Empathy can be only understood when found in our personal programming code...

Empathy can only be achieved

if the similar experiences, whether those are positive or negative

have been experienced by the people that these trying to be communicated.

Its like giving instructions to a computer language such as SQL.

If the instructions are not already found in the compiler,

SQL will not be able to recognise those and will bring an error.

If SQL is asked to select the variable joy and that does not exist in the tbl_experiences,

then an error will pop up as this variable will not be able to be identified or related.

What ever we experience in life positive or negative,

this constructs our own programming code.

If we experienced a certain type of joy, 

such as the birth of a baby or giving affection to our pets,

this then will be inserted in our experiences repository.

If we experienced a certain type of sadness,

such as the loss of a loved one or failing an exam,

this then will be inserted in our experiences repository.

We can relate to other individuals

if only and only if,

those experienced the same items 

and have those built in their personal programming code.

With ♥ for philosophy,

Ziuζs  

The world is the ultimate reflection of ourselves...

From the moment that we are born,
our inner world is exposed
to internal forces
that are always fighting against each other
in the internal battle of the good vs evil.


This battle governs our life on the whole.
The ultimate aim is to achieve balance and inner harmony.
And to accept that evil will always be there so as good.


The same battles coexist in the groups that we are part of
our family, our society, our country, our world...


When will this world find it's harmony?
When each individual will find his/her own personal harmony.
It's each individual's obligation and responsibility to do so.
By improving ourselves, we can improve the word.

With ♥ for philosophy,

Ziuζs  

Self discovery does not require travelling that far after all...

 N.B. In order to truly understand and/or feel the above, its a prerequisite to have lived in other country or place than your hometown... 

With ♥ for philosophy,

Ziuζs  

Wherever we go, we take our memories, our values and our beliefs...

With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs  

When life gets blurry, change your glasses...

Its not the world that changes, 

it s how we see the world that does change.

When you change the way you look at things.

the things you look at change.

Wayne Dyer

We do not see things as they are,

we see things as we are.

Anais Nin

The same thing can be perceived 

differently depending on who is looking at it.

What we see depends on 

what we are looking for.

John Lubbok

The word exists as you perceive it...

Its not what you see but how you see it...

Its not what you hear but how you hear it...

Its not what you feel but how you feel it...

Rumi


When life gets blurry, dark or mundane,
change your "glasses":
your mindset
and your attitude towards life
and things will be all right.
Ziuzs

With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs  

Sometimes size matters...

Men claim that mother nature blessed them 

with those items that are often called "balls"...
and they are apparently very proud of this feature they do have...

The word "balls" act as a metaphor for power and courage.

What they forget, 

is that mother nature gave bigger "balls" to women...
which are found in the upper part of the body instead...

And in this case, size matters!

With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs    

Technology usage does not come with instructions

Technology usage does not come with instructions in order to be guided how human beings can use this at the best of their benefit...


This disguised escapism in the form of a virtual reality although sometimes this escapism can be beneficial i.e.
* when that is used for knowledge sharing purposes
* or when that can act as a "different pair of glasses",
* or when that can connect the world by superseding racial/social backgrounds with inspiring ideas/areas of common interest, as boarders are just in our minds
it can also become dangerous
* for privacy issues
* and other issues such as misguided manipulation; technology can be used as a mean of distortion of what is real or what is true.
* or  can be blamed for decreasing the quality of our lives, as technology can be used as a mean of information that is not always useful but rather harmful or due to the technology we have items of mass production that do not have the emotional aspect that a handcrafted item would for example.


Beneficial or not, we are now in Research & Development phase or on a continued testing mode phase.
Who is the tester and what is the outcome of this research?
The impact will be visible in the years to come.


Areas of our lives are governed by civil or religious laws to establish fairness, discipline and guidance. However, this life that technology promises is mainly virtual as far as the internet and social media are concerned. Isn't this an area that usage should have come with instructions?


Five potential do not do this instructions could be the following:

* do not use technology prior sleeping or when waking up; it's bad for the mind.

* do not use technology on a non stop basis; have a break, have a kit kat.

