Author: Jinavie

Posted in History & Literature

Namaste

Posted on by Jinavie

Yoga has become a popular fitness trend in the developed world. People enjoy yoga as they feel it combines regular exercise, flexibility and meditation all in one session. One popular tradition that is seen in modern yoga is how instructors (yogi) will say “Namaste” at the start and end of a session.

What does namaste mean? Some people think it means “goodbye” in Hindi, while some people ascribe deeper meaning to the word such as “love and peace to all” or “the divine in me bows to the divine in you”. All in all, it has become somewhat of a catchphrase in the yoga world.

In reality, namaste is simply a greeting. It can be used either when you meet someone or say goodbye, but the important point is that it is a very formal greeting. It is more often used in formal settings such as important meetings. The word comes from the Sanskrit roots namas, meaning “bow” or “to pay homage to”, and te, essentially meaning “to you”. Therefore, a literal translation of namaste would be “I pay homage to you”.

Interestingly, namaste has never been an important part of traditional yoga. Yoga in India generally come from religious traditions. Since Hinduism is a polytheistic religion involving many gods, each yoga lineage would have a specific greeting praising their respective gods. This is in contrast to namaste, which puts more importance on the individual person than the god. So ironically, namaste somewhat contradicts the traditional philosophy of yoga.

Unfortunately, the worst part is that most people do not even pronounce the word correctly, saying “NA-ma-stay” instead of the correct “nuh-MAS-the” (“t” is pronounced as “th” in Hindi) with the emphasis on the middle syllable.

It is unclear when the trend of saying namaste in modern yoga came from, but it is certainly a product of the Western appropriation of the practice. Perhaps it was introduced to add a more spiritual, faux-profound flavour to exercising.

Nevertheless, to quote Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride:

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Posted in Science & Nature

Kessler Syndrome

Posted on by Jinavie

When we imagine catastrophes, we think of disasters involving mass destruction such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and nuclear war. But there are so many creative ways the future of humanity can go awry. For example, there exists a possibility of humanity losing the ability to launch anything into space for the foreseeable future.

This interesting hypothetical scenario was described by astrophysicist Donald J. Kessler in 1987. Earth is currently surrounded by many layers of orbiting satellites. Unfortunately, satellites eventually break down and its components can end up as space debris. Since there is nothing in the vacuum of space that will degrade them, space debris stay in an endless orbit around the Earth unless they fly low enough that they get caught by air resistance and burn up in the atmosphere.

Kessler proposed the following problem: what happens when debris collide and set off a chain reaction? Although we think of orbital objects as slow moving or even geostationary, orbital objects are travelling at extreme speeds – at least 8km/s (or 28,800km/hr). When two objects collide at such incredible speeds, there is a huge amount of energy released in the form of shrapnel.

If the orbit is dense enough with debris, it is theoretically possible that these shrapnel will hit another piece of debris and set off another reaction. If the chain reaction can sustain itself long enough, soon the entire orbit will be littered with high-speed shrapnel, obliterating any object trying to cross the orbital layer.

The implication of the Kessler syndrome is that it would essentially make it impossible for us to launch any new satellites or rockets into space. This would stop us from exploring the depths of space and dash any hopes of interstellar travel and space colonisation. Scientists are already working on policies to reduce further space debris and experiments on how to clear up debris. But without awareness of the issue, no change would happen.

With climate change becoming an increasingly pressing issue, it is ironic that our littering of space could potentially ruin our chances of escaping and finding a new home if the need should arise.

Posted in Life & Happiness

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Posted on by Jinavie

Life is a series of choices. As you only live once, you must decide what type of life you will lead. However, we are plagued by the uncertainty of the future. How will we know that we made the right choice? The career you decided on as you entered university could become obsolete in 20 years due to technological advances. You might end up regretting uprooting your life to move to a new city.

