To be or to do? A short story about ego This week, I want to talk about a story that I read from Ryan Holiday’s best-selling book, Ego is the Enemy. For some reason, this story just stuck with me. A Turkish saying describes lessons from stories like this: Let it be an earring to… Continue reading
I didn’t have the chance to write much this week, so this will be a short post. Actually, I will steal a habit from Stoics to justify the length of this blog post. It’s a common Stoic practice to journal, meditate, reflect upon, and apply philosophical principles to real life. They believed that the repetition… Continue reading
I have struggled to write blog posts in Turkish for the last few weeks. Although the most obvious reason is that I have not lived in Turkey for the previous 2.5 years, I don’t believe this is the case. I think not reading enough Turkish literature caused the more-than-necessary stalls while writing. So, to improve… Continue reading
A warning against the psychological warfare in the attention economy. Recently, I read “How to Think Like Socrates” by Donald Robertson, a cognitive behavioral therapist and author of high-quality books on Stoicism. In this book, he connects the Socratic way of thinking with modern psychology while trying to give a semi-fictional historical account of Socrates… Continue reading
Last year, I was walking with my uncle in Frankfurt along the Main river in Germany, which goes through Frankfurt. As we had been walking for 20 kilometers, he wanted to rest. As we sat, he mentioned a story emphasizing the importance of taking rests regularly. So I tracked down the source of this story,… Continue reading
Disclaimer from the end of this blog No connection between different aspects of life (such as AI and psychology) is worthy of writing if it doesn’t lead to any practical utility. It has to provide tangible values; otherwise, it would just be a random observation you read. No worries if you decide not to read… Continue reading
I have been contemplating my thinking patterns for the last couple of years. While working as a software engineer in a large commercial bank, I noticed some common thinking patterns in many engineers. These patterns can result in excellent engineering work but hinder interpersonal relationships and psychological well-being. Perhaps you are not an engineer, but… Continue reading
Reading is a niche interest. It has been know from the scientific literature that reading, especially reading for pleasure, is rare among population. With this, the benefits of reading are also scarce in most people. There are multiple reasons for people not to read. Socio-economic status, (harsh) life conditions, or a lack of consistent reader… Continue reading
Recently, I came across a Tim Ferris blog titled “The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen (and Weapons of Mass Distraction).” Here, he talked about why we should let small bad things happen, such as missing out on business opportunities, emails that’ll make you anxious, and other non-trivial stuff for a regular person. As regular… Continue reading
My mother has been complaining about how the notifications from different apps, messages, and WhatsApp make her less productive and more stressed. Today, I was trying to set up my mother’s iPhone to make it less distracting for her. After 2 cups of Turkish coffee, I had the usual dopamine rush, resulting in this blog… Continue reading