Time

What is time? Is it a constant or does it vary? For someone suffering, time seems to pass slowly but to someone busy, time flies. Time stretches and expands differently for everyone and that movement can be almost chaotic in nature but the clock continues to tick at the same rate.

We all have a finite amount of time that we like to call our life. The choices we make affect the outcome of how we perceive time. Not considering the chance of an accident, our current lifespan may be 70 years roughly divided into the following categories.

sleep 1/3 of the time
work or study 1/3 of the time (slightly higher if commuting but lower if you exclude weekends)
Basic chores like brushing, toilet, bathing, eating (and perhaps cooking) take up 1/6 of the time
If you married and/or parent, then you also need to attend to your spouse and children
As a child or youth, we do not perceive death. As a young man we are looking to start a family, as a middle aged man we look after our children, when old we tend to our health.

What we are left with is way less than 1/10 of our time to do as we choose. Realize that your time is finite and precious and choose wisely what you do with the little time you have.

Survival of the fittest

I am a big fan of survival type series like Man Vs Wild, SurvivorMan, I shouldn’t be alive and many more where the content is geared more for education rather than entertainment like the survivor TV show. Outside of luck, in most cases the key to survival is a strong will to prevail against all odds. Add to that some basic knowledge of survival strategies and your odds increase exponentially. Now I will not go into all the details of survival strategies out there but some of the key ones to remember are

1. Do not panic. I realize this is easier said than done but a panicky mind cannot think clearly and is prone to making mistakes which you cannot afford.

2. If you need medical attention tend to it first.

3. Come up with a realistic plan based on your scenario. Rescue may take longer than you anticipate so plan for that. This is also the time to think of what is important to you in life and which will help keep up your spirits.

4. Find or build a shelter from the elements. This could be for shade, rain cover, wind blocker, warmth, protection etc.

5. Find drinking water or figure out a way to capture moisture. Dehydration can be a killer.

6. Build a fire. This will help boil the water, cook meat and keep wild animals away, signal, provide warmth, and comfort on a dark night. Learn at least a couple of ways to start a fire.

7. Find food. A person can last for several days without food but eating food even in small quantities is essential. This could be from insects, small animals, plants, fruits, fish etc. but you cannot be picky of the taste and have to know what is edible.

Perception and Judgement of others

We are what we believe and our thoughts are molded by our experiences. Basically what we see in most cases is perception rather than the underlying truth. We as a crowd are also easily swayed by the latest trend and sometimes in unpredictable ways.

When we see someone for the first time, do we really know that person? For that matter, do we really know the individual after spending 20+ years with them. When we interview a person for a job, do we focus strictly on the capabilities or do we make our impression about them based on their looks, they way they talk and/or interact with others. I admit that some of these are important but each person has a different perception so how fair are we when we make a decision?

Same goes for when a jury is supposed to look at some evidence and make a decision sometimes about the fate of the individual under trail. How much of evidence is enough? How much role does the intelligence, looks, style, charm and cunning of the lawyers play in the decision? What about all those cases that are being proved wrong by new evidence or using DNA? How would your life be affected with the new evidence if you were a juror in a case where an innocent person was convicted or even executed?

Some decisions seem easy but if the butterfly effect is true then which decision is more important? Is the greater good of all more important than the basic needs of a few? Where do we draw the line?

I want you to question your beliefs many of which have been imprinted in us from an early age. How much of that is true and how much is just plain superstition? I want you to listen to another person before making any judgements about them. Who are we anyway to really judge others?

Writing an autobiography

I was thinking the other day about how much of our time we spend in learning. What if we could simply upload that information into our brains (something like Trinity learning to fly a helicopter in the Matrix movie) or like Johnny Mnemonic (plug in a hard disk), or real-time access to a network of libraries (like the Borg collective except each of us has an independent identity). Can you imagine the possibilities and how much less time we might have to spend learning basic stuff. As with any technology, there are the good and bad sides but we have to think positive and the possibilities that may lift humans to our next evolution phase.

Sadly the above is still fiction and though science promises to bring us closer each day, its a long way to go.  For now, the best we can do to capture our identity is to maintain an archive of our thoughts and beliefs, a diary about the things in our daily life and possibly have someone else write an independent summary of our lives. Starting a blog and writing a diary are the easy parts but getting someone else to write your own summary without influencing them might be difficult (especially if that person is being compensated by you).

Its fascinating when I read the letters from over 100 years back or look at photographs and portraits of people long gone. What must have been their life like? What if they had all the facilities we have today? … the list of questions goes on ..

So go ahead and share your thoughts with the world. Who know how we may influence the generations to come.

Using less resources

With the ever increasing population comes a demand for more resources and a strain on the infrastructure. Using less resources without having to compromise the quality of life we are accustomed to may help stretch those resources longer and possibly make it more economical for others. Let’s take some few examples of what we can do:

1. Go to bed early and rise early. This will help reduce the amount of electricity we use for lighting our houses and we might even get some health benefits out of it.

2. Use a shower (with a low-flow shower head) instead of a tub and use the clock to keep the bath to within 10 minutes. Better yet, use a bucket to take the bath. The advantage is that we use up considerably less water.

3. Tasks like laundry, ironing, cooking vegetables etc. can be completed in large batches e.g. for the week. This will cut down on the amount of energy used doing the tasks in small batches and also save us time.

4. Carpool or use public transportation to work if available. Better yet, work one or more days a week from home. Some companies will even allow you to work four 10 hour days instead of five 8 hour days. The benefit might be that you also get to spend more time with family or doing things you really want to do. Walk/Bike/skate to the local store instead of using the car.

5. Keep printing anything to a minimum, avoid writing and mailing letters, documents & bills. Also whenever possible opt out of the mailings, newspapers, samples etc. Many of these same tasks can now be done on a computer and using the Internet. This will help save some trees.

6. Recycle everything you can. Separating paper, metal, glass, plastic etc. is just the first step. Think of things like composting, reusing the back side of blank papers, donating books to local libraries and schools, selling on sites like eBay and craiglist or even giving to charities.

7. Collecting rain water for use in gardens and lawns. Using timers to water the lawns and sensors to avoid watering on days when not needed. Better yet, convert some of the lawn area to hardscapes and use hardy grass types to minimize the need for watering or fertilizing.

8. Switch off electrical appliances when not in use. Use sensors where safety is a concern e.g. lighting the garage or driveway at night.

9. Watch a little less TV, or surf a little less on the Internet, talk a little less on the phone. Instead look to spending quality time with family and friends.

10. Share with others. e.g. tools, books, pool, toys, lawn movers etc.

11. Educate and encourage others.

Some things that you can do but at a cost:

1. Use free & renewable alternate energy sources like solar electricity, solar water heating, wind turbines. Initial cost is still a major factor when trying to implement these technologies but they usually pay for themselves over the long run. Also the federal and state governments have incentives and several sites are dedicated to providing expert advice on solutions available and even installation instructions.

2. Invest in the local infrastructure. Look to invest some of your savings in local municipal bonds that help improve the local infrastructure. They are usually safer and might even save you some money in taxes.

3. Plant trees. Look for barren public lands and ask your township if you can plant trees there.

 

There is so much each of us can do without having to compromise on the quality of our life.