Perhaps the most difficult choice is the question of whether we are in love with the “right person”. Even if your partner is a perfectly nice, kind person, you may feel that something is missing. Some people call it chemistry, others call it connection, some even believe in fate and destiny. We are wired to try predict the future to protect ourselves. Therefore, it is natural to be concerned that we may end up with the “wrong person”: love’s equivalent of buyer’s remorse.

Ideally, we want to be with someone who we can’t imagine not being with. Someone who you can enjoy the silence of a Sunday afternoon with comfortably. Someone who you can be silly with like children. Someone who you can open up to for support and understanding without fear of being judged. Essentially, someone who completes the equation of 1 + 1 = 3, rather than the typical 1 + 1 = 2.

If you find someone like that, all you have to do is focus all of your energy in making that relationship work, through communication, compromise, kindness and love. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find ourselves feeling that the person is 70% the person for us – maybe even 80% – but we are not sure if we are sacrificing the possibility of being with “the one”.

There are two possible solutions. If you have hope that this is the right person for you, you could give them a chance by giving it your best shot and see if things improve or not. Perhaps there are barriers easily solved through communication.

But if the seed of doubt in your heart grows, saying that this is not the right person for you, consider what you would do if you were unhappy with other aspects of your life. If you hated your job, you would train in a different discipline. If you hate the new city you moved to, you can always move to a different one.

Love is a choice. Whether you choose to stay and try to make it work, or choose to leave in search of a person who you feel a deeper connection with, it is up to you to make a choice.

Life is difficult, but at least we have the luxury of choice. Fear gives us tunnel vision – we can only envision one possible way our life will play out. By settling with the comfortable choice, you may be extinguishing the possibilities of a happier life.

It takes great courage to make a choice. But regardless of the outcome, at least you gave it an honest go; you took charge of your life and tried to live a happier life with less regrets.

Take a step back to examine your life – are you truly content with it? Or is fear blinding you from the leaps of faith that can make you happier?

Posted in Life & Happiness

Dull Knife

Posted on by Jinavie

Which is more dangerous in the kitchen: a sharpened knife or a dull knife? Common sense would dictate that the sharpened knife is obviously more dangerous as it can cut you more easily. But as every chef will tell you, a dull knife is much more dangerous.

This is because a sharp knife will cut through your ingredients with ease and as long as you handle it with care and pay attention, the risk of cutting yourself is very low.
A dull knife on the other hand, will often slip and slide over the ingredient because it can’t cut straight through. This makes it more likely that it will slip off the food and slice your fingers instead.

Think of your relationships as a knife. Like with anything, we become used to and comfortable with our partners and friends over time. We sometimes unintentionally become lazy and careless around them, forgetting basic etiquette and the effort we put in at the start to cultivate that relationship. Much like a dull knife, we can easily make a mistake and deeply hurt the other person in this state. It might be because you accidentally said something hurtful or lost interest in their passions. In general, it is easier to become less attentive and thoughtful of the other person because you have been “dulled”.

No master chef would keep their knives unsharpened, for how could they prepare a delicious meal if they did not care? We expect our relationships to be immortal in the face of time thanks to the power of love, but the heart and soul will wear out like anything else without proper care and maintenance.

So how do we know how often to “sharpen” our relationships? It’s simple: stay mindful that your relationship is something that needs constant care.

Be attentive to the other person, be generous with your kindness and never take them for granted. The best way to prevent you from being dulled to something is constantly reminding yourself how grateful you are to have that person in your life. That way, your metaphorical knife will stay sharpened and it will be much harder to hurt your loved ones.

(Image source: Puuung http://www.grafolio.com/puuung1)

Posted in Life & Happiness

Bullet Journal: Migration And Collections

Posted on by Jinavie

(This post is a part of the series “How to Bullet Journal”. Read the rest here: https://jineralknowledge.com/tag/howtobujo/?order=asc)

The final part of starting a bullet journal is knowing how to migrate and how to truly make it your own, unique journal by using Collections.

