Despair not...

To all of you dissertators and anybody else struggling with anything for a while now...some words of inspiration and perhaps inspire your courage anew...it certainly helped me gather the determination I lost last week to finish:

"People usually fail when they are on the verge of success. So give as much care to the end as to the beginning."
– Lao-Tzu

Onwards and forwards!

A Quote This Tuesday Morning

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
– Carl Jung

As I've mentioned several times before on this blog, I subscribe to a service through which I get quotes in my e-mail everyday. I've shared some of the ones that have inspired me or that got me thinking. Here's another one.

What struck me about this is in the context of experiences I've had over the last couple of years in particular. And as I look back retrospectively, I can't help but nod my head vigorously. I've noticed that I'm happiest and most fulfilled when I actually have the courage to listen to what my heart tells me to do. Otherwise I feel stuck and stagnant. Surprisingly, that gets more difficult as we get older - or so it seems. I know that I think more about what I have to do or what I'm expected to do then what I want to do. Luckily there isn't always a conflict between the two. But when there is, that's when things get hairy, yes? I don't mean "listening to the heart" in an hedonistic, completely ruled by the id kind of way. But I'm a big believer - or rather have become since I was about 27/28 - that our hearts and guts know what's best for us instantaneously. It takes a while for our minds to catch up to it. That's been my experience at least.

Your thoughts?

Quote of the Week: Monday, June 2

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses." – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.

I really liked this one or rather it resonated with me because of the kind of start this week seems to have gotten off to. And it's only 10:35 am on Monday! Nopes nothing on the scale of tragedy (Mashallah. Knock on wood) but you know when you have the kind of weeks where lots of loved ones are around you because they happen to be visiting and then suddenly the fantasy comes to an end because people have to get back to their daily lives. So I find myself in kind of that lull. Over the past 2+ months, several people whom I love dearly but who live far away have been visiting one after the other. It's been incredibly heartwarming and fun. Now everyone's gone and it suddenly feels very empty. It's going to take a while to get used to. That's what was bumming me out this morning. And then I got this quote in my e-mail and felt rather unbummed because it reminded me to smile both because of weeks past and because I'm sure I'll meet everybody again...soon enough I hope (Inshallah).

Plus I kind of like the whole "glass is half full" approach to life. In fact, I try to veer towards the approach where "the glass is half-full and I'm trying to find a way to make it more full".

Here's to roses and thorns! Have a good Monday all!

This is my new mantra!

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. [Alan Cohen]

Watch out world! Here I come :-)!

Of Spring-cleaning & Festivities

It's been a while since I shared a quote. I thought this one was particularly apropos as we step into spring since this season is always associated with bringing in the new and starting new cycles:

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." Lao-Tzu

Here's to sun, warmer weather, breezy days, and to new cycles that bring you and yours joy and happiness.

And while I'm here, I'm think it's worth mentioning that Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, Easter, Holi, and Nauroze all fell around the same time this week. Even if it sounds corny or silly, I love it when holidays observed by different faiths happen to be on or around the same dates. Peace and celebrations to all!

Of inspirations and perhaps even something like momentum

So between the 3 blog posts from today and, more importantly, finishing a (read: another and potentially final) draft of the introduction to the dissertation that I wrote and then revised all in one afternoon I'm feeling like "The Productive Writer /Dissertator That Could". Thanks are due here especially to Naeem for his comments on the previous post that gave me that "itching-to-write" feeling. I feel like I can write more...not right now perhaps because I have also prepared 2 lectures for my classes tomorrow and I think I've earned the right to take a break. Well I would've taken one irrespective but this way there isn't any guilt involved.

But I digress. What I wanted to say was that today was the first day in a l-o-n-g while that writing/dissertating didn't feel painful to the point of questioning why I was in this to begin with. So, yay :-)! I want to say that I think this might have its own momentum - well at least potentially - but I won't go so far only because my Mondays and Wednesdays are hijacked by "professoring". Although I want to try and sneak something in - just the feeling is nice enough. Especially since I get to move on to the next chapter. Plus I think sticking to breaking up dissertating into a small manageable task and using the comments I received from a friend to edit the version of the intro I finished earlier in the afternoon even though I really wanted to take a break feels darn good right now. That one of my committee members described what I finished today as "enticing" is of course icing on the cake :-).

I think it's true what they say and what the author Madeleine L'Engle has summarized beautifully. To quote her, "Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it." Writing and rewriting the intro helped lend clarity to the overall argument of the dissertation - I've been visualizing my argument that way for a couple of weeks now but just hadn't really written it all out. Which means that I kept opening new files (Word and iPod Voice Memos) without completing thoughts all the way through. This time I didn't let myself stop - and I think that happened because there were other folks involved in the process as I mentioned above. So what was somewhat fuzzy suddenly became clear - precisely because I kept working at it.

So, momentum does and can work...now let's hope I can keep at it for a while longer especially since I'll be traveling Friday and Saturday. In other words, the timetable is ambitious but so am I :-). Stay tuned for updates.

Something to think about...courtesy "the past"

Over the long holiday week-end, I had a heartening chat with a very old and dear friend. Okay, my first ex- to be precise. We met rather unexpectedly at a wedding. So we spent pretty much the entire affair catching up---probably because it's been years and years that we've had an actual conversation and also because we've been so out of touch that I guess we were both curious what the other one was up to.

Whatever,the reason I must admit that it felt really nice. That we could pick up the friendship we shared sans any of the bitterness that I see amongst other couples that almost got married but didn't was really encouraging. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy - happy too. Long story short, the conversation also made me realize that I've missed being able to talk to him, especially since I was feeling a bit muddled about some stuff and have always found him to be a good listener. He's one of those people that help you find your way through rather than simply telling you what one should do. So, at the end of the evening (read: late night/early morning), I found myself wishing and hoping that we could find some way to actually be friends.

So color me surprised and pleased that I got an e-mail from him this morning echoing the same thoughts. In addition to that, he sent me this quote as the "only" piece of advice he'd give me:

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." ~Confucius

I think it's a good thought. I think we all know this but perhaps forget it along the way and need to be reminded from time to time. Oh heck why generalize?! I don't know about other people but I'd forgotten this along the way and have been making myself miserable in the process. Not to mention, robotic. Having my head buried in what I "should" be doing I sort of lost sight of how that "should" isn't just a natural progression that everyone expects but that it ought to be intimately connected to what my gut thinks I should do and what makes me happy. Yes I continue to be cryptic...bear with me for a while longer because I'm not sure if I'm ready to go public while I'm still in the process of making these decisions. Rest assured, once I know where I'm landing I'll be sure to blog about it.

In the meantime, please wish me, and my heart, good luck plus courage!