaps there isn't any way I can formalize a set of words and form them into a series of paragraphs to get you living more peacefully. But I can convey an idea that would at least point you in the right direction. From there you have the privilege to embark on your own journey to realize your own truth. Maybe we will come to the same conclusion, maybe not.

I'm talking about complete awareness, or rather to be as aware as possible. Most of us are aware of ourselves to a certain degree; we know we need to make money to buy food and shelter or who friends and families are and who are not. However, I'm talking about going much further than that. I'm talking about being aware, as much as possible, how your surroundings work, how your body works, and even how mind works.

See as I've mentioned before life is nothing more than just an intricate set of patterns - a game - a dance. I assume this needs no further explanation since we are at point in time now where most of us are aware of this. Just like in any game, if you are completely aware of the given rules and the tools you have to complete a level, with enough persistence and practice you will eventually reach the end. Life is the "rules" and you are the tools. It's only logical to use you, the tools, to completely master the "rules".

So here are a couple of things you can do to work on those three different types of awareness to get you on a path on living a more peaceful life:

Surrounding Awareness


This is what we refer to as intelligence. A person with good surrounding awareness we label as smart. They have a more finely tuned sense of how their surrounding works. So to exercise this type of awareness is to simply seek education. You don't have to go to Harvard to earn a piece of paper with fancy ink that signifies you're "educated", simply reading and sparking your curiosity on provocative subjects that encourages you to seek more and more education grounded upon logical perceptions is good.

Physical Self Awareness

This type of awareness is developed more by experience. People with a good amount of life experience have very good idea of what they are capable of. So I suggest to be bold and jump on opportunities to experience new things in life. The best thing about this is that there are no efforts to be exerted. Simply jumping on board and seeing where it takes you is where most of the exercise take place anyways. You might even enjoy the journey.

Mind Awareness

This is what I want to explain more in detail than the first two. This is because most people are not even aware that there is such a thing as mind awareness. It's important to know that mind awareness is critical if you intend to enjoy life to the fullest.
Mind awareness is to be aware completely of your thought processes. How they work, what triggers specific thought process, and how you can control them.
Unlike the first two the method to exercise this awareness is not set. Some may say embark in long daily meditation routines or live in a Buddhism temple. But I believe I've got a good method to at least get you started.

Written in The Power of the Now by Eckhart Tolle, in one of his meditation techniques he emphasizes the importance of identifying the self. To think of yourself as an entity that embodies you but not completely you. Observe how this entity thinks and you will strip it of it's self imposed drama and learn to see it for just it.

This is how you can exercise mind awareness. To observe how your mind thinks, just observe. If you do this you will find that your mind thinks in a harmonious and predictable patterns and more often than not it is not in sync with it's surroundings. Once you understand the difference between your thoughts and it's surroundings (and you can only achieve this by being an observer of your thoughts) then you will know how to make it in sync with it's surroundings so that you will just flow with the current of life rather than resist them.

Conclusion

So here are a few tips on how to be more aware. If you'd like to share some other methods to exercise them, feel free to do so down below in the comment section.

Top 10 Youtube Channels I Subscribe To

There is no denying it, most of us are addicted to youtube videos. It brings endless amount of entertainment to users all around the world. It is the biggest INTERNET source of inspiration, education, and laughter. So it's no wonder we fill our youtube profiles with an exhausting number of subscriptions. So here are my top 10 youtube channels I subscribe to.

Number 10 - BigThink

Big think is a channel featuring some of the most specialized people in their field and present a 3 - 5 min talk on certain topics of their expertise. Topics range from business to personal development. I enjoy watching these videos not because it provides useful theoretical insights on any subject, it has very little, but it allows me to get a grasp on the wisdom and thought process of some the greatest minds around the world.

Number 9 - jwcfree

Sungha Jung is a very talented guitarist transposing todays most popular songs into instrumental guitar covers. Anyone who plays guitar knows the difficulty of what he is doing in his videos. I particularly enjoy his style of playing because it's a style I incorporate myself, not nearly as well as he does, into my music.

Number 8 - SmarterEveryDay

 SmarterEverday features a man answering the most omitted questions out there that we often forget because of their irrelevancy such as, "Why do cats always fall on their feet?" or "Why do some cocoons have holes?" Personally I like watching his videos because it has a very mythbuster like feel to it and I loved the show mythbuster.

Number 7 - RomanAtWood

 
 RomanAtWood channel consist of two guys pulling some of the most creative funny pranks I've ever seen around. I occasionally check their channel when I'm in need of a good laugh.

Number 6 - MinutePhysics

MinutePhysics are a series of videos that stay true to its name. They are videos of the most difficult physics concepts conveyed in cool stick figure animations covered only in a couple minutes. I'm particularly curious about anything physics and the fact that these videos are only a couple minutes long with cool animations got me hooked instantly. Lately MinutePhysics videos have not been updated as often so this is why I'm putting it on number 6.

Note: The next 5 channels doesn't have to be in this particular order. The frequency on which I visit these channels depend on what I'm in the mood on.

Number 5 - ScamSchool

ScamSchool a series of videos teaching a variety of scams, bar-tricks, and magics tricks. His tricks are very easy to learn yet can fool almost everyone. For this reason I find that scamschool is one of the best channels out there, due to its frequent updates and very useful contents on each videos.

Number 4 - VitalyzdTV

VitalyzdTV  is another prank channel. The major difference in this channel is this man Vitaly has some serious balls. He pulls pranks only people with balls of steel would dare to do such as, kissing beautiful girls even with their rejections, stealing skateboards, dressing up as a zombie and scaring people in ghetto neighborhoods. His videos are always good entertainment pushing the boundaries of outrageous. I worry though that his videos will no longer get crazier due to the level he is playing in.

Number 3 - Vsause

Vsauce is another guy on youtube answering some of the most interesting questions out there that we never really answer because we usually deem them unimportant. I particularly love vsauce videos though because his way of explaining using very cool animations combined with clear narrating makes me it very easy for anyone to understand as long they understand English. 

Number 2 - TedTalks

TEDTalks is one of my favorite channels of all time. Like BigThink this also features people who specialize in certain fields and give talks about their subjects of studies. What I particularly love about this channel though is that it features some of the newest findings in the world. From scientific breakthroughs to newest business theories incorporated by the biggest business in the world.

Number 1 - SciShow

SciShow ties with TedTalks as my favorite youtube channels, but I have to put a number one so here it is. I'm a trivial buff, I love to learn things and SciShow fulfills that need every single day. I often loose good amount of hours in a day watching videos after videos of SciShow, from new species found on amazon rain forest or "best" scientific explanation for homosexuals.

