Taking control of your life is in your own hands. When you are self-aware, even the tiny moments of deep clarity change the course of your life. Suppressing your emotions is not the right way of clearing them up, rather consciously going through them, observing them and resolving those tough moments is something which is a long-term solution.
This story is from Tanistha Arora – one of the strong women I know, who has been a great student of life, studied life sciences in her academia and subsequently holds a degree in Law. She’s worked with the National Commission for Women (NCW) and while working there she has handled cases of many abused women who had been through rape, sexual assault or were suffering from PTSD. She shares how that whole experience shaped her and a subsequent journey inward, kindled through meditation, inspired her to drop her blooming career in Law and how she embarked on the journey to fulfil her life purpose.
She’s a prolific writer and documenting her journey and I hope this story will inspire you.
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
– Invictus by William Ernest Henley.
When Nelson Mandela was confined in the prison during the freedom movement of South Africa, he was internally struggling to find his true self. The poem became his lifeline and my journey also revolves around this.
Just for the background- I completed my under graduation in Life Sciences, graduation in Law and worked with National Commission for Women (NCW) for a year (although I no longer identify myself with such an introduction).
Another week passed by. Week 24th to be exact. Even though cities have started to open up here in India and in many other countries, but the vaccine is still away and the virus is still here. So we should all be cautious when going out. I know this is what we all know, but just trying to put it out as a reminder to everyone.
As promised earlier, I want this newsletter to become a getaway for you from all the news and the chaos.
Last week was productive for me, I got a good amount of things done at work. On the creative side, my “Lifestyle Design in Action” story series (on my blog) is also being liked by you all (my readers), so I’m continuing to post these guest posts from various people living alternate Lifestyles. In other news, I’m doing a collaboration and exciting news is coming up mostly in the next week. So watch out for that.
Coming to the book reading/listening progress, I moved forward on below books –
Read – 6 | In progress – 5 | Pending in Reading list – 5 | Yet to discover for reading for yearly goal – 8
That’s it for the personal updates.
Without further adieu, please enjoy this week’s Saturday-Pentacle.
Issue 188 // Week 24 // 2020
An article I found useful —
Go From Chaos to Clarity in 30 Minutes – In this article (or rather how-to with personal experience) Tiago Forte shares his process of going from total Chaos to Clarity in 30 mins.
He shares how he does weekly review and how he has refined this process over the years to make it so that it aligns him to his goals when executed weekly.
Interesting approach and a good read.
A podcast episode I loved —
Tim Ferriss Show – Rick Doblin – Loved this interview of Rick Doblin by Tim Ferriss where they discuss the origins of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and how MDMA and psychedelic drugs are being a promising cure of PTSD.
There are a lot of nuggets in this episode. I finished it in just one sitting.
Here is the YouTube link (or click the title for the rest of the platforms) –
This is why I love Matthew McConaughey because he has this capability to listen as well.
Totally recommend watching this as it will educate you too –
Music I’m loving —
Garden Concert by Jubin Nautiyal – My sister introduced me to this Garden Concert from Jubin Nautiyal (A Hindi Singer from the mountains). In the pandemic situations as everyone is stuffed in their homes and feeling anxious. This was a really amazing and unique concert he put together at his home garden.
If you have the will to do something you can put together things and do almost about anything and beautifully. That’s what this Garden Concert symbolised to me. I loved his music as well. Such a buffet of great Hindi songs.
Quote which I found meaningful –
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
— James Clear (Atomic Habits)
Before saying “see you next week”
Here is a throwback photo I posted on Instagram. You can check it out here or go to my Instagram for the whole story and more –
I’m Himanshu Sachdeva, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories.
Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!
No spam, ever. Only great stuff.
Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 188 // Week 24 // 2020
What to do Next?
If you are not signed up to my email list, go ahead and do it right now so that you don’t miss any new weekly SATURDAY PENTACLE post and more interesting emails on Lifestyle Design, Productivity and Creative Entrepreneurship. (plus new podcast episode announcements).
Just enter your email address below and click “Subscribe!”