* do not use social media to reveal internal affairs; don't wash your dirty linen in public, it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest!

* do not use social media to share the moment; live the moment to the maximum, share this later. If all moments are shared, then which moment will remain yours? It's not all about sharing, is it?

* do not use social media to contact real friends; real friends have senses and other feelings that these can not be captured by a "like" or a comment or a picture. A picture is not always 1000 words and if it is use your own emotions and words to express those.


With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs    

Weekly Reflections

Dear All,

Hello! I am back to blogging after a not so short break... I missed it and I missed you of course! What about you?

My aim is to share with you my weekly reflections, every Thursday evening, to inspire you and make you think of philosophical concepts in an easier and more digestible manner.

The source of those? My so far lessons learned in the "school of life" extracted through thoughts, feelings and personal experiences...and also through discussions to assist others developing a better understanding on specific matters that require resolution and how those can be better addressed and therefore resolved by themselves.

Triggers of those are various:
* challenges arose in the daily life
* certain matters require thinking prior resolving
* ethical dilemmas...

Hope you will find those thoughts inspiring enough to assist you view the world with different "pair of glasses"/ ways of seeing and therefore ways of thinking... Because the beauty comes from within: the more time we spend resolving our internal fights then the less the external fights will be... in our closer relationships or the broader ones such as the society that we live in or the whole world itself.

With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs                                                         

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It takes loops of repeated errors to reach perfection

Perfection is only achieved when

after repeating the same error again and again...

error potential is minimized...

Only when those loops of errors and the errors involved

become smaller and smaller...

When lessons learned, even if were once errors,

can only contribute to take us to the next step

to a place where masterpieces can be created

to a place where love can flourish

to a place that all those that were once challenges or negatives

are now only positives...

With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs 

Life is more meaningful when shared

Life is more meaningful when shared...

With ♥ for philosophy,

Ziuζs  

Our life begins as a blank canvas

Throughout the steps of our lives, we are told how to draw a house, a flower, a family, the sun, the sky, the nature... This need of learning the stereotypes of the society that we live in as well as the need for expression exists in every single culture throughout the first steps of humanity and the first steps of the human life...

Drawing is one of the first activities that we all engage as little persons and is something inherent in all the educational programs. We are taught basic principles on how to synthesize our blank canvas, by using different materials, ideas, concepts...The techniques will teach us what is being accepted to be the stereotypical reality such us "The sun is run and yellow", "The standard house has a window, a door and a roof"

The artistic skills evolve when
* observing the world around us, the tones, the shapes, the dimensional relationships...
* practicing, practice makes perfect they say
* experimenting, when combining different techniques, materials, ideas
* engaging those techniques and by adding a touch from ourselves we make them ours

Our life begins as a blank canvas... Our parents, our teachers, our surrounding environment taught us how to apply the first strokes on the canvas... and this is how our masterpiece begins...

Each experience in life, good or bad, each effort, each achievement, each drawback, are just another stroke on the canvas of our life. We are the owners and the creators of this canvas. We can let the strokes that other people put on our canvas to be part of our piece of art or we can transform them or just hide them with something that is more acceptable to us. A not so inspirational day or phase of our life will add it's stigma on our masterpiece. We are able accept that not every stroke is meant to be perfect and to learn from it, let go and move on eventually improving the not so good strokes... Our masterpiece is on ongoing progress...

It's in our own hands to evolve the canvas of our lives as we like it to be in order to transmit it into a masterpiece.

* The observation was there to increase our understanding and assist us to create our own technique our own reality.
* The practice was there to let us make mistakes and learn from them.
* The experimentation was there to find what is acceptable to us and to reach what we perceive to be perfect.
* The techniques were there to guide us to find our own style of expression and not to restrict us.

Everyone is destined to create his/her own masterpiece. It all starts with following some principles and then it evolves to finding our self expression. The principles are there to guide us or to make us realise which principles we are against for and why. This is how we can create the authenticity. But authenticity, takes time to unfold as well as years of practice to become established as a well acknowledged artist. We don't always have the power to control every stoke put on canvas but we will have the power to fix it eventually and make our own masterpiece. It's only our decision how our life canvas will evolve and whether we will let restrictions to push us to make something wonderful or let them restrict us to create something less wonderful of what we are ultimately capable of creating.


