Thoughted

Recently I have been pondering whether or not the endeavours I am hungry to journey upon and the achievements I am ambitious to attain, are really what I am meant to do or what will make me happy.

I am of Persian decent and our culture and religion is heavily embedded in introspection and self exploration. Meditation is one vehicle to investigate the self, as practiced by many a wise man before me. Some meditation styles suggest that humans store negative energy in our bodies and need to release that energy through meditation. Only then can we achieve true happiness.

Western discourse prescribes a different course of action to arrive at the outcome of happiness. Traditionally speaking, a modernity paradigm is transfixed on consumerism and ease of function. Contemporary western culture also relies on a ‘medicalised’ and ‘expert theory’, often relying on specialists, clinicians and other people to tell you what’s wrong with you. The latest in medical research on personal happiness focuses on neuro-plasticity or neuro pathways which are like beaten tracks in your brain due to over thinking in the same way. For example, the positive person stays positive because their brain is programmed to think in such a way – while their environment interplays in these thought processes, the brain will instinctively return to a ‘rosie coloured’ thought.

I am interested in the disparity between ancient and modern philosophies on the topic as well as the eastern and western remedies for unhappiness. While I can see that modern practices are going through the process of change incorporating eastern practices such as yoga and meditation, in contemporary daily western culture and life. My local fitness first offers a range of these classes and they are all facilitated by a fit young Australian as opposed to a decaying Indian with a history of mountainous cave self exploration. It is unrealistic to expect to be able to live a life free of material yearning while living in a metropolitan city. Personally, I feel it is also as unrealistic to expect to be able to live in such a metropolitan without some level of self knowledge and emotional intelligence. Maybe the solution is an amalgamation of both the old and new or east and west? The next question is how do we balance the two on with consideration to work/ leisure life…

Today I was having a talk with my good friend and co-writer of this site about my future. He brought up a subject which I have recently had deep thought about (as I do with many subjects unfortunately), and that was about making investments. Investment, which to me, is the simple the act of investing. The problem is there is a misconception of what that actually entails.

Read the rest of this entry »