Book Reading Challenge 2019!

Let me confess, I have failed miserably at this challenge for years. That is what makes me take it up once again! Vivekanand says " Arise, Awake, and stop not till the goal is reached!"

At first, I called it " 40 books for 2019 Challenge!" It was about reading 40 books in 2019 and anyone reading more than that was up for some special gifts! Actually 52 books is the ideal. But I didn't want to aim too high. 40 seemed like a doable task.

Or how about tweaking the rules a bit?
The reader gets to choose their goal- anything above 25 books/ year. And whosoever reaches it , is eligible for special gifts.

Those crossing this number by 5 , get 1 gift.
Those who cross this number by 10 ( i.e 35 books/year), get 2 gifts and
those who cross the number by 20 and beyond ( 45 and up), receive 3 gifts.

Gifts would be 3 E-books. These books can be mutually decided upon between the participants.*

How does that sound?

Rules:

1. After reading every book, you need to write a summary/ review in your own words and post it on this blog.  What you  learnt from it, your favourite lines etc.

2. No restriction on the number of pages of the book- it can be anything from 4 pages to a 1000 pages book.

3. No summaries allowed: Reading summaries of books or short forms of books written by other authors will not be considered/counted as a book for this challenge. We can of course talk about them in a different section.

5. Any language, any kind of books. BUT participants must adhere to basic standards of morality. In other words no obscene content will be allowed in summaries/comments. This brings me to an interesting question: Is '50 shades of Grey' and the kinds allowed in this challenge? Frankly speaking, I don't know.. but alright! Let's bring it on, let's see what people read and write...

6. Anybody from anywhere can participate in this challenge.

7. We can share the list of books we are going to read, so that we may find something in common.

8. Results will be declared in the last week of December 2019. So the participants need to reach their target by December 21st!

9. Bonus Month: We can start the challenge a month in advance, that is December 2018.


* Subject to Availability of course. The winners need to submit the names of 3 books of their choice and I will try to get a copy for you.
* Gifts are sponsored by Eager-i!


List of Participants:

1. Jsincro (23rd November 2018)

And there is another one....

She says:

Add a Participant - Sharvani Pinge. I would target 25 books. My target is usually 24 books, i.e. 2 books a month. That was my target in 2018 as well and so far I only managed about 15.
So I'm hoping and anticipating an improvement.

That was on 25th November.

Update: 15 | 12 | 2018

I am starting with this one: 

Update: 04 | 01 | 2019

Finished reading this book in 2 days time. It's just 150 pages, big font, easy language. Good Book in short. It's more important to read the right books rather than bother with the quantity. 

Why have people stopped thinking?

It has been my observation that people , in general, have stopped thinking, and therefore stopped questioning.

I do hear questions, such as " How much does this saree cost? You think it's worth the price?" A lot of such questions actually. Or " Have you tried this restaurant? Great food!" But never a question about "Is our education system worth the money and time we invest in it?"
or
"What can we do to make the political class more accountable?"
or
"How much money do we really need to live a comfortable life? Is all this struggle really worth it?"
or
"Where are we going as a species? Are we learning and practicing the right thought patterns?"

I am not here to point fingers and blame anyone. Because blaming is damn easy. There is an expiry date to how much we can blame someone else, and we crossed it long back.

So , yes, we are responsible for everything that we experience. So what are we doing about it , to change those experiences?

Answer: Think!


Some of the reasons why we have stopped thinking are:

a. Thinking is uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable because :

1.  It leads you to investigate and question and this process is time consuming and mentally tiring. 
2. Although you may reach certain conclusions, it is difficult to apply those new lessons to your current scenario. So thinking leads you to new areas, these new areas do not fit in with your old system and this gap is stressful, to say the least. 

b. Thinking requires analytical skills and lots of data. Whenever a question arises in my mind, I read, I listen to podcasts/ videos, I find people on social media who know something about the subject and try to learn more until I am satisfied.

c. Thinking is free. Nobody pays you to think about life. Everyone pays you to think about something that they are interested in- which is mostly fired by profit.

d. There is no guarantee that you are on the right path, or that you will find the right path or whether it will lead you to a more peaceful mental condition.

e. Thinking is risky business. When you think , you find loopholes and issues everywhere. You actually see what is the reality rather than what they are trying to show. Governments and people in power , the Game Changers don't want you to think- they just want you to follow orders! The moment you start thinking, you behave out of order, that is noticed and whatever is different, gets attacked.

f. Thinking requires immense courage. Thinking isn't meant for the sheep. Find me one person who thinks and is a coward at the same time. Impossible! Thinking is empowering! Thinking is educative!

g. Thinking is adventurous. And adventure isn't everyone's cup of tea. No. Adventure isn't just the capacity to jump from a cliff with safety harness strapped across you and posting pictures of it online. That's the commercial definition of adventure. They want to make it accessible to everyone. So yes, go pay some money and jump off a helicopter and be adventurous. Really? Is that who an adventurer is?

h. Thinking leads you to evolve continuously. Until you have actually found the answers , you will keep changing- some part of your life will keep falling apart, and some new part will keep building in it's place.

i. Thinking is painful! It actually hurts very deep. When you continuously ask what? Why? Where? When and How? and as you start walking down those dimly lit ways into your mind and into complete darkness- where no mentor, no book, no external guidance helps...it is scary, it is lonely. It leads one to question the very act of thinking....'why did I think in the first place? ' ' If I had not thought over that, I would not have reached here.'


