as for creating the code with less effort, I'd say either a good microframework OR a more monolithic one - both have advantages and disadvantages for a small project. the advantage with a node/express backend vs meteor for example is that you can just write the API and only add the components you need googling as you go. if I only want an android app that uses VERY simple auth and a very simple db that sequelize can map, I can then have more flexibility and not have to learn as much. there is less code to maintain often, not as much autogenerated code. I can also write a native android or react native app instead of being nudged towards a cordova/phone gap solution. the con is that if you're new or especially if you haven't worked a tech job before your code can get disorganized or buggy, especially if you don't know TDD (I still want to learn). also meteor has easy deploy solutions and a lot of magic.
similar dynamic applies to sinatra vs rails, django vs flask, etc.
as for sharing ideas, this doesn't scare me at all if it's just a chat with friends or likeminded people - actually I don't worry much at all. if someone else can make it /better/ and /faster/ than me then I just picked the wrong niche, I'll just need to pick one where I'm the best next time. I think it's better if my app can succeed in a market with perfect information because then I'm specializing to the best of my ability.
I'm still learning but this is the wisdom I've got from reading about how to do this stuff on your own and trying and just doing the work. I'm curious to get feedback on my way of thinking about this as I'm sure I could improve even further
I come from more of a taoist background, when I read the tao te ching it changed my life. I would see how he tries to present his ideas - vague, contradictory, unprecise - as I think that is a much better way to communicate these attitudes (ie the insights of meditation/awareness/secular "spirituality") to most modern cultures today.
better than that, check out alan watts, he introduced much of eastern philosophy to the west and he is probably my favorite public speaker of all time, period. he makes everything sound profound and mysterious and yet a meaningless joke at the same time - just like the ideas really are.
back to our "disagreement" - I think we're just working from opposite directions of the same core fundamentals (yin/yang, in other words) - your approach is very rigid, precise, and ruthlessly blunt and honest. my approach is more boiled down to essentials, focused on a roughly correct understanding that will guide most people in the right direction over time, and forgiving - flowing like water as a taoist might say.
the fact is, unlike in many western cultures and ideas (unlike stoicism, which is arguably the western "version" of eastern thought and attitudes), there's no contradiction between our approaches I think - they're more like two different teachers where some personalities need your precisely rigid approach and some might benefit more from a more taoist approach. Ultimately in my life I've needed a bit of both but at different points - the strong harsh ruthlessly honest self-discipline most recently, and the relaxed, intuitively focused, flexible taoist approach when I was a stressed teenager.
I hope this helps make things clearer for anyone reading this as if reading a debate.
I'm not trying to put lipstick on a pig either. I'm trying to explain very real experiences I've had in a way that people who don't understand delayed gratification (yet) won't misinterpret due to false definitions instilled in their past.
>When you try to make something into something else in order to make it more pleasant, that is a form of a story in the head. It will work for awhile until it doesn't. The whole point of mindulfness meditation is awakening to what is, not what you wish things are.
Okay, why are you responding to my comment with this? Did I somehow contradict this notion?
>It doesn't matter whether you are doing something you think is pleasant or not, dukkha is present there. Strain and tension contains pain. Dukkha is only there when someone is not mindful. Ironically, by being present to the actual amount of pain, the dukkha lessens:
Strain and tension don't necessarily contain pain. During physical exercise the body releases a flood of endorphins (ie natural painkillers) that numb it. I believe I've heard meditation does something similar. I can think of numerous other examples of strain that doesn't contain pain - working really hard to solve a puzzle, learning a new skill, or completing a really difficult project. Flow state is when we have high strain and tension but a high sense of efficacy and well-being.
>Learned helplessness is a story in the head. There are methods to dissolve and deconstruct that which I will not mention here. When you replace that story with a different story, you are creating the conditions for your next disappointment. Real power and freedom comes from releasing the stories that prop up your identity.
beliefs are just descriptions about reality that can be either true or false, but we can indeed be fooled by false beliefs or become dependent on true ones which may change in the future. I agree that equanimity is a great virtue which can be cultivated through regular meditation. you don't have to overcomplicate something by alluding to some mysterious methods which you know but won't explain. you can break down false beliefs through mindfulness which is the technique behind cognitive behavioral therapy. there is nothing wrong with forming new positive beliefs as long as they are accurate and you understand that reality is always changing and they may become false in the future. you must maintain a regular practice of mindfulness if you want to minimize false beliefs.
>If we don't have to do anything, then what is the point of living and struggling?
There's no objective reason to live and struggle floating out in reality. They are impulses generated within human beings through genetic, internal (ie mental/cyclical), and environmental influences. If you don't have them, you can try to cultivate them, if you don't believing that you "have to" do things is a very hollow substitute.
>If you lose your motivation for living and struggling, then what happens when you really need to make it through?
