- The more tired you are at the time of sleeping, the more number of dreams you have that night. This might be because of the fact that you tend to be in a deep sleep for more hours when you are tired. Normally you don't remember the dreams (or all the dreams) when you wake up in the morning; Does tiredness change that part and make you recollect more dreams? Do you always see a fixed number of dreams at night?
- The tiredness is also proportional to the weirdness/irrelevance/randomness of the dream. e.g. Recently I was very tired after playing of cricket/volleyball and I had a series of dreams where I found random people (known/unknown) together. Some of them have never met in real life and some were not even remembered in recent past by my conscious/sub-conscious mind!
- Dreams are colourful. There has been a myth that dreams are black and white but I am very confident about dreams being colourful and I do remember seeing different colours. (Will try to remember exact colours and context [Now that's a real exercise])
- It is possible to have dreams inside dreams. Sounds like 'Inception' but it's true and I have experienced a similar thing. (Not in recent past though)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Dreams
Dreams have always been an intriguing subject to me and I try to remember them, analyse them and find a pattern in them for personal amusement. Based on a few recent experiences, I would like to list down a few observations on my dreams:
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Freerice.com
Freerice.com is a site I have been a fan of for some time now. The site used to have multiple choice questions for english vocab and for every correct answer it used to donate 10 rice grains to underprivileged ones. This interesting combo of vocab building plus doing it for a cause has just been upgraded to include a few more subjects like English grammar, Basic math, Famous paintings and a few other languages like spanish, french, etc. Features like creating a group, connecting to your facebook and twitter friends, maintaining your personal and group statistics have been the part of the new site.
Being a fan of this site, I have created a group called 'thepanchatgroup' and I would like to have more people in the group. All you have to do is sign up for an account and then go to Groups -> Find Groups and then find the group by name 'thepanchatgroup'.
The questions have a GRE like pattern, i.e. it keeps on increasing the difficulty level till you keep on giving correct answers and vice versa. It starts with level 1 which is very easy and it can be changed through a link just below all the answer options. I normally start with level 20 but haven't reached beyond level 40 (may be soon!)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
It's been long since I wrote something down here. While I had frequent bursts of willingness of posting a few things but then being an active procrastinator my holding back feelings overpowered everything. And now I want to foray into the topics I have never heared of, never thought of or never given enough importance! Suggetions for good reads?
Ending the post with a dialog i just heared on TV,
Fear is unreal!
Ending the post with a dialog i just heared on TV,
Fear is unreal!
Friday, March 27, 2009
A Dream
I saw a weird sci-fi dream a few days back!
I was told to meet somebody whom I had never heard of or never met. I just had the name written on a piece of paper and I knew that I had to go to the 2nd floor of the building. Perhaps I was on some upper floor of the same building. I went for the lift and got inside that. There was one more fellow in the same lift who got down at some floor. And after that the lift started shrinking, it was so fast that I thought I will get crushed in a few seconds but I heard a sound of a bell (“ting”) and the lift stopped. I thought my head would get stuck at the door because it was so small opening but I managed to get out somehow!! The building was looking totally different and I immediately went to the office adjacent to the lift and showed one person the piece of paper and ask for the person whom I wanted to meet. He was speaking in a totally different language, he yelled 2-3 sentences at me after looking at the paper I gave to him. I did not understand a word of it, it was all Greek n Latin. I came out of that office and wanted to call somebody, I took my cell phone out and saw that there were no signals!! I thought I would go to some telephone booth and call to the person who said me to come here. I came out of the building and saw that the roads and the building outside were totally different than what I used to see. The roads were very modern and fantastically maintained and the buildings were very high and shining. I thought I was in a different city altogether. I located one telephone booth at some distance. There was a person, middle aged having small beard on his wrinkled face and wearing a brown coat sitting there. I went there and asked the person whether I can call from there or not. He replied me in English and suddenly I realized that probably this guy can help me to go back to the place I came from. He asked me whether I was from India!! I asked which place is this and he replied, with a calm and serenity on his face, “this is also the same India, but you are in a parallel world!”. Before I try to comprehend what was said, he continued “there are many instances of world and all are going forward in the time domain. They are called parallel worlds. The one you belong to is not as advanced as the one you are currently in. The people in this world are more intellectual and more advanced, and you will also find some people who are doing totally different jobs here. But they are not the same as the ones u saw in ur world, they might don’t even know that their another instances exist at some other world!!” And suddenly I saw one of my colleagues driving a taxi which got past me. I started believing in the multiple instance theory of the old man. He showed me the railway train which was having small house like bogies, I saw that multiple houses, all in different shapes and height, were connected to each other and an engine to form a comfortable train. He said that perhaps I found a way to commute from one instance of the world to another instance, and there were a few people including him who knew this fact but others would not believe such absurd. He also said to me that there is one telephone operator which works between these two worlds!! (I don’t remember the name)
I do not remember how I came back or perhaps the dream got over at this point but it really was an interesting dream!
