Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 195 // Week 31 // 2020

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By Himanshu Sachdeva

Hello!

Welcome to another edition of Saturday Pentacle.

If you have been reading the newsletter from some time now, you’ll know, I’ve been learning a new language!

This weekend will mark the 30th consecutive Day of my language learning and oh boy! let me tell you, making the learning like a game where daily playing it and making a streak, makes it so much fun. It changes the way you think about learning. My favourite language learning app – Duolingo has done just that. I think that’s the reason I’m able to stick to it. Sense of competition between online peers and rewards/trophies, that too has it’s own advantages.

I hope this learning continues and I finish the course in the coming few months!

Coming to some mental clarity talk, it has become really like a mental block to create or work on something new in these trying times for me. I’ve even been struggling with my own podcast since a month where I have a few episodes sitting in my editor window and I just couldn’t move an inch further.

To resolve this block, I talked to a couple of my creative friends, re-read a few chapters from the book – The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Set on my computer for some more blocked sessions but finally, I got through some editing and about to finish the next episode. Creative work sometimes become so hard that it’s even hard to explain.

Anyway, moving to the book reading/listening progress, I finished the big Sherlock Homes series book 2 finally and started the next two book –

That’s it for the personal updates.

Without further adieu, please enjoy this week’s Saturday-Pentacle.

Issue 195 // Week 31 // 2020

An interesting tweet —

A Trip across America – Trailer and Crank Story – I came across this twitter thread last week and it made me feel weirdly connected to this old story from 1984.

How this guy (back then a kid) and his family embarked on an epic road trip across America. A lot of emotional moments and some funny ones in this travel memoir of sort.

A ad which stole my heart (specially with it’s video editing) —

You Can’t Stop Us – This new Nike ad is on another level of editing. Even though I loved the emotion in this ad but the editing! that stole my heart. Check it out!

A video I learned from —

What We’ve Learned from Write of Passage – This conversation between my favourite online writer and Twitterati (David Parell) and his business partner (Tiego Forte) was a class in its own way. They discussed how making their online class about online writing and learning about the whole process of how to improve their students’ experience, changed the whole game for them. Really interesting conversation if you are interested in online course creation and more.

Music I re-listened to —

Michael Kiwanuka – Cold Little Heart (Live Session Video) – This 11+ minutes Michael Kiwanuka song was on repeat this past weekend. This song touches a nerve suddenly right in the middle of the song and then you can not stop playing it again.

Quote which I found meaningful –

Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.

— Marcus Aurelius

Before saying “see you next week”

I’m really excited to share the new Lifestyle Architecture Lab interactive community on Vibely app! 💙

Join today with this special invite link to the group.

Why vibely? Basically it’s a place where we want to make the group and our content interactive. There are daily interesting challenges like –

  • Reading for 1 hour everyday and posting your progress
  • Doing one act of kindness every day
  • Journaling prompts for you
  • Travel writing for 500 words

and more such creative challenges.

It’s a really fun place to be. You’ll get gamified rewards and recognitions for completing the challenges. We are trying to make it a safe place for all the like-minded people to join in the self-growth journey. If you are already working on your passion projects then you’ll get all the support you can and no bashing or judgement for being who you want to be.💡

Join today with this special invite link to the group.

P.S.: Our Facebook group is not going anywhere, we are just adding an interactive branch to it.

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

About Author

I’m Himanshu Sachdeva, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories.

Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 195 // Week 31 // 2020

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 31 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 31 – 2019

An innovative idea I loved – (From a Reddit thread)

Eco Friendly Packaging – I’m really pissed off whenever I buy something from Amazon and see all the plastic packaging which comes with the delivery. For them, it’s necessary to safeguard the buyer’s product. But this is impacting the climate in so bad way, we can’t even imagine entirely.

So when I saw this thread on Reddit, I was happily surprised. Even if they put packaging cost to the customer like 10-20 (INR) bucks. I would happily give it.

Great Idea!

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Vienna Store
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A concept I’ve been thinking about —

What If humans had wings? (Literally) – How will the life of mankind will change, if at all we had wings?

This video talks about it on some practical points –

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – This audiobook has come in so many podcast recommendations. So I finally started it.

Even though it’s deep in meaning and it is pure Stoicism in a nutshell: You cannot control other things and people – you can only control yourself.

I’m finding all the wisdom in the book still relevant. Even though the book is almost ancient.

