I have now been meditating for ~30 days in a row.

Here are 10 things i've observed so far.

1. The habit is more important than the ritual. I don't have a fancy setup, i don't sit down on the floor, i don't do mantras, i don't count my breathes or how long i breathe for. I sit on a chair, put a calm playlist on, let my brain run free. It hurts, but it works.

2. People tell me their main objection to giving it a go is they're afraid of what might surface. But this is entirely the point of meditating, to see whatever repressed feelings are unresolved. On that note...

3. Meditation for me is the art of being a little bit less afraid. And of feeling a little bit less hurt. And of normalising pain. And of understanding where our ego is coming from. We're so curious about the world, we forget to be curious about ourselves.

4. I started with 10 minutes, then 15, 20, now at 25 (soon i might move to 30). I couldn't imagine starting with 30 minutes, but now i barely see the time flying and couldn't go back to 10. It's the runner's high for people who don't like running (✋).

Trying to achieve success in life is ruthlessly demanding. It is an agonizing, brutal fight, that takes no prisoners and is completely relentless. All around us, nothing but a massive sea of people. Each one, pushing and shoving, knocking the other down.......

and trampling with no regard, whatsoever. We have lost touch and forgotten what is truly important in life. Feelings of remorse, sensitivity and compassion have been completely suppressed. It’s as if those emotions can only be remembered as a golden pastime - like the classic....

games between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Sadly, we have become desensitized.

When meeting someone for the first time, we have reduced ourselves to the most superficial questions known to man. What is your occupation and what title do you hold?......

What neighborhood do you live in? How big is your house and what kind of car do you drive? It's questions like these that have become the basis of our human-social interaction. One's professional and intimate existence is controlled by one thing. The all-mighty dollar..........

Let's just say, one would have a better chance of escaping Alcatraz back in the day, than being considered successful, without having money. Avoiding this stigmatic meteor is virtually impossible - and attempting to do so, only makes the pressure of succumbing.....

this was supposed to be my rapline edit accnt but im really hurt. im native army and last time we tried to talk abt the native ca in in the soop/dynamite premiere, natives got d3@th threats and r/s worded. they got told to quietly email and trust bts. the LGO tipis 💔💔💔...

were heartbreaking after staying up til 7am streaming BE to watch them perform. i shouldnt have to explain to every single person why its offensive, its so tiring when we all have access to information and natives type up huge threads that get 3k likes and 500 rts.

but the native ca is still happening. were indigenous ppl before were stans. the txt ca hurt too as someone who was getting into them. this has been such a hard year for native kpop fans. my native moots are fans of all sorts of groups and it hurts all of us when 1 group does ca.

yall use it for fanwars while native kpop fans are hurting for each other and not being taken seriously. we are such a tiny minority in stan twt bc our people were GENOCIDED. theres not many of us, and lots of natives make fun of native stans shit, they dont help us either.

lots of natives on twt mock us for putting up with all this ca, we dont get support from them. what we need is support from army. REAL support that asks us to lead and empathizes with us rather than drill us for a loophole that absolves bts/bh from having hurt us.

It was a Wednesday. I don't go to salon on weekdays. I do that on weekends, but this day, a Wednesday, I had the strange urge to do so, against character. So I did, and it changed my life or should I say, it made me remain alive for the moment. Try to follow intuition.

A thread.

It was some time in February 2007. I had just returned to Lagos after being ill in my home town during the Xmas break. So I was still recuperating and hadn't resumed work. I saw a friend off and decided against character to have my hair cut in my favorite salon. They didn't know

me by name. Just a customer. As I sauntered into the salon, I heard voices screaming and threatening, "we'll kill him". "We must kill him" they screamed. I saw 6 men inside the salon, excluding the barber. I entered and looked at the men, while they now shouted less. I recognized

2 of the men. Have met them at the salon before. Didn't recognize the other 3, then I saw the last man. My former boss. WOW. A man I served for about 4 years after school, and he sent me away,without a dime.
I casually greeted him. He nodded slightly, stood up and left the salon.

Upon his departure, the other men started detailing how they'll catch "the useless boy". They have his address. They'll kill him for f#*king Chief's wife. I watched and listened how the supposed "useless boy" slept with Chief's wife and said nothing will happen. So they will show

My son died fourteen years ago today. If you’re struggling with the loss of a loved one, I have some promises for you.

