I Name My Fear 'Trump'

I got to know from an article I read recently that on average our mind can generate about 6,000 thoughts every day. That is a huge number! The first thing that came to my mind was, isn’t that a wonderful thing considering we can produce 6,000 business ideas a day! Unfortunately this is not the case. A substantial chunk of that amount are unnecessary thoughts which have no real use to us. Most of them consists of worries and fear that do not pose any real danger to us at that moment.

In the primitive world, human brains were great tools saving us from potential life threatening danger, most of this came from predators around them. They were on constant alert in order to avoid becoming prey to animals which were much stronger and larger than them. The warning triggered in their primitive brains put them in a ‘fight or flight’ situation. That mental stimulation is then directed into the primitive man's muscles to enable them to fight and flee from the situation. In that ancient context, it was very useful because they could convert this warning into physical combat or run for their lives. By doing one of those two things, they made good use of the warning coming from their brain.

Fast forward thousands of years later to 2021, although we have evolved into a much more complex human being, we still have our archaic brain with us, constantly in an alert mode to look out for potential danger. The problem this time is that we can’t really produce any reaction to that warning. Most of us who live in the city settings have no potential threat from a predator, so when our brain trigger a warning, we have no clear target telling us what to do. As a result, that warning will be redirected inwards and stays within us and is transformed into negative energy. This energy usually takes the form of 'worry' or 'fear'. We then find ourselves ruminating about problems that we can’t quite identify. When left unchecked, these negative energies are accumulated inside our body which do damage to our physical and mental health. If this unhealthy thinking pattern occurs on a regularly basis, we may end up in depression.

Most experts in the field of mental illness advise that we give this ‘worry’ or ‘fear’ a name. The moment we can identify it by naming it, it turns out to be not so scary anymore. We are fearful of things we don’t understand. That’s exactly what happen if we can’t identify it or we try to avoid thinking about it. This is exactly why Covid-19 is so scary because it is invisible, it can be anywhere and there is still a lot we don't about the virus and its prolonged effects on our bodies. Also, if we ignore our fear, we are actually helping it to grow stronger in our mind. So identify our worry is the first thing we need to do to beat it.

For me, I’m going to name my ‘worry’ TRUMP. I got this inspiration from recent political development in the United States. Like Donald Trump who kept shouting out loud about voter fraud without presenting any evidence, our worry will constantly spread lies inside our heads without any concrete justification whatsoever. Like President Trump, worry will incite fear in our mind of imminent danger if we don’t pay attention to it. Another reason why I chose TRUMP is because we all know now that he lost the election, so the end result is confirmed. Likewise, our worry will lose and we will stand tall victorious in the end.

So what are you going to name the ‘worry’ or ‘fear’ in your head?

最近我读了一篇文章说，我们平均每天大约有6千个思想出现在我们脑海中。这是一个多么巨大的数字啊！我想若我们每天可以想出6千个生意构思那该多好啊！不幸的是其中这大部分都是一些不必要的想法，对我们毫无实际用途。很多这些思想都是忧虑和恐惧。

在原始时代，当人类面临生命危险时，我们的大脑是一个很有用的工具。原始人无时无刻都会面临周围巨兽的杀生之祸。人类必须保持警惕，以避免成为比他们强得多的动物的猎物。原始人大脑中触发的警告使他们们处于“战斗或逃跑”的状态。在那个古老的背景下，它非常有用，因为我们可以将这种警告转化为应战或逃跑。

但到了数千年后的今天，尽管我们已经发展成为一个文明的人类，但我们仍然拥有那古老的大脑，每分每秒都处于警戒状态，以预防潜在的危险。问题是我们这次不能再对任何警告做出应对的反应。对于我们大多数居住在城市环境中的人并不会受到野兽的侵犯，因此当我们的大脑触发警告时，我们没有一个明确的目标告诉我们该怎么做。结果，这警告就逗留在我们的脑海中，并转变为担忧。如果持续放任不管，这些忧虑就会堆积起来。当这种不健康的思维不断的发生时，我们可能最终陷入抑郁。