Migration is the task of reviewing your entries for the past month and then re-grouping for the next month. At the end of the month, look back on your Tasks and see which were not completed. If you feel you do not need to do it any more, cancel them by crossing them out. If you feel it is important enough that you need to do it this month, you can migrate the task over. You can do this by using a notation, such as turning a “.” into a “>”. Migration is simply reassigning the task to the new month so you have another chance to complete it.

The key is to avoid migrating the same task over and over, but to recognise that it is a “second chance” so you prioritise it higher. Along with migrating Tasks, you can look back on the month and see what interesting things happened. It is also a good time to review how you liked your spread and experiment with different page layouts for the next month.

Using knowledge from these three articles, you have the bare framework of a bullet journal. But the beauty of a bullet journal is how customisable it is. Collections are basically everything else you can put into a journal to make it truly your own.

A Collection can be as simple as a list, such as a list of all the books you read or want to read, movies you have enjoyed or recipes that you want to try out. It could be more innovative, such as a log of when you caught up with friends, or a collection of stories from your life or from people that you met while travelling. You could devote a page to practise your handwriting, or make a Brain Dump where you can write down all the random thoughts in your head to try clear your mind.

A common, useful tool is a Tracker, which is a simple record of when you have done something. You could do this on a weekly or monthly basis and all you have to do is make a grid and colour in the squares of the days you have done something. This is a great way to keep track of your habits and things you want to do more often, such as exercise or getting enough sleep.

The bullet journal is a carte blanche – you can do whatever you want with it. So grab a notebook and a pen and try jotting some things down. You will be surprised how powerful such a simple tool can be, and you will notice the impact it has on your life through the power of organisation and creativity.

Examples from my Bullet Journal:

Tracker – Try different colour schemes to easily see how well you are keeping up a certain habit. Note that the Leuchtturm 1917 dotted notebook makes it easy to create a grid.

Collection of books, movies, whiskey – Let your creativity flow and try out different designs to make your lists look more interesting.

Other examples of collections – A collection can be whatever you want. Think of some ideas of things you want to record in your “Life Archive”.

Note: There are a lot of material on the internet on how to make a bullet journal – simple or elaborate – thanks to the amazing community. Check out the original video made by the creator as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm15cmYU0IM

Posted in Life & Happiness

Bullet Journal: Modules

Posted on by Jinavie

(This post is a part of the series “How to Bullet Journal”. Read the rest here: https://jineralknowledge.com/tag/howtobujo/?order=asc)

Now that we know the basic format of the Bullet Journal, it is time to organise it. Think of the bullet journal as a framework, where you can hang different types of modules to better organise your life.

First, use the first few pages of the notebook to set up a Key for your Bullets, then an Index. The index is simply a way to keep track of what content is on which pages. This can be used to keep track of date ranges, or collections.

Next, it is helpful to create a Future Log. This is a barebone view of things to come in the next six months. Make it simple and minimalistic so you can easily refer to it when you are filling in your Monthly Logs later.

The Monthly Log is a place where you can have an overview of the current month. This could be as simple as a list ranging from the first to the last day of the month, or a traditional calendar shape. Put important dates and events on the log so that you can remind yourself in your Weekly or Daily Log. This is a place where you can form a basic plan for the month.

The basic unit of the bullet journal is the Daily Log, but this can be organised in different ways.

Some people choose to use a minimalistic style where they simply write Daily Logs day-after-day until the month is over. This style is useful if you like to keep things very simple and like to quickly jot things down.

A more common form is using a Weekly Log to have set spaces for the Daily Log of each day in a week. This requires slightly more set-up, where you draw up a Spread for the Weekly Log. For example, you could divide the pages into seven large boxes. The benefit of this style is that you can plan up to a week in advance, so you can record your Events ahead of time and remind yourself. It also lets you get more creative as you can fill the empty spaces with other useful modules.

