I’m suspicious of those things where more is always supposed to be better. Nature prefers moderation, so good things can harm you when you get too much of them. Drinking more water is good. Too much and you’ll drown.

I think “meaning” is one of those things that is usually good, but that can cause you problems when there is too much of it.

What Meaning Means

Meaning is a slippery word, so it’s hard to be clear we’re using it the same way. However, we all know when a person, thing, goal or idea feels significant to us, and when those same things feel ordinary. The difference is meaning.

In addition to being a feeling, meaning is also an idea. When someone asks you what something means, they’re asking for you to explain it in words. They want its definition, cause or likely implications. Meanings are words and ideas you weave together in your head.

More meaning tends to be better. A complete absence of meaning usually (although perhaps not always) feels awful. Similarly, a lack of meaning in the conceptual sense is confusion and ignorance. We’d prefer to say what things mean and believe it, than to simply shrug our shoulders and say, “I don’t know.”

How Can You Have Too Much Meaning?

I think there’s two ways you can have too much meaning.

First, you could feel too strongly about the significance of something. We’ve all had anxiety and fears when something is so important to us that we’re unable to function. That relationship that you wanted to hold onto even though the other person wasn’t in love with you. That job which meant everything to you—until you got fired. That conviction you held to desperately, until it started to unravel.

Feelings are mental tools. They put our minds into a state that allows certain ideas, actions and thoughts to flow more easily than others. However, to allow some ideas to flow more easily, that must necessarily mean you’re blocking others. The feeling of significance therefore will be useful in some contexts and harmful in others, just like anger, fear, optimism, joy, love, sadness and everything else you feel.

The second way you can have too much meaning is related to the intellectual idea of meaning. If you have a strong set of ideas about what something means, either in terms of its definition, explanation or implied effects, that can “lock” you into a certain way of seeing things. Too much meaning can prevent you from seeing something in another way, and other perspectives may be necessary to solve certain problems.

How to Tell if You Have Too Much Meaning

I suspect that the anxiety and fear we often feel in our daily lives is a result of too much meaning, rather than too little. It’s a combination of a strong feeling of significance, along with a perceived lack of control.

If you follow politics, you may feel like the world is going mad, and that the battles over who leads the country and what policies they implement is extremely significant. Yet, at the same time, you may feel nearly powerless to control the results.

Similarly, in your personal life, there may be situations where there isn’t much more you can do to overcome a problem, but you can’t stop thinking about it. Although people don’t often see their anxieties and fears as resulting from an excess in meaning, it follows that this is the case because if you genuinely didn’t feel the situation was significant you wouldn’t worry about it.

Intellectually an excess of meaning can result in an overly rigid and fixed way of viewing the world. Your ideas, explanations and reasoning about the world is so tight, that you get stuck when you encounter situations that fail to make sense for you.

Is Mindfulness the Relaxation of Meaning?

I have an explanation of meditation and mindfulness and why it seems to be so popular.

Mindfulness, particularly the body-scanning methods popular among Vipassana retreats, are effectively, a way of reducing the emotional and intellectual excesses of meaning.

A common experience when you’re practicing, for instance, is to have a pain somewhere in your body. At first this feels very significant and something that you ought to do something about. After twenty minutes though, the pain starts to turn into something more abstract, perhaps an odd pulsation or throbbing that has changing characteristics.

At one level, I think what has happened is similar to how if you repeat the same word over and over again (say the word “meaning” a few dozen times out loud to get what I mean). By repetitive attention something that would be processed at a level of meaning dissolves into parts that lack that meaning and you start experiencing something that seems to lack connection to the meanings you had previously.

I hesitate to say this is entirely what’s going on with meditation. Many meditators will note the opposite experience: that suddenly the world feels filled with a hidden specialness that was invisible before.

However, I also suspect that this may be a consequence of the thorough de-meaning-ization of your regular experience. Dehabituate your normal filters for processing meaning and new ones will start forming again in the vacuum. Those new ones may not have the same obstacles as the old ones and the fresh perspective may be more enjoyable.

