Why do we find it exciting when something is different or new? Why do we thrive on exploring the unknown and unraveling mysteries? Is our brain programmed to develop new patterns and continuously evolve? Is what we feel as 'excitement' a result of our brain's reward system responding to these improvements? Is it all about facing challenges rather than reaching the goal?

If that is the case, should we find more happiness in identifying problems rather than in finding solutions? Because once a problem is solved, then what?

This might sound a bit pessimistic when defining fun and excitement, but it's merely an observation of reality. Knowing this, it should be good news, as finding problems tends to be easier than solving them. Challenges provide us with direction and keep us motivated unless they become exceptionally difficult to tackle. Challenges should serve as our fuel for enjoyment rather than sources of suffering.

I don’t know if you have noticed this, but if we generally think too much we get overwhelmed and stressed. On the other hand, if we have nothing to think about we become bored and stressed. What a weird brain we have!

To live happily in this life we have to limit stress, and sometimes thinking can be stressful. One solution to this dilemma is to simplify our life so we don’t have to think too much about keeping the thing we have or acquiring the thing we don’t. Choosing what is important is a whole topic on its all that I have touched on it in a previous post On Happiness.

For example, if your room contains only the essentials you don’t have to worry about maintaining or cleaning a lot of stuff. Similarly, if you have fewer friends you will not be obliged to attend many birthday parties that you don’t feel like going to.

At last, if we keep our life minimal suddenly we start valuing the thing we own since they became scarce just as gold.

I always have this dilemma when I’m not sure about something, shall I stand for my opinion or try to not form an opinion at all? For example, why Barcelona football team lost their match? Why did the housing market go up? why did she get mad at me?

Not forming an opinion reflects a weak personality plus it's boring, however, forming a strong opinion on something that you’re not sure about shows how stupid you are!

In my opinion, if the situation is not serious, form an opinion, Barcelona lost because they lost Messi, who cares! but if it is a serious situation, ask the opinion of someone who knows better than you, if you can’t, then make one and stick to it until you know better.

There is something mysterious about what is called "change". It sounds like a simple concept but there is something deeper that I want to understand. Lets see what can physics tell us about it.

If you want to study motions, study how the positions change with time (here I said "change" put some emphasis on that). Sound is the movement of particles traveling with time. So, the music we enjoy is some sort of change. Anything moving generates light, so the light we see is a result of moving particles, again, the mysterious change. Lastly, If we talked about heat, a hot object means its particles move at a higher speed compared to a colder one. So, it is all about movement and change.

By observing this surprising but obvious concept of change, we can be reminded to always change and seek improvements, otherwise, lights will appear dark, music will sound quiet, and relationships will feel cold. If we don't change, we are simply dead.

I'm not gonna talk about the importance of reflecting on your past (just do it please). Instead, I want to share some helpful tips about that process because it's not easy. Our brain memory is very short and biased, it's impossible to remember all the things that happened last year to reflect on them. Here are some tricks I use that remind me of my past.

• Highlights: I have a simple sheet where I highlight all the major achievements and fuck-ups. I talked about it in a previous post How I run my life like a business
• Google Photos: photos are great memories saver, I do take photos a lot, of almost everything that excites me and store them in the cloud to reflect on them later on.
• Instagram: the stories feature is a big player in this regard, it not only allows you to take snippets of your life and share them but it will store them for you forever, so you can see how silly you were in your 60s.
• Diary: I do journal a lot, especially when I'm feeling down, I only read them at the end of each year to reflect on them, you will understand yourself more when you write to yourself.
• Google Calander: all events are stored on my calendar, so it's a good way to remember what happened that year.
• Bucket-list: if you have a bucket-list, check out what you have done and look forward to the remaining boxes.

I truly believe memories are the thing that will stick with you till the end, keep making good ones and store them, your brain is not good at this.

We sometimes tend to look at certain people like they are faultless creatures, and that can create a lot of harm for us. I mean people like famous artists, experienced doctors, inelegant entrepreneurs, and our crushes. For some reason, we think that they are very different from us and they are very good at what they do and we can never expect a mistake from them. However, that not the way humans work; despite their talent, they stumble from time to time and make stupid mistakes.

That glorious image of people that we conceive is harmful. It will let us think that we should be perfect at what we do otherwise we have to quit. Also, It let us feel that we don't deserve the situation or the job that we have because we fuck up sometimes. It lets us feel like we are impostors.

One great example that illustrates its normal to be imperfect is when my favorite artist Adele forgot the words of a song while singing in a concert. She got terrified and nervous but she didn't freeze, she just started over and continued (watch her https://youtu.be/os5z7XZPXys?t=1m25s). That song was on the best-selling album of all time. It is fine to forget the words, she simply reminds us we are just human.

Changing thoughts or ideas (being open-minded) for some people means changing their identity because these thoughts form their identity such as some religious people. For some, it means being vulnerable and "weak" because these thoughts form their knowledge base, like old naggy bosses. In general, changing thoughts is challenging because it lifts us from our comfort zone.

If we try to be more open-minded it will not only help us with racism or extremism. It goes beyond that, It will help us learn fast. Let me explain; The way our mind works is by forming patterns due to repetitions like memorizing a song or a language, these thinking patterns stick, and changing them becomes hard sometimes. Why children pick up faster then adults? they didn't develop these patterns yet so they are more open to new ideas.

Being open-minded is not hard, give any thought a chance, let it affects you, then decide if it for you or not.

For the past 4 years, I have been busy understanding how numerical simulations of physical phenomena works. Surprisingly, most of these simulations share the concept of minimizing energy. It turns out the nature is efficient (or lazy!) when performing tasks such as moving or deforming. What I want to discuss here is the actual steps that are used for the algorithms behind these simulations and what we can learn from them to approach our goals.

A typical algorithm starts with:

1. Define an objective that you want to minimize, for example, potential energy.
2. Start with an initial guess of the expected minimum point.
3. Progress with small steps toward the objective. Meanwhile, check if you are heading toward the minimum.
4. In practice, sometimes there are multiple minimum points (just choose one) or there is no one (change the objective or the initial guess), or it is hard to reach the minimum point (then stick with what you got from the progress).

What can be inspired by that process:

1. If you want to do something define your goal first.
2. Start doing it, just start somewhere!.
3. Progress towards your goal with small steps and don't forget that what you do should align with your goal.
4. Sometimes there are multiple ways to achieve your goal (choose the easiest way), or you can't reach your goal (then change your goal or approach), or sometimes you can't perfect your goal (then stick with what you got, good enough is enough).

When I was digging into what other people's life is about, I found that there is a type of people whose meaning of life is oriented about helping others (altruism). I was a bit surprised how that can be a source of fulfillment as in a sense you are just giving and not having something in return. I thought what brings satisfaction is the act of meeting ownself needs, such as, being loved, respected, and in control.

That was until I've realized that we as humans build bonds between us in a way that can reach a level where what hurts others can hurt us as well. No wonder why parents put their lives at the edge to see their children flourish. Also, no wonder why couples sacrifice for each other in the name of love. It just hurts them when they see their lovers hurt and this is what I think is the optimal connection.

Life for some is about:

• I obey God and seek his mercy.
• I find myself when she touches me or he holds me.
• I live my life to the fullest, life is short.
• I work hard; my career fuels my house and soul.
• I drink to forget why am I here.
• I want to be the best of me: be healthy, pretty, and funny.
• I want you to look at me, I do exist.
• I want that degree, job, or house. That's it.
• I want to express myself and belong.
• I'm bored, entertain me.
• I just need to survive.
• Hey! I'm here for you, let me help.

Which one/s you can relate to?