Tiny Buddha Questions

I was thinking about what to write/blog about but couldn't come up with anything. So, why not answer some more questions :D Today's questions are from tinybuddha.com called 28 Powerful Questions for a Happy Life. Not sure if I'll be happier after answering it, but the questions seem really interesting to answer. Some questions I answered before in previous blog posts, so I'm skipping them because for now, I know that the answers would be the same. 

1. We learn from our mistakes, yet we’re always so afraid to make one. Where is this true for you?

I guess this statement is true for me in most parts of my life. But I find this statement really interesting because this is so true for most of us. 

In actual fact (to me), we are conditioned to be this way by our society. We are not supposed to make any mistakes, we are expected to be perfect because imperfections are not accepted. But if we do make mistakes, we are supposed to learn from our mistakes TO PREVENT US FROM MAKING IT AGAIN. 

I guess that this statement is missing it's front part. (you know how you go 'Once upon a time...' then you have '...boy meets girl & they fall in love...' and finally '... they lived happily ever after. The End.') The 'Once upon a time...' here may not mean much but it brings the real issue onto the surface. Sometimes people questions things because they just know part of it, or they question only part of it. 

2. What risk would you take if you knew you could not fail?

Again with a society-conditioned-idea. Not condoning the question but it's really interesting to see how many things our society has conditioned us to think or act without most of us knowing it. 

I would change the question to this: "What risk would you take if the idea of failing is not present (in your mind) or if you could accept failure?" This sounds more realistic. There is always a possibility of failing, ask any mathematician/scientist. 

A lot of us have many definitions of failure, so failure to one might not be same to another. I just notice that this statement is like saying the sky might be blue to one and not to another. *smacks head*

To answer the (altered) question, I might not know what risk I would take but I can know for sure that the fear of failure would not be there as a hindrance.

3. What is your greatest strength? Have any of your recent actions demonstrated this strength?

I would say that my greatest strength is the ability to be me without any judgments or fear. To be at peace with myself. 

I find that to be at peace with yourself takes more strength than to be at war with yourself. Same goes to countries/political parties. If it was that easy to be at peace with each other (not going to war or scolding each other in public - media etc.), then they would have done that. 

4. What are the top five things you cherish in your life?

The first that came to mind is my dogs, or should I put it as 'was' because they died long time ago. 

#2 would be my family

#3 my friends

I guess that's the end of my list? I sort of generalized them into one category though.  

5. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

I would be as old as I want to be. But a voice in my head is screaming: "18!!!"

6. When do you stop calculating risk and rewards, and just do it?

 When I'm at peace with myself and everything around me. 

7. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?

When I was typing my heart out. 

8. What do you most connect with? Why?

My toy cat. It's my home. My safety net. My pillar.

11. Why do we do things we dislike and like the things we never seem to do?

It's called imagination/delusion. When we are not content with what we have, we start imagining how it should have been. I guess this would explain that statement.

12. What are you avoiding?

Living. People who try to hurt me. 

13. What is the one job/cause/activity that could get you out of bed happily for the rest of your life? Are you doing it now?

I don't know the answer to this question yet at this moment. 

14. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

Nope. 

17. Do you find yourself influencing your world, or it influencing you?

When I was ignorant, the world was influencing me. I always had this turmoil inside me because of this. I wanted this but I also wanted the opposite of what I want. Why is that so? Because what I want and what the world wants me to want are two different things. When I finally knew that, which I just realised this month, I found that I was so STUPID. I have been living a life I never wanted just to please others. Just because I wanted to be accepted and loved by others, I lived a life that I did not want to live. 

18. Are you doing what you believe in or settling for what you’re doing?

A bit of both. The thing is, there is never just one thing that defines us for our entire life. We may be defined this way today but tomorrow it might change depending on your beliefs or the environment or other conditions.

19. What are you committed to?

I am committed to sleeping 8 hours a day every night. :D 

20. Which worries you more – doing things right or doing the right things?

I would worry more if I start worrying XD so my answer would be: I would try not to worry about both of this. 

21. If joy became the national currency, what kind of work would make you wealthy?

Any kind of work you enjoy. *cringing because I find this question too idealistic*

22. Have you been the kind of friend you’d want as one?

I think so?

23. Do any of the things that used to upset you a few years ago matter at all today? What’s changed?

I would not remember. If I do think that I remember, it would have been a distorted memory - a memory influenced by so many things that it is no longer the truth.

24. Would you rather have less work to do or more work you enjoy doing?

I don't know. If the first is just a neutral feeling, then why not for both? Too much of what you enjoy would not be pleasant. Imagine liking coffee and having only coffee for every meal

25. What permission do you need/want to move forward?

I guess I need my mother's and my family's consent to move forward with what I want to do.

26. Really, what do you have to lose if you go for it?

I  would not lose anything but it might hurt them, the people who took care of me, the people who gave me life and supported me. I should at least respect them enough to ask for their consent regarding major decisions in my life. 

27. How different would your life be if there weren’t any criticism in the world?

I wouldn't know, because I have never experienced such a world.