Urgency exists in the mind, not in the world I like empty days. Empty weeks. Empty calendars. Yet when I talk to other people, they often pride themselves on how busy they are. Having an empty schedule is anathema. The culture at the moment is that being busy is good. The hidden message seems to be that by being busy you are doing something important, and by doing something important you must be an important person. Read more...

Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful Hazmat Inayat Khan The Office on the surface is a boring uneventful show. It’s literally about a failing paper company. People with ordinary lives. Mundane lives filled with the triviality of everyday. Yet it’s probably the most compelling show I’ve watched (and rewatched). Why? It comes down to the people. It’s a show about ordinary people. Fallible ‘boring’ yet interesting, funny, angry, sad, loving, caring, destructive, chaotic and frustrating people. Read more...

Turned 27. I am going to make some personal predictions. Predictions Career : At the moment, I can’t imagine doing anything other than radiology. Endlessly intellectually stimulating, purpose inbuilt, varied, time to enter flow states, social at work, chilled out. Prediction is : MSK/GI Radiology as a specialty. Love. Regular metta is slowly infusing the world with joy. Location : Trees/Forests nearby with easy access to the city. Read more...

I’m going to talk about SpongeBob. Forgive me. There is a spectrum of SpongeBob - Squidward. Squidward represents apathy. The mechanical man. Routine. Solemnity. Fear of the opinion of others. Self-rumination. Seriousness. ‘The world must conform to my will, otherwise misery’. SpongeBob represents play. Flirting. Treading the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable. Humour. A lack of self consciousness. Presence. ‘Tao : flow with what arises’. We vacillate between these two extremes. Read more...

I had 2 YouTube channels as a teenager. One of them regularly had 1K+ views on Minecraft let’s play with almost 20 episodes. One video hit 1 million views. As a self conscious 16-17 year old, prompted by a comment from a friend - I deleted it. I never made any backups. It was gone. Similarly, I had a notebook with loads of short-stories/insights. One day I just decided to throw it away. Read more...

If anyone asks me for advice on how to know if they should pursue a hobby / job / career / spend more time with a person, a safe and actually very useful heuristic is: Pick the thing where you lose track of time when you do it It automatically fixes a whole bunch of priorities. If time is flowing easily, it means that You can do more of it The self is not overly salient. Read more...

Friendship and relationships are really important. We all implicitly know this, but the way modern life has been constructed has arguably made it more difficult. If not difficult, then at least it has changed the rules of the game. I’ve already written about friendship - which you should read (mostly summarised points from Robin Dunbar’s recent book). A few salient reminders and additional points for myself. You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with Read more...

If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. William Morris I’ve been Kondo-pilled since I heard about the petite Japanese lady a few years ago. Mistakenly, many people misunderstand Kondo’s message. It’s not about getting rid for the sake of getting rid of things, but only keeping what brings joy. Read more...

lost - forever chasing the ghost of optimal What is the ‘most optimal’ training program? It is hard to know. But you can end up spinning your wheels by hopping from one program to another- constantly seeking the ‘best’. Therefore you end up making no progress towards any specific goal. It is better to stick with a program. Reap the benefits and move on. Why is this difficult? Read more...

Long term consistency trumps short term intensity Bruce Lee There is a concept in training called ‘periodisation’. Simply put : You can’t keep adding 5lbs to the bar and expecting it to go up. You don’t make linear progress at a certain point. Therefore the ‘way’ you train becomes crucial. You have to take regular ‘deload’ weeks where you reduce the CNS fatigue and stress, and allow the body to recover. Read more...