精神病专家建议我们给这个“担忧”或“恐惧”起个名字。一旦我们可以通过命名来识别它，事实证明它不再那么可怕了。人总会对我们不了解的事情产生恐惧。如果我们无法识别它，或者我们试图避免去想它，情况会更严重。当我们忽略它时，我们实际上是在帮助它在我们的脑海中继续成长。

我把我的“担忧”命名为特朗普。我从美国最近的政治发展中得到了灵感。就像特朗普（Donald Trump）那样一直高喊选举被欺诈，我们的担忧在没有任何具体理由的情况下继续散布在我们的脑海中。像特朗普一样，担忧会不断激起我们对将来的恐惧。我选择特朗普的另一个原因是因为我们现在都知道他输了选举，换句话说我们看到了最终的结果。同样的，我们的担忧将会消失，最终胜利者肯定是我们。

您又会给您的“担忧”或“恐惧”取什么名字呢？

Use Social Media To Do Good

While driving home from lunch earlier, I accidentally listened to this interesting talk on the radio. This lady was sharing with the host how she created a group on social media called 'Buy Nothing'. The name of the group instantly attracted my attention so I stayed kept on listening instead of changing the radio channel. This group is created to help people passing on unwanted items to people who does need them. For example, let's say I have a coffee table that I no longer need and do not wish to just throw it into the bin, I can post this item on that group and members have the chance to bid for it. The bidding criteria is not monetary but on the reasons the bidder gives. Upon receiving all the submitted 'reasons' to have the item, I the owner of the coffee table will then decide who meets the criteria of suitable candidate to have the table. So while not create more waste to the environment, I get to help others who really need it at the same time. 

That's just such a wonderful idea! People using social media to do good as a community. Too bad, we don't see too many of this type of positive motives on social media nowadays. Every time I turn on Facebook, 9 out of 10 news feed that pop up on my phone are negative. There are more negativities hidden in the comments section. Never mind if you are posting the most delicious lunch that you just had and wished to share with other people, there are bound to be those who would comment how the food taste terrible or there is better one down the road. It's almost like people's minds automatically switch to negative mode when they want to leave comments on social media.

The more extreme case will be like President Donald Trump who constantly stokes hatred among his followers which eventually led to the unfortunate violence at Capital Hill last Wednesday. Most social media giants like Twitter and Facebook have since suspended his accounts.

A knife can be used to both carve out beautiful sculpture and hurt people at the same time. Social media works the same way. We should help stopping negativity from spreading relentlessly by contributing more constructive and helpful content  on the internet.

刚刚午餐后开车回家时，我无意中听到电台播了一段有趣的对话。一位女士正在与主持人分享她如何在社交媒体里创建一个名为“不买任何东西”的小组。我顿时对这小组的名十分有兴趣，所以我就不更改广播频道继续听下去。该女士创建该这小组的目的是为了帮助人们将不需要的物品传递给比较需要它们的人。假设我有一个不再用的咖啡桌但我又不想把它扔掉，我可以将此物品发布到该组中，那时成员们就有机会竞标。投标标准不是金钱，而是投标人需要给出的有创意的理由。收到所有提交的“理由”之后，物主就会决定谁给出的理由是最符合的。这场没有金钱的“买卖”不但不会给环境造成更多伤害，同时还可以帮助其他更需要的人。

这真是个好主意啊！如今在社交媒体里我们看不到太多像这种积极的活动。每次我打开面子书时，手机都会弹出无数负面的新闻。其他人的评论再不必多说了。就算你只是纯粹想分享你刚吃过的美食，还是会有人评论这种食物的味道如何糟糕，或者其他店比它好吃等等。

更极端的情况就像特朗普总统那样，他不断的在社交媒体向他的追随者煽动仇恨，最终导致上周三在美国首都发生的不幸暴力事件。这事件过后大多数社交媒体巨头如推特和面子书都已暂停其帐户。

一把刀既可以雕刻出精美的雕像，也可以同时伤害他人。社交媒体也是一样。我们应该通过在互联网上提供更具建设性和帮助性的内容来阻止消极情绪无止境地传播下去。