This is the barebone form of the bullet journal. Once you are ready to start, draw up a key, index, Future Log and a Monthly Log for this month. Then, write today’s date and start writing a Daily Log. You will find that it is awkward at the start, but the more you use your journal, the more you will find yourself figuring out exactly what the bullet journal means to you. Is it simply a planner, or a place to release your creative side?

In the last section, we look at Migration and Collections, to see how we sustain bullet journaling as a hobby, while making it unique and creative.

Examples from my Bullet Journal:

Future Log – Minimalistic style, dots represent month. This style allows you to keep adding to the log out of order. Colour coding is a helpful way to organise different kinds of events.

Index – First page is an index of collections, while the next page is an index of what page to turn to for each Monthly Log

Monthly Log – Calendar style, note the Habit Tracker on the side (to be discussed in the next section)

Weekly Log – Simple version, pre-divided sections but Daily Log is still the classic style

Weekly Log – Variation, notice how Tasks and Thoughts have been moved to a separate section, with a small section to remind you of Events in the short-term future.

Posted in Life & Happiness

Bullet Journal: Basics And Bullets

Posted on by Jinavie

(This post is a part of the series “How to Bullet Journal”. Read the rest here: https://jineralknowledge.com/tag/howtobujo/?order=asc)

Life can become so busy that sometimes we lose track of things we need to do and things we have done already. A great way to keep track and organise your life is keeping a journal or planner. However, many people find this habit hard to keep up as it can be time-consuming to write diary entries and keeping a rigid planner can be quite cumbersome and boring.

A digital product designer from New York named Ryder Carroll decided to create a simpler system of journaling to combat these problems. The end-result of his many experiments is the Bullet Journal system.
A bullet journal is a note-taking system that is simple, rapid, highly customisable and forgiving.
The point of the system is that it can be as simple and minimalistic as you want, while forgiving you for making mistakes.
The strength of a bullet journal is that because it is so easy to use, it only takes 5-10 minutes of your day.

Your entries should be short, succinct and to-the-point to reduce the time and effort it takes. Because it is non-restrictive and customisable, you can tailor it to your own style and make it interesting so that you can keep it up as a habit.
It is a powerful tool that lets you plan for the future, organise your present and keep a record of your past. Essentially, it is an analogue archive of your life.

Although certain notebooks such as the Leuchtturm 1917 Dotted notebook is best thanks to its customisability, any notebook that you have lying around can become a bullet journal. In fact, it is a great idea to trial a bullet journal on an empty notebook to see if it fits your personality and to experiment with different styles and spreads to make it work the best for you.

Bullet journals utilise different kinds of bullets to simplify your life. It is useful to use three distinctive bullets: Tasks, Events and Notes.

  • A Task is something you have to do. You could use a “.” to denote a task, then cross it with a “X” when it is done. If you can’t finish the task by the set date, you can mark it as “>” to show that you have migrated it, meaning that you will do it by a new due date. Alternatively, you could draw a square for a task, fill in half of it when it is in progress, then completely fill it in when it is finished.
  • An Event is either a scheduled appointment or something that has occurred that day. You can use an “O” bullet, then tick it when it is finished. For example, if you have a dinner or doctor’s appointment, or if a friend just got engaged, you can mark it as an event.
  • Notes are essentially “everything else”. You can use a “–” to mark these. These can be a reminder to yourself of something that happened that day, a thought you had, or an observation you made. Essentially, anything from that day that you wanted to record in the journal can be written as a note.
  • The bullet journal is extremely customisable. This means that you can come up with your own bullets depending on what you want to record. For example, you may use “!” for a thought that crossed your mind or “?” to record something you learnt or want to look up later.
  • Bullets can be modified with signifiers, such as putting a “*” next to it to mark how important it is.
  • Because everyone has different preferences on what kind of bullets they use, it is helpful to create a Key at the start of your notebook so that it can index the different bullets you use and describe what they denote.

