~ Source

“If you like it, don't seek validation.” — I love that thought. Clearly this applies to not just cars, but to everything in life. If you like something, that should be enough for you. Don't ruin it by seeking validation for what you already like.

Seeking validation from others is like any other drug, there's a temporary high, but once it wears out you just need more of it just to get back to your baseline—and that's simply unsustainable. ~ Source

Exactly. It's unsustainable. This is that same vicious cycle that I talked about in this post.

I wasn’t happy and staring at that yellow lemon in my garage just made it hurt. That car helped me grow. It doesn’t matter how much hp you have, no matter how usable or unusable it is. It doesn’t matter how cool your car looks or sounds. Cars won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself. ~ Source

Let's read that again. “Cars won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.”

Now let's switch the word “Cars” for some other hobby or earthly goods/values that we normally obsess with:

• Phones won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• Shoes won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• Designer bags and clothing won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• A house won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• Wealth won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• Power won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• Honor won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.
• Fame and recognition won’t make you happy until you’re satisfied with what you have and you’re satisfied with yourself.

I can go on and on, but I believe you see the point I'm trying to make. Nothing in this life can truly give us contentment, unless we are satisfied with ourselves and what we already have.

And finally my last takeaway.

This applies to literally everything in life. There will always, always be someone who – at least in perception – has more than you do. A better house, car, lifestyle, job. The less we compare ourselves to others the better life is. Period.

I test drove a pre-owned dream car this week. Loved it. Then realized the 2021 version has updated head and tail lights, and felt my excitement for the car I drove fade. Back of my mind, I was less excited about a car I genuinely enjoy because someone might notice it’s not a current-year car. What a fucking dumb way to think. But it’s actually hard to break out of it. ~ Source

I once ran into a quote that said something like, “Comparison is the thief of joy”. Ain't that what's on full display here? The guys on this Reddit thread are right. If you want to be happy and content, stop seeking external validation and stop comparing yourselves to others.

If you made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read my post. This is most likely my last post for the year, in which case, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tags: #Bookmarks #Contentment #Detachment #GearsAndGasoline

While the title itself specifically mentions just the biceps, I think this is a great video overall on how to workout. My key takeaway from this video is how important the rest period is.

The rest period after working out is equally as important as the workout itself. The workout doesn't actually grow your muscles, rather it just provides the stimulus for growth. The growth itself occurs during the rest period. So, if your muscles are not getting enough rest, they will not grow.

^ This kinda reminds me of how important taking a break from reading is as well. If you don't give your mind a break from reading, you don't give your brain time to internalize and learn from all that you've read so far.

Oh and the best exercise to safely train your biceps, is the close grip underhand pulldown.

Tags: #Bookmarks #Exercise #AthleanX

Here are my takeaways:

Timing chain wear is a problem with direct injection engines. This is caused by soot that is formed due to the direct injection setup. When soot gets into the oil, there is the possibility that it can get into the tiny clearances on your engine's timing chain. That will cause wear. One way to mitigate this problem is to make sure the engine oil you are using has the API-SP and ILSAC GF-6 certifications.

Repeated short trips, less than 15 minutes or so, can lead to fuel dilution issues in direct injection engines. To avoid these issues, you want the engine to get up to operating temp (180F) during your drives. This means that if most of your drives are short trips, you need to incorporate a longer drive (30 minutes or more). The longer drives help vaporize the fuel that has mixed into your engine oil.

LSPI (Low-speed pre-ignition) is prevalent on small engines that run high boost. It's because running high boost on a small engine, will naturally lead to increased cylinder pressure, which can make LSPI more prevalent. Similar to the timing chain wear problem, one way to mitigate this problem is to make sure the engine oil you are using has the API-SP and ILSAC GF-6 certifications.

^ It might sound like this recommendation doesn't make sense, but you need to watch the video to get the full context. It has to do with studies done on oils that have the API-SP and ILSAC GF-6 certifications. They were found to be better able to resist LSPI.

Side-note: From what I recall during my days of hanging out on car forums, LSPI was prevalent on the 1st-gen Mazdaspeed3 and some early Hyundai turbocharged engines. For the 2nd-gen Mazdaspeed3, Mazda used a different piston design to mitigate LSPI. I don't know what Hyundai did to address the issue. So I guess this is more of a heads up to people driving older cars with turbocharged direct injection engines.

