When experienced meditators meditate, a large-scale brain network called the Default Mode Network (DMN) becomes inactive. The DMN is a region located throughout our brain and plays a role in distinguishing between the many electrical signals coming through our five senses to prevent them from overlapping in the brain. The DMN becomes more active when one thinks about 'myself', such as 'my things', 'my future', and 'my past', and becomes less active when one thinks about things other than 'myself'. But the interesting thing is that the DMN is not activated when children are young, so when someone asks them something, they do not know how to say 'I'. And the reason why people who meditate see the world as beautiful is because by eliminating the existence of 'I', all virtual values and symbols disappear, and they see the world as it is. Humans, who couldn’t leave the world as it was, created an imaginary symbol called 'I' that didn’t exist in the world in order to understand this world. It seemed that the world could not be explained without 'I', so we created a virtual symbol called 'I' and were finally able to explain this world. After we created ‘I’, many other values were also created. As ‘I’ was created, ‘good people’ and ‘bad people’ were created, and as ‘I’ had beliefs, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ were created. However, “such a person” or “such a thing” does not exist, but is a virtual value created by us. An example to understand better: If you ask someone who has a bf or gf why they like their bf or gf, what will that person say? Because he’s competent and handsome? Because she’s pretty and kind? If that person answers that way, that person doesn’t like their bf and gf, but rather likes the virtual value he/she has given to that other person. Nevertheless, that person who get married thinking he/she truly love that person, when time passes and that person's face changes over time or the once competent person starts to be not competent, they don’t like their partner as before and they see that their partner no longer fits their virtual values and they says that their husband/wife has changed and became different. But no one has changed, the situation has changed. Situation from bf and gf who goes out on a date watching a movie in the cinema to mom and dad who raise their children. They didn't love their partner from the beginning, they didn't see the essence behind the virtual values. What the two saw was the virtual values, and that value changes when the standard and situation changes. The reason why people who meditate see the world as beautiful is because they see the world as it is, with all virtual values and symbols disappearing as the existence of 'I' is eliminated. Do you know how beautiful the world seen that way is? Don't look at the sky as 'sky', don't look at trees as 'trees', and you will realize that this world was full of beautiful art. We have large museums, large screens, and large paintings and sculptures, but the universe uses the entire sky to paint and the entire earth to create sculptures. Moreover, it is moving media art that changes every time! So how can we see the world without expectations? Just love everything! True love is love without ‘me’. If I love everything in this universe, this universe becomes me and I become this universe. At that moment, meditators say “I’m enlightened”. It is not difficult to see the world as it is, because we had already seen it that way. As we were young children, when we couldn’t even say “I,” we saw the world as it was without any standards, without any judgment, and that world was really exciting! Jaden
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When I think about responsibility, many things come to my mind and precisely for this reason, we must think carefully and slowly about this subject. Responsibility is not just about completing some task of yours, studying for a test for example, etc., responsibility generates around 100% of our lives from an age onwards. I say from an age because when we are children we don't need to worry about many things, until our body develops, we grow and then responsibilities arise in our lives, be they school, family, work, personal matters, or anything else in our lives. There are so many examples that there is no way for us to stop and think “what do we need to be responsible for?”. And this arises in us when we realize that we have things to do, accomplish, or we see that time is short and that we need to be quick about something, make the right decision. Decision, one of the key words for “responsibility in our lives”. When my parents and I decided to give me the opportunity to go on this exchange, overall, it was so that I could develop in everything. Becoming a more organized person, a person who knows how to deal with their RESPONSIBILITIES alone, who knows the things they should do, etc. And since I arrived here in Canada, I can say that everything we thought about, I've already been through here. Since I arrived, having my commitments, having to do what I had to do, managing alone in a country far from mine, without the help of my real parents. These were challenges that I had difficulties with at first, like any other, but as time went by, everything worked out, and here I am, practically 40 days away from returning to Brazil. And I can say that everything I went through and that occurred to me here were challenges and that I managed to overcome them all. Now, why am I saying all this about my exchange etc? Because all of this revolves around responsibility, all the things I did here, that I accomplished, that I went through, my decisions, choices, they were all my responsibility, that during these 4 months and almost 5, I had responsibility for everything I had to do. to do. And in the end, I can tell my parents and everyone that I developed a lot of myself, due to the responsibility I had in managing EVERYTHING here on my own. Having gone through all these challenges, and having responsibility, developing my responsibility, I see it as a characteristic that every leader must have in their life, being a person who makes decisions, whether they are right or wrong, but who in any case will always keep standing because he knows that God has challenges for him every day, and that if he wants to achieve his goals, he will have to fight against these challenges every day. This is not just for a leader, but for the whole world, for all people who are on a mission to achieve something, who are going through difficult times, or even in their normal daily lives. That's why I say that responsibility is something that human beings develop over time, that when they are born, they don't need to worry about anything, and that as the years go by, they grow up and have their first responsibilities/challenges in life, which Over time, you get more and more, and thus get better and better, making better decisions and being more RESPONSIBLE in your life. Never be afraid to take risks, to try different things, new things, these are typical things that everyone should try, in order to discover new gaps in our lives, because always living the same thing, the basics, gets boring, and that brings a certain feeling of tiredness and that our body no longer wants to do that. Investing in new things and looking for different paths are among our responsibilities, this facilitates some of our challenges, for example, it is our responsibility to think of some way out, solution, etc. Responsibility revolves around our lives, and as time passes, we become more responsible, depending on what we chose before. That's why we should never give up in difficult times, bad moments, there will always be a light in the dark and this will always make us a better and new person, increasingly taking responsibility for everything in our lives!
