#7 Issue
This letter is a special one because I have curated this one from the articles/podcasts shared in replies to my previous letters. I think doing this exercise with a smaller group of friends has been very rewarding (acknowledgement goes a long way). It helps me stay motivated and focus on finding pieces that can espouse a strong interest. (PS: Please let me know if you wouldn’t want to receive the letter, also you can unsubscribe at the bottom)
An interesting discussion that I thought I will share with you:
One of my close friends asked me about why do I have a problem with being vulnerable (in the context of both relationships and friendships). I think we all have developed mental models (however biased they are) to deal with life. And often we end up updating them as we decipher more variables. But the controversy erupted on the fact that I did not believe in the idea of sacred love, only a two-way transaction. That transaction could be about anything such as importance, care, emotional presence, money, etc. She argued my thought process impedes my ability to take risks with people. I concede that might be true but I think you would want to bond with emotionally responsive people. Trust to me is about constructive dependency. To which she quipped, “Someone has to take the first step”. Perhaps, it is a ‘Chicken & Egg’ problem, I don’t know what came first?
What do you think?
This is one of those stories that could be turned into a movie (probably a second version of ‘Shawshank Redemption’ comes to my mind). The author battles questions about the fallibility of his culture. Moreover, he chronicles the life of an unpaid servant in his modestly wealthy family from the Philippines. He comes to recognise the pain of a person who unquestionably responds to his parent’s every whim and also their intransigency to accept the nature of their relationship. Alex (a Pulitzer prize-winning author) has masterfully crafted his story as he takes you through an emotional joy ride full of empathy, courage, perseverance and hope.
A brief humorous take on dating men in the times of quarantine.
This podcast/video share was a direct consequence of my irascibility couple of months back. It is narrated with a tinge of humour on the science behind a broken heart. The strange thing to know is that our brain experiences the same withdrawal effects as addicts do withdrawing from their substances. Nonetheless, this 10-minute listen is filled with innuendo and perky suggestions on how to move on from such a crisis. But please do listen if only for the humour.
A Palette Cleanser:
“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well” — Mark Twain
