Selim's Notes #3

Hey All,

Last Sunday, on March 27, I ran for 21 km in 2 hours and 2 minutes at the Istanbul Half Marathon.

This was my second race and first half marathon. It was an excellent experience for me; I started running just four months ago, in December 2021. I have learned so much both in the race and during the three-month preparation period.

I'll write about my own experience but I found these tips really useful, check it out if you're interested.

Now I can call myself a runner :).

Books:

This week I have finished reading the book; "Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior and Feel Great Again " by Young and Klosko.

Reinventing Your Life is an insightful book that can help one to determine self-destructive patterns that may have emerged in your early childhood and continue to cause problems in your adult life.

The different "life traps" as the author calls them are poor behavioral patterns that an adult can get stuck repeating, which can lead to absolute misery in relationships, work, and family life. There is an in each chapter of the book to help you determine which life traps may apply to you.

We have read this book in?our book club, and discussed it on March 30. This month, in the book club, we will be reading the book "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig.

I have also read a book from Tufan K?ymaz on Zeno of Cyprus, one of the founders of Stoicism. It was straightforward to read and informative. If you are interested in Stoicism, I highly recommend reading the book or learning more about Zeno and his life from other resources.

A free book inside that will teach you How You Can Save Lives!

This month we are reading one of my favorite books, "The Life That You Can Save" by Peter Singer with some great friends from the Der-Ya (Value Creation) Community. On April 24, we will discuss the book with Professor Tufan K?ymaz, who has led the team that translated the book into Turkish.

If you'd like to join us, please comment below or send me a quick message! You can get the English and Turkish versions of the books free from the links.

Donation:

Last month I shared that I have donated blood and blood sample for stem cell donation.

Every year, thousands of people are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, such as?leukemia or lymphoma, for which a stem cell transplant is the best or the only treatment. Donated blood stem cells are needed for these transplants.

If you haven't done so, visit the web page of your local Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies to get more information about blood and stem cell donations.

I have received a message saying that my blood has been transferred to 3 people in need, and the Red Crescent plated a tree in the name of me and the video below.

Ramadan:

As some of you know, tonight is the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is a holy month?of fasting, introspection, and prayer for Muslims, the followers of Islam. It is celebrated as the month during which the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) received the initial revelations of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims.

Fasting is one of the five fundamental principles of Islam together with the profession of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), alms/charity (zakat), and pilgrimage (hajj).

This month we will be fasting from dawn to sunset except for those who are?ill or have any other reason preventing fasting.

Happy Ramadan to all who are observing!