Time travel and sixth sense

(Originally posted on Sunday, 11 April 2021)

Time travel has always been a fascinating topic for many people. And so has sixth sense, but in a totally different context. Recently I realised that these two things can be explained in the same way.

We – people living in a 4-dimensional universe (3 dimensions plus time) cannot travel in time, exactly like we cannot teleport ourselves to another 3-dimensional place.

Let's focus on the time and imagine it as a 1-dimensional line. Our present time is a particular spot on that line. We see only that spot (present time), but we can remember what we experienced in the past ourselves and we can learn about other events from the past from various historical texts.

We cannot “jump” to another spot on that line because we cannot “leave” this line on our own. But I think that an entity in higher dimensions (God) can look at that line (and at our 4-dimensional universe as a whole) from the “outside”. Look and see the WHOLE line (all the past, the present and the future) at the same higher-dimension time!

When you can look at something then you can usually touch it and modify it. You can “pick up” something from the line and place it at another spot on that line. That would be time travel.

An alternative would be “telling” somebody on that line in the past to do (or not to do) something to prevent something else from happening to him (or her) in the future. That would be sixth sense.

Both cases change the universe. Time travel places somebody in the past, so the future is automatically different. Sixth sense adds only an info in the past, so it's up to a person if the future will be different – if the person ignores the sixth sense then nothing is really changed. Like it is said – God gives us free will.

The interesting question is this: When the universe is changed does the time line change or does another time line emerge (like in the movie Back to the Future II)?

Other interesting questions are these: What are the consequences of a new time line? Is there a maximum limit for the number of new time lines in the universe? Are those new time lines parallel universes? Are there some other, totally independent universes? What was “before” the big bang? What is on the “other side” of a black hole?

It's impossible to answer such questions from our point of view, because we, being “trapped” in our 4-dimensional universe, don't know how the higher dimensions actually “work”.

Peace between people

(Originally posted on Thursday, 28 February 2019)

Therefore, the Sage embraces the One,
And becomes a Pattern to all under Heaven.
He does not make a show of himself,
Hence he shines;
Does not justify himself,
Hence he becomes known;
Does not boast of his ability,
Hence he gets his credit;
Does not brandish his success,
Hence he endures;
Does not compete with anyone,
Hence no one can compete with him.

I am obsessed about peace between people, especially about peace between religions, so the quote above is perfect to me. There is no room for fanaticism and there is no room for violence.

One of the most important people who advocated for the respect and peace between religions was John Paul II and I must admit that the longer I live the more I think he was a truly unique person. Of course he was criticized by some of the Catholics for some of his symbolic gestures, but a person who is truly religious should understand his intentions easily.

I am currently reading the Old Testament and the New Testament, but in the meantime I had also read a little Quran. I am fascinated by some other religions, especially by Hinduism and their ancient texts called Vedas and Upanishads. I am honestly intrigued by the ideas of karma and reincarnation that are found both in Hinduism and Buddhism. I find it extremely interesting that some wise Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato believed in reincarnation too. I also like to read about ancient Egyptian beliefs and about the beliefs of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. My most recent “discovery” is the ancient Chinese text Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) that is the base for Taoism (both philosophical and religious Taoism). The quote at the start of this post comes from this text (translation by John C. H. Wu, chapter 22).

I must point out that I realise that a holy text can be properly understood only by the people who are familiar with it for a long time. For example I am a Christian (Latin/Roman Catholic), but when I started to read the Old Testament (which is kind of “valid” also in my religion) I was really disturbed by some fragments that I haven’t heard before. The Old Testament is so long that during a three-year liturgical cycle only around 5.7 % of the Old Testament is read (and explained) in the Catholic Church. Because I hadn't been familiar with most of the Old Testament before I don't judge it at all.

The problem of unfamiliarity with a holy text is by definition a very big problem and we should constantly remind ourselves about it. For example I tried to read the Quran, just out of curiosity, but its type of narration to me was kind of strange and/or lacking context, so the Quran itself seemed unclear. I don’t think that the problem was about translation because I used three different translations to two different languages. One of the translations was even described as “clear Quran”, but it was still not really clear to me. Please notice that I did find the correct chronological order of the Quran, but the particular parts of the Quran still are as they are. I am sure that Muslims who study the Quran for a long time don’t have this kind of problem and are able to read it relatively quickly, but to me it was too big of a problem and I was not able to continue reading it. But because I didn't read it in whole AND I hadn't been familiar with it before I don't judge it at all.