Another side-note: One thing we were sternly warned about as new Mazdapseed3 owners back then, was to never get into WOT or boost below 3000 RPM. This was to avoid blowing up the engine due to LSPI. I've kept this practice to this day and so far have not blown up my engine yet. Knock on wood. I have over 128K miles now on my Speed3.

Tags: #Bookmarks #Cars #CarMaintenance #Mazda #Mazdaspeed3

The Three-City Problem of Modern Life — interesting read and social commentary about the lives we live today. We either live in the city of reason, of faith, or of technology. Living in one city isolates us from the rest of the world and that makes us feel incomplete.

7 Tips to Stand Out And Land The Job — has great advice for job interviews.

A Roth IRA is one of the most powerful wealth building tools that the average person can use to become extremely wealthy... — good info on ROTH IRA accounts.

^ This is probably only applicable to US readers, as a ROTH IRA is a specific tax-advantaged account offered by the government. But if your country has a similar offering, then some of the info might still be useful.

On Social Media

Social media is like a sandbox where you can observe mimetic theory and mimetic desires in full display.

Staying off social media while you know all your family and friends are there, is like missing out on a party that you're invited to, a party that goes on 24/7, every day of the week and year.

Some people, actually most people, can't resist the urge to join the party. That's because we humans have this need to connect and to belong to a tribe. That's what the creators of social media figured out and made use of. It is one of their crowning achievements. They've fabricated this need, this desire, to be online all the time, to browse the news feed and like and comment on every single interesting post that comes our way.

Parenting

My kid just texted me 🌭 — great tip on the use of family code and passwords. I didn't even know this was a thing.

Perhaps the reason teens isolate themselves when they're overwhelmed instead of coming to us... — seems like great parenting advice on not shutting out your toddler when they're having a tantrum.

The Research Behind Picky Eating — it looks like, the more you pressure a child to eat something (like say veggies), the more they will not want to. And it doesn't just stop there. Research seems to indicate, that if you continue forcing this issue, the kids will end up not liking the food even when they turn into adults.

Quotes

Sometimes to touch the light, you must first touch the darkness. ~ Galadriel, Rings of Power, Season 1 – Episode 5

This might just seem like a good quote to be shared online, but I think it is a deep theological observation. Have you ever wondered why wherever there's good, there's evil? Wherever there's light, there's darkness?

It's because evil is a parasite that latches on to the good.

Now read that quote again and hopefully you'll gain a new appreciation of it.

Spirituality

Choosing to follow Christ means choosing exile, but the flip side to it is that the key to living a joyful and happy life, is to follow God’s will. So by choosing exile, you still ironically find the path to living a joyful and happy life.

Feeling stressed out? Feel like you can't keep up? Feel like you're drowning in anxiety? Talk to God and lay it all out on Him. If you put God first, then everything else will fall into place.

Misc

I finally have a reason as to why walking in nature is better than say, walking in a parking lot, even if that parking lot is surrounded by trees.

Before you read my reason, just know that I am a car guy.

Taking walks in a parking lot makes me look at cars, which then gets me thinking about my car, and wondering why is it that I'm driving an old car, when I could be driving something new like this one over here, or that one over there. Walking in a parking lot basically has the potential to distract me with thoughts of wanting to buy a new car. That goes away when I do my walks in nature, because well, what am I going to think about, wanting to buy a new tree?

One of life's mysteries is this itch, want, need, to buy new books even while the number of unread books in my bookshelves keep on increasing.

This is why I'm putting a lot of effort into clearing out my online to-read list, as well as dropping a lot of the RSS feeds I follow. If I want to make progress with reading all the unread books in my bookshelf, I need to let go of reading all these interesting articles and blog posts on the internet.

Tags: #JournalEntry #Bookmarks #PersonalFinance #SocialMedia #Parenting #Quotes #Theology #Spirituality #Christianity

Link: WOF 3485: The Power of Mimetic Desire with Luke Burgis

Here are some of my takeaways after listening to the podcast:

One talking point in the podcast was René Girard's interpretation of the story of the adulterous woman brought before Jesus (John 8:1-11). This is the story where Jesus famously says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Before he even utters that famous line though, the bible passages specifically says that Jesus looks down and writes on the sand, while the scribes and the Pharisees try to get a reaction out of him. By the law of Moses they said, a woman caught in the act of adultery will be stoned. Jesus averts his gaze and keeps writing on the sand.

Why?

Girard thinks that Jesus was averting his gaze to avoid imitating the accusatory behavior of the accusers. If behaviors like that, can be imitated unconsciously, then that would explain so much of the toxic behavior online. All it takes is one person to throw the stone, and then everyone else picks up a stone and slings it at the accused.

