Art of Learning

Art, Music, Minimalism, Projects, and of course Languages ( with a lot of Frustration mixed in;P ) has been the main paragraphs of my story for the past month or so.

You know, when I come to think of this experience. I think, I have been out of my comfort zone the entire time, which is definitely a good thing. I am learning tons about Myself and about what works for me. To put it poetically, I am learning more about the Mind, Body and Soul.

My very own Whys, Whats and Hows. Experimentation is certainly becoming a part of my being, a good thing, I know. 

I think, it's all about Learning and it all definitely started with languages and overtime it has revealed itself as being one of the most important thing that I can invest my time in. Time - the only true measure for us is becoming more and more precious with so many things that we should/would/need/might do. Funny, I read somewhere that in the ages past we only had an average life of about 30 years and that's all the time we needed to do what we needed to do.

I think, it's something that I didn't anticipate when I wrote down all my goals a few years back and then slowly and surely things started falling into the right place - something that's becoming all the more frequent as time goes by. I love this feeling!

The thing being that Learning is the way we grow! Isn't growing for the Living.

I have been struggling with a lot of things, indiscipline, moodiness, not giving enough time to languages, not making enough progress with my Projects, not being organized enough. But somewhere deep down, I know that it's all coming together. I am still improving myself constantly and one day, the pieces of this Jigsaw will become a beautiful work of Art, just like that.

For the ProgressLog part of it, here goes what I have been doing in the meantime.

Languages

Been watching a lot of Anime, Inu Yasha being the latest one - 70 episodes done already. Dragon Ball Z being the main one that I purely in Japanese, I use the Russian subtitles in Inu Yasha;P Then there are many other Anime, Serials and Movies that I'll be watching over and over again to become more and more accustomed to the various nuances of the Japanese Language.

Of course, it's not about the Anime as such but it's only the same principle of " You can only learn what you already know". I used to watch these Cartoons when I was little so I have a certain level of Nostalgic affection for them already and I use this as a motivation for carrying through with the parts I don't understand and there are a lot of Dialogues which just fly by, without me learning anything.

Regarding Finnish and Hebrew, I haven't made any progress with Hebrew apart from listening to Hebrew songs and I think, I almost have them in my sub-conscious now;P

In Finnish, the progress has been slow but I can definitely see the end of the Tunnel, the tipping point coming close when I have enough vocabulary under my belt to be able to read and understand even what I already know. Takes patience though;P

Arts and Music

I haven't made any real progress with either, if you count making random tunes with the Harmonica - then I might still have some points in this department but otherwise no real progress.  The shift in Mindset i.e. noticing patterns, imagining the world as sketches has been immense. And now I appreciate Feynman's words even more " What I can't create, I don't understand". Even if it's done passively, Music and Art teach us to really Notice things around us.

Memory

The pack of cards awaits my visit! I'll get around to it soon, I hope. Though, I am still working on the Memory Palace technique for language learning materials.

Organizing

This is one place where I am happy with the progress made. Actually, it's about figuring out how to automate things in computers, in physical spaces or even the way I approach things, all the while acknowledging that it will never be full-proof method of taking care of everything.

From Email to actually arranging the way I store the information, which podcast to hear, how to gain and put into practice all the wonderful things and. of course, reading books, I have gained tremendous insights about myself. The main setback is becoming judgmental when it turns out I have been taking it easy. I try to remind myself that it's a gradual process but it's frustrating more often that not.

The Happiness Muscle;P

Oh, so the title made you curious?

Good - It should!

Haven't you wondered why is it that sometime we just don't feel sad when everything everyone seems to believe that we should?

No, I am not talking about your Guilty-Pleasure. I am talking about those rare moments when we managed to glimpse the Matrix!

Perhaps we don't always have to be sad when the inevitable happens and maybe we don't need to pretend that what we can't control is just Out-of-control. It's not!

