I have a theory about what meditation practice aims to achieve by urging us to “let go”. I believe consciousness or awareness is the bare minimum state of mind required to function. It’s like the OS kernel (or is the BIOS) that loads when your computer starts, before any other p . . . Read more

One of the best “hacks” for being mindful and present is to set intentions before starting any task. This includes tasks like planning and concentrated thinking. You just “let your brain know” that this is what it needs to be doing now and it can return to other tasks afte . . . Read more

“Be Here Now,” the classic book by Ram Dass, is supposed to encapsulate the project of meditation. The more I struggle with meditation, the more I realize how central this principle is to the practice. My brain is constantly future-looking, sometimes in small ways - I might be . . . Read more

In a podcast episode on waking up, Oliver Burkeman talks about the necessity to say no to certain things in life because you only have a finite amount of time. This becomes clear when you do the calculation involving the time available and the time required to get things done. This is further emp . . . Read more

I was listening to a Radiolab podcast that concluded with a quote by Suzuki Roshi: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” I’ve never given this . . . Read more

There are two ways of approaching any task and life in general: goal oriented process oriented For some reason, very likely a mix of cultural and biological, the default is the first approach. You do things in order to get somewhere, to accomplish something. . . . Read more

A couple of weeks ago, on an evening of drinking and philosophizing, a friend asked me this question and I did not have any answer then. Chris Anderson’s video about giving TED talks kept popping into my mind; I remembered it . . . Read more

Disclaimer: I’m using the term Philosophy in an ill-defined manner. For me, it means something like an analytical tool or a way of thinking, and not a subject studied in universities. I grew up with a deep distaste for Philosophy, thanks to having seen the perils of eastern . . . Read more

One of the most important lessons of Thinking, Fast and Slow is that our brains are unable to analyze real world data objectively. We alter our memories and retroactively modify our experiences to fit a story. T . . . Read more