Category: Thoughts uncut

Non-intelligence

After working in the tech industry for five years, I now know that it’s the only viable way of surviving the future. Sure, I’ve always known it, but a smaller part of my heart never accepted it.

That small part of my heart is the entire part of my being.

It’s the part that gravitates towards all things non-technical. The one that got away from science classes, math sessions, and chemistry experiments. The one that inhaled fresh prints, old parchments, and coffee dregs, revelling in poetic licenses. I’m a hopeless romantic—the latest Java Script breakthrough doesn’t excite me; the oldest of Shakespeare puns do.

What’s my place in the tech world then?

I can write. Ah, yes, the hipster glasses, the grande coffee cups, the iPhone with multiple notebook apps, and the whine and the wine.

Stereotypes aside, I found my way into a tech company because I wanted to write. But I soon saw that technology grew faster than I can comprehend. We’re now in the era of chatbots waking us up with inspirational quotes and sharing over two-thirds of links on Twitter. Social media has redefined itself from human-to-human interaction to human-to-bot interaction.

All this, even without the slightest interference from the world’s largest tech company. What happens we bring them into the equation, though?

This.

 

I don’t applaud scientific humans. Our minds are fascinating. The signals we communicate to and from others form our essentials.

I’m all for convenience and getting things done faster, but that small part of my heart—the one that makes my being—cherishes the little things that make humans, human.

The rush of adrenaline, the veins pulsating with blood, the mild exaggerations in prose, the excited squeaking of the voice, the racing heartbeat, the elevated tension, and the undeniable climax—that’s what we’re made of.

To experience the smartest of technology being smarter, more human-like than humans themselves is more than just an achievement. My pencil-wielding hands, poetry-laden mind, and puny self finds it an unacceptable abomination.

It’s hard for me to digest this transformation—this spurt of growth, this advancement in human intelligence. I don’t understand why we try so hard to invent replacements for ourselves. But I realise that this is the way we live now, and I, too, will learn to live with it.

But—hey—the heart doesn’t want what it doesn’t want.

Growing with nature

Gardening. It’s a weird concept. Though I don’t do it anymore, I have I have in the past. And that’s why it surprised me when a friend compared life with gardening.

It got me thinking and I realised that in each of its steps, gardening teaches us a valuable life lesson.

Step one: Get down and get dirty.

When we divulge in the dirt, turning up the soil, both our body and our mind connect with the earth. It teaches us to stay grounded, to remember we are only a tiny speck in a greater evolution, and that we came from the earth to which we will return as well.

Step two: Sow the seed, watch it grow

Gardening is about planting a seed, watering it every day, nurturing it, pruning it, and waiting for it to sprout. Life is the same.

To cultivate a thought, a philosophy, we should first let it seep into our soul and take over our body. We should nourish it with encouragement and positive thoughts for it to evolve into greatness.

It’s inspiring to observe a plant grow from a shrub to a branch to a strong benefactor. It makes us realise that we too will grow stronger with time. We’ll face challenges like weeds and pests and our own self-doubt. Despite the challenges, the many painful twists and turns, we will emerge stronger.

Step three: Clean up, prune away

With every plant comes along unnecessary weeds. For a tree to grow without hindrance, to achieve its potential, we should prune away those weeds and make space for new sprouts to appear. Likewise, in life, uncertainty and negativity will surround us, but just as we prune the plants, we should learn to chip out the evils that hamper our progress.

When we eliminate the obstacles, we’ll create room for positive people and good vibes to occupy our soul. Like spring-cleaning our lives.

Step four: Re-plant, re-live

Regardless of how much we fail at times. Some seeds don’t grow, no matter how much we want them to. Maybe the soil isn’t right.

We learn. We try again. We become better gardeners.

Sometimes in life our efforts aren’t fruitful either. We whine—and it’s understandable—but we shouldn’t give up. We should try again, because that’s how we grow.

Gardening teaches us to persevere in our goals. Every strife during the journey is only a lesson that makes the destination all the more worthwhile.

Good things don’t happen overnight. No seed flowers in a day or night. Just as gardening is a long and arduous process of growth, so is our life. The purpose, thus, is to enjoy the journey.

Thanks for the muse, Kumud and #SpiritChat.

How badass are you?

When I asked myself that question, I had no answer. Sure, I’d shown cheek a lot of times, but nothing came close to being badass.

I define badass as being unapologetic in who you are. Unwitting, to an extent, but also uncaring of what others think of you and perceive your actions. Being badass is speaking your mind, showing emotions when emotional, and voicing every bit of doubt without worrying about offending or hurting anyone. And—most important—doing all that without coming off as arrogant.

In other words, kids are badass.