This is kinda hard for me to put in words but I hope that by making you curious about it, you can find your own answer for there is no one-size-fits-all for the Big Questions. But I am starting to believe that Happiness and Success is a State of Mind and we can choose to be happy anytime of the day, any season of our life.

Of course, you see the Buddhist thought-base here but when we really think about it, hasn't this always been the message of each and every religion and philosophical inquiry? That we can choose to be happy, sometimes through passivity and sometimes through activity but it's our choice nevertheless.

To be sure, this realization came to me during these exam-storms that repeatedly strike our peaceful coasts;P 

But, seriously the first time I felt that I don't "have" to feel ashamed regarding a question I don't know the answer to was during the last end-semester exams, especially during the Viva voce. You know My Story, right so it's quite natural that what made me make an escape to the World of Languages would be the same thing that makes me understand what Learning and Being Learned really means!

Why do we learn?

Learning, for me, is a way of self-realization. 

It is to improve our understanding our the world and of ourselves. 

Learning to be employable is more like a certification course, just a small aspect of Learning. Think of it in organic terms. Perhaps these few certification courses are like fruits which make the tree interesting and "useful" for certain things but does it mean that once we have the fruits we are done with the tree. 

Nope, Change is for the living. Growth is for the living. 

During those Viva Voce experiences the only thing is stressed upon is the Guilt of not-knowing! 

Now, should it? I now know for certain that I don't "have" to know something just because people seem to expect me to or 'cos this is the purpose of the course. What I "know" is a matter of my values, my needs and my dreams. 

I know plenty more about Languages than say "Compilers" or "Search Engines" but that's only because Languages sparked my Curiosity whereas the latter ones are based on Utility. So far, I have managed to Live without "Compilers" and use the "Search Engine" just fine! 

But somehow, at that moment. This thought crossed my mind that I don't have to feel Guilty about it - something that this system seems to be founded upon. Learning is meant to be a Magical Experience, not drudgery. I read somewhere that it's not really the fault of the Student that one "failed" to learn but rather the Teacher "failed" to inspire one's curiosity, 

And as funny it may sound, I actually was smiling during the viva voce;P Something that, I am sure, was hilarious to everyone who saw me there hehe.

But, it's not only limited to Learning and Exams et cetera. Rather it is our choice about how we see the world, it's all a matter of perspective and how much should we be willing to go along the "accepted-truth". Are the things really Sad or are they just "supposed" to be sad? 

No matter how helpless and inevitable things seem to be, our greatest strength is to find a meaning and really See what the Matrix presents us with. I believe that my thoughts are still quite unformed on this matter but Victor Frankl seems to have said the same thing about Our Greatest Strength - Choice. 

My Friend, if there is one thing that you should take away from this entire Blog - forget languages, forget all the crazy experiments but please follow through this line of thought. To check out this link to Victor Frankl Institute and learn as much as you can about his life and more importantly his Beliefs about Life.

Strengthen you Happiness Muscle and choose to be Happy.

NOTE - "Compilers" and "Search-Engine" are the easy and still interesting parts;P. However the questions that the education system seems to stress upon are more along the lines of Establishing Hierarchies rather than establishing Curiosity.

The Bards - Japanese

Japanese Poets and Authors :-

1. Anzai Hitoshi                              --                    

2. Shiraishi Kazuko                         --                     白石 かずこ 

3. Tonikawa Shuntaro                     --                     谷川 俊太郎

4. Heiichi Shugujama                     --                        

5. Gozo Yoshimasu                        --                     吉増 剛造

6. Yosuke Tanaka                          --                      

7. Ryuichi Tamura                         --                     田村隆一                       

8. Chimako Tada                           --                     多田智満子

9. Toshio Nakae                            --                        

10. Kiyoko Nagase                         --                      

11. Masayo Koike                          --                      

12. Matsuo Takahashi                    --                     高橋 睦郎   

13. D.T. Suzuki                              --                     鈴木 大拙 貞太郎                       

14. Tian Yuan

15. Shuntaro Tanikawa

Zen Habits!

