The urgency of time

Every morning, we wake up, prep and go into metal contraptions on wheels to get to places that we usually dislike. These “places”, however, pay for our food and roof. So that we can eat, sleep, recover overnight and cycle back to the “places”.

At one point or another, even if we like our jobs, all of us start to ask, “Is this it? Is this my life?”

Even the Mustards, who work for themselves, ask these questions; watch How To Focus On The Good Things In Life! (episode 91):

 
Maybe a few are lucky to find their perfect place of bliss. Mr. Free at 33 moved to Thailand and seems to have found his happy place, where he does not seek answers to nagging questions on the meaning of life.  Or maybe not?


The AstreamLife couple also seems to be content with whatever happens next:

Recently, I decided that it is a waste of time to ask such questions. Don’t we have to live in the moment and pay attention to every second of our life? 

Also, it is best to use the time to create something, rather the consume anything. So, here are a few ground rules for me before New Year.  



What not to do 

1. Do not watch any movies

My goal in the next months is to structure my “free” time in a better way. During “down” time, my first reaction is to become a mindless consumer...

Do not worry, not a material consumer!  I consume free entertainment. Usually, I go on YouTube and watch the most predictable Hallmark movies. It is comfortable to know what will happen, but it is a waste of time. In fact, it might be a waste to watch any movie. I recently took a few DVDs from the library and discovered that my habit of watching YouTube videos at minimum of 1.25x speed has made me intolerant to protracted movie plots. Within the first 10-15 minutes of watching any movie, I find myself reading the movie plot on Wikipedia and stopping the DVD. Decision: stop watching movies.



2. Do not explore how to save more

I have been wasting lots of time listening to podcasts and reading blogs on how to save money, live a frugal life and be a minimalist. I found this to be a waste of time, since I am a natural minimalist and frugal person. Current circumstances do not allow me to downscale further my lifestyle. Therefore, my second decision is to not waste time on anyone’s podcast or blog finding out how to become more frugal.



What to do

1. Assume that your life is better than any of the movie plots and play according to your own script. 

As part of my script, I am very interested in “translating” traditional unhealthy recipes into healthy recipes that would make my family happy at the table. My inspiration comes from Pinterest, newsletters, and even mystery novels! Recently, I read Raspberry Danish Murder by Joanne Fluke:

 The book is full of recipes laden with butter and sugar. I loved the recipe for Raspberry Danish and will try a healthy version with substitutes for some ingredients. I will update the readers whether the result is edible.





 
2. I need to find out how to earn more money beyond my salary. My current salary would not grow, unless there is a miracle. Therefore, I need to look for side hustles. Recently I found this video on side hustles and found it informative: 

I have not tried any of these side hustles mainly because I have no time right now. (A sorrowful excuse, I know.)

Well, this is not my complete list of resolutions. I am still compiling it. It is in progress, as we all need to evolve.  

Evolution is great, but we need to remember that out time on Earth is limited.

Do Bacteria Run The Show?

http://www.hypothesisjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/HJ479_Fig1.png

Are humans merely vehicles for accomplishing the objectives of bacteria (and life in general) to spread itself?  Here is a hypothesis paper that suggests that prokaryotes (e.g., bacteria) have followed a two-pronged strategy to shape higher eukaryotes (e.g., humans) to achieve the end of spreading bacteria worldwide and spacewide: via the mitochondria (derived from an ancient prokaryote and symbiosis) and the microbiome. Of course, we are not talking about conscious strategies; there is no anthropomorphizing of bacteria!  But the end result of selection and the general tendency of life to find ways of spreading has led to this conclusion. Abstract:

Beyond considering that humans are not just composed of eukaryotic cells but also of a huge number of microbes playing pivotal roles in the overall organism functioning, in this article it is additionally suggested to look at eukaryotic cells as a kind of evolved community of bacteria-derived individuals. Mitochondria are fundamental organelles for energy production, but also for driving cell fate. Although it is perfectly established that mitochondria are phylogenetically linked to bacteria, with theories suggesting they survived in a symbiotic parasitism within an ancestral eukaryotic cell, we alternatively encourage their consideration as the main orchestrators of eukaryogenesis. Bacteria gradually evolved into mitochondria, while the social interrelationship and architecture of a prokaryotic community transformed into eukaryotic cells. Last but not least, given the role of bacteria on Panspermia, and by converging mitochondrion and microbiome potential to respectively modulate cell and whole organism functioning, we wonder whether superior animals and in particular humans might be so far the most evolved product coming from two main bacterial socio-evolutive strategies engaged in an attempt to endure living matter expansion.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, independently of whether humans are simply a “clothing”, a subject hijacked by the host or the final refined product resulting from the convergence of two different microbial socio-evolutive strategies, it might be worth giving more consideration to the fact that the ultimate “aim” of bio-evolution is not humans but the perpetuation of living matter. Humans could be just a piece of the whole biosphere puzzle and might not be necessarily the most important nor the end result. We may simply be the most sophisticated living matter approach, intentional or not, engaged in an attempt to endure a goal of bioevolution that is panspermia (38-44,113-116).