Some books are timeless, this is one of them.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.”

Michael Pollan

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 31 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 21 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 21 – 2019

An audiobook I listened and loved –

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer – I listened to this book and it felt like I listened to this book too fast and should have at least listened to it with a very slow pace as Author Parker put out the fact of “what you can be” instead of “who you are” with such ease that it’s almost like a piece of cake. For some people, this book is the advise that they were waiting to listen from someone (anyone).

But when the book is over in almost a couple of sittings and then you wonder why it got over and then you relisten to it twice more.

Link – Audiobook at Audible | Book at Amazon.in

My most popular Instagram post recently —

MirrorCube!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A Person I’m fascinated with —

Aditya Shroff – He is a young author (26) and recently published a book named “The Best Life Ever”. I know him through running, as he’s almost always in the top 3-4 runners in any race he runs.

He lives in a farm in the Gujarat state of India. To me, he’s indeed living the best life ever.

Check out his profile to get inspired – Instagram

A song I’m re-listening —

Oceans by Seafret – I listened to this song almost 3 years back for the first time and it took me on a ride. A world where I found myself to be anything I want. Maisie Williams (Arya Stark from GoT) blew my mind with her expressions in this video.

Check it out – Spotify | YouTube

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

If it’s humanly possible, you can do it.

Marcus Aurelias

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 21 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 41 – 2018

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 41 – 2018

“Saturday-Pentacle”

Saturday-Pentacle - Week 21 - 2017

A product I’m loving – (If you are not interested in audio equipment in general, you can skip to the next point) 

Zoom H6 – This is a field audio recorder I bought it lately for recording my podcast episodes. Before buying this my audio recording workflow was just a mess, but now after buying this and one audio software (which I will cover next time), my workflow has become much more streamlined and I’m able to produce audio recordings of professional quality.

Few things I’m loving about it –

  1. The mobility – The ease of taking it anywhere means I can go to my guest’s place and record with ease knowing quality would still be good.
  2. Ability to use 6 mics at once with it – well I don’t know when I’ll need to record 6 people at once but even recording more than one person (let’s say a couple) gives me so much liberty and peace of mind.
  3. Ability to use it as an audio interface – This is an easter egg, I can even use this field audio recorder as a static audio interface with my computer. It works like magic. For people who don’t know what audio interface is – It is a medium to connect professional quality mics which cannot be connected directly to a computer (mics with XLR ports etc).

All In all, I’m just loving this product since the day I bought it. If you are into Audio I’m sure you’ll love it too.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

The time of dawn
.
Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A Book I ‘m looking forward to read  —

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – This book was recommended a few months back by one of my reader friends and just yesterday someone posted this book one of my book clubs on Facebook. So finally I put this in my reading list for 2019.

This book primarily traces Panchaali’s (wife of five Pandava brothers from the Mahabharat) life, this is half history, half myth and everything in between.

An article I’m pondering upon  —

This Timeless And Boldly Optimistic Idea Could Change Your Life – This article from Ryan Holiday looks like a piece from his book “The obstacle is the way” and it tells stories of three men in history who even in adverse condition saw an opportunity and moulded it into their own benefit. Ryan is known to follow stoicism as a guiding line in his life and this article shares the story of where he started this from. It was the book – Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. A good read.

Quote I’m pondering on lately –  (from the today’s article)

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 41 – 2018

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 40 – 2017

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Saturday-Pentacle, Week 40 Issue

“Saturday-Pentacle”

Saturday-Pentacle - Week 21 - 2017

App of the week –

MyFitnessPal

This week I’m re-featuring one of my favorite Lifestyle App and it’s MyFitnessPal.

If you are on a weight loss journey and feeling it’s not working, chances are you’re doing the diet wrong.

Diet tracking isn’t a very entertaining task. But if you are really serious about making your diet and exercise plans work. Then diet tracking has to be one of the top most priorities for you.

MyFitnessPal is my personal favourite for this purpose. I’ve been using this app even before it was acquired by Under Armour back in 2015. What makes this app useful is the fact that they have a website complimenting their mobile apps and that’s a huge plus. When you are in office having a few moments, you can log your diet from the website there or when you are commuting you can log your diet from mobile app. It’s really easy.

Secondly, they have a large collection of foods and meals, which even includes Indian dishes or meals. So logging a meal is a buttery smooth experience.

In my experience of diet tracking, this app has been really useful and just even the idea of having a look at what you are eating at the end of the day makes sense. It makes you conscious towards your eating choices.