There is only one God, by definition. For every person and for every religion. I believe in God who loves all good people, not only good people from a particular religion. Yes, different religions “define” God in different ways, but at the same time they point out that we can't really understand the true nature of God. In EVERY religion there are people who seem to blessed and who are universally seen as “living saints”. Unfortunately in every religion there are also people who are fanatics. The number of fanatics and their inclination to violence is different in every religion, but it only really means that some religions can be used for political goals more easily than others. Nothing more.

In every holy book there are many good things to be found, but there are also parts that are more or less “disturbing”. Such parts are often used by some people to create anger of the fanatics. I don’t like it. People should concentrate on the things that they have in common, not on the things that are different, mostly because of the problem of unfamiliarity with a text described above.

Fanatics (all kinds of them, including religious fanatics and atheistic fanatics) try to convince everybody that only their opinion is right, pissing off everybody who has a different opinion. I don’t want to be such a person, so I am not afraid to say that I believe that any person can be “worthy of Heavens”.

Yes, I think that also atheists can be “worthy of Heavens”, as long as they are good to other people. It means, among other things, that atheists shouldn’t be intolerant towards religious people. The same goes to other way round – religious people shouldn’t be intolerant towards atheists.

Obviously the key word is “intolerant”. Tolerance is NOT about agreeing with everybody, but it’s about tolerating what and/or who you don’t agree with. Every person should be free to say what he thinks or to make his own decisions as long as he (or she) doesn’t hurt anybody else. Of course I don’t have anything against non-religious legal punishments, because every society needs protection from crimes. On the other hand imposing PURELY religious laws on atheists or people of different religions is not tolerant at all.

Tolerance is also NOT about setting some quotas for the minorities (both religious and non-religious types of minorities) because any quotas are by definition unfair to people from the majorities. Tolerance should never result in unfairness in any way. In fact unfairness defines intolerance – if people from the minorities are treated unfair then there is intolerance towards them. But if people from the majorities are treated unfair then there is intolerance towards them too. Yes, there can be intolerance towards people from the majorities! It actually is more and more common in our stupid “modern” world – for example in some sports women are FORCED to compete against men who “feel like women”. Ridiculous! I must say it again: Tolerance should NEVER result in unfairness in ANY way.

Some misguided opinions about tolerance are based on misguided opinions about unfairness. For example, is it unfair that two men can't have a baby together? Or is in unfair that two women can't have a baby together? No, it is NOT unfair. It's life. It's nature. This is why such pairs should not be allowed to adopt children. Not a single person should be treated unfair in the name of tolerance, including a little child who is about to be adopted. Such a child was born out of a man and a woman and ONLY such pairs should be allowed to adopt children. It's fair for children and NOT unfair towards anybody else. It's the natural way of life!

Life has a habit of not being fair. (...) A man who goes through life complaining about fairness will make nothing of himself.

The quote above (that can be found also in my post under the date of 20 April 2016) should make us all realise that some things will always be or seem to be unfair because life is as it is. The point is not to allow any unfairness towards us (real or imagined unfairness) make us fanatics.

(The sage) does not compete with anyone, hence no one can compete with him.

Embrace your problems with joy!

(Originally posted on Wednesday, 6 March 2019)

I’ve just realized that our problems can become the source of our happiness. With a proper approach we can embrace all our problems with joy!

Human brain is built for solving problems. This is what makes us special compared to other animals – no other animal can even dream about solving problems that a human can solve. The humankind as a whole can solve huge problems, but it’ all about particular individuals solving particular problems. Obviously some individuals are more “blessed” than others, but every human brain works more or less in the same way. This is why we like to solve puzzles or crosswords. Why we like to play computer games. Why we like to watch TV mind competitions. Why we like to read about interesting things. Human brain LOVES to learn to be able to solve problems. But our own life is full of interesting things too. Every day we have to deal with problems. Some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller, but we constantly have some problems to solve. If we start seeing them as challenges instead of unpleasant chores then we will smile much more often!

Usually it is the other way round – usually our problems make us unhappy and we try to run away from them or try to ignore them at least for some time, but in the long run we are always forced to deal with them, which makes us even more unhappy. Well, sometimes we are so stubborn that we slide into addictions, debts, health problems or we harm our life in another way and then we have to deal with the “extra” problems first. Obviously dealing with the “extra” problems is by definition harder than dealing with “normal” problems, but the “extra” problems can be embraced with joy too! For example a joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our addiction and the upcoming withdrawal syndrome.