Theres my top 10 youtube channels, what is yours?
 
 
 


 

What I Would do with a Million Dollars

I've thought about this for some time, thinking what I would use one million dollars for. My first instinct is to find a business that where profit margin is exponential so I can turn one million dollars into a billion dollar. But come to think of it, would it really be worth it to spend my time and focus just so I could call myself a billionaire? I figured all the happiness I need doesn't cost one billion dollars. I've got no debt, I've got a comfortable place to live in, I've got sufficient food nurishment, and I get to surf every now and then -- occasionally lonely but I doesn't really bother me much. I would say I'm living a good life.

What I realized however, is that I'm a greedy man. I don't want to just have a good life, I want to have and amazing life. I want to make a difference in the world. I want the world to be better because I existed. I want my name written in history to be recognized from all the positive changes I've brought to this world.

This is when I realized what really is deep within my core -- my entire purpose--my true value. See I embrace my selfish delusions, and I will do everything in my power to make it happen, million dollars or not.

So Heres What I Would Do with a Million Dollars

First, I would split it in half. I would spend half a million dollars investing on clean renewable energy research. But I would not waste my money giving it on research organizations, we already know they work; wind turbines, solar panels, wave generators, geothermal energies. I'm talking about a different kind of research. What happens of you give an entire city unlimited source of energy? What social, economical, and physical impact will it have to the citizens of the city? Will it be sustainable or will it collapse? Most important of all, if such a city could be sustainable, will it be scalable so that eventually the world can rely purely on clean renewable energy, eliminating money for good?

Then the next half million dollars, I would invest in something in line with the first. Lets get real, half a million dollars is not worth anything with scale of the project I've outlined above. So this other half a million, I would invest in monetary incentives. I need to be able to grow this money even more so my mission will earn enough funding to be executed. I would invest in a business and not just any business, a profitable business. So profitable that it would have opportunity to expand while at the same time output enough money to fund my research.

This is what I would do with a million dollars. I will spent it to try and solve the world energy problem. I will devote my entire life on it, whether or not I have a million dollars to start with.

Do the Hard Stuff, Don't Waste your Life Living an Ordinary Life

So many of us living our day to day routine trying to do things our environment expects us to do. We go to school, attempt to get good grades, to get a good job so we can support ourselves and our families. We then end up with a good job, with a good life, surrounded by good people. Some of us are ok with that, and there is nothing wrong with it. I encourage everyone, however, to not be satisfied with just good, aim for being outstanding! Aim to revolutionize the world, make your mark on history, be extraordinary. Because you know what, as far as you know you only live once. So do you really want to spend it just being "good"?

What if there is nothing I'm good at? If your one of the people who say this then you better hit your head on the wall and wake up (Just kidding, don't do that).

Nicholas James Vujicic is a man born with no arms and no legs. There was a point in his life where he felt he was worthless. He tried drowning himself by jumping into a pool. He failed. Soon he realized, yea he may not be able to become a great soccer player, or a swimmer -- but it was there he realized he can still be great. He refused to let his circumstances defeat him. He still was able to play soccer, still able to swim, and overall lived a happy fulfilling life than most. He went on to become one of the most influential speakers in the world talking about the obstacles he went through. He now has a wonderful family with a beautiful wife with a baby born.

If you really understand this story you will realize there is no miracle in it. Nicholas simply decided that he will not let the fact that he has no arms or no legs to live a normal life. He understood he is not like everyone else, but in the end he didn't even want to. He embraced who he is -- someone extraordinary.

No matter who you are, where you live, circumstances you are in -- remember, you are extra ordinary!

The Joy is Not in the Reward, It's in the Journey

Ever thought about racking up lots and lots of money? Where you can buy anything you want, go anywhere you want to go, spend time with the most amazing people in the world? Not a bad thought right? Most of us would be entranced by this idea. However people who actually get to do these things would probably laugh at us for such a simple minded idea of joy. Better yet, people who go through the process of earning lots of money and have now reached a point of their life where they can do all those things would tell you your dreams aren't all it's cracked up to be. Why is that?

Well because as humans we have the tendency to synthesize joy based on our imagination. We developed the habit to put joy in a specific future we want to happen when it truly never happens. Think of the time when you are so hungry all you can think about is food. Then you manage to obtain your favorite food. Think of that first bite, it was indescribable right? But then you take your second bite, it is still good, but not a great as the first. Then you bite again and again, with each bite loosing the pleasure. Till eventually you start to resent your favorite food. This is the nature of synthesized joy, it is never truly satisfied.

Truly happy people do not put their happiness in a vague future that they can't control. They obtain happiness in the current present they are living in. They enjoy the process of reaching their goals not in attaining it. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO facebook, worked on facebook because he was very happy with the popularity it is giving him. He loved to program and he figured out how he can use his programming abilities to gain popularity in school for a chance to maybe get girls. He was very happy just amassing popularity at the same time being able to code at the same time without getting paid. He never idealized facebook to be a multi-billion dollar company. He was just enjoying the what he was doing and the billions are just an accidental result of it.

We have to remember that the future doesn't exist yet. Therefore it can mold into any shape or form that is impossible for us to determined exactly beforehand. So it doesn't make sense to put something so important such as our happiness in an unpredictable future. What is best for us is to put our happiness where things truly exist and things are actually real--the present.

How to Get a 4.0 GPA

Why do you want a 4.0?

To make 4.0 possible, you must first clearly identify your reasons for a 4.0 GPA. The common reasons most people have is that a 4.0 GPA will land them the good jobs. While I certainly don't deny that this is true, I do believe a student with 4.0 GPA does have a higher chance to land better jobs than 3.0 students. However, if this your reason to earn a 4.0 GPA then you will most likely be disappointed. The most important factor in the determining success in pursuit of a goal depends heavily on your motivations. The distance you travel on a particular path in search for a vague vision lies decisively on how bad you want it. So if the reason for wanting a 4.0 GPA is a simple, “I want to get a good job”, then I'm afraid the outlook to earn such a success is very very slim.

The need for a 4.0 GPA has to be stronger than that. It must be strong enough to make you enjoy classes you hate. It must be strong enough to make you test yourself about the subject over and over again to the point of mastery. It must be strong enough to put you in office hours of your professors regularly. Once you've developed enough motivations to earn a 4.0 GPA, you've done half of the battle.

Now to get a 4.0 GPA

There are two main principles that allows anybody to achieve success in anything, whether this be earning 4.0 GPA to running a multi-billion dollar company. These two are the right motivation and the right strategy.