Kauã Sites that can help: •https://greggvanourek.com/full-responsibility/#:~:text=It%20means%20taking%20full%20responsibility,the%20achievement%20of%20our%20goals. •https://declutterthemind.com/blog/take-responsibility/ •https://www.masterclass.com/articles/taking-responsibility-for-your-actions We’ve all found ourselves in a doom scroll. Whether it be on Instagram, TikTok, or whatever other social media outlet that benefits from the consumer’s time on the app. As a result, they push short videos with lots of stimulation to keep you engaged, and before you know it, you’ve found yourself behind the screen for much longer than you intended. I have often found myself being enraptured in this escape of a world. Where the real-world lies, I have many responsibilities; school, work, soccer, Mandarin classes, etc. It is a constant battle of what homework or what task I must complete next. The stress builds and builds, and throughout the day, I want nothing more than an escape from reality. A world where no homework needs to be done, a world where no task needs to be completed. As I know, this escape of a world is accessible to me in the palm of my hand. Who am I? But a mere mortal, I crumple like a crouton in a bowl of Caesar salad. The urge to open the app for just one second, maybe to check what Ryan’s daily NNN post is: “I wonder if he’s posted something strange about his balls today”. After I check Ryan’s post, I check to see what my other close friends are doing, and with the brittleness of a crouton I crumble, and I find myself on the explore page. I start with just a couple of short videos, but then I’m hooked, and just like croutons, you can’t have just one, you need a lot to make your salad a delectable treat. (Except this isn’t like a salad, because a salad leaves you feeling fulfilled, doom scrolling leaves you feeling empty) have guessed) then I need not worry about the possibility for me to pick up the phone.I check the time after ten minutes: “I have time to do homework, just a couple more minutes”. I look up after twenty-two minutes, “Ehh, I can keep on going until thirty, plus I need a little brain break”. Before I know it, it’s been three hours, and I’ve done absolutely nothing that I consider productive. The phone is a short-term relief, but the instant gratification takes the reigns on my conscious. It’s a battle between me, myself, and I, and if there’s one thing I know about myself, it’s that I can’t win against myself. It’s like boxing a mirror, there is no good outcome. To get rid of this crumpling crouton syndrome. I’ve found that the best solution is to completely get rid of the “other me”, I must defeat the “other me” and to do this I read a quote from “The Art of War by Sun Tzu” which states “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” This implies that if I know my enemy (me) and know myself (me, again) and recognize their weakness (me, again, bet you couldn’t My own weakness is my height, and as a result, I have devised a master plan. I use a step ladder to put my phone on the top cabinet above my fridge, sitting next to this random duck where it is out of reach. I keep it there until I have done a significant amount of work that I feel content about, and then I allow myself to grab the “stairway to heaven”, and employ it to reach my escape world.
Though this may seem extreme, the consequences of doom scrolling can be fan-fucking-not-tastic, especially in my world of Asian grades, university applications, and overall overachiever-like syndrome in everything. I know many people like myself suffer from crouton syndrome, and if you’re having problems mediating your enemy (yourself) I highly suggest this method. I found it extremely effective, and I hope you will too. Here are a couple of links in case you wish to dive deeper into the psychology of crouton syndrome, or if you’d like to take a less extreme approach.
