The importance of tolerance and respect
Tolerance is the ability to accept the opinions and customs of others despite not agreeing with them, and respect is showing consideration for the rights and considerations of others. These two concepts often overlap, but they are two different ideas. Tolerance is more passive, as it involves accepting things with which one does not agree, but respect is a deliberate action, as it shows consideration for the rights of others. Both of these concepts are important in any healthy relationship, but they are especially important in relationships between parents and children. Children must learn to tolerate things they may disagree with and show respect for the rights of others, and parents must demonstrate these qualities as well as help their children learn them.
Why is it important to be tolerant and show respect for others?
For many reasons, it is important to be able to work with others and get along with people who have different points of view than our own. When people don't respect each other, it's easy to feel threatened by people who are different from us. Fear and mistrust can lead to misunderstandings, conflict and violence. When we live in fear, we are more likely to want to control others and their behavior because we don't feel safe. When we live in fear, we are less likely to listen to others and more likely to respond to people with anger or impatience. It is more difficult to find solutions to problems when we do not listen to each other and remain calm. When we respect others, we are more likely to listen to them and try to understand their point of view. It is also easier to find solutions to problems when we are not blinded by anger or impatience.
How does tolerance help us to live together peacefully?
When we are tolerant of others, we are less likely to feel threatened by cultural, religious, or political differences. When we live in a society where people are tolerant of each other, we are more likely to share an open and respectful dialogue about what is important to us and why. And it's easier to build relationships with others when we can talk about our differences instead of avoiding them or keeping them secret. Tolerance does not mean that we have to agree with someone or their ideas. It simply means that we are willing to respect them and their right to have different ideas or beliefs. Tolerance means that we allow others to be who they are and believe what they believe, even if we disagree with them. It means that we do not judge others or try to force them to believe as we do, but we allow them to make their own decisions. Tolerance creates a society in which people feel accepted and are less likely to be afraid of those who are different from them.
What does it mean to be tolerant?
Being tolerant means being willing to listen to others and understand that they see things differently from us. Being tolerant means recognizing that people have the right to have their own opinions and beliefs, even if they are different from ours. The key to being tolerant is being willing to suspend our judgment of others and remain open to their ideas, even if we don't agree with them. It means that we allow others to believe what they believe, even if it is different from our own religious or political beliefs. And it means that we do not try to impose our beliefs on others. It also means that we do not judge others because they believe differently than we do. Being tolerant does not mean that we have to agree with others or that we have to accept everything they say or do. It just means that we are willing to listen respectfully before responding to what they say or do.
How does respect help peaceful coexistence?
When we show respect for others, we recognize them as individuals who have a right to be themselves. Respect means that we do not judge others or try to force them to believe or do what we believe or do. It means that we don't ignore their differences or pretend they don't exist, but that we treat others with dignity and recognize their right to be who they are. We show respect for others by not putting them down or making them feel inferior. We do not assume that we know what is in their hearts and minds. We do not take for granted that we understand their culture or their origin.
final thoughts
Tolerance and respect are fundamental values that allow individuals and groups to coexist in a society. They are essential to living in a diverse and multicultural world. Having tolerance and respect does not mean agreeing or accepting everything other people say or do. However, it means being willing to listen and understand others, even if you disagree with them. Tolerance and respect are not just nice things, but are necessary for a fair and equitable society. Without these values, it's easy for us to mistrust those who don't look like us or don't believe the same as us, to fear people because of where they come from, or to judge people by their different interests or appearance. For these reasons, it is important that we encourage our relatives to be tolerant and respectful of others.
How Cryptocurrency Can Help You in Your Journey to Self Sustainability
Self sustainability is something I think we all should be aiming toward in our lives. And when I say that, I don't mean *not* working together in purposeful cooperation with others to a common desired goal. I'm going to include *that* in my definition of self sustainability. To me what is *not* self sustainability is living within the system.
In my book, a multi-millionaire in fiat currencies living in a condo, working at a corporation is *not* self sustainable. While the vast majority of people in our society would see this as security and something to aim for in life, to me this is a vulnerable and volatile life. The average common mainstream American lifestyle puts you and your entire life at the complete mercy of others. People living this lifestyle often have no practical life skills such as fixing cars, being resourceful with money, being thrifty, growing food, restoring items, building things.... I could go on.
It makes me so, so sad to see cryptocurrency mocked. I usually see it mocked in the very same places where people are sick to death of the current system. They're at their wits end, unable to buy a home for themselves anytime in the foreseeable future. They complain that they'll never be able to retire or pay off their student loans or afford children and that they'll have to spend the rest of their days working a job they don't believe in just for mere survival in a dystopian society. How depressing!
As I see it, cryptocurrency is the ONLY way out. Otherwise, what's the end game? It seems to me the system goes round and round and round and round in the same circles over and over again. No one *wants* to be part of it. Yet they laugh at cryptocurrency. How dumb and foolish we are with this silly internet money.
Doesn't seem to me that fiat money is so much more practical and serious a thing.
While you laugh, we're over here trying to build something better. For YOU. We see a better future for you in which you can earn cryptocurrency exercising, making content, gaming, and a plethora of other things that haven't been invented quite yet. Making crytpocurrency from exercising and creating content is already a reality that many of us are living. I've been doing it for over five years. https://actifit.io/ https://peakd.com/register?ref=brightstar https://splinterlands.com/
Your cryptocurrency is YOURS. Not only are you the only one who holds the keys to it literally, the currency that you own is within a NEW system that provides a solution to the problems of the predatory system everyone is living under.
None of this has to be the way it is. There are solutions right here for the taking. Most of the solutions still need to be developed. But these are *our* solutions. Cryptocurrency and blockchain in their very *essence* are about self sustainability.
It can be really intimidating to get into cryptocurrency. Most people don't even know where to buy it. Beginners can buy it right on PayPal or Venmo. But in order to be involved in cryptocurrency, you don't even need to buy it. You can create an account right here on this blockchain you're reading this on and hang out here. Read people's posts. Join communities of topics you're interested in. You'll meet plenty of people here who live completely off of cryptocurrency. Ask questions in the comments of people's posts. People will be happy to help you get started on your cryptocurrency journey. https://www.paypal.com/us/digital-wallet/manage-money/crypto https://peakd.com/register?ref=brightstar https://peakd.com/communities
Wonder
The day Ava's husband died, three hundred tiny trees burst from the forest floor. Her tears had the soil and begged life forth. In a hundred years, this forest would shelter a young boy seeking asylum, locking into firm place a further chain of events that would lead to the beginning of a long awaited new world. However, Ava was not to know this, and never would, because the future is so unknown to all of us, and so had little consolation for her loss.
Seven days a week, for nine months a year, Ava and he joined the mushroom pickers in the thousands of acres of forests to look for tricholoma spirabilis, the Life Giver. It was discovered by Anna the Dark, who was lost for a hundred and five years in the very hills in which Ava was earning her living. When Anna emerged from the forest she was heavily pregnant with Ava's mother, who was to discover the new species of fungi on the eve of her own disappearance but thankfully left copious amounts of drawings and notes that detailed the qualities of this new species, including it's ability to oxygenate the blood at a time when humanity needed it the most. People needed to breath. That was as sure as death and taxes.
As for Ava's grandmother, when asked about her disappearance and the paternity of her green eyed girl, she would open her arms out wide and smile, which was as much an answer as anyone would ever recieve. She was both revered and feared a little, but people would come to her to ask her about which plants would heal a broken heart and broken bone alike. She had a way of knowing.
Despite her illustrious ancestry, Ava was not immune to any of the tragedies that befell her fellow pickers. Death from exposure was common - it was achingly cold here in the winter and hypothermia would creep if one did not pay attention. Many of the pickers were missing the tips of fingers from where frostbite had settled as they searched beneath the crystals of ice to find the precious fruit. In the spring, the giant horseflies, some of them the size of small dogs, could pierce the skin in a single bite and cause the muscles of the heart to contract and spasm. In summer, the heat was unbearable unless one moved very slowly in the shade of the gargantuan trees, but to move slow was often to lose wages, or to return to the markets with scant pickings and thus capacity to earn. The seasons were long and hard, respite coming only in the Autumn where unusually - for most fungi were autumnal gifts - the Life Giver deliquesced into a sanguineous fluid that nurtured the other life in the biosphere in ways that science was only just beginning to comprehend. These few relatively restful months were a time to rest and gather the other fungi and offerings that did not have as much market value and thus were not as highly sought over, but still could sustain a family for the rest of the year.
Ava's man was ten years her senior and taught her all she knew, given her mother had left her an orphan when she disappeared. He was tender in his offerings and she loved to hear him talk to the children about mycellium and hyphae as he read the forest for signs of spirabilis - a slight humping of the soil, a particular tree which opened every cell in it's roots, trunk and leaves to allow the fungi to thrive and in turn grew itself to provide in an endless reciprocity only gods could have brought into being.
His death was not a forest death, much to everyone's sadness. A forest death was a good death - the pickers appreciated their flesh would become soil, dissolved by the white threads of fungi they had followed all their life. Christianity had never served these folk - rebirth took new forms out of necessity. One had to believe in something, after all.
He had died because he had dared to stand up to the middle merchants who often took advantage of the migrant pickers and had mistook him for one. He refused to accept a low price and called the merchants exactly what everyone thought they were and were too scared to say, whereupon one took a pistol from the folds of his cloak and shot him through the heart. A trillion spirabilis spores filled the area and shimmered when he died, and at least half the marketplace said that the air left their lungs simultaneously, such was he loved amongst his fellow men.
For Ava, however, despite the gift of the three hundred trees, the forest had much to answer for and owed her much, much more. As a girl in a particular time and place, she had no idea that her beloved's death was just a butterfly's flapping wing which would, after a century or so, bring the world into newness and a connected, fertile and beautiful beingness that she could only dream about in the tiny corners of her subconcious mind in dreams where she flew like a goshawk over the forest with a lightness in her chest no one on earth had ever known. However, in this moment, she was an amoeba unaware of itself, searching, blind. She was full of hot and wet questions: why had she been left alone again? How would she guide her people? How could she, descendant of Anna the Dark, possibly take his place, when he left her only half equipped with scant knowledge of the forest that could lead them out of this dark age in human history? Why were the merchants so cruel? Why were they bound in these cycles of prejudice and poverty, slavery and servitude? Whilst Ava and her partner may have been born in these forests, they were still economic migrants, forced into these edges of society yet bound to contribute to the larger, and barely given any honour nor reward for it. The mutualism of the forest was a perfectly organized system. The capitalist economy which utilized it was not.
And thus, in despair, and despite the burgeoning trees, Ava continued to cry - for her lost love, for her lost mother. No wonder they had left, she thought. What place does the world have for the ones who are one with the forest? Who are misunderstood, misaligned, their beliefs ridiculed, their science mocked?
But as the pickers and forest dwellers know, it is also the way of the forest to reveal what one needs the most, and at this moment, she needed the guidance of lost love, and so the forest moved in action to supply her need, obedient and empathetic.
As the hundred year future forest rose from her tears, so too did the tricholoma, whispering to her with citrus, earthy breathiness as they rose from the soil. The shape that took form was her husband. The hyphae tips had found their way to his corpse in the market place had dissolved both flesh and spirit and retreated here, beautiful constellations of fungal pathways that had run along tunnels of bark and through the gaps in soil to join her where she grieved.They had wilded their way to the granddaughter of Anna the Dark, taking on the dead man's form.
