Its okay to be selfish.

Give and you shall receive, play your part, charity begins at home , give, give and give .....etc . You know all these sayings that make you feel guilty for not contributing to a cause or taking the time to treat yourself? Yes, they make you feel like humanity has been restored and its time we started giving more. Well, in all good meaning they forget one thing. You know that person who you only get to see in the mirror? You mean me? Yes , you , you are also a citizen of this world and you also deserve the good life. 
Giving is good, everyone advocates for it, religious institutions, the government, family and society at large. That's a good thing, in simple terms , life is just a trade of giving and receiving. Besides, it always feels good to put someone's else needs above yours, it makes you a respectable human. See, giving is a good thing but like everything else in life, done excessively it is damaging. 

Humanitarians and philanthropists are admirable people, they contribute a lot to society, they change people's lives but what they don't do is deprive themselves for the benefit of others. In fact, they might be  the most selfish people in this world but only that they use this trait wisely. Bill Gates started philanthropy in 1994 after 20 years of Microsoft. He made himself rich before helping others. You may wonder what about Mother Theresa? and Mahatma Gandhi? and all those selfless who died completely penniless. Well, they too are selfish, I even have quotes to prove it.

“I loved my Microsoft: it prepared me for what I’m doing now. In the same way that I got to see the PC and internet revolutions, now I see child death rates coming down. I work very long hours and try to learn as much as I can about these things, but that’s because I enjoy it.” - Bill Gates

"If you do something out of duty, it will deplete you, if you do something out of love, it will energise you" - Mother Theresa

"There is greater joy than caring for someone, It is the joy of knowing you got others to care as well, come on experience it." - Mahatma Gandhi

See, these angels are not motivated by some call of duty to their country or the world. They are motivated by the selfish motive of enjoying what they do and feeling useful.

Moral of the story: its okay to be selfish , actually it is encouraged. Only when you stand with what you believe in and what you are good at will you be sane enough to put something to the table. Don't feel guilty for being selfish, embrace it.

A heterogenous universe

You are you for a reason, I don't know if this sentiment has been said enough but I'll keep saying it. Despite all we know, we normally a natural tendency  to fit in, or at least try to. Ussually , much to our disappointment, we realise that it is impossible. No matter how much you practise you'll never sing like Mariah Carey , or dance like Beyonce, or be as smart as Stephen Hawking. This is a stone cold reality yet I hear so many whine that  they are talent-less. Its admirable to look upto the best, but not to be them but the best version of yourself.

In case you haven't noticed, we live in a heterogenous universe and when you think of it, it is the force behind our existence, literally. We have rivers because of difference in altitudes, we have wind because of difference in pressure between two places, we have trade because of difference in allocation of resources. And its not just these superficial facts we can attribute. Life on earth probably began due to a heterogenous universe. Stars were not evenly distributed so some clusters had enough gravity to create galaxies, and the heterogenous nature of these galaxies led to some stars like the sun to have planets , of which the earth was in the best position to harbour life. So yeah , life itself was born of heterogeneity. Had the universe been uniform, there would be no story to write.

Point is, we are not the same and we'll never be the same. We have differences and that is a good thing, it means we should learn from each other, admire and respect each other because we have a role to play on the history of the universe. Remember this the next time you try to compare yourself with others only to realise that living someone else's life  is an impossible mission. Its better to use those talents and experiences than trade for another's life.


PS: I know its been a long time since I posted something. I took a little sabbatical to discover the secrets of the universe(kidding). I was in a dilemma whether this blog should continue, Don't worry though, life is amazing and I'll keep writing. Have an amazing week ahead.

Thank you!

   1st Jan 2015, I like the sound of it. We are officially as far away from 2030 as we were from 2000, not that it matters , just an observation. Today is a day to celebrate because not everyone got the chance to see 2015 and you did. Some of us are really celebrating because we achieved all of last years resolutions, some of us are neutral because we achieved  only some , some of us are saddened by the fact that another year has passed without accomplishing anything meaningful. If you are in the first category , congratulations and keep doing what you do. Today am addressing the rest of us, am rooting for those who are a bit disappointed to write new year's resolutions.