If we are lucky to successfully deal with the “extra” problems then we have to tackle the “normal” problems anyway, so it is much better to deal with the “normal” problems right away and “skip” the “extra” problems.

Please notice that something that can't be changed by us is not really our problem – our problem is how to deal with it (with a given situation) as best as we can. It regards also things that were very sad for us, especially when they were actually our own fault. No matter what happened in the past it can't be changed. It's the past. All our problems are today, even if they concern past events. Every such problem can be embraced with joy too! A joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our past.

Once again – our brain loves to solve problems, so when we concentrate on our own PRESENT life we will be able to embrace ALL our problems with joy. And the world will suddenly look much more positive. And we will smile much more often. :)

Vegan diet and Kyrie Irving

(Originally posted on Thursday, 5 December 2019)

Today I've read something that struck me like a lightning. It was the very first comment to this article:
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256357/Kyrie-Irving-Could-Be-Out-Several-More-Weeks-With-Shoulder-Injury

The comment was posted by somebody nicknamed „Chi Dynasty12” and it was exactly this: „Seems like Kyrie is hurt all the time. Maybe he needs some more protein in that vegan diet..”.

VEGAN DIET! I had forgotten that Kyrie Irving was on vegan diet, but it's not what got me so shocked. Originally, when I learned that Kyrie Irving had switched to vegan diet (around 2 years ago) I was thinking like: „It's impossible for a professional athlete to maintain healthy body without eating meat or at least proteins coming from animals. I wonder how long it would take for him to switch back from this diet.” I have read somewhere that there are some amino acids (structural units that make up proteins) that can be found only in animals, so we HAVE to eat meat to stay perfectly healthy. The comment above is exaclty what I have been thinking myself.

However, the case of Kyrie Irving reminds me of something else. Some time ago (can't remember exactly when) I read that some scientists had made an experiment on meat-eating animals and stopped giving them meat at all. They started giving them plants that where supposed to provide enough proteins and vitamins, but after some time the animals started to behave strangely. After some more time the animals started to behave as if they were getting crazy. Then the scientists started giving meat to the animals again and the animals very quickly got back to normal behaviour. I wonder if the reported strange behaviour of Kyrie Irving is the result of his vegan diet. There are many articles about it and Kyrie Irving himself admitted that „It's Okay To Have Mood Swings”.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2860293-report-kyrie-irvings-mood-swings-are-unspoken-concern-make-nets-queasy

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/255985/Kyrie-Irving-Its-Okay-To-Have-Mood-Swings-My-Teammates-Know-Who-I-Am

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256291/Celtics-Source-Describes-Night-And-Day-Difference-In-Atmosphere-From-Last-Season


Here is something about mood disturbances:

https://blog.usejournal.com/why-i-stopped-eating-meat-for-ten-years-then-started-again-95f4a4a6500e

Over-interpreted symbols

(Originally posted on Saturday, 23 January 2021)

That would be an understatement! A regular pentagram represents the Golden Ratio/Section/Number in THREE different ways!

This fact, combined with the fact that the pentagram is often linked to some evil things, made me ponder about symbols in general. The crucial question is this: Can a symbol on its own be good or evil?

The answer is: No, it can't. Everything depends on the person who is looking at a particular symbol. Everything lies in one's mind.

For example a Christian cross to me is a symbol of devotion to the Father God and of being a good person in general (especially the way Jesus taught it). This is why I constantly wear a necklace with a Christian cross myself. However there are some people who over-interpret this symbol and say it's some kind of evil only because some priests did some bad things. This is ridiculous! A religion (any religion) can't be blamed for the fact that people, including priests (or their equivalents), are sinners. Obviously people, including priests (or their equivalents), who committed crimes should be punished, but we can't blame a whole religion because of them!

But it works the other way too! Some religious people treat some symbols as some kind of evil only because these symbols were used by atheists who did some evil things. Yes, a pentagram is used by some evil people, but not everyone fascinated by a pentagram is evil. For some people a pentagram is (or used to be) a symbol of balance or a symbol of protection. Recently I got fascinated by a regular pentagram myself, but only because from a mathematical point of view it is simply fascinating that one figure represents the Golden Ratio/Section/Number in THREE different ways!

