Updates (November 2, 2024)
Things I realize after a while:
- Everyone gets to this point in life. They become knowledgeable and are able to handle and learn most things. In Canada and other Western countries that means when you get to 35 years old on average and maybe start when you get to 40.
- Entirety of life is to keep learning regardless of what anyone says. If people stop you from learning, get away from them. Live doing everything independently. You can do that in the West.
- Doing more and knowing more is great and all. You can be smarter and even richer. But the ultimate thing you can have in your grasp is the comforting and mindful satisfying knowledge of the skill of creation. Creation, innovation and/or creativeness to break general thinking and general stereotypes. The state and gain and appreciation of being able to build almost anything and to do more and the unexpected is what is liberating and free. This might be the salvation you need to live a healthy and flourishing life.
- You gain this level of skill and foundation of knowledge by actively studying at two locations. From where you are born and the other side of the world. Continue to learn. Then practice starting small then eventually on your own. Study all the cultures. Do something different from other peoples cultures. Do something not in your culture. Find the limits of cultural thinking.
- You have to know the limits of living in the West too. You have to get to a place where you have developed your mind to think ‘solid’. So solid in fact that you can build on top of general knowledge and feeling. Build and grow instead of needs and wants. Build and grow instead of just superficial things like wanting money and having fun. Then you will have your health. This requires a lot of socialization with all groups of people and your group. You have to socialize with all the levels in your group and try to learn together and excel and teach each other.
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Something I realize that puzzle Vietnamese people in America is the lack of voice and cohesiveness in the Vietnamese diaspora.
For the most part Vietnamese people aren’t cohesive like other nationalities naturally from what I feel and experienced and seen. Most Vietnamese are independent in everything they do.
My 70+ year old father says all you can do is enjoy your independence here in the West. You can manage a small business or own real estate to rent out if you take the time to work and save up first.
The lack of group mentality is normal in the West. We are still new in the West. I am 40 years old and just finished all my schooling. Now I have to think out of the box and train my mind to unlearn the stereotyping and try to think anew. It is a hard feat.
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What you have to ask yourself living in the West as a Vietnamese person.
Do you go the traditional routes? And at middle-age do you do your own thing?
If you do your own thing that is great because you have good feelings all day and don’t have any illness or stress. Money shouldn’t be the priority. You live with contentment because you have lots of ‘value’ you created.
I know a person doing ‘thinking work’ and doesn’t get paid that well. That person doesn’t want to deal with everything in society all day as that is draining, draining if they went into traditional professional work.
I guess you decide if you want money, stress, and independence. You can not have them all. And you can not experience them all. Just do one thing basically.
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I hear for real estate, you work when needed while you stay at home or at coffee shops learning and reading and enjoying. And when you need to manage your business then you go. You spend your days mildly active reading books and learning and exploring a bit and when the time comes work on your business until finished. Your are mildly studying and living in the world from your corner.
You develop your way to learn, work and live enjoying your independence. You develop your own life philosophy.
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To get a strong mind, good health and good mindset that is beyond daily routine living and to get away from everyday problems required me to study lots of things, work in a variety of different jobs, travel and finally socialize.
I wasn’t socialized enough in the beginning, because of the North American mindset to cut down people, I had to figure out life when I finally worked at the age of 21 years old in a large grocery store nights. People working don’t have that negative cutting people down mindset you see in high school and schools.
You can avoid all negativity from academia just by working outside academia. And/or also start your own business. That will take a long time though.
I learned to socialize and accept everything about me generally by working in social jobs like restaurants and retail sales. In the outside world you are judged as a person. You get judge by your sex, race, age, looks, nationality and culture. That is the general view people hold of everyone and it is everlasting.
When I went to schools in ‘Toronto’, I learned about all the cultures and nationalities of the world and it was so bad. Different nationalities hold down and put down each other like there is a pecking order based on ‘previous’ world history. It does nothing good and just limits people. Only outside of school no one cares and people can do what they want to counter that.
Then you realize to have the Western mindset required the Eastern mindset and everyone in between. Both developed opposing each other. One can not exist without the other. Then you learn the Eastern ways with the Western ways you grew up with. The Eastern ways is discipline in working hard jobs and doing math. The minority/colored mindset forces you to keep working and studying hard until you get a high level above most people. You don’t realize it but eventually you keep trying and you have a brain that is worth consideration.
Then you realize the pecking order is flawed because the people above rely on their ‘historical’ social status without doing more than stereotypical thinking. So as a minority you can think with it, in it, through it and around it as time goes by. You will see through the limits of old race and nationality and culturally based thinking.
You realize this when you finally start socializing with educated people. But mostly people from the same nationality group you belong in. You have learned from all the levels and now in the educated group and you must talk, socialize, network, impress, grow, share, learn together and teach each other. Time progresses and you must grow and do new things to grow and impress and from boredom. The connections you make with people that share the same nationality and blood as you forces you to stay afloat and grow and impress and share. You network from all levels in your nationality group, whatever age and experiences and from different parts of the country and time spent in the West.
As you hit your peak in creativeness, you get idle and are forced to level up. You get old and now are solid. You understand you have to learn all the time and understand you must keep striving to be more creative and do new things to feel good and more solid.
Once you hit that, you are now a teacher, caring and teaching the younger generation to see what you see.
You find that life was not to really get rich, smart and compete but reach a stage where you can stand tall and wise and one day give and teach back the next generation to achieve a stable healthy state of mind. Lots of knowledge able to do lots of things but understand the extra constructive thinking is required too. Life was all about the hard work and no shortcuts. See beyond what mainstream society preaches.
You get to a point where you understand everything in the world generally. You should develop the mind to have new unexpected solutions to have that ‘extra’. That ‘extra’ keeps you feeling good and keeps you going.