Now I've already talked about how important motivation is above. It's an integral part of any success in anything. One major pitfall people fall into in terms of motivation is that they do not protect it. Remember, motivation is like a delicate plant, it requires appropriate nurture in order to make it prosper and blossom.

And the hard part, implementing the right strategy to get a 4.0 GPA. This is very difficult because everyones brains are wired differently, what strategy works for me may not be practical to you. So in a sense, this is a skill that has to be developed by the person who wants a 4.0 GPA. With that in mind, I'm going to share the basic concepts that I've learned over my years of academic success. I believe these concepts covers the learning techniques applicable to majority of the students out there.

Since GPA is the goal, I think it's safe to say that grades almost entirely depends on your studying techniques, so this is what I'm going to focus on. It's important to know the difference between passive studying and active studying. Active studying is what you must do every single day to earn the highest grade possible possible. Examples of active studying are;

Active Studying
• When given a required reading, you read and summarize each idea. Depending on the difficulty of the subject you may summarize every paragraph to every section.
• When doing math problems, you don't just do the homework. You do the homework just to get exposed to concepts. You end up doing 2-3 more times practice problems than the assigned homework making sure you've seen as much problems as you can at least twice.
• When working on science or historical subjects you make charts and graphs, draw figures that allows you to simplify and interpret the material in a way that make sense to you.
• Studies in chunks

Notice active studying is somewhat pain painstakingly tedious, but that's the point. Active studying cares about mastery of the subject so you must be willing to make all the sacrifices necessary to incorporate it.

It's also important to notice that active studying studies in chunks. Concentration can only be maintain for a short time. Studying on low concentration does little benefit you so it is just a wast of time. When you study for 5 hours for example, the last 2.5 hours are probably low concentration studying there where the benefit is minuscule compared to the first 2.5 hours. So it's best to break this 5 hour studying into 2 part high concentration study sessions to ensure maximum retention.

Passive Studying

• Just reading the material, maybe some highlighting, on a required reading. Focusing on finishing the reading rather than understanding the reading
• Just doing the math problems required. Again the focus is finishing the homework rather than knowing how to do the problems.
• Simply reading for science and historical subjects. Doesn't go through the trouble of creatively thinking of ways to understand the material.
• Studies in long periods of time

Passive studying only does the minimal amount to survive the class. It relies on the duration of studying rather than the quality of each session. Therefore it yields little benefit to success in the class.

Alright, those two are the basic principles to the right strategy for studying. It's important to remember that the goal is to stay on active studying side. If you truly understand the idea of active studying then you will be able to create your own studying techniques that will work for you.

For students who have lost opportunity to get 4.0 GPA

If you have already started your student career with less than a 4.0 GPA then there is no way to get a 4.0 GPA anymore, that's just how the grading system works. If this is the case then I suggest getting your act together now and start incorporating the ideas above to earn the highest GPA you can have-it's not too late. I say this because not having a 4.0 GPA doesn't mean you have lost your opportunities, in some cases, better opportunities open up to those who demonstrate dramatic improvements in their academic careers. So get to it, NOW!

Note

The two principles I've outlined for achieving a 4.0 GPA, the right motivation and the right strategy, doesn't just apply to earning a 4.0 GPA. They are also the underlying principles for achieving success in anything. I just chose use 4.0 GPA example to convey the idea.

Snobs are People Too (Not a Serious Blog)

I work in the business of customer service. I'm one of the lower employees who are responsible for making sure customers leave out of our business satisfied. The common complain that my fellow coworkers have is how some people are such snobs despite treating them with great customer service. While snobs don't particularly bother me, I've contemplated, on more than one occasion, why some people are such snobs. So today, for this post, I've decided to attempt to interpret the mindset of snobs and why they should not bother you.

A young woman driving a BMW sportscar parks in our business parking lot. She walks out of her car – early 20s I would say, in a business suit, sparkling jewelry around her neck and ears. She was easily a 15 out of the possible 0-10 points men rate women with. She was gorgeous.

I had the pleasure of greeting her first ( I made sure to). As part of great customer service, I greeted her with a big smile and good morning followed by “how may I help you” routine. She turns my way, sees a little teenage boy (I'm 21, I just look like a teenager), with braces and a creepy smile, she quickly turns around in the direction she was walking and continued walking forward. I chuckled.

What is Going on in Snobs Mind?

To answer this, I had to put myself in the beautiful girls mindset. Lets say for a moment, she and I exchange roles for a moment.

I'm a high status girl. Virtually everyone around me my whole life have a high status. Exclusivity is important in my world so others must first qualify themselves to be in my circle. I've managed to stay in this level of status till now, which goes to show I'm not in the same level as some others.

Who is this kid smiling at me? Facial attributes is odd. Smile, under construction. Age is 17 maybe 18. I can see he finds me attractive, theres no hope in that area. Job status is normal employee. Analyzing my database whether he deserves my attention...Nope. I will break this interaction now, I see no benefit in responding.

This is one interpretation on what is going on on her mind in the instant I greeted her to demonstrate the snob mindset. The snob mindset is based on comparison to the self. They need to know where others stand based on their standards. Their actions and behaviors are influenced by how it effects their status.

Why Snobs Shouldn't Bother You

If you read my interpretation of the snob mindset you will see none of the beautiful girls behavior are for intentionally hurting my feelings. Their actions are simply for the protection of their distorted view of the world. She did what she knew was appropriate for the situation. In her mind her behavior is simply normal behavior between people two people in a different class.

See snobs are not cold hearted people who's intention is to torture your self-worth. They are simply different from the majority. So it is very silly to be offended by their actions. That would just be equivalent to being offended for the fact that someone else likes Sacramento Spurs when you like Miami Heat.

It's important to remember that each and everyone of us are wonderful creations of nature meant to coexist in harmony, and yes, that includes the snobs.

Human Darwinism: Human Trait that Determines More Success

Sitting down on a bench in Shoreline Park of Santa Barbara I observed a flock of doves patrolling the area for a chance that I may drop some of the bagel I was eating. As an experiment I decided to toss them a piece, and all of them raced against each other to get that one piece. They behaved in barbarous manner where the biggest of them attacked the dove that got the piece first, causing it to drop the piece of bagel and the big one to snatch it. The others just stood by watching the big one consume the only piece I had given to all of them.

