The Year Has Begun With Doom And Gloom...

Time To Be Focused On The Positive

Look at how the year has begun.



We witnessed one of the steepest stock market falls across the globe these past few days. January 2008 will long be remembered stock brokers and traders as one of the bleakest chapter in their career. As all indices plunged, the too-late reaction of US Federal Reserve of cutting interest rates by seventy-five basis points has done little to buffet the downfall.



In some pockets of the world, the dreaded H5N1 has begun rearing its head once again, and there are reports of new pathogenic strains being found. Migratory birds, previously harbingers of peace, are now helping to spread the virus to all the parts of the world, exposing us all to a potentially global pandemic.



The earth is today (January 29th) witness to a near-hit by the asteroid 2007TU24. This guy will pass us by within a whisker in cosmic measurement, about 1.4 times the distance between us and the moon. (The next asteroid to visit will be in 2027 A.D.)



At the political level, postures being adopted over some countries' alleged stocking of nuclear weapons are not yielding any results. If anything, they are only taking us one step closer to another Vietnam-type / Iraq-type scenario.



Look at how the year has begun.



I guess it is in such times that we as self-developers can contribute towards sanity by using the power we have built in ourselves through auto-suggestions, positive visualizations, et al. Let us now include in our daily exercises of positive imagery, a vision of a planet that has regained its balance and sense of peace and calm yet again.



My immediate thought is that this is a passing phase. The world is changing its garbs, and this is the transition period while the new set of clothes is being put in place. Soon, we will see much better times ahead.



Now there, that was a nice thought to include in my daily visualizations! Fellow travelers on the self-dev path, let's be selfish. For our sake and that of our children, let us include the imagery of a happy and peaceful earth in our daily visualizations.

Scientists Say Bumblebees Can't Fly...

Thank God Scientists Don't Rule The World!

I guess it is in a way good that the bumblebees can't understand human language - especially the language spoken by us scientists. For they would have then known that what they do day-in and day-out - the act of flying, that is - is a logical impossibility! The bumblebees shouldn't be flying, how dare they!



The poor little things have just two pairs of wings, you see, out of which the rear pair is so small as to be quite ineffective. On top of that, the wings move together, and beat at the max rate of around 200 in one second. Compare this with the load of the rest of the body, and you see what I mean! Voila!



DDT is a great chemical, did you know? Look at those damned mosquitoes around you. Look at how the malaise of malaria and typhus has been wiped away by this particular insecticide. Mankind shall be ever grateful to the man who discovered how to effectively use it for combating the pesky arthropods!



So what if I got egg on my face when fellow scientist and writer Rachel Carson stopped me from singing hosannas about DDT?



What I, as a scientist, can measure using my five senses, is, according to me, is what exists. I refuse to believe in the possibility that there could be anything which is beyond the comprehension of the five senses. I take the nature's way of working as axiomatic, for granted. I try to hide behind bombastic-sounding theories that _describe_ events and even successfully _predict_ events, but without elaborating on the "why". I have devised the Nernst's postulate; I created the concept of Iota; when I am asked to measure the position and momentum of a particle, I try to escape by giving these two parameters a "range of probable values".



I know my limitations. I know that the way I am structured, I can measure nature using my five senses. At best, I can hypothesize in advance (like I did about the black holes), and then try to vindicate my hypotheses by inventing gadgets which act as extensions of my five senses. My programming makes me refuse to consider that which I cannot sense, my Nernst and iota and uncertainty principle not-withstanding.



It is not _my_ fault, is it, when people quote me when they want to derogate the possibilities of the sixth, the seventh, and the other senses of perception beyond? Or the other dimensions that might exist, but which I can't even fathom?



It is the same logic of the bumblebee's flight. Something will not cease to exist, just because I, a scientist, cannot discover or sense that thing!



Which brings me to the subject of this post. Believe this man, a member of my own tribe of scientists, who said - "...the cosmos reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."



So, don't limit yourself to just the senses of your physical body. It is time to move beyond them. Takes some practice. But first, accept the notion that you are capable of perceiving much, much beyond what the bodily senses can ever reveal to you.

Decide To Remain Happy

The Best New Year Resolution That You Can Have!

Come the first of January, and we all follow the ritual of making New Year resolutions. It is a pattern that we learn from our childhood, after observing the seniors around us doing it.



But the next step in the pattern is very interesting. We break our own self-made resolutions! We do it all so seriously. The resolve to run for X miles or exercise for Y hours. The resolve to stop from going to the fridge every now and then, and stick to fixed eating schedule. The determination to spend time with the family and spouse for at least one hour everyday. The commitment to give up smoking / boozing / whatever- that we indulge in, in our attempt to destroy our body.



I have been through it, and been pretty much amused with the game I play with myself every January, for so many past Januaries. But there was a moment of epiphany about two-three years ago, when I decided to make a resolution that is the mother of all resolutions. To Be Happy. And To Remain Happy, Come What May. To not let any circumstance, any circumstance, have the satisfaction of overpowering my decision to remain happy.



So, if I am being led to the gallows, hands fastened at the back, the head covered with a black cloth; I would still be happy. I know that I am not letting the prospect of looming death get to me in any way.



If I discover that my spouse is cheating on me, I will not let this person or the third-party destroy my happiness, for it is not theirs to destroy. I will handle the situation as best as I can, with the full knowledge that my state of mind will give me the best solution to the situation I am facing.



And, with this state of mind that is always happy, I know that I will want to improve my happiness further by doing things that I have always meant to do, but have never succeeded. Running for X miles or exercising for Y minutes, for instance. Being very cautious of my diet and my weight, as another example. Spending quality time with my family as frequently as possible. And giving up smoking / boozing / whatever - for I know that these things come in the way of my happiness.



Take it up as a challenge, folks, this year. Decide to remain happy, come what may!