With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs 

Food correlation with Thoughts

Our body needs to be fed with energy; in order for our body to survive and that is through our food intake.

Our mind needs to be fed with spirit; in order for our mind to survive and that is through our thoughts, beliefs and ideas.

So essentially, we are our body and our mind.

Our food intake is a fantastic mirror of our thought intake: It will tell us things about us.

Food intake and thought intake are two highly correlated functions:
* the way that we choose to eat and essentially filter our food in order to get energy and pleasure
* will indicate and reflect
* the way that we choose to filter our thoughts to establish our thoughts, beliefs and ideas.

As far food is concerned we are all aware what is
* a healthy source of food and what is not that healthy
* a quantity is ideal and when is not
* a taste and item that we are familiar with
* a taste and item that we are not so familiar

Food can be the source of energy intake but also food can be a source of pleasure or displeasure. By eating a tasty and appealing dish, all our senses are satisfied and that is not only for surviving purposes and is not only to satisfy our energy needs. We are all free to make our own choice in which substance will enter our body to be absorbed as an energy and/or as a pleasure:
* a balanced or imbalanced nutrition intake
* a healthy or unhealthy nutrition

The way that we choose to eat our food indicates and reflects the way that we choose our thoughts. Our thought system receives influences from our external environment but is up to us to filter those to satisfy our spiritual needs. We gather beliefs about ourselves in our whole life: past experiences, past memories, beliefs, ideas... We are essentially made up of everybody else s influences and our choice of how we let those influences to affect us. Whether we gathered rotten flowers or aromatic flowers, that will be framed and decided based on our internal core system. The interesting bit with thoughts, is not that we have them but is that we believe them: thoughts create feelings and feelings create actions. We are not our thoughts but we are a product of how we let those thought affect us.

What we think inside us, is what we feel. Behavioral symptoms such as eating less or more can indicate that the body balance is distorted and therefore that a mind imbalance exists. This imbalance will signify a disconnection of a healthy functioning body as well as a disconnection that the mind does not receive healthy thoughts by the form intangible obstacles or blockages which exist in our mind. Imbalance such as over-eating or under-eating,  will distort self-worth, self-esteem and good feelings such us happiness, love, efficiency, trust and creativity while body will not be able to function at the optimum level.

Both are signs that there is an emotional disconnection from ourselves and others. Disconnection from what is good and healthy for our body as well as a disconnection from our personal values, beliefs and/or needs. Disconnection may result from too many unpleasant experiences or too many pleasant experiences that we have gathered from our so far life journey. Disconnection or imbalance will signify that we are not completely happy inside us, that something that we are doing action/habit/thought influences us negatively and that something is missing. What is missing is inside us and in our thoughts. The only way to change it is to take action doing something aligned with our qualities. This will automatically make us feel more happy and alive rendering the food intake just right for energy or pleasure consumption. And then food overdose or under dose will cease to exist.

Prevention is better than the cure. We are in control to decide whether our food intake will be a near term indulgence/austerity that will lead to a long term torture. We are in control to decide whether irrational and negative thoughts will harm us and avoid thinking about them.  How to cope with cravings of food intake or behaviors and allow them to pass. One does not have to be perfect but one has to make smart decisions when one is the position to do so. We are all valuable human beings and our motto should be set to make the right choices for us doing always the best that we can. Choose healthy food to have a healthy mind and maintain a healthy mind to eat healthy food.

With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs  

Living through the spirit of my dreams...: Reaction

Living through the spirit of my dreams...: Reaction: What happened yesterday, what is happening now and also what will happen in the future is a choice that is in our hands:  fear will bring pain whereas love will bring joy. What will influence our actions and reactions, and therefore the result in ourselves, in others and in the path of our life, is our choice ofwhat we choose to trust more: our fearful mind or our lovable heart?