He was there to give her what she needed to know to lead her people forward. His beard was fringed with hoarfrost, his fingertips stained with spores, his eyes periwinkle blue, lips stained wine purple. The dead man was beautiful, a dru of snow gums, a pan of the eucalyptus. He cupped his amaranthine hands and huffs and puffs so the spores of the Life Giver clouds around her, dressing Ava in velvet green. She filled with wonder and love and breath.
Ah, the pain of life, she thought. It is this I must bear. It is okay. It is okay. We go forward, still. What it is, she thinks, to love and create, feel joy and euphoria. From the dark forest floor bursts forth fruiting bodies, from the cracked seed held tight in black soil propels the nascent tree. One must treasure such intensity.
It was not long after she would feel, unexpectedly, the flutterings of a child, and although impossible, it was not so incomprehensible. He had come to her, after all. In the future, her child will birth another child, and then another, until one day, a distant offspring of hers will seek asylum in the forest, and the dryads and drus will rise up against those that chase him down, and then all will be set free.
But for now, Ava wipes the salt from her eyes and waves to her beautiful man as he disappears back into the mist that swirls about the trees.
She resumes filling her basket for the market, nibbling on a spirabilis, nourishing her and her unborn child with oxygen, with life, so that they may give birth to the future.
**The collages are my own, made from stock images and my own fungi photos.**
`With Love,` @dansontela
Love- Are you scared of it?
If you have loved and your heart was broken one too many times, it is always a challenge to let love in because of the fear that the past might repeat itself. We all know that love is a beautiful feeling but when it goes wrong, it can be deadly and not many recover from it.
Many of us may not know but this is a condition known as Philophobia. "Philo" is a word that means love and "phobia" is a word that means fear so philophobia can easily be defined as fear of falling in love or having any emotional attachment.
People who suffer from philophobia are usually afraid of commitment. They may not understand why the fear. They are always drowned in panic when about to fall in love leaving the person with whom they are about to start a relationship, totally confused. Philophobes often retreat into long periods of solitude driving away anyone that tries to come close. They enjoy being alone and women experience this more than men.
**Causes of philophobia**
Heartbreak
Bad parental upbringing where the - child grew up starved of love
Bad sexual experiences
Divorce
Loss of a loved one.
**Symptoms of philophobia**
Although symptoms vary from individuals to individuals, they may include both emotional and physical reactions such as:
Feeling of intense fear or panic
Complete avoidance of romantic settings
Avoidance of wedding and marriage ceremonies
Physical signs such as sweating, racing heartbeat, difficulty in breathing, nausea or even fainting .
**The behaviour of a philophobe when it comes to love**
A philophobe will always look for flaws in the person they are attracted to.
They always get attracted to someone they know will break their heart so as to justify that relationship is a waste of time.
They find it difficult to trust. To them, everyone is a potential heartbreaker.
They are always stuck in the past. They seek for their ex in every new relationship. They seek assurance that the new prospect will not hurt them.
They are good at keeping friends with benefits. They love sex but avoid spending much time with the person doing anything that doesn't involve sex.
**How to love a philophobe**
Understand that they are in serious fear and it is no fault of theirs.
Never pressure them to do things they are not willing to do.
Show them you genuinely care by being consistent.
Don't rush them to express their feelings for you.
Be there for them and encourage them to seek help if there are no signs of improvement..
To the philophobes out there, it may be difficult to love again. I know this because I used to be one but understand that love is about opening your heart and letting peace and happiness envelope you. There is no guarantee that a relationship will last forever and there is none that it wouldn't so if you never give it a try, how would you know? Live in the moment and let someone heal you.
Note: philophobia is not a social disorder but it can be serious and when exceeding a period of 6 months, the philophobe needs to see a doctor for medical treatment.
Seeking Help and Support for Grief and Loss
There are situations when the passing of a loved one is not necessarily the cause of one's feelings of melancholy. This is perfectly normal and natural, despite the fact that it may be difficult to accept. The process of coping with loss involves many steps, one of which is coming to terms with living without a loved one.
It is vital to learn how to deal with the dying process while you are also working on rebuilding your life. It is of the utmost importance to keep in mind that the process of grieving is never a simple one. It is possible for it to bring about depression, or even for people to confuse depression with sorrow.
Even though the experience of grief is inextricably linked to the passing of a loved one, it can surface after any number of other kinds of bereavement. You can be said to be in a state of mourning for the loss of a loved one, such as a spouse or kid, if that person went away suddenly and unexpectedly.
Alterations to your physical or financial well-being might also result in feelings of grief for the deceased. It could appear that there is no way out of the misery that has been brought on by these shifts. As life continues on without your loved one, your mind may be plagued with uncertainties such as doubt, hallucinations, and ambiguity.
Even though the death of a loved one is the most common cause of sadness, other events in one's life can also bring on this emotion. Alterations in one's way of life, such as being divorced or having a kid, can also bring on feelings of grief. In certain circumstances, the loss might not be bodily but rather one of emotional wellbeing instead. You can, for instance, be lamenting the changes that are going to occur in your life. There is a possibility of confusion as well as other mental states.
There are several possible causes for your feelings of loss and grief. There are some that are public while there are others that are private. Grief is a natural reaction to the death of a loved one. The passing of a member of your family could be the result of a wide variety of factors, including but not limited to a divorce, shifts in your health, or even the way you live your life.
You may find that as you grieve, thoughts about your future aspirations or the ways in which your life will change without your loved one arise. There is not always a visible manifestation of loss. In addition, there is a possibility that you will experience confusion as well as hallucinations concerning your loved one.
The onset of grief is frequently precipitated by other occurrences in a person's life. It's possible that you'll experience feelings of compulsion to care for other people, go to work, or even spend time with your loved ones and close friends. However, this agony extends further than just despair. You might also experience a variety of other emotions, including fear, guilt, or anger, amongst many others. As the loss of a loved one continues to affect you, you will most likely experience a wide range of feelings, and these will be reflected in both your thoughts and actions.
It is not possible that the death of a loved one is the cause of your mourning. The passing of a loved one could be precipitated by a variety of occurrences, including a sickness that lasts for an extended period of time, an unanticipated shift in your financial situation, or an anticipated death. However, this does not preclude you from experiencing grief in the future. It is essential not to lose sight of the fact that the grieving process progresses over the course of time.
The Difference Between Poor Achievement and Feeling Incompetent
The difference between feeling competent and incompetent can be profound. Children who feel competent view themselves as capable and able, while those who feel incompetent are often highly dependent on others. Incompetence often contributes to children's poor self-esteem, low frustration tolerance, and fear of trying new things. Moreover, it can also cause problems at home, as children who experience incompetence are hesitant to try new things.
Unconscious incompetence
What is the difference between unconscious incompetence and poor achievement? In general, conscious incompetence refers to the lack of knowledge and skill in a specific area. Training instructors often remark how simple it is to train recruits who have no experience because they are already aware of the fact that they need to learn. In contrast, conscious competence refers to the ability to do the right thing with thought and effort, which isn't nearly as good as the necessary skill for life and death.
Impostor syndrome
When a person believes that they do not have what it takes to be successful, they are susceptible to the symptoms of impostor syndrome. They may feel that their achievements are luck, or a result of timing. They may apologize for their mistakes or think that others overvalue their achievements. They may avoid higher-level achievements because of their insecurities. Impostor syndrome can also affect a person's performance at work.
Irrational beliefs about your abilities
Irrational beliefs about your ability to succeed are a common source of low self-esteem. In his book, "A Brief History of Success," Albert Ellis identifies 12 irrational beliefs that prevent people from achieving their full potential. One of the most common of these is the need for love. People who believe that they are unlovable are unlikely to ever achieve great success.
Self-reflection
Studies on reflection in educational and professional contexts are common and varied. Some conceptualise it as a multidimensional process with a variety of perspectives. Others emphasize its emotional component and suggest that reflection involves a mix of psychological and cognitive aspects. However, it is not clear how to assess reflection, and there is no standardized definition of reflection. This article explores practical ways of assessing reflection and critically reviews four challenges to assessment.
Talking to a trusted colleague or supervisor
When addressing an employee's underperformance, it is important to communicate the problem as soon as possible. Talking to a supervisor can help to clarify the situation and encourage the employee to improve their performance. If the situation is more serious, you may want to take the employee out of the spotlight or reduce their responsibilities. However, do not avoid addressing the issue as an emotional confrontation will only create more problems.
All Successes Have Been Built on Failures
You may have heard the saying, "Every success is the result of a failure." This is true for most fields of endeavor, as all great achievements in life were born out of failure. Think of the teachings of Confucius, the 10,000 attempts Edison made to make a light-bulb work, or Henry Ford's military successes - all of these are examples of famous failures. These stories, and many more, will inspire you to think twice before giving up.
**Famous failures have been built on failures**
There are many famous failures in history. Apple was the leader of the personal computer revolution in the 1970s, but by the mid-1980s, it had become a failed company. Steve Jobs, who founded Apple, was forced to leave the company in 1985. After years of success, Apple had fallen from the heights of the personal computer revolution to a not-so-distant also-ran.
**Confucius' teachings were built on failures**
Confucius, the founder of Chinese philosophy, taught that all successful people learn from their mistakes and that failures make us stronger. Throughout his life, he failed in many ways, from deciding to marry a woman who was not compatible with him to losing his mother. While he was trying to make amends, Confucius rediscovered his failures and used them to his advantage. The result was a new philosophy, based on the principles of love, honor, and respect.
**Edison's attempts to make a light-bulb work over 10,000 times**
Thomas Edison and his team tried more than 10,000 filaments before achieving a marketable light bulb. They spent days and weeks trying out dead ends before finding the right one. Although some failed at the beginning, over time, the team began to see promising signs. By the end of the experiment, the lightbulb lasted more than thirteen hours. In the end, the team's persistence paid off.
**Henry Ford's military success**
Throughout his life, Henry Ford has been an outlier. He described himself as a pacifist and had grown frustrated by war. After World War I, Ford announced that he would launch a peace campaign to bring an end to the conflict. Ford believed that the war could be ended in a matter of weeks. So, he created the Peace Ship expedition, enlisting the help of Rosika Schwimmer and Louis Lochner.
**Queen Bey's failures**
In addition to her music, Beyonce has also been a vocal activist on racial and feminism issues. She also runs after her energy without hesitation, and has even co-founded a nonprofit organization called Chime For Change. Queen Bey has worked hard to achieve success, and is balancing her career with her personal life. However, she is not without her failures. Here are some of her most noteworthy moments.
Unhandling Time
I don't know if you have ever done this, but yesterday I decided to try something wild - I changed the hand I wear my watch on from the non-dominant over to my right. While I knew it would make a difference, I wasn't actually prepared for *how much of a difference* it has made and - none of it is good.
I have been wearing a sports watch consistently for about two years now and while I rarely use it for its intended purpose of tracking my activity, I have enjoyed it after a very long period of relying on my phone for the time. However, while muscle memory kicked in, it has never become "part of me" like it used to be when I was younger and has always been somewhat uncomfortable, no matter the band I use.
The reason I made the shift wasn't because of this though - I really just want to see how long it is going to take for my body to adjust to the "new normal" or, for my head to get so frustrated by the change, it forces me to move it back to my left hand. I really think that my head is going to give in before the adjustment takes place.
It has disrupted everything and, my attention is painfully aware that there is a change, amplifying the discomfort of the change. My right hand (dominant) feels heavy and awkward, like it has been injured and protests at any moves. However, it isn't just the hand, it is the entire arm from the shoulder down, which is a bit of a surprise. The other thing is that while not a very large watch (46mm), it feels far heavier than it did on my left hand and it gets in the way constantly.
