“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”

Days off are great for dreaming, walking, packing, organising and thinking.  

Catching my breath and remembering me.Long train journey ahead to Devon.  You can’t do much else but daydream/read/listen to music/people-watch.Like Buddhists and Nirvana, the end point is largely illusory.   Thus concluding that the journey should be savored too.  We have no control of the past nor the future, just the present.  I must learn to enjoy now-ness.  innit!

Solidifying my insides and learning to trust myself.  That means no more shifting the blame for decisions made or decisions floated upon.  On the path to discovering my place in a world with options.  And thankfully so.  Time waits not for those who don’t drink tea, sadly.   

When one teaches, two learn.
~Robert Half

I like new york because it is an idea farm.

I like new york because its capitalism can draw out fierce action oriented ambition from a lazy arse (me).

I like london because it’s random. I dislike england because its red tapey.

I like sri lanka because it’s meditative. I dislike Sri Lanka because it’s a mess i’d like to fix but can’t.

I like singapore because I don’t live in it. I like singapore cos it smells like home. home is where the heart is, and no one said anything about the body.

The Best Things Ever:

1. Being able to become invisible at will

2. A money tree growing in your back garden

3. Teleporting

4. One billion dollars

5. Being able to pause time during a conversation to give you time to think of a brilliant comeback.

6. Laughing with an old friend about something that happened a LONG time ago.

7. Being able to control gravity for anything including yourself

8. Quantum Leaping back into your own body at age 8, with all the knowledge you have now.

9. Subtlely refrencing something totally obscure that you love, and having your crush catch the reference

10. Having someone tell you that they like you in front of their friends and actually meaning it

11. Having a secret door and passage in your house

12. Having Superpowers AND Unlimited Wishes granted by your own personal Genie!!

13. When people get what was coming to them

14. Knowing that the one you love feels the same way

15. Having a Undo button you can use in real-life situations.

16. The abillity to change shape

17. Waking up late for work then realizing it’s Saturday and you can stay in bed!

18. Dreaming that the person you love feels the same way and then waking up to see that they’re really there with you

19. Leaving a $20 in your jacket pocket, forgetting about it and then finding it months later when you are broke.

20. Being able to do anything you would ever want in the world

…exams.

Nootropics are smart-pills, and in fact include substances such as caffeine and nicotine.

Taken by dementia patients, these drugs can improve memory and cognition in normal people.

See Oxiracetam, Piracetam and Aniracetam, all created back in the 60s, seeding the nootropic revolution.

Then there’s Selegiline, a parkinson’s drug.

Rolipram, a type 4 phosphodiesterase inhibitor, is a potential candidate for treatment of Alzheimer’s. Caffeine and Theophyllines (bronchial smooth muscle relaxant amongst others, used for treatment of asthma) are non-selective PGE inhibitors.

And lastly, acetyl-l-carnitine which is a fatty acid transporter in the mitochondria to allow for its oxidisation and has a role in improving mental function.

These are interesting drugs to read about, but I wouldn’t pounce on them without researching their short and long term risk profiles.

Just watch this space for a brave new world, where our personality profiles correlate with our drug stack and not our DNA, the latter of which is yet lagging beyond our control. (perhaps a race is is due, between geneticists and pharmacologists)

Seeking personal development is not a sign of disatisfaction with your self, it is a reconciliation with the constant need for progress.

Steve Pavlina has an excellent article about it here, and his website is a treasure chest of manuals to life that I’ve been tabbing and reading ever since I discovered it. Riveting!

Seth godin, Steve Pavlina, Lifehack, you rule my (blog) world.

What happens when you receive a random act of kindness? Inspiration? Pass it on? Absorb the good deed and forget about it forever?

Do you even realise you are receiving kindness at all, amidst the bedazzle of your lowly single minded life?

When I’m uber stressed, I do want to blow people up. It doesn’t take much to get stressed in London, just go out shopping one day and forget to agenda the coffee breaks. That’s when I cut people out and overtake and say “excuuuuse ME” in a strained staccatto, +/- eye rolling. Random acts of kindness NEVER occur to me then. They only occur to me when I’m peaced out, happy with myself, and when the weather is good. And also alot when i’m sitting in front of the computer. Then I go blog, or poke someone, or leave a voluptiously worded comment in FB.

Now what?

Sad to say, one can’t reach nirvana by leaving fb comments or creating warm and fuzzy interest groups. So here are a few pointers for me and for you, to ward off the side effects of pursuing a highly efficient life and to refocus on why we are indeed here on this planet, why here and why now.

How to Pay It Forward

The world can seem like an unfriendly, threatening place, yet we all want safety, health, and happiness for ourselves and our loved ones. How can one ordinary person — you or me — make a positive difference in this world? One way is the practice “paying it forward.” While the steps might be simple, the outcome could change the world.

-Steps-

1. Be attentive wherever you are for opportunities to help someone. Perhaps you have an elderly or disabled neighbor who is too proud to ask for help with their yardwork; or maybe you’re in a restaurant and see someone who looks like they could use some kind stranger to pay for their meal. You can change people’s attitudes about the world through your unobtrusive acts of kindness.

2. Do something nice for someone you don’t know (or don’t know very well). It should be something significant, and not for a person from whom you expect a good deed — or anything at all, for that matter — in return.

3. Spread the word. If the person thanks you and wants to “repay” you (that is, pay it “back”), let them know that what you’d really like is for them to pay it “forward” — you’d like them to do something nice for three people they don’t know, and ask those three people to do something nice for three more people. The idea is to consciously increase the goodness of the world.

4. Pay it forward. When you notice that somebody has done something nice for you, make a note in your mind to practice three acts of kindness towards other people, as described in Step 2.

-Tips-

* The “pay it forward” concept was popularized with the book Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde, which was later made into a movie with the same title, starring Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment, and Kevin Spacey.

* Even small acts, such as paying the bridge toll for the car behind you when you pay for your own, counts. If it makes the world a friendlier place, you succeeded!

* Practicing the “pay it forward” principle will make you alert to unexpected kindness from strangers toward you, and you may find yourself becoming more grateful for everyday kindness and consideration from people you don’t even know.

-Warnings-

* Most nice things done for strangers will be one-time efforts, so use your head and don’t give out your name or phone number; if someone seems to expect you to provide ongoing help but you don’t want to go that far, smile and tell the person that you prefer to remain anonymous.

* It can feel risky to help strangers, but trust your own good intentions and don’t be afraid to go out on a limb if you believe your actions can help the person.

* Some people will not act grateful, but the benefits may still come around when you are not there to see it. Let your beneficial action be enough in itself and don’t expect profuse thanks, or even any thanks at all.

* Do take care of yourself. If you have excess then share with those in need, but don’t give away your last dollar. The stronger you are the more good you can do for others.