MIMH - Musings in My Head

About MIMH - Musings in My Head

Helping you understand yourself and the world you live. I explore musings that we rarely discuss each week. mimh.substack.com (https://mimh.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Francis Mufasa Sani

Category

education · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Sept 2020

Latest episode

7 Aug 2022

Latest episodes

38 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Aug 2022

   What happens when our Identities are limited?

   Hey, how have you been? I’ve not written in the past two months. Was in Lagos for a few weeks after Ghana and then moved to Dubai about a month ago. It’s been a rollercoaster period and I’ve been too lazy to write. I expect to resume the usual cadence going forward though. (Each weekend in Dubai has been incredible so far. I’ve met a new set of people each week and we then go on to have really great weekends exploring the city. One of my favourite weekends so far was with my friend Kenny who’s an artist (check out his song here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwYU0Xkr_fQ)), has a pure heart and one of the best vibes in the world) I’m also excited about focusing the next phase of my letters on specifically exploring how we can live enhanced lives as humans while we’re on this earth. I hope you’ve been okay and blissful. I wish you love in your heart, a smile on your face and gratitude in your mind. Stay Jiggy always. A child is born in a town on the coast of West Africa. He is born with dark skin in a piece of land that on the ‘global maps’ is marked as the country of Ghana. The parents of the child are in the middle-class and Christians. He grows up with an identity that he is Ghanaian, Christian, Black and a member of the middle class. Another child is born in a town off the coast of Asia. She is born with brown skin in a piece of land that on the ‘global maps’ is marked as the country of India. The parents of the child are in the middle-class and Hindu. She grows up with an identity that she is Indian, Hindu, Brown and middle class. Two life forces and souls. Born in a different part of the world. With different identities. (Omar. One of my closest friends in town. He works in the pool bar at my hotel and is one of the kindest people in the world. Half of the people who come back to the hotel do so because of Omar) Identities are an essential part of our world. The ability to classify and identify is one of the reasons we’re at the top of the food chain and the most evolved species on the planet. We need them to function as social beings. We however make a crucial mistake. We assume these identities are absolute. That they are definitive and the ‘only truth’. A Christian might exact prejudice against someone who doesn’t identify with his religion. Same for a Muslim or many other religions in the world. A white supremacist believes he is superior to people with different skin colours because he was brought up with that identity. Even within the same country, one tribe or caste or ethnic group believe they are superior to the other because of ‘identities’ passed across to them from previous generations. Even the communities we belong to. Extremist football fans would go to crazy lengths against some that support a different team. People have fights based on the universities that they identify with. These are all cases of limited identities. (Selfie after a great night at Barasti. The most beautiful part of the night was when the dude on the right proposed to the lady in yellow. Everyone hyped them and it was so lovely) A significant amount of the crime we have in the world is as a result of empowered limited identities. People act in negative ways to people that they feel do not belong to their ‘identity’. Why? Because we have been trained to believe our identities are absolute. That they are the truth and the only truth that exists. This shouldn’t be so. Very few things in this world are absolute. Gravity. Death. Life. Most of the other things are constructs that we have created or that were created long before we came on the surface of this earth. It is important to fundamentally understand that our identities are not absolute. It is possible to have our identity and still appreciate the fact that it is not the ‘only truth’ and that it is possible that other ‘truths’ exist. Identities and truths are in many cases subjective. We often underestimate how much of a role the geography and social class we’re born into influences our identities. Because of this, we often expect that someone else who has a different identity chose that identity and if we share our beliefs with them, it should be a no-brainer for them to accept them. But we don’t put ourselves in their shoes. (The renaissance man, Sultan from Saudi. Met this good friend of mine at the pool bar and we had a great week. He taught me half of what I now know about the Middle East and Asia. A pure soul and curious human) A human being is full of possibilities. That is why when we have a certain goal or aspiration and work hard to achieve it, we don’t stop. We come up with something else and strive for that. And so on and so forth. The human life force craves expression. Boundless expression. Our deepest inner self wants to explore all the world and life has to offer. Limited identities don’t make this possible. They close us out from fully experiencing our life and in many cases, also form the bedrock of a lot of the evil acts that humans inflict in this world. There’s an alternative. We can come to the understanding that it is possible to hold our beliefs/identities, agree that they are not absolutes and truly respect that people can have different identities but that doesn’t define who they are. We can adopt a universal identity. Because that is what we truly are. We are global citizens of this planet. Beings of this universe. We exist because other people and things on this planet/universe exist. We exist as an extension of others and others exist as an extension of us. A universal identity allows us to interact with each other with respect for each other’s identities. Our actions are geared toward the betterment of the people, living things and non-living things in the world. Because we would not exist without them. Strive to attain a universal identity. This letter was written while listening to a BharryJhay playlist (https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCFIrbw-geDtnmNdykf4xKmQ?feature=share). This letter was inspired by this Sadhguru talk with Lewis Howes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHlGLlAf9HA) (from 1:25:00) In 100 years time, all of us will be top-soil. We are just a small pop-up in time. We think too much of ourselves - Sadhguru. Love always. Francis Sani. Get full access to Musings in My Head [MIMH] at mimh.substack.com/subscribe (https://mimh.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   16 Jan 2022

