If you know me you probably also know that I mostly run around quite happy and energetic. I’m pretty sure there is no magic formula that everyone can apply to be more energetic or more happy. I however still believe that there are a set of quite simple rules that are important for staying energetic and that often can make you happier as well.

I have two rough guidelines to keep me energetic and happy that I believe could also help anyone who wants to change something:

Early attempts at achieving high energy storage were limited by manufacturing precision. One of the earliest experiments was done by John Avery in 1746.¹ Avery experimented with Leyden jars after receiving a note from Von Kleist. But Avery wanted to increase the effect Von Kleist observed and stacked the jars to achieve higher energies. John Avery lost his life in this experiment which reportedly vaporized his body. No leftovers were found.

I’m a software engineer and I tend to think like one. I see patterns, I view large real-world problems like complex software systems, and I make sense of things using tools I work with every day.

There’s one problem that keeps bothering me though: consciousness. Despite all we have learned, it is still unclear why our experience feels continuous. Why I go to sleep, wake up the next day, and it is still me.

The First Warmth

The fog clung low to the ground, a thick, white blanket that shifted and sighed between the trees. It caught on roots and dipped into hollows, too heavy to rise, too slow to leave. The orchard always held it longer than anywhere else.

Mira had arrived just as the sun was about to rise. She swung off her glider and stood for a moment at the edge of the orchard, letting the view settle into her. Rolling hills stretched away, softened by fog, and above them the sky was already tinged red with the coming dawn. The mirrors drifted far above, moving slow enough to feel like part of the heavens themselves, vast arcs of pale light that caught the night before the sun did, bending warmth down onto the land. At this hour their presence was clearest, a steadier glow than dawn, less fierce but just as certain.