I was told to meet somebody whom I had never heard of or never met. I just had the name written on a piece of paper and I knew that I had to go to the 2nd floor of the building. Perhaps I was on some upper floor of the same building. I went for the lift and got inside that. There was one more fellow in the same lift who got down at some floor. And after that the lift started shrinking, it was so fast that I thought I will get crushed in a few seconds but I heard a sound of a bell (“ting”) and the lift stopped. I thought my head would get stuck at the door because it was so small opening but I managed to get out somehow!! The building was looking totally different and I immediately went to the office adjacent to the lift and showed one person the piece of paper and ask for the person whom I wanted to meet. He was speaking in a totally different language, he yelled 2-3 sentences at me after looking at the paper I gave to him. I did not understand a word of it, it was all Greek n Latin. I came out of that office and wanted to call somebody, I took my cell phone out and saw that there were no signals!! I thought I would go to some telephone booth and call to the person who said me to come here. I came out of the building and saw that the roads and the building outside were totally different than what I used to see. The roads were very modern and fantastically maintained and the buildings were very high and shining. I thought I was in a different city altogether. I located one telephone booth at some distance. There was a person, middle aged having small beard on his wrinkled face and wearing a brown coat sitting there. I went there and asked the person whether I can call from there or not. He replied me in English and suddenly I realized that probably this guy can help me to go back to the place I came from. He asked me whether I was from India!! I asked which place is this and he replied, with a calm and serenity on his face, “this is also the same India, but you are in a parallel world!”. Before I try to comprehend what was said, he continued “there are many instances of world and all are going forward in the time domain. They are called parallel worlds. The one you belong to is not as advanced as the one you are currently in. The people in this world are more intellectual and more advanced, and you will also find some people who are doing totally different jobs here. But they are not the same as the ones u saw in ur world, they might don’t even know that their another instances exist at some other world!!” And suddenly I saw one of my colleagues driving a taxi which got past me. I started believing in the multiple instance theory of the old man. He showed me the railway train which was having small house like bogies, I saw that multiple houses, all in different shapes and height, were connected to each other and an engine to form a comfortable train. He said that perhaps I found a way to commute from one instance of the world to another instance, and there were a few people including him who knew this fact but others would not believe such absurd. He also said to me that there is one telephone operator which works between these two worlds!! (I don’t remember the name)
I do not remember how I came back or perhaps the dream got over at this point but it really was an interesting dream!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Levels of awareness
Scott Adams rightly described a few levels of awareness:
"All humans experience the first level of awareness at birth. That is when you first become aware that you exist." - quite obviously every living human being possesses this level at birth and some manage to stay at the same level forever!!
"In the second level of awareness you understand that other people exist. You believe most of what you are told by authority figures. You accept the belief system in which you are raised." - Most of the people in schools and colleges are at this level and many religious followers, most of the common men holds this level.
"At the third level of awareness you recognize that humans are often wrong about the things they believe. You feel that you might be wrong about some of your own beliefs but you don’t know which ones. Despite your doubts, you still find comfort in your beliefs." - A good amount of educated/literate people reach to this level and become quite happy and proud of themselves!
"The fourth level is skepticism. You believe the scientific method is the best measure of what is true and you believe you have a good working grasp of truth, thanks to science, your logic, and your senses. You are arrogant when it comes to dealing with people in levels two and three." - Many highly educated/arrogant people, scientists, philosophers lies at this level and i personally feel that I belong to the same!! :)
"The fifth level of awareness is the Avatar. The Avatar understands that the mind is an illusion generator, not a window to reality. The Avatar recognizes science as a belief system, albeit a useful one. An Avatar is aware of God’s power as expressed in probability and the inevitable combination of God consciousness." - Not sure about this one, perhaps i need some more consciousness to understand this!!
Which level do u belong to?
"All humans experience the first level of awareness at birth. That is when you first become aware that you exist." - quite obviously every living human being possesses this level at birth and some manage to stay at the same level forever!!
