Social Media Use (a repost)

I want to repost this because of the high intensity of social media use during this covid-19 crisis:

https://retnothetruthoflife.blogspot.com/2017/01/with-intention-or-for-attention.html

Happy Fasting (a repost)

This is just a repost since it happens to be in Ramadan again:

I just had a conversation with some teenagers. They talked about their experience of fasting in this Ramadan month. It was a very light conversation because I was asking about the menus they had for iftar and suhoor. Some of them had difficulties in waking up for suhoor, so they didn't eat anything for suhoor. Then when it came to iftar, they were so hungry that they could eat a horse. So, on the way to go home from school, they would buy anything that they wanted to eat later at iftar. But when it really came to iftar, their hunger and thirst would be satisfied with only drinking a glass of sweet hot tea.

Then I remember myself when I was still a teenager doing fasting in Ramadan month. What happened to them happened to me too. I wished I could eat anything I wanted when it came to iftar, but my stomach couldn't take it. Anyway, I still tried to eat all I wanted because I wanted to feel full. When my mom woke me up for suhoor, I felt that my eyes and my whole body so heavy that I couldn't get up. As a result, I was just up for a while for a glass of water, and then went back to sleep again.

Growing old, I can feel the huge benefit of enjoying iftar moment by drinking a glass of hot tea and some dates (if I have the stock in the fridge). And those teenagers, who had a light conversation with me, are perfectly correct. At iftar, I can satisfy my hunger and thirst by sipping my hot tea slowly and doing it mindfully. After giving some long pauses, I will really enjoy my meal without feeling too full or too greedy to eat any other food.

Doing fasting in Ramadan month feels so much better when I don't have to worry about the limited stocks of food in my fridge, and when I don't have to join conversations about mouth watering food and drink😴

This 2020 fasting month feels much more special due to fact that covid19 is still around. Being at home more often and not having to talk with many people makes this fasting more meaningful. Let me just say that this 1441 Ramadan fasting is the most meaningful fasting for me as long as I live up to now.

Enjoy your Ramadan fasting.

Towards the Mystery

You came into one of my dreams
You told me you had a secret kept
Then you came back again
to my other dream when I soundly slept
saying nothing but silence

I have no clue what I should do
I've never felt like this before
Is this the mystery
I should go through?
Or must I choose you
to strive for?

Are you coming to me
to awaken my soul?
Or are you coming to me
so I can make a mistake?
Being human is my role
Any risk I have to take

Let me be ready to enter
towards the mystery of my life

Kindness Still Exists

This lovely Friday morning, I was going out by motorcycle to do some green grocery shopping. It was around 5 a.m. and the air was still very fresh and the traffic was apparently not busy. So after I finished my green grocery shopping, I decided to enjoy riding around to get more fresh air.

Suddenly at an intersection, my motorcycle was off. So I had to bring it near the sidewalk in order that I didn't disturb other vehicles passing by. I tried to ignite the machine automatically and manually again and again, but it wouldn't start.

So I tried to calm myself down, letting the motorcycle cool off. I saw some motorcyclists looking at me. I didn't ask their help because I was sure my motorcycle would be able to start if I let it rest first. I had experienced the same thing with the same motorcycle before. And at that time I managed to start the engine after some few minutes, without anyone's help.

Then, a motorcycle stopped beside me. There were two persons on that motorcycle. I assumed they were husband and wife, a young couple. The husband asked me what happened. Then both of them walked down from their motorcycle to help me start the engine. After they forced the manual and automatic ways of starting the engine, finally the motorcycle could start. I was so thankful for their effort to help me.

I still do believe that that little example of kindness still exists. Those husband and wife may think that what they have done to me is something small. But the effect to me is amazing. My heart is full with what they do with their kind heart.

How I Make Use of Whatsapp

Whatsapp is the only social media platform that I use every day. The first time I had to decide to use it was because fewer and fewer people were using SMS. So, at that time, like it or not, I had to change because of the very fast-growing technology.

After managing to stop getting addicted to Facebook (that is by deleting my Facebook account because I felt mentally exhausted), I was quite relieved with the use of Whatsapp. I could still communicate with the persons who were really close to me personally. There was no facility in the old version of Whatsapp to update status. So I was happy with that.

Coming to the new version of that application with the facility of updating status, I was forced to curse "Why the heck does this application need to imitate other digital communication platforms like Facebook and Instagram?"

The many contacts I have saved result in the many status updates shown in 'Status' menu. At first, I was quite enjoying looking at other persons' status updates. It felt like I found a new version of Facebook. However, at that time I didn't feel intrigued to update my status simply because I didn't need any attention from people in my contact.