To me this was a clear demonstration of Darwin's survival of the fittest. I began to think, does this phenomena still play out for humans? Do we still battle each other out to ensure survival? Well at least in the US most Americans for the most part no longer fight for survival. Most of us already have a comfortable shelter and abundant amount food. So survival is no longer an issue. Yet we still in a sense have a "survival of the fittest" battle royal for status and power. The biggest factor that determines status and power is money. So we work hard to obtain a sizable bank account, some us obsessively trying to level up to the big shots. This model system is what we call, capitalism.

Now, I don't have the knowledge nor the credentials to talk about the moral issues that arises from this system and this is not what I'm writing about. I'd like to talk about the completely different playing field we are involve with than the doves. What characteristics, for us humans, would determine the "survival of the fittest"? What characteristics would separate the big dominant doves from the many smaller less dominant doves?

You may guess education, or rich family ties, or resources. Although they seem like a valid answer they however have a variety of different flaws that does not fit with some of the richest men in the world. Larry Ellison for example, the founder of oracle, started his multi billion dollar company with non of those three. Ellison did not go to college and grew up poor. Yet still Larry Ellison built a gigantic company. So what is it that makes people like Larry Ellison so adaptable when it comes to making money? What is it that enabled him to be one of the top dove?

I would argue that it all has to do with their mental toughness. The common thing that all successful people share is the toughness of their mind. Successful people tend to have the ability to look at their current situation and believe that they can mold it to what they want it to. They have the ability to believe in their visions so much that it becomes a certainty rather than a probability. They have very good understanding of who they are and what they want in life, and take all the actions-- develop all the skills necessary to attain it. When it comes to obtaining their dreams,
they embody the philosophy of very successful athletes, to "go hard, or go home". All behaviors that start in the mind.

This is the key to successful peoples success. Their minds are tough enough to tackle all the neccesary actions to obtain what they want. Yes their goals may change them, may cause them to feel pain, caused them to be resented but they have the will to keep going despite all of that. Despite of all the sacrifices they may have to make for years and years, their will drives them forward.

For most of us, we stray from the idea of being successful because of the sacrifices required indicating how we really don't want it bad enough. For this reason most of us are not meant to live our dreams. We have to remember though, that we have the power to turn our lives into anything we want it to be, we just have to do it.

Brain vs Heart: How to make the brain win when you need it too.

In our early years this is what we battle against most of the time. When our feelings tells us something that our brains completely disagree with such as, quiting a job because we hate it or pursuing a relationship with a person who shows sign of disinterest. Our experience tells us that we should follow our brains, but more often than not our feelings win.

I've watched a seminar Dr. Alan Watkins did on Tedtalks in youtube on how to be brilliant. He demonstrates how one can control results by controlling the underlying factors. He draws levels with the results from the very top, behavior second, thinking third, feeling fourth. There is two more levels below feelings but I won't bother to mention it since I am only interested in the third, thinking, and fourth, feeling. Dr. Watkins confirms that thinking is directly related to how we are feeling and our feeling is directly related to our thinking. They bounce back and forth. Our feelings however, have more weight over our thinking. "If you feel anxious," for example, "its no good of me saying to you...don't worry" Dr Watkins explains.

Dr Watkins confirms that we favor our emotions much more than our thinking. Not having another job to fall back on, most of us would quit our job just because we hate it, a move that our brain completely is not in favor of. Or, despite seeing the signs of disinterest from a partner our brains tells us that pursuing is a waste of time and energy, but our feelings makes us do it otherwise. Knowing that this is a problem, is there then a way to solve this? I believe so.

How to make the brain win over the heart

Note that I do not have anything against trusting your feelings. Life can be great fun to engage in such behaviors sometimes. The truth is I encourage more people to express their feelings more often. However, it's also important to know when the time is right to let the brain win.

I found this solution when I was facing a very difficult decision moving out of my parents house. It was the scariest decision of my life. My feelings tell me not to move out, that staying in the comfort of my parents home living comfortably is the best decision for me. My brain tells me my feeling is doing everything it can to scare me, and reason tells me that moving out and facing the reality of the world by myself is the greatest education I can ever give myself at a young age. This was very very tough decision as you can imagine.

I understood that my feelings will have more impact than my brain in my decision, and if I want a specific result like facing the world by myself, then my only chance of doing so is by shifting my feelings to favor my thinking. So that's what I did, for the next few months I formed the habit of finding all the motivations I could find on why living in my own is important for my growth. I read hundreds of success stories, watch very inspirational youtube videos, searched hundreds of articles in the Internet of the positive side of living on your own. After all of that, my motivation was so strong that I had completely forgotten of all the fears I had from the start. I moved out of my parents house and judging so far on all the things I've learned about my finances, reality, and people, I'm proud to say it was the best decision I had ever made.

Conclusion

It's an essential part of being human in today's world. The world requires us to be more and more logical in todays age. We live in a world where decisions based on feelings can cause expensive lawsuits, major depressions, and worst even death. Getting a grip of your feelings--understanding how you may be able to work with it, is essential to having a successful life.

The Beauty of Choice

I would like to write about this topic because I feel that most of us are making a huge mistake taking this for granted. Being humans we have the gift of having more power of choice than any other living thing on earth. We chose to fly, so we did. We chose to travel the sea, so we did. We chose to travel many times faster than we could ever run on land, so we did. What amazes me however, is how we don't use the power of choice to it's full potential.

At this point of my education, I am completely convince that we are capable of incredible things in life and all we have to do is choose to do so. Lets take a look at how powerful choice is.

Choice is very powerful

Living with drug addict parents, the young Dawn Loggins, regularly had no electricity or running water in her home. She would borrow candles from the neighbor and fill up a bucket of water from the park in order do her homework and have some source of water. One day, her parents are nowhere to be found and their cell phones have been disconnected leaving sixteen year old Dawn Loggins homeless. Despite homelessness she struggled to keep up her grades in school. The school soon realized that she was homeless and took it upon themselves to give her a home. From there Dawn Loggins flourished. She used her experience to an asset which allowed her to do really well in school. She did so well that she will be attending Harvard for the class of 2016 with scholarship.

This story is a powerful demonstration of choice. Despite the bad decisions her parents made that also effected her well being, she chose to find a way out through education. Despite being hungry and filthy, she decides to go to class each day and give it her best. She chose to ask for candles when she had no light to do her homework. For years, she made a choice every single day; that she will not cycle through the bad decisions she saw her parents made, and that is why she succeeded.

Conclusion

This a common characteristics all successful people have. Just like Dawn, they understand that they have the choice to turn their life to what ever they want it to be, resulting in the many wonderful things that exist today. Peoples choices has the power to destroy their life or it can make it flourish. All they have to do is choose. This is the true beauty of choice.
 