I promise this will not always be the first thing you think about in the morning.

I promise you won’t always lie awake at night, sobbing until you can’t breathe.

I promise you will not always feel that hard lump in your throat, like grief is a rock that cannot be moved. It can.

I promise those waves of grief that knock you off your feet will become smaller, less violent. You will be able to stand and let them wash around you, not over you.

So one thing about the use of titles thing is: where I live we all call each other by titles unless we are close friends and family.

Anybody I have a professional relationship with, or a coworker, or a neighbor.

Like this morning I’m headed to the dentist ...

...with a private car driver I have known for a year and a half, and I said buenos días señor Ronny, and he said buenos días señora Abby.

If I just called him Ronny then since we aren’t super close I would be signaling a perceived class status difference also.

For sure anybody who is a professional person I always address with their title as well so as not to be implying a perceived intimacy that isn’t there.

Same if I’m referring to them in absentia, in which case I may refer to even my family and close friends thus, like

“My dentist, la doctora Marleni, is the sister of one of my best friends and the cousin of several others and our families have always been close.”

We also call each other titles out of affection and in a teasing way. I get called “boss” when it’s my turn to take blame or...

...buy the next case of beer.

Also there are titles for tradesfolk. I could be the boss but if there’s a construction guy fixing the walkway or something I’m gonna call him maestro out of respect for his expertise and because that’s his title.

I write about debt; couldn't resist the Strangelove reference 1/

Now, many people will surely start waving around frightening-looking projections, like those of the CBO 2/

But while I respect CBO's integrity, those long-run debt projections are much more questionable than people probably realize. Realistic projections, I (and many sensible economists) argue, are much less alarming 3/

CBO projects a big rise in spending as % of GDP, and if you don't look under the hood you might well assume that this is driven by fundamentals, especially the aging population 4/

Actually, though, the biggest component is a huge assumed rise in interest costs 5/

The fact that we can't agree anymore on simple truths keeps me up at night.

In science we agreed on core values or rules where everyone could empirically check the assertion made.

Heck we built in mechanism to challenge core beliefs and get them universally accepted.

It's not the forbearance of decorum or independent thought.

It's not even one of those close, disputed scientific advances waiting on more data to be settled.

COMING UP: Against the backdrop of many inaccurate renditions in the local and foreign media about the life and times of General DOMKAT YAH BALI (1940 - 2020), we shall lay down the most precise and militarily accurate profile of the man that you have read thus far, later TODAY

1a. General Domkat Bali commenced his cadet preparatory training as a member of the Course 3 cohort of the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna, in April 1961(this is contrary to a report by a foreign medium which suggested that he began training at Sandhurst in April 1961)

1b. Some of his course mates in the NMTC Course 3 cohort were Lt Gen MI Wushishi, Maj Gen Geoffrey Ejiga, Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo, Brigadier Abbas Wali, Colonel ADS Wya et al. Most of Bali's mates trained at MONS. Only four made the cut for Sandhurst (Bali, Wya and two others)

1c. Bali reported for training at Sandhurst in Q1 1962 and was commissioned in December 1963. He and his mate, Abdul Wya, found themselves in the artillery corps.

2. Of the officers who were commissioned into the army between 1959 and 1966, Bali epitomised the finest pedigree for he not only attended Sandhurst but also the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies - a feat which only a few such as Gens Bissala + Akinrinade managed

Here's the simple truth that most folk don't believe: traffic isn't inevitable.

We're not stuck with a set number of cars on our roads. We can control more than simply which streets cars can and cannot travel on and who has to suffer congestion.

We can give people the option to leave their car at home for one, some or all of their journeys.

We can build neighbourhoods that allow people to get rid of their cars altogether.

We can free ourselves from the car trap.

How do we do it? By providing alternatives.

Safe, effective, efficient and reliable public transportation.

Safe, direct, protected cycle routes.

Pleasant places to walk.

The next time you go for a drive -- look around you.

Every person you see on a bike, on a bus, or on their feet is someone who made the decision not to use a car.

Because of that choice, there's one less car in the queue ahead of you.

Quick story of how I see things. It's going to be multiple tweets, so bear with me.

