Why is This Called a Dream

In Vedanta, there are frequent exhortations that this Universe and human life is like a dream, experiences are transient, and so on. Buddhism echoes similar thought when it says the self is void.

To us who are embedded in the turmoil of worldly existence, this may seem like a contradiction, out of touch with reality.. We could argue: then why is pleasure and pain sensations so persistent?

The real meaning of dream or illusion is that it is not what is appears to be..or what we conceive it to be..

We cannot possess anything in its true sense, we only have custody of our possessions for some time. Even the material objects which we possess and enjoy everyday, are not in our permanent possession. They leave us, or we leave them, at the time of death, if not before.

Even this body of ours is no exception. We cannot possess it forever.

Why you should speak English like you’re playing a video game | Marianna...

Some years ago, I was in an e-learning company. I was creating web based tutorials for its client. The project required a lot of instructional designers, but they were in short supply. So the company hired writers from various fields. They had to meet quality standards, but could be from any field- web content writing, technical writing, journalism, even teaching. The company would provide a crash course in instructional design and we would be put on the project.



I myself was a technical writer.



Because it was a huge project for a huge overseas client, we tried to deliver ahead of schedule. There was hardly time for training.



It was a steep learning curve--the various learning models and theories, expected learning outcomes, content analysis, lesson design, assessments-- all the nuances of instructional design packed into hardly a week of training. We would learn the rest on the job, we were told.



Needless to say, the first tutorials that we produced weren't up to the mark. The senior instructional designers put them through several rounds of reviews to bring them up to quality standards.



The stress levels and the attrition rate was sky high. New employees came and went. To add to their woes, many of them had relocated and were still adjusting to life in the megapolis.



At the end of a particularly frustrating day, I opened the company's employee feedback site and wrote down my concerns. I remember having written that learning has to be a fun process, not something to  dread. Even toddlers, when they learn to walk, fall down many times.,,



Naive, was'nt it? Tell that to the MNC that's billing you by the minute and you lose the contract. But something had to be done. Atleast explore the options.



I thought nobody had read it, for there never was a formal acknowledgment. Then one day, in the midst of a brief elevator conversation, a middle level manager told me, chidingly: ...and that is why, you've to get it right the first time..


That was my reply. But would it do any good if the employees on that project never again wanted to work there?

Another Reason To Do Just One Thing At A Time

Several years ago, as a novice instructional designer, I was struggling to learn everything about the trade in a crash course at my company.



It was my first e-learning project. I was frustrated as the rest of the team that there wasn't enough time. The disapproving glares of the senior instructional designers weren't helping.



I had, if you may, the audacity to write in the employee feedback site, that learning should be fun and that even toddlers fall down many times while learning to walk.



It was the fear of failure that was preventing us from making the effort and enjoying the process.



In this video, Marianne Pascal reveals another secret why trying to do it correctly while learning a new skill is counterproductive:



While you are learning  a new skill, that itself is a major task. When you try to do it well as well, then you are multitasking. The brain cannot multitask, it shuts down on one of them.



So while learning a new skill, it is enough that you just do it.

The first 20 hours -- how to learn anything | Josh Kaufman | TEDxCSU