We all love kids. It’s not because they’re tiny and make us wish we were young again. It’s because of who they are. They don’t care about anything or anyone. They don’t worry about the consequences of being their own selves. Whether they’re hungry, angry, or sad, they show their emotions right away. They push, they pull, and they even make us pull our own hair apart, but at the end of they day we still love them. The reason? They don’t pretend to be someone they’re not. They show their true colours, in all its good, bad, and unbearable shades. And that’s what makes them so likeable. They are true influencers in a way. They get what they want without being rude, arrogant, and asshole-like.

Sure, kids are adamant at times, and almost scary when on tantrums. But they learn soon enough that frown-face doesn’t work as a smile does.

We learn that as kids. But forget as adults.

We grown ups are too conscious of our selves to be bold enough to speak our thoughts. We don’t want to look like a vulnerable school child. And that’s why we lose so much.

We’ve become so invested in preserving our image—the image we set for ourselves, the brand we try so hard to up hold. As a result, we’ve lost our lighter side. We see people in full suits, clean hair dos, and prim postures who wouldn’t dare put a toe out of line because it would wreck their reputation.

Afraid of losing face, of looking like a failure, we become rigid instead. We stick to what we know, ingrained in inertia, and force others to do as we say. While kids smile and declare their minds, we smirk and demand action. Like the boss.

But we don’t have to be that way. We can still still be ourselves without being childish. By being casual and light hearted, we become more approachable individuals. By flaunting our humanness, we become easy to talk to. And influential. We can be badass without being forceful.

On influence

Who we are depends on who we observe.

Most parents caution each other and their peers about how they should behave in front of children. They set stringent rules for themselves so they can prevent their children from adopting unhealthy practices.

Regardless of our safety measures to protect children, we often forget that, not unlike a toddler, we grown ups become influenced as well. 

We may not accept or even realise it most of the time, but we look at another person—a neighbour, a television artist, a writer—and be more like them.

That’s good in a way. When we look up to someone with purpose, knowing it will improve our life, becoming influenced in the best thing. Such influence can even spread peace and joy across the world. One person’s determination to help out during natural disasters and wars can turn into global philanthropic activities.

But when we don’t realise what we do and adopt certain behaviour for no apparent reason, influence turns bad. We lost sight of our common sense, following someone just because they are attractive.

That’s the root of most political and religious rebellions nowadays. We trust and advocate people, policies, and philosophies even though we don’t understand. We’re influenced by some famous artist campaigning for a cause they found. And since we like them as an artist, we tend to co-campaign without even evaluating it first.

In a society that turns a blind eye to these un-checked influences, no one questions a popular opinion or refutes an unclear decision. As a society, we become unruly and devoid of self-control. We neither think or reason, but serve as tools for others.

Cult groups of today thrive on such behaviour. A single spark influences so many people to rile up, evoking negative emotions in the name of goodness.

Our world isn’t a nice place. We have as many evils as we have goodness. It’s important that we prioritise our lives, understand what matters most to us, and learn to stand up for it. When we’re mindful, we strengthen our convictions. We’ll then know what kind of influence we want to attract.

That’s the sign of true maturity. We grow wiser and understand our purpose—and that our purpose changes with situation, age, interests, and responsibilities. That’s how we can choose who influence us. Without that clarity, we’d let anything and anyone manipulate us for their benefit.

Can I?

“I can” is an emotion.

It’s powerful.

It’s aspirational.

We may write down our goals, set up reminders, even team up with accountability partners, and still fail. The reason is that all those are material factors. What we need instead, is determination from within—the mind.

We humans possess an incredible tendency to believe in things. Take placebo, for instance. We believe it’s a cure and it becomes a cure. It doesn’t matter that it’s a regular sugar pills. For our placebo-ed self, it’s a miracle worker.

Most people who think they want to change their lifestyle, live healthy, or make a positive change at work fail because their belief isn’t strong enough. Whole-hearted belief isn’t as strong without whole-minded belief.

It’s not just about writing it down or telling people. We often think saying it out loud stimulates our ego and motivates us to persevere. I don’t think that works.

For me, not telling anyone works. Telling myself, my mind, what I want to become, how I want to live, and what I want to achieve in the process keeps me motivated. I reflect on my life and decide for myself. I make a change in an instant, and see it through. That determination comes only when the influence comes from within.

Instead, when we look up to other people for constant motivate, influence, and validate us, whatever riles up in us, will shrivel down as fast as it rises.

Inspiration is good. It’s necessary even. However, we can’t just run on inspiration from others. What makes them run is their own determination, and it’s from that determination that they inspire. Just inhaling what they exude gets us no where unless we have our own grit to hold us to our goals.