Dmitry Kalashnikov

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Took a ferry to Bainbridge Island for a nice ride this weekend!

As I was studying, I came across this list of virtues that Benjamin Franklin tried to arrive at. He would focus on one each week.

1. “TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. “SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. “ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4. “RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5. “FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6. “INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
7. “SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
8. “JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9. “MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. “CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11. “TRANQUILITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. “CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. “HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”

Franklin wrote: “… [it is a ] bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection”.

Never forget that people are emotional beings. All of our reasoning, and even most technical facts and logic stems from emotions. People have a never-ending desire for significance, a feeling of importance.

The desire for significance can be manifested in so many different ways:

• You’re trying to switch lanes in traffic, but another person speeds up (by being in front of you, they forced you to acknowledge their presence).
• It is the fuel behind any career. (Ambition, desire to be great fulfills this need for significance).
• It is also why people become pastors, missionaries and other types of religious workers. (they get this feeling of significance through serving God and people).
• It is also why we bother to document human history! (Historians were typically employed by wealthy people that wanted to be remembered).
• It’s the reason for crime. (By taking something valuable away from you by force, I make you acknowledge my significance in your life).

The desire to feel significant, important, to be connected to others, to be a part of something … is the drive behind reason.

People can channel this desire in a positive or negative way … but they will certainly channel it!

For example, you’re at the DMV.

Read the rest of “Heart over mind” …

There are no bad answers … there are only bad questions

The Quality of your questions literally creates your World. It determines the state of all areas of your life: Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, Relationships, Work, Fun and so on.

We experience the World with our thoughts. Our perception of Reality it skewed by many things. We never see things as they really are. I’ll go so far as to say nothing in the World even comes into existence until you observe it.

Thinking is nothing more than a process of asking a question and coming up with an answer. Questions are interesting because they impose a frame within which you attempt to answer them. Questions are like railroads tracks — they have presuppositions. Questions guide our awareness and thinking process.

Read the rest of “Asking Questions” …

Intro

Let me backtrack a bit a give you an overview of what this post is all about. My whole life I’ve been asking myself questions like:

• what is success?
  
• what makes people successful?
• what is my purpose here?
• how can I go after things I desire and at the same time bring good to others?
• what is the very best thing I can do with my life and my time?
• and so forth.

I realized that questions themselves define the frame. By frame I mean your mindstate, the frame of mind through which you look at the word. Just by asking questions you essentially placing your mind in a box, a “framework” within which you’re attempting to answer them. Most important questions are outside of reason and logic. I’ll type this really fast, in one shot, so bare with me if you find typos :).

Read the rest of “Best Life” …

Masakatsu, “True Victory”.

Agatsu, “Self-Victory”.

Katsuhayabi “Victory right here, right now”.

“If your thoughts are antagonistic toward the cosmos, those thoughts will destroy you and wreck havoc on the environment. I know not how to defeat others I only know how to win over myself!” (Morihei Ueshiba, Creator of Aikido)

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8).

Morihei maintained that the real and most dangerous opponents we face are fear, anger, confusion, doubt, and despair. If we overcome those enemies that attack us from within we can attain a “True Victory”.

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31)

“The most important thing for a human being is not what is between his or her ears; it is what is in his or her heart. If the spirit is strong, one can accomplish anything.

 You only live once. Keep yourself in the present. The past is gone, and the future is unknown.

 Do not try to cut off all your passions. Passions give birth to heroic activity. Fulfill your passion and that will bring bliss.

 Do not think of work — any work — as duty. If it is a duty, it will become a burden. How do you turn a burden into a pleasure? Live respectfully, correctly, positively, and boldly.

 When you rise in the morning, greet the day with vigor. During the day, refrain from thinking or saying “I am confused”, “I’m weak”, “I’m sad”, “I need help”. At night before you sleep, release all thoughts of sadness, anger or irritation. Think of pleasant things.

Do not overwork yourself.

Reflect constantly on your state of mind.

Approach others in a positive bright manner.

Always be grateful, honest, kind, and pleasant.

Speak truly and honestly.

Body and mind form a single entity; life follows basic natural laws that should not be violated.

Your attitude towards life determines its outcome.

The best attitude is based on respect, boldness, truthfulness, and purity.

Foster the life force by being healthy, courageous, decisive, resolute, and vigorous.”

-Tempu Nakamura

I am (re)reading a book on Aikido called “KI In Daily Life” by Koichi Tohei.  Aikido has a very deep personal meaning to me and it has definitely shaped the way I go through life and interact with others.

This is a great book on some of the basic principles, such as mind and body coordination, strong will, and power of “positive thinking” (this phrase doesn’t translate well).

Here are some interesting quotes from this book: “The brain is always working while you are alive, you cannot eliminate the waves of the mind. It is impossible not to think anything. The waves of the brain, however, can be calmed down by half infinitely.

When the waves are calmed down infinitely toward zero, it is called concentration. “Think nothing” means concentration or calmness. It is a state of mind like a clear water surface which reflects, clearly and without error, everything and every phenomenon of the world.

In this complicated modern age, it must be valuable to learn how to acquire calmness of the mind which can distinguish right from wrong clearly.” -Koichi Tohei

After having a discussion earlier today about this, as I was driving home … I realized something about this saying – its just not true.

Any kind of excitement and anticipation make it feel like time is sloooowing down. Think about it. Lets say you’re so excited to do something with your friends on Friday. You have these huge plans. The whole week is going to feel like a month, because you just can’t wait for it to be that day!

Read the rest of “Time goes by faster the older you get?” …

I am going to share some of my very personal ideas on being balanced and staying on top of things. These things I figured out on my own a while back and I have been perfecting them every day. Being a software developer, I constantly trying to find an improved “algorithm” for … well, Living. I can’t give it all away because it’s too personal but here are a few practical tips and ideas:

Read the rest of “Finding a balance in Life” …

Tags: emotional, family, get things done, gtd, happiness, health, love, spiritual, wealth

Hagakure is a very interesting book I picked up — it has a lot of historical value since it describes life during ancient japan, when the shogun and samurai ruled the country. I’ve been a student of Aikido and other martial arts for some time now, so this is very interesting to me. Some of the stuff in this book is too wild and gruesome to mention but I thought these quotes were great.

Read the rest of “Hagakure” …