Should You Take Time to “Relax” Your Meaning of Life?

I think meanings, especially intense ones, are an important part of living life well. Don’t confuse what I’m saying for arguing we should all live nihilistically.

Rather, I think what’s necessary is that, from time to time, you are able to temporarily “relax” your meanings in life. This relaxation may be necessary to get out of ruts where your current way of viewing the situation is frustrated and can’t allow you to live your best life.

These meaningness relaxations may be related to specific situations (i.e. how you think about your future career) or it could be more global (i.e. should you find meaning in ambition at all?).

I also suspect that there is no perfect state of meanings, no eternal viewpoint that will be good for all things. Therefore, relaxation of meaning is probably a necessary adjustment that needs to be done every once in awhile. The new meanings you get to may not be any better (in an absolute sense) than the ones you went in with, but they may help you see around obstacles that keep you from living a good life.

At the global level, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases have exceeded 90 lakhs, with nearly four lakh 70 thousand fatalities.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, 90 lakhs six thousand 757 cases of Novel Coronavirus have been reported across the world.

The United States continues to remain the worst-hit with 22 lakh 91 thousand 353 cases and one lakh 20 thousand 106 deaths, followed by Brazil 10 lakh 83 thousand 341 cases and over 50 thousand deaths and Russia reported five lakh 84 thousand 680 cases and over eight thousand deaths. Other countries with over two lakh cases include India, Britain, Spain, Peru, Italy, Chile and Iran. 

Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh has said that there is going to be renewed focus on the study and management of infectious diseases in the post-COVID era. He said, the medical curriculum will have to adapt itself accordingly.

Dr Jitendra Singh was addressing a Virtual Conference with the Heads and representatives of National Medical Teaching Institutes, including All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi, PGI, Chandigarh, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Manipur, North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong and Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar yesterday.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the last three decades, the disease spectrum in India shifted to non-communicable diseases and hence the medical teaching focussed more on metabolic and vascular disorders like Diabetes Mellitus and coronary heart diseases while the infectious diseases took a back seat.

Dr Singh said, COVID, however, has suddenly awakened the whole world, particularly the medical fraternity, to realize that the age of infections is far from over. Dr Jitendra Singh said, Indian medical fraternity has an advantage over their western counterparts because here the practice of medicine was inherently tuned to preions based on hygiene and prevention of cross infections. He said, in the wake of COVID also, Indian medical fraternity was quick to reorient itself to the new norms of medical management.

NITI Aayog in collaboration with International Transport Forum will launch the ‘Decarbonising Transport in India’ project on Wednesday, with the intention to develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system for India. India has been a member of ITF, an intergovernmental organisation for transport policy, since 2008. ITF Secretary-General Young Tae Kim and NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant will open the public online launch event. Senior officials of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, and ITF will also be present.
 
The online event will inform transport and climate stakeholders in India about planned project activities. It will also offer the opportunity to provide inputs regarding India’s transport challenges and how they relate to CO2 reduction ambitions. The discussion will help to focus the project further on India’s specific needs and circumstances.

Union State Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya today inaugurated one of India’s   largest and first Virtual Healthcare and Hygiene EXPO 2020.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that an ecosystem is being built for a self-reliant India, which will help in ramping up domestic production in Pharmaceutical, Health and Hygiene Sector.

Health, Hygiene and Sanitation, Medical textiles and Devices, AYUSH and Wellness sectors have assumed greater significance in the nation’s fight against the COVID 19 pandemic.

Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya highlighted various initiatives announced for boosting the health and hygiene sector in the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since last 6 years. He underlined schemes such as providing toilets for every household, Ayushman Bharat , to cover 10 crore family for healthcare, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Suvidha Sanitary Napkin under which a sanitary napkin is provided for just 1 rupees each.
The minister also mentioned the remarkable contribution of the Jan Aushadhi stores which are providing quality medicines at affordable price for everyone.