Lianne L-Z Perfection is the state or quality of being free or as possible. We always have a desire to be the best out of the best, but can we be the best? I am a person who strives for perfection in everything, from folding T-shirts to driving in the middle of the road. I need to be perfect at all times. I think it all originated from the environment I was growing up in. In South Asian culture, to be respectful to someone older than you, we don’t use names when calling them. In a way, we learn that acknowledging them without their name is the first sign of respectfulness. As I am the oldest sibling and cousin, they all call me 'didi’ which means older sister. Ever since childhood, everyone younger than me called me that out of respect. However, with this name came a lot of responsibility. We are indirectly the role models for the younger ones. The expectations of a well-paid job, making no mistakes, being academically independent and more. I did not realize until now that those listed expectations are spot-on examples of perfection. Since childhood, being put as a person to look up to made me get this image in my head where the main underlining is perfection. That kept me reflecting on everything I do in life. Just how I dress, talk, behave, the list can go on. Having this perception of myself prevented me from looking at myself any differently. The compliments and accomplishments I kept getting were digging the perfections more deeply in me. I have only come to realize the true meaning of perfection now. It started to take a toll on my mental and physical health. I was doing many extracurricular activities in a day from that role model imagery. I lost weight drastically from the sports and not letting my body reset. The stress was adding to it all. At one point, I couldn't let go of things that weren't done perfectly by me, I felt like a failure. Now I allow myself to make mistakes, I think of them more positively rather than the other way around All this being said, think of it like this. We are humans, but not always perfect ones. I started to think of it as a flower which has not bloomed yet. Though it does not look perfect like the others, we still put it in a vase on the dining table. This perspective leads me to strive for continuous improvement rather than unattainable perfection.
In the end, it is all about acknowledging our imperfections, celebrating our progress, and always being open to learning and growing! Janvi J Have you ever thought about moving to a completely foreign country, to an unknown family and a new environment for six months or a year? And that completely alone? Maybe some of you thought yes, but others also thought no. In any case, I have always dreamed of doing a year abroad. Even when I was a little child, I knew that I wanted to go to America someday. But planning a year abroad is not as easy as I thought. The whole time I just kept telling everyone that I was going to leave at some point, but I never really thought about it or made any plans. When I was in the 9th grade, a friend of mine was in Canada, near Toronto, and my mother asked me whether I wanted to do a year abroad or not. Of course I wanted to. But then she asked me so many questions and I just said that I still had enough time. Well, time passed and passed and at some point it was January again and my girlfriend was back from Canada. She told me everything and I thought it was so beautiful that I just wanted to go there even more. In the meantime, my mother had asked around where there were a few trade fairs where you could look at organizations. At that point I really wanted to go to Florida or California. In April 2022 we went to our first trade fair and looked at many organizations. We took magazines with us but I didn't look at them again until the summer holidays. When we were on vacation and had enough time, my parents and I looked at which country would be suitable and which would not. We quickly realized that the USA was far too expensive. In the meantime I wanted to go to Canada anyway and preferably towards Vancouver. We then used the same organization as my friend because everything worked out well for her. Once we had personally spoken to the members of Southern Cross and exchanged numbers, we had to wait a bit. At some point I had to facetime with one of them so that he could show me the different options around Vancouver. I quickly decided on Delta because it's not directly in Vancouver, but you can still get to the city center quickly. Since I had now decided on a district, it was now the turn of the school. I could choose the first, second and third choice. My first choice was SDSS. I then had to send my last 3 certificates to the school. After a few weeks, I finally got the news that I had been accepted. Now it was time for the letter of motivation, which both my organization and the school could read. This writing is so that my host family can get to know me a little. I then also had to fill out a questionnaire about whether I wanted siblings, pets, what my hobby was, etc. Because I was going to SDSS, I would only have been able to get a host family in Tsawwassen. While I was waiting for an answer for a host family, my mother and I had to submit a lot of documents e.g. Fill out health insurance, allergies, for the flight and much more. I wasn't motivated to do something like that, but my mother kept trying and got me to do it. For which I am super grateful to her. We paid in January 2023 and I finally got my host family in April. A month before departure I also had individual conferences with people from my organization or from Delta. A meeting could last up to 6 hours. Then it became more and more serious and I slowly had to think about packing and saying goodbye to some friends. Packing wasn't easy at all because I was only allowed to choose a few things because there was a maximum weight. I had to have all the documents for the flight, customs and myself ready in my backpack. On August 25th the time had come. I was standing at the airport with my parents and two friends. I said goodbye, which was difficult for me, especially with my parents. But before I came to Canada I was in New York with my organization for 4 days. The time was unforgettable. I've been in Tsawwassen since August 29th and I can say that the effort was worth it and I'm endlessly grateful that I'm allowed to be here and that my parents made it possible for me. All in all I can absolutely recommend that everyone who has the possibilities should do an exchange year during their time in high school or university. It is definitely a lifetime experience. Merle S. |
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