Day 105 / 108 Challenge

#105

"I bow to be thankful for all of the people who love me and take care of me."

Being back to my regular life with lack of sleep, my main focus was to reset my body. However, I gave into temptations and relied on cups of coffee to push through the day.

I am very well aware of the fact that I am just borrowing energy from my future self here, as I will have to repay my debt with longer rest and deeper sleep later. Same analogy works with chasing pleasure. Things that give us quick pleasure are like borrowing money. The stronger and addictive it is, the higher the interest rate is.

There has been some progress with the house, and I am loving the outcomes. Floors are squeaky-free, doors and walls are coming out to be very modern looking. The problem is that I am getting greedy, and I want more part of the house to be renovated. By doing that I am inviting more chaos back to my life when the balance of order and chaos has been just starting to form. I must not get carried away, and focus on what is important right now.

That is, discovering myself, and find ways to be happier in life.

New floor coming soon... 👀

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	1.5L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Buddhist teaching
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - Outdoor walk
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EXERCISE) More outdoor walk

What I am thankful for today

++ I am grateful to have personalities that makes everyone easily happier, including myself.

++ I am grateful to have nice neighbours.

++ I am grateful for people around me who care for my overall well being.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 3

Day 104 / 108 Challenge

#104

"I bow to accept all of the things I have done."

Mindfully enjoying breakfast

From today’s reading I loved the section that described a relationship between the suffering and the joy. If we begin to think about our experiences in life, we quickly notice that there are ups and downs. One step deeper into thinking, we notice that we experience ups because we had experienced the downs before, and vice-versa. Then we come to conclusion that there is joy because there is pain, and there is pain because there is joy.

One of the Buddhist practices is to be free from the suffering. Some may think that we must eliminate joy in order to eliminate suffering. However, this is not true. We must acknowledge the existence of both, but at the same time we must know that both suffering and joy are relative truth. The absolute truth does not change.

Think of it like this. When we look at the waves in the ocean, we have different perception of each waves. It can be high or low. It can be short or long-lived. It can head more towards left or right. Despite the differences, all waves come to an end when they reach the shore. Now, imagine our lives as waves in the ocean. Sometimes it can be high (joyful), and sometimes it can be low (painful). And in the end, we face death as waves come to an end when they reach the shore.

However, ultimately waves are made out of water. The fact that waves are high or low, short or long-lived, and left or right-directed, does not change the fact that they are water. Whether the swell is there or not, water is always there. Water is the absolute truth. Waves are only relative truth.

This is the core teaching behind the Buddhism’s “free of suffering”. We are not trying to escape from suffering by eliminating the joy. We are acknowledging that suffering and joy coexist in this world, but they are merely the relative truth, the result of our perception. Knowing that the absolute truth is not changing, the fact that we are living in this earth for example, can free us from suffering. Because it can both exist or not exist depending on our views.

We put meanings into the absolute truth (a life event), thus creating the relative truth (our feelings or thoughts based on the event) which creates the experience of the suffering and joy.

In summary, there are two ways to free ourselves from suffering (or being sad). One is to know that good times are coming, because suffering cannot exist without joyful times. And the other is to look at events that caused suffering as is (viewing the absolute truth underneath the event), instead of putting any meanings behind it (viewing the relative truth). Like how different waves come to existence and cease to exist at the shore, while ultimately they have been just the same water the entire time.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	1.5L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Buddhist teaching
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - Outdoor walk
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(PRODUCE) Deep cleaning the house (PRODUCE) IG Post

What I am thankful for today

++ I am grateful to have set of clothes that I feel confident in wearing.

++ I am grateful to have someone like an author of the book I am reading who enlighten us with the knowledge to better our lives.

++ I am grateful for having access to the internet, and have technology to document everything to improve my life easily.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 0

Day 103 / 108 Challenge

#103

"I bow for those who have fallen into darkness."

During my outings last night, I met lots of new people and one of the people said she was working on her master's program to make a career shift. Her focus seemed to be on the pay, specifically an hourly rate. Few deep conversations after, it reminded me that there are "invisible money" that we overlook.

Not to pick on this lovely girl, but she did not seem to fully understand that she was lucky enough to secure a good stable career option early on. Career in government sector is one of the few career options that offer Defined Benefit Plans in today's age. Most companies now opt into Defined Contribution Plans.

Defined Benefit Plans vs. Defined Contribution Plans

As name suggests, Defined Benefit Plans insures that you have specific benefits for life. Companies who sponsor this plan (the employer) would have to save and invest funds available to support benefit payments to their retirees.

An example would be if company X offers a plan with $2,000 a month if you work 30 years in the company, they will pay you $2,000 a month from the day you retire until you pass away given that you worked for them for 30 years.

Defined Contribution Plans is where the sponsoring companies provides regular payments during the time of our employment. Simply think of it as your employer contributing cash to your retirement fund. You most likely will have option to do so as well, and most companies utilize the matching system where they will match certain percentage of YOUR contribution up to a certain limit. Many sponsors switched from Defined Benefits to Defined Contributions style as life expectancy increased (it is more costly to the sponsors the longer retirees live in Defined Benefits Plan).

An example would be if company Y offers a plan that matched 100% of your contribution up to $10,000 per year, you would have extra $10,000 available in your retirement account every year given that you save/contribute $10,000 per year ($20,000 total).

Other invisible money

It is hard for us to predict when we will die, but the biggest risk of Defined Contribution Plan is that you may outlive your retirement fund. Where Defined Benefit Plan insures that you will have extra income for life as long as the sponsor of the plan does not go bankrupt.

Aside from the direct financial benefits like pension and retirement account funding, you may also make more money by staying in lower paying job.

For example, if you have to travel long to be in a higher paying job, you have to consider the commuting cost when you make a comparison. Does that higher paying job require you to dress nicely? You may have to include dry cleaning cost or clothing cost.

What about flexibility during the day? Can you only go for lunch at specific hours? Do you have to be in a specific time zone? What about your coworkers and office culture? There are a lot more aspects we should consider other than the pay when we choose our career.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	1.5L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Buddhist teaching
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - Outdoor walk
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(PRODUCE) Ramen Review post

What I am thankful for today

++ I am grateful to have a vehicle that lets us travel in harsh condition.

++ I am grateful to have a friend who I can have intellectual discussion with.

++ I am grateful to have a place to stay when I visit Ottawa.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 0