Human Addiction

If they are not organically grown, strawberries are said to carry the most residue of pesticides from commercial growing of vegetables and fruits.

Just reflect on smart devices and their software, looking captivating as well with lures and experiences of convenience, interconnectedness and flexibility. What residues of negative connatations and real risks do these gadgets have?

1. Escalating personal addictiveness. How long does it take to check your smart phone after waking up each day?

2. Allowing others to manipulate and control our desires - and we are not even aware of it. Fake news or a source we trust?

3. Feeling pleasure in building up our dependency on others. There is an App for almost everything, especially for things we did not even think we required.

4. Emphasising unplaced trust. Who reads all the terms and conditions, written in a most unpalatable way?

5. Enhancing runaway loss of privacy. Did you notice how many parties want to know your present location?

6. Submitting to structures much larger than nations and governments. 

7. Increasing the risks of putting all the eggs in one basket. The Cloud, the Cloud!

8. Nurturing the Empire of Self-obsession. The Me culture is evident in most Apps.

To unplug is comparable to abstaining from our fav foods. Previous generations were hooked on television, white goods, motor cars and other inventions. So what is new?

The immediate casualty for an individual in this contemporary period is losing the balance in choices amongst screen time, embracing the outdoors and enhancing physical activity. There are pyschological and physiological benefits in putting away the smart screens for longer periods - and yet there are withdrawal symptoms, pleasure to give up from persuasive tech and an isolation from communication issues to deal with.

Our human brains are increasingly engineered to sync with such smart machines to such an extent each of us undergo feelings of real loss in not constantly interacting with them. We feel better when we get likes. We instinctively want to get biofeedback from our exercises - and this facet of behavioural pyschology has been utilised to higher levels of inducing addiction in each of us. We want to instinctively get rewards on a constant basis - the smart machines and Apps know this very well.

The human race is essentially a social animal - and yet so called smart tech escalates isolation, over self importance and encourages social awkwardness. The art of an enjoyable conversation is lost, replaced by the thrills of software graphics and the ability to do things silently without the need to verbalise or spell - think of Emojis.

Previous inventions freed up time to enable gathetrings of the family or tribe.
Smart machines make us so obsessed we run out of time to eat properly or make time to meet up - after all the message has been delivered to other individuals by a click.

We can be observed to be like guinea pigs riding mini wheels to obtain constant bursts of little cubes of food. The volume of content of so many social media vehicles are endless - not that most have any meaningful value. 

The stakes in today's games are higher than ever, due to the startling degrees of lacking transparency, hidden access to your data and the extreme profiling of individuals. Behind it all is business, the need to make profits and to sell you something - that has never changed!

In summary, the actual ability of smart machines, social media moves and Apps software to change your behaviour is the most significant. Most of us do not even realise this is happening to each of us.

Rare is the person who can utilise the largest opportunities to take advantage of this development.

#yongkevthoughts

Politics, Elections, Royalty and Modifications

Post World War 2, a rising tide of nationalism, the strengthening of communism and the end of colonialism witnessed an age of pro-independence political leaders. This was especially pronounced across Africa and Asia.

Roll forward about sixty to seventy years.

How many nations are still ruled by the same political party that fought for independence at the outset? Singapore comes foremost to mind. In contrast, the high level of volatility in the political landscape of Europe, the primary colonisers for a few centuries pre World War 2, has since witnessed a wide spectrum of political players with many different hues.

So called democracies encourage change, with parties playing off each other every few years. Historically this can lead to dictatorships, autocracy, kleptocracy, military rule and other arrangements which are a far cry from the idealistic Greek idea of democracy.

Even the Roman Republic came into aurocratic rule for a long time before the Empire collapsed and after the powers of checks and balances like in the Senate were decimated.

The implications of having too much a passion on exercising freedoms of expression in the past century can be a two edged sword. We have observed what has happened in the United States of America, which remains a highly divisive society, has gun use issues, has wealth concentrated in a few rather than the many and which is said to have been subject to excesses of interference in the electoral process. 

In comparison, for some other countries, the cry to be heard for socio-political and economic justice is often ignored and suppressed - the yearning for basic freedoms here remains unfulfilled.

The different shades of Isms in categories of government rule currently seem to be skewing towards conservative values, right wing thinking and less openness in interacting with the outside world. Globalisation has had a kick in the butt when ordinary folks lose their jobs, manufacture so little and suffer a decline in their quality of life - especially when their political leaders are not innovative enough to change economic drivers. Therefore new labels like populism now compete with long standing systems like socialism, modified democracy, capitalism and political correctness.

Yet the strong hold of royalty continues in societies as diverse as the UK, Thailand, Japan and Brunei, providing many benefits of political stability as it may draw criticism.

There are only currently six nations which hold the communist label. They are Laos, Albania, Cuba, Vietnam, China and North Korea. The progressive ones emphasise on improving the day to day wealth of their citizens whilst expecting loyalty to party.

The integration of religious faith amd political control continues to happen across the Middle East. This is remniscient of history in the European Middle Ages before the collapse of feudal thought and practices.

Malaysians used to politically associate the month of May mainly with post election racial riots in 1969. Today for the majority, there is a glow in their hearts after an astounding post election outcome 49 years later on May 9. The party that won independence from the British and had ruled thereafter was over whelmingly rejected by voters without violence and after a much maligned long term performance by the incumbent Government. Change can be possible in a positive way.

#yongkevthoughts

Personal Thoughts, Actions and Attitudes

Listen to what your inner and outer worlds are trying to tell you. Take simple steps to more mindfulness, especially to fully appreciate the present and the now.
Quiet down the mind to a simple point of focus at least once every day. Saviour a soundless contentment.