I will end my post with a meme that contains two symbols that can be understood only by people who watched the movie Matrix. It proves that a symbol is meaningless without a context.

PS. Personally I am very curious about the true “meaning” of God that we will be able to really comprehend only after our death. But I believe that our death should be natural. Obviously doctors should help patients to ease as much pain as possible through medicaments, but a purposeful euthanasia is just like a suicide (taking an easy way out). By the way, any forced euthanasia (against one's will) is simply a murder. A quasi-euthanasia, for example carried out by stopping to feed a disabled person AND preventing the family from taking the person out of the hospital, is also a murder! Such a person is slowly starving to death, so it's actually quite a gruesome murder!

Future

(Originally posted on Wednesday, 3 February 2021)

Working at home

(Originally posted on Sunday, 29 March 2020)

Because of the developing epidemic I was ordered to work at home by my boss. My wife also works at home right now. Schools in Poland are closed, so our daughter is also at home, learning online. Nursery schools are also closed, so our son is at home too. Every morning I drive my car to bring my wife's mom to us, so she can look after our children while we are working.

Our first common working week went better than we had anticipated, but right before that we had had some crisis. Instead of staying at home I was busy buying the needed things for me, my wife and our daughter. It got me very nervous, so more things at home were pissing me off (more than usual). When I got nervous my wife “hung up” internally and started to behave more illogically (more than usual), which made the situation even worse. A vicious cycle.

Thankfully my wife found something on the net that made us laugh and relax:

A conversation between a person from epidemiological station and a guy who is about to be quarantined:

– Sir, you have to be quarantined for a while and we prepared two different plans for you – plan A and plan B. Plan A is that you will be constantly staying at home with your wife and your children and plan B is …

– B! Plan B!!!

Morons driving after alcohol

(Originally posted on Monday, 13 April 2020)

Thankfully this particular moron driving after alcohol didn't kill anybody, but he himself had to be cut out of his car by fire-fighters and was taken to the hospital.

How do you raise your children?

(Originally posted on Monday, 12 April 2021; updated on Tuesday, 13 April 2020)

I tell my children that if a cop orders you to stop – you HAVE to stop. If a cop orders you to lie down – you HAVE to lie down. If a cop wants to arrest you, even without a good reason from your point of view – you HAVE to let him do it. For the sake of your own safety. My children know it. Do your children know it?

If ANY person could run away from a cop then the police would be useless and the criminals would roam free. I have NO sympathy for ANYBODY who tries to run away from the police, no matter what the colour of his (or her) skin is. Such people (running away from the police) provoke tragic accidents like this:



By the way: from what I've read it seems that this man (running away from the police) was likely NOT a totally innocent person.

Here are some comments to the video above that I fully agree with:

“So it was a female cop reacting to a guy who lunges back into his car (for something?) while being arrested. Now criminals are pretending to be upset by looting some guy's shop he's spent his whole life building.”

“Don’t fight cops, don’t get shot. Simple.”

“What an idiot. You don’t do What he did. Police make mistakes and She thought She had the tazer out. I would love to see You fools in this chat go through the same situation. It was his fault 100% not the police! I love to hate on police but this time They are not to blame.”

“no more teasers. tell the criminals you play with the cops, you die. don't play with them carrying a teaser. you obey the orders of the cops, don't let these fools think they will only be teaser. they will follow your orders if they know the cop will shoot them dead. Teaser cause lives.”

“Here we go again media will twist the story again.I feel bad the young man got shot but why try to run if u did nothing really wrong it just makes it look bad.And these idiots out protesting oh I mean rioting is just plain stupid destroying property and looting of people who had nothing to do with it.”

“This is 100% the fault of the victim. Personal responsibility. That is not saying he deserved to die but crazy stuff happens when you do crazy stuff. Trying to get away and avoid getting arrested is crazy stuff.”

“If BLM protesters focused more on teaching the community to not resist and comply with Police instructions... there would be a massive reduction in Police killings.
This Police officer was clearly very incompetent and untrained for the situation, which will only become more of a problem if there is not enough funding for the Police.”

PS. Don't even start with a crap like “you don't know how it is to be a black person”, because such a comment would mean that you think that a black person can do things that all the other people should NEVER do! Such a way of thinking would be totally racist. Please notice that my comments would be exactly the same, even if the person running away from the police were of ANY other skin colour! I'm tired of such situations. And do you know why I even noticed this tragic accident at all? Because an NBA game was postponed because of it!

