Alea Iacta Est

Alea iacta est (also alea jacta est, Latin: "The die has been cast") is a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC as he led his army across the River Rubicon in northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. [Wikipedia]

Today, this phrase usually means to take an irrevocable step ... but this is just the impression that the current society wants to give us to consistently keep the pressure up and force us to continue, even though it might not be in our best interest. 

In some way it is fascinating that we ignore our own feelings and let others take over control and have a huge influence on our life and daily routine. This might not always be a bad thing, but at the very end it does not help to drift to one or the other extreme. The most difficult challenge is to find the right balance between those 2 extreme and we always have to question our decisions and the motivation behind it. Will it bring us on the right path to find that balance or do we not care about it at all?

We all make mistakes and our decisions might not always have been the most logical choice, yet there is no way to change our past. It is part of our learning process and brought us where we are now ... we learn from our mistakes and grow up, because everything that doesn't kill us just makes us stronger.

Decisions that we have taken in our past might still have a certain influence on the here and now as well as the future, yet it doesn't automatically mean that we have to stick to it just because we don't want to look weak. Life is a never ending challenge and often we will get another perspective and change our mind, but it takes a lot of power to admit a mistake and accept the new point of view.

We always learn something every day, but we might not always realize it or pay attention to it. But we adjust our behavior ... often without noticing it. The more we learn, the more we realize that we know nothing at all and that our knowledge or the illusion that we had before is nothing compared to the potential knowledge that we gain if we walk through life with our eyes opened. 

Sometimes we have to make mistakes to get a better understanding and it might hurt, but in the long run it will help us not to make the same mistakes again. Because how shall we know that it was a mistake when we have never experienced it? That being said, it might be correct that some of our steps are irrevocable ... but most of them are not and we still have a certain control over them and can change the path if we don't let others control the direction that it is going to take.

It is in our best interest to remain as independent as possible without isolating ourselves, but if we really believe in our abilities and know our weaknesses and strengths, than we will be able to solve every problem. Everything happens for a reason and we define the path that we take, we might not always be right but as long as we keep up the confidence and try to make the decision based on our knowledge, experience and gut feeling, we will always have control over the possible consequences. 

Quite often this might appear very frustrating, boring or even irritating. It might definitely help if there is certain patience, because some problems take a while to get solved and it might get worse first before some progress becomes visible. Finding the right stability to keep up the spirit requires an open and strong mind and someone or something that you can rely on in case it doesn't work out. 

Carpe diem ... seize the day, or the day will seize you. And it won't let you get away that easily once you have been caught. Concentrate on all the things that give you confidence and help you to improve, they might not always make you happy but if it wasn't a challenge, would it be worth it? If we have to put effort into something and it is quite difficult, you can enjoy the "success" by far more when you realize what you have accomplished. Nothing will be exactly the same though as the first impression, there is always more behind it ... but we shall welcome that as an opportunity and not fear the unknown.

Thanks for your attention.

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What you see is what you get!?

What you see is what you get!?

So why should you actually complain when you don’t get what you don’t want to see?

Isn’t that contradictory?

This article is an observation and personal reflection of the current society and its influence on the mental health for the average human, it might contain personal experience and will definitely be biased, it is up to the reader though to draw their own conclusions. You might want to ask why I picked this specific topic; well I have to admit that this was triggered by a documentary on TV.

We can barely influence our inspiration, sometimes it just makes things more difficult if we question where it does come from. What we can definitely influence is our very own way to gain and maintain the motivation to use that inspiration in a constructive way. It is always important to have an open mind and accept another perspective as well and question the own knowledge and understanding.

To say the least it is pretty difficult to actually write about this topic because it’s still a taboo in our society, a few decades ago it would have been even worse because a mental illness was almost as bad as Aliens from outer space. We have become more aware of the tendency and risk though, but the acceptance in the society is still a topic that most don’t want to touch to avoid raised eye brows and weird looks from the side. 

If you hear some comments, the term “crazy” is used pretty often even though it is very discriminating. It is a weak excuse when we do have the impression that someone does not meet the expectations of an average member of our society. But who defines the criteria and restrictions on how a normal human is supposed to act? Isn’t that understanding of perfection always based on the ideal of a very selfish society that likes to degrade everyone that is not as perfect as the ridiculous advertising that we see everywhere?

The whole imagination of perfection is so far from the truth, yet it creates an atmosphere of pressure and terror. We think we are by far more civilized than our ancestors because we are able to invent and use more advanced technology. What appears to be normal nowadays may sound like science fiction for our older generation and we will be faced by the same scenario when we get older as well. The general expectations grow more and more and if we are unable to reach certain goals, the society tells us that we are not worth it and shall try harder.

