List of lists - to journal about
August 22, 2024•2,110 words
- Feelings, thoughts, emotions, ideas.
- What should I be doing in life. Be more explicit, involved, engaged blah blah blah.
- If I ever stop running behind stupid goals, what would I rather be doing instead.
- When my mind freezes, jams up or slows down, not knowing what to do next, I need to have a list of items of go to activities, which will ease things.
- Benefits of Instagram - catch trending music, meet wierd oddball characters, poetry, thoughts to ponder, add to this list.
- If I get time to improve my life, upskill, what would I be doing, instead of this now. Will this be a sub-list
- code
- chess
- cook
- paint/draw/doodle
- Novel, blog post ideas which need more thought and rumination.
- Things I'd want to try once, but was afraid of what others will think/say
- List of jokes and revolutionary ideas which I would do, of given a second life,
- What I could've done better as a person, parent, husband, son etc. You get the drift.
- Pet peeves - mine and others. By listing them I might become more conscious of them, but the key is to become aware of our biases.
- Art project ideas, I should be doing more of.
- Creative projects which would need a longish time frame -write a book, read War&Peace,
- Reading wishlist- this would need to be a separate entry all by itself
- What I should be saying to myself, when there's nothing happening, too much is happening or anything in-between.
- What would I say to a trusted person when on a date. Is it romantic, platonic, pedantic or as auto-correct suggested prefabricated
- Reasons for making money and doing all the things which most people normally do.
- Another reading wish list- read the Cybersecurity Canon of books and write a summary of each one and a long-form article of your learnings.
- How is my life actually going by?
- Questions which my Therapist would definitely ask me, and my attempt to honestly answer them.
- Learnings so far from books, life, others.
- Life changing and memorable moments, events. This one came up suddenly and I definitely need to go down this rabbit hole.
- How tos - making friends, make money, have clarity in life
- Poems & songs which I keep listening, revisiting
- Self-talk -which needs to be done and also topics to avoid.
- Mental declutter and other soul cleansing activities. Tai chi seems to be doing something positive within. I feel the subtle changes.
- Crystal ball gazing, tarot card reading and other mystic pursuits for fun and profit.
- Startup ideas, volunteering for a social cause. And also things which I should be considering in addition to the typical conventional pursuits of the middle-aged.
- Songs as per mood. What mood would you like to be/have now.
- Cryptiv crossword and other tough-nut habits, which I want to inculcate but haven't had much or limited success.
- Random stray ideas which don't have any category to be classified into.
- Technical Paper ideas for a conference, which I want to present in. To start this topic, let's spend more time on germinating ideas and do a test run at work/in a smaller team. I know I'll be good, but at the same time I'm afraid to start. Imposter syndrome? Same with writing?
- If I want to bitch about something or someone, you definitely need to have this emotion sandbox and punching bag. You can be creative, abusive and philosophical as you please and there are no rules.
- Rules for yourself, which you sell to follow and how you should break them or replace them with sensible practicable useful ones.
- Things I want to try, very badly, but don't know whom to ask and/or how to go about it. This one should be brutally honest and try and dig out some really long forgotten buried repressed stuff here.
- Don't pretend to be -qualities which irk me, in myself or in others?
- What benchmarks do I measure myself against? And others?
- How to attain and retain flow? Feel free to add any other activity.
- Sometimes I feel like sharing my feelings, but don't know with whom. So maybe this is the list of topics which I'll share with the wise council. It can also be an ad-hoc meeting, either to rant and vent out or seek councel from the wise.
- Strange movie plots, dream fragments and random snippets from nowhere in particular.
- Mental models, analogies and metaphors I can relate with.
- How to structure a conversation. 2 or 3 part depending on context, situation and outcomes. Let's do this one in same more detail.
- How to negotiate, argue without getting flustered. Verbal karate/judo or any martial art applied to thinking, speaking and behaviour.
- Is there anything I should be doing more of, less of our not at all?
- How to lead a life, which has adventure, fun, learning? Any other survives you can add here?
- Bad memories which surface once in a while and what you can do to gradually farm them out of your head.
- Policy matters -desh ke liye kuch acha socho, Karo, Bano
- Synthesizing new ideas, from the building blocks(books, blogs, film, poetry, art)
- Stop and ask yourself, if you are headed in the right direction, are you drifting or deliberate in your journey, do you have the big picture of just looking at micro issues.
- What are the big ideas in your life? Can I write a blog post of 800 words about something close to your
heart - shooting the breeze.
- About me. As a corollary, about my family, the world as seen from the lens of a (multiple categories here eg. Missile Maniac, Heretic, )
- Secrets I'd like to take to grave. Yes, there are quite a few, and I'll need to dig them up.
- Imaginary situations you'd like to be in and those you wouldn't. Fantasies are welcome, realism isn't a prerequisite, we're just trying to loosen up the inner parts which have become ossified.
- Opinions I keep to myself, but shouldn't be. Again the wise council can be consulted.
- Gift ideas, for myself, others, random people.
- Why am I afraid and a few more dark thoughts, which need to see the light of the day.