PS. #2
I have been reading Internet comments on this tragic incident (not only to that video above) and I can't believe that so many people are angry at the police while totally ignoring the FACT that the guy tried to run away from the police! Like it was something normal! So many people think that running away from the police is normal? Oh, God! What is wrong with the people in today's world? NOTHING bad would happen to that guy if he didn't try to run away from the police! This is the most important fact! This is the source for everything what happened later!




UPDATE:
One of the Internet comments made me realise another very important thing: when a person is running away from the police by car then he (or she) drives much faster than the speed limit, which means that other people on the road, or near the road, are in danger. Who is better to be killed: a person running away from the police or a little child going on a side-walk? It's MUCH better when the person running away from the police is killed before he (or she) kills an innocent child. So the guy who tried to run away from the police should be strongly CONDEMNED not defended!

Not long ago there was a police hero who sacrificed his own life and rammed head-on into a car that was driving against the traffic extremely fast. That policeman was a HERO because he probably saved lives of other innocent people! Respect!

I have no idea why

(Originally posted on Sunday, 26 April 2020)

I have no idea why, but I feel an unstoppable urge to write a post about the music video below. Maybe somebody who wants to commit suicide will read it and change his (or her) mind. Hopefully. Ironic thing is that the lead singer of the band 13 years later did commit suicide, but the song actually helped many other people. Here are some of the comments to the video:

“This song has helped me get through so many depressing moments in my life”
“This song help me so much threw my addiction.. thank you Chester. May u be in heaven fr what u gave to the world..”
“Chester, if only God gave me a chance first. I promise and bet anything for you, I will help you in any way to fix your pain. Im sorry i couldnt help you the way you help me”
“I have always liked this song but never really pay heed to the meaning when I was a kid. But this song helped me got out from my depression. 5 years ago I lost my mother after her year long battle with cancer. My dad left us and she had to fight cancer. When she died, I was in deep depression. I tried so many drugs to drown my sorrows.
When drugs don’t help me feel numb, I contemplated suicide. But one night I was listening to Linkin Park, this song came up and I cried so hard. Thinking that my mother fought hard to be a single mother, fought with her cancer and looking at me trying to kill myself. It will be a massive waste on all her sacrifices.
Now I am married and I have a daughter, whom I named after my mother. Chester, whenever you are. You saved my life. If I had taken away my life, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to marry my beautiful wife and have my little princess.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”





A suicide is never a good answer to anything, because it's like running away from something. Often it's all about fear, but the truth is that you can't run away from your own fear or anxiety. It reminds me of a scene from the novel Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell:
    “If you were faced with a snarling dog, what would you do?”
    “Stand very still,” said Niall.
    “And if it attacked?”
    “If I were armed, I would try to kill it. If not, I would shout loudly and kick at it.”
    “What would happen were you to run from it?”
    “It would chase and bite me. That is the way with dogs.”
    “That is also the way with fear,” said the Gray Man. “You can't run from it. It will follow, snapping at your heels. Most fears recede if you face them down.”

In some cases fear is connected with some very hard circumstances and a person feels a kind of unbearable burden. Well, in such cases it helps to be a Christian – you should take your own cross and carry it till the end of your days. Just accept all the hardships and keep on keeping on with your life. Actually it's quite fulfilling when you are able to raise your head up against all odds, still trying to be a good person. It also inspires other people to face even the hardest circumstances without paralysing fear.

1588 days of mice utopia

(Originally posted on Sunday, 5 July 2020)

Have you ever heard about John Calhoun's experiments, especially “Universe 25”? On these sites:

http://www.physicsoflife.pl/dict/calhoun's_experiment.html

https://www.victorpest.com/articles/what-humans-can-learn-from-calhouns-rodent-utopia

there are very good and clear descriptions of this experiment.

Please notice that the maximum possible mice population was never reached AND that the mice society didn't recovered even after their population fell down back to low levels, so the long term problem was NOT about overpopulation.

Maybe the problem was the lack of work? In my country there is a saying “Work ennobles”, so by reversing it we might say that “Lack of work degenerates”. Please notice that “work” is not only “job”, so even if you are currently unemployed you can still find many things to do, for example for your family and/or society.

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2020)

(Originally posted on Friday, 1 January 2021)

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2020) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 732 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described is my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution

With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3660 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2020 I managed to do only 96 sets of exercises, which is only 13.1 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 480 push-ups, 480 knee-bends, 480 “leg-ups”, 480 dumbbells lifts and 480 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. Better this than nothing.