Then, checking people's status becomes boring for me. I don't broadcast my personal life on Whatsapp, so why should I know others' personal life? It has been more than 5 years I have been using this application. Within that duration, I've just done updating status for 4 times. And all those 4 times have made me feel awkward. I just felt uneasy after doing that. Thanks to the facility from Whatsapp that the status update can be deleted or will disappear within 24 hours.

I guess my feeling uneasy after updating status is all about defense mechanism. I don't want to feel stressed out thinking that other people who have seen my status will elaborate things concerning that update in relation with my personal life. Besides, I cannot control what other people think about after they see some status updates from some random persons including from me.  Furthermore, I don't want to get addicted to the number of views that I get after I update status. I consider that this kind of decision makes me mentally healthy.

Occasionally, however, I check status updates from persons that I care about. I give some feedbacks if necessary. I also check some which contain humor. If they know that I check their status, it's their problem, not mine 😉.

Perhaps, I will do something a little bit silly about how I make use of Whatsapp someday, as silly as changing my profile photo more than 5 times a day😁. It's not about needing attention; it's just about letting out my wild side for a while. And definitely not updating any status about my personal life. However, I'll be considering about sharing this blog via whatsapp. I'll think twice about that.

How I Appreciate My Life

I remember reading a quote from Elbert Hubbard. He said "Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." It's ironically funny because most of us live our life too seriously. We live our life as if we would live forever. So we sometimes fight too hard to get our success. We forget that we will die sooner or later.

There is nothing wrong with fighting. It will be wrong if the way we fight influences the way we face our life. We take everything too seriously. We don't try to find the humor in our life.

Let me then elaborate how I don't take my life too seriously. In that way, I can really appreciate that I still live.

First thing first, in the morning when I wake up, I will be excited to know that I can still wake up alive.

Then, when it comes to preparing things for my daily routines, I don't rush. I often steal a chance while having my cup of morning coffee to look up the sky to enjoy looking at flying birds.

When I am alone, I usually think about some things. Then I do some self talks. I have a dialog with myself. In the dialog, I often laugh at myself when I realize the content of the dialog.

Crazy, right? But that's the way I enjoy my life.

Hippocrates' Help to Understand Diseases

Whether you like it or not, there comes at a time when you must stay home, laying in bed, getting ill. Or maybe you must stay home because you don't want to get infected with the dangerous viruses outside your home. Inside your home, feeling ill or feeling healthy, you will still feel safe.

How if you need something from outside? Let's say you need some food and drink supplies. You can ask somebody to help you. I am sure that you have somebody close, somebody that you know, whether they are your relatives, neighbors, or friends. I think they will be ready to help you if they know your condition. But if you are the type of person who is independent and who doesn't want to disturb others, going out to buy what you need from the neighborhood is still fine as long as you minimize physical contacts with others.

Then, how if you want to see a doctor? You need to consult with him. You need some medicine from him to cure your illness. You desperately want to get better. Surely, you will choose your favorite doctor to consult with. The problem is whether or not that doctor is purely intending to cure you. Or he is just being a doctor for the sake of business.

Frankly speaking, I don't trust doctors. It's not because I have trust issues. It's not also because I understand medical things. I don't understand at all. It's just because in order to be called doctors, they must spend a lot of money for the study to get that title. They will, of course, spend a lot of money to get the profession. Furthermore, when at last they are called as doctors, they must have spent a lot of money too, for the clinic that they own. And there it is, the clinic that they own to make a very good living.

There are some good doctors, however, who are really respecting their oath to help patients no matter what condition will happen to those doctors. As doctors, of course they know how to protect themselves from being infected with their patients' disease. They know the worst risk of being infected with very dangerous viruses from their patients: death.

Those good doctors, I bet, also really understand what Hippocrates meant in his saying: "It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has." To make it clearer, they probably will give their patient this question: "What sort of person are you to have this disease?" With a little bit of dialog with the patient, they can reveal what kind of person that patient is; the depressed, the all-food lover, the heavy drinker, the temperamental, the worrier, or so many other kinds. They are trying to understand the patient before they make a decision about what medication they will give the patient.

If ordinary people like me also understand this quote from Hippocrates, I guess we will know how to cure our own disease, or at least ease the pain of that disease. Therefore, when my stomach starts to act up painfully, I don't try to find the medicine to cure that ache. I just recall my memory about what I have eaten or drunk or thought about. That's it. So I know what kind of person I am to 'deserve' that disease. I am so careless in choosing what to eat or drink. Or I am so overwhelmedly busy thinking about some problems. So, to ease the pain of my stomach, I just try to relax, not letting the gastric acid come up. Then I will be just fine.