But not everybody is really that strong to compete in this race and in fact it is a race that we can never win. Because when we think we finally made it, there will be another difficult challenge. Does that automatically mean that we shall give up? Hello no, but one of our main goals is getting a better understanding of our own abilities and our role in the society. Everything happens for a reason and we can’t change our past, but we can learn from it and use that knowledge to make more reasonable decisions in the here and now as well as in the future.

Why does the society keep up that pressure and creates another ideal of perfection all the time? It is part of the human nature that we always like challenges and want to reach certain goals; this fake perfection will keep our motivation high even though we don’t realize that we don’t want to be perfect. We are telling ourselves that we want to be like someone else because that person is more successful or gets more respect and attention in the society than us. 

There is a saying: Nobody is perfect. Well, so if we somehow manage to be that super hero, we would in fact be nobody, huh? In my humble opinion, I don’t want to be nobody and rather be somebody … I might be less perfect, but I am also myself and not someone that I pretend to and don’t want to be. Some might appreciate it and don’t care about the consequences because they will get more attention and that is worth living a lie … but are they really honest with themselves all the time?

The worst and best moment that you will ever experience is the time when you realize that you need help and are not as good as you thought you are. Normally this has a very negative aspect, but if you see it from another perspective it will appear more reasonable than you imagine on first glance. You will feel weak and want to hide from everybody … but you will also know exactly where your limits are. And this understanding will help you to move on and find an inner balance that you need to improve. 

When you reach the point and feel totally burned out, when you can’t even handle the most common situation in your daily routine and break down, you will feel like the most useless person on this planet. If you try to solve this all by yourself, you will barely succeed and there might always be the risk to break down again. This whole experience is extraordinary and will have a huge impact on the rest of your life, the question is just if you are able to crawl out of the cocoon and seek help or not.

We tell us most of the time that it’s not as bad as it might look, but if we are not totally honest it might create a certain negative energy. You can’t just grab a patch and fix a trauma in our soul; it’s by far more complicated and not really visible unless you pay attention. If we wait too long, there is no guarantee that it can ever be fixed … no matter how bad it is, the process itself is always tough and will bring us near the limit of our mental and physical will power.

The most difficult step is realizing that there might be a problem and the tendency in our society nowadays is showing an increase of burnouts in the younger generation. It is not the 40 year old workaholic anymore that breaks down, it already starts in school and the early years at work. The overall pressure has a bigger impact on our daily routine as we want to admit, we don’t even notice it because it has already become a part of our life through the “education” of the mass media. 

But does the mass media really care about the average expectation? In fact they could care less because they want to attract their consumers and it doesn’t matter if the publicity is good or bad, if people talk about it, you have reached the goal. There has to be a tragedy or triumph, otherwise people would not pay any attention and we are always attracted by something special. Most don’t pay attention to the little things until they are not available anymore. 

What would you do if you see that someone is struggling, do you look away or do you have to have a certain affinity to that person in order to offer help? It might sound trivial, but sometimes it is not really that difficult to be there for someone and just listen, talking about problems helps to get a better understanding of what actually happened because you can’t tell the story without going back in the own memory. Often you will also get a completely different perspective and if you have an open mind, you will be able to evaluate the situation and make the most logical choice.

If you eat every problem up and never share it with anyone, you are either very lonely or give out a false impression to others and want to hide the reality. We always try to fit into a specific category because we are afraid of what might happen when we don’t meet the expectations. We live a double life and most of the time the perfect impression doesn’t reflect the inner balance, but we are barely able to maintain that all the time. Sometimes the masquerade reveals its identity or the inner balance breaks and this is the moment that we should fear. It can be avoided pretty easily though … just be honest with yourself and accept your leaks as part of your personality and identity.

You don’t have to be proud of it, but you should also not deny it … even though this means that you appear less perfect in the eyes of someone else. It’s not always yes or no … sometimes it’s also “and” – same with black and white, quite often we see a lot of variations of grey. We once have chosen a certain path and this has been our destiny for the rest of our life. The more experience we gain, the better of an understanding about our path we get and realize that the path that once seemed to be so promising might not be the best choice any more. 

Don’t look at that like a defeat, it is part of our learning aspect and we just recapitulate our progress so far and if necessary adjust the goals. We don’t have to stay on the path just because we once thought it would be golden, we make a lot of experiences in our life and our priorities might change. “What would have happened if I had already known that at that time” is just an illusion of the mind because there is no way that we could have had the same knowledge already back in the days.

We make good and bad decisions and how we handle the consequences defines our karma. Should we feel guilty that we have done something wrong? This might be the case but it happened and can’t be undone. But would we have gotten that far in our life as well if we didn’t make that mistake?  We are who we are and not who we want to be or pretend to be. Because sooner or later the truth will come out … and it will be by far less difficult if we are honest with ourselves.

