As it is...

Life has been somewhat quiet of late at work. The rest of the life outside of work still seem to be relatively full and filled with various chores and those things that one ‘has to’ to do. However, I’ve made it a point to have some ‘quiet time’ every so often whenever I can. My quiet times consist of doing nothing and just idling facing the outdoors. Sometimes, I am able to meditate or scribble thoughts in my journal. At other times, I just stare at the sky, the tree hoping; chirping birds and pines leaves that sway in the breeze. I love the view from the where I normally sit during ‘quiet times’. For me it is perfect, even though SJ complains that the trees shed too many leaves on to the drive-way. This weekend, we managed to plant the cherry-blossom tree in the garden. I love cherry blossom trees; in fact I’m infatuated with them. I hope it grows well and blossoms will overflow our garden. The thing with planting trees is that one has to be patient till it bears fruits or flowers. I realise I do not have ‘that’ much patience; but it is my goal to cultivate this virtue and I try every day. Well almost every day.

Speaking of cultivating habits, I’ve been trying to do a few of those. The past few months, due to work pressures I’ve been doing a lot of unconscious living. As a result, I was stressed, irritable, impatient and generally ignorant of how I was abusing my body and mind. Lately, I have been consciously trying to reverse those negative effects with healthy eating and being more active day to day.

With work also, I am trying to focus on what is important and not be pressured by other people’s priorities and worries. Recently I attended a very inspirational talk by one of my old professors from undergrad days. A lot of the things he said made sense, although the profound sayings he put on the overheads, I have failed to commit to memory. His talk which was called ‘innovation in action – tried and applied’ was very relevant for those of us who work in research.  The gist of it was how we should keep thinking about applications of what we study, so we can invent things that are innovative that are useful in this world. He gave numerous examples of how a study of wood fibre was applied in many different applications with astonishing results. It just went on to show how nothing is insignificant if you do it with passion! It appears that nothing else in life matters if you figure out what you are here to do. He described endless days he spent in the labs with his phd students back in the day, how they made the whole building vibrate with the noise of their pumps which were used in their experiments, how one container exploded and wood chips (the main raw material in their work) splattered the ceiling of the lab and how wood chips/pulp overflowed the entire senior lab. Did these mishaps stop him you think? No.  He went on to become the legend he is today and the rest of the department lovingly remember those by gone days.

After the talk I felt just so inspired, motivated and determined and happy to go on doing my own work even with all the ups and downs and road blocks. Remembering it certainly makes things clear. Nothing else matters, if you know what you are here to do. Perhaps, figuring it out might be the most difficult part but then if you listen to yourself hard enough, it may become progressively clear.....then clearer until you just know it within yourself.