I am quite certain that by now you guys have a fair idea  about my admiration and affection of Buddhist principles of simplifying life and making life more meaningful. Oh, btw Buddhism for me, has nothing to do with "Saffron" or any other religious connotation - I live in India and trust me, I have had enough of Saffron preachers and fake Godmen.

Rather Buddhism is like the common denominator of religions and at it's very core the belief and purpose of every religion is the same - just the way it is achieved differs. I find this topic to be immensely interesting!

For me, the following phrase sums it all up pretty nicely -  "Religions are like the colors of tradition and culture on the blank canvas of spirituality"

Coming back to languages, I am an avid reader and what I seek most from books are ways to make meaningful addition and changes to my life, to explore the possibilities of improvement. To live more with what I have - that's good enough a pursuit for me.

I am obviously frustrated by the slow progress I am making with languages this year, especially with Japanese - the one language which I truly want to master. Perhaps, my motivation isn't high enough. Yesterday, I was just surfing the net for some documentaries regarding Buddhism - Zen always comes up as one of the most prominent "sects". I have decided that if I am ever to learn more about Buddhism it's going to be in Asian languages or not at all. Perhaps this is the push that I need to really get going.

Why the Silence?

For the past week or so, I haven't really been doing much regarding Languages - I deeply yearn to make progress though.

To be brutally honest, I find it quite embarrassing to confess that I have made no progress with Japanese, Finnish or Hebrew apart from occasionally listening to Songs and Podcasts for Ear Training - a name I learned from the world of Music.

Regarding the Memory Palace techniques that I am working on right now ( on and off ) I think, apart from adding Linear Journeys to convey a sense of continuity I can also include the tenses and the nature of the activity as in is it done, being done, about to be done and visually represent them on paper.

Obviously, being somewhat familiar with programming I do gravitate towards making this Memory Palace using a Program but, of course, that would make the entire thing be quite complex! I think that it's best to be able to do it with a pencil and a rubber.

Less is More;P

Will get back on track starting now.

Earning Superpowers!

Oh, this University project is keeping me quite busy these days. But I am definitely going deep with the entire Getting-Organized thing. It is crystal-clear to me that if I am gonna do everything that I love - I need to free my mind from things which can be automated and of course, become more Mindful in the process.

Don't you want to experience being free from the nagging reminders of all the things that need to be taken care of?

Being Organized, for me, is about being Free from thoughts which need not be thought again. Rather, I would focus with all my Concentration and Creativity on things which really matter and solve the problems that I come across.

Regarding the Memory Technique, I am experimenting with the Memory Palace/Journey Method which basically involves making use of the spatial memory to make links to information that is being memorized. I pick up a paragraph and then I focus on the Keywords which help me remember the gist of the sentence and then as the next sentence comes up I make a turn in the MP and then repeat the same process with the next sentence. Yes, I do find it all to be a bit slippery still, but I think that's only because I am learning what kind of Images stick in my mind and what level of detail do I need to keep them there.

I am using various visual symbols to help me remember the Tense of the sentence and, as I make progress with the Grammar portion of Languages - I'll make more of these glyphs. 
I'll put up an example of these Memory Palaces in upcoming posts;P

As soon as I have a bit of time on my hands I'll start the two  blogs Superhomadi is gonna contain all the progress log regarding the things I am trying as per the Getting Things Done phase as well as the Memory Palace experimentation. The other blog, which is  En Route to Fluency is gonna have posts in Japanese, Finnish and Hebrew - These three are the ones which are on my Active-Learning list till December this year.

Regarding Nutro-Marka - I have no idea what to do with the blog that I so hopefully created. Perhaps some idea still is there, waiting to bounce up when I am  ready;P


<< Edit - 14 Sept 2015 >>

As Niharika reminds me, there is another blog that I use, to express my progress and try to make sense of all the experiments I keep playing with is Sagematics . It's my expression and my views on the way "Hard Science" are treated by our Education systems - they need not be like a death sentence. They are meant to be quintessentially human - just like languages.