   Are you in the minority or majority?

   Hey, I hope you had a good week. It’s been an intense start to the year for me with work but getting a hang of it little by little. Trying to take more pictures this year and document a lot more cos I suck at it currently. Here’s a selfie of me as I write this sentence. Stay self-aware. Find joy in your small wins. Stay Jiggy. Conformity is a fascinating phenomenon. We very much like to think of ourselves as unique. We take pride in the fact that we can decide the things we want to do. We don’t think with the crowd. We have our own opinions and stick to them. Yet, we all conform in different areas of our life. You greet someone when you meet because it's the right thing to do. You shake with your right hand. Your fashion style is based on a 'look' you identify with. You believe in a certain religion or not. “Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group.” As social beings, we would very likely always belong to groups. The difference is that sometimes our group is the majority and in other instances, we’ll be in the minority. Image credit (https://unsplash.com/photos/NBcRZWdZoSA) I guess the question then is: In what areas of life should we be intentional about being in the minority versus the majority? There’s often a misconception that the majority shapes the world. That the power is in the numbers. I very much believe this to be untrue and history backs it up. The power is often with the minority. The minority influences the majority till they conform to their new ideas. Obviously, the minority doesn't always succeed and in some instances, it'll take time. At the end of the day, most 'new' things were created by a minority. Think about fashion and the influencer-centric world we live in. I remember a couple of years ago that boot-cut jeans were a trend and it was the in-thing to wear. Then it switched to skinny jeans. Skinny jeans are going out of fashion now and free-flowing wear is the new wave. Is it the majority that creates these waves? One of the best examples of how and why we conform was described by Solomon Asch in 1951. In his experiment, he put a group of people in a room and asked them to state which of the lines he showed on a paper were correct. The catch is that 4 of the 5 people were not 'real participants'. They had been told to stay a wrong answer and the real participant had no idea. Here’s what the experiment looked like. At least 75% of people conformed once during the experiment. On average, 32% (one-third) of the participants conformed with the incorrect majority. Conformity is bound to happen. The question will be: In which areas do we want to belong to the minority and in which are we okay with being in the majority. “Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion.” - Søren Kierkegaard Image credit (https://unsplash.com/photos/nKuxm4Tk-j0) Personally, for things that don’t matter to me, I don’t mind being in the majority. For things that are important to my sense of purpose, my happiness, my comfort and my fulfilment in life, I prefer to go with the minority that I align with. Something I’ll love to explore in some future letters is to share stories of how a lot of the “norms”, “tools”, “institutions”, “resources”, “platforms” that play a major role in our lives were created by a minority. If you want to truly make change happen in an area of life, assess if you’re in the majority or minority. More often than not, the minority will become the majority with time. This letter was written without listening to music but you should listen to this mix by one of my new favourite artists. The Wavy Creator. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1469dG4MaU&list=RDEMzUYLc43bgApCApmPO3tTUw&start_radio=1) “The most common form of despair is not being who you are”. - Søren Kierkegaard Love always. Francis. Get full access to Musings in My Head [MIMH] at mimh.substack.com/subscribe (https://mimh.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   25 Oct 2021

   Do you know that the largest living structure in the world is dying?

