I have been liberated, from two months of living under fear, worry and despair. And I feel alive. I can finally carry on with my life and work towards all the goals that I hold in 2017 and beyond. There are basically three main aspects with which I seek to make improvements in, they being physical, mental and spiritual.
Physically, I hope to hit these records within 2017. 2.5x bodyweight deadlift, 0.5x weighted pullups, 0.7x weighted dips, achieve a handstand as well as being able to do my first handstand push-up. These are all very lofty goals, no doubt. But I think with a methodical and systematic approach, these goals are actually realistic. I will definitely come back at the end of 2017 we will come back to review how many of these we have achieved.
On the mental front, I would like to get more well read. I came across this list which I think is very much in line with the direction I would like my life to head in. I'm hoping to be 50% done with this list by the end of 2017. Even before this list, I have already been making an effort to introduce more books and reading to my life from about a year ago. Some genres of books that I'm preferential towards have been in the fields of psychology, economics, neuroscience for the layperson, biographies of people I admire as well as politics and philosophy.
Spiritually, I'd like to make strides in distilling my life's philosophy and that means making progress with asking the right questions that drives behavior to improve my life, as well as to be more in touch with my inner self. I see myself doing this by practicing more mindfulness and meditation, as well as reading more philosophical works which ties in with the reading aspect as mentioned above.
It's going to be a busy year indeed, I've got my work cut out for me. And that is exactly how I like it, getting better everyday and doing the things necessary to realize the best version of myself. With that, peace out and have a good day everyone.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Musings on the Year So Far
So far, I've written two drafts of what I hope to achieve in 2017 but they have remained as just that; drafts. This is understandably not the best way to start 2017, but we're not here to discuss that matter today. Rather, we will be taking a look on the month and a half that has passed since the start of the year.
Unbelievably, it is already the second month into this faithful year. And that marks a year since I've started with my second employer. Already, the mind is waning in its willingness to stay on here. Little shall be shared here as the walls have ears.
I've been doing some reading of late, trying to learn from men whom I like to consider accomplished men, but in doing so realize that I do not read very critically. Rather, I read every book much like I read story books, which cannot be the case when you're reading political treatises such as The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli) or The Art of War (Sun Tzu). Significant amounts of effort must be put into interpreting what the author meant in that specific context, which means having to brush up on your history during their era in order to understand exactly what they were referring to, as well as getting the principle behind it and then applying it to a contemporary context. I'm hoping that all these efforts will allow me some of the wisdom and insight that these men have shown, something that I'm in admiration of. I always admire people of great stature, especially when they came from thousands of years back and did not possess creature comforts that we today have, such as being able to bath daily and having all the engineering infrastructure that we take for granted today.
Another thing, I hope to fulfill greater traveling ambitions this year. I reflect back on my Sydney and Italy trip with fond memories. I am most willing to admit that I am not well traveled and I wish I had the luxury of taking long road trips across Europe, Australia and USA before I stepped out into the working world but I simply haven't. That's OK though, I have my life ahead of me to do so and I think more importantly, have grown a profound appreciation for travel by my lack of means in earlier years.
I'm also very glad to have had the courage to face up to what I really needed to do recently. This is personal enough that it shall be kept off the books (or the web, for that matter), but basically what happened is that I mustered up the courage to get a certain act done, and can now move on ahead with life whatever the outcome may be, instead of having it constantly on the back of my mind, where it was taking precious mental faculty.
Through the year, there are a couple of things I wish to accomplish as well. I'm not the most open of people, especially when it comes to taking initiative in opening up and starting social interactions. 2017 is the year where I seek to really make strides in this area, being able to initialize social interactions at ease and be open, sincere, authentic and deep in my relationships with just about anyone which I come into contact with. Of course, that is the end goal, and I always believe in doing things in a progressive manner, and not 一步登天, as we like to say in Chinese. Literally translated, it means to ascend to heaven in one step. These goals are never realistic and only serve to beat up your own self worth when you realize it's impossible.
It's also that stage in life where everyone of my age seems to be proposing and marrying, some even having their firstborn already and whatnot. All while I'm just sitting here in my Fortress of Solitude, reading, philosophizing and mellowing into what I hope will be a fine wine. Ultimately, as I take on all these efforts to read, to get fitter and to improve in the three aspects daily (mentally, physically and spiritually) so that I am more able self-validate, a certain part of me wonders if I self-validate because that's exactly what society likes; the strong, independent, self-validating type? Therefore, isn't this an exercise entirely contradictory of itself? While these are questions that I contemplate with, I can feel the positive difference that my efforts in the three areas have brought to my life, and will therefore keep carrying on regardless of the answer to that question.
That will be all for today, thank you for reading.
Unbelievably, it is already the second month into this faithful year. And that marks a year since I've started with my second employer. Already, the mind is waning in its willingness to stay on here. Little shall be shared here as the walls have ears.
I've been doing some reading of late, trying to learn from men whom I like to consider accomplished men, but in doing so realize that I do not read very critically. Rather, I read every book much like I read story books, which cannot be the case when you're reading political treatises such as The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli) or The Art of War (Sun Tzu). Significant amounts of effort must be put into interpreting what the author meant in that specific context, which means having to brush up on your history during their era in order to understand exactly what they were referring to, as well as getting the principle behind it and then applying it to a contemporary context. I'm hoping that all these efforts will allow me some of the wisdom and insight that these men have shown, something that I'm in admiration of. I always admire people of great stature, especially when they came from thousands of years back and did not possess creature comforts that we today have, such as being able to bath daily and having all the engineering infrastructure that we take for granted today.
Another thing, I hope to fulfill greater traveling ambitions this year. I reflect back on my Sydney and Italy trip with fond memories. I am most willing to admit that I am not well traveled and I wish I had the luxury of taking long road trips across Europe, Australia and USA before I stepped out into the working world but I simply haven't. That's OK though, I have my life ahead of me to do so and I think more importantly, have grown a profound appreciation for travel by my lack of means in earlier years.
I'm also very glad to have had the courage to face up to what I really needed to do recently. This is personal enough that it shall be kept off the books (or the web, for that matter), but basically what happened is that I mustered up the courage to get a certain act done, and can now move on ahead with life whatever the outcome may be, instead of having it constantly on the back of my mind, where it was taking precious mental faculty.
Through the year, there are a couple of things I wish to accomplish as well. I'm not the most open of people, especially when it comes to taking initiative in opening up and starting social interactions. 2017 is the year where I seek to really make strides in this area, being able to initialize social interactions at ease and be open, sincere, authentic and deep in my relationships with just about anyone which I come into contact with. Of course, that is the end goal, and I always believe in doing things in a progressive manner, and not 一步登天, as we like to say in Chinese. Literally translated, it means to ascend to heaven in one step. These goals are never realistic and only serve to beat up your own self worth when you realize it's impossible.
It's also that stage in life where everyone of my age seems to be proposing and marrying, some even having their firstborn already and whatnot. All while I'm just sitting here in my Fortress of Solitude, reading, philosophizing and mellowing into what I hope will be a fine wine. Ultimately, as I take on all these efforts to read, to get fitter and to improve in the three aspects daily (mentally, physically and spiritually) so that I am more able self-validate, a certain part of me wonders if I self-validate because that's exactly what society likes; the strong, independent, self-validating type? Therefore, isn't this an exercise entirely contradictory of itself? While these are questions that I contemplate with, I can feel the positive difference that my efforts in the three areas have brought to my life, and will therefore keep carrying on regardless of the answer to that question.
That will be all for today, thank you for reading.
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