You can see this play out in social media. A common example is when somebody gets jumped on by the masses for saying something wrong on Twitter or Facebook.

The key point from Girard is this: what Jesus was doing in that Bible passage, was showing us how to deal with negative mimesis. It can be really easy to get whipped up into being an accuser and start throwing stones all over the place. What we need to do, is take a step back and avert our gaze before coming up with our own judgement of the situation.

The hive mind of the internet, of social media, can be described by René Girard's Mimetic theory.

Another interesting point that was mentioned in the podcast, was the 10th commandment, “Do not covet your neighbor's goods.” How quickly we've forgotten that in today's world. And why wouldn't we, when this is what the internet and social media serves up everyday; photos and videos of our neighbors living their best life with the coolest products at their disposal.

Another way to look at it is, God already knew that we humans will fall prey to mimetic desire. So he tried to steer us away from it with the 10th commandment. And yet, we easily forget about it in today's modern world.

Social media has made everyone our neighbor.

The sheer reach of social media has made everyone appear to be our neighbor. And with that comes the unconscious imitation of our neighbor's desires. And with that comes rivalry and competition.

Can you see it now? This is why people keep trying to one-up each other on social media. It's rivalry and competition caused by mimetic desires. Mimetic conflict/desire/theory by René Girard does explain so much of our current state of the world.

For car enthusiasts, there's a short story on the rivalry between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferarri. The owner of Lamborghini realized that competing against Ferrari (mimetic rivalry) only brought him stress and sleepless nights, so he actively sought ways to avoid it.

To get away from mimetic desires and rivalry, you have to find God's mission for you.

How does that help?

It helps because that mission is going to be unique to you. Everybody else's mission is going to be different. That means you won't end up comparing yourself to others, because each person has a different mission.

If you focus only on your desires in life, if you focus only on what you want to do in life, you'll end up comparing yourself to others to see what they are doing and how they are doing relative to you. And then you'll find yourself subjected to mimetic desires, rivalry, competition, envy, etc...

If you've made it this far, I thank you for reading. In the event that this is my last post for the 2022, I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tags: #Bookmarks #WordOnFire #MimeticTheory #ReneGirard #BishopBarron #Christianity #Spirituality

Creating habits: how long does it take to form a habit? — the title pretty much explains what this article is about.

So, how long does it take to form a new habit? Apparently, it takes an average of around 66 days, or 2 months, to form a new habit. That is way longer than what is normally mentioned in articles or magazines I’ve read. That means if you want to build a habit of doing pull-ups right after waking up, you need to consistently do it for 2 months straight.

After reading this essay, Peter Thiel's Religion, and finding out about the idea of mimetic theory, of us imitating others, my mind was opened up. I'm starting to see it around me. Most of everything we do is imitation. I don't quite know yet what to do with this new found information, but I'm excited to find out more about it.

Blogging and Digital Gardens

A digital garden is where you go to think. And once you've sorted through your thoughts and ideas, you go to your blog to write it all down, then share it to the rest of the world.

Splitting one big blog/website into smaller more focused blogs/websites, is you, the author, shifting the responsibility of categorizing/filtering content away from the reader. Instead of the reader having to deal with figuring out how to only subscribe to content on your website that they like, you break it up for them so it is easier for them to pick and choose what to follow or subscribe to. It might not be the most efficient use of your resources or your time, but it is more respectful of the readers time.

The more I work on my digital garden, the more I become convinced that my Digital Garden as it is in Obsidian, does not need to be shared online. What needs to be shared is the content, which already makes its way into my posts on my various blogs/websites.

Nutrition

Always wondered why most recommendations for eating chicken is to eat one that doesn't have skin on it. Well now I know. That's because chicken skin has high amounts of saturated fat.

Why does that matter? It matters because saturated fat can increase your LDL (bad cholesterol). So, if you are trying to keep your cholesterol in check, take off the chicken skin before eating it.

Spirituality

Heard these lyrics in a song:

Show me all your scars and I'll show you the cross.

Yeah, we all have our scars, we all go through our own suffering. But take a look at what Jesus, the son of God, endured on the cross for you and me. Let that put your scars and suffering into perspective.

You cannot change God no matter how hard you pray. God will do what He wants because He is God and you are not. The key though is that He always wants what's best for you. So even if He does whatever He wants, it's always taking into account what's best for you.