   Hey, I hope you’re okay. It’s been a down couple of weeks for me. Been battling impostor syndrome thoughts a lot. I think very often of the mental battles we all have but rarely get to share with others. I’m considering seeing a therapist soon. We all probably should. What I’ll like to say though is that when you’re facing these down days, remember that it’s normal and you’re not the only one going through it. Most people are. My fix for my impostor syndrome is to remember my affirmations and taking action. I’ve learned that action breeds confidence. Drowning yourself in thoughts of things that aren’t going well doesn’t. Share how you’re feeling with your loved ones too. Many times, a conversation is all that we need. I’ve been considering writing these letters every 2 weeks to allow more time for research. I’ve not decided yet but will update y’all. As always, stay Jiggy and never lose your curiosity. (PS - My brother’s 1-year memorial is this Saturday. Say a prayer for him if you can. May the soul of all our lost loved ones rest in perfect peace) * Want to receive notifications via WhatsApp when I send these letters out? Share your phone number here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy7wrdLkRH1VCzyFhwtcPQUCM59dTIld1qgegrC2ANe9RHdw/viewform) * Got a musing you think I should explore in my letters? Share it with me here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlsjQjnp5tdklW2Gro3M6BRFeXj-PfpS3IQD0s8SIQQbnE_Q/viewform) and I might just write about it. I've recently been intrigued by the ocean and aquatic life. 71% of the world is covered by water. 97% of this water is found in oceans. An estimated 50-80% of all life on earth is in the ocean (https://www.quora.com/What-percent-of-all-life-on-Earth-is-located-in-the-oceans) and we are yet to map more than 80% (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/ocean) of the ocean. It's very intriguing how many different types of species, life and the like exist in the depth of oceans. Most humans can't go deeper than 50 meters in the ocean with supporting equipment and the deepest part of the ocean is over 11 kilometres deep. So except we advance our technology incredibly soon, things might remain the same. I'm interested in learning about how sea levels have changed over the past thousands of years and how that has affected life on earth and in oceans. I'll be exploring that in future letters. Today though, we'll take a close look at the largest living structure in the world. I first learnt about these entities when I mistakenly stumbled upon a Netflix documentary: Chasing Coral. (https://www.chasingcoral.com/) I discovered that corals are large colonies of little organisms that connect to each other to create some of the most beautiful and largest structures in the world. A Coral Reef A coral is a beautiful organism that is made up of an animal, a plant and minerals. A coral head is made up of a group of small animals (as small as a pinhead sometimes) called polyps. These polyps have a symbiotic relationship with a specific type of algae called zooxanthellae. (The tips that look like tentacles contain polyps. The green dots you see are algae. The white base is the carbonated mineral) The algae can photosynthesise and provide food to the polyps in form of carbon dioxide. The corals in turn protect the algae. The algae are also responsible for the different coral colours we see. The beauty though is that these polyps can reproduce very quickly and they connect with other colonies of corals. As they grow, they secrete exoskeletons that can spread out over a large area. The growth of these corals combined with their exoskeletons and the connection of multiple coral colonies create coral reefs. These reefs are usually found in the shallow parts of the ocean so that their algae can get access to sunlight and photosynthesize. (A coral reef. Image source (https://unsplash.com/photos/Ppq687i9R5M)) They'll typically be found in coastal areas off a seashore and close to a landmass. They are also often present on the many islands across the world. There are other types of corals that exist deeper in the ocean but they don't have algae because light doesn't reach those streets in the ocean. Our focus is on reef-forming corals. Their importance In addition to the sheer beauty of these organisms, they play a critical role in the world's ecosystem. Despite the fact that they occupy just 0.1% of the ocean's area, coral reefs are home to 25% of marine life. One-quarter! An estimated 500 million people (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks) earn their livelihoods from the fishing stocks and tourism opportunities reefs provide. (A fish in its coral home. Image source (https://unsplash.com/photos/xAwtDLOTB2A)) The largest coral reef in the world (and the largest living structure) is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. It is estimated to have a social, economic and iconic value of $56B and contributes about $6.4B to Australia's economy every year. The reef is estimated to be over 20,000 years old. (The Great Barrier Reef. Image source (https://wallpapercave.com/wp/Ykcw0WR.jpg)) Seven Interesting Reef Facts * The Great Barrier Reef is so large that it can be