"In the second level of awareness you understand that other people exist. You believe most of what you are told by authority figures. You accept the belief system in which you are raised." - Most of the people in schools and colleges are at this level and many religious followers, most of the common men holds this level.
"At the third level of awareness you recognize that humans are often wrong about the things they believe. You feel that you might be wrong about some of your own beliefs but you don’t know which ones. Despite your doubts, you still find comfort in your beliefs." - A good amount of educated/literate people reach to this level and become quite happy and proud of themselves!
"The fourth level is skepticism. You believe the scientific method is the best measure of what is true and you believe you have a good working grasp of truth, thanks to science, your logic, and your senses. You are arrogant when it comes to dealing with people in levels two and three." - Many highly educated/arrogant people, scientists, philosophers lies at this level and i personally feel that I belong to the same!! :)
"The fifth level of awareness is the Avatar. The Avatar understands that the mind is an illusion generator, not a window to reality. The Avatar recognizes science as a belief system, albeit a useful one. An Avatar is aware of God’s power as expressed in probability and the inevitable combination of God consciousness." - Not sure about this one, perhaps i need some more consciousness to understand this!!
Which level do u belong to?
Change is evident
One excerpt from "The world is flat" -
I grew up in New London, Connecticut, which in the 19th century was a major whaling center. In the 1960's and 70's the whales were long gone and the major employers in the region were connected with the military - not a surprise during the Vietnam era. My classmates' parents worked at Electric Boat, the Navy and the Coast Guard. The peace dividend changed the region once again, and now it is best known for the great gambling casinos of Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods and for the pharmaceutical researchers of Pfizer. Jobs went; jobs were created. Skills went out of use; new skills were required. The region changed; people changed. New London, of course, was not unique. How many mill towns saw their mills close; how many shoe towns saw the shoe industry move elsewhere; how many towns that were once textile powerhouses now buy all their linens from China? Change is hard. Change is hardest on those caught by surprise. Change is hardest on those who have difficulty changing too. But change is natural; change is not new; change is important.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Comfort Zone
A comfort zone is defined as the limited set of behaviors and environments that a person can engage in without becoming anxious. A comfort zone is a mental state or environment which creates boundaries inside which one can feel sense of security. Like inertia, a person who has established a comfort zone in a particular axis of his/her life, will tend to stay within that zone without stepping outside of it. The boundaries of a comfort zone may result in an internally rigid state of mind. A comfort zone may alternatively be described with such terms as rigidity, limits or boundaries, or habit, or even as stigmatized behavior.
An example could be a recognized need to leave an unsatisfactory job but the fear of doing so as it would result in losing the sense of security the individual derives from the job. The people, the workplace, the work itself and many other trivial things which you daily encounter in your routine life affects heavily to create a comfort zone.
Most of us love the familiar. Whether we realize it or not, we put a lot of work into ensuring that certain things in our lives remain constant.This personal “comfort zone” is the invisible, but very real area that defines the boundaries of what we know and understand. By staying within this comfort zone we reassure ourselves that we are safe. And as long as we are safely held within the walls of what we know we feel secure and confident.
A person's personality can be described by his or her comfort zones. Much of our adult life is devoted to the development of reliable routines and habits which will operate smoothly and predictably to produce the outcomes we seek. We seek to figure out the system. We become expert. We dwell in the comfort zone. We know what we are doing. We know we will do it well. The rules are clear. The expectations can remain unspoken. We can rely upon what has worked in the past. The secrets of success are public knowledge. We need no high priestess or medicine men. We need no magic or sacrifice. We can ignore omens and signs. The future has been decided. We have its picture in hand.
Unfortunately, life in the comfort zone is addictive for many. Once we have tasted the security and predictability of life in the comfort zone, our desire for comfort often seems to grow and we require ever larger doses to maintain equilibrium. We begin to confuse the comfort zone and the feelings it generates with normality - the "way it's spozed to be." Comfort is normal, we feel. Discomfort is abnormal. Risk is an enemy because it threatens disruption.
Individuals who push themselves out of their comfort zones, often report greater fulfillment and success in life. Instead of withdrawing to the safety of what is familiar when they don't get immediate results, they force themselves to move forward, through awkwardness, discomfort and anxiety until such feelings subside. And when that happens, a new experience is achieved. If you mull over the happiest or unforgettable moments of your life, chances are high that it would be the moments when you stepped out of your comfort zone.
One author explains that there are barriers that keep us from making important life changes that could lead us to success. Here are his six:
BARRIER 1: The best I could do.