But it is an act that must be practiced continuously.
Thinking is worth it!
That is what meditation teaches. In order to quiet your mind, you need to start speaking with yourself. When you ask it to be quiet, it fires different questions and desires at you.
It is a long process and one that must be undertaken at one's pace. It is not an act that can be blindly copy pasted.

In conclusion:

Thinking is the biggest adventure one can have in their life. Yes it is uncomfortable, painful, risky but it is also full of magical moments, new discoveries, new thought patters. 

So please do try it and share your experiences with others who are thinking!

Why do Governments allow companies like Coca Cola to set up?

I don't find any good reason for companies like Coca Cola to exist except for making profit by feeding people foods they shouldn't be eating, and polluting the environment with plastic.

The mission of Coca Cola according to the company is "To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions."

If they really want to do this, there were and are other BETTER ways of doing it. 

This and so many companies exist , their existence was not even needed in the first place. So much time, effort , money and resources are put in to making and running companies that do not serve the humanity in a positive way except keeping people busy doing things for money when they could have put their time and knowledge into creating or maintaining institutions or companies that can benefit humanity. 

Creating jobs for jobs sake and making money for money's sake is a dumb premise to start from. And I won't waste my time getting into that weird sense of logic that is driving 90% of the people in the world currently. 

Just because some 1000 people are getting jobs and another 5000 shareholders are making money, the Governments should not allow worthless enterprises to set up- It's a complete waste from the word Go! and lets not even start with the problems such enterprises and corporations create in the long run. The result of consuming coke are fat dumb people who believe that consuming that artificial drink is making them happy! I mean....I know all of us are stupid in our own unique ways and there is no person alive who has never been stupid ( no matter how much he or she believes he isn't stupid) , but this kind of stupidity is epic in ways I don't enjoy. 

Conclusion?

Governments are run by people who want to fool other people and benefit themselves. Therefore such enterprises which are about duping people find good support from the Governments and vice versa. Such Governments are everywhere. They make rules which benefit them, keep citizens  distracted with television and other bullshit while they keep themselves busy finding innovative ways in duping more people- that line of science is called advertising and marketing. I feel this world would have been a better place without those two branches. It's all about manipulations , you see?

The result?

We are all a part of a community which has invested themselves into fooling each other.


We humans want to kill our own species and live off them. 
That is who we have become- Man eaters! 

If you feel otherwise, please let me know why you feel we need companies that manufacture demand and then sell stuff that isn't good for people. 

Welcome!

Dear Readers,

Namaste!

It's been  long time since I blogged last...I guess it's been around 5+ years. I have missed this space, I must confess. Life has been good with new lessons and experiences, I am good as long as I have something new to learn ..

One of the primary reasons I blocked Sincro Station version 1 is because I got uncomfortable with unknown people getting to know so much about me. I guard my privacy very much, my god! I don't even frequent social media platforms much. But writing remains my weakness and it runs parallel to my life. This is one thing I have accepted over the years that I am going to be writing and I am going to show the world who I am, what I think...no matter what the backlash.

Like the last time, I have no boundaries about what I am going to speak about and what I will not. All the matters that take my attention will find space here. In short , here's a list of matters that find space in my life:

1. Books & learning

2. Spiritual growth, spiritual writings

3. Stories : short, long, episodic, fiction, non-fiction

4. Questions: Asking the right questions leads us to our destination. So asking the right questions is extremely important and I keep playing with questions in my head: why this? why not? What if? All of them. 

5. Movies

6. People

7. Free advice/wisdom on things I have learnt

Here are a few topics you may not find on this blog:

1. Fashion, make up, clothes anything that is about outward beauty and looks.

2. Commercial content: I do not get paid to write. I am not interested in selling anything to my readers, even though it may sound that way sometimes.

3. Politics: No comments!

4. Sports: I like to play some local sport, but I don't have much to write about it as I don't like making anything into competition. Gaming on the other hand, is a different topic and I am very much into gaming!


The aim of this blog:

a. To speak on matters that have intellectual/spiritual value.

b. Through this blog I want to connect with people who think alike and from whom I can learn.

c. To promote non commercial writing content which is unbiased & free.

That's it for now,

Warm regards,

J Sincro