seen from space! * Individual colonies of corals can often live decades to centuries. * The annual global economic value of coral reefs has been estimated at anywhere from US$2.7 trillion (a 2020 estimate) to US$9.9 trillion (a 2014 estimate) * Corals date back 400 million years. * Coral reefs protect shorelines by absorbing wave energy, and many small islands would not exist without reefs. Coral reefs can reduce wave energy by 97%, helping to prevent loss of life and property damage. * An estimated 197 million people who live both below 10 m elevation and within 50 km of a reef consequently may receive risk reduction benefits from reefs. * About six million tons of fish are taken each year from coral reefs. Southeast Asia's coral reef fisheries alone yield about $2.4 billion annually from seafood. I found it interesting that coral reefs thrive in the parts of the ocean with little nutrients. For a long while, scientists didn't know why this was the case. We've now learnt that this is because high levels of nitrogen and phosphate are harmful to corals. Algae and seaweed love these chemicals and because they grow faster than corals, they can outcompete them. Therefore, corals thrive in areas of the ocean with little nutrients. However, because of the ecosystem of aquatic life they enable, they have built a system to recycle the nutrients that they need. These beautiful reefs are under severe threat though. In addition to threats like overfishing, invasive species and pollution. Increasing ocean temperatures and ocean acidification is causing mass coral bleaching across the world. Coral bleaching is a situation in which due to higher or lower temperatures than they're normally used to, corals become white like you can see in the image below. (A normal reef on the left and a bleached coral on the left) What is actually happening is that increased temperatures cause the algae within them to lose their ability to photosynthesize. The corals then spot that something is wrong with their system and just like our human body fights against bacteria when we spot them, the coral begins to fight against the algae. They flush the algae from their system losing their colour and the very thing that gives them food. You can think of the corals as being sick during this phase. If temperatures don't return to the usual range soon enough, the corals wither and die. (Imagine these beauties dying. Image source (https://unsplash.com/photos/SIs5c2ISvvk)) It is estimated that coral reefs have declined by 50% since 1950, partly due to sensitive water conditions. 14% of this decline happened between 2009 and 2018, showing that the rate of decline is increasing. As global warming increases on our planet, these reefs that house 25% of our aquatic life are in danger of becoming extinct. As a reef dies, the fish and lifeforms that depend on it lose their protection and house, eventually dying off as well. A bleak prediction by scientists says that by 2085, ocean conditions will be acidic enough for corals around the globe to begin to dissolve. I don't even want to imagine a world where they don't exist. Our ocean loses some of its most beautiful creatures. 500 million people (in today's numbers) lose their source of livelihood. Our shores and coastlines are more vulnerable to storms and waves because the reefs are dead. And many more. (A dying reef. Image source (https://unsplash.com/photos/QK3AE7z4aAQ)) The ocean absorbs over 90% of our planet's heat mostly created by human-generated greenhouse gas. If we don't mitigate climate change, we might lose our shallow coral reefs by the next century. We can play a role. Spread the word about these beautiful creatures. Reduce the use of fertilizers where possible. Conserve energy as much as you can. Advocate for climate change reduction initiatives. Visit a coral reef if you can. (Image source (https://unsplash.com/photos/a1UEyGieUuI)) As mammals, we spend most of our life on the surface of the earth. We're unaware of the life systems in the water and the role they play in enabling our life on land. Our oceans are important and we should treat them as such. I think a great way to start your week will be by going through the beautiful pictures of coral reefs on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/s/photos/coral-reef) and sharing this letter with your friends. Pure beauty. This letter was written while listening to Egedege (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRbRLvn6H_U) by Larry Gaga (ft, Pete Edochie, Theresa Onuorah, Flavour & Phyno) Additional Reading * My unorganized notes. (https://www.notion.so/Oct-24th-Ocean-I-Coral-Reefs-74d25690c5df4135919a3cb48cb6a1e1) * Coral Reefs - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef). * Coral Reefs & Corals - Smithsonian Ocean (https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/corals-and-coral-reefs) There is much beauty in the world. We should learn about it and explore it as much as we can during our time on earth. - Francis Sani. Love always, Francis. Get full access to Musings in My Head [MIMH] at mimh.substack.com/subscribe (https://mimh.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

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