Friday Reflections

Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast —

 

Above Video-courtesy of Ken Chee of Penang, Malaysia

Points to Ponder: “Charles Darwin described himself as a slow thinker. Einstein famously sat in his office … gazing into the middle distance for hours on end … in the intellectual world and the arts, people have always understood the power of looking slowly at the big picture.” — Carl Honoré

Story Line: Learning to see slow, gradual processes requires slowing down our frenetic pace and paying attention to the subtle as well as the dramatic. If you sit and look into a tidepool, initially you won’t see much of anything going on. However, if you watch the long enough, after about ten minutes the tidepool will suddenly come to life. The world of beautiful creatures is always there, but moving slowly to be seen at first. The problem is our minds are so locked in one frequency, it’s as if we can only see at 78 rpm; we can’t see anything at 33 1/3. We will not avoid the fate of the frog until we learn to slow down and see the gradual process that often pose the greatest threats. – Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline. The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization

Reflection: The readers found Friday Reflections two weeks ago (There has never been, nor there ever be, another like you. Like You) not only entertaining but also thought provoking. Seemingly simple picture of eight dogs with a quiz “Which one is different?”, had a very profound message once the readers exercised their observations and compared the answers.

In many messages received privately and some in the blog, readers came up with the range of answers: some found one dog being different, many found two to four having some difference, a few found five and six, one with seven and four readers found all four dogs having something different. I believe the hint was in the title of the picture “I checked for 15 minutes and can’t figure out which one is different.” 15 minutes was the clue to slow down and observe closely and not to go for race against time.

One reader wrote “Very smart indeed... Our mind is conditioned to act fast based on past experiences. When such a pic is shown and asked to find one that is different, logic escapes the mind. This is a universal phenomenon.”

That is why we need to slow down and observe carefully. By rushing to judgement too fast, we may be missing out on many opportunities to discover new things and solve problems correctly. The deeper we listen and observe, we will find uniqueness that is in every living being. Appreciating differences, in this case both in physical characteristics of dogs and the various answers of readers, and combining them for the optimal solution is a source of strength. This is the reason for the above storyline, as we all need to take a deep breath and pause to observe the world around us. By doing this we will learn to appreciate everything that life offers us.

So however insignificant this fun picture may look, there is a lot to learn for solving significant problems for people in all walks of life: Leaders, Parents, Teachers, Politicians, Scientists and every one of us.

Title is from the quote of Eddie Cantor: “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast — you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”- 

Age is inevitable. Aging isn't. * (Part 2)

Points to Ponder: Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. - Samuel Ullman

I intend to grow old naturally, (Childhood and Youth)

and I intend to enjoy it every step of the way. (Falling in love, Family, Career, caring for Aging Parents)

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.** (Four Phases of Life)

Reflection: The past thirty days have been very special with respect to connecting with people I have known throught out my life; 35 of the people I have known since kindergarten, one of the first couples who welcomed me in Silicon Valley in 1975, 21 members of the great team from my last place of work (1997-2015), the person who was kind enough to help me integrate well into Intel 25 years ago, and many other friends and members of the family. I was fortuante to meet some in person and others through wonders of technology: Zoom.

For school friends, 51 years have passed but the enthusiasm we had in the old days had not passed from any one. A small team created a good singing and dancing program for our highschool reunion with the same degree of enthusiasm (despite some aches and pains) as in childhood that provided a lot of entertainment for the larger Zoom audience. It was Yesterday Once More. Sample Video from the practice session: Shardamandir Eight (one minute).   Snapshots actual program Starts at 15 seconds.

During Zoom and Personal reunions with friends from my place of work we shared funny incidences from past that brought a lot of laughter and joy reminding us of The Way We Were. As always connecting with my family members around the world was a great source of happiness. Diffrent people from these large group of family and friends represent each of the four phases of life: Childhood, Youth, Family and Career and The Golden Years (all of my childhood friends and a few workplace friends). Though we are in different age groups, we enjoyed and laughed just like in the old times and sang and danced with the same enthusiasm.