My New Year's resolution for the year 2021 is exactly the same as for the year 2020 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises in the morning and one set in the afternoon or in the evening.

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2019)

(Originally posted on Sunday, 19 January 2020)

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2019) was to exercise twice a day and to do some other things – I decribed it here:
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018)

I can give you my results only for the „exercises part”, because I wasn't able to keep track of all the other things. It (keeping track of little things) is much harder than it seems. Also sleeping 7 hours in the night is too long for me. If I need more sleep I take a nap in the afternoon. Like a cat.

As far as exercises are concerned I described the crucial parts of my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution

If I had been able to stick to my resolution I would have done 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would have given me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise!

In reality in the year 2019 I managed to do only 96 sets of exercises, which is only 13.2 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 480 push-ups, 480 knee-bends, 480 “leg-ups”, 480 dumbbells lifts and 480 reps of every other exercise I do during every set (16 kinds of warming-up or stretching or light exercises). Better this than nothing.

My New Year's resolution for the year 2020 is to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises in the morning and one set in the afternoon or in the evening.

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018)

(Originally posted on Tuesday, 1 January 2019)

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described the crucial parts of my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution

With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2018 I managed to do only 107 sets of exercises, which is only 14.7 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 535 push-ups, 535 knee-bends, 535 “leg-ups”, 535 dumbbells lifts and 535 reps of every other exercise I do during every set (16 kinds of stretching or light exercises). Better this than nothing.

My New Year's resolution for the year 2019 is more complex than for the year 2018:

1) to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises right before breakfast (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set right before dinner or supper,
2) to thoroughly wash my hands and my face 3 times a day – preferably in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,
3) to thoroughly brush my teeth 3 times a day – preferably in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,
4) to take a shower or a bath once per day – preferably in the evening,
5) to sleep from 7 to 8 hours in the night – preferably from 10 pm to 5 or 6 am.

The crucial part of my new resolution (for the year 2019) is the last one – in previous year it was the lack of long sleep that prevented me from achieving better results. Please notice that the resolution amounts to 10 things to do every day (2 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 1) and every one of them is connected with health.

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2017)

(Originally posted on Monday, 1 January 2018)

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2017) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described is my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution

With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2017 I managed to do only 85 sets of exercises, which is only 11.6 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 425 push-ups, 425 knee-bends, 425 “leg-ups”, 425 dumbbells lifts and 425 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. Better this than nothing.

My New Year's resolution for the year 2018 is exactly the same as for the year 2017 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises right before breakfast (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set right before dinner or supper.

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2016)

(Originally posted on Sunday, 1 January 2017)

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2016) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 732 sets of exercises in the whole year. With only 5 reps for each kind of exercise it would give me 3660 reps of every exercise I do during every set.

In reality in the year 2016 I managed to do only 130 sets of exercises, which is only 17.8 % of the plan. Nevertheless it means that during the year I did 650 push-ups, 650 knee-bends, 650 “leg-ups”, 650 dumbbells lifts and 650 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. That is almost a 100 % improvement compared to the year 2015.

My New Year's resolution for the year 2017 is exactly the same as for the year 2016 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises before midday (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set after midday (in most days it would have to be after my work – rather late in the afternoon). Maybe this time I will be more successful.

My previous New Year's resolution

My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2015) was to exercise every day and I would like to sum it up.

I created a short (maximum 10-minute-long) set of exercises about 15 years ago (about the time I stopped playing amateur basketball – toward the end of my college times). The set in my opinion is very useful for “normal” men (men who have no time or no possibility or no “power” to exercise regularly for longer periods of time). Maybe I will describe it in detail some other time, but now I would like to point out only the main things.

Nowadays I repeat almost every kind of exercise ONLY 5 times (there is one exercise I repeat 7 times and one that I repeat 10 times). Toward the end of the set (after some warming up and stretching exercises) there are the most difficult exercises: push-ups (all the way down – until I touch the floor with the tip of my nose), knee-bends (on FULL feet and NOT too deep – until my thighs are PARALLEL to the floor), “leg-ups” (lying flat on my back with my hands partly under my buttocks and then raising my STRAIGHT legs and moving them over my head and a little farther, but not too much) and dumbbells lifts (ONLY 7 kilograms in each hand).