- How to get comfortable with yourself and others. Women especially. I need to consciously check my default behaviour of saying stuff what comes to my mind. Other mental filters which can be helpful, harmful?
- Song and dance please. There too much seriousness and sombre thoughts. Some levity would be greatly appreciated.
- How to speak diplomatically, like a seasoned politician, strategist and other Street and life skills which are vital and you've been oblivious to.
- If you aren't sick of this till now, you're in for a treat. How to have better conversational skills, without needing a condom or other social faux paus.
- What's my world view? Not being pompous, but these are some observations, which I have noted, which I see patterns. Not trying to save the world out change it, but just observing how things are, or how they appear to be. Something of a my version of reality.
- Secret pleasures and vices. Ahem ahem. No strings attached, literally.
- Dreams. Mostly far fetched stuff, but there can be some useful nuggets, if taken seriously.
- How to find depth and meaning in one's life. Or any other hard problem which I'm facing currently. Having meaningful conversations.
- Skills I should be really focusing on, instead of drifting around. Reading, writing. listening. How to talk just the right limits.
- Religious experiences and other trips of a similar genre.
- Questions for which I'd like to have better answers to and also those which I'd rather not ask, have answered.
- How to become smarter and yet remain grounded? Is this like sumee kind of zen joke of being still and in motion at the same time?
- Math concepts, chess patterns, coding constructs. Anything which I think is exceedingly difficult, beyond my capabilities and yet I'm willing to put in effort to scale the heights, fear not withstanding.
- How to argue better. Logically construct an argument and how to skillfully attack an opponent.
- Remaining cool when under attack and duress. What's your strategy to stay sane when the world around you has gone nuts.
- I'd rather be doing "that" , instead of "this" . I'd rather "there" instead of "here". Wishful thinking mainly, but could be useful someday.
- Films, scenes that get to me. I cry at the movies, dunno why. But actually, I tear up really easily, at the slightest hint of... Care to add to this ever growing list...
- I don't get this at all. Why are free things inexplicably hard. Wish someone had a manual for it.
- Rock your boat. Take that leap of faith. Do stuff which you're afraid. Stop following rules all the time. Rules you want to make for yourself.
- Seduce me. Please, this is not p()rn, but serious stuff. Soul searching, how can I do it better.
- Mind and body hacks. Don't be a jerk (off), take a walk, mental vacations and other diversions in life.
- Dad jokes, humour, in uniform and our of it. At work, especially the bad grammar, howlers and hopeless habits.
- Caricatures, sketches and word pics, of friends, foes and few others who matter to you.
- Dialog, artificial, natural, random, overheard. Code reuse, library, shortcuts.
- What's your favourite food? Sounds like a party question. I don't have a definite answer, except that, it depends. But O definitely need to be more mindful of the food I'm eating and chew the food.
- War gaming, red teaming, all these assume there is a definite strategy to play these games. What can you play? If you are made in charge, how can you price to be indispensible.
- Will my children and family members be safe and cared for, after I'm no more. These are existential questions and have no answers. Who can predict the future. If you are create/describe a version of the future, how would it be.
- Visualization exercises and drills for creativity, calmness, mental fortitude.
- What can I do to improve______ ____. Add your latest whatever.
- Record yourself reading a text. Does it help in any way? What are the obvious ways to trigger creativity & abundance of ideas.
- Prayer is often neglected. I should be doing it more often. Please guide me, when I stray. What's the problem with drifting in life. I need direction and a while bunch of other course corrections.
- Essay topics for publication, explaining to self. How to choose a topic? Well, start with a list. This one is definitely my next one :-)
- Brainstorm, whiteboard, listicle, doodle, what other strategies for ideation ? Besides the obvious udm14, Claude, perplexity.
- Things to be more mindful of: eating, breathing, listening, writing, speaking, running. Well damn it, everything you do.
- Eat healthy. Move healthy and Sleep healthy. Unrelated to the above, but something I need to review: whom do I go to for help? Does dear diary actually provide support you need, when you don't know, don't have anyone to share the problem with.
- How do you beat loneliness or anger or sadness or just any emotion which tends to envelop you or smother you completely. Mindfulness mantras.
- Quote for the day, thought for the day gyaan for the day. Things which I should be doing everyday ie. 750words.
- Don't drag things beyond their limits. Life lessons, hacks and DIYs imbibed cloned copied mimicked.
- Stories I ~~like to~~ tell myself. Possibly delusional. At times uplifting, distracting, but generally useful in keeping a sober perspective.
- Professional storyteller. Nebulous thinker. Work-In-Progress author. Aspiring and perspiring wannabe writer. Cliche collection. Add them as they come.
- Tools of the trade. What are my go to apps, websites, resources, books to help navigate the complex life of the modern internet era.
- Seeking wisdom, truth, understanding. What are my preferred paths and who are the gurus to whom you go to for guidance.
- What mistakes can I run Ctrl-Z (undo)? If there were parts of life, you'd like to re-engineer, remodel, re-work, you'll start with these.