There is no directly practical reason for me to run this experiment on myself, however as a trainer, it is interesting to see how a slight change is going to be accepted or rejected by the body and mind. Essentially, my work requires enabling improved behaviors, which often requires shifting a "bad" habit into a better process. And whilst everyone can understand why and be onboard at the knowledge level, changing the actual behavior can be a monumental task that takes a lot of attention, effort and time.
*Speeding up* this changeover process vastly improves skill abilities, because it allows for more changes to be made and the more it is done, the easier it gets. These then compound against each other earlier, increasing the impact of the changes themselves in the same way that a compound interest calculation is going to be affected by both the frequency of compounds and the frequency (and amount) of additional inputs. Calculating a deposit monthly will return more than yearly. Adding a monthly deposit will return more than adding the same amount yearly.
It is about continual compounding and in this case, it is about skills, not money. Yet similarly, just like needing the money resources to invest into a compounding return, skill resources are required also and these come in various forms, including physical, informational and mental. If an individual doesn't have the correct resources available at the right time, the investment results are going to be reduced.
One of those resources is the cluster of skills required to deal with change, as like it or not, change itself is always uncomfortable when moving from a habit, even if to something better that brings improved results and experiences. Getting used to this "pain" helps us to lower the resources needed for the next hurdle for the next change, speeding our ability to introduce, learn, make changes, accept and practice enough that they become behavioral defaults. It is like "buying low" where the change comes with a higher return and therefore, more resources available for the next investment.
While largely pointless in terms of telling the time, changing the watch hand has been a good reminder how even slight alterations to normal behavior have knock-on effects that cause all kinds of other changes. For example, typing is more difficult now and I feel like I am "off balance" when I concentrate on it, but as I have a million things to do - I forget to me uncomfortable.
Speaking of which,
is that the time?
No matter which hand my watch is on, time doesn't stop and the desk is still full.
Tread Lightly
**Are you driving this thing?**
**ARE YOU??**
The engine idled softly in his ears, but the voice from the passenger screamed.
**Go Dammit!**
There was no putting it off any longer as the sole of his shoe fell gently upon the peddle, the vibration of the engine purring into his body, travelling through his skin until it reached the tip of every hair. The sense of electricity encased his body, gripping the muscles and contracting, squeezing them taut like the spring of a trigger, just before the hammer comes crashing down.
***How long could he hold it here****?* ***Eternity****?*
No. The passenger wouldn't allow it, there had to be a move - one way or the other. A binary decision, on or off, a dichotomy - false or not, there were only two choices available - forward, or not.
**So? What are you waiting for?**
**Are you chickening out?**
*Was he?*
It has seemed like a good idea earlier and he had gone to the pains to meticulously arrange everything necessary, cover all the details, cross the T's and dot the I's. Now, there was only one detail left to attend to, one drive left to make to reach the finish line.
**Pussy.**
A chuckle followed.
The slight sound swirled in his head, echoing against parts of his brain never bothered by thought before. It was painful. Like being forced to overstretch on a torture rack, the neurons being pulled apart slowly and snapping, one by one, each with an audible click until they started to give way in a stream, emitting a tearing sound as if his consciousness itself was being ripped from the housing of the body.
His foot pressed ever so slightly on the gas and the tires sticky at first, broke the stillness and began a slow roll forward, hardly perceptible to the naked eye - like grass growing. And the moment stretched out, fractions of seconds becoming lifetimes. Lives consumed in an instant.
A little more pressure and the speed increased. A little more and then, all in.
*Foot to the floor.*
The engine whirred, as the rev counter moved fast to the redline and the automatic gearbox started flicking up through the gears, unaccustomed to being under such constant stress. The wheels whirled underneath, chewing the road ever faster, with each rise and fall met getting transmitted through them and into the seat within and into him - at one with the road, part of the machine, no longer fully human.
His eyes narrowed on the point ahead.
*I still have time to choose the other option.*
He hesitated for a moment and then realized he had waited too long, there was only one option left. So despite the back of the pedal already pushed as hard to the floor as it could be, he pushed harder.
**That's right!**
**Let's do this!**
His eyes opened wide as he crossed the final line and the darkness of the night enveloped them, as if launched into space - nothing in front, nothing to the sides - only what they had left behind.
He looked to the empty seat beside him.
*Silence at last.*
If they are not your keys they are not your cryptos.
It is clear that the exchange platforms and digital currency safeguards are entities that operate under guidelines established by the central powers, therefore in any unstable situation in the cryptocurrency market they will dance to the beat dictated by the political world.
Recently Celcius and Binance announced to their users or clients that they will prevent the
will prevent the withdrawal of bitcoin (BTC) that they have stored in their respective platforms, but the rest of the cryptocurrencies are available to their owners.
It seems obvious: these companies prevent you from disposing of your BTC because it is evident that in the face of the Fiat world crisis, the safe haven asset that will sustain the economic catastrophe that has already begun will be gold and BTC. On the other hand, it seems logical that if you gave them your valuable satoshis (believing they were yours) they will move them to other accounts or investments at their free will.
The case of Celcius is as pathetic as it is clear: they created decentralized finance instruments where they offer a 15% return on their token to the unwary customer in exchange for the latter's BTC, i.e., just as Christopher Columbus did with the Native Americans Celcius gave stones and broken glass and the customers gave their digital gold.
Evidently that flow of BTC received they moved them towards other portfolios and investment instruments where they earned significant amounts of money at the expense of their clients' funds. Now that BTC is in free fall and their clients want the return of their satoshis, they find themselves with the reality that these were taken out of their accounts, that is to say, they vanished, but they have at their disposal all the tokens and altcoins they want.
This is very similar to the situation experienced by Argentines more than 20 years ago, when the US dollar was a strong and stable currency the citizens of that South American country entrusted their savings in this currency to local banks, but as always the party ends with the first crisis the government needed to pay its debts and had no better idea than to confiscate the dollars saved in financial institutions and in exchange offer the ultra devalued Argentinean pesos.
Beyond the tremendous fall of the price, I have no doubt that the BTC is the strongest asset of the moment, governments and centralized powers know this, that is why they will do everything possible to seize your BTC, in exchange they will tempt you with useless dollars, euros, jen, yuan or how much broken glass of the dying Fiat world they offer you, that is why this reality opens the important thing is to stay calm and try to be master and lord of your own cryptocurrencies in your private bills, only then you will be really protected.
Social Awareness or (understanding others) is a component of our emotional intelligence
Hello,
Social Awareness is our ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others.
First of all, if we are well advanced in the recognition and understanding of our own emotions, it is easier to identify them in others. But also, it is that to be able to understand the other one it is necessary to have already a good conscience of ourselves. Otherwise we know unconsciously that we risk losing our boundaries, losing our identity and to protect ourselves, we will not open up to the other.
If you wish to develop your understanding of others, here are some guidelines for reflection and action:
**A_ First**, be curious, observe, listen: Curiosity is sometimes a beautiful quality, so be curious to observe others, decipher their emotions and try to understand them! The most effective way is to observe the non-verbal, so you don't even need to hear what the person is saying: you sit on a café terrace, you watch people pass by, talking and you try to decipher the emotions at play. This is a good excuse to go and have a coffee on the terrace.
At the same time, you can read books on psychology, communication, or take a training course to develop your theoretical knowledge.
**B_ Secondly**, it is about taking a real interest in the other person: Being there 100% in the relationship, really listening, not so easy... This means first avoiding distractions, not doing 2 things at once. A good test is the children. They notice right away if you talk to them while thinking about something else: they become sad or irritated, and come back to you. This also happens to us when the other person is distracted. But when it's us, we forget... So it requires discipline... So are you ready to listen to your children, your spouse or your colleagues for real?
To motivate **yourself:** as it has been proven that multitasking is less efficient than monotasking, by being 100% in the relationship, you should gain not only in understanding the other person, in relational quality, but also in efficiency. This also requires you to silence your inner speech. Steven Covey asks a rather ironic question in one of his books: "Don't you notice that while your interlocutors are talking to you, you often prepare your answer, instead of listening to them?"...Frankly, it happens to me several times lol...
Listening to the end of what my interlocutor wants to tell me: One of the advantages of Germanic languages is that the verb is often placed at the end of the sentences, so you have to listen to the interlocutor until the end to understand his message and then prepare your answer! But in most other languages, this is not the case.
**C_ Then clarify the situation**, ask questions, in particular to avoid mind reading: You have the impression that your interlocutor is in a bad mood and you wonder if it is because of you? Before becoming paranoid, you can validate or correct your hypothesis, for example by rephrasing: "I have the impression that you are in a bad mood, am I wrong? Do I have something to do with it?" Yes sometimes you will act as a lightning rod for frustrations where you had nothing to do with it. But if it does the person good and allows you to start again in a calmer way in your discussion, it can be useful...It requires self-control and courage, but what conflicts avoided!
**D_ Finally**, last point, widen our points of view: There is a very well known technique in NLP, "the perceptual positions" or the "game of chairs" where we alternate points of view: first mine, then that of the other (who is absent but symbolically represented), finally in dissociated i.e. observer position...It is the 2nd position, that of the other that interests us here and if you wish to develop your understanding of the other, for example a person with whom communication is difficult, try this "game of chairs" :
You place a chair in front of you that represents the position of the other person. I remind you, it is virtual, the other is not there.
Sitting on chair 1, yours, you tell your version of the story to chair 2, that is to say to the other, and you clarify your intention and your objective in the matter.
Then you stand up and go to chair 2, yes you become the other person, and you imagine the situation through his eyes, and you now address chair 1 who represents you. In the position of the other person, you tell your side of the story, you clarify your intention and your goal...And you can alternate positions several times to discuss, in short, play with your chairs!
***So are you motivated to develop your social awareness? It's an exciting topic...and one that will then allow you to improve your communication and relationship management.***
Thank you for reading.
See you soon in a future article. Peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.
An experience that turned my life around for good.
We all have had one experience in life that has changed our mindset completely from what it used to be, I sometimes imagine why life can't teach its lessons without us experiencing some heartbreaks. The experiences aren't always equally bad for everyone, some happen hard and some soft but it is left to us to pick the lessons life taught us through the experience.
I was jobless for about 3 years after school, everything in my thoughts then was getting a job. I believed that everything I needed then was a job to have a better life, I walked lots of kilometers every day in search of jobs, I had lots of funny and sad experiences attached to my job hunt then. I was introduced to Steemit then but I didn't value it, I enjoyed writing but I didn't know crypto blogging could give me any life changing opportunity.
I fell into depression because of my joblessness, I hated having people cater for me and I finally got a job on probation. I was employed as a sales agent for a food-producing company but the job lasted for three days, I made the highest sales among the people hired on probation, and it made them offer me the role of supervisor on probation as well.
I thought I will be staff quickly but it didn't happen until after 8 months, I felt like quitting because I wasn't getting enough pay but I didn't quit, I pushed on. During the company end of the year party, my boss told his superiors about my effort and I was staffed.
The struggle didn't get easier even though a few bucks were added to my pay and I understood that you get paid for the stress. A lot happened in between, my health deteriorated badly, and I almost lost my leg. My life was only about the job, I get so stressed to do anything else and was gradually losing connection to the things I loved.