How Thought Process Effects your Life

There are two types of thinking processes. There is the negative thinking process and there is the positive thinking process. Depending on which thought process we decide to develop, it effects our overall mood about our lives. The common belief is that positive thinking produces happier life and by looking at how our thought processes effect our perception of our surroundings I will explain why positive thinking yields happier life.

Note that all of us use negative thinking and positive thinking to a certain degree in different areas of our lives. In some cases negative thinking is necessary in so we don't obtain motivations over them on top on the motivations we already have. In a sense negative thinking is a good filter to stop us from taking too many projects at the same time.

Negative Thinking 

Although we may not admit this, most average people tend to stay on this side of the cycle for the most part. Lets look at what happens with negative thinking.

Every action comes from some type of motivation. Most people get up a few minutes earlier each day to go to the coffee shop before they start their day. That is due to the reason that they are motivated by the coffee to do so. If there is motivation, an action is taken, and when an action is taken then results will occur. 

Negative thinking damages motivations. Therefore the actions taken suffer, and as a result the results suffer.

I had a coworker who has been working for a company for years but have trouble getting promoted because he decided to keep negative perceptions about the company he works for. He applies for higher level positions whenever he can hoping he can still get it, but because of his negative perceptions of the company he lacked the motivation to make his resume outstanding for the supervisors to consider him. He often does the minimal requirements of the job which is just enough to keep the job. He doesn't attend meetings and parties that would otherwise help him get more exposed for better odds.

Had my coworker developed the right thinking, he would not be stuck in the same position.

Position Thinking

This is the habit that all of us should incorporate more into our lives. It's a simple preparation that sets us up for a better happier life. Lets see what happens with this mode of thinking.

As I've mentioned, every action comes from some type of motivations. Motivation then leads to taking action and action produces results.

Positive thinking enhances motivations. Action then benefits greatly from this which in turn produces better results.

Since I'm talking about promotions, I'll continue on how positive thinking got me promoted despite only being in the company for only over a year. Despite constant complains from other lower level workers I decided to look at the positive side of the company. I appreciated the company for being very flexible with schedules because I'm a college student. I regularly attend meetings participating in any event with enthusiasm. I always make sure I attend the parties making sure that the relationship between the supervisors and myself are solid. I give my very best every hour of my shifts weather or not the supervisors and coordinators are present. This then polished my resume very well and when there was an opening I quickly jumped on the opportunity. As a result I got promoted and raised my hourly rate to 4 dollars more than my previous position.

Why Positive Thinking

As I've demonstrated, positive thinking leads to success whether it be for jobs, relationships, or school. I often advice guys to assume the girl they fancy already likes them. This helps their confidence which means they are funnier and more relaxed, both actions that makes a difference in attraction. As for school, along with my tutoring services I also motivate students to give it there best. I tell them that all teachers are innately good(no matter how bad they feel they are) and all practices and assigned readings are for their benefit and most benefit which requires some form of sacrifice. I found this to tremendously boost their performance in the class.

Remember that once you choose a type of thinking it will cycle through. So if you choose to stay in the negative area then you will continually cycle through diminishing motivations through wrong actions through bad results. If you choose the positive area however, then you will cycle through bigger more ambitious motivations through right actions through better and better results. Whichever cycle you want to be in is your choice.

You Can Choose to Be Happy

It is unfortunate that many people do not believe they have a choice. That no matter what they do they are destined to follow a path laid out for them. The strange thing is, if a person believes that this is his reality, then it will be. By believing this idea, the person is giving his surroundings the power to dictate his life instead of the other way around.

I urge readers of this post to think in a more optimistic way. Why? Well, simply because it makes you live happier. There is no reason to think of yourself as a constant victim no matter how bad your circumstances might seem. This thought does nothing but poison the mind. Negative thinking is as bad for the mind just as eating sand is bad for the body. The mind will be conquered by fear, in which case hopes, dreams, and passions suffer.

On the other hand, if you choose to see the positive side of things you will nourish the mind with joy. You will conquer your fears and fill your life with hopes, dreams, and passions instead. Resulting in a more prosperous and productive lifestyle.

So how about it? Go out there and choose to be happy!

Turn Rejections into Strength

I remember the very first time I felt the pain of rejection. It was in 7th grade, I had a major crush on a girl in my class. I was what they termed at the time "sprung". I added her on myspace, sent her a hello message every single day hoping to start a conversation with her. She replied once out of the 15 messages I sent her just to be nice. I also tried to talk to her in class but I guess that creep her out even more, which I admit, come to think about it, my attempts were very creepy. Eventually I realized the truth, she just wasn't interested. 

There are many things you can learn from others, many things you can ask and have answers for, but rejection is just one of those you just have to figure out for yourself. What I found out later in my life is that rejection doesn't just happen once, it happens over and over again. We all don't like the feeling of it.

What often happens is that because we are so distraught by these rejections that we loose confidence in ourselves. We start thinking in limited ways because we think they won't work but really we are just afraid of not knowing the consequences. Our enthusiasm and energy gets replaced by self-doubt and fear. This is a problem.

Instead of letting our rejections control our emotions, the most logical step is to control rejection to turn into a strength rather than a handicap.

Turn Rejection into Strength:
1) Know what you can control: Know that outside yourself there is very little you can control. What you can control however, is your emotions towards what happens. It will take practice but its an important skill to master.
2) Don't attach emotions to the past: The past already happened, try your best to keep the past as a record of what not to do and ignore the urge to analyze what you should have done.
3) Keep at it: Like most things, if you get exposed to it over and over again it becomes less and less unfamiliar. The more familiar a rejection feels the shorter its effect.

Dont Live a Mediocre Life, As Far as You Know You Only Have One

"What do you want to be when you grow up?". The question most of us get asked when we are at our very young age. We would answer this questions with the most impressive answer we could think of that would make the adults say, "wow, that is fantastic!". We would say things like, "I want to be a doctor", or "I want to be the president", or "I want to be superman". Of course our answers are influenced by what we were exposed to as a child so what we said hold less value as we grow up.

For most of us, this is where we get exposed to reality, and for some it's the first time we break our promise. As we grow older we start to realize that their are processes to be done before we become what we say we want to be, a doctor, the president, or superman. By our teens, most of us have abandoned the idea. This is where most begin to diverge from truth and start living based on fear.

For some of us, we abandon our goals because we have discovered how tough the road is to where we want to go. We learned to accept a more mediocre life due to the fact that it is easier. We learn to conform.