Last week was difficult as violence irrupted in many states of the US in the wake of Geoge Floyd’s death while he was being arrested by police. Racism still exists in the world and things really need to change. The environment in the US and many of the western countries is changing and there is sort of a movement going on right now. It’s a historic moment. Black lives matter. This movement is showcasing that on a scale.
I’m trying to educate myself with the history of racism from online sources, blogs and books and following the threads on social media on this.
Past week in India, there was a cyclone which hit the western shoreline of India – Nisarga but fortunately, it was not as destructive as it was thought to be.
2020 is slowly becoming the year of the century when things are changing so rapidly. Every day new events.
Coming to the book reading/listening progress, I moved forward on below books –
Without further adieu, please enjoy this week’s Saturday-Pentacle.
Issue 187 // Week 23 // 2020
An artical I found useful —
The importance of red teams – This article was a great read from Dr Peter Attia. I found two ideas very intriguing from this article which I would like to share as a summary –
Importance of Red –
In the early 19th century, the Prussian army adopted war games to train its officers. One group of officers developed a battle plan, and another group assumed the role of the opposition, trying to thwart it. Using a tabletop game called Kriegsspiel (literally “wargame” in German), resembling the popular board game Risk, blue game pieces stood in for the home team—the Prussian army—since most Prussian soldiers wore blue uniforms. Red blocks represented the enemy forces—the red team—and the name has stuck ever since.
Idea – One Organization itself can have both the teams and play tactically, as their own red team can work as an enemy simulation and the blue team can, therefore, be trained better.
Differentiation b/w signal and noise – On the contrary to the point of the counter team or the counter idea (as mentioned in point 1), there is one more paragraph in the article which gives a great perspective –
Generally, the more we can introduce and consider opposing views into our thinking, the more we can rely on the knowledge we’re trying to build. But—and this is a very, very big BUT—not all opposing views are equal. Recognizing the difference between scientific (worthy of debate, though often still incorrect over time) claims and pseudoscientific (not worthy of debate, as the very foundations on which they sit are not pulled from the disciple of science or the scientific method) claims is crucial and a failure to do so makes the following exercise futile.
Idea – As we are constantly bombarded with information in these present times, so it because very difficult to identify the signal from noise, meaning – logical or scientific debate as compared to illogical or pseudoscientific debate. But as it is difficult at the same time it is as important to do this rightfully and diligently.
I was just amazed by seeing the way things change when you become a producer and shift from working on the atomic piece to moving to the place where you can see the birds-eye view of a masterpiece.
That tells if you are a world-class producer (of any art) or no.
A brilliant ad which is centred on the customer –
A video which intrigued me —
How MDMA is being used to treat PTSD – As western scientists are opening up to experimental drugs in medicine. MDMA which is commonly known as ecstasy or molly, is a psychoactive drug primarily used for recreational purposes.
But as I follow Tim Ferriss and he’s very active in the support of research with these psychedelic drugs and keeps sharing about it through his blog and newsletter. It made me really curious that if it actually works than how deep the impact it can make on the lives of people living with a disorder like PTSD. It will be a paradigm shift.
This video shows exactly that with example.
P.S.: I don’t recommend any of the psychoactive drugs and this mention is just for research on the impact of MDMA on PTSD patients.
A Magnet scientist who blew my mind – Professor Eric Laithwaite (A British electrical engineer) who is known as the Father of Maglev and pioneer in the development of the linear induction motor and maglev rail system, shows in this 1975 video – how Magnetic Levitation can be achieved.
It was just mind-boggling. Check out the video –
Quote which I found meaningful –
It’s a helluva start, being able to recognise what makes you happy.
— Lucille Ball
Before saying “see you next week”
Here is the latest story from my story series – “Lifestyle Design in Action” which I published last week –
I’m Himanshu Sachdeva, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories.
Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!
No spam, ever. Only great stuff.
Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 187 // Week 23 // 2020
What to do Next?
If you are not signed up to my email list, go ahead and do it right now so that you don’t miss any new weekly SATURDAY PENTACLE post and more interesting emails on Lifestyle Design, Productivity and Creative Entrepreneurship. (plus new podcast episode announcements).
Just enter your email address below and click “Subscribe!”