Declutter to allow growth, let go of things that unnecessarily bind you and better accept change like those of the seasons. Acknowledge your own gratefulness, for things simple and more. Experience more and never corner yourself in. Allow our inherent creativity to unfold. Be conscious to be moderate in all actions.

Take more interest in new things beyond your routine. Never stop questioning. Always stop to consider other views and then decide yourself. Perception can be reality, but reality may not be the perception. It is better to know the cause than treating the symptoms.

Observe yourself, as if you are a third party, in your physicality, your emotions, your inner spirit and in your behaviour.

Realise your posture, examine your demeanour, feel the internal flows of vitality of your body. Breathe, smell, visualise, feel textures, watch closely and taste better. Increase the potential of what you can do as a human being in all senses of the word, in the mind, in the interconnectedness of things and in using Nature's gifts.

Know when to remain silent, know when it is necessary to speak out - at all times, exercise discretion to respect our friends and family but yet be bold when we need to.

Always dress up better than you know what you are.

Recognise doubts and non-beneficial habits for what they are - for you to remove, for you to be more determined to create your own path and for you to be more smart to achieve your own happiness. Awaken and recalibrate from every experience to sift out treasures hidden from you before, deescalate matters that materialism cannot offer and understand more deeply what are the more constants of life.

Plant a seed of positive energy and start ripples of your effort to benefit not only your family but also your community and fellow human beings. Delightfully surprise someone when they least expect it.

Make a start no matter how small a step it is. Persistence and yet also having a mindset of strategic flexibililty contributes to better outcomes in more significant ways than any other human attribute possessed or exercised. Let your dreams take shape like a spring from the high mountains and which eventually flows into the ocean through an intricate delta of a mature river.

Spend more time with a companion who lights a lamp in both your hearts, no matter what the weather.

Take comfort in the lessons and joys from the past, relish the rewards of the present and look forward to the future.

#yongkevthoughts

How Do You Treat Airline Crew?

It is shocking to know that first line staff in Australia attending to emergencies are often abused, physically attacked and risk their lives trying to help.

The lack of personal morals and being under the influence of deranging drugs and Ice may be the reasons behind such behaviour, but it just does not make sense. Police personnel, medics and rescue specialists bear the brunt of anger from ungrateful individuals.

What has been under reported is also the personal risks faced by cabin crew staff working on the thousands of air flights hovering above our skies at any one minute. The age of elegance and privilege flying in the air has long finished with the advent of budget airlines, maximisation of paid passenger capacity and the boom in tourism.

It used to be the highest opportunity in the service industry to be a uniformed steward or stewardess working to comfort airline passengers. There was a high expectation of standards from both passengers and airline crew in their interaction. Although air crew members are mostly still spick and span in their wardrobe and work behaviour, passenger quality can deteriorate in several respects.

Air passengers tend to dress down these days in a more casual world. Don't even think of customers on cruise ships and train services. At the same time, rhe service expectations of many passengers have increased. Do we blame the airline companies for such developments? In an increasingly crowded field, there is pressure on airlines to differentiate on several fronts - and cabin crew service is a significant one.

Passengers see the crew, literally, as the persona of the airline. They dish out the food and alcohol, resolve issues arising when individual passengers need to store too many hand luggage items and have to play supporter and referee when there are disputes between passengers. Some passengers demand that cabin crew are house help, waiters, girl friends, boy friends, nannies, tech specialists, comforters, conversation buddies, nurses, barmen, butlers and restaurant staff - all at once.

Confronting incidents as being spilled by drinks and food can lead to things bigger than they are. And not just by serving staff. Many have come across episodes of air crew being thrown things, verbally abused by drunken passengers and being accused of rudeness. The aim of a flight is to get from Point A to Point B, you may think - but it is no more, as the hype builds up with too many cabin crew members and passengers trying to cope with the negative effects of flying across too many time zones, being cooped up in essentially tight spaces and having to fly too often.

It Can Be All Relative

11 degrees Celsius is nippy when you are used to 19. It can be so warm in comparison when you have had to put up with minus five.

Waiting for a commuter train that comes every 15 minutes is a pleasure when you are often subject to wait another hour after missing a train. 15 minutes is unbearable when you only wait every three minutes.

Driving for 500 kilometres on the road allows you to cross several countries in Europe. Being on the road for five hours in Australia still does not change the passing scenery.

Ten hours on a large ship cruise seems wasted compared to the same number of time discovering new cultures, food and port cities on a day trip to an exotic island.

When you are in the company of your special someone, a day feels like an hour but when you are stuck with some one else, an hour does seem to be a day.

When one keeps occupied and enjoys a journey no matter how long it takes, there is no expectation but only pleasure on savouring every moment of the experience.

At times, it is best not to label anything or preconceive matters. If one has already decided to dislike some thing with a closed mind, his attitude is coloured and limited. If one does not allow one bad experience to still open up and question why not, he has himself jumped over the roadblock to further evaluate what can be a better perspective.

Everything can be relative, delights do wait in the dark and things always change. The warm sun awaits you past the freezing rain. The destination can pale in rewards compared to gems come across on the journey. A moment's pleasure can lead to years of hard work but also quiet content. Years of hard and smart work do lead back to a grateful joy.

The length of time may not matter, but does allow a gradual build up of happiness. The best experience can be an unanticipated acknowledgement, a chance encounter or a simple smile.

There is no need to over plan. Go with the flow, do not overburden your body, allow the mind to go free once on a while.

Everything truly is relative.

#yongkevthoughts