At its most basic form, all you need is the date, followed by a bullet point list. It’s as simple as that. This is the Daily Log.

That’s all you need to know to start bullet journaling. In the next section, we will look at different modules such as the Monthly Log and Future Log to better organise your life

Examples from my Bullet Journal:

Simplified guide to Bullet Journaling

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Key – Note that I use squares as I am used to it from working in the medical field

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Daily/weekly log – Very minimalistic style, this is the best way to start bullet journaling as it is simple and does not require much effort

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Posted in Life & Happiness

Oreo Fudge

Posted on by Jinavie

The following is a recipe to making a simple yet delicious fudge. Because it is a “cold fudge”, it requires little baking skills and can be made even by a rookie in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

  • Icing sugar 4 cups
  • Cream cheese 225g
  • White chocolate 425g
  • Vanilla extract 1.5 teaspoons
  • Oreo cookies (chopped) 14-15 (1 packet)

Instructions:

  1. Beat cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl using a mixer until smooth
  2. Heat white chocolate in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water (double boiler) until melted and smooth
  3. Stir melted white chocolate and ¾ of Oreo cookies into bowl of cream cheese mixture
  4. Spread mixture evenly into a baking dish lined with baking paper
  5. Press the remaining chopped Oreo cookies onto the surface of the fudge to decorate
  6. Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours
  7. Cut into small squares (2-2.5cm size), serve chilled (store in fridge)
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(Recipe and image source: http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2013/12/13/oreo-fudge/)

Posted in History & Literature

Headline

Posted on by Jinavie

With the advent of the internet, the media has become faster and more accessible than ever before. Nowadays, breaking news is reported within minutes and you can browse multiple different news agency at the click of a button. But speed and access has become a double-edged sword, with many articles following a trend of focussing less on the content (or the truth) and more on how sensational the headline is, so that more people will click on it (known as clickbait).

Sensational headlines have always been popular, particularly in tabloid journalism. Headlines such as “Are the government lying about event X?” or “Have scientists found the cure to cancer?” attract people as hypothetical questions allow journalists to report on something without conclusive facts or evidence. Luckily, there is an old journalistic adage that allows us to combat this.

Betteridge’s law of headlines was devised by technology journalist Ian Betteridge, based on an old journalistic principle. It states that: 

“Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no”. 

If you apply this law to the above sensational articles, then you can avoid wasting time reading an article that will add nothing to your knowledge.

Learning is not only about acquiring knowledge, but also knowing what “knowledge” to avoid.

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Posted in History & Literature

Sword Of Damocles

Posted on by Jinavie

Damocles was a courtier to Dionysius II, king of Syracuse, Sicily. One day, he exclaimed how envious he was of the sheer power and authority the king wielded. To Damocles’ surprise, King Dionysius II responded by offering to switch places with him for a day to experience what it is like to be a king. Damocles jumped at this chance and agreed to it immediately.

So Damocles was changed into royal attire and was allowed to sit on an ornate throne. But as he sat on the throne, indulging in the magnificence he was surrounded by, he noticed that Dionysius had arranged for an addition to the throne room. He had arranged for a large sword to be hung above the throne, suspended on a single hair of a horse’s tail. The sword loomed over Damocles’ head, threatening to drop and kill him in an instant at any given moment.

The constant threat of death was too much for Damocles and he quickly begged the king for mercy to leave the throne. He finally understood that with great power, comes great danger around every corner. It was impossible for Damocles to enjoy the luxurious life of a king with a sword above his head.

The allegorical sword may not just be the threat of death. Many of us voluntarily hang a sword above our heads: anxiety for the future, paranoia that something will go wrong and of course, existential dread. How can we possibly be happy with a sword dangling above us? Happiness cannot blossom from a soul drenched in fear.

Look above you: what kind of sword hangs above your head? What is preventing you from being happy?