You find it or you die. This is self-evident, if this wasn't true, then suicides wouldn't happen. You need to find a strong, positive, inner source of this motivation and remain vigilant once you do or you will find half-ways to slowly kill yourself - purposely getting in unhealthy relationships, acquiring addictions or bad health habits, or overworking yourself.
>This was the paradox that was resolved for me with non-dual Shaiva Tantra.
I have no idea what paradox you're referring to. I'm not seeing one here. If you think that we either objectively have to do things or there's no point in living and struggling, that sounds like a pretty dualist concept to me. I have no idea what the "shaiva tantra" is and honestly I think it's best for those trying to find a way out of a dark place, as well as those trying to understand these life principles, to abandon these cryptic terms and speak simply or using well-established modern language. Isn't the point of communication to transmit knowledge? You're doing a poor job when you use obscure terms without defining them.
we tend to make things like exercise and so on into these grueling things that we do as if out of this sense of duty. we don't really have to do anything - we can never get out of bed and starve to death. nobody's going to judge us for that, and if the only thing that makes you choose different is feeling guilty then you need to find your motivation. for me, the less I judge myself for not doing, often the quicker I get started. it's been tough to remember that - I can still agonize with patterns like "analysis paralysis" and I have to just stop, and go do something totally unproductive until my motivation returns. It's kind of like diffused/focused thinking as applies to learning, or anabolic/catabolic processes for weight lifting.
For anyone who hasn't read it yet, or isn't familiar with these ideas of praising effort and relative improvement over ability and talent, checkout Mindset - it's a great book which I'm about half-way through right now: https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0...
Which tools or techniques do you like to use if there's no pen and paper handy (ie laptop on a plane) or you just want to keep it digital without a tablet?I've been thinking mindmapping might work well for me but freemind seems clunky and dated, though that isn't necessarily a deal-breaker.for me use cases would include taking notes on an android course im taking or planning out a web app to...
This has inspired me to take my learning and future work far more seriously (along with reading war of art last night)
from now on my goal is to be an engineer and a businesswoman first and foremost, with the goal of being able to engineer quality products and systems for myself and freelance clients
from here im going to go through the odin project and focus on being well grounded in the fundamental principles and techs - no longer just a hobby and now i know to be at the top i will need a lot of grueling work
good thing i like react and js!
thx again :)
i think rails to start followed by some other stacks to see what best universal practices are
I've been learning Ruby on Rails and I've seen a lot of youtube videos of people building youtube and pinterest clones in like an hour or two.What kind of work is done to diffrentiate from that? I'm curious what the more advanced workflows/projects look like. What work is airbnb or github doing?it seems like a logarithm where you get a lot of results quickly and the rest is incremental...
have you tried meditation too? exercise works great for me but it can also make me tense if I overdo it. meditation has many additional benefits particularly for this sort of subconscious delegation and helps to wind down after exercise (reduces cortisol, which exercise increases)
and really it'd be more accurate to say there are three of us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triune_brain
SSRIs only /treat/ (not cure) a deficiency of serotonin, which for some people is all they need. I think some people have a strong genetic predisposition to depression, however that doesn't mean "therefore medication."
But depression comes in a lot more forms than just a simple serotonin deficiency, it's also thought that dopamine and norepinephrine play important roles. Personally, antidepressants never helped me, though a combination of physical exercise (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_phy... - seriously read that, I used to think exercise was just about living longer and being "healthy" in some abstract sense, which were the opposite of what I wanted at the time) and meditation has helped. It hasn't made me happier but I think it's effectively treated my depression.
When someone doesn't have the ability to "lift" themselves out of their depression, there isn't suddenly a binary "either they need an SSRI/SNRI or RIP tough luck". Some people have hypothyroidism (this was my case) and no amount of psychoactive drugs is going to help with that because the neurotransmitters aren't even being manufactured in the first place and even if they were you'd barely have the energy to utilize them. Other people just don't respond to SSRIs but would still respond to the massive boost of not just serotonin but dopamine and norepinephrine caused by daily (especially aerobic or HIIT) exercise (it also rewires the reward centers and dozens of other things, read that article). Some people might have bottled up emotions or physical influences increasing their cortisol - high cortisol can make you feel depressed too. Meditating lowers that and brings out your emotions so you can cry if needed (which FURTHER decreases cortisol). That was kind of the last component for me.
Some depressed people need someone to not just give up after trying an SSRI but actively get them doing the lifestyle changes, whether that's self-applied in CBT as in Feeling Good, exercise, meditation, getting out more, whatever. Like they seriously need to be guided to do it in real time, they can't just be expected to even remember to do it. Also blood work and hormone tests are simple to do - it might just be a lack of micronutrients or hyper/hypothyroidism (especially in this age group of middle aged women. personally I'm 20f)