Another MIND

This morning, my other half suggested that we should have only one big meal per day with health reasons but also the cost in mind. By saying this, it doesn't mean we want to only eat once a day; but we can have some light meals between each big meal. Just saw, a stack of bread snacks on the table top for anyone to eat. Well, we just had lunch two hours ago after we had roti canai breakfast this morning. Practically, we can actually really do that because our children have been skipping some meals since they have been busy with their work. O do think we (Malaysians) are eating more than we are supposed to (leading to obesity problems). Myself, I rarely have more than one small plate of rice in one meal because I get easily full. In fact, when we have our meals outside, I normally have difficulty to finish up what is being served since it is more than what I wanted to eat (but I finish it up anyway because we have paid for it and normally it will cost (in-)digestion problem). Let us see how this plan goes - usually we can skip our lunch and the only time all of us can be together is in the evening, which implies heavy meals before bed (not so healthy then).

The real intent of this post is to say something about Mostaque's MIND capitals, which is said to be scalable all the way down from country to organization to individuals. For individuals, these are

• Materials (M) Capital: One's physical health, personal savings and the sustainability of personal physical environment.
• Intellectual (I) Capital: One's knowledge and skills and the rate of learning them.
• Network (N) Capital: Quality and strength of one's relationships with the family, friends and community.
• Diversity (D) Capital: The portfolio of one's options of resources that can build resilience against unexpected changes.

When I saw this, I thought that Mostaque is also playful/creative with acronyms. It also reminded me about a label that we came up with when we were asked to reinvent our maths institute, namely Mathematical Institute for Natural and Disruptive Sciences (MINDS) - see this post and this post. That idea never saw the light of day but never mind about that. In the past, when I read self-help and management books, I realise that the management gurus really have the habit of creating acronyms (at a time I wonder why such fuss). But then physicists also do that including this scrawny self. Take for instance, the acronyms EQuaLS (Expository Quantum Lecture Series) and QuEST (Quantum Explorations of Science & Technology). The idea with such acronyms that it can be easily remembered and if one is lucky, it can be viral and be beneficial. Once, I became so playful and created horrible ones (remember LuFTER?) until a high school mate called it childish (thank you Zaki for the criticism), and thereafter I stopped. Yes, I do listen to criticisms. Another instance, Bob Coecke was telling me that I complain too much on social media, after which I do less rants. Having said this, imagine how foreigners perceive the commentaries of our local social media users ...

Back to MIND Capitals. How do I fare? For M Capital, have a comfortable home now (pushing now for spiritual betterment). Health and savings are so and so but I'm thankful. For I Capital, I never stop learning and browse the arXiv daily for four different counters but at this late stage of life, I should be pushing for spiritual knowledge. For N Capital, this is where I perform the least, being a shy and introvert person. For instance, I did have the opportunity to reconnect with some high school friends in a reunion, but circumstances just wouldn't let me. I  have once my best primary school friend with whom I have reconnected in FB much earlier on, but due to the kind of posts he made, I unfriended him (feeling embarrassed); I should have simply unfollow his posts but I did not know that I could do so then (feeling regretful). The same goes for friends in universities with whom I mainly reconnect through social media but not so much since most of them are in high positions. In my former workplace, I tend to become a loner mainly because of the field I'm in. Thus, so much for my N-capital. I should just stick to the surau community given the current age. For the D-capital, my skills have not been diverse enough to venture away from academia. Earlier what I've thought to be investments tend not to help much (some are even scammers). So leaving only my writing or teaching skills that I have not really capitalised. I wonder whether it is too late now. 

But really in the above, I'm still thinking in materialistic terms. Shouldn't it be more than that? During my earlier reading of Mostaque's book, I had imagined a different kind of the 'last economy' as I had the impression of what he meant was what it means to be truly human. I coined the term 'amal economy' emphasizing good deeds that we can bring over to the hereafter. Even this, I'm not confident about how one fares. Can we be sure that our good deeds not be thrown back to our faces. Who could be that sure?