千里之行，始於足下
I assume you don't know Chinese. Is that a good assumption? We all make assumptions and I make lots of them.
The Chinese saying above translates to - " A thousand miles begins with a single step".
If you are not used to some one just bragging out himself or herself you can skip this post as this post is all about me,my interests, why I write these posts, who reads my posts - in all it is egocentric big ME.
I thought why not celebrate my accomplishment by patting myself on my back (really!).
Sep 19 2013 About a year ago I started this little project of mine . I wanted to write.
Even a tide starts as a ripple.
So I wanted to create waves aiming all the way to my own interview with Oprah!
Why is Oprah a benchmark for my writing - I don't know it is just that I admire her show and respect all people who appear in her show.
So the big question was - What will I write about and who will read my blogs?
I read a lot of books, I have books on cds in my car, I have playaways(small players from library) - notice the 'I's in this line - it is always about me.
I thought I will write a synopsis of the books I read, my thoughts, my view of the world (I have a lot of them) and my interactions with my kids and children.
So the big question was - What will I write about and who will read my blogs?
I read a lot of books, I have books on cds in my car, I have playaways(small players from library) - notice the 'I's in this line - it is always about me.
I thought I will write a synopsis of the books I read, my thoughts, my view of the world (I have a lot of them) and my interactions with my kids and children.
Like Dr. Abdul Kalam I always like to discuss major ideas with children as they think everything is possible . Adults are experts and they always tell you why your ideas won't work!
Books are my Window to the world and I thought I will open those windows and let you see something I see.
I also wanted Leave behind something that might be used later by generations to come.
I also wanted Leave behind something that might be used later by generations to come.
I wanted to be like Thomas Jefferson - a man of words in the literal sense (as mentioned by Stephen Ambrose in 'To America' ) - when Jefferson said All Men are created equal he continued to own slaves expecting future generations to come along and implement this idea.
Contrast this with George Washington who freed all his slaves and acted on ideals while not creating elaborate documents!
Man of action. No wonder he gets a capital and state named after him along with currency and memorials.
I prefer to be - a man who write a lots and expects you the reader to implement ideas to change the world while I continue to generate more ideas - as ideas as cheap and acting on them is difficult.
I prefer to be - a man who write a lots and expects you the reader to implement ideas to change the world while I continue to generate more ideas - as ideas as cheap and acting on them is difficult.
So let me do the easy part.
My other intention has been to spark the interest in Learning.
My other intention has been to spark the interest in Learning.
Learning to help people to be part of a cause bigger than us, learning to understand that we are mere mortals with big potentials, learning to share ideas.
Learning to be a tourist!
A traveler seeks and a tourist visits.
So please just don't visit my blog but seek the truth and experience it. Some of you have liked , some commented ,some constructively criticized ( I really don't understand what this means as any criticism according to me is not constructive!) and mostly encouraged me .
So You will have the next 100 posts in 1 year!
I knew I was good in talking (or so I thought) - remember I can talk for hours if I get anyone who would care to listen to me - from a baby to a granny. ( I don't talk well with animals!).
I knew I was good in talking (or so I thought) - remember I can talk for hours if I get anyone who would care to listen to me - from a baby to a granny. ( I don't talk well with animals!).
Earlier in my career I was taught by a VP in EDS that while I talk I am not communicating. Lesson learnt.
In an effort to communicate - I started talking louder,in an animated way. asking for feedback, working on stopping my Indian bobble head or Indian head shake, pausing - you name it I am still working on it.
I attended training where they record your speech and fellow participants provude constructive criticism (yes the same old stuff!!) ,attended toast masters, got Dale Carnegie trained to win friends and influence people, saw hours of videos of Tony Robbins to Ted Talks - all this to help me communicate in person and be good at it.
Now, I am still where I started .
In an effort to communicate - I started talking louder,in an animated way. asking for feedback, working on stopping my Indian bobble head or Indian head shake, pausing - you name it I am still working on it.
I attended training where they record your speech and fellow participants provude constructive criticism (yes the same old stuff!!) ,attended toast masters, got Dale Carnegie trained to win friends and influence people, saw hours of videos of Tony Robbins to Ted Talks - all this to help me communicate in person and be good at it.
Now, I am still where I started .
To be honest - all these training courses are great at training but not good at fundamentally changing people.
Finally I understood this truth.
Once I decided to write there is nothing which stopped me -
my spelling mistakes I didn't care about them ( I always got my excuse that English is not from family tongue).
