“We must cultivate our garden” – Voltaire

"We must cultivate our garden" – Voltaire

Just realized this truth! 

 Some rights reserved by marcp_dmoz 

"We must cultivate our garden" – Voltaire

Luke wrote "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks", good heart speaks good things, bad heart speaks bad things.. and There is a "garden of the heart", so if the garden has nothing except weeds (in heart and in mind), what is there to give others? haha Weed?! Now i understand.. I haven't tend to my garden.. 

It takes effort to plant, and sow seeds, to make sure they grow.. but weeds, they are automatic.. 

Perhaps there's a reason why I have this interest in gardening lately. Awesome!

Moses Hng

We are really not that rational!

We are really not that rational! - Mindfulness and Walking Zombies.

(From journal entry 16dec2011)

 Some rights reserved by stilltheone1

After learning Psychology, and reading on Mindfulness, it is becoming clearer to me that human beings are really, not rationale creatures.

From the psychology, neurological, brain stuff point of view, we have theories and concept such as:

Conditioning,
Cognitive Inner working Models,
Cognitive Biases, Distortion
Priming, subliminal Stimuli
Advertising theories
Parenting + Attachment pattern,
From counselling / Psychodynamic (defense mechanisms + transference)
Norms and Group dynamics (Prejudice? Cultural Social?)
Brain functions – Limbic (emotions/reflex) over Prefrontal Cortex (rational thinking?)
Limited Attentions (Monkey business)
Beliefs / Delusions / Explanatory Model
Habits, Memory fallible
Mental Illness & Brain injury/diseases
Education / Exposure and individual experiences

more….

Any one of these concepts shows that, we are not entirely in control of our mind! We are not aware of WHY DO WE BEHAVE THE WAY WE BEHAVE!

In us, there are many Computer Programmes, or Brain Programmes. Stimulants around us, can triggers any of these programmes in us and we act like robots, auto-pilot. There seems to be a mind behind the mind in us. We think we are thinking.

 Some rights reserved by William Christiansen

Look at the people commuting in the morning. MP3, ear phones, looking at their phone, all moving around.. i wonder how many of them are fully aware, conscious of their actions.. I bet most of their actions, movements are automatic, without given much thoughts.

People are living in that semi-asleep state consciousness. Sort of like the Web of One (in the previous entry), we are living in a bubble of awareness. We do not appreciate our reality. Our views are tinted.

Our appetites, motivations, actions, source of emotions and our habits are unchallenged, unexamined. If that is happening, then decisions we make are not really rational. It’s just automatic, reflexes learnt from the past (that is past but is screwing up our future).
Then imagine the whole group, in a team, department, company, community, country, society… all just following each other. How scary?

Then if majority of humans are unaware of this, and IF handful of others discover this… i wonder how easy it is to sway the behavior of the rest of human race. There you have a conspiracy and a blockbuster movie plot.

Moses Hng
PS: so, what is enabling me to write this?

TED Talk: What Google and Facebook are hiding.

Beware online “filter bubbles”

 

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html 

 

 

Interesting idea, and important to keep that in mind, how “isolated” we are online in “the web of one.” We are becoming more blinded, and cut off from what is happening around the world. 

No more personalised web, No more Single Identity on the internet. Internet is about Anonymity.. Identity should be OPT-IN. 

Watch this 4Chan’s ‘Moot’ on  Zuckerberg’s Single Identity Is ‘Totally Wrong’

 

 

 

 

Moses Hng

 

 

Say what you mean!

Say what you mean!

Let your YES be Yes, and NO be NO. If you like something say you like something. If you don’t like something say you don’t like something. 

I have heard people trying to sugarcoat their critisim and feedback by saying something like, “Oh, i like the way you … bla bla bla… BUT perhaps you could … bla bla bla.“. 

That’s dumb. You are insincere. 

After a while, no one will take what you say seriously. As soon as people hear your “I like the way you...” they will stop listening. EVEN if you mean it, no one trust you anymore. 

Have some guts, stick by what you say, don’t have to sugarcoat your words! Say what you really think, make your words count. If you want to praise, just praise whole heartedly. If you wanna give critisim, feedback, then give it. Then people will value what you say. 

 

 

 

Moses Hng

 

Home-Cook Food: 客家酿豆腐

Check out her blog, ComeHomeToEat. 

Cheers!

Moses Hng

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