You did the best you could, like you always do. There are so many things we wish we did differently because we now know better,  but at that moment it was the best thing to do. The calendar is just well , a calendar, we made it up to keep track of time , but the truth is a new phase of life doesn't have to start on the 1st of January. It starts at the time you make the decision. The moment you realise what you truly want and decide to go for it at all costs. Trust me that's what makes for  new year's resolutions that actually come true.

Speaking of resolutions. How long is that list? Mine is just 3 things. I know I can do more, but I've got the rest of my life for that. I wont share them, yet, but these are the three things that will be at the back of my head for the rest of 2015. For the sake of your sanity, make that list as short as possible. Don't just write generic things like loose weight, be healthy , be happy, be rich. Everybody says so but not everybody has a specific plan. The art of writing resolutions is like the art of creating goals. They should be specific, that way the universe knows exactly what to give you. 

I had my good share of 2014. I threw myself at things I never would have thought about , took risks, learned, made friends, traveled , hustled most importantly this blog is growing faster than I expected. Thanks to all my readers ( I hope you find stories of Newton and Einstein and Physics and Math as inspiring as I do). Risk taking, that is how you grow, that's how you let go of fear. It all starts with a first step, you learned to walk by crawling, why should everything else be different? I read somewhere that to achieve anything, you don't have to be the best, you just have to start. Humble beginnings usually have a happy ending. As long as you are alive, there is something for you.

So here's to 2015, here's to 2015 for the risks that we'll take , the journeys that we'll begin and the memories that we'll take. As we sing Auld Lang Syne I would like to wish a  Happy New Year!!!! Make it matter.

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” 

― Plato 

Tis the day.

No, I used to hate christmas, or rather was not a fan, I actually have been looking forward to it now. Now I realise how mean that was but I had my reasons. The way I saw it was that people were just disproportionately happy, unconditionally giving, striving to do the same routines they have always done , sing the same carols with the same people year in, year out. Well, now I know better and its the reason why I'm celebrating it(which is why I'll make this article as short as possible).

Here is what Christmas truly is, (at least accoding to Chrsitians), It is the day that marks the birth of Jesus Christ. There has been a debate about whether he was born on the 25th December, but who cares, he was born at some point and if we choose this date to celebrate his birthday today, there is nothing wrong with that. This basically marks the birth of hope and faith in humanity.(No wonder everyone is being so nice). Again, its weird that on his birthday we get presents (humaniy++). Now others will tell of a different story that involves gods or Santa Claus or elves but the theme is always the same; celebration, merry making.

Oh, and if we use the Julian calendar Isaac Newton was born on the Christmas of 1642 (explains his genius).

People may appear disproportionately happy but isn't that what we ultimately want. Unless you are a masochist, of course, but everything you do at work, at home , at school , in your community is to make it better whether for yourself or for others. So Christmas is that ideal world we strive to attain but we too soon forget it to face the 'real' world.
Chrsitmas is a time to reflect, you know a week to put things in perspective and make thoughtful new year's resolutions. strategically, a week before the  new year (speaking of perfect timing).
If that's not enough reason to celebrate then I don't know what is, so, have a merry christmas and all the very best with your new year's resoulutions.

How Newton really discovered gravity.

Legend has it that Newton discovered gravity when he was sitting under a tree. He saw a falling apple while he was thinking of the forces of nature. I also know of a slightly more interesting version of this story. An apple fell on his head which got him thinking of gravity. In other words, Newton's law of universal gravitation is revenge to the universe for the excruciating pain he felt as the apple landed on his head. It sounds crazy but its probably true. Contrary to what we think, it is pain not imagination that is the root of innovation. Okay maybe imagination is  important but we can't underestimate the power of pain.

We need the time, imagination and resources to move forward but the real push to innovate is deeply rooted in pain, failure and all those things we never want to talk about. On and on again we see it happening, Stephen Hawking was motivated to dive into the 'hard' questions after being diagnosed with the motor neurone disease. Michael Faraday discovered electricity not despite of poverty but because of poverty, William Kamkwamba harnessed the wind because of the hardships he experienced from lack of electricity, Eden Full made the sunsaluter after seeing how Kenyan people suffer from lack of pure water and electricity. Taylor Swift writes beautiful songs as a result of, as you  might guess, heartbreaks.