My family speaks Tamil and they are good at it. My sisters,my mom and my dad are good in Hindi and Sanskrit. I am good in Hindi not Sanskrit even though I love to write about Sanskrit.
(check listing below for articles on same)
Most books I read are in English which is not my native tongue . So my mind converts the information to Tamil and I retrieve this content and type in English . I can feel this process everytime and sometimes I am at loss of words.. what is that word in English which means this in Tamil..and I still enjoy this process.
I thought about youtube and audio files - wait a minute - I immigrated to US 15 years ago and from that day till today I am corrected on how to pronounce certain words. Nice people would work with me to rephrase , rude people will say it on my face . Once a colleague said - "Can you say that in English" while I was explaining something in my Victorian accent.
(check listing below for articles on same)
Most books I read are in English which is not my native tongue . So my mind converts the information to Tamil and I retrieve this content and type in English . I can feel this process everytime and sometimes I am at loss of words.. what is that word in English which means this in Tamil..and I still enjoy this process.
I thought about youtube and audio files - wait a minute - I immigrated to US 15 years ago and from that day till today I am corrected on how to pronounce certain words. Nice people would work with me to rephrase , rude people will say it on my face . Once a colleague said - "Can you say that in English" while I was explaining something in my Victorian accent.
I thought I had Victorian accent and coming from India I thought the American speak American English and we - the rest of the world Victorian.
Little did I realize after my travel to England and after listening to hours of NPR interviews, BBC analysis and PRI reporting the colonies were left with Victorian accent and the British went back to England and changed their accent to 'British'.
Even when the colonies followed them to London , gave them chicken tikka Masala, served samasoas near Lloyd stadium they didn't tell us this truth.
Next time observe an India or Pakistani talk to South African and you will understand that these folks can communicate well with their accent while they have a hard time talking to Queen's land folks - the British who ruled and gave them this Victorian English.
What is blogging anyways - after 100 posts I can confidently say I don't know .
Next time observe an India or Pakistani talk to South African and you will understand that these folks can communicate well with their accent while they have a hard time talking to Queen's land folks - the British who ruled and gave them this Victorian English.
What is blogging anyways - after 100 posts I can confidently say I don't know .
I am still trying to figure it out like a good traveler travelling through life.
While sometimes I wanted to brag about my knowledge sometimes I wanted to genuinely share from good information.
I thought my niece and nephew would like these (pity them!) and my kids will read them (pity me) and my grandkids may treasure them (high hopes!)
My friend's dad mentioned (I want to believe he is right) that Siva (the big ME). knows about everything.
My friend's dad mentioned (I want to believe he is right) that Siva (the big ME). knows about everything.
I think I do. (Modesty is a virtue like patience)
That is because I keep reading a lot and know that I need to learn more.
Every topic and every field I touch takes me into a deeper space where I am starting as a student.
I guess this is the secret fountain to eternal youth - to be a student than a teacher!
My little one now started talking and while teaching days of the week and asking him a question "What comes after Sunday?"
My little one now started talking and while teaching days of the week and asking him a question "What comes after Sunday?"
His answer was a promptly was tomorrow!
I am enjoying my journey and want to share these tiny moments which matter to me a lot and wanted a way to enjoy the same with you.
Here is some web traffic data for my site - I always wonder who read my site besides me!
Pageviews all time history - 3763 as of today (about 20-80 clicks per blog).
While traffic is picking up it is interesting to find people use mobile a lot
FireFox tops the list of people who read my blog? Wow .
Finally Google is picking up my site with search keywords . These days google is integrated with google+ and blogger content and no wonder I get more clicks.
My most famous blog for now has 244 views - so I assume people want to memorize books(poor students.. students are poor in knowledge till they give up!)
Wow.. is there a method to this madness!. Here is a simplified version
I hope my blogs are inspiring and changing the world. I believe the quote below summarizes my thought.
Writing 100 blog doesn't make me a hero - I know but I hope it inspires people to write ,read and share.
Keep learning,liking,commenting,criticizing and encouraging(in short living!)
Sivakumar Manikanteswaran
Here is some web traffic data for my site - I always wonder who read my site besides me!
Pageviews all time history - 3763 as of today (about 20-80 clicks per blog).
While traffic is picking up it is interesting to find people use mobile a lot
FireFox tops the list of people who read my blog? Wow .
Finally Google is picking up my site with search keywords . These days google is integrated with google+ and blogger content and no wonder I get more clicks.