NEVER FALL IN THE TRAP OF CONFORMING! The reality is we no one can prove if their are other life than what we are living in, as far as we know we only got one, so why waste it living a mediocre life? We have the gift to dream, imagine, and choose, why not use it to live the most amazing life you can possibly think of?

The truth is, NO DREAM IS TOO BIG. No matter how ridiculous it may sound to other people, no matter how crazy it may seem to other people, if you believe it and want it bad enough you will find a way to get. Life didn't come with instructions on how we obtain what we want, but that is a good thing-a wonderful thing because it means we can invent an infinite amount of ways to do so.

So how about it? Go out there and be the best you be.

Goal Setting Principles

It's fascinating to see how some people are extremely proficient at achieving their goals than others. Some people seem to have the ability to accomplish a number of goals in such a short amount of time. They seem to fill their cabinets with endless amount of rewards and trophies.

One person I have in mind is Tim Ferris. Tim Ferris has written three books, all New York Times bestsellers. Now you may say, "that's great but not amazing, he must spent good portion of his life writing".  The strange thing is he didn't. Tim Ferris is also a lecturer at Princeton, Finance and Entrepreneurship advisor for NASA Arnes, tango world record holder, fluent in 5 languages, kickboxing champion, horseback archer, breakdancer, and a couple other things I don't remember. This man has spent his lifetime mastering skills one after another.

I was fortunate enough to sit in one of Tim Ferris seminar at Googleplex not too long ago and I was able to witness this mysteriously bright man. He stood next to the podium grabbed the microphone and started speaking.

As much as I admire this guy, after a few moments I realized this guy is not that different from any us in the room as I thought. He is just slightly better looking than most of us. He also seemed to have an enormous amount of self confidence. I didn't sense his intelligence to be far above any of us in the room, he seemed to be just another smart guy who possess a powerful presence.

It was there that I began to understand what really makes people accomplish more than others. Here are a few principles that makes people more efficient in terms of accomplishing their goals than other people. Tim Ferris himself touched upon these principles in one of his book 4-hour Workweek.

Goal Setting Principles

1)Clear Goal: one must know exactly what he wants to accomplish
2)Break them into Smaller Goals: Breaking your goals into a series of smaller goals makes it simpler so you can finish them one at the time.
3)Focus: It's important than when a goal is set that it is prioritized over all duties. It must come first before anything else. Ideally this requires a lot of sacrifices one must make to get what he wants.
4)Obtain the right tools: For example, if the goal is becoming a world champion chess player; well the tools that are required are enormous amount of time, the best chess teacher out there, and an overwhelming drive to make it happen.
5)The skill to Ignore: Yes there are things that we value a lot that we must learn to ignore in order to get what we want. It's one of the sacrifices. For some, their friends are very important but if they get in the way of your goals then you must learn to ignore them at some point.

These are the principles I find the most important in terms of goal setting. If you feel I've missed a few, please feel free to comment below for other suggestions.

The Value of Mental Development

Continuing the series of the Eightfold Path, it's time now to talk about the last three of the group; the right effort, the right mindfulness, and the right concentration. These I believe is the most important concepts of the list, however it requires mastery over the first five concepts in order to implement these. 

The Right Effort

This refers to choosing to put your limited time and energy in a task that will lead you to your goals. This requires that you clearly know what it is that you want in life and directly pursue it. For example, if I want to get better at writing the wrong effort would be to do math, it's not going to improve my writing. The right effort would be to start writing blogs, diaries, or articles. The right effort is directly related to your values with the basis of what it is that you value most in life.

The Right Mindfulness

The right mindfulness is being perfectly aware of your surroundings. I like to refer this to certain social relationships that we have. There are times when some are just not interested in our company yet we strive hard to approve ourselves to them not knowing that it only makes things worse. Having the right mindfulness means you clearly understand this and even though it is painful you know that the right decision is to let them go. Again, the right mindfulness relies heavily on acceptance of your true reality.

The Right Concentration

Humans have so many different emotions. Every single day there are many catalyst that can trigger a variety of different emotions. These emotions then clouds the mind which makes it harder to see the path to the persons goal. It is important then to obtain the right concentration to riffle through these different emotions clouding the mind to really find what it is that we have to do to reach the goal.

Conclusion

This is the end of the Eightfold Path. The Buddha prescribes this to anyone wanting to end suffering. A deep understanding of these eight concepts and applying them to our lives will result in a much more peaceful and satisfying life.

The Value of Ethical Conduct

On the previous post I wrote about the first two parts of the Eightfold Path. Today, I would like to continue this post with the following three parts of the Eightfold Path; right speech, right actions, and right livelihood. These three are often grouped as the ethical aspects of the Eightfold Path.

The Right Speech

Speech is the most common way humans interact with each other. Speech can save or break lives, make enemies or make friends, start a war or create peace. For this reason, it is important to practice the right speech.

There are few rules that will identify if one uses the right speech:

1. Don't deceive other with it or tell deliberate lies.
2. Don't speak with malicious intent
3. Don't speak to hurt others
4. Use speech to dispel ignorance

The Right Actions

Our actions allows use to have an effect on our surroundings. The fact that I'm typing this blog right now is because an action that I control is taking place between my fingers and the keyboard. It's my effect to the world. Every actions we make effects our outside surroundings. Therefore, it is critical that we take the right actions to insure right consequences.

The Right Livelihood

It is important to live in the right manner. The source of income or food or shelter should not come from unlawful behavior. In todays world, this rule is a little dogmatic. Since there are many professions today, powerful ones at that, that would be considered unlawful such as lawyers or congress.

Conclusion

There it is, the next three of the Eightfold Path. At a later post I should cover that last three.

The Value of Wisdom

At a very young age, I have discovered the impermanence of emotions. It bothered me how one moment as a little boy, I can be running around with my friends having the time of my life then down on the floor crying my eyes out because of leaving them a few moments later. Since then, I've searched for an answer or rather a solution. My problem was I wanted to just be happy and never experience sadness. Although I wouldn't say I've found a solution to my problem, I could say I've learned things that makes it rather obsolete. Here are the first two, I'll share them in hopes of enlightening some readers.

The Right View

This lesson I learned right after I discovered that emotions are not permanent. That's what the right view means. It means understanding reality for what it is. Accepting the wonderful things in life as well as the ugly ones. Realizing that the people we meet, the things we have, the feelings we feel will someday change. That is the meaning of having the right view.

Simply put, if happiness is the goal of an individual, one must start by obtaining the right view. By obtaining the right view and recognizing the world for what it is, then the person can work towards acceptance of the world.