In a certain way we all are a little bit crazy … because we can’t be exactly the same way like another person. We all have made our own experiences and picked up values and knowledge in a different way or have another understanding of everything that happened, currently happened and might happen. But does that automatically mean that we are worth less or more than someone else? That’s what the society wants to tell us, because without us they would be less perfect as well and we wouldn’t use our full potential to improve either. 

Thanks for your attention!

Christian Zetzsche / zedmaster84

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Stranger on this planet

The title of this blog entry might appear strange for most of the readers, but there is a special purpose behind this and it will be explained later on in this blog entry. 

We keep telling ourselves that everything is getting better, because the technology is more advanced … but at the same time we don’t realize that we more and more depend on this technology and don’t respect the values that helped us to get where we are at right now. We take by far more for granted and become arrogant in our thinking, because we don’t pay attention to all the ordinary and little things anymore … even though they might bring us the most pleasure when we are down.

But have we really improved over the last decades and is the modern technology really worth it? Sure they are a nice addition and an asset when it comes down to functionality and availability of information, but is it an excuse to become lazy and don’t use our own mind? There are so many prejudices in our society because the mass media is manipulating our free will to decide what is right and what is wrong … and many forget that they are responsible for all their actions and have to cope with the consequences. 

It is kinda sad to see how most of us treat minorities nowadays, we become arrogant and tell ourselves that we are better than others and yet don’t try to help people that are less fortunate or plain and simple look down on them. The gap between the old and new generation is getting bigger and bigger, partly because of the modern technology and the different level of understanding and how to use it your own advantage. This shall not be surprising though, as the younger generation already grows up with it and learns how to use it while the older generation never had the opportunity and is a completely different experience.

Both do have their strengths and weaknesses though, the younger situation is able to adjust to a new situation much faster, but doesn’t know much about traditional values like respect … the old generation might be slower at picking up new technologies, but they can teach us a lot of lessons based on their experience and we should not be overly arrogant and ignore that. If you can combine those two and find the right balance, you will see that a lot of things become less complicated and give you a better understanding on how to solve difficult situations.

But how does all that work out at the poker tables? Do we judge the abilities and skills at the poker table based on gender, race, age and look? Quite often the first impression influences our emotions and takes over control, we do not always make the most logical choice because we are distracted by the society and its biased and generalized opinion. It is our responsibility to open our mind and decide if we take that for granted or not … but please don’t complain when you get beaten by your own arrogance.

The game of poker is attracting so many people all over the world and theoretically everybody does have the same odds to win, we get dealt the same number of cards and it doesn’t matter at all what those hole cards actually are. We can lose with pocket Aces and win with 27 off suit, that is just a matter of perspective. We define our own odds once the game has started based on our experience and if we are always capable to make the most logical choice in any situation … we have to keep in mind to get our chips in with a realistic chance to win. Prejudices will always influence our emotional balance and let us ignore all alarm bells that would normally ring when we should fold.

It doesn’t matter if we are Chinese or American, nor if we are 18 years old or 67 years old … but the biggest leak in this still testosterone triggered world is the respect that we show towards women. The male machismo barely knows any limits and we always want to appear as the strong gender because that was our natural role in the history. We always look at women as the “weak” gender, most think they are better and can outplay women at the poker table, just because they would never expect a bluff.

The very moment when you realize that you just walked into a trap and donated the chips to a woman or lost to a woman, you still think that this can’t be true … just a few notice and honor that the skill and the ability does not depend on the gender and that there are a lot of talented women out there that take your money on the river with a cute smile in their face. It might appear as weak from a male point of view, but do you actually have the strength and power to seriously respect that you lost to someone better than yourself? 

The key word in all this is respect … if you don’t bring up any respect for your opponent, no matter whom it actually is … you can’t expect respect in return. I know a lot of female poker players that kick some a$$ and show the men that all their prejudices are dead wrong. It still gonna take some time until more men realize that, it won’t stop me from showing you the same respect and value you based on your skill and abilities at the poker table. In the meanwhile … all you poker playing ladies out there … take them “male” chips with a smile on the face and don’t let anyone ever tell you that you are worse than them just because you are a woman.

If we really want other non poker players to accept and understand our passion for this game, we should all grow up and try to improve all the time … and also show more respect on and off the tables. Because we all enjoy this card game, no matter what gender, race and age we are, right?

I sometimes feel like a stranger on this planet though, because most people don’t show the same respect and are rude towards women … they think they have to be better poker players just because they are male. But grown up men turn into crying babies when they lose to a woman, especially when they are in fact better at poker … is that scenario really so shocking? It is not proven anywhere that women can’t be as good as men at the poker table, that is a prejudice and hopefully everybody will learn that lesson sooner or later. Show some respect and receive it in return, after all that will make the whole experience by far more worthwile.

Thanks for your attention.

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