My most famous blog for now has 244 views - so I assume people want to memorize books(poor students.. students are poor in knowledge till they give up!)
Blog Post #39 - How to memorize a whole book - Teach yourself and your kid (or the kid inside you!)! Memory Palace and Mind Maps
My Ego
|
Blog Post #100 - SELFIE - WOW .Can't believe I wrote 100 blog post.
Thanks for your support.
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Story Telling
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Blog Post #99 - Do you know how to tell a story well?
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Promising
|
Blog Post #98 - Promises - the promises we keep and the promises we
break decides who we are !
|
Math
|
Blog Post #97 - Aliens - 0/0,QED and Golbach conjecture - Cool
Math without equations/calculations
|
Happiness
|
Blog Post #96 - D= S-M An equation which reveals the secret to
happiness and meaning of life answering the question - What is the
purpose of my/your life?
|
Chess
|
Blog Post #95 - How do you win a
Scholastic kids chess tournament?
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Growth
|
Blog Post #94 - Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset #BeingHuman
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History
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Blog Post #93 - Letter writers - Famous letters from history !
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Mystery
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Blog Post #92 - Mystery and Puzzles What's the difference?
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Language
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Blog Post #91 - What do you know about past tense? - Not your grammar class!
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Life skill
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Blog Post #90 - Why are we seeing more chevy cars on the roads now?
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Technology
|
Blog Post #89 - “I know two great men,one is you and the other is
this young man.” - Do you know these 2 men?
|
Manage emails
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Blog Post #88 - How many emails are in your inbox?
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Chess
|
Blog Post #87 - Chess and 7 Life Lessons - what can we learn from
Siva teaching/learning chess?
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Physics
|
Blog Post #86 - SpaceTime conundrum and Mont Pelerin society for
layman,laywoman and laychild #STEM #Economics
|
Spiritual
|
Blog Post #85 - Veda - Yoga, Ayurveda
and 6 Questions!!!
|
Chemistry
|
Blog Post #84 - Salt and Sweet - the chemicals of life!
|
Physics
|
Blog Post #83 - Newton believed in God, Einstein was the god!!! How
Wonder land of Physics is intertwined with Chemistry!! #STEM
|
Gratitude
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Blog Post #82 - To whomever much is given, of him will much be
required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.
#gratitude
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Technology – Glass
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Blog Post #81 - Glass - you wear them,see them use them - they are your future(past and present)!!!
|
Math
|
Blog Post #80 - Zero - our hero and what does Sthanam sthanam dasha
gunam have to do with your bank account?
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Life Skill
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Blog Post #79 - Be yourself everyone else is taken!
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Life Skill
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Blog Post #78 - Bright Spot Analysis - Solution Based Problem Solving
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Chemistry
|
Blog Post #77 - Mystery behind Chemistry and Wonder of periodic
table - you are made of carbon.
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Life Skill
|
Blog Post #76 - White Bear,Stale Popcorn,Choclate &Radish, Basket
Ball game - 4 experiments that are
commonly referred in books
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Math
|
Blog Post #75 - Do you know Prime Numbers - God may not play dice
with the universe, but something strange is going on with the
prime numbers #primenumbers
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Book review
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Blog Post #74 - 10-10-10 What was that book all about?
|
Science – Doctors
|
Blog Post #73 - Primum non nocere
- Idiopathic - Bacteria ,Virus
and Doctors!!!!
|
Geography
|
Blog Post #72 - New countries, new states -
Geography for Mummies,Daddies and Dummies! #Geography
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Math
|
Blog Post #71 - Triangles and Circle of Life – Math fascination
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Life Skill- motivation
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Blog Post #70 - What motivates you - money or MAPPS (an acronym not a
spelling mistake)
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Spiritual
|
Blog Post #69 - The Ancient Hindus,Buddhist and Jains were thinking
about nothing!
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Math
|
Blog Post #68 - 1=2 How did
that happen?
|
Life Skill - self
|
Blog Post #67 -Remembering self and Experiencing Self Cognitive traps
and Happiness - Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman
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Chemistry
|
Blog Post #66 -Energy sources - what powers you
|
Life Skill - Money
|
Blog Post #65 - Money - Wealth and Rich
|
Life Skill – Winning
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Blog Post #64 - Winning ,Losing - Lying and Cheating
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #63 - Passwords - cyber security accounts locked, Open and
compromised
|
Spiritual
|
Blog Post #62 - Adi Shankara and What is the use?
|
Economics
|
Blog Post #61 - Game theory in everyday life - what games are you
playing today?