The Right Intention

This lesson I learned much later. The right intention means controlling our actions to cause benefits not to cause damage. The right intention is implemented when the person fully embraces the right view. The person with right intentions has a deep understanding of himself and the world around him. It is at that point that the person realizes that the most logical way to live a happy fulfilling life is to control their actions in such a way to cause benefits to his surroundings.


An example of the right intention is controlling your emotions. Knowing the nature of emotions is critical so that actions aren't hazed by faulty decisions blurred by bad emotions.

Conclusion

The simple answer to my problem is that there is no solution. Happiness and sadness is part of life, it's part of nature. However, with understanding of the self and what is external to the self, one can learn to enjoy both states. 

Notice

You may have noticed this is the first two of the Buddha's Eightfold Path. That is because it is. I only wrote about the first two because it is what is relevant to the topic. The right view and the right intentions is often referred to as the development of wisdom. I intend to cover all the eightfold path, just not all in one post.

 

The Formula for Becoming Rich

It sounds like another one of those get rich quick scam. That there is no such thing as a formula for becoming rich. If there is, why isn't everyone getting rich?

Well the answer to that is simple; they don't believe in the formula. Before you completely shut your mind to the idea, I understand my last sentence is far from being convincing. But if you continue reading just a little bit further, you'll find that I'm not talking about some fictional idea, rather, I'm giving you a hard simple truth.

Okay here it is. The existence of such formula does not indicate that it is simple to incorporate, the reason why most people don't become rich is because the rich formula requires a lot more than just plugging in numbers to get the answer. The rich formula is complex and requires vast amount of time and right decisions to obtain the desired result. However, if incorporated correctly, it guarantees vast amount of wealth.

The Rich Formula:

Before learning the rich formula, you must first understand its foundation. The foundation starts with understanding the difference between an asset and a liability.

Popularized by Robert Kiyosaki in his best selling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, an asset is something you purchase that returns more money back to you. An example of an asset is education. Although you spend money to obtain education, in the long run that education will pay you more than what you invested. This is why most of us still goes to college because despite of it's expensive price, it still offers returns that will pay off our investments. So to some extent we already know a little about the formula ourselves.

Like the picture above, the income you earn should be spent to assets so that it is returned back to your income. It's like recycling money, except you are getting back more than you put in.

On the other hand there is the liability. Truly rich people minimize this area of spending as much as possible. Liability is what you spend on that does not return anything back. I'm a college student so the biggest example of this I often witness is teens buying drugs, alcohol, or trip to a different country. The money goes into something that is temporary and dispensable therefore money essentially just gets flushed away.

Like the picture above, the flow of money does not return back to the income, it just disappears.

There it is, that's the simple formula. You can clearly see what needs to be done in other to be rich. You need to discipline yourself to stay as much as possible on the left side of the formula to become rich.

Truly rich people make a lifetime commitment in investing on assets such as, getting more education, buying up business, investing stock markets, befriending other successful business, etc in order to keep generating more and more flow of money into their income. Others spend money on liabilities like cars, houses, vacation trips, etc which brings them nothing but a bill.

I intend to keep this blog short so I intend to only write about the basics which I believe I have accomplished. Obviously there is a lot more to be said and analyzed about the subject, but that is the basic foundation. If you you are interested in learning more about this subject, I suggest reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki to get you started. I wish you the best of luck!

Flow

You know the feeling, that moment when everything seems to make sense. If you play chess for example, there is that moment when you instinctively pick out the best moves. Your intuition tells you which moves are bad and which moves are good. Your skills dramatically improve.

Almost everyone in the world sure have experienced this state at one point or another in various areas of their lives. It's the state where we seem to be on our maximum potential, where productivity is at it's peak. This is the state of what psychologist like to call it 'flow'.

Flow is one of the most powerful tools all successful people use to achieve either, wealth, knowledge, skills, or fame. Look at the most successful entrepreneurs, artist, movie stars, or scholars out there you will find by looking at their background that they incorporate the power of flow in their life. 50 Cent, one wouldn't think of him a businessman, yet he constantly mentions that the secret to his success is his dedication towards hours and hours of perfecting his music. His obsession pushes him towards neglecting some sleep just to make sure that his product is the best out there. This is the epitome of flow.

Although flow is not just something we can turn on and off every time there are a few proven ways to help you engage in flow much easier. Here are a few I've found around the internet;

How to Achieve Flow:

• Simplify: I wrote a blog about this in the past, simplifying life, and it's the start of applying flow. The brain likes to only focus on one thing at the time. If you simplify your life there is less distractions in the mind that prevents you from achieving flow
• Choose what you enjoy: Bill Gates probably wouldn't have been successful if he chose to do business with baby lotion instead, simply because he is a programmer therefore it is not in his range to sell baby lotion. 
• Seek challenge but don't be delusional: It has to be a challenge that just beyond your reach but not too far. The idea is this that you improve each time by achieving goals that are just outside of your range.
• Get Feedback: This is very important to see where you stand in your progress. If your trying to run a mile in 5 minutes for example, how will you know when you hit 5 minutes if you never time yourself. Same is true in any part of life. Good feedback is also essential to adding more motivation for yourself.

Learn these concepts well and it will be a matter of time when you will achieve success. 

How to Meditate

"Your mind like water my friend, when it is agitated it becomes difficult to see, but if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear" - Master Oogway

With so many distractions we encounter each day, it is very difficult to let our creativity and focus shine. With the invention of all these noise trying to get your attention like facebook, twitter, youtube, tv, etc, sometimes we just need to quiet all that noise. How?

This is where meditation comes in. Meditation is the most effective way to quiet the mind so can achieve optimum focus. Here are some basic techniques to get you started with meditation.

How to Meditate:

• Sit Like the girl in the picture above: It's necessary to sit comfortably but not to the point where you will fall sleep. The sitting position demonstrated about accomplishes this. Sleeping is different from meditating.
• Start by relaxing: Think of each breath releasing tension in all parts of your body. Eventually you should be completely relaxed.
• Focus on breathing: The best way to start for beginners is to focus breathing only. It will be difficult at first to only think of your breathing but with practice it can be done. I understand it is the most boring task to think only of breathing, but that's the idea, if you can be comfortable with the boringness then you are doing very well.
• Silence your mind slowly: This goes in part with your breathing focus. It is impossible to completely avoid thinking but this is the tricky part. Every time a thought pops out of your mind, just smile at it and let it go. Don't attach any feelings to any thoughts just let them rise and then let them float away. If they come back, then let it float away. You will break your breathing focus over and over again because of these thoughts but make sure you always come back to it. Over time these thoughts become a lot easier to let go but never really disappear so don't worry about having them too often.
• Start with 15 minutes a day: Start out implementing these steps with only 15 minutes time. Theres a good chance you will enjoy the difference it brings to your life so eventually you might extend them for longer periods of time.

