Life in Japan
KudanshitaPicture from my balcony. I moved to Japan four days ago and I haven’t had a chance to write any updates until now. Mostly I’ve been getting setup with an apartment and cell phone, talking to a lot of people, and getting used to the subway and food options. I came here with no plans [...]
Read more from the Lifestyle category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Scheduling without Stress
Planning could be called a necessary evil. If you don’t plan at all, your life will fall apart; if you plan too much, you’ll start attaching to life quality maximization. Ideally, one could do all the necessary planning to keep their life on track in such a short amount of time that attachment is kept [...]
Read more from the Efficiency category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Function of Meditation
A couple years ago I started coming across references to meditation in a variety of sources. They all suggested that sitting down and trying to focus on one thing for a while would reduce stress, improve health, and make you a happier person. So I researched meditation a bit more and gave it a try. [...]
Read more from the Psychology category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Eightfold Path
This article is not an explanation of the eightfold path of Buddhism. I have never been satisfied with the eightfold path; it feels like a list of tips rather than a path. This doesn’t seem like the best format to convince students of its effectiveness. This article is my interpretation of the actual path that [...]
Read more from the Psychology category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Need for Meaning
I’ve often heard it said that to be truly happy you need to be a part of something bigger than yourself. In other words, limitless leisure and pleasure don’t necessarily lead to the ideal life. Those who have adopted this belief into their life philosophy try to find something more meaningful to give their life [...]
Read more from the Evolution category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: 2 Comments. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
My Extreme Multivitamin Case Study
My experience with multivitamin supplements dates back to the days when I ran track in high school. Before I started taking supplements, my performance fluctuated wildly–on some days I would have no endurance and on other days I would feel great. At one point my coach recommended that I try a multivitamin supplement. After I [...]
Read more from the Health category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Mobile Lifestyle Project: Can you carry everything you need to live well?
Six months ago I was living in San Diego. I had been working at a tech company doing a programming internship in the research and development department for a project based on augmented reality. Things were going well and I was considering staying for a full-time job. Then I found out the company I was [...]
Read more from the Lifestyle category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Problem with Goals
Conventional wisdom tells us that we should strive to be goal-oriented, and to most of us this sounds like good advice. There are things we want and setting up goals will keep our efforts focused on achieving those things. It’s true that goals will help you focus your efforts and thus aid you in attaining [...]
Read more from the Philosophy category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: 9 Comments. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Paradox of Hedonism
Human motivation is governed by two genetically-programmed features: the pleasure/pain mechanism and the illusion of ego-persistence. The pleasure/pain mechanism is here to be understood in the broad sense of the “pleasantness”, positive or negative, of present experience. The illusion of ego-persistence is the programmed assumption that we have to be concerned about the future experiences [...]
Read more from the Philosophy category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: 7 Comments. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
An Interview with Ayn Rand
The following interview is fictitious, but is based entirely on quotations by Ayn Rand herself (see citations at the end). To the best of my knowledge, none of the quotations are taken grossly out of context. cspice: Your philosophy of Objectivism is based on self-interest. Would you say then, that you are a type of [...]
Read more from the Philosophy category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: 12 Comments. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
