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An often overlooked ingredient, playfulness brings lightness and levity to outcome- and goal-driven work. It helps us connect better with our peers and helps remove stress. Here are some ways to bring playfulness into the workplace: Hackathons: Hackathons can be a periodic stress reliever, as they can help us solve problems that are interesting to solve instead of always working in a focused, revenue-driven fashion. Team-building activities: Team-building activities are another good way to connect with your peers in a different setting and situation....

Our mind plays a crucial role in determining our state of happiness or suffering. It constantly judges and compares, which can lead to negative emotions and dissatisfaction. However, it also possesses the capacity to bring us happiness and contentment if we learn to train and control it effectively. The metaphor from Shantideva’s “Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra” about walking barefoot on the Earth offers a valuable insight into the practice of meditation. When we walk on rough and coarse ground, it causes discomfort and suffering....

I love connecting with people and building relationships. Spending quality time together, engaging in games and activities brings me immense joy and a strong sense of belonging in my life. I have a deep appreciation for the beauty of art, food, spirits, music, movies, books, people, and nature. Engaging in physical activities and having deep intimate conversations uplift me. Being fully present in the moment and savoring the sensations around me brings me happiness....

𝒟ℯ𝒶𝓇 𝒦𝒾𝓈𝓁𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮ℴ𝓃𝒶𝓁, As the echoes of laughter and love still resonate in our hearts, we want to extend our deepest thanks and gratitude for the breathtaking celebration of your 20th wedding anniversary. The two enchanting events, the intimate हल्दी ceremony at your house and the mesmerizing exchange of wedding vows and reception in the picturesque park in Piedmont, were nothing short of magical. 🥂 The हल्दी ceremony in your home was a heartwarming affair, filled with the essence of love, tradition, and family bonding....

Since 2016, I started to follow a self improvement regime :person_running:. I began with an exercise routine, followed it up with journaling, then blogging, and meditation (buddhism). To date, I have lost weight, gained muscle, feel more in control, have a clean bill of health, and more clear in my goals. However, in the last few months, I have been frustrated with myself. I constantly make the same mistakes, and in retrospective should have performed better....

I recently started reading “How Not To Be Wrong - The Power of Mathematical Thinking” by Jordan Ellenberg. It is an accessible book for people who have been out of touch from rigorous math. Jordan provides examples of erroneous day to day headlines, and then points out issues in judgments made. Jordan does not try to provide rigorous proof, but is able to channel our intuition to make us comfortable with his conclusions....

Meditation is not a cure to our sadness, anxiety, and stress. However, it can provide us ways to manage them well. This is more like a promise than a definite outcome. So, what are the direct and immediate benefits from practicing regular meditation? Concentration meditation, which is when we focus on our breath, makes us experience peace and bliss. How does it do that? Scientifically speaking, this practice shuts down our “mind wandering” default mode network in the brain - which is always scanning past and future for interesting things to think about....

I find it incredible that an ordinary human ~2600 years ago was able to provide powerful insights into human nature and reality. In essence, Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, made two statements: Change is occurring all the time both in and around us Self is an illusion we make up for ourselves, and this leads us into a flawed perception of reality When taken together, these statements give us the root cause behind the general dissatisfaction (dukkha is Buddhist term) we struggle with as human beings....

I have a hard time dealing with failure. I am guessing this is the same with most others as well. I go through the following chain of thought: why? why me? what did I do wrong? what could I have done instead? is there a way to salvage the situation? Simultaneously, I also go through another set of thoughts: is this a precursor of things to come? am I destined to fail at other new things or even my current endeavors?...

I enjoy reviewing classic industry papers periodically. The DynamoDB paper is fascinating, approachable, and deepens insights on almost every read. Finally, its a good reminder that good programs accomodate different concerns to optimize for others. DynamoDB was built for handling amazon.com’s shared shopping cart problem. Most Amazon customers have a single household account, and any household member should be able to add items to a shared shopping cart at different times on their devices....