The list goes on and on. Show me a history maker and I'll give you their  motivation. We all experience pain, only some of us are courageous enough to face it. Almost always we try our best to avoid it, and when it does befall us we ignore it. Why not embrace it? Let it motivate you not to make the same mistakes or even better to create solutions. All inventions can be traced back to one source: discomfort/ agony/pain.

Life is amazing, but its not easy. Actually it is hard not a walk in the park ( yes I said that). We are faced with struggles everyday, and in most cases we think they are hindrances to moving forward. Well, sometimes they are the opposite, perhaps the next big thing lies in those struggles. Have an amazing week ahead.

What are your factors?

Some things are crystal clear, like the fact that 4 is an even number and 59 is odd number, 2+3i is a complex one and pi is irrational. We do know the exact factors of these numbers , they are transparent. But what of 29347? Is it prime? Divisible by 3? perhaps 7? It takes a while to know that, even the program I've written to work that out takes a while. A fact, which brings to one conclusion, we are numbers, or at least just like numbers.

Life is so much easier when you think mathematically(literally). Think of humans as really huge numbers and our mission is to identify their prime factors. Some, like 1,000,000 are easily factorised with 2 and 5, others like 5934760 have obvious factors of 2 and 5 plus some other factors which require some effort to pull, others like 2934749 require a lot more effort to get to their root factors (which in this case is just 1 and 2934749 ). Some are just plain right complex and others require a little effort to realise they are irrational. Just like numbers, we humans are infinitely many and different too.

Some call them talents, I call them factors , I believe our life mission is to find those factors and use them for the benefit of humanity. Some tasks require 7's , some require 2's, some require 53's. Some people like have more factors than others, some have less. Leonardo da Vinci was a  polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer,inventor,anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He managed to realise his prime factors and used them, its safe to say he lived a life of purpose. 

So, what are your prime factors? Still don't know them yet? Don't despair, keep moving, one day they will be crystal clear and you will recite them like the alphabet. In the mean time, live an amazing life because , well, what's the alternative?

You might be wondering how exactly do we realise these factors, well, its simple, by living, that's it. Pursue your passion, try out bizarre things you have never thought of doing, help others, make friends, make mistakes, travel. In no time, you will figure out  those talents without even trying.  

Heisenberg was right

Lets talk quantum. I have never across a physics arena so vague and interesting as quantum mechanics yet it is the only theory that can explain our universe so perfectly. Lets talk about Werner Heisenberg who stated that 'It is impossible to determine the position and velocity of a particle simultaneously with certainity'. You will have to sacrifice one for the other but not both. In other words 'It is impossible to be completely certain'. No doubt, restating the theory makes it seem less like physics and more like reality because it is.

You start a project, you have to deal with the uncertainty of whether it will deliver or not, we go through tests unsure of whether or not we'll pass, most important of all we are faced with the uncertainity of whether or not we'll live to face the next day. No matter who we are, we cant help but deal with uncertainity. Sometimes it comes in the form of impostor syndrome, sometimes in the form of fear, sometimes it is simply not coated at all.

You think you are alone in this but you are not. Not even Albert Einstein was sure he would change the world. For 2 good years he had to deal with the uncertainty

of whether or not he would get a job. The founders of Google Larry Page and Segrey Brin admit that they didn't have a mega company in mind when they started. Stephen Hawking has been dealing with uncertainity of living ever since he was diagnosed with the motor neurone disease in 1963. Uncertainity is almost part of human nature.

Richard Feynman, who by the way  came up with some quantum theories,  once wrote, "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics" .He was wrong, well, sort of. Quantum mechanics is just the reality we choose to ignore because a lot of noise comes disguised as reality. Uncertainity shows up the moment we enter planet earth, is it a reason to stop us  from reaching our potential? No, it is actually a reason to strive on since that's how life becomes amazing. In short, whatever you do, you will either pass or fail but do it anyway.