The unique exhibition which aims to give a boost to such health and hygiene endeavours has been organised by FICCI and will culminate after five days on Friday.

Mr. Mandaviya also spoke about the recent policy announcement of government giving incentives for setting up of Bulk Drug Parks and Medical Device Parks in the country which will act as a cog in the wheel of Atmanirbharat Abhiyan.

Reserve Bank of India has directed payment system operators to undertake targeted multi-lingual campaigns by way of SMS and advertisements to educate their users on safe and secure use of digital payments.

In a circular, the Reserve Bank of India said it has been taking measures to improve awareness through its e-BAAT programmes and organizing campaigns on the safe use of digital payment modes to avoid sharing critical personal information like PIN, OTP and passwords. RBI said, it is necessary to reinforce efforts to spread awareness as incidents of fraud continue to bedevil digital users, often using the same modus operandi.

To promote safe digital transactions among the general public, RBI has reiterated that users should take care by not sharing with anyone their debit, credit or pre-paid card details. RBI has further advised users not to share their password, PIN, OTP, CVV and UPI-PIN. The apex bank has also cautioned the public from undertaking banking or other financial transactions through public, open or free WiFi-networks and storing important banking data on the mobile, e-mail, electronic wallet or purse.

Saudi Arabia has announced that it will hold a very limited Hajj this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, with pilgrims from all nationalities residing in the kingdom, allowed to perform it.

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and the Umrah yesterday said, this decision has been taken to ensure that Hajj is performed in a safe manner from a public health perspective while observing all preventative measures and the necessary social distancing protocols to protect them from the pandemic and in accordance with the teachings of Islam in preserving the lives of human beings.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reached Moscow last evening on a three-day visit to Russia. The Office of the Defence Minister in a tweet said that Mr. Singh was received by Major General Kosenko Vasily Alexandrovich and Indian Ambassador to Russia Dr B Venkatesh Varma.

During the visit, Mr Singh will hold talks on ways to further deepen the India-Russia defence and strategic partnership. He will also attend the 75th Victory Day Parade in Moscow.

The Victory Parade will be held tomorrow to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the victory in the Second World War. The Parade is organized to honour the heroism and sacrifices made by the Russian and other friendly people. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu had invited Mr Singh to the Victory Parade, which was originally scheduled on the 9th of May but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Separately, a 75- Member Tri-Service Indian Military Contingent has already reached Moscow to participate in the Victory Parade along with Russian contingent and other invited contingents. The marching contingent taking part in the Victory Day Parade is led by a Major rank officer of the gallant Sikh Light Infantry Regiment.

The Regiment had fought with valour in World War II and has a proud distinction of earning four Battle Honours and two Military Crosses amongst other gallantry awards.

The Indian participation in the Victory Day parade will be a mark of tribute to the great sacrifices made by Russia and other nations in the Second World War, in which Indian soldiers also participated and made supreme sacrifice. The visit of  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to strengthen the long-standing special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia.

The World Health Organization has said, the record levels of new daily COVID-19 cases are due to the fact that the pandemic is peaking in a number of big countries at the same time and reflect a change in the global activity of the virus.

At a media briefing in Geneva yesterday, WHO’s emergencies Chief Dr Michael Ryan said, the numbers are increasing because the epidemic is developing in a number of populous countries at the same time.

Dr. Ryan noted that numerous countries have noted marked increases in hospital admissions and deaths – neither of which could be explained by increased testing. There definitely is a shift in that the virus is now very well established, Dr.Ryan added.

India has one of the lowest COVID cases per lakh population in the world in spite of its high population density. Citing a WHO report, the Health Ministry said, the country’s cases per lakh population are 30.04 while the global average is more than triple at 114.67. The US has 671.24 cases per lakh population while the metric for Germany is 583.88, Spain is 526.22 and Brazil is 489.42. This was revealed in the WHO Situation Report-153 dated 21st of June. The Health Ministry said, this low figure is a testimony to the graded, preemptive and proactive approach the Central Government along with the States and Union Territories took for the prevention, containment and management of COVID-19.

