MONTHLY MULLING💡
How to start meditating, the world only wants from you, and why I hate the news?
Hi👋,
Tapan here.
Monthly Mulling is a newsletter sending the best ideas from the web to your inbox for free. High signal. Low noise.
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Happy Monday y’all!
I talked about being stuck in the last issue. Ironically, it was one of my most read issues. But were my action items successful?🤔
🥗I cooked on Sunday but had such a busy week that ended up working late most days. I saved money though!
📅 I used Notion to schedule tasks for the entire week and it worked. I was productive (but over the weekends).
🚶♂️ I went for a walk daily in-between work and it did magic. I felt happy after the walk and reduced my anxiety.
Overall, I think it was successful, and planning to continue doing the above in the hopes that office work subsides.
Onwards.
🧘🏼♂️MEDITATION AND LESSONS LEARNED
Note: This is an excerpt from my blog post. I know, a new post, finally! You can read the full article here.
When I said meditation is a super-power, I meant it.
I am a huge fan of Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss (check it out on Amazon) which is essentially a compilation of interviews from people you might call successful.
I observed one practice that was common in most responses – meditation.
I started my practice as a resolution this year (😂) but somehow I made it work. There were lots of ups and downs but in the end, I thought I spent a lot of time experimenting, learning, and getting enough motivation at the right time.
You can read the full article for more details but here is a screenshot from my iPhone Health app.
In this newsletter, I want to give you action items from the lessons I learned to help you get started.
⏲Schedule 10 minutes every morning.
Yes, start with 10 minutes. I started with aiming for 30-minutes; it was a mistake for the following reasons.
When you start you don’t know if you’re meditating correctly.
10-minutes is more practical for a lot of people with a job.
Forming new habits takes motivation and we have a limited pool of motivation per day. So if you’re starting a new habit i.e. meditation, you are already using part of your motivation. I won’t ask you to take a bit more from your motivation pool and start waking up early.
Why morning? It’s the best time of the day to give to yourself. Take a shower and sit down quietly. Don’t look at your phone until you’re done meditating.
👨🏼🏫Guided vs. Unguided
I started my practice with guided meditation, then moved to unguided, and then guided again.
So here’s my take.
Start with guided – use an app like Insight Timer (free) or Headspace (paid) to build your foundation.
Move to unguided – over the weekends when you have more time, dabble with unguided meditation. See if you’re comfortable.
Both the apps above have meditation timers which will gently sound an alarm at the end of your time.
I made the mistake of setting an actual alarm. So after 20-odd minutes, I would have a mini-attack every time.
🧘🏼♂️What to do when you start meditating
Nothing.
Keep it simple.
If you’re using a guided meditation technique, just follow the instructions in the app.
If you’re using unguided, here are some techniques.
Focus on your breath – see how it feels, observe when you inhale and exhale. You will have thoughts, and when you realize you’re drifting in your thoughts, just come back to your breath. No judgment.
Scan your body – scan from head to toe, how your body feels? Scan individual parts. Yes, sounds weird but here is an example: when I am anxious, my chest feels heavy. When I started meditating, I observed this. Since I have been meditating daily, I realize whenever my chest feels heavy, I am starting to feel anxious.
You will have thoughts. When you realize you’re drifting in your thoughts, just come back to scanning. No judgment.
Observe your surroundings – by observation, I mean using your other senses. What do you smell? What do you hear?
You will have thoughts, and when you realize you’re drifting in your thoughts, just come back to your observation. No judgment.
Use a combination of the above.
That’s it – that’s all a beginner needs to start meditating.
Again, put simply, if you just put 10-minutes aside every morning and sit quietly – you are meditating🤗
Do you meditate? How do you practice meditation? Are you planning to start? Write to me.
You already know where (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or just reply to this email!).
Note: The meditation artwork was by Toast & Toons. Check out her page, she does custom artwork as well!
💭MULLING
📰I'm a Journalist Who Hates the News by Johnny Harris (Video - 13 mins)
You all must know by now, Johnny is one of my favorite YouTubers. And also, I don’t like following the news.
News is noise. It expires. And I am all about that signal.
So when Johnny made this video, I was really happy. It lays out all the issues I have about the news in a structured manner.
The key points being
The news often tells you what isn’t actually happening
The news has become way too fun (they are aiming for entertainment rather than journalism)
The news tricks you into feeling informed
🤯 6 Harsh truths that will make you a better person (Article - 20 mins)
Ignore the clickbaity title. This Cracked article was written in 2012 still holds true because the content is hard-hitting truth.
Here are the key points:
The world only cares about what it can get from you - no one cares about what you can do, they care about what you can do for them.
The hippies were wrong - People have needs and they value people who meet them
What you produce doesn’t have to make money BUT it does have to benefit people
You hate yourself because you don’t do anything
What you are inside only matters because of what it makes you do
Everything inside you will fight improvement
🆕CONTENT UPDATE
🎙PODCAST
👨🎓WHAT THE HAT!?
WTH!? is a weekly podcast discussing the journey of graduates from mostly engineering colleges. Releases every Saturday.
We also started WHAT THE HAT!? Insights - a newsletter (every Sunday) providing you an update on the episode releases, behind the scenes, various segments, and other things in a readable format!📰
🤩 S2E5 - Mitali Parekh talks about her MBA experience and her experience in sales, marketing, and innovation - I know the title is a mouthful. But she had so many amazing insights to share about her journey in the FMCG space, gender equality, and her MBA experience.
💸 S2E6 - Viram Shah on co-founding Vested to allow foreign investors to invest in US stocks- Viram faced a problem as an Indian - he wasn’t able to invest in US stocks of companies of which he was using products. He started Vested to solve this problem. Vested allows investors from other countries to buy equity in companies in the US stock market. Pretty dope!
🎧 APPLE | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | GOOGLE PODCAST | ANCHOR | CASTBOX | STITCHER | JIOSAAVN | WEBSITE
Note: If you like our podcast, share it with your friends on Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere else! Don’t forget to tag us! (Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn)
💰COLD BREW MONEY
Our weekly podcast discussing money because your friends and family won’t. Releases every Monday.
🤑 Bitcoin: Tying up the loose end - In the previous episode, we talked to Ian who works on a crypto platform. I still had questions. Atit, as always, tries to answer them.
💳 Let's Discuss Credit Cards - Atit and I discuss credits - what are they, do you need one, how to use them, and which are the best cards for you?
🎧 APPLE | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | GOOGLE PODCAST | ANCHOR | CASTBOX | JIOSAAVN
Note: If you like our podcast, share it with your friends on Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere else! Don’t forget to tag us! (Twitter | Instagram)
Good talk. See you after a couple of weeks. I am working on a project for next year and I am excited to share it with you’ll!
For now, boi-boi.
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