^ Thought inspired by one of Bishop Barron's Daily Gospel Reflection.

Misc

Found this pretty cool and free Anime Avatar Maker.

Writing is addictive to me because just like woodworking, we are creating something tangible that can be shared with other people.

The same feeling or motivation that drives secular people to share their causes online, is the same feeling or motivation that drives religious people to share the Gospel. Its finding something that you are so invested in emotionally, that you cannot help but share it with other people.

This applies to anything that hits you on an emotional level. If it made you feel something, you will more than likely want to share it with others.

Tags: #JournalEntry #Bookmarks #BuildingHabits #MimeticTheory #Blogging #DigitalGarden #Reflection #Nutrition #Spirituality #Christianity #Writing

Yes, I'm aware that the article says 5 thinking tools, but I only wanted to focus on just one — the “Five Whys” technique.

The “Five Whys” is a technique you can use to find an answer or a root cause, to a problem, a question, a desire or a perceived need.

^ Note that this is not how Anne-Laure Le Cunff described it in her post, but this is my own take on how and when to use it.

Has there been something you really wanted or wanted to do, but could not explain why you wanted it? If your answer is yes, then this is the thinking tool for you.

I zeroed in on this, because I believe that it can be used to find answers hidden deep inside your thoughts and feelings. It's a powerful self-reflection tool, that can help you get a better understanding of your own self.

Not knowing that this technique already existed, I've actually been using it in my own journaling practice. I only go as far as 2 – 3 “whys” though. Going all the way to 5 “whys”, I can see how it can be more effective at coming up with answers, to whatever it is you're trying to understand about yourself.

The basic structure of it is like this:

• I want to do this.
  • Why do you want to do this?
    • Why?
      • Why?
        • Why?
          • Why?

You first list what you want to do, or a question, or a desire or a perceived need. Then you ask your first why. Why do you want to do it? Why do you have that desire? Why do you think you need it? Then after you answer that, ask the second why on your answer. Then on your second answer, ask the third why. Keep going until you get to five whys. By the time you get to the end — and sometimes you might not even need to get to five whys — you'll have a better understanding of yourself.

Tags: #Bookmarks #ThinkingTools #SelfReflection

If you are a parent of young kids and you are concerned about how distracted you are around them, then you will find a lot to relate to in this podcast.

Takeaways

As mentioned above, the whole podcast was a little over 2 hours long. Here are some of my takeaways from watching it. Note that most of these are not direct quotes. I tried to capture the idea as best as I can, but I would suggest watching the podcast to get the context and fully appreciate them.

When Matt, the podcast host, mentioned that he no longer gives out his phone number to everyone, and that he now only corresponds with people through email, which he can only do so with a laptop that stays at his office, John Lentz said this (not a direct quote):

What is more loving, giving 10% of your all to everyone? Or giving 80-100% of your all to the people you love?

You have to pick and choose who you want to be able to reach out to you 24/7. By opening yourself up to be interrupted by anyone, you stretch yourself out too thin. And so you can only give so much of your best to people.

By going the email route for correspondence, you actually give yourself time to disconnect. You're no longer expected to reply right away. Now the expectation is, you'll get to their message when you check your emails. You'll get to it when you get to it. People will need to learn to wait for a response, which can be hard in today's world of instant messaging.

Children are like arrows. It's our job to pull the string, point them hopefully in the right direction, then release and let go. ~ Chris Kaspar

A very good analogy of what it means to be a parent.

Most parents usually have a plan on how to introduce kids to the subject of money. We usually go about it slowly. And the lessons progress over time, going through a number of years until we deem them responsible enough to handle money. Why don't we have the same plan for the technology that we hand out to our kids?

Most parents, including me, will allow their kids to use an iPhone or an iPad and call it a day. I see now how that is reckless. We have to teach kids how to handle technology, just like how we teach them to handle money.

We use tech to escape God, but simultaneously, God uses tech to protect and reach out to us. ~ Chris Kaspar

They (your kids) will only be here for a short time. My wife is a gift to me and she will only be here for a short time. I will only be here for a short time. ~ John Lentz

That's a great reminder of what we are losing, when we spend our days distracted with social media or the phone in our hands — we are losing time with our loved ones.

Lastly, an interesting explanation of why the company is named “Techless”. I previously thought it meant “less technology”, which equates to “techless”, makes sense, right?

But actually, the company name alludes to what John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He must become greater; I must become less.” With regards to the company name, it means “God must increase, technology must decrease.” It's a very paradoxical name for a technology company.