Talking to AIR News exclusively, Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Randeep Guleria said, India is in a far better position in comparison to other countries in this regard.

The Health Ministry said the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has improved to 55.77 per cent in the country. So far, a total of 2,37,195 patients have been cured of COVID-19.

The rituals for the most celebrated and the world-famous Rath Yatra have started. The Pahandi ritual (procession) has also begun. The chariots of the Lords Jagannath and Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra will be pulled only by the selective servitors and police officials.

The rituals for the world-famous Rath Yatra have started with Mangal Aarati followed by Mailam, Tadaplagi, Rosha hom, Aabakasha and Surya puja. The Pahandi ritual has also begun. The siblings Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra will board the chariots at the Singha Dwara facing towards the Gundicha Temple by 10 in the morning. The Chherapahara ritual will be held at 11.30 a.m. The chariots will be pulled thereafter around 12 noon.

After the Supreme court’s decision in favour of Rath Yatra, the District Administration has imposed a curfew in Puri for the Yatra. The public has been requested not to enter any part of the district during this period. Around fifty platoons of police have been deployed. Only selective servitors and police officials will be allowed to pull the chariots of the Lords. Moreover, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has made a special appeal to the people of Puri to observe COVID guidelines and keep themselves and their families safe.

As we all know that Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. After Mercury, it’s the second smallest planet in the Solar System.

Let us take a look at some more interesting facts about the planet Mars.

• Reddish Appearance

Mars is called the ‘ Red planet ‘ because it appears in the sky as an orangish – red star. This appearance is because the rocks and the dust of the planet are rich in iron and minerals that cover its surface. Hence, the planet appears reddish in colour.

However, neither did Mars always have the red appearance nor it was an arid desert as it is today. Evidence say that many years ago liquid water flowed in streams and rivers across the surface of planet. Mars even had oceans.

• Composition

Mars is also known as the terrestrial planet as it is primarily made up of rocks and metals and has a hard surface on which we can stand on.

• Dust storms

The largest dust storms in the entire Solar System occur on Mars. They sometimes last for months and cover the planet in a swirling red dust cloud completely.

• Ice caps

The two polar ice caps on Mars appear to be largely made up of water.

• Atmosphere

Mars has a thin atmosphere that consists mostly of carbon dioxide, argon, nitrogen and very little oxygen and water vapour. We can’t breathe on Mars.

• Existence of Water

Due to its thin atmosphere, liquid water can not exist on the surface of Mars except at the lowest elevations for a very short period of time as it will evaporate very quickly.

• Seasons

The seasons on Mars is caused by its axial tilt. The hemisphere that is tilted closer to the sun experiences spring and summer and the hemisphere that is titled away experiences fall and winter. At two specific moments each year known as a Equinox, both the hemisphere receive equal illumination.

• Mountain

Mars has the tallest mountain of the Solar System. Olympus Mins is a volcano with a height of 27km which is 18km higher than the Everest.

• Visibility from Earth

Mars is one of the five plantes which are visible from Earth and can be observed with naked eyes. It is because of its reddish colour and brightness in the sky.

• Moons

Mars has two moons namely Phobos and Deimos, which mean fear and threat. These names come from the twin Gods who accompanied Mars and Ares into battle.

Phobos and Deimos are small and have an irregular shape. Phobos is roughly 22km in diameter while Deimos is 12km. They are thought to be asteroids captured by Mars as gravitational pull.

• Survival

The German Aerospace center discovered that the lichens that are found on earth can survive in the conditions of the Mars.

• Mars and Earth

• Around 6 Mars planets could fit inside the earth.

• Mars is about 15% of the earth’s volume yet it’s only 11% of earth’s mass. It’s smaller than the earth and also less dense.