But this reflection wouldn't be complete without mentioning how special this day (September 24th) is in my life. On Septmber 24, 1970, I got a letter from a girl in Philippines who became my 13th penpal, and eight years later my partner for life. We have grown together through the years like the flowers in the above photos, growing and enjoying in every phase; the most precious gift life has given to me. Happy 51years of knowing the person who has helped me learn the meaning of Living in the Present.

*Quote by Mark Levy   **Quote by Mark Twain

Note: In May 2019, the reflection with the same title (Part 1) was published with the story of the amazing person who stays young at the age of 102 with his passion for painting. The readers comments in that reflection have universal message and are shown in the comments section of this publication as well.

https://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2019/05/age-is-inevitable-aging-isnt-.html

 

There never has been, nor will there ever be, another like you.

Points to Ponder: It's a beautiful picture that represents a profound message. Uniqueness, the precious gift of Universe to each living being.

Now can you find which one or how many are different?

Credit for this puzzle: I a M F I N E @iamfine726      https://www.facebook.com/iamfine726/

Reflection:  We are all created unique and special. Universe made us all having our own uniqueness. Some people have blue eyes, brown eyes, black eyes, some people can do this, some people can do that, some people are right handed, some people are left handed. Some people like art, some science and some other commerce. Some are dreamers, some are emotional and others are called  practical. We were made for a purpose. What we need to do is to slow down, observe carefully and appreciate the richness of diversity. Then, the whole new world of opportunities opens up.

So now can you find which one or how many are different? 

 

Thanks to Rekhabhabi for sharing this beautiful picture with a deep message about life and living.

Understanding the significance of being insignificant-Pale Blue Dot

Point to Ponder: It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Special Thanks to Bonnie Kao for sharing this very appropriate article for reflection in any time (even more so in current times)

Story Line: Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

 The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

 Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

 The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

Reflection: It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

p.s. where did the photo come from?

The above excerpt from Carl Sagan's book Pale Blue Dot was inspired by an image taken, at Sagan's suggestion, by Voyager 1 on 14 February 1990. As the spacecraft was departing our planetary neighborhood for the fringes of the solar system, it turned it around for one last look at its home planet.

Voyager 1 was about 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) away, and approximately 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane, when it captured this portrait of our world. Caught in the center of scattered light rays (a result of taking the picture so close to the Sun), Earth appears as a tiny point of light, a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size.

Norway, Where Time Goes by So Slowly

In Video: Unforgettable Images from one of the happiest places on Earth.

Points to Ponder: In solitude there is healing. Speak to your soul....Listen to your heart. Sometimes in the absence of noise....we find the answers.- Dodinsky

Story Line: Norway- Where Time Goes by So Slowly. Norway is rated as one of the happiest countries on earth by the United Nations Agency’s World Happiness Report. The measure of Happiness may be subjective, but what we experienced on our visit in August 2017 felt very real. 

Reflection: While strolling around the residential areas of a the small town of Rosendal, we met a lady and her son who invited us to stay with them before going to the next place. Their open, warm, and giving nature spoke volumes about the generosity of the Norwegian people.

While enjoying the immense beauty of a sunrise in Odda (front image of the video), we missed our bus. With limited, to what seemed like, no options; an off duty Taxi Driver understood our predicament and was kind enough to drive us 40km out of his way so that we could make it for our boat ride.

Then there was a lady in the train to Oslo who requested me to keep an eye of her things while she stepped of her seat for a while. Upon return we started talking and three hours passed by in minute and the exhaustion of a long day was forgotten. The next day she sent us a detailed email suggesting places to visit and dine, and recommendation for a Bed and Breakfast in Southern Norway for our next trip.

On our way to the airport he told us about the girl who loved to sit and enjoy coffee and tea more than anything else. He liked her. So he invited her for a hike. After three days and 140km that included climbing 1800 meters, the girl said “Yes”. I guess Nature can do wonders. 

In a note to us few weeks later, he wrote “Life is strange! How do we end up where we are just now? Education and planning is two great tools to control the future. I do have some education and have the best woman to help me control life. My workplace is a wonderful place where i meet great people, sometimes they do make me feel like a mere grassstraw compared to a redwood tree. These people also make me proud of my country and gives me an urge to see out of my little buble called Norway. I just want to say thank you for giving me a very good day at work.”  

The warmth, helpfulness and the attitude of Norwegian people has forever stayed in our hearts.