The double problem of heat

Heat is an objective, physical problem, and one that individuals pretty much can't solve. Our mental reaction to it, though, is subjective, arbitrary, and at least partly controllable.
When it's really hot, like right now, our system senses it and reacts in a biologically predictable way. Our mental reaction, though, depends entirely on us.

These days I feel the heat like everyone else. I sweat, I get tired, I look for relief somewhere cool. But I wouldn't say I'm suffering. Not like most of the people I interact with, at least.
I'm probably just lucky; my system handles it a little better than average. But I think that's a negligible factor.
The fact is, I don't think about it, I don't talk about it, I don't complain. I take what you might call a Buddhist or meditative approach. I don't do it entirely on purpose. By nature, I always keep my mind focused on some goal: a line of reasoning, a memory, a fantasy. It's a bit like focusing on your breathing when you meditate. That keeps the thought of the heat at a distance. And it doesn't nag at me.

Being hot is a problem. Thinking about it obsessively and negatively, complaining, doesn't solve it. It makes it worse. It adds a second problem, if you can put it that way. And this second problem doesn't depend on the climate, but on our own minds.
It's a normal, human mechanism, but that doesn't make it inevitable. Falling into a victim spiral is addictive. It makes us suffer and satisfies us at the same time. Complaining about it to others then serves two purposes. First, as the saying goes: a trouble shared is a trouble halved. Second, we look for understanding, sympathy, and empathy from whoever's listening.
Unfortunately, though, this mechanism requires our mind to be totally focused on an unpleasant condition — being hot, that is — and that makes us suffer.

It may sound counterintuitive, but to bear the heat better, to suffer it less, you have to let the body shoulder it, while keeping the mind anchored to more pleasant thoughts, or at least more useful ones.
As your garden-variety sage of platitudes would say: having one problem is bad, but taking on two is even worse.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.

The pathological disorder

I'll never understand what drives people who already have plenty of money and keep wanting to pile up more.
I think it's a pathological disorder, because it makes no rational or practical sense.
For me, money has one big advantage: you no longer have to worry about making it. You can finally devote yourself to everything else. That is, the beautiful part of life. 

P.S. I'll confirm all of this once I've finally crossed the poverty line.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.

Reappropriation

To remain alone, isolated, distant,
to break through the walls of one's own culture
and, the tent pitched in no-man's-land,
to observe, ponder, and reconfigure,
can reveal how much, truly how much,
of what we believe and then hand down
is the calculated fruit of indoctrination
basely inflicted in childhood years.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.

High tech Buddhism: how to get out of the infamous video-scrolling-loop

The debate over the effects of smartphones on society and human mental health has been ongoing for quite some time. 
The situation has obviously gotten worse in the last 2-3 years. Buses and trains are full of people who seem to be staring hypnotized at the screen of their phone, swiping their finger on it now and then, just like zombies. 
New techniques, such as continuous video scrolling loops, have been introduced. They target some well known weak points of our psyche and they promote the production of some hormones that give us pleasure. If you feel guilty after having wasted hours watching some silly videos non-stop, well do not worry: it's not your fault. You're being manipulated like a lab mouse. Fortunately (maybe) we're not mice, and we do have methods to preserve our mental independence, if we want to. So if you are happy with your hours of trance like state you can ignore the rest of this post. But if you want to get out of this mental trap you might find what follows useful. 
The solution is actually grounded in some very old ideas. Good old Siddhartha Gautama, aka the great Buddha, had a very similar insight when he was trying to find a way out of our obsessive thinking about past and future, that distracts us from the only moment that matters: the present one. That solution is called MINDFULNESS.
Let’s clarify the problem first. 

Thinking fast and slow - Daniel Kahneman

In this book the Nobel prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains how our mind works as if it housed two separate systems, each one with its own skills, specialized in dealing with different circumstances: the fast and slow thinkers the book title is about.

System 1 is automatic, always switched on, intuitive, looking out for surprises or anomalies, keen on stereotyping and sampling. It is very good at doing what it does, most of the time that is, but is sometimes prone to catastrophic errors. System 2, on the other hand, is analytical, logical, statistical, can perform complex calculations and reasoning, but it’s lazy and effortful, in sleeping mode as often as not, and might also act as an apologist for its mate’s shortcomings.

The man who mistook his wife for a hat - Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks is not just a physician who writes book: he’s a literary talent who happens to be a brilliant neuroscientist. The set of clinical cases he deals with are told with academic accuracy and a style worth of a talented short story author. Patient after patient, syndrome after syndrome, the reader learns how evolved and sophisticated the human nervous system is, and how catastrophic a minor glitch in one of its numerous components can be. We also learn how (fortunately) rare those glitches are, and how science can help cure the corresponding illnesses.

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

Pandemic book list. 19th item.

The year is 2005. The location is Borders bookstore, Wheelock Place, Orchard Road, Singapore. A store that, for all I know, might not exist anymore. I’m leafing through a copy of Blink. I’ve just read a review which tickled my curiosity. After skimming through a couple of passages I close it and think: “Nice introduction! Interesting subject! I won’t buy it!” Just like that.

The power of now, A new Earth - Eckart Tolle

A good thing about the current pandemic is that I’ve had plenty of time to read. I'm currently updating a list of the best books I’ve come across so far. Please see my home page for the previous entries.

17th item: a pair of books.

In his most famous works the spiritual teacher Eckart Tolle, drawing from his own experience and various mystical traditions, addresses an old theme: how to deal with emotional problems and improve one’s life.

The art of happiness - The Dalai Lama

A good thing about the current pandemic is that I’ve had plenty of time to read. I'm currently updating a list of the best books I’ve come across so far. Please see my home page for the previous entries.

#14. Few people will deny that Tenzin Gyatso, also known as the Dalai Lama, is one of the most charismatic and amazing people alive. He’s the political leader of Tibet, the most popular Buddhist spiritual guide and an inspiration to people from all walks al life.

Wherever you go there you are - Jon Kabat-Zinn

A good thing about the current pandemic is that I’ve had plenty of time to read. I'm currently updating a list of the best books I’ve come across so far. Please see my home page for the previous entries. Eighth item. For those of you who are interested in, curious about, already into, or even skeptical of meditation, this is a great read. It’s a very serious dive into the realm of mindfulness, offering the best of both worlds (meaning East and West) about the topic: Jon Kabat-Zinn is an American professor emeritus of medicine and has been a student of some of the world's most famous Buddhist teachers (the Dalai Lama, Thích Nhất Hạnh, Seungsahn).