EXAMPLE: You tell yourself, "I never wanted to be in sales. I wanted to be a pilot, but this was the best I could do".
BARRIER 2: The "talks a lot" barrier.
EXAMPLE: Millions of wannabe writers talk endlessly about the great book they're going to write. The problem is they do more talking than writing! Soon they've talked their book away and no longer have the desire to put it on paper.
BARRIER 3: Psychology of entitlement.
EXAMPLE: You believe, "I deserve it. They owe it to me. I'm entitled to it." Because you feel so entitled, it's likely that you're not putting in the work necessary to achieve whatever it is you want.
BARRIER 4: Afraid to fail.
EXAMPLE: You've hated your management job for years and long to own your own business, but you've never tried because you're afraid you won't be successful.
BARRIER 5: "Can't decide" barrier.
EXAMPLE: You work at a job below your potential because you just can't decide what great career to go after - and you don't want to pick the wrong one and miss a fantastic opportunity.
BARRIER 6: Procrastination (a.k.a. Living in Somedayland)
EXAMPLE: You swear you're going to make a major career change someday, but first you've got to get all your credit cards paid off. Or lose 30 pounds. Or get your kids through school. There's always a "but first" or "if" or "Someday, I'll ..." in your statements about your goals.
An example could be a recognized need to leave an unsatisfactory job but the fear of doing so as it would result in losing the sense of security the individual derives from the job. The people, the workplace, the work itself and many other trivial things which you daily encounter in your routine life affects heavily to create a comfort zone.
Most of us love the familiar. Whether we realize it or not, we put a lot of work into ensuring that certain things in our lives remain constant.This personal “comfort zone” is the invisible, but very real area that defines the boundaries of what we know and understand. By staying within this comfort zone we reassure ourselves that we are safe. And as long as we are safely held within the walls of what we know we feel secure and confident.
A person's personality can be described by his or her comfort zones. Much of our adult life is devoted to the development of reliable routines and habits which will operate smoothly and predictably to produce the outcomes we seek. We seek to figure out the system. We become expert. We dwell in the comfort zone. We know what we are doing. We know we will do it well. The rules are clear. The expectations can remain unspoken. We can rely upon what has worked in the past. The secrets of success are public knowledge. We need no high priestess or medicine men. We need no magic or sacrifice. We can ignore omens and signs. The future has been decided. We have its picture in hand.
Unfortunately, life in the comfort zone is addictive for many. Once we have tasted the security and predictability of life in the comfort zone, our desire for comfort often seems to grow and we require ever larger doses to maintain equilibrium. We begin to confuse the comfort zone and the feelings it generates with normality - the "way it's spozed to be." Comfort is normal, we feel. Discomfort is abnormal. Risk is an enemy because it threatens disruption.
Individuals who push themselves out of their comfort zones, often report greater fulfillment and success in life. Instead of withdrawing to the safety of what is familiar when they don't get immediate results, they force themselves to move forward, through awkwardness, discomfort and anxiety until such feelings subside. And when that happens, a new experience is achieved. If you mull over the happiest or unforgettable moments of your life, chances are high that it would be the moments when you stepped out of your comfort zone.
One author explains that there are barriers that keep us from making important life changes that could lead us to success. Here are his six:
BARRIER 1: The best I could do.
EXAMPLE: You tell yourself, "I never wanted to be in sales. I wanted to be a pilot, but this was the best I could do".
BARRIER 2: The "talks a lot" barrier.
EXAMPLE: Millions of wannabe writers talk endlessly about the great book they're going to write. The problem is they do more talking than writing! Soon they've talked their book away and no longer have the desire to put it on paper.
BARRIER 3: Psychology of entitlement.
EXAMPLE: You believe, "I deserve it. They owe it to me. I'm entitled to it." Because you feel so entitled, it's likely that you're not putting in the work necessary to achieve whatever it is you want.
BARRIER 4: Afraid to fail.
EXAMPLE: You've hated your management job for years and long to own your own business, but you've never tried because you're afraid you won't be successful.
BARRIER 5: "Can't decide" barrier.
EXAMPLE: You work at a job below your potential because you just can't decide what great career to go after - and you don't want to pick the wrong one and miss a fantastic opportunity.
BARRIER 6: Procrastination (a.k.a. Living in Somedayland)
EXAMPLE: You swear you're going to make a major career change someday, but first you've got to get all your credit cards paid off. Or lose 30 pounds. Or get your kids through school. There's always a "but first" or "if" or "Someday, I'll ..." in your statements about your goals.
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