I have privilege. I'm white. I'm male. I was born in one of the richest countries in the world.

My parents had privilege. Its a dynastic thing. They are Tories. This has caused much 1/

conflict with them. Still does.

I went to boarding school at 9. Nothing says "I love you" less than kicking a kid out of their home at 9.

It affected me deeply. I didn't realise it till many years later and therapy.

However, I never felt I fitted in. Ever. To the system. 2/

I took psychedlics. Mushrooms. Heroic doses, as Terence McKenna would describe them. I don't condone this.

But, it showed me a path.

I took that path but my family hated me for it. I cared for them. They are family after all.

I changed direction. I took the blue pill. 3/

I was succesful in the capitalist machine. But I still rebelled. Or so I thought. But then, the rebellion and the machine merged.

I got lost. I started to see life and money as a way of measuring success, as so many do and I lost touch with that humanist used to be. I still 4/

yearned to be out of that system but I was part of that system as well. It was an existential crisis.

It killed my mental health. I lost touch with the beautiful people that really care about me and tread the right path and live their life that way.

I thought that I was 5/

5 Ways To Develop Discipline And Use It To Crush Your Goals.

Motivation will not make you successful.

Discipline will.

Look at the lives of truly successful people and you'll see this is true. (Thread)

Many people misunderstand what motivation means.

They think motivation is a 'positive feeling' that helps you do things.

When they feel this certain kind of way, they take action.

But when they don't feel this 'positive feeling' they resign.

That isn't motivation.

Motivation is a combination of two words:

Motive + Action.

Motivation is the motive behind the action.

It is the reason for the action.

The why!

For example, why do you want to start a business?

So you can have freedom, yeah?

That is the motivation.

It is that 'why' that should provide you the determination to take action.

But even with a strong 'why' many people still struggle with staying dedicated to their goals.

Why?

They lack discipline.

Today I'll share 5 ways you can develop godlike discipline to crush your goals.

Discipline from the the word 'disciple' means 'to train.'

When you decide to discipline yourself what you are saying is that you want to

'Train yourself to become a disciple to certain principles and ways of life.'

Here are the 5 ways to Get It Done:

Being away from family can be tough during the best of times but this pandemic has truly tested and damn near broken me.
It was only a matter of time that someone closer to you gets infected and that happened 3 weeks ago when my brother fell ill (he's recovered now).

The initial bout of panic and scrambling for travel arrangements (it was looking pretty bad for a while) as his condition started to deteriorate was thankfully short as we needed cool heads more than rash decisions (taking 2 flights and passing through 3 big airports).

My other brother and my sister had to physically stop my parents from being in the same room as him. Shouting was involved. All that was quite difficult to manage from a distance but we have learnt of thousands of families around the world go through much tougher situations.

The medics, I can't even imagine how they are managing. The governments and the people are both siding with the virus in this long war.
Its all just so baffling to me, and even more absurd with every passing day that we have imposed it upon ourselves. On the most vulnerable.

Anyway, my brother is an otherwise fit 34 years old cyclist and he loves to go hiking every chance he gets so he probably had the best chance out of whole family to recover from the pneumonia in both lungs and dropping oxygen levels...
I don't think either of my parents will.

When I was a kid, I played Deus Ex. I was about 17 years old at the time.

I was able to understand that DX was a cartoon version of its subject matter. But it nonetheless captured my imagination, asking

"What if the entire planet could be managed by mere mortals?"

In the story, of course, this has disastrous consequences. The systems are too vast and complex. The answer ends up being:

"They'd ruin everybody's life until they ran the whole system off a cliff."

But the genie was out of the bottle, for my young mind at least. The idea of secret cabals of the ultra wealthy and politically connected, exerting influence over the unfolding of history...

It was appealing. To imagine at least that someone was in a driver's seat.

Somewhere.

And look, it's not like there aren't clubs.

There are, literally, clubs. The Ivy League buys little hangouts in different major cities, so alums can efficiently transact that lucrative network. There's douchier, nouveau riche versions of the same. Cliques, associations, name it.

But it turns out, there's no board room somewhere secret.

In practice, there's no global board of directors. The system isn't that tidy. It's all the chaotic grasping of people desperate to keep themselves safe, and therefore powerful.

The alignment of the elites is emergent.