Empathy

This is the part 3 of the “You are a hypocrite!” series. In part 1, we understood that every person is a hypocrite. In part 2, we got a bit of insight about the irrational and rational part of our mind. In this part, let’s explore a beautiful way of controlling your mind and using it to your own advantage. I was reading this beautiful book recently called Energize Your Mind by Gaur Gopal Das. The book covers a wide range of topics, including stress management, overcoming negative thoughts, building positive habits, and finding meaning and purpose in life. There is a chapter in the book titled ‘Joshua slips away’. I really love the way an analogy is established between our mind and a child. To summarize that chapter, it is about an experience of Gaur Gopal Das ji at the London airport where a really young child named Joshua is lost and his family is completely panicked and they are unable to find the child and everyone present there is searching for the child. Later they find that the child playing near the fountain. So Gaur Gopal Das ji say that, our mind is also like Joshua. Do check out the book if you want to read what he said in detail. In this blog, I will give you my own interpretation of this. ...

This is the part 2 of the “You are a hypocrite!” series. In part 1, we understood that every person is a hypocrite when it comes to matters that affect their own self. Their behavior in both the cases are very different. In this part, let’s explore why that happens. Let’s consider a scenario where you are watching the iPhone 15 advertisement and your salary is 25000 INR a month, you have just received your 1st salary and you are 22 years old. The following goes through your mind: Wow!! Just look at these iPhone camera samples! They look beautiful! How much does it cost? (You go to amazon and check the current price, it shows 1,00,000 80,000). Oh wow! 20,000 INR discount! Sweet. This is totally worth the money! But my salary is just 25000. How will I afford this😞? Wait a minute! EMI! Let me check how much is the EMI! 13333 INR for 6 months no cost EMI! This is a nice offer. But is it a good purchase? It gives me such good photos, videos and performance, but is it really worth the price? I can’t really afford an iPhone. Yes obviously it is worth the price! Along with all those features, it gives me something to flaunt. After all, iPhones are associated with status in India. How would it look like when all my friends are using an iPhone and I am the only one stuck with an android phone? Although I can’t afford the iPhone fully, but I will easily be able to afford the EMI. And anyways no cost EMI is a good thing right? I am not paying any extra charge for it. Okay I have decided to buy it. ...

All humans are hypocrites; the biggest hypocrite of all is the one who claims to detest hypocrisy. – Peter Wastholm Scene: You are in the office and you see 2 colleagues and your manager talking and laughing at something. “What would they be talking about? Is it about me? Are they talking about the fumble I had in the presentation? OMG yes they are talking about it. Let me get closer to them so I can listen.” (Heart rates rising). “Oh mannnn! I still can’t hear anything.” (The 3 people keep laughing and the go off to their desks and continue their work). “F**k man, it better be something unrelated. But what if it isn’t? December is approaching. What if my manager gives a bad feedback about me. What if I don’t get promoted this year? Does he have a grudge on me? Oh God I am screwed.” One of the 3 people who were discussing earlier comes to you and asks, “Hey you saw that client’s face when you were presenting? That was so funny, we were discussing about that, I was trying so hard not to laugh!”. You heave a sigh, “Oh yeah, that was so funny!”. ...