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #60 - Your Internet and My Internet - How is it different?
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Life Skill – work
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Blog Post #59 - Where do you work? What do you do for a living?
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Life Skill – decision
|
Blog Post #58 - Decision Making - If you have to decide .. STOP.. and use this method. (from the
book Decisive)
|
Life Skill – resolution
|
Blog Post #57 - Why your new year's resolution will not work . For
smarter people - why you don't have a new year's resolution?
|
Math
|
Blog Post #56 - Magic of Number 11
- Number tricks and facts
|
Spiritual
|
Blog Post #55 - A student went
to a teacher and said I cannot learn more and the teacher went to grab a big
kettle full of tea..
|
History
|
Blog Post #54 - Genghis Khan
Chanakya Alexander (Why should I call him great?) and Sadhu(Learned Man)
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #53 - What Cost 2.7billion dollars in 1991 $$ is costing $500 + ipad and in
future drop to around $50?
|
Math and Spiritual
|
Blog Post #52 - When was Jesus Born - Jan 1 0 AD/BC ? How to know
what day of the week is Christmas?
|
Math
|
Blog Post #51 - What day is
Jan 2014? How to teach your kid (or the kid in you) how to find day for a Jan
1 of any year ? - Math
and Life Series
|
Language
|
Blog Post #50 - Why Should I
press 2 for Spanish ?
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #49- When will I be
able to drop my kids to school using Drones? - sooner than you think...
|
People
|
Blog Post #48- Who was Anjezë
Gonxhe Bojaxhiu? Why did she get a noble prize as an Indian Citizen?
|
People
|
Blog Post #47 - Einstein's letter
changed the world - Really?
|
Life Skill- Home
|
Blog Post #46 - Where is home?
Where are you Originally from? - Geography and its importance
|
Gratitude
|
Blog Post #45 - What are you
thankful for (usual question),What is personal accountability and how can it
help you? What did you
this year some one else is
thankful for ?
|
History ,Geography and Langauge
|
Blog Post #44 - What is
Rosetta Stone? Why Should you care?
|
Memory
|
Blog Post #43 - Spend
15minutes to learn how to remember 10 things and recall in exact order -
Memory peg technique
|
Education
|
Blog Post #42 - Back to School
with Buddha - Nalanda Univesity is back - Harvard, Stanfort,MIT,Cambridge and
Oxford combined!
(Thanks to India,Japan,Singapore and China)
|
Life Skill – Priorities
|
Blog Post #41 - Maslow was
wrong,Meeting rituals are weird ,80/20 Pareto is a heuristic and TGIF is not
a good attitude
|
Life Skill – Leadership
|
Blog Post #40 - What does it
take to be a leader? - are you one?
|
Memory
|
Blog Post #39 - How to
memorize a whole book - Teach yourself and your kid (or the kid inside you!)!
Memory Palace and Mind Maps
|
Religion
|
Blog Post #38 - Karbala,Kabba
and Arc of Covenant - ( Religion series )
|
Valuing People
|
Blog Post #37 - “A person is a
person, no matter how small.” - Is it really true?
|
Science
|
Blog Post #36 - Vegetables and fruits - What you know, What you don't
know ,what you know that you know and what you know you don't
know.
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #35 - Google and travel!! - On Road and On Space
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #34 - Sunni Web, Halal Internet and Great Firewall of China
|
Human Body
|
Blog Post #33 - Human body,Anaesthesia , Vestigal organs
|
Time
|
Blog Post #32 - Time again to read about time
|
Signs
|
Blog Post #31- # - Sign or Symbol or tag?
|
People
|
Blog Post #30 - Who was Einstein's brother? Did Newton have a sister?
What was Shakespeare's dad name?
|
People
|
Blog Post #29 - Robina courtin and Julian Assange - What does
Wikileaks and a monk have in common?
|
Geography
|
Blog Post #28 - Longitude
|
Chess and Music
|
Blog Post #27 - Can you read? I mean Algebric Notation and Music
Sheet
|
Accounting
|
Blog Post #26 - Luca Pacioli -
Double Entry Accounting (Dont yawn..this is interesting)
|
Banking
|
Blog Post #25 - 3-5 Business days to transfer money from one to
another. Why?