The way, I see these two projects is that " If Languages are my charm, then Programming is my Magic Wand" 

^_^

Need Superhuman Abilities - Earn them!

Yup, you heard me! Superpowers do exist - call it Magic or the work of "Genius" - there are people who are able to accomplish unbelievable things little by little and one step at a time.  

I believe that the only thing that makes the few "Geniuses" stand out is the sheer amount of time they put into it, Quality Time not the number of hours. Even if we pick up something which we'd call "dry" might inspire someone to be as creative as they can be - this is how diverse we really are as people.

As you know very well by now, I have been doing so much over the past couple of years and honestly, I don't see it changing. How can this change - I have just learned how to really live rather than just being alive. Learning is like Ambrosia for me.

Especially Languages!

I love the Realms they have opened up for me and by constant experimentation I have realized what I like and what skills I would like to Grow With Me. Music is definitely in, but I'll talk more about that in an upcoming post;P

Apart from Music - People, Poetry, Memory, Literature and just becoming More Organized and learning how to really use the Time that I have, focusing Quality rather than the Quantity - something that I used to overlook a lot when I began learning languages, in fact I was quite deep into Quantity-Time as in No. of Hours spent learning a language or just recording the time I put in everyday! 

In retrospect, I guess I took it to an extreme 'cos I would literally record every minute which I spent learning languages, so much so that I actually made a journal to record just that, bought a proper stopwatch!! 

Yeah, I guess I do have a thing to take thing to an extreme but I believe it's a part of Good Experimentation and when I know whether I love it, I would make it a Habit and if I got bored of it then perhaps it's not really worth keeping up with.

As of now, I am totally into Minimalism and Becoming Organized!!

I think that the best shot I have got to achieve everything that I want ( and I want A Lot) is to become Disciplined and Organized. Of Course, I have absolutely no doubt that Creativity and Chaos are quite related and I cherish the quirky ability to make connections which just baffle people;P

But perhaps there is a better way to take care of the chores that we must inevitably do. And when you think about it, there is just so so much that we can do de-clutter our lives and improve the quality of life we live. Health is another thing we erroneously overlook in our modern lifestyles. 

Where do you Really live - Where's your Only Home?  

It's your body, this organic thing that helps you engage with the world passionately.

It's your body, not the piece of space that you pay taxes for - but your very own body!

It's our bodies that's the Only True Home we have got, it's the Most Beautiful Gift that we have. 

By taking care of the daily chores, I wish to free my mind to focus on things which Really Matter rather than things which just Seem to Matter.

I just want To Live More;P

Who wants to live forever, that'd be sooo boring. I truly believe that if learn how to Live than one lifetime is enough - there's the cultural echo coming from a background of Re-incarnations;P

If the words which you read resonate with you, do follow through all the resources which are listed below. 

To refine your WHY, I definitely recommend following through these blogs which explain Minimalism in a wonderful way and when you have gone through them, I have listed the iTunes podcasts which I myself am listening to at the moment.

AWESOME BLOGS

The Minimalist

Becoming Minimalist

PODCASTS

The Productivity Show - Time Management

The 5 AM Miracle

Get-it-done Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips

Life Habits

Keeping You Organized

Got Clutter? Get Organized!

Organize 365 Podcast

The Joy of Organizing

Organize Mindfully

Getting Things Done!

Beyond the To-Do List

GTD - Virtual Study Group

Dear Friend,
Explore - Ceaselessly and Fall in Love - Hopelessly;P

Studying All-the-Time - You Must be Kidding!

Given the kind of things that you come across on this blog - You don't really believe that I work  all the time?

Well, that'd be boring no?

Actually, I try to make my work as playful as possible and I don't think I ever get bored doing what I enjoy - no one does really. But apart from this I would definitely call myself, as of now, quite undisciplined!

