Relationships Aren't What they Used to Be

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 According to TheConversation.com, the Greeks came up with the idea of soulmates stating "Aristophanes states that humans originally had four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces. He continues that there were three genders: man, woman and the “Androgynous”. Each with two sets of genitalia with the Androgynous having both male and female genitalia.” Zeus, apparently, separated the two halves and the term "Soulmates" is what you call the two halves that found each other.

Whether or not you believe in "Soulmates" doesn't change the fact that how we approach our relationships today isn't the same as it used to be. 

• Humans used to have a lifespan of 30 years making it easier to commit to a marriage as it wouldn't typically last as long.
• Marriage is a religious concept but today we marry without religion. Instead of making a marrital promise to God/Friends/Family we only make promises to Friends/Family and that promise inevitably carry less weight without God, or religious beliefs, attached to it.
• The economy has changed which, in turn, changed the roles of each individuals in the relationship. We haven't adapted properly to this change.
• The focus is no longer on each other. Too much work/entertainment/devices/dating apps/financial struggle that keeps the attention away from our spouse.
• We're more pleasure seeking than we used to be. We date because we're bored more so that to find a suitable mate. We are more likely to leave a relationship if we become bored within it.
• We expect the other person to make us happy but the responsibility is on us to find our own happiness. While the spouse should definitely want their partner's happiness, they can't be responsible for it in its entirety.
• Family life isn't as big of a priority as it used to be. Whether it be economics, global catastrophe, or other, there's a sense of hopelessness making us rethink how we approach relationships and whether or not we even want to bring a child into this world.
• Too much focus on how we look and not enough on how we think. Vanessa Quitero once said "Exterior beauty, without the depth of a kind soul is merely decoration."
• For men, the risk of marriage outweighs the rewards as he's more likely to be on the loosing end of a divorce.

Is being single worse than being in a relationship? 

That's a question that we all need to ask ourselves and the answer to it largely depends on who's willing to jump into the relationship adventure with us. If it's someone that understand that relationships requires work,, from both sides, then maybe there's a chance that it'll be successful. We also need to keep in mind that being single does carry it's own set of risks as well. Sometimes the decision is about choosing the lesser of 2 evils.

New Technologies And Production Expectations in The Workplace

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With the A.I. revolution at our door, let us stop and ponder what implications the introduction of this new technology will have on our work life by looking at past technologies and the expectations it brought on the working individual.

The introduction of the car promised to make things easier by allowing us to reach further distances. With it, we were able to find work in areas that we couldn't go to before. Nowadays, regardless of the place that we work we\re expected to find our own way to get there and some workplaces even require a vehicle to perform the tasks.

When cellphones were introduced, it gave the workplace the opportunity to reach anyone at any given time.

What will happen when A.I. becomes mainstream?

When automation was first introduces, whether in factories or otherwise, it removed the need for many types of employees. It's not that difficult to predict that the A.I. revolution will have a similar impact in the workspace with the remaining employees expected to produce more with the help of A.I.

How can you take advantage of this change?

• Learn everything that there's to know about A.I.
• Deepmind, OpenAI, Anthropic seems to be the big names in A.I. technologies currently with more expected to become known in the coming months.
• Learn how to to speak to A.I. 
• Learn the computing language most used for A.I. programming.
• Python seems to be the most popular computing language for A.I. currently.
• Use what you've learned either to help in your current career or create your own business.
• Example: Someone created a website that uses A.I. to create menu items for restaurants (See: https://ai.lunchbox.io/). Expect many more services like this to come out in the coming months.

We will need to adapt to A.I. the same way we've adapted to the automation in factories. Whether it means upgrading our skills, or changing our work situation entirely, remains to be seen.

Religion is Self-Improvement if you Leave Out The Non-Sense

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If you approach religious text the same way as you do with any other text, meaning that you take in what make sense and leave out the non-sense, what you're left with is a self-improvement philosophy. Religion is the predecessor of the self-improvement genre and if you leave out the non-sense you're usually left with something that can add value to your life if followed.

Lets talk about the Bible...

The Bible includes a lot of fluff because it's a combination of common beliefs that existed at the time the religious text was created. If Jesus and his followers were alive today the Bible would look very different.

It was common for Romans, for example, to sacrifices to their many Gods hence why it's not that surprising that the Bible includes stories of such sacrifices and talks about the benefits of it. 

The theory of creationism first originated in the 5th century B.C. and was a subject of discussion at the time of Christ.

The Bible has stories of incest because it wasn't considered a taboo at the time. It is said that Julius Caesar had relations with his mother.

A lot of fluff that has either been debunked or is no longer relevant yet I would argue that, if you remove it all, you're still left with something that's worth reading/understanding. The Golden Rule, The 10 Commandments, Book of Proverbs... there's still value here for those looking to better themselves.

If you're a student of life then don't turn your back on Religious text simply because you don't agree with parts of it. The people that created those documents put a lot of efforts into making something that stood the test of time and some of that foundation is not only still relevant today but also used in such genres as Self-Improvement.

"A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much."

-Proverb 20:19

Homelessness May Just Be One Tragedy Away...

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Most of us are one tragedy away from being homeless. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is because we focus on the wrong, unimportant, things in our lives. We indulge in addiction, we buy things we can't afford to impress people we don't like, we don't take care of our bodies/minds, we don't work on our relationships...

Homelessness isn't that far away for most people. While we don't know what tomorrow will bring, we can do things today that will help make tomorrow, hopefully, better. First and foremost it's important to understand that homelessness can happen to anybody under any circumstances. You need that fire to burn inside of you to get you to move in the direction that's less likely (no guarantees) to get you off the streets.

• Educate yourself: A wise man once told me that I was worth minimum wage from the neck down and that it was what I knew, and how I would apply what I knew, that would ultimately determine how successful I would be in life. Education can't be taken away from you.
• Your Health is important: Do what is necessary for your physical and mental health as your body is the vehicle for your life. We often take it for granted until it's too late. It's easier to achieve with a good body/mindset than with a bad one.
• Relationships are important: As we get older, we come to understand that true friends are rare and it's not about quantity as much as it is about quality. Associate with people that pushes you to be better.
• Finance is important: Life isn't about getting the latest and greatest gadgets as much as it is to save for a rainy day or to use the extras to be a blessing to other people. As mentioned before, don't buy things just for the purpose of impressing other people.
• Your time is important: Use your free time wisely. You'll never get back the time you spent watching Netflix or play video games. 
• Discipline is important: Get organized, stick to your goals.
• Broaden your horizon: Get outside of your comfort zone to learn things outside of what you already know or are comfortable with.

Be kind to those less fortunate as you don't know their stories and you could be in their situations one day.

Any homeless person will tell you that once you're on the streets it's much more difficult to get back on the job market. If you have anxieties about being homeless then use that to fuel better habits into your life in an attempt (again no guarantees) to minimize the risk.