MJ April 26, 2020

Scheduling Tasks

Most of the people I know that work in corporate 9-5s have mentioned that since COVID-19 took the world by storm and forced them to work from home, it seems their days have become busier. Recently I have been feeling much of the same. The reasons behind this are strange and my only guess is that with less time commuting and worrying about what clothes to wear, people are expected to do more? So with more time on your hands, how do you go about your day? How do you go about getting the thing…

MJ April 19, 2020

The Present

I remember the first time I meditated. My wife asked me to join her in a ten-minute meditation. We sat on the floor of our apartment and I tried to focus on my breath with a cacophony of cars honking, people screaming, and the many sounds of a busy Downtown Los Angeles street. Those 10 minutes felt as if I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, trapped by a device where time stood still. “Did we set the alarm? I’m sure 10 minutes went by already.” Fast forward three years and you will find …

MJ April 12, 2020

Celeste

Last weekend my friends and I held a FIFA 20 tournament where 5 of us played a round-robin format with the winner having bragging rights and the loser having to do push-ups. After a few hours of playing, my wife noted that she would really like a game that she can play. She often reminisces on growing up in her small town in Japan’s Gifu prefecture and playing games on her friend’s “Roku Yon,” which is a Nintendo 64 for those not familiar with the Japanese naming convention. We decided to f…

MJ April 05, 2020

Words

The words we say can leave a lasting impact on the lives of those they reach. That impact can be either good or bad. Search the Quran and you will find Surah Al-Baqarah [2:263] which reads, “Kind speech and forgiveness are better than charity followed by injury. And Allah is Free of need and Forbearing.” Search the Bible and you will find Proverbs 18:21 which reads, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Buddha said “Words have the pow…

MJ March 29, 2020

Liberty

A coworker suggested I read the book “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” by Neil Postman. Upon first reading the opening chapters the author came across as a curmudgeon, complaining about new technology. Mr. Postman starts the book off with a history lesson of the United States to show how discourse took place when the primary means of absorbing information was reading. There were debates and speeches that were packed with people looking for entertainm…

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