We are what we repeatedly do. Now really?

I heard this one recently. This is Aristotle speaking: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. The wise guy probably meant it in the sense of developing a habit to excel or some such. But the 'We are what we repeatedly do' makes me uncomfortable (If it were in my hands, I wouldn't do anything repeatedly and try something new everyday).

Agreed, people see you (and maybe, even judge you) in as little detail as your designations. That's what they think you repeatedly do. But hey, what about the whole melodrama that goes on in the mind, which leaks in little acts and might make a grand entry once the curtain's up?!! What about the thousand and one aspirations (not shekhchalligiri, but calculated, swot analysed aspirations)which keep playing like a broken record at the back of the mind? So then, you might physically be sitting down, repeatedly striking the computer keys and be a something manager. But that ain't what you are, dear Ary. What you are probably leaks out somewhere else(like in blogs!!).

Aristotle's problem was that he wasn't born in a social network world - a world where what you are, what you do, what you want people to think you are / you do and what people actually turn out thinking what you are / you do, are all four different things. For example, you sit at the desk blogging, your mind is snow tubing down somewhere and your skype status is set to 'do not disturb' mode, making people think you are on a conference call or working on a project. If Ary was true, people would be 'whatsappers' for instance. Everyone ought to see the 'Disconnect to connect' (google it if you don't know) commercial.

I recall listening to a medical doctor telling that whatever you fill into your subconscious mind repeatedly, ultimately becomes a reality. So, for the real mixed with virtual world, you probably are what your mind is repeatedly doing. What do you think?

The square is a diamond.

It must be countless.... the number of times I have heard kids blurting out gems like these.

This one happened when my little one saw one of her scrabble game pieces simply lying on the table. She was looking at it from an angle and out came an excited "Look mummy.....the square is a diamond!" At that moment I just calmed her down with a "Yes, it is sweetie", but then I wondered where the hell had I lost this uninhibited, no-set-boundaries and no-defined-rules imaginative way of thinking. Why can't we look at our squares as diamonds?

The other day, she was trying to draw a TV on her drawing board - in circular shape of course, because she doesn't like straight lines. Anything is possible.

Logical thinking doesn't work. Lateral does. And three feet tall people are full of 'lateral'.

I recall reading an address by a renowned inventor. He was telling the children 'Don't listen to your parents and don't listen to your teachers.' His logic was - what was good at the time your parents were children isn't good enough now. Probably true.

When we were kids, I recall playing a game of words. Somebody says a word and you must immediately speak another word. The rule is, the second word must be absolutely unconnected to the first. Maybe this one should be a game for grown-ups.