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #24 - Amazon Mechanical Turk, Electronic Pill , Google
Driverless car and Thought controlled bionics- Eric Schmidt the new
digital age
|
Public speaking
|
Blog Post #23 - How to buy time when some one asks you a question?
|
Technology
|
Blog Post #22 - Printing Press and now 3D Printer - Did this change
your life?
|
Math
|
Blog Post #21 - 24 * 60 = ? Answer is not 1440
|
Agenda
|
Blog Post #20 - 50 Topics for 50 weeks... let us learn 1 a week
|
Paradox
|
Blog Post #19 - Amazon is a river, Google is a large number (with a
spelling mistake..i guess they didn't have did you mean Googol)
and HP/Dell are someone's
names!
|
Time
|
Blog Post #18 - Time
|
Self-awareness
|
Blog Post #17 - Tat Twan Asi =
Know Thyself. Self awareness what does it mean?
|
Speech
|
Blog Post #16 - Intelligent
people talk about Ideas,....
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My experience
|
Blog Post #15 - Bucket pitch
- My volunteer activity and my experiments
|
World war
|
Blog Post #14 - World war 1 -
war of chemist , World War 2 - Physicist and Math war.
|
Math and Philosophy
|
Blog Post #13 - Sir x = (a + b^n)/n
hence God exists, reply!!!
|
Self-awareness
|
Blog Post #12- 3 -- Inside, Inbetween and Outside
|
Math
|
Blog Post #11- Isomorphic - 49 heads in a coin toss means what?
|
Self- awareness
|
Blog Post #10- 5 Elements
|
Blog Post #9- Pythagoras
brotherhood, Numbers and language
|
|
My experience
|
Blog Post #8 - Kitchen faucets and Sheena Iyengar
|
Book review
|
Blog Post #7 - Three cups of tea and Born to Run
|
Makes me cry!
|
Blog Post #6 The last lecture..Alice and Scratch
|
Math and TED
|
Blog Post #5 - Reading Books - Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier
7 Days a Week , TED Talks and Fermat's last theorem
|
My experience
|
Blog Post #4 - My Bahamas Travel - What i learned !
|
Priorities
|
Blog Post #3 - Time Management and managing priorities
|
Questions – learning
|
Blog Post #2 - I have a lots of questions - Math - Randomness -
Sample space, Pascal wager, Monty hall problem - isomorphism
|
Chemistry
|
Blog Post #1 - Chemistry - Elements and Periodic table - Questions to
ask yourself!
|
Accounting
|
Book review
|
|
Book review
|
Chemistry
|
|
Chemistry
|
|
Chemistry
|
|
Chemistry
|
Chess
|
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Chess
|
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Chess and Music
|
Economics
|
Education
|
Geography
|
|
Geography
|
Gratitude
|
|
Gratitude
|
What did you this year some one else is thankful for ?
|
Growth
|
Happiness
|
History
|
|
History
|
History ,Geography and Langauge
|
Human Body
|
Language
|
|
Language
|
Life skill
|
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Life Skill
|
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Life Skill
|
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Life Skill
|
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Life Skill- motivation
|
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Life Skill - self
|
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Life Skill - Money
|
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Life Skill – Winning
|
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Life Skill – work
|
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Life Skill – decision
|
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Life Skill – resolution
|
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Life Skill- Home
|
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Life Skill – Priorities
|
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Life Skill – Leadership
|
Makes me cry!
|
Manage emails
|
Math
|
|
Math
|
|
Math
|
|
Math
|
|
Math
|
|
Math
|
|
Math and Spiritual
|
|
Math
|
|
Math
|
|
Math and Philosophy
|
|
Math
|
|
Math and Ted
|
Memory
|
|
Memory
|
My Ego
|
This post - Blog Post #100 - SELFIE - WOW .Can't believe I wrote 100 blog
post. Thanks for your support.
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My experience
|
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My experience
|
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My experience
|
Mystery
|
Paradox
|
People
|
|
People
|
|
People
|
|
People
|
Physics and Economics
|
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Physics and Chemistry
|
Priorities
|
Promising
|
Public speaking
|
Questions – learning
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Religion
|
Science
|
Doctors
|
Self-awareness
|
|
Self-awareness
|
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Self- awareness
|
Signs
|
Speech
|
Spiritual
|
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Spiritual
|
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Spiritual
|
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Spiritual
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Story Telling
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Technology
|
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Technology
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Technology
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Technology
|
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Technology
|
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Technology
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Technology
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Technology
|
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Technology
|
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Technology
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Time
|
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Time
|
Value People
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