Tags: #Bookmarks #DigitalMinimalism #Parenthood #Parenting #SmartphoneAddiction #Spirituality

Personal Publishing Principles — this is a great read for someone interested in creating/maintaining a personal website or a personal blog.

One good tip that was shared in that post is that a personal website/blog is the perfect place for you to experiment with your own ideas. Not everything will work out of course, but keep trying and some will.

This also tells me that if your personal website won't allow you to do that, then you probably have a professional website as opposed to a personal one.

‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era — extremely good read on the use of social media, and how it changes the way we think and go about our daily lives.

One of the problems with social media that is highlighted in this essay, is that while social media gives everyone a voice, everyone on social media is also speaking at the same time. This means that if you want to be heard, you will want to speak louder, and you'll want to do so more often than everybody else. If you don't, you risk becoming somebody who shouts into the void with nobody even glancing your way.

So you can see how this can make people addicted to constantly posting photos, status, updates, etc... Each post becoming grander and grander just so you can get more eyeballs and hopefully likes/comments on it.

Christianity

From Mk 10:46-52:

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, ‘Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

This gospel passage is a great example of being persistent with your prayers. Bartimaeus kept calling out to Jesus even as he was getting reprimanded by the people around him. He was being told to shut up, but he kept calling out anyway. And eventually Jesus answered his call. The lesson here is to be persistent with your prayers.

You could argue that he kept on calling because he was blind and desperate. True, that seems to be a valid point. But then, why wait till you're blind and desperate before you persevere in your prayers? I feel like you open yourself up to more gifts and blessings from the Lord, if you don't wait till you're blind and desperate.

When Jesus says,

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate Father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”

... what He means is that any of those cannot be loved more than God himself. To be a disciple means to put everything else second to the love of God.

Source: Bishop Barron, Word on Fire Bible Volume I, p386

There is a beautiful comment on this Youtube video from Christian Gospel that goes like this:

GOD is like oxygen. You can't see HIM, but you can't live without Him! The GOD that fought with David is the same GOD that will fight with you & for you! Your next chapter will be amazing. GOD is changing your storyline to happy & healed!💕❤🙏🙌

“GOD is like oxygen. You can't see HIM, but you can't live without Him!” Love that analogy!

Reflections

One of the great things about social media is that it made it really easy to give everyone a voice (see interesting read above). The problem is, it comes with a price. You pay for it with your data and attention.

People who weren't on social media before, didn't have the urges to post photos or post status updates. It makes me think that this is something that has turned into a habit over time. And since it's become a habit for most people, it is hard to stop.

Writing for yourself is writing to a private diary or journal. Writing to an audience is when your writing is shared to the public.

Quotes

What is weird? Someone who is different? Or someone who is different than you? ~ Sensei Wu, Ninjago

Ninjago is easily becoming my favorite kids TV show. It is filled with insightful quotes like this one. Sometimes I feel like they made the show for adults, just as much as they made it for kids.

“Children are perhaps the most unmistakable evidence of goodness in a world so bogged down by suffering and anger.” ~ Jared Zimmerer, Senior Director of the Word on Fire Institute

Parenting

Is the internet hurting the youth? — Gary Vee — seems like excellent advice on how to handle kids and their use of the internet.

For those who don't want to click the link because they're allergic to Instagram or Reels, the advice is this: Build your kid's self-esteem first before letting them loose on the internet.

Tags: #JournalEntry #Bookmarks #Blogging #SocialMedia #Christianity #Spirituality #Reflections #Writing #Parenting

Link: No, you won’t make time. Because you can’t.

Here are some of my takeaways from reading this:

To achieve a goal, you have to give up something in return. In most cases, this means giving up time allocated to doing something you like, and using that time to work towards your goal.

You don't have “free time”. While it might seem like we do, we really don't. Most people have their daily routine already set. I know I already do. To carve time out to do something else, means to give up something in your daily routine. So yeah, most people don't have “free time”.

If you're not willing to give up anything to achieve a new goal, then you most likely don't care enough about that new goal in the first place. You can either accept that fact, that the goal will never be achieved, or you give up something in return to achieve that goal.

When reviewing your failures at achieving a certain goal, ask yourself these questions:

• What have you given up in the process of working towards your goal?
• And is/are what you've given up, substantial enough to help you achieve your goal?

Tags: #Bookmarks #AchievingGoals #TimeManagement #SelfImprovement