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A colleague of mine recently wrote about living life in the slow lane, and it really struck me how crazy and hectic life has been. With schoolwork, extracurriculars, midterms, and trying to maintain a social life through all this, I was barely alive. Last Friday, I decided to go home and catch up with friends and family, since I was done all my midterms.

I slept all the way back on the train (sorry Delaan and Steph, I wasn’t the most entertaining, haha) — and I was still dead tired when I got home. I thought it’d just be an ordinary weekend, and in many ways, it was. But there were two things that really set this weekend apart from the other ones:

1. My parents, and their lecture. I haven’t heard them lecture me in forever, and so I guess that’s why it jumped out at me this time — I actually listened and dialogued. And so it became less of a lecture, and more of a conversation. It stimulated my thinking, by both introducing new ideas and refreshing old ones. (If you must know, it was a lesson on how to become smarter, and I think it was really productive. *Blushes.*)
2. I had the car on Saturday night, and I really missed driving — so I thought I’d take the ride out for an old spin after dropping my friends off. I found out I had 2 CD’s I’d made in the summer in the car, and so I was really pumped — and drove for a good hour or two around Markham. It was beautiful. I drove from the area in Unionville undergoing heavy development to a point in Markham which had no streetlights at all. Then, on my way back, the night turned foggy — and the lights, traffic and street and oncoming traffic, all hit me so beautifully. It was out of this world.

There are two points I’d like to make on the importance of reflection: firstly, that reflection is an absolute necessity! There are times in life when we have no idea what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it — I was questioning my suitability for university after receiving a terrible midterm mark. Similarly, I’d clarified a bunch of problems I had and discovered some alternative paths of travel, as well as different methods of thinking. I now know the next steps I have to take, and the changes I have to make, to be more happy with what I’m doing.

Secondly, that too much reflection can be disturbing. I don’t want you to take this article and simply reflect — what are you going to do with your thoughts and ideas? Don’t just live in the past — live for the moment, but learn from your past. Don’t make the same mistakes twice, and never lose hope or motivation. When you do, then reflect.

And sometimes, you just need to turn your brain off. I’m being dead serious — this is an idea I’m borrowing from Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of Now. Sometimes, our brains have become so overused that we forget our brain is simply a tool to serve us, like our hand or our foot. See if you can turn your brain off — see if it was as easy as you thought…

I’ll leave you with that parting thought. Hope you have a wonderful week, and best of luck to your midterms and your marks.

Live long and prosper,

Herbert