Time to Think & Reflect

Since my childhood days, I've been a very curious kid. I loved to know about everything around me and it made me wonder. Why the sky looks blue? How does the twilight glow beautiful shades of red and violet? How do some birds simply stop flapping their wings and glide in the air? How does the TV work? etc...etc... my mind was always full of such questions. I remember, I'd go to my grandpa and ask him. He was such a treasure trove of information. He seemed to know a bit about everything. When he was away, I'd frequently visit the small private library near my house. I read more of science books & non fiction that novels.

I read a lot. I thought over it. I reflected. I wondered.

Time passed. Every year, I moved to a higher class. Year by year, the amount of information I had to read increased. Initially I was loving it. I always questioned "Why" and tried my best at finding the answers even if I couldn't find them in our standard text books. I referred many books. I spoke with elders. I appreciated the beauty of it. I appreciated the practical utility of it. I thought of more ways of using the information in my day to day life. "Wow", I'd wonder, when a brilliant idea or pattern emerged out of my thinking. But as time flew, more and more had to be read, memorized and many exams to be cleared. I read a lot. (was compelled to read a lot!). There was no time to reflect on what I read. There was no time to appreciate! I reckoned that I'd fallen into a pattern of reading, memorizing and vomiting. My 5.5 years in medical school were the worst in this regard.

I felt the burden of knowing more rather than the appreciating the beauty of what I read.
I read. I wrote the exams. I forgot.
I neither took time to reflect and nor to wonder.

Well, I guess it's easier to get lost in our busy schedules that we forget to think beyond the boundaries. Creativity and imagination, wisdom and insight, have to be cultivated in the garden of our minds. And for that you need to take time to think and reflect.

My favorite spot for tilling the garden of my mind is sitting in front of a gorgeous sunrise or a sunset! :-)

Saw what I never saw !

7th Sept, Friday 7:45 am: Didn't have my morning dose of caffeine! My mother reports that she has run out of coffee powder. I get a little irritated with her for not maintaining stock but then I realize that I too have an equal responsibility as I've grown up now. Today I'll be on night duty. 8pm - 8am next day. So I've today's morning free to take rest and get prepared for burning the midnight oil.

I walk out of my bed. I quickly cleanse my mouth. I open my cupboard. I take out my camera. :-) I've been taking photos in and around my house for the past one month. I feel I've exhausted all possibilities. I feel whatever I shoot would only be a repetition. 

click on pic to enlarge

As I keep moving, I come across a plant with many pale-ugly-red coloured flowers on it. We have this plant for a long time now. And I never found the flowers attractive and I've never captured them in a photograph. Today since there're no birds chirping on tree tops, no dogs wagging their tails and following me nor any rose in full bloom, I decide to take a picture of the pale-ugly-red-coloured flower.

click on pic to enlarge

But what I see in the viewfinder of my camera amazes me. For the first time ever, I see something beautiful on this plant. There is an yellow star inside the not-so-very-good looking flower. And around that yellow star, the petal bends formed a beautiful pentagon with yellowish white spot at the corners.




Never in my life have I stopped to notice this. Never. If not today, I would have never ever!

This kept me thinking for a while. **Synaptic sparks **
I just saw a beautiful yellow star within something which I considered insignificant!

So what have I learn't from today morning's photo session?

There will be people around you whom you consider irritating, annoying or even bad. But those impressions might be a result of judgement based on a blurred view. By focusing on their positives, your interpersonal relationship with them improves and this further brings out the best in them.