Meditation is a skill and like any skill it takes a little practice to master. It is normal for it to be very difficult and boring at first but the benefits it brings to your life more than outweighs the sacrifice.

Nothing is Permanent

"Change is the only thing that is permanent" - Buddha

It's the most common dilemma in the western society, we lose someone or something causing us to feel a variety of pain. Some pain we forget, some we know we will someday. There are some pain however, where we feel will never go away, that it will be permanent for the rest of our lives.

There was once a powerful king who lavished himself with the fanciest things in the world money can buy. There was not a prize he can not meet. However, despite all his riches he realizes that he is not overall happier than everyone else. Although there is nothing in the world he can't buy, women, people, objects, he still experiences occasional sadness and sorrow.

So he sought out to find a solution for this. His money can buy anything, why not he thought, buy sadness and sorrow out of his life. He consulted with the wisest among his men and told him of his mission. The wise man agreed to solve his problem.

Three days later the wise man came to the kings palace met with the king and gave him a ring. Carved in the ring is the phrase "this too shall pass". This way no matter how sad, how angry, how bitter, how happy, how fulfilled the king may be, he will know that it is only temporary and it will change in time.

This folklore is a fantastic story teaching listeners that nothing is permanent. The moral of this story can be best applied to emotions. Emotion is one of the best example of impermanence. It's very nature is meant to change over time. Emotions are not meant to be static. The trouble is we sometimes confuse it to be.

Some people involve themselves with drug abuse because of this. They are determined to keep the spurt of dopamine in their brains permanent so they can remain happy all the time. Urging them to take more and more of it to sustain the high. However, this does nothing but destroy the abusers life. Their brain end up needing more drugs to sustain the high to a point where it becomes a real problem. For most abusers, they soon can't afford it so they engage in unlawful act to obtain what they want.

This is just one of the common problem coming from being ignorant of the universes impermanence. I feel it's important to realize and accept the universe's impermanence because it opens you up for a happier more fulfilling life. Life doesn't have to painful, you can choose it not to be, just understand that whatever you feel, no matter how bad it may seem; it too shall pass.

The Truth about Love

I hesitate to admit this because I could have readers who might know me personally but I'm a romantic. Although I'm no longer a hopeless romantic, I would still say I float, to some degree, in the pool of romance. However, I do admit that there was a point in my life where I believed that someday I would be a princess's knight and shining armor.

Perhaps we all are romantics to some degree. It's our very nature. It's hard wired into our brains to seek potential partners to produce offspring that will carry our genes. What is commonly misunderstood however, is most of us, especially us younger people, mistake romantic love for true love.

Almost every movies, every songs, and other forms of entertainment today has some sort of reference to romantic love. It is portrayed as the ultimate purpose, that there is nothing else higher to live for. After all, with all the pain and suffering that comes with romance, it must be the ultimate destination, right?

Romantic Love:
   
It is what enchants the majority of the population in the west. It thrives on the idea of obtaining never ending ecstasy due to the presence of the desired. Romantic love is based on anticipation. The adrenaline rush from anticipation drives us to be addicted to the idea of the beloved. We put the beloved in a pedestal with unrealistic expectations that no single person can ever achieve. We amplify their great features and ignore their flaws.

It is often overlooked how unstable and unreliable romantic love is. When one is infatuated(another term for romantic love), he feels that the solution to all his/her problems lies in obtaining his/her beloved. This is simply not the case, when one obtains his/her desired the value of the desired depreciates in which case the person searches for other purposes in life.

Romantic love is not permanent. While there is an initial overwhelming joy in obtaining the beloved it is impossible to keep that joy. Nothing in life is permanent but infatuation often fools us into thinking so.

The trouble is, the western culture particularly in the US have relied on romantic love to gauge their readiness for marriage, resulting in the highest divorce rate in the world.

True Love:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."- Corintians 13:4-8a.

I'm not a religious guy but I believe this quote sums up what true love really is. It loves for the sake of loving. It ask for nothing in return. It is founded on trust, and a reciprocation of the same feeling is only a bonus not a must have. It holds no expectations or anticipations. It is based on reality; loving the real person rather than the idea of the person.

Conclusion:

Simple and sound ideas, yet difficult to realize by yourself. After all, when almost every movie you watch, every song you listen to, and every status you read on facebook tells you there is nothing else other than romantic love, it is hard to believe there are other more stable, easily accessible, options out there.

Simplifying Life

Thinking back to my algebra class one of the skills we had to learn is to learn to simplify math questions if it could be simplified. At the time I didn't realize the point, an equation simplified or not is still the same equation. It was much later when I have taken much higher level math classes that I finally understood the power of simplifying. The true purpose of such a skill is to make hard problems into easier more doable problems. Simplifying turns the equation into something complex and impossible into something easily understandable. I'm sure any of you have realized this, most likely sooner than I have, but only some you may realize that the same concept can be applied to your life; that we can turn a seemingly intricate and complicated life into something simple and easy.

Simplify not take the simple and easy way out

Of course, when I say simple and easy I don't make staying in bed all day playing video games and what not. What I mean is merely taking all the difficult things in your life and making it easier. This involves a good amount of dedication to do.

How to simplify your life:

1. Focus on as few things as possible: I'm a firm believer of doing one thing at the time as long as your doing that one thing right. When I'm cooking for example, I make sure not do anything while I'm waiting, if I multitask I risk overcooking my food. In the end, well cooked food is my priority.
2. Learn to ignore: When I'm studying I make sure I turn my phone off because I know if it vibrates I can never resist looking at it breaking my concentration. This also applies to ignoring new projects you might be interested in. If your trying to get good grades, it makes no sense to also pick up a karate class, working on your poetry, or practicing juggling. No matter how much you find that interesting you must have the heart to ignore such things and focus on your goal.
3. Learn to say No: Peer pressure is a strong force for many of us, and sometimes what your peers want to do will not get you your goal. You must gain the courage to tell them no
4. Make it a mission to finish what you started: Don't get me wrong, there are right moments when you have to throw down the towel and give up, but for most time make sure you commit. Lets face it, this world rewards those people who finish not those people who started the most projects and leaving them unfinished.

Like math life can seem like a daunting project that is impossible to succeed in. But if you learn to simplify it and study it you will soon find the answer.