Today's Musings

November 24, 2021

Today I will start with practicing gratitude. It is always a good idea to start with gratitude. We become entitled brats without it.

I find it beneficial to think about those that have died, and about my own death. Keeping the inevitability of my death, and the potential for it happen this very day, at the forefront of my mind gives me a lighter attachment to life. Things feel less important. And although I still take myself seriously, I do it in a less agonizing way.

I like to let my mind meditate on specific problems to garner a deeper understanding of them. For example, I am working on more completely understanding Inversion-of-control (Dependency injection) containers. I must understand more than just the “how” of a problem. To be able to build a DI container from memory is not understanding. Neither is knowing what it does or how to use it. The “what” and “why” questions allow me to learn more deeply.

  • “Why do we need a DI container?”
  • “Why do we solve the problem in this manner?”
  • “What are the upsides/downsides of this solution?”
  • “What are the alternatives?”

These questions, and others as they arise, are what my mind will be exploring at its own pace.

We google answers, read blogs and books, watch courses, and everything else in-between. The downside is that without exercising the critical thinking parts of our brain, we weaken it. We must balance the two in order to grow. That is something I’ve realized recently and will be making my own efforts to correct it.

Don’t stop your normal learning, but take the time to explore the ideas presented on your own.

This may seem slower, but what really happens is you build a rock-solid understanding of these problems that you can reason about. When you have the deeper understanding of these problems you see connections and patterns that weren’t previously visible to you. More than being able to interact with a DI container, you understand the principles that were applied in the solution. The ones that can be applied elsewhere on your own.

Internalize it and you become more than just a dictionary. You become a conscious developer who can reason through new and complex problems.