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On Staying Present – Nerdful Mind #85

August 29, 2021 by Simon Mannes

"What do you do to relax?" the student asked his master.

"Nothing," the master replied.

"When I walk, I walk,

when I eat, I eat,

and when I sleep, I sleep."

"That's what everyone does," the student responded.

"They don't!" replied the master.

— a Buddhist story [I was told, but couldn't verify]

This story is a reminder that staying present can be key to a happy life.

For one, it means we're not worrying about the past or feeling anxious about the future. Just the sensations of whatever you're doing in the moment.

The second part is, being truly present makes everything a meditation practice. It makes you feel better now and in the long run.

Not even years of practice allow me to stay present in every moment, so every little reminder helps.

Even if it's just a short story.

Reading Recommendations

10 Short Zen Stories

“Religions from all over the world have used storytelling as a medium to convey their messages of wisdom. One such religion is Buddhism, which for centuries has used parables, anecdotes, fables and tales to help people expand their consciousness by offering them enlightening insights and moral life lessons. This culminates in Zen Buddhism, a tradition famous for using short stories generously to help Buddhist students develop a deeper understanding of reality.”

Are You Entitled to What You Want from Your Partner?

“Acting as if what you want, what you prefer to have happen, is an entitlement using the strategies described prevents you from achieving a mutual agreement with your partner. Entitlements are unilateral—you get what you want because you rigged the game.”

Backends For Frontends

“So teams building user interfaces are confronted with the situation that they are calling an API which another team is driving, and often than API is evolving while the user interface is being developed. The BFF can help here, especially if it is owned by the team creating the user interface. They evolve the API of the BFF at the same time as creating the front end. They can iterate both quickly. The BFF itself still needs to call the other downstream services, but this can be done without having to interrupt development of the user interface.”

Weekly Mindfulness Practice

Close your eyes, stretch as high as you can, and yawn for 10 seconds.

Afterwards, pause for a moment and check in with your body. How does it feel?

You can do this exercise as often as you like.

End Note

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Have a great week

Simon

PS: What do you think about this? Please hit reply and let me know. I'm curious!