Now to the point of my post – even with so laughable number of repetitions (5 reps for each exercise) you can achieve VERY good results if you are able to exercise every day. That was my plan for the year 2015, but I failed, as it was to be expected. I managed to do only 66 sets of exercises during the whole year. Pathetic results considering my New Year's resolution, but it still means that during the year 2015 I did 330 push-ups, 330 knee-bends, 330 “leg-ups”, 330 dumbbells lifts and 330 reps of EVERY other exercise I do during every set.
Not so bad.

My New Year's resolution for the year 2016 is to exercise TWICE a day – one set of exercises before midday (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set after midday (in most days it would have to be after my work – rather late in the afternoon). If I succeed then by the end of the year 2016 I will have done 3660 push-ups, 3660 knee-bends, 3660 “leg-ups”, 3660 dumbbells lifts and 3660 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. THAT would be something. We'll see.

(Friday, 1 January 2016)

Make Your Own Life Your Own Hobby

Make your own life your own hobby. Enjoy the little things like washing your face or preparing your meals. Take your time doing such things. Relax just for a while.

Try to make other people feel better. Be kind and do some small favours even to total strangers. Surprise your family by doing things you don’t really like to do. Take pleasure in making them happy.

Do the things you know you have to do. Listen to your own common sense. Remember how you feel when you are finally done with something that was hanging over you for a long time. Do the things that need doing and enjoy your inner peace.

Don’t daydream. Concentrate on the thing you are currently doing. Think even about your movements. Take pleasure in controlling your mind and your body.

Keep fit, however you can. Do some light exercises every day. Make them short, but regular. Help your mind by helping your body.

Don’t try to do everything perfectly. Don’t compare yourself to other people. Be yourself. Realize that you are exceptional just because there is no one else like you.

Be aware of what is happening around you. Take pleasure in finding beautiful things in your everyday life. Enjoy the sunshine and enjoy the rain. Decide to be happy.

(Saturday, 14 January 2012)

My favourite posts on books on this blog

There are so many posts on books on this blog that it's very hard to point out my favourite ones. I'll do it thematically.

My favourite posts on Glen Cook novels:
The Dragon Never Sleeps re-read (Glen Cook's masterpiece)
The Black Company re-read
Sweet Silver Blues re-read

My favourite posts on David Gemmell novels:
Echoes of the Great Song re-read (David Gemmell's masterpiece)
David Gemmell vs. Glen Cook
Morningstar (by David Gemmell)

My favourite posts on Alistair MacLean novels:
The Golden Rendezvous (by Alistair MacLean) – pure fun
Night Without End (by Alistair MacLean) re-read
The Last Frontier – a thought-provoking spy-thriller

My favourite posts on historical books:
303 (Polish) Squadron Battle of Britain diary
Bitter Glory Poland and its Fate 1918-1939 (by Richard M. Watt)
Wave after wave (by Eugeniusz Pławski)

My favourite posts on autobiography books:
On Wings of War: My Life as a Pilot Adventurer (by Jean/Jan Zumbach)
Assisted (by John Stockton with Kerry L. Pickett)
Clyde The Glide: My Life in Basketball (by Clyde Drexler with Kerry Eggers)

My favourite posts on other books:
The God Particle (by Leon Lederman with Dick Teresi)
The Forever War (by Joe Haldeman) re-read
Fingerprints of The Gods (by Graham Hancock)

My favourite posts about other things on this blog

There are so many posts on other things on this blog that it's very hard to point out my favourite ones. I'll do it thematically.

My favourite posts on Manic Street Preachers:
My favourite list of Manic Street Preachers songs
Send Away The Tigers 10 Year Collectors’ Edition review
Rewind The Film – a masterpiece

My favourite posts on other music:
"Let's enjoy the little things (for in them the formula for happiness is written)"
Cool song and true little story
This is fantastic!

My favourite posts on the NBA:
Go Spurs Go!
A picture of Mario Elie
My favourite NBA legends and John Starks

My favourite posts on history:
A man who saved the life of George Washington
Gniezno – the first capital of Poland
A reminder

My favourite posts on movies:
Michael Biehn (as Kyle Reese and Dwayne Hicks) tribute
Aliens director’s cut trivia
My Family – my favourite sitcom ever

My favourite posts on other things:
Asceticism is neither the key, nor the goal
Glycemic index makes fools out of people
Men's and women's brains