Reaction

Scientific discovery states that energy never ceases... it flows continuously and it is transformed to a different type of energy. Also, according to the laws of our universe, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction in order balance to be achieved.

As we flow through the paths of our lives some events will happen:
* either we planned them or not,
* either we expected them or not,
* either we welcome them or not.

And when an event happens we will have some sort of reaction: equal, opposite or neutral. This reaction will be formed and will be based on our own universe. That is what we have inside our minds and inside our hearts.

* A mind full of fear will exhibit feelings of anger, jealousy, envy, greed, lying, unforgiveness and selfishness.
* A heart full of love will seek joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy and truth.

The internal fight of mind vs. heart, or interchangeably referred as fear vs. love, will be pushed into the surface every time a reaction will occur. In every such occasion there will be a winner: the winner of this internal fight, will decide what the impact will be. Ones thoughts, feelings and words will define the winner of this internal fight.

Who will win is the one that we practice the most. Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. If we cultivate fear and worry our dreams will become nightmares. If we cultivate love and optimism only good will come.

The more intense the reaction is the more intense the response will be. Depending who will win the more intense or the more balanced the result will be:
* negativity will be washed out with positivity and vice versa
* negativity can be blocked with no reaction.

 A heart full of love will seek to spread good and eliminate fear. A good heart will choose to wash out
* arrogance with peace and love
* greed with generosity
* pride with humility
* despair with hope
* lies with truth
* hurt with forgiveness

A heart full of love can train the mind full of fear to change it's negative perceptions and seek the goodness that only a heart full of love can bring which is ultimately happiness and joy.

And as we choose to respond to those events, the universe will choose to respond back to us in the same way, immediately or in the near future. What happened yesterday, what is happening now and also what will happen in the future is a choice that is in our hands:  fear will bring pain whereas love will bring joy. What will influence our actions and reactions, and therefore the result in ourselves, in others and in the path of our life, is our choice of what we choose to trust more: our fearful mind or our lovable heart?


With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs  

The equation of life

Great thanks to my Diplani for inspiring me to have the following thoughts after our chat:

Wherever we are and whatever situation we are experiencing,
not all the variables in the equation of life will be the same
* some might be positive
* some might be neutral
* some others might be negative

nor those variables will have the same weight
* some might be more important
* and some others will be less important

The variables could be there but their interpretation and how those affect our lives is only up to us. It's up to us to give them a meaning and measure their importance and hence their impact in our lives.

Meaning can be whether the variable is positive whereas measurement can be how positive is that variable is.

The variable is a fact but its definition is an interpretation and that depends on the person, his or her experiences in life, perceptions and current situation. It also depends how one wants to interpret it, how one wants to experience it and how one wants that to affect his/her life or those around him/hers.

Variables can be facts but we will give them their importance in our lives.

Hence, whatever the variables are, the result of the equation is made up by us. If we are experiencing a very sad situation we have the ability to find and interpret other variables as positive... Therefore, the equation of life will not deteriorate further but can move towards more neutral conditions.

Positiveness and negativeness are the two extremes. Human behaviour is also extreme in both environments... Too much positiveness may generate creation, passion or whereas too much negativeness can produce pain, sorrow, distraction or loneliness.

Behaviour, feelings and thoughts perform better in neutral situations where:

* Passion is a positive affinity of love and not a source of lust or vanity
* Freedom is a way individuals control their own actions and not a source of uncontrolled anarchy or imprisonment
* Trust is a source of confidence and protection and not a vehicle of lie coverage to flaw honesty or suspicion
* Dignity is self respect and respect of others and is not transformed to vanity or worthlessness or racism

Positiveness and negativeness will always exist in our own lives and the lives of others. There will always be problems around us as there will always be joy. Whatever the situation is, our core values are only visible and true in neutral situations. Our truthful values or beliefs can only exist in situations of balance. And it is only up to us how to adjust those variables and maintain our true honest self even when some extreme circumstances are found in our path of our life...making the equation of life to be balanced... neutral...harmonic...


With ♥ for philosophy,
Ziuζs