The Night Adventures

Oddly enough, the post is about leaving the corporate.

Last night there was a storm. The strongest wind, raining like from a fire hose, lightning every 5 seconds, thunder…

I woke up because I was lying on the edge of the bed and couldn't even turn over because the kids had come to sleep with us and taken up all the free space.

I got up, realized the electricity was out, fans and lights weren't working. Checked the sockets - nope, seems like a problem with the line. Went to sleep in the kids' room.

So, I’m sleeping and having a dream. Like I'm working in a corporation, in some top position, and there are only shareholders above me. I don't remember the details, but the key is that they're asking me to do something that goes completely against who I am and what I value.

I refuse to do it, and I get fired. At that moment, I wake up in a panic. What am I going to do now?! I have a family, a life, responsibilities, expenses, and now - no income!

By the way, this exact situation happened to me in the past. And not in a dream but in reality.

And then a thought comes, or rather, I remember it.

"Dima, no one can fire you" :)

Instantly a smile on my face, warmth spreading through my heart, relief and relaxation in my entire body. I can be myself, and no one can fire me or leave me without income.

I lie there, feeling great, and five minutes later, the lights come on, and the storm passes.

I'm very grateful to myself for everything I had to go through on the road out of the corporate world. And for what I've created for myself now - my online business, my ability to choose who to work with and what to do.

Just as I thought I had reached the bottom in exploring my pain, that I would now push off from it and head upwards, our coaching group had a Friday meeting.

And here it is, the second bottom, hello.

I saw, felt within myself the need to be accepted, my pattern of always not being enough at an even deeper level.

It's like this black hole that creates a gravity of events throughout my life.

I see how it affects my decisions, my reactions, my state.

It was painful, but at the same time, it was my healing.

From the outside, it might seem that someone who helps others heal their pain shouldn't experience it themselves, should be invulnerable.

I see it differently.

Only someone who has healed their own pain can heal that of others. You can only help others reach the depth you have already experienced yourself. By healing yourself, you become a space of healing for others.

And then the methods of work cease to be fundamentally important because you yourself become the method.

The remnants of pain were healed by octopuses in coconut milk which cooked for dinner.

Now I feel like I've grown. I sense that it will now be difficult for me to be sucked back into that black hole.

Last night I had a session with my coach. Kate told me I seem sad and it's time for me to start enjoying myself. I replied that I don't even remember myself being in any other state. She asked, "What would be the most enjoyable thing to do right now?"…

This channel won't be just stories of “successful success”.

I know that in our society, it's common to share mostly an image of invulnerability, which looks polished and neat.

People share only their successes and don't share their failures, setbacks, and what causes them pain.

However, in my work with people, I know that even successful entrepreneurs making hundreds of thousands of dollars feel pain and suffering inside.

Yep, money and social status make life easier. However, being successful does not include being happy.

If I share only successes, I create an image of an ideal person, which I'm not. I deceive people and make them feel inadequate compared to this image. Yet, any image is a mask, and it's hard to keep a mask on.

I don't want to wear masks, and I'm sick of fake success stories because I know what's behind them. So I'll try to speak the truth as it is.

*✨ *Important announcement for all Tech for Good subscribers ✨

Hey everyone,

It's me - Dima Blum, the guy behind Tech for Good channel.

So, it's been over a year since the last post on this channel.

No matter how hard I've tried to get back into tech stuff, it just doesn't click anymore. I've lost interest in that topic.

So, here's the deal. But first, let me tell you a bit about myself.

I'm Dima, 40 years old, currently living in Sri Lanka with my family of 5, plus our pets - dogs and a cat. I moved here 3 years ago from Russia.

For 15 years, I worked in corporations, served as CFO and CEO, handling multi-million-dollar businesses.

Three years ago, I left the corporate world when I moved and switched professions. Now I work with clients all over the world as life and business coach, enjoy my work as much as my clients enjoy it, love surfing in the ocean and my free life.

On one hand, I delve into understanding people's psychology, rational thinking, scientific methods for effective mindset control and emotional regulation through body connection. The aim is to achieve desired results in life and success.

Yet, rational thinking and scientific approach is only one side of the coin for me.

I used to pursue happiness solely through material success. It came, but happiness didn't.

So, for over 15 years, I've been exploring consciousness through meditation and other spiritual practices. I'm curious about how spiritual practices can not only aid in material success but also bring more meaning and happiness into life.

I'm exploring the other side of the coin, other side of the reality, but not as a hippie under the bridge, but as
- someone with a big family,
- someone who understands how big business works
- someone who built not only a successful corporate career by also my own online business with earnings surpassing those of a CFO
- someone who loves my life.