I gave my best to the job and helped a lot of people in the company. I was after results, I went outside the company policy to ensure we meet targets and others. I wanted a promotion while building a strong team, I ran into debt and had to dig into my savings to clear them just to keep a good record and reputation in the company.
Covid-19 came, the company sales dropped really badly. The company asked for people who would join them in driving sales during the period and I joined. It was risky but I had to because I wanted to see the company growing despite its negative effect on me.
The lockdown was lifted to some extent and work resumed, I went to work on that fateful day like every other day. I went to the field as usual when I got a call from HR, he said: "George, you should return to the office".
He sounded unusual because he is someone I interact with a lot since I was picked on the first probation job. I got to the office and the look on his face said a lot of words, he consoled me before breaking the news. I was hurt because I looked back at the sacrifice I have made for people getting into the company and the company itself. They contacted all my distributors to know if I was owing, I was cleared by everyone. They had to let go because the company didn't want supervisors again, I understood their game; already, I was the last supervisor standing for about 6 months. They wanted to cut down the company expenses and the supervisors weren't doing anything to them but they were wrong.
I said to myself while handing over the company properties with me that, it was time to invest in myself. The first two months were rough because I was affected mentally, my savings wouldn't sustain me for long and I felt like the two years and few months were a waste but after looking deeply, helping over 15 youths secure a job then made me happy even though few of them got me into trouble.
The HR reach out to me later, the company saw the importance of the supervisors but it was late because I already understood that I do not own the business and could be kicked off any moment in life. The experience I had on the last day touched me, I got emotional hearing people saying good stuff about my style of work.
I picked up myself and decided to do what I loved, I started dreaming of owning my business and blogging was the only option I had to fulfill the dreams since I was passionate about writing. I am still a work in progress but I currently work on a farm in which I am in charge and it the freedom it gives me to do other things in life is huge which I appreciate a lot.
I have been without an 8am - 5pm job since mid-2020 and God has been good to me, being able to do the things I love while earning a living has made me a different human. 8am -5pm job will put food on my table but will it help me fulfill my dream?, what if the next job kicks me out again then it means I will start from scratch again.
I am glad I took the lessons life thought me seriously and lived by me, I discovered a new me and I love my life.
The Two-Legged Mouse
How can it feel so good but at the end of the day I felt guilty? Everyone now knows not to look further when it went missing in the house. They knew they have a mouse who is capable of moving around the house without necessarily walking with her hands. The two-legged mouse is what they called me sometimes.
I could not even be bothered as long as they keep on buying me groundnut.
I have heard most people say their guilty pleasure is chocolate or cake, they can eat these two like their life depends on them. This is not me in any form as I hate anything that comes with a lot of sugar. Sugary foods do give me hemorrhoids, I can't even take up to three bottles of coke drink in a week even if my life depends on it.
Whereas, I have a cousin whose main food is a coca-cola drink like her entire being depends on it. She can not go a day without it. But she never for once get hemorrhoids. *Hmmm, you see, this life is not balanced at all* lol
My mom knows better never to put her bottle of groundnut where my eyes can see it. As in I can't help myself around it. Even when I knew it was meant for the whole house, the only remedy is for me not to set my eyes on it.
One 75cl bottle of groundnut can not last two days in my hand, do I feel great when I eat it? Yes, I always feel great, then while the guilt?
My facial skin is allergic to groundnut, I don't buy them but they never stop to be bringing them home. if I should consume a handful of it in the morning before noon, pimples will start coming out of my face. Then the guilt will start setting in.
But don't worry too much about my pretty face, I have gotten myself a home remedy that works like magic.
**What is the remedy?**
In my quest to be able to eat what I love 'groundnut' without damaging my facial skin, it has led me into discovering one home remedy that the cosmetic industry won't be happy I know of, before this I spent a lot of money looking for a product that clear my face of pimples to no avail until I read somewhere online of 'Tumeric and pawpaw' face mask.
I tried it and my face has never remained the same with pimples. It is very simple you know, I have gotten myself a plastic of turmeric powder in the house, and always kept a slice of pawpaw inside the freezer. All I have to do is take a pinch of the turmeric powder, mix it with a bit of pawpaw, use it as a face mask then wash it off after about eight minutes and my face is as fresh and glowing as a baby's skin 😊
I still feel guilty though as my husband has not learned never to keep the groundnut where my eyes will not see it. But the feelings I get every single time, supersede the guilt. Mostly he will ask me, 'babe I thought we still have some groundnut in the house'? I will just smile and said, I guess is no more. And we will laugh over it.
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**Thank you for your attention, do have a beautiful time at your end**
Setting goals require a strong mental attitude.
Having a strong mental attitude will help one set goals and follow through with them. The three important keys to having a happy life are contentment, happiness, and a good attitude.
We can achieve life-changing success by focusing on our work and expanding boundaries and responsibility. We do not have the option of letting things go or surrounding ourselves with people who make us feel happy in all they do.
One man rises from his bed of disappointment and failed dreams to become successful. He was so busy pursuing his passions at university that he focused on negative things instead of successes and ultimately missed out on gaining an education after his lifetime school goal (all due to family breakdown). Instead of dwelling upon this failure for too long, he decides to prove people wrong who told him it would be impossible to make it without a degree by writing a book.
A lot of people put in hours for their own contentment. Some employees want to be happy at work and some don’t, but what’s rare is the approach of contentment which involves a full demand on oneself, something that speaks that they are looking forward to better opportunities outside of work rather than focusing on only their workplace.
An employee stressing themselves too much might result in “work burnout”, exhaustion, or dissatisfaction with what’s happening at work and how things are going. This can lead them to be less happy from an owner's perspective.
In this age of technology that has also come along with a lot of distractions from work and people rotating between just work and play, it is becoming harder and harder to put in enough effort even when achieving the best results sometimes. Our attitude in life depends on our strength to conquer any challenge.
It is true that if individual aims for long-term outcomes; like in the case of sustainable living, workplace wellness, and altruistic endeavors, the success can be beyond measure. However, many times people don't take these intentions into consideration when they're figuring out their goals but simply decide on what they need and what makes them happy now.
An important takeaway from this article is relating happiness to sustainable living rather than material goods such as experiences or trophies. There are also key points about being able to deal with failure through learning and the value of a healthy lifestyle. "Harvard University's clinical psychologist Shawn Achor has discovered that adding just one simple element to daily activities can dramatically improve happiness.
How to boost your happiness
How to be happy with the little things in life
Being happy with less is about learning how to be happy with life
How to be happy with the little things in life
Learning how to be happy with less is about being happy for the little things in life
How to learn how to be happy with less is about learning how to be content with what you have
For every person, happiness must be achieved, creating a balance between concentration and being happy. One way of achieving happiness, however, is lowering the expectations for what life can do for you. Taking this approach, you open yourself and your future to more possibilities.
Allowing others to struggle for a little financial stability may bring some of them closer to happiness because they will be more willing to work than if they were left out of the struggles in the first place.
We each have our own dreams by which we lead our lives.
Many past quotations have been contributing to shaping dominant perceptions of what success means. A path paved with gold is not a safe path; never count up money alone if losing a loved one hurts in ways that are deeper than conforming to presumed success paths- true distinctions will emerge in this difficult world.
We each have our own dreams by which we lead our lives. There is never a time when dreamers are not needed, we just tend to lose sight of the beauty and magic in them.
If you have a dream and you believe in it and endeavor to make it happen, then that is the future fulfillment. All you need to do is commit to what you want more than everything else - be confident.
We forget about the emotional human element with AI innovating every corner of our lives. Artificial Intelligence, produced by deep emotional intelligence, is inevitable, and inevitable we grow as humans; just not yet at the emotional level that AI could conceive of. Our emotions are there to teach and to warn us, but they need an avenue to do so.
In an excerpt from Carol Dweck's book Mindset, The character Raven describes this part of life in the word "Waiting"
This article is giving me a lot to think about: walking into my office this morning I began to question my actions and how invested I should be with others. Would now be too late for some?
It is not important in what form the dreams come to us, but the importance lies in just holding on to them and keeping moving forward in life.
Love starts with a friendship. It is great to connect your mind and spirit to others who are struggling as well. Our dreams can also become a reality if we do what we love for ourselves as well as for all around us
People must believe that these dreams of theirs will be fulfilled one day if they want them to become true. When we are determined, we can make us achieve anything that comes to our mind ."Yes, you are right. I will try my best to make it happen," Han Seok replied after giving it some thought."Thank you, Han Seok." Jimin thanked him and patted his shoulder.
Alright, there is one thing that I know for sure. Your career will teach you everything there is to know about true happiness.
This article argues that you have to let go of the idea of beauty and perfection. Success and happiness are not in being better than everyone else, they are found in being better than what you expected yourself to be at a more modest point in your journey.
To succeed in my business, I have had to put out the word that things don’t have to be perfect. If you are persistent and focus on your personal strengths, over time your career will define its success or failure by your drive and determination. If you want something done well then do it yourself or pay somebody ELSE to do it for YOU.
Loss and the lesson of detachment
As we go through life, we live a set of experiences where we gain or lose something. It is a way of maintaining the balance of energy between what we receive and what we let go of. In Eastern culture, there is a hierarchy of essential things in a person's life such as values and beliefs, loved ones, respect for nature and living things, and ultimately material things.
Why do I start my post with this paragraph? Because while it is true that fear of loss is in human nature, it manifests itself in people in different ways according to their beliefs and culture, a fundamental aspect also when it comes to overcoming them.
At home from a very young age, I learned detachment from material things, places and lifestyles. Because of my father's job, we traveled a lot, which meant that we moved frequently. So today I could live in an apartment and the next year in a big house with a huge yard. Dealing with changes in countries, cultures, climates, and study methods was easy thanks to my mother. She always said that life is in constant movement, and so adapting to new experiences is the best way to take advantage of them. It was a way to lose the fear of the unknown.
Every time we served our time in a place, I knew something new was coming, and I wasn't afraid to let go of my routine or classmates. This awareness that my time was limited made me enjoy what I had to the fullest, and then I would close that chapter to embark on a new one. I was never afraid of losing a job, friends, or status, as I knew I had the ability and the tools to start from scratch. This awareness of my abilities to restart made me happy.
However, I had never faced the physical loss of a loved one. I believed I had the tools to overcome it, but I did not. When my mother passed away, I suffered for many years in her absence. I could not cope with such intense pain. I thought I would get caught up in these feelings of sadness, anguish, and depression. It had fear and anxiety of unexpectedly losing other loved ones. It was a vicious cycle of fear of losing loved ones that awakened in me other fears that fed back on each other.
One day I realized that this state of sadness had led me to take refuge in long working days for not to think, not to feel. this has affected my health with the consequences of perhaps losing my life. It was at that moment that I began to work on understanding several things:
Everything has a beginning, and everything has an end. It applies to our physical existence.
Some people may be with us for a short or longer time, but someday they will leave our side.
Time is a subjective factor for each person, so we must make the most of it with valuable experiences and expressions of affection.
Our loved ones share life's journey with us, but they are not the center of it.
The people who are part of our life come to us to form a symbiosis of learning. Once they have completed their task, they go on their way.
Transcending from the physical to the spiritual plane requires that we let go of everything along the way until only our essence remains.
When I reflected on all these aspects of the time I shared with my mother, I had peace and tranquility. Her physical departure taught me to enjoy every minute with those I love knowing that our time together is limited. The greatest legacy I can leave to my loved ones is to give the best of myself in every moment as if there is no tomorrow. I do the same with them. I take the best from the ones I love. Knowing that we had happy times together is enough for me.
