nANIMOv

Generic inquiries of personal wellbeing (“How’s it goin’?”) are often met with equally generic responses (see previous post regarding this), which may include an assurance of productivity (“Keepin’ busy”). I am guilty of using such responses even when I don’t mean them or they aren’t true. But regardless of the validity of it, that response doesn’t mean much at all. Just because you are busy doesn’t mean you are productive, and vice versa. I feel like the difference can be hard to describe but we all know it. We all hate “busy-work,” but if we are occupied with something we love or we think is meaningful we get a sense of fulfillment.

So if we find ourselves “keepin’ busy” it’s a good idea to check-in on exactly what that means.

I saw something recently talking about how “we are all human until: …race disconnected us…religion divided us…politics [blah/ etc].” There is a component of that which I think is true, especially in the times we live, but these are all things that also connect people, and are fundamentally human. Based on my understanding, Homo sapiens dominated over other species of humans because of our ability to connect, and much of that was due to our ability to create fictions, tell stories, and to believe in things beyond of reality (e.g. religion, money…). This ability allowed, and still does, to connect with total strangers, as long as we share a common belief.

The issue today is that there are so many different things to believe, some of which are impossible to prove through statistics and science. To say that race, religion, and politics is the root of a disconnected humanity is to ignore part of what makes us human in the first place. It’s not these ideas that disconnect us, but our attachment and our (perhaps reckless) loyalty to them, a quality that is also very human. Maybe we should stop trying to look for scapegoats and start working on solutions.

I saw another video on my timeline recently showing how small our planet is compared to different stuff. You know how they go, starting off comparing Earth to other things in the solar system, then the galaxy, then the universe. Then people make comments about how they feel so small and insignificant. But I think you could argue the exact opposite. Of all the planets in all the solar systems in all the galaxies that we can observe (granted that’s not relatively) we are on the only one that has any significant forms of life. That makes us kind of special I think. We have unique opportunity over most other collections of molecules throughout the universe to experience consciousness (what even is it anyway queue existential crisis) and we should take advantage of that. The best way to do that depends on the person, but I don’t necessarily think there’s a right way, though I do think there are wrong ways.

I was sitting in a waiting room today and Shrek 2 was playing. It’s been a while since I last saw it, though I’ve probably seen it maybe 20 times, and a couple things stood out to me:

1. It’s funny. This isn’t news to me, but looking back, I feel like this movie had a strong influence on my sense of humor. There’s just a lot of random, and often small, details that are completely unnecessary or over-the-top, that have me constantly laughing.
2. It’s fast. Not a lot of screen time is dedicated to characters’ internal dialogues or internal conflicts. The story just moves along, which I think also adds to the humor of it all. There’s times where I think, “Well that didn’t make sense,” or “This character could’ve done X smarter.” But then I think maybe that’s the point.

Anyways I just wanted to express my appreciation for the Shrek movies, which are simultaneously hilarious and wholesome (a word that I’ve come to dislike, but can’t think of an appropriate alternative for).

The timing will rarely be perfect. What does it even mean to be the perfect time for something. It’s all just our imagination; an ideal situation constructed in the mind’s eye, and given the all the possible outcomes of any series of events, the odds of reality aligning with imagination are slim to none. We can use experience, patterns, statistics, or a powerful cosmic stone to help create more accurate images, but that only gets us so far. So don’t wait for everything to be just right, there’s no time.

A lot of the classifications and opinions we hold are more indicative of ourselves than of the innate qualities of that which we are judging. Boring people are bored easily. Interesting people are interested easily. If your mind has a default mode, that’s going to influence your experiences. Which is good news if you ever decide make appreciation your default mode. If you are looking for the beauty in your experiences or looking for something to love about the people you interact with, you will find it.

Was talking with some buds yesterday about the whole thing of whether or not we should seperate art from their artists, specifically thinking about artists who are or were terrible people or did terrible things. The more I think about it, the less I think we should. Anytime we support the artists (not just monetarily), we in some way contribute to this culture that turns a blind-eye to injustice and to the suffering of others. Yes it’s possible to enjoy a song and still advocate against paedophilia, domestic violence, racism, etc. but the person is still associated to that thing we like. And I could be wrong, but it feels like at least subconsciously that makes us a little less critical of artists and their actions.

Agree? Disagree?

 

It seems like some jobs were made for specific people, or vice versa. For any given occupation there’s a stereotypical person that fits it. I can’t help but think that a lot of progress and advancement has been lost because of that. A lot of people think they are meant for a certain occupation because of their personality or interests, and they pursue careers based on that. On the other side, employers have a vision of their ideal candidate and interview and hire based on that. Innovation is facilitated by diverse perspectives, but how do you convince the world that things don’t have to be a certain way.

In high school one of my teachers had us a do a journal exercise where we were supposed to just write for 15 minutes. The goal was to continuously write for the whole time. It didn’t have to go anywhere or mean anything you just had to write. And that’s what I’m doing write now.

There are a few things that have been occupying my mind today. On the forefront and for somewhat obvious reasons is work, primarily my work with Doctors Without Walls. There’s a lot of stuff to keep track of… people, appointments, documents, deadlines etc. and it can be hard to keep it all straight. Whether or not I’m getting into medical school this year has also been weighing on my mind mostly in the sense that I just want to know what the final verdict is so I can stay planning more concretely rather just sitting in limbo. Next up is the anticipation of a special visitor who’s coming in a couple weeks and going to be around a while and I can’t wait.

I known I said I was going to start on that new series, I just haven’t had a opportunity to sit down dedicate that time that I want to it. But I need to do one soon or it will never get done. I’ve been spending too much of my free time doing other things.

I haven’t been keeping track of time but I think I’ll end here ’cause I’m pretty sleepy.

A few days ago I was talking with a good friend of mine about how small events from our childhood have such huge impacts on our perspectives as adults. Sure there can be singular decisive moments, but the small moments are just as important. Seeing how your parents interacted with and treated other people; what you got praised and shamed for; what types of chores you did; how people around you used their money. As kids, we’re like lil sponges just taking in all this information which then informs our own perspectives. As we grow older each new experiences is a smaller percentage our life’s sum. But it still adds up, and so I want to be mindful about the experiences I seek and the people I surround myself with.