Just in case if I got you curious, you can go check out this app –

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Today’s short story is dedicated to a dear friend and colleague who passed away young, couple of weeks back.⠀
.⠀
His last message – “Sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful too.”⠀
.⠀
Story – ⠀
.⠀
Endings can be beautiful too!
.⠀
6PM.⠀
.⠀
“I think we’ll miss the sunset. But that’s ok. There is another one tomorrow.” I said.⠀
.⠀
“No! I don’t want to miss. Let’s try. Uncle, please drive fast!” She said, pushing the cabbie.⠀
.⠀
We were 5 mins late from the perfect sunset. But still, it was not down under, we caught it right before it was going to be engulfed by the sea.⠀
.⠀
We sat on a crack on that lighthouse wall and just waited for the dying orange sky to be dark.⠀
.⠀
Who thought the endings could be beautiful too?⠀

Article(s) I’m enjoying (and pondering) —

Why You Need Emotional Intelligence To Succeed In Business – Yet another good article from Darius Foroux. This article talks about EI (Emotional Intelligence), why it matters more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and also shares the process of how to improve your EI. Good Read.

I’m reading/watching/listening to —

Why our screens make us less happy | Adam Alter – This small (under 10 minutes) TED talk by Adam Alter is quickly becomes an eye opener as soon as you are done watching this talk. His psychological analysis of how people use screens and how addictive these screens are, is fascinating.

Adam is an Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our job is to do them good and put up with them.”

― Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor from 161 til 180)

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 29 – 2017

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Saturday-Pentacle, Week 29 Issue

“Saturday-Pentacle”

Saturday-Pentacle - Week 21 - 2017

App of the week –

Momentum

This week it’s not a mobile app but a chrome extension with which I’m in love from past 2+ years. It’s the best focus and productivity extension in the browser.

It has features like a big beautifully curated wallpaper which changes every day, a big sleek clock, weather, ToDo list apps integration inbuilt (this one is my favorite), so your favorite Todo list apps can be integrated with this dashboard and it can display the ToDos as well in this dashboard itself. You have to experience it to believe.

If I got you curious, you can download it for Chrome from here – Momentum

Unfortunately, it’s not available for Firefox browser, but I found a very good alternative to Momentum and it’s simpler than Momentum, it’s called Moment. It features a Big beautiful clock and a plain focused background and is highly customizable. You can download it from the Firefox Add-On Store.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Don’t give up.

When you feel like giving up your dream, force yourself to work another day, another week, a year.

You will be amazed what happens when you don’t give up.

Doesn’t matter if you don’t have arms, doesn’t matter if you don’t have any other limb, if you have your will and your heart you will reach there…

P.S. This video contains real imagery of an artist painting live from “Indian mouth and foot painting artists” club.

Shot and narrated today by yours truly.

Article(s) I’m enjoying (and pondering) —

5 ways social media can help you travel – This is an interesting article pointing out a few very good tips and tools to help you with your travel via social media.

Summary of the article – Before going to a place, get a visual vibe of the place from Instagram with its geolocation tagging, it hits the bullseye for getting a visual of the place you are thinking to go. Don’t hesitate to ask your friends on Facebook about the place you are about to visit, you may get some good info. If you are brave enough to ask strangers, twitter is your place to go. Remember, Facebook is friends and Twitter is the world.

Lastly, If you’re willing to take some risks in the form of advice from strangers, talk to locals once you are there physically, you could end up with a memorable experience. Just make sure to be specific in your requests.

What I’m reading/watching/listening to —

Infinity And Back – This documentary released on 8th July on YouTube and Facebook and I’m proud to say that the protagonist of this docu film is my friend Kuntal Joisher.

He is a vegan and a mountaineer (how awesome a combo) and he climbed the Mount Everest last year (2016) on May 19. I found him very down to earth but a determined guy. So in 2015 when I was first introduced to him he was working hard towards his goal (climbing the highest peak in the world) and as his journey unfolded and finally he stepped on to the top of Everest last year. It was nothing short of the proudest feeling towards a friend.

Put on your headphones and watch this short film, as Kuntal and the editors of this movie take you to Kuntal’s journey of climbing the Everest. I promise you it’s Epic and the 21:59 minutes of your life will be worth it.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“If someone is slipping up, kindly correct them and point out what they missed. But if you can’t, blame yourself—or no one.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

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