Slowing down my lifestyle allowed me to recognize the valuable things my mother left in me and those that I gave to her in the time we shared. Her time with me had ended, but leave lessons that I put into practice in my family that I formed when I married. Her legacy was stronger than her absence.
I still have lessons to learn to live detachment to the fullest. Every day, for me, is an opportunity for enriching experiences.
Nothing belongs to us. We are just a part of a whole!
Thanks for reading. See you in a future post!
Strategies to Train Your Mind for Massive Success in Life
Anyone who is interested in improving their performance should read The Human Machine by Arnold Bennett. This book is an excellent resource. By applying the principle of attraction in your life, you can retrain your brain to think in ways that will bring you more joy and success in all aspects of your existence. Team Tony disseminates the essential principles and success stories taught by Tony Robbins. It is essential to get your head in the game before you compete. Read this book if you want to find out more! Also, make sure you have a copy in your possession!
If you train your mind, it is possible for your goals to become a reality. Visualize how incredible it would be to accomplish what you set out to do, and then see yourself actually doing it. It will make it easier for you to concentrate on the task at hand, so boosting the likelihood of your being successful. You can accomplish this by shutting your eyes and seeing yourself achieving the goal you have set for yourself. You could also try meditating as a means of improving your mental health. You could learn to practice mindfulness meditation in order to boost your level of concentration.
It is essential to maximize the potential of your mind in order to realize your ambitions and enhance the quality of your existence. This book will show you how to break bad habits and build positive ones in order to improve your life. If you can learn to take control of your thoughts, you can build a new life for yourself and become the best possible version of who you are. Throughout the course of reading this book, you will acquire the knowledge necessary to improve your ability to concentrate, lift your spirits, and maintain your drive. This book will teach you how to comprehend your own mental processes and how to put that knowledge to work for you to achieve your goals.
To put your ideas to work for your success, you should begin by centering your attention on your goals and aspirations. Your thoughts are the gasoline that keep your life going, and they have the power to either propel you forward toward your goals or work against you. You will have more control over your life if you make a conscious effort to control and manage the thoughts that run through your head on a consistent basis. When you use your imagination, you have the ability to conceive of and construct the life that you wish to live. You can change the course of your life and alter your destiny if you learn how to tap into the power of your mind and use it effectively.
Utilizing your intelligence as a means to effect positive change in your life is a terrific strategy for doing so. The author has developed a list of guidelines that, when followed, will allow you to realize the full potential of your mind. The most essential thing to do is to satisfy your requirements using your intelligence. When you have completed all of these steps, your subconscious mind will work in conjunction with you to assist you in creating the life you've always dreamed of living. Once you have an understanding of how your mind works, you will be able to apply the concepts to any situation.
The human mind is an incredible organ. On the other hand, it may also serve as a considerable barrier. It has the capacity to prevent you from accomplishing the goals you have set for yourself and to wreak havoc in your life. On the other hand, it has the potential to be the driving force behind your joy and success. In addition, your mental capacity gives you the power to bring into existence everything your heart desires. Therefore, rather than letting your thoughts run your life, train yourself to take control of them and use them to your advantage. It can be of assistance to you in conquering problems and boosting the amount of work that you get done.
The Benefit of not Dying
**Will you live forever?**
The other day I was talking to a colleague about wealth and how humans are at a disadvantage, because *we die.* He didn't quite get what I meant at first, but essentially a company operates as a human that can generate wealth and own property, but it never has to "pass on" that property as it never dies, meaning there will never be an inheritance tax paid on that ownership as it never gets transferred. However, there are other loopholes in there too, where for example dividends have already had tax paid on them by the company, which is almost invariably lower than personal tax, meaning that the gains made by an investor are taxed at a lower rate than personal income. These percentages add up over time and can make massive differences at retirement.
Also, this is a big part of the reason that share remuneration is more attractive than getting the cash. For example, Tim Cook from Apple got paid about 3 million in taxable income, 12 million in bonuses and then, 82 million in shares in 2021. This means that he pays the personal tax on the salary, owns the shares (that could go up or down) and pays the tax on the dividends when paid, which is lower than he would pay if getting the same amount in salary. He also had 5 million shares vest in 2021 - about 750 million dollars worth.
**The rich get richer for a very good reason**.
Essentially, because of the way taxes work in general around the world, ownership is going to bring in additional benefits and that means that those who own will invariably get wealthier, while those who rent will get poorer, increasing the wealth gap. But, this is obvious, isn't it? Even those who don't rent, but don't invest, are going to be "penalized" for not earning through passive income mechanisms.
Of course, none of us live forever and eventually, all businesses fail, but this is part of the reason that investments into bluechip stocks are so lucrative, as even though there is little chance of fast gains, the compounded dividend gains over time, combined with the tax benefits make them "safe" bets. However, many people (especially these days) are looking for the short win, because the are seeing it from the perspective of their own mortality, which is an unknown quantity, but our psychology tells us to "live now" rather than *invest for tomorrow.*
Life is not guaranteed tomorrow - and *neither is death.* However, we should probably look at it statistically as to whether we are going to invest into the possibility we will survive a new day or not. If we are 30 years of age and healthy, we should probably look at ways to save money where we can and invest it into living a long life. If we are 30 and have stage 4 cancer, we might choose differently, depending on other factors- like whether we have children or not. If we are 70 years of age, we might want to spend less time saving, but that is going to depend on what we did when we were 30, isn't it?
I was reading of a pensioner who drives around to 4 supermarkets to chase bargains, as she only has 100 dollars a fortnight for groceries, which is very, very little in Australia. However (and without knowing her history), is this a case of the economy collapsing or, the decisions she has made in earlier life? Obviously, each case is unique in many ways, but again, shouldn't we play the numbers?
Statistically speaking, those who invest into generating passive income will be in a better financial situation at retirement than those who don't. Knowing this means that the *Average person* should be doing what they can to get invested, because the average person *is* going to reach retirement age, because that is what the statistics tell us.
We also know that statistically, the people whose parents invested are going to likely have a better financial life experience than those whose parents didn't, so even if we don't survive, if we have children, it is in *their best interest* that we get invested. And, since parents claim the "as long as they are happy" mentality in regard to children, it is also in *our best interest* to invest, as there are *very few people* who are happy in financial instability.
It would be interesting to know what households fight over the most, cross-referenced with the impact of that argument topic on experience. For example, fighting over the remote or leaving dirty clothes on the floor or, arguing about how to find the money to buy new school clothes for a child. I'd say, that a lot of the stress we experience in life that provides negative experience centers around our ability to make money, save money, spend money and provide money in some way. Having money doesn't stop the arguments about the dirty clothes, but it does mean not having to worry about which brand of cheese to buy. Then, factor in other stressors that are money related like childcare, illness and entertainment, and "having money" takes out a lot of the worry, possibly also lessening the chances for other arguments.
The fact is, we are all going to die, no matter how much or little money we have, but if we are looking to maximize our quality of life experience, I'd suggest that doing what we can when we are younger, will lead to a better general quality of life across other factors that might not be money related - like relationships. Rather than talking about what can be afforded, the conversation can be about other more personal values, the kinds of things that make life worth living.
Some people live to be rich, thinking that it is the amount of money they have which brings happiness, but money is just a tool. This tool though, can be used to affect our direct experience in this life in numerous ways and as such, having the tool available in the toolbox is valuable, especially when in some cases due to the way society functions, it is the only tool for the job.
I guess, the thing we have to each work out for ourselves is what *quality of life* means to us now and also, what we expect it to mean to us in the future. It is impossible to accurately predict what the future holds, let alone how we will feel about it, but perhaps we should try to simulate a future where we are struggling to feed ourselves and visualize telling our child that we can't afford for them to go to school. Is that the experience we feel we will want at that point in our lives?
Statistically, very few of us are going to ever be financially wealthy, but this doesn't mean that we can't affect our financial outcomes and increase our chances of building a life experience we value. And, perhaps like exercising or a sport, financial consideration becomes a hobby that provides value too, meaning that it isn't just the endgoal that we are chasing, but it is adding to our daily experience positively too - something few seem willing to admit. Perhaps it is because of the social stigma we put on the acquisition of money.
The saving grace is that once we are dead, like everything, we don't have to worry about any of it again. We can die poor in the same way that most of us are going to die without sixpack abs, as highly proficient musicians or a person who discovers a cure for cancer.
"Keys to becoming a more disciplined person"
Hello dear friends, I hope you had a great weekend. Today I want to talk to you about some excellent strategies that we can use to improve our discipline or in case we learn to be disciplined. I know it is not something easy and it takes time and even more when we have always had bad habits, so I hope these keys will be very useful for you.
The first thing I think we must keep in mind is, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE A CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE AND IN YOUR ROUTINES. This is fundamental, because if you don't know it, it is useless to start because you will leave it very soon, this supposed change will not last at all and you will only make a pointless effort. Once you talk to yourself and you are willing to change, then yes, we can start a new routine.
SET GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WITH A PURPOSE, whenever you want to achieve something in life it must be because in the end you will achieve something important, we must always have something that motivates us to move forward, for example, if my purpose is to lose weight, I have to implement new routines that will lead me to that goal, exercise, eat healthy, among other things. Many times the motivation goes away, not every day we are in a good mood or eager to move forward, but discipline will keep us on the right path.
YOU MUST DIVIDE YOUR GOALS IN SMALL ADVANCES, remember that things do not come overnight, and this is a big problem because most people want to achieve immediate changes and the reality is different. So if you set very big goals in the short term you will surely get discouraged and abandon the path. It is better to be realistic and move forward in small steps, little by little you will reach your goal.}
YOU MUST FOLLOW YOUR PROGRESS VERY CLOSELY, it is necessary to be able to measure our progress, for that reason set an exact date for each small goal you want to achieve. This will help us to know how we are doing and see if we are really doing things right. On the other hand, YOUR GOALS MUST BE ANNUAL, MONTHLY, WEEKLY AND DAILY, this will keep us always active and eager to keep moving forward every day.
YOU MUST BE ATTENTIVE TO DISTRACTIONS, while you are productive and focused on your goals try as much as possible not to get distracted, keep the focus, distractions such as social networks for example, only make us lose time and this takes us further and further away from our goals.
I'm not saying that you can not be distracted, just that for everything there is time, if it is time to work and focus away everything that can take you out of that path. And if it's time to have fun or rest, make the most of it.
I hope these strategies are very helpful for you, thank you very much for your attention.
Karma or balance?
I never thought that after this day I was going to sit down at the laptop to write a publication, but the truth is that I have understood that when you go through strong things that unbalance you or have some noticeable effect on you, the best thing is to vent, talk about it , put it in different contexts to see if that way the load or the effect is diminished.
The truth is that as I write these lines my eyes are watery enough to think that at any moment I would start crying, it is not because of physical pain, nor is it due to lack of love, not at all, rather it is about life as a whole and the fact that when you are doing important things, in one way or another something always happens that stops you or tries to do it.
I think that more than frustrated, I have an inexplicable feeling inside of what I have called karma, because the truth is that in this last year many good things have happened to me that I had always wanted and far beyond my real expectations.
And I mean a karma when in reality it should be a balance of life, an invisible scale but quite sensible where good is on one side and evil on the other.
I don't remember who the person was, but there are many times we hear "after the storm comes calm", in my case the opposite is happening, the calm becomes a rather tedious storm.