• Even though Mars is smaller than Earth, it has almost the same amount of land as around 2/3rd of the planet earth is made up of water i.e. oceans.

• As the size of Mars is smaller than that of the Earth, the gravity on Mars is a bit less than 40% than the gravity on earth.

• The surface of Mars has marks on it. It is because the planet Mars is situated close to the asteroid belt. As a result, it has higher chances of being striked by space rocks which leave behind too many craters. In comparison, Earth is very noticeably cratered because the potential crater makers have to pass through the thick atmosphere. Even if any crater enters the earth, they land in the oceans.

• The temperature on Mars is more variable than its on earth. The average surface temperature of Mars is roughly -81°F.

• The sun appears about half the size from Mars than that from the earth.

• Since Mars has no atmosphere, the colour of the sunrise and sunset on Mars appears blue instead of orange and red like Earth.

• A day on Mars is of 24 hours and 40 minutes which is slightly longer than the earth which has 24 hours in a day.

• Mars takes 687 earth days to complete it’s one orbit around the sun while Earth takes 365 days to complete it’s one orbit. This means that one year on Mars is 88% longer than that on Earth.

• Mars has an axial tilt for about 25° which is very close the Earth’s axial tilt which is 23.5°.

• Mars lacks a magnetic field as it does not possess molten metal core like Earth. However, scientists believe that the planet did have a magnetic field many many years ago.

• According to NASA a round trip from Earth to Mars will take around two and a half years.

Scientific studies suggest that Mars was once like Earth. Its gravity captured several satellites that later crashed into Mars causing the core to cool down and stop spinning.

There are currently 7 Robots roaming in the plains of Mars.

On the 24th of September 2014, the Indian Space research organisation (ISRO), to Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM or Mangalyaan), space probe entered its orbit of Mars. By doing so, India became the first nation on Earth to set the spacecraft into Mars orbit in the first attempt.

These are some interesting things about the planet Mars that everyone should know and will enjoy reading.

Everyone present on this earth is here for a reason and purpose. As soon as that purpose is accomplished the person has to leave earth and shift to their heavenly abode.

That’s what life is like, each human being present on this earth plays an important role in someone’s life. Their role can be a main lead role, a side role or cameo role in someone’s life but there is a role that you have to play regardless of your choice.

There are some things which you can’t choose or control like you were born without your choice and you will die without your choice, you didn’t choose your parents, you didn’t choose the conditions in which you were born in and you didn’t choose the situations and people that come in your way, but all these things happen because they are meant to be happen you can’t make any alternation in them. The only thing in which you can make some alteration is your perspective toward things happening in your life because that’s the only thing which is in your authority.

The people who died in 2020 because of COVID-19, accidents, suicides etc . There purpose of being on earth fulfilled and they left for another life. I am in no way saying that they deserve this. No not at all they didn’t deserve this, they should have got the opportunity to live and enjoy their life to the fullest but they didn’t got why because god has other plans for them. They served their purpose, the death of people due to COVID-19 has forced the mankind to think how deadly human ignorance towards earth can be. It’s an alarming bell for humans that we should treat earth more delicately and cautiously otherwise we will face more pandemic like this in future and will once again lose our loved ones to our ignorance.

People dying due to suicide are forcing people to change their perspective towards mental health, it is wake up call for us which should be picked up because it is the need of the hour, it should be given utmost importance and changes in our behaviour towards others is also mandatory to stop more people from falling prey to suicide.

The role of leaders in this pandemic is forcing the masses to reconsider their choices of leaders. Their callous attitude towards public is a warning that we have chosen a wrong leader who in no way can understand and handle the problems of people.

All things happen in a person’s life according to God’s plan. It’s all because of his decisions, you achieve, you lose, you cry, you laugh but one thing that’s in your control is your reaction to every situation.

Life is always like that you don’t know what’s going to happen the very next moment, you don’t know whom you are going to meet and whom you are going to lose in the next hour. It’s a mystery and always will be.