I've decided that this channel will be about my journey and what I learn along the way:
about meta-thinking, the art of thinking
about managing my emotions so they don't manage me
about connecting with myself on a bodily level and connecting with something greater than my body and mind - I call it the divine within
about building an online business on my expertise
about creating content and building a personal brand "off the beaten path", just for fun
about the funny and the sad, which are parts of our lives. And about living through it all, not suffering, but rejoicing in life.

If this resonates with you, stick around - I'd be glad to have you.

If not, please unsubscribe - it'll be better for everyone and no hard feelings.

Dima

What's up in the drone industry?Despite AI being the buzzword of the moment, the drone industry is not sleeping too. Investors continue to support drone startups, especially the specialized ventures. VC investments in drone companies reached $7 billion in 2022 across 199 deals, up from $2.4 billion in 2021.

Global Market Insights predicts that aerial imaging market will reach $25 billion by 2032.

An increasing demand from various industries fuels the growth:

- a rise in floods, tropical cyclones, storm surges and wildfires amplifies the significance and demand for advanced aerial imaging solutions to assess the damages caused by such events
- Aerial inspection is a fundamental need in the renewable energy, e.g. snapping photos of wind turbines in the ocean. Or thermal readings of large-scale solar plants
- inspecting infrastructure such as buildings and cell phone towers
- serving insurance, roofing and property management companies to assess infrastructure objects
- and so on.

The increasing demand for drones creates opportunities in the job market too. Recent study shows a surge in job postings for drone pilots and operators with an expected growth rate of over 20% in the next decade.

So whether you are an entrepreneur, investor or building your tech career, the drone industry may be worth your attention.

For more details you can read TechCrunch report here.#drone #trends #markets

TechCrunch

Drone imagery firm DroneBase rebrands to Zeitview, lands $55M investment

Zeitview, the company formerly known as DroneBase, today announced that it raised $55 million to further develop its air and ground data capture tech. Led by Valor Equity Partners with participation from Union Square Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Euclidean…

AI is on fireI am sorry, but I am fascinated by the current AI development. I agree with those who say that AI would have the same impact as the discovery of the Gutenberg printing press.

Here is one more noteworthy machine, now for video stylization.

Gen-1 uses words and images to generate new videos out of existing ones. You can upload your own video, and provide an image or use a text as a style prompt. "It's like filming something new, without filming anything at all."

See for yourself above.

I am interested what tech currently captures your attention, please share.

https://twitter.com/0xgaut/status/1620815168921038850

X (formerly Twitter)

gaut is doing nothing (@0xgaut) on X

Google Calendar, but it shows the cost of the meeting

Forever young: a key milestone in reversing agingScientists studying aging have long debated what causes the aging process in cells. They focused on DNA mutations disrupting a cell's normal operations and triggering cell death over time.

Yet, the older people's cells often are not damaged with mutations. And animals or people having a higher burden of mutated cells do not seem to age prematurely.

It now looks like scientists are close to groundbreaking solution to reverse aging.

Dr. David Sinclair and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School published a study in the Cell journal. They found that the main drivers of aging are not mutations to the DNA. Sinclair focused on another part of the genome, called the epigenome. The epigenome provides different instructions to different cells for which genes to turn on, and which to keep silent.

Sinclair suggests that aging is the result of losing critical instructions that cells need to continue functioning. He calls that the Information Theory of Aging.

In the study, Sinclair and his team developed a way to reboot cells to restart the backup copy of epigenetic instructions. Essentially, they erase the corrupted signals that put the cells on the path toward aging. "It’s similar to the way software programs operate off hardware, but sometimes become corrupt and need a reboot," says Sinclair.

Sinclair and his team report that not only can they age mice on an accelerated timeline. They can also reverse the effects of that aging and restore some of the biological signs of youthfulness to the animals. In 2020, the team restored vision in older mice. The current results show that the system can apply to not just one tissue or organ, but the entire animal.

Rejuvenating cells in mice is one thing, but will the process work in humans? That’s Sinclair’s next step, and his team is already testing the system in non-human primates.

Sinclair makes a bold statement “We don’t understand how rejuvenation really works, but we know it works. It’s no longer a question of if rejuvenation is possible, but a question of when.”

#healthtech #aging #biohacking

TIME

Scientists Have Reached a Key Milestone in Learning How to Reverse Aging

The finding involves mice, but represents an important milestone in understanding what causes cells to age