It is not a secret that the economy of our country is horrible, that the opportunities to work in offices or hours are reduced taking into account the payment and how little you can do with it; That is why I have always said that Hive is a blessing that people who have the opportunity to be here should treasure it and value it before doing something foolish.
I have said it many times but I must emphasize, renting life is disgusting, savings do not exist and that is why new projects came into my life together with my partner and my daughter Danna.
However, everything has been clouded from the beginning, because the worst thing that humans can do is expect that things will happen or can happen as they plan or think, reality is totally raw and cruel.
Even so, as humans we do not give up, even more so knowing that by achieving this project we will obtain some peace.
Although our plans had been simplified and calculated, even with this I must say that for me, especially for me, it has been complicated and frustrating.
I think that I have expressed to all the people I have met that I am a person who likes to follow certain administrative patterns, above all planning, so that the margin of error is as small as possible.
Words should not be thrown to the wind just as things should not be told with an "I believe" when you are not sure of it, and much more if this implies that it can have an impact on a third party, and we are talking about a monetary term. , that although I remind you in my country it is VERY important, since it is jodi... to obtain it.
With this I do not want to blame, I think that the culprit is me according to what I believe, for trusting completely and not making sure that what they say is true, it is best to count with the eyes and not with the fingers.
In the same way, I must learn not only to say repeatedly that things cannot be left in the hands of another, I must act and do things my way, because if they still go wrong, I do not think I feel even twice How bad can I feel right now?
Today was a rainy day, apart from being tense I was quite worried about the fact that I'm in debt, something that hasn't even been a week and I'm already thinking about how to pay, however, Danna is a wonderful thing, she usually gives me a temporary calm that it makes me forget everything, I really wish it wasn't that way, but rather permanent.
But the day has more than 12 hours of which I can be in the street doing a thousand things and among them the karma or balance is present. Well, after getting some excellent budgets and in a certain way having concentrated on being able to achieve everything that has come my way in recent days, another chaos is upon me.
From a cup of chocolate dreamed of by the family, a time belt breaks and leaves us injured almost drifting. We had the plan to end the long day with my family but, as I told you, there is the existing but not palpable balance of life.
Something good happened early, it's time for something bad to happen. I'm not saying that I'm going to normalize it, but it really seems that life works this way, as if you have to give it a sacrifice quota and that way everything stays in order.
Earlier I had sent a voice note to a very important person and whom I esteem very much, and I couldn't stand it, with a broken voice I practically asked for help because I didn't know what to do, I didn't know who he was and I didn't know what was happening to me either. From so much pressure that I had, I exploded in a way that maybe that person could think that I was going crazy. It was at that moment that Danna approached me, perched on my arm and it was as if she was inviting me to see the outside, to breathe. That in the end I did.
But sometimes like at the end of this afternoon, as a human I can't just breathe, except when I feel things inside me that tell me to run, scream, cry! or even sometimes, it ends with you.
Thoughts About Decision Making¡;
Starting your own business is not always an option, nor is every person's dream. It's often left to aspiring entrepreneurs or career changers, who don't have the physical resources and time to get it off the ground. There are a number of ways you can invest in yourself with less than worry about proceeding with caution before taking that leap into entrepreneurship:
Apprenticeships: Apprenticeships give you a taste of what entrepreneurship is like in your own field. Having to do everything from administrative work to negotiations over rates can be incredibly instructive while avoiding the uncertainties that come with starting a new business from scratch.
Education: The decision to get a degree or go back to school should never be one taken lightly, but it pays off long term if it helps position you for new career opportunities.
When we think about success, freedom, or income at a relatively low level of sacrifice, few things in our minds are as attractive as investing.
The risk involved may put off some new investors and people who are simply unfamiliar with this kind of business. It makes sense that seeing it come down to the line has a certain degree of complexity people don't fully understand. And the decisions usually come down to whether they have the time and capacity that's going to allow them to grow or not.
Once we understand what we really want out of life, will our decisions start to make sense and have a purpose?
In order to make the right decision, there has to be an intersection between data and human intelligence.
The more qualitative information that you incorporate into your decision-making process, the weightier it becomes.
In order to control our finances, we need resources such as a savings plan or something. Lacking any of these resources or natural skills, in most cases, one becomes a pawn for other people's needs or ambitions.
Gaining more knowledge and making more rational decisions will improve the quality of life for the decision-maker.
Whatever the choice, in most cases there is no right or wrong. The best thing that everyone can do is not make the decision until they are feeling confident that they have gathered enough information and made sure it will support their decision.
When talking about life, it is easy to forget about money and make the consequences of not making good financial decisions come back and haunt you. Managing your assets well by saving money, budgeting, and making an investment in it will lead to more future success, happiness, and freedom in life.
Managing your assets the wrong way is minimizing their potential. The consequences of a poor money decision can have rebounded in other aspects of our lives. Hence it's crucial that we look into every option of them. Especially so when the prosperity of future generations is involved.
With factual statistics being provided here, we hope that readers will be less inclined to consider any option as something frivolous or improbable when decision-making is important to us all!
Lust on the train
An erotic style story that immerses us in the romance of a young couple, after eloping from a prom to live a lustful night inside a train bound for France.
Despite warnings from Jennifer's parents, the two young people decide to elope tonight after prom. After almost a year of maintaining an exciting love affair that overflowed their senses with every encounter, these two soul mates felt the sexual impulse exalted far beyond their adolescent hormones, both experienced a magical attraction that exploded from within them every time they were close, to the point of feeling an inexplicable glow in their blood that burned their nerves just by touching their hands.
Ursón knew that the opportunity to amalgamate love, much more than just a warm kiss in the classroom, had finally arrived. So, with his beloved's consent, he planned a whole sequence of actions in secret, to leave the dance without anyone noticing and head for a love nest, where they could break down the barriers of decorum. While the 80s disco music was playing in the background, announcing the beginning of the crazy hour at the party, the two lovers escaped through the back door of the hall, where they had already prepared a change of clothes and two bicycles that would allow them to get away from the school.
After a few minutes of riding, they parked the improvised hand-operated vehicles at the city's main railroad station, where they boarded a tourist express bound for France. The trip would provide them several hours with a comfortable cabin and a pleasant ride, enjoying the multicolored, flower-filled landscapes of the European countryside in this spring season. A first classroom on the railroad welcomes them, with all the comforts that luxury can pay for with a student's savings, the smell of fresh red roses adorning the small table on the side of the room, invades Jennifer's mind along with the fine details of the surprise, which also include; 2 packages of chocolate chocolates; a bottle of French-style sparkling wine and a box; delicately placed on the white silk sheets of the bed, where a set of intimate apparel, adorned with lace and fiery red rhinestones, is displayed.
The girl takes the lingerie set in her hands and delicately placed it on her beautiful face, feeling the softness of the cold satin fabric, which causes her such intense joy that makes her eyes shine, while she throws her boyfriend a mischievous and exciting smile, biting part of her lips, then hiding for a few seconds her gaze while she takes a deep breath, making sure that everything is real, and she is not among the clouds in the sky. Ursón slowly hugs her from behind and with words in a low tone of voice, he says into her ear as he caresses her:
— Welcome to the best night of your life!
She shudders, intimidated and trembling with the desire to discover new experiences in her sexuality, while the powerful arms of her boyfriend, captain of the soccer team, press her against his chest, whispering soft romantic phrases, at the same time he brushes his lips against her neck, moving down to her breasts. Slowly, he turns her over, leaving them face to face, radiating a majestic love that is demonstrated with a deep and unbridled kiss like never before, introducing his tongue to play inside the sensual mouth with thin lips of this blonde girl, who is about to succumb to unbridled carnal desire. Ursón begins to unbutton her pale blouse, which was confused with the blushing skin of his beautiful girlfriend, when she showed him her rigid, first-time nipples, majestically crowning round, small breasts, which harden more and more, with each caress, unleashing hot rivers that overflow into her crotch, shuddering all her senses.
An instinctive nervous reaction makes her jump unexpectedly, before falling surrendered to the desire flowing from within her, heating her whole body. Confused as to how she can make amends for the mistake that, for a few seconds, disconcerted the romantic atmosphere in which they were entangled. Jennifer puts her hand on the beefy chest of her armored knight, to feel his firm musculature and with an affectionate gesture, she comes closer brushing his nose, and tells him with a sensual voice:
— A little slower, please.
— I want to dress properly and debut the clothes you gave me.
The girl goes to the bathroom for a few minutes to change her attire, while the excited boy tries to placate his desire with a glass of wine, so as not to erupt like a volcano in the Pacific and ruin the romantic evening. Sitting on the bed he begins his endless wait, as all the memories cascade into his mind from the first day he discovered the new student lost among the corridors, it was a boundless attraction that united them, like a piece of metal to a magnet, despite not knowing each other beforehand, something strange without a doubt. It is inexplicable how such a beautiful girl, was hidden for so long in a family on the outskirts of the locality, without attending formal education or events of the town's teenagers, finding her without a doubt, was a needle in a haystack.
Scratching his confused neck, rambling in his ungraceful mind, the footballer recalls what, at all times, they had to keep their relationship a secret from Jennifer's family. Especially from the father, who became quite violent every time he even saw him near her, reiterating to her many times to stay away from his daughter, or he would pay the consequences. He constantly thought that he was exaggerating his role of protective dad, but looking at things closely, it was more than logical, since he had hidden her from everyone's sight for years, until Jennifer appeared that day in the halls and Urson found her, to fall madly in love with her, being willing to do anything to keep his love forever. So it was proved today and even more when he asks her to be his wife after everything happens, with the ring hidden under the pillow. The sound of the bathroom door opening, pulls the young man violently out of his cloud of memories, to draw a big smile on his face, as he admires the work of art displayed before his eyes.
Jennifer is wearing the erotic garter belt that she chose with so much detail in the wedding store, which fits perfectly to her slender body, highlighting the curves of her waist, which open the way to her voluptuous rounded buttocks of smooth and smooth skin. The girl walks towards him slowly, captivating, she lets herself fall on the bed on her back, opening her legs slowly while her bud emerges, showing itself moistened with heavenly nectar between the fine mesh fabric of the panties, adding itself as one more flower, to the spring landscape. She vibrates with every caress, as the young man climbs her body to ride in her loins for a long time, until, suddenly, he realized that Jennifer stopped breathing for no apparent reason, tears of blood escaping from her eyes that slid down her spectacular satiny face until they met the disturbing expression of happiness that reflected on her lifeless lips and that he would remember forever. The railroad doctors determined that the girl died of a stroke during the sexual act when a congenital aneurysm burst inside her brain.
Gonna have to fake it...
Well, that didn't go quite as expected.
We drove two hours each way to pick up a secondhand lamp, with the plan to spend a couple hours playing somewhere with Smallsteps after lunch - but lunch took *over three hours!* When we first ordered they said the kitchen would take 45 minutes - but it ended up being almost two hours just to get our meal - which feels like four hours with a hungry child and an *annoyed wife.*
And, this was a burger joint.
This meant that instead of doing anything at all whilst there, we essentially drove, ate lunch (finally) picked up the lamp and drove home. As you can imagine, Smallsteps was pretty thrilled, however, we were pretty impressed at the way she handled it all and before starting to drive back, we found a toy store and picked her up a little thank you gift for her patience.
We don't normally get her presents for behaving well, but it is also her "name day" coming up and we haven't really celebrated it before, so this year we are making an effort. Also, I think it isn't bad to occasionally have surprise gifts for these kinds of things, as long as they don't become the expected result of good behavior, as we don't want her to act well for the gift itself.
