A good article about why alcohol makes a person happy. The article gives a detailed explanation about the biological reasoning for the happy feeling after alcohol consumption. But I also feel the surroundings and the people we drink with also have an impact. I have noticed that on the days I drink with people whom I like in general, I feel much more happier. Also, the type of alcohol has a considerable contribution to the after effects. Red wine makes me very happy and the effect stays for almost a week. A few days back, I so badly wanted to dance under the moonlight because I was so excited and happy. A few glasses of red wine may not be so bad after all !
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Monday, May 27, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind. It's the same qualities I require from a man.
I recently came across this term "sapiosexuality" in an article. I find that the word aptly describes my choice of men. I seem to fall for the geeks and nerds in the society. A good sense of humor, of course, is worth a good ten points. Until now I used to think this kind of behavior was closely associated with craziness. Now I am at least satisfied that I am not alone, and there are a good number of people who share similar feelings.
I was recently pondering about the cause for this attraction. I feel it is due to an underlying sense of security in the fact that, intelligence is permanent and cannot be destroyed unlike wealth or physical beauty. No one can steal our intellect, it is safe inside our brain and mind.
God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave. - Francis Bacon
I recently came across this term "sapiosexuality" in an article. I find that the word aptly describes my choice of men. I seem to fall for the geeks and nerds in the society. A good sense of humor, of course, is worth a good ten points. Until now I used to think this kind of behavior was closely associated with craziness. Now I am at least satisfied that I am not alone, and there are a good number of people who share similar feelings.
I was recently pondering about the cause for this attraction. I feel it is due to an underlying sense of security in the fact that, intelligence is permanent and cannot be destroyed unlike wealth or physical beauty. No one can steal our intellect, it is safe inside our brain and mind.
God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave. - Francis Bacon
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Expectations
Why do humans have expectations ? Expectations are bad in the sense that when they are not met, disappointment and frustration takes over. I think the root cause of expectation is emotional attachment, which could be with another person, a movie, book or anything for that matter. The level of expectation also plays a role in how much pain we experience. Low expectations can be met more often than higher level ones. Let us take an average movie, say a 0.5 rating, if the movie has been hyped and advertised on a grand scale, our mind is already biased towards the higher end, say 0.7.
So if the movie is not to our liking, say only 0.2, the difference between our mind's bias and the reality increases, and so does our frustration. But if our mind was neutral, or even better, had a lower expectation, we would not be disappointed, and hence no pain or sadness.
So is it better to be pessimistic and expect failure all the time ? Well, one can argue against that by quoting Paulo Coelho from The Alchemist “When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true.” But then again, we have to be practical and expect only those events that have at least a 50% chance of happening to us. I cannot want to marry Brad Pitt and hope that the universe will help me achieve that. I would only be foolish if I do that. But I can expect to get a decent internship in a good company, which is being optimistic. There is a very thin line between optimism and foolishness, which we should identify and not cross. Similarly there is another thin line between low expectations and pessimism. Expecting a low grade in a course is very much different from being sure of failing in a course. If I keep saying to myself that I will fail the course, it may actually happen, because each time I am demotivating myself.
So the ideal frame of mind should be neutral. Unfortunately, reaching and maintaining that state of mind is quite difficult. If a person succeeds in that task, he/she would be the happiest and most peaceful person in the world.
On a side note, I have actually experienced the concept of universe-conspiring-to-help-you. When I applied to graduate school, I somehow had this intuition or confidence that I would get an admit into UCSD. I had this feeling that I already had an admit, and strongly believed that I would come to San Diego. I was actually telling people that I ll surely go to UCSD for graduate school. Maybe the universe reflected back all the positive signals I was sending out, and that actually increased the overall strength. Ah! metaphysics is such an interesting subject.. but in another post.
So if the movie is not to our liking, say only 0.2, the difference between our mind's bias and the reality increases, and so does our frustration. But if our mind was neutral, or even better, had a lower expectation, we would not be disappointed, and hence no pain or sadness.
So is it better to be pessimistic and expect failure all the time ? Well, one can argue against that by quoting Paulo Coelho from The Alchemist “When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true.” But then again, we have to be practical and expect only those events that have at least a 50% chance of happening to us. I cannot want to marry Brad Pitt and hope that the universe will help me achieve that. I would only be foolish if I do that. But I can expect to get a decent internship in a good company, which is being optimistic. There is a very thin line between optimism and foolishness, which we should identify and not cross. Similarly there is another thin line between low expectations and pessimism. Expecting a low grade in a course is very much different from being sure of failing in a course. If I keep saying to myself that I will fail the course, it may actually happen, because each time I am demotivating myself.
So the ideal frame of mind should be neutral. Unfortunately, reaching and maintaining that state of mind is quite difficult. If a person succeeds in that task, he/she would be the happiest and most peaceful person in the world.
On a side note, I have actually experienced the concept of universe-conspiring-to-help-you. When I applied to graduate school, I somehow had this intuition or confidence that I would get an admit into UCSD. I had this feeling that I already had an admit, and strongly believed that I would come to San Diego. I was actually telling people that I ll surely go to UCSD for graduate school. Maybe the universe reflected back all the positive signals I was sending out, and that actually increased the overall strength. Ah! metaphysics is such an interesting subject.. but in another post.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
I do not know what it is about mathematics, but whenever I see a mix of numbers and greek symbols, I get this renewed energy and enthusiasm. The next ten weeks is going to be really hard, but somehow I got the confidence and the enthusiasm to live through that period and come out successfully. Math really inspires me ! I'm sure the majority of the world will despise me for saying that out loud, but I just could not help posting this after how I am feeling today :-)
A small tidbit related to this post - an interesting definition of mathematics which I came across when I was about the age 11 : "He, who has an ICS degree and is sandwiched between two mats."
A small tidbit related to this post - an interesting definition of mathematics which I came across when I was about the age 11 : "He, who has an ICS degree and is sandwiched between two mats."
Monday, January 7, 2013
Phew! I spent nearly thirty minutes trying to come up with an address for my blog. Almost every sensible word in the English dictionary seems to be used in some blog or the other. "Randomness", "randomthoughts", "randomstuff" and even "blahblah" ! Who would want to name their blog with a silly phrase like "blahblah" ? Well, I should not be the one to say this because I gave it a try too, in vain. Finally I was forced to settle with an incomplete word as part of my blog address.
What surprises, rather irritates, me is that most of these blogs are sparsely used, some are even empty. Why in the world do people want to lock some of the good names in their hardly-used blogs ? The phrases can at least be put to good use by a trying-to-be-a-good-blogger like me. Whatever, this is just a place to put down some of my crazy thoughts, and is not meant to make any sense whatsoever to anyone. And looks like I got off to a pretty decent start, or should I say my expectation of my writing ability has been met quite successfully.
What surprises, rather irritates, me is that most of these blogs are sparsely used, some are even empty. Why in the world do people want to lock some of the good names in their hardly-used blogs ? The phrases can at least be put to good use by a trying-to-be-a-good-blogger like me. Whatever, this is just a place to put down some of my crazy thoughts, and is not meant to make any sense whatsoever to anyone. And looks like I got off to a pretty decent start, or should I say my expectation of my writing ability has been met quite successfully.
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