This is the idea, that I am toying around with, and I am trying it out from time to time. Not sure, how successful it is practically, but it might help with some people. What it basically does, is to try and see on the problem from different perspectives, in this case, perspectives of different functions.

MBTI was designed based on the Jung's function theory. So Jung's said that we have four functions: Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting and Sensing, and each can be oriented inside or outside. I have to admit, I understand a lot more about inside and outside orientation, since I took first person research. Before, they would sometimes get mixed. For example, I could not understand introverted intuition, but if I think about it like an extroverted intuition oriented in the inside, it makes sense. But it did not make sense, until I started to observe myself.

And each function wants something. The thinking wants order, the sensing wants information, the intuition wants creativity and the feeling wants humanity. And then each one is turned in one side, the thinking wants order, but introverted thinking wants order in the thinking, and the extroverted thinking wants order in the external world. The same with sensing, the extroverted sensing gets the information from the world, and the introverted sensing gets the information from the inside us. The extroverted feeling wants to express humanity toward other people, so that we are more human to each other, the introverted feeling wants to express inner humanity, which is why it is connected to the values a lot of times. And so on and so on.

Penelope Trunk actually summarized what makes each type (not function) makes one happy and refuel them. I copied the information in the table below:

(As the unrelated note, this can also be used to help type people :) )

So, going from that tangent (but this approach can also work with the needs above), how to use thins to solve problems? Well, when we have a problem, we can think about, how each function would approach this. How can be bring order and use this to solve problems? When can be get more information? Is there something else we did not consider? How do we bring fourth our humanity.

This weekend, I have attended the https://www.pydays.at. This time I am not going to talk about the stuff I learned on it. Even though the Workshop: Analysing 200 Years of Political Debate was both funny and informative.

This time, I went with a friend of mine. And there are some things that I learned just from that.

I prefer buses to the cars. Mostly because I can read and work in peace and because I have more space. Mine friend was great and very understanding, but there is still a social pressure to not just put a laptop out and work on it.

Not to mention, the parking is expensive and it takes a lot of time to find the parking space. It is annoying.

The other point is, that I like travelling with other people. Having the company during breakfast and somebody to share the whole trip was surprisingly refreshing and nice. I am grateful, that I had company.

And that this company was better than the women in my room. They were not bad, but when we went out, they most of the time talked about travelling and men. The first is somehow interesting, the second not at all.

But it does have a negative side as well. Having him there, it gave me the excuse to not socialize with new people. I never noticed this explicitly, but thinking back, that has always been the case. Something to keep in mind.

I don't mind going to the events alone, I have a lot of practice, but it is nice to know, that I need to go somewhere, I don't know anybody, if I want to learn something new.

I also had this weird phase of knowing somebody, where I met them before, I remember them, but I have no idea, how to act around them. Maybe this is why I have problem making regular friends? Something to keep in mind.

Another thing that I noticed is, that recently I have a lot of signs to talk more at the events and to start organizing the events. I noticed both of them. Even more, I noticed that I started to seriously consider this. So this is something, that I need to keep in mind. Which makes me wonder, when will I ever get a normal job and a normal life?

The last thing, that I can remember, is that I finally understand, why I don't like the current feminism. I decided, that instead of attending the lightning talks, I will try to attend the woman-only mentorship meeting. What I realized is, that their complains are small. It is that they don't want to be brushed off (everybody is at one point, and standing for oneself works) and that culture changes, when there is more women (which is probably true, but that does not mean, one is better than another). But they framed everything like a battle.

Which is weird, since gender is not the only interesting difference between people. I wonder what people would say, if there would be groups like that for right-wing people in social sciences or groups like that for old people in the athletic sports or groups like that for sociopaths in teachers in early education.

Plus, I had not draw that many pictures in a day in a log time. You can see them here: https://sarajaksa.eu/2019/gallery/

Otherwise, I got some things to think about, some blog posts to write and some code to correct. So overall, it was a productive weekend.

While I am not religious, the part of my family is. And it is the part of the Christian tradition to observe the Lent during the time from the carnival to the Easter. Well, I think it is called Lent, in my language it is called post, which does translate to Lent, and the descriptions on the internet match? We use the same word for fasting in my country.

I decided that this is a perfect excuse to try and do something that I had wanted to do for a while. Well, I actually wanted to do the no sugar thing, but that seemed a bit too hard. Especially with how little willpower do I have to resist chocolate. And I ate a lot of bread during this time, and I know there is sugar in bread.

I still remember the first day. I think I came to stare at the Milka chocolate. I would be standing there, with the drawer with sweets open, and I would stare at it. The only way that I could survive that, was imagining, that after it is going to be over, I would eat it. It is only these two rituals, that helped me made it through the first couple of days. And I did not cave.

The days afterwards were easier.

I did notice, that it is convenience and more imagined testiness that made me choose sweets. Why do I say imagined testiness? Because none of the sweets are better than raspberries, but I would feel a stronger pool towards sweets. I would feel stronger desire for sweets. (I still do)

But after I figured out the snacking part, it was easier. I always had a thawing raspberries with plain yogurt in the refrigerator. And I ate a lot of oranges. Lots and lots of oranges and other fruit, but the oranges predominated. And drank more strawberry smoothies that I had before in probably more than a year, and that was all toward the end of it. Now, I am not sure how much healthy it was, but it sounds more healthy.

There were three times, that I broke the post and they all show, where do I need to be careful, when I am going to attempt it in a long term.

The first time it was, when I used sour cherries in my yogurt. I still live with my family (I know pathetic :) ), and there were some left over sour cherries. I added them to my yogurt, since I hate food waste. Only days later, did my father told me how much sugar did he pour in (a lot). And this food waste perspective will bring me trouble. I have not been eating meat for almost a decade now, except in the situations, when it was clear, that it will be thrown out. The urge is getting smaller and smaller each year, but it is still there.

Well, the problem will mostly solve itself, once I get my own place. It is the food waste in my home, that is the most hard to deal with. Which is good, because I don't want to spend another decades, going through that again. But on the other hand, I also don't want to wait until I get my own place. Just because I have a limit of about year and a half, does not mean, that it will happen much sooner than that.

Which is why, the two weeks that I spent at the sea side were easier, even though the next two transgressions happened there.

The second time was because of my grandmother. She knew, that I had a no-sugar eating period, and she sends me a apple strudel with my grandfather. And then she pester him, if I am eating right. And she is the type of person, that does not like sweets at all. So I caved in the social pressure. And it was too sweet for my taste buds. But this I know how I will deal with eventually. By going through it. On the long run, once I go do it full time, this is not going to be a problem for long.

But if I am not full time, then my family tries to be helpful by making me to try and break the commitment.

The third one was the first day of menstruation. I think this will be like my cheat day of the month, because there is no way, that I am going through that pain with no chocolate.

Surprisingly, the maturational pain this time around was shorter than usual. And I do wonder if it was because of lack of sugar? Or maybe the chocolate had a bigger effect, because of the lack of it in the days before? I don't know...

Now I am back to my sugar filled days, and I wonder if the sudden lack of productivity compared to that time is the consequence of that? Because I am back on eating a lot of sweets. But I also know, once I came from Austria, I am going to try and make this a more permanent, even if not as strict endeavor. Maybe starting with having the workdays or weekends to be sugar free, with no restriction to the rest of the days? I am still thinking about it.