I think I should get a gift.
*No such luck.*
Driving was pretty hard today and I was *falling asleep* along the way, no matter how much coffee I was drinking. I think it is because I am still feeling the effects of having the flu recently and sleep hasn't been of the highest quality. Also, I don't think I have been driving that much over the last few years, especially any kind of distance. I used to drive a few thousand kilometers a month for work, plus personal - but now it is like I barely need a car. "Barely" is a large exaggeration. But, since my wife is also feeling ill, I assume it is actually just that we are still recovering.
I just realized I don't have a picture of the lamp....
*Next time.*
My memory isn't great at the best of times, it is worse at the moment. My motivation isn't very high either! And I have been feeling it at work. But, I am guessing that most people aren't that motivated at work normally anyway, so I probably just blend into the crowd.
I am not a very good sick person.
So, starting tomorrow, I am going to have to have a bit of an attitude adjustment and be a better sick person. Instead of feeling like crap, I will pretend I feel great and get out in the garden and mow the lawn for *the first time this year* - which it badly needs. They say that *attitude is everything* so perhaps I can "fake it til I make it" into a healthy, sunny disposition.
What are the chances?
Have you ever tried to change your mood just by faking it? I have and it can work, but it takes a bit of commitment and a fair bit of avoidance, depending on how "in the funk" I happen to be at the time. However stick with it and it is possible to *turn a frown upside down...
Or at least sideways.
*Sideways frowning sounds a bit rude.*
But as normal, just spending some time writing has helped improve my feelings already and it likely shows a little toward the end, as I feel I am starting to get my humor back.
Perhaps I should wake my wife up and tell her some jokes.
I am sure she'd be happy to know I am on the mend.
*She knows all about faking it!*
How to Listen to Your Inner Voice for Greater Fulfillment
To begin, you should concentrate on listening to your internal monologue so that you can remain in contact with it. The information we take in is constantly being processed by our thoughts. Our thoughts aren't always aligned with the things we truly want to do. If we do not pay attention to the voice that comes from inside, we may miss opportunities to gain insight, find our way, or discover the truth. Figure out how to tune in and make a connection with your inner guidance. It is not always simple to comprehend, but making the effort to do so is well worth the reward.
You might be presented with frightening choices by your inner voice, but those choices might also be the ones that are absolutely required. If you pay attention to the advice that your intuition gives you, you'll be in a better position to make the choices that are best for you. If you're unhappy or dissatisfied with your life, it's important to listen to the voice of your inner self. It will illuminate the way ahead for you, even though at first glance it could appear intimidating. It is possible that there are stones inside, or that there are none at all. No matter what happens, you won't be unhappy or dissatisfied.
You may find that listening to your intuition can help you arrive at the best conclusions imaginable. It is possible for it to pave the way for a life that is rich in significance and joy. If you pay close attention and listen carefully, you will find the solutions that you have been looking for all along. You will be able to get a better understanding of what it is saying if you work to develop your connection to it. You will progressively get more adept at listening, and you will be able to identify it when it communicates with you.
You are not the only person who has these thoughts and feelings. A significant number of individuals are unable to maintain communication with the parts of themselves that are most important to them. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get in touch with yours. To make a difference in one's life, all it takes is a short period of solitude and reflection each day. When you are attentive and silent, the voice of your subconscious will speak to you more. Therefore, do not delay and begin listening to it right away! If you haven't heard it before, you aren't giving it your whole attention when you do listen to it.
Your own internal dialogue will be the strongest advocate and cheerleader for you. It will help you make the most important decisions for your life that are feasible. It will tell you the truth and guide you in the right direction as you move forward. You will be able to make the most accurate decisions possible with the help of your intuition and inner voice. If you listen to it now, you will have a greater likelihood of listening to it again in the future. By doing so, you will be able to hear it more clearly and maintain contact with the part of yourself that is most important to you.
The advice and support you get from your own inner voice are the ones you can rely on the most. If you pay attention to what it has to say, you'll be able to discover your own inner guidance and move closer to the activities and pursuits that excite you. As a direct result of this, you will experience increased levels of happiness as well as increased levels of success.
When you pay attention to the advice and direction offered by your intuition, you will have all you require. This is a wonderful and highly effective strategy for leading a life that is both pleasant and purposeful. It can help you improve the quality of the decisions you make as well as the interactions you have with other people.
Diamond Plans
The obvious expectation is that we are heading for quite a severe bear market in all economies *except banking,* but for some reason, this makes me a bit cautious - because every time the global consensus says "this is what will happen" it ends up being quite different in reality.
Of course, the tech stock fall is to be expected, as they have been massively inflated over the last two years due to Covid and now, those early investors are looking to dump, buy back low and benefit from the next bull market.
Aren't we all?
But, when will the next bull arrive?
The thing is, that regardless of what people say, *no one really knows* because there are so many factors in play. However, when there are millions of people taking guessing, it is also pretty obvious that a large number of them are going to be correct or close enough. Once they are, they spout themselves as knowledgeable and people listen, until they are wrong - and then they select the next guru out of the thousands who guessed the next signal correctly and the cycle repeats.
So, who to listen to?
TIP: *Not me.*
It isn't easy and if you are listening to anyone out there, have you acted upon what you have heard, because most do not. For example, You if you look at the majority of large holders on Hive, what you will find is that almost uniformly, they are *holders* in general, meaning that while they do likely trade, they are looking for more stability where they don't have to trade for gain, for example in DeFi yield pools, or in HIVE POWER etc.
The fact is, trading takes a hell of a lot of time and consistency, and there is a fair amount of risk considering the reward. So, those who have a fair amount already, aren't going to spend that much of their time trading, when they can instead earn with more stability and certainty, even if the percentages are very low. However, "low percentage" doesn't mean it is actually that low with respect to other investment returns, so it is all relative.
While there are always opportunities, personally I don't have the mental, physical or emotional bandwidth to constantly trade, so instead I find ways to earn without trading, for example through curation or creating content. This way, my mind and body isn't constantly under the pressure to perform *or lose.* For example, even if the prices fall 20% right now, I haven't lost anything, because I am not selling anything and until I do, all the value is theoretical.
But, while these little trickles here and there might be relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of my daily life, in the and scheme of crypto future, they are likely going to add up and amount to something significant. And when things change, that change in volume is going to matter.
But when?
It doesn't matter. Well, at least not right now, but be warned that when things move, they can move upward very, very quickly and when they do, many people are going to be caught unawares, even though they have been hoping for that upward movement. All the people who say "I will stack at the bottom" tend not to, because the *bottom* is never bottom enough, because what if it goes just that little bit further down. There is a greed in there somewhere, isn't there?
It is the same with selling the top of course.
I am *nowhere near* where I want to be with my crypto holdings yet, but if there is a bull market today, I would be pretty comfortable for as long as it lasted at least. But, I can't just be okay in the bulls, I need to be okay in the bears too and this is something that I feel I am still not prepared enough for, especially considering that the entire economy is likely imploding and inflation is going to well outstrip my wage growth.
Still, I count myself relatively lucky that I have been able to position myself in a way that I have been able to keep increasing my token amount, even if the value of that amount keeps falling. I think that come the bull, I will be glad that I didn't panic sell, but at the same time - I should have sold more when the opportunity arose.
Selling is still an issue for me.
*Selling anything really.*
I like to own, I like to stake, I like to see holdings going up. And, since my plan is to eventually live 100% in crypto, this is the pathway I need to take, but sometimes I think I am a *little to early* to have this mindset.
While all indications are that we are headed for a recessive bear market globally, I think that there is still some opportunity for surprise in the markets, especially since there is so much loss and volatility being blamed on the circumstances of war in Ukraine surrounding supply chain and availability. These conditions tend to change quickly and, they nearly always benefit the investors and average people wear the costs - which I don't think is a coincidence.
So, for me at least, I wouldn't be surprised if this "deep, long and drawn-out" bear market is surprisingly shallow and short, before the upward momentum swings back into the big coins and then trickles across the many alts to fire the markets up again.
What is shallow?
Well, rather than think about what the bottom might be, why not think about the top? If for example you think Bitcoin is going to be worth 100K in two years, what are you willing to pay for it now? Is 30K a bargain? Too expensive? If you are waiting for 20K, will it ever come and is 3.5x in two years not good enough for you?
If you already have holdings and BTC is going to be 100K in two years - what are you willing to sell at today?
It is worth thinking about. *Bull or Bear.*
Sentimentally Influential
I am "back at work" today, with the quotation marks indicating that while I am technically working, I am not operating at full efficiency. This is my first day back since getting Covid and while I don't have a fever, I do still have the lingering tiredness that comes with *any flu.* On top of that, there has been far too many painkillers consumed, which is on top of what I take since the stroke and, it hasn't really agreed with me.
I feel lethargic, foggy and a little muddled, but I have a lot of work to do this month and a month to do it is not very long at all. But hey, working under a bit of pressure isn't all that bad, is it?
Sometimes I wish I could do a mindless job, where I just do some kind of set task that I can automate mentally and just repeat over and over. Of course, I will probably get bored doing this once I have to do it, but sometimes I think that it is what I might need to feel like I am making progress - by doing things where the process, outcomes and expectations are clear.
These days, there is very little clarity on any of these things, yet I still have to make sure that I meet the expectations of all stakeholders, which is easier said than done, when there are competing desires within the stakeholder group. This doesn't mean that they necessarily want different things either, it could just be that their understanding of what they want is looking at the same thing from different perspectives.
There are the strategic considerations and the tactical, and I am not really good at the tactical side of things. The strategic is pretty easy, as it is looking out with softer eyes into the distance of time to consider where we are and where we want to be. The tactical is how we are going to get there and while I see that long view, I am not great at organizing all of the little steps along the path. But, I am not on the steering committee board, so I have to keep "fish out of watering" it for some time to come.
I was thinking about this a little though and was wondering, what if I was in a position where I didn't have to work, would that then "qualify" me for a thought leadership role? It seems that often, the people who are *listened to* are those who don't actually have to work anymore and I was wondering if it is because there is the expectation that they will be more honest, since they don't have to do it for the money. This doesn't mean it is an accurate appraisal, but we do tend to listen to those we see as successful more than those we do not and often, wealth signals success.
For example, in a hypothetical situation where crypto booms to the sun and I don't have to work at all - I wonder if I went in and quit my job, if the people who have been negative on crypto, would start to change their tune. Would my success be the "social proof" they need to get involved?
It is hard to say of course, but I think that it is why so many people follow the advice of influencers, because they figure that the influencer is successful and therefore, should know. However, the influence really should be domain specific, but it tends not to be. Just becasue someone can successfully generate attention on a social media platform, doesn't mean they are qualified to talk about healthcare. Similarly, just because someone is a coder, doesn't mean they are qualified to talk about the economics of Bitcoin.
I don't know what I am qualified for - but I tend to do a lot of random stuff.
Jack of all trades, master of none
Maybe it is more - *Jack all trades.*
It actually worries me a bit, because if I do have to work another 25 years, I don't think I have the skills to stay employed all of that time. I will be replaced by either faster, younger, smarter *or an AI.*
Many are in this boat.
Robots don't get ill, they don't get the flu and with good enough coding, they will outperform even the best of us, so what chance do the average and below have?
Make hay while the sun shines.
I wonder if the people who are avoiding work currently, will miss the opportunity to work once it is no longer available. I think a lot assume that there will always be money from somewhere to take care of them, but I don't think that is the case. At some point, there will not be enough needed for workers and without enough employed, there is no money for social services. Then what?