Yup, I sleep a lot, I largely am unable to meet schedules ( I keep making them anyway - Hope;P) , I am quite disorganized and though I do like to exercise ( running basically) - I think I can improve a lot more and take it to another level.

I am certainly making efforts to organize myself and to let my mind be free from trivial stuff which can easily be put on paper or some reminder system and just to be able to focus completely on the task at hands.

As you know by now, I make big decisions by my Heart and small ones by my Mind , I find that it's vital to be organized and to be able to do things with as little overhead as possible. I have a BIG Bucket List going on with many many things that I am to do during my lifetime. Being organized is the way forward for me.

But it's so hard to make sudden changes, no?

You remember that Planting a Seed analogy that I often use for Long Term Changes, that's the reason why I have come to appreciate letting the sub-conscious mind assimilate a particular Idea or an Intent in it's own time. For example I wanted to start a blog right through the beginning of this year ( 2015 )  and I did make a couple of blogs on Tumblr and WordPress et cetera but it didn't work out. My motivation wasn't strong enough, though the intent was definitely there but the Will wasn't strong enough.

It's important to let one's mind become one with an Idea, to let Time prove that it's gonna be a worthwhile investment of one's time 'cos after all Time is the only true currency we have - I'd say that we are TimeBeings. Btw read the book by Ruth Ozeki while you are at it;P

And regarding the Memory Techniques and the Becoming more Organized, I have been listening to various Podcasts as well as reading a bunch of books on these topics before I felt motivated enough to apply them actively enough. Yeah, I am quite slow to start but once I have built up the steam - there's no stopping me;P

Next Up, I am gonna give you a bunch of links for various Healthy advice from people who Walk-the-Talk. The resources would obviously be free ( in fact all on iTunes ) so, people, if you are serious like me about getting your act together then you better start learning from the Good Will of all these awesome people who share valuable and meaningful advice and are willing to go that extra mile so that people like you and me can benefit as well. Respect, man!

Dreams that don't let you sleep!

Today, I happen to get up at 3:28 AM in the morning!

Which is wayy earlier than what happens usually, the "norm" is about 9-10 A.M ;P

But this isn't really unheard of as it does happen with me when I am quite exited about something, say on to something which is, of course Japanese Language these days. So, I went straight to study after waking up ( and basically giving up on falling asleep again ) and opened my song register up to learn the Japanese Verbs and the songs lyrics I am trying to memorize these days. I have made loads of progress in understanding the rhythm of lyrics and how to notice the various ways it is made to sound more rhythmical as well, not to mention the wonderful way the words and the music complement each other.

But apart from that bit of Progress, I have noticed something about my motivation - I fall in Love a lot!

Yup, that's true with every language ( or anything)  I do. I exaggerate, I make-believe and even make it look insanely awesome but I am hopelessly in love with whatever I am giving my time to.

Say, I am studying German then I would love everything about the language, would look up every little cultural reference and would definitely imagine myself being a part of that legacy. I would romanticise the entire culture and the little peculiarities of German and Germans - there a pride in my heart;P. Same is true for Russian, French et cetera. I would even start dreaming in that context;P

Right now this is my Japanese phase and I am absolutely curious like a child about finding out everything about Japanese history, famous men and women of Japan right through the ages and how mysterious it still is to me!

I think, learning languages has changed the wiring in my brain a bit 'cos I don't really seem to mind acting weird ( or natural;P) when it comes to learning new things without judging them much. I just look forward to assimilating them. Say, the Japanese Anime, the first time( quite a while back) I came to know that even adults enjoy Anime and Manga, I kid you not - I was baffled!

I thought that's something you don't get to hear everyday but with time I have come to relish that, probably because I don't find it unusual in any way as I would read a good Manga myself to improve the language skills besides Anime is fun!

Which reminds me that these days I am watching Dragon Ball Z on the net and my parents have started to give me weird looks;P And man, how can I explain it all to them - makes me smile a lot though. I am definitely enjoying the language a lot.
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Well, I just focus on Supersaiyans!