I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it, but in the meantime, I will keep working with crypto on the side for a just in case future where I will be able to walk into work and quit, but become more employable because people will think that I am successful.
It's all about market sentiment.
Is this my reality?
-I always wanted to know why I live in these conditions, why do these kinds of things happen to me? What have I really missed? Why don't I enjoy some things that are good for me? These are questions that I have asked myself during my life since I was 15 years old. Only before, long before I knew what a computer really was, I only had a console; an Xbox Classic, in which I spent almost every day playing, until by accident, due to my fault, it was damaged in 2012. But what does it have to do with all this?
I try to find the meaning of my words but not being able to understand and manage to understand the meaning in each one of them, understanding is complicated; Getting complicated is even easier than understanding things, isn't it? Having peace in my mind is no longer something easy that can be achieved in these circumstances where I am treading. One day you just go from seeing a console to something much bigger than that, what the world sees every day through a screen.
I can not say that I am sorry about it, since I have learned both good things and bad things that are around the Internet, even fun I could add. Even so, I have to live with it and with this mind in which I try to understand the meanings of the new things I encounter: Stories, people, feelings, situations, empathy, pain. Music, another thing in which I also have to learn to live with it, listen to it every day, over and over again, but it's not boring at all; because you have in yourself new sensations, new emotions even if they are the same; but they feel different at the same time.
This has nothing to do with the drawing, but perhaps it represents something that many of us could simply understand, it is the dream. Exactly, a dream, are we really asleep or awake? Sometimes we say that "This is so false that it seems like a dream", and that is because we cannot find a way to differentiate between reality and the virtual. Nor can I assimilate that I have married so soon with the person I really love, I believed, no, I believed that I would never get married because of how the world is destroying itself every time: people mistrusting each other, friendships gradually fading, respect, everything is fading and many do not realize it.
This ring that I have, this engagement ring, for many does not have many meanings, but for me it is important to keep it and maintain it, because it represents what my heart and mind have accepted, something that many no longer do with the person they love. really love. Commitment. Everything that has happened to me so far, writing at the moment, drawing, and many other things that I could mention. I don't know if this is reality or not. If this isn't real, I don't know what is.
What everyone should know
We are now entering into the last day of the Splinterlands season, which is affectionately known as the silly season for rental prices. But, starting in a day, this might be the last of them, as the new rewards mechanisms could flatten the curve at the end, seeing more steady prices for rentals throughout the 16 days instead. It is going to be interesting to watch.
Yep, I missed the snip...
I like the end of the season shenanigans however, because it is a bit of fun jigging the numbers around and trying to predict what people are going to do to make up their CP. This season, I have gone a bit lower and will likely wait until later in the season before raising them, only because I have a bit more time to play, since I am sick at home from work. The difference in outcome doesn't matter that much, as it is only going to affect by maybe 10% or so, but still - *fun with numbers* is a thing.
Don't tell my math teacher.
I sucked at math at school. Well, I was really, really good with simple math and cutting up pizza and fruit for fractions and the like, but once it became more theoretical and less practical (meaning I couldn't eat the results), it all went above my head. These days of course, I wish I had learned more and studied harder, as well as did more statistics classes at university than the couple I had to. I sucked at them too, but that information would come in handy now.
Funny how something that I had very little interest in as a kid, is where I now spend a great deal of my time as an adult. I think this illustrates how poor children are at predicting their needs for the future. This doesn't mean adults are much better at predicting it for them, but at least when it comes to core components, maybe adults with enough experience know relatively well what is likely to be needed.
I see it as the "building blocks" of skill, where there are things like reading, writing and mathematics that are core to our development, Some I know have argued for example, that with computers and "smart" technologies, these skills are less applicable, but I think that they is the point. The value is in the development of the brain and thought patterns, not necessarily in the need to apply them in every day life. It is similar to the "read them fairytales" argument for developing intelligence, is isn't the fairytales that are important, it is the engagement of the imagination to build a world in the mind's eye that doesn't exist.
This is the value I see in participating here on Hive or in the crypto scene in general, as it allows for a comprehensive, engaging and very practical look at economics. It is like when I was in primary school cutting up those oranges and pizzas in my imagination to visualize fractions, except I am able to interact directly with them, in a kind of "augmented reality" from the economic perspective. This means that I am able to learn and of course, there is the benefit of earning along the way and understanding the processes with very real skin in the game.
From my own observations, I have seen many, many people over the years completely change their economic futures through participating here in more than just the sense of earning. Many have fundamentally changed their outlook on finance, the economy and their personal decisions in order to become far more savvy in the way they use their funds.
What tends to be the largest shift is the lengthening of the viewpoint of what is "long" in terms of an investment return, with the people who have moved from the weeks and months into the multiple years and decade, doing the best. This doesn't mean they are always the ones who buy the low and sell the high, but they are the ones who are consistently staying active and growing their stacks.
"Mind on my money, money on my mind"
While money isn't everything, if we are actually going to "be our own bank", we are going to have to start behaving a little bit more like banks, meaning that we have to consider our resources carefully and do far more investing to generate income, than spending to waste potential. While we might be in the pursuit of happiness, every move a bank makes is in the pursuit of money and profit for stakeholder wealth, and what we have to seriously remember is, *we are the stakeholders in our own future.*
If we aren't behaving in ways that support our future happiness, no one else is going to do it for us. Behavior is driven through conditioned habit and intentional action, and it is no surprise that we have been conditioned to be consumers, not investors. This means that the intentional activity has to come from us and externalized, and this requires understanding what we want, how things work and the way we are going to use the resources we have to move in that direction.
But, in order to do any of these things, we really should start with *why* we are doing it in the first place, as if we do not have a compelling why, we are unlikely to be able to *invest ourselves* to the degree we need to do what we need to do, especially for a prolonged period of time, which is what it is going to take for crypto to build into a fully-fledged industry.
What I like about Hive is the barrier of entry is so incredibly low that anyone can get started on their learning journey to build the knowledge they need about the financial world and how, they can build a home amongst it.
What should everyone know?
*As much as they can about economics.*
They can't stop us all
"They can't stop us all."
Well, that depends.
How come is it that rather than charging the fences to overpower the few, there is compliance? Well, perhaps because these days, there aren't the same physical fences of the past and instead, there are financial boundaries and social restrictions that can be applied from far and, with a high degree of precision.
The reason they can do this, is because the money we have, is not ours, it is theirs and as such, they can essentially do what they like with it. If for example everyone tried to get "their" money out of the bank at the same time, it would collapse the banking system, so they don't allow this. In many countries, it is illegal to deface money also (write on it) or destroy it, like burning it to light a cigar.
While there is strength in numbers and *they can't jail us all,* what stops us from banding together is the fear that the one that gets caught and punished, will be me.
Just my luck.
There is also the problem of decentralization of numbers too, which makes it safer in many ways, but it also makes it very difficult to organize ourselves and collaborate in great enough numbers at the local level.
So, we stand behind the fences, dreaming of living free and having control of the direction of our financial lives, but not actually doing much toward that end. If we do anything, it is to abide by the rules in the hope that we are one of the few who successfully survive and thrive - playing their game, with their rules, and their pieces.
If you can't opt out of the system you are in, you are not free, and this is precisely where we are in terms of the fiat economy - prisoners. And while it is easy to say "it is just money" in this jail, without that money, life can be incredibly hard and physically violent. Money doesn't buy happiness, but poverty is the breeding ground for all kinds of conflict that hold us back.
All of the global conflicts enacted between governments are about wealth and power at the core - *all of them.* There is no such thing as a war over oil, or a religious war and, there never has been. It is all about controlling the value and flow of resources.
However, for the 99% to show up and stay in conflict with each other, they distribute and nurture a narrative that we are all so different, so how can we live in peace, how can we work together?
Instead, we watch each other, talk about each other, look at each other through the barbed fences and be thankful that we are on this side of the fence. Yet, we fail to realize, we are all prisoners of the same system, all suffering for the same reasons, oppressed by the same few hands - just hoping that we can get a pat on the head for obeying orders and have a few table scraps thrown to us.
*They can stop the few of us.*
Stalking The Wealthy.
The Splinterlands server went down, which is probably a good thing as I was entering into that "mindless stare" mode, and not paying attention to what I was really doing. One thing about bots is - they don't get tired.
Some people used to think I was a bot due to consistency.
*I wish!*
Wouldn't that be awesome? Well - perhaps not... it would be mindless. But you know, not having to sleep or care about brushing teeth or going to the toilet. Just 24/7 crypto. All day. Every day.
Do you know what makes that picture above?
Not the cute Panda.
*The bird.*
There is a seagull fling in on the left side and it looks like it is stalking the balloons, looking for the weakest of the herd to pick off, while the others huddle in fear.
Safety in numbers.
Unless you are the weakest of the group.
You know when a company lays people off and they say,
"we are letting 10% of our staff go"
*Even if they don't want to leave.*
If the company has 1000 people in it, it isn't a 1 in 10 chance of keeping a position, because around 70% have nothing to fear, because they are the ones who are performing. And another 10% are likely protected by relationship or position, leaving 20% who are on the chopping block. So, if you are in that group of 200, there is coin toss between keeping and losing your job.
Those aren't great odds.
*But, someone has to be in the bottom 20% of the distribution.*
It is kind of like with the lottery and people say "someone has to win", except that being in the bottom 20% of workers at a company isn't usually accomplished by dumb luck. I am definitely not in the top 20% at my company, but I don't think I am in the bottom 20% either - so I am possibly safe if we were to run into issues.
Score!
Yesterday I was reading how JP Morgan has decided to replace real estate with crypto as its preferred alternative asset. They also say that its current "fair" price is 38K. However, there are other banks tipping that it will fall to $8000 instead.
I wonder, which will be right?
The news doesn't care - they will post FUD one day and then hype the next without blinking - like psychopaths killing the neighbor and then going home to read a bedtime fairytale to their child.
Since I am a "believer" in crypto, I think that the economy over the next 20 years is going to be torn apart by innovation, and the bottom 20% that don't start pulling their finger out, are going to get laid off. The top 20% are going to be the ones who get in early or innovate successfully - but the 60% in between, well they are the ones who opt-in late so they don't benefit much, but they do survive.
This probably works for most things I guess, where the strongest end leads, the middle gets dragged along kicking and screaming and, the weakest end fall off the back to be picked off by predators.
The economy is *definitely* predatory.
The thing is that in the current economy, there is only a narrow slice that have teeth, so no matter how large the pack is, those with teeth can just munch at the edges, rest under a tree when they are full, and once they are hungry again, start munching away until eventually, everyone is consumed - then, they prey on each other. It is a constant process of consolidation in a "Highlander" kind of way
There can be only one.
*Is the reference too old for you?*
What I like about crypto is that consolidation and monopolization kills it, as it requires decentralization and distribution to be at its best. All economies do of course - but when economies are governed by the few instead of the many, the few will dictate terms in a process toward absolute power. Yes, the economy and those in it aren't performing at their best and it will eventually collapse - but that is *another generation's problem* to deal with.
From an economic perspective, what needs to happen is the redefinition of value and a decentralization of the currencies of trade, so that power can be wrested from the hands of the few and returned to the many. It isn't about taking their money though - *they can keep all of that shit* - it is about making our own tokens valuable enough that we want to use what we have created, more than what they have given us.
Obviously -
easier said, than done.
If only I was a robot - *Then I wouldn't care.*
@dansontela
