Long Walks On Leafy Streets

3/11/2015 Zilker Park, Austin, TX
The hard freeze and the repeated onslaughts of snow seem to have stopped. Last year we had snow all the way to the end of March, so it is possible that we haven’t seen the back of winter yet. But for now I am enjoying the outbreak of warm weather. Around the neighborhood the piles of snow have been gradually shrinking. When you walk on them they feel crunchy like the ice in a Slurpee instead of hard and slippery.

Nevertheless I did catch myself feeling a tiny bit wistful. I know that the magical landscape of winter will soon start to feel like it happened in some distant past. Then the battle with the grass and the weeds will begin. In fact when I was walking in the backyard just this evening I saw bits of unwelcome greenery poking its head here and there in the dry yellow expanse of grass.
On the other hand it felt great to walk outside in the evening without wearing a jacket and breathing the heavy cold air. Everyone seemed to be in a nice mood. The world seemed like it was getting ready to wake up from the long hibernation and let itself go. I can already smell the enjoyment of the fresh air and sunshine in the many days of walking or biking outside ahead of us.

I was not feeling so sunny last night, though. It was a grey, rainy day and I had been doing errands all day. Around ten at night I started feeling really frustrated with myself for not having spent any time on math research. But sometimes you have to hit a low before you get going again. I decided I am not going to let this day go to waste and ended up spending the next three hours thinking and reading about my research problem. At the end of it I felt like there had been some progress.

I woke up really groggy this morning but a little bit of yoga and meditation cleared up the mind. I felt confident and my thoughts were flowing freely. The day was very productive. I met with couple of colleagues about some grant proposals related to the environment. I am hoping to bring my passion for protecting the environment into my work at Howard. I have been a volunteer for many environment related causes and plan to continue that in the future. But I am beginning to believe that I can contribute well and make more of a difference by bringing it into my teaching work at Howard. I also talked to a junior colleague about ways to advance his research and career.

When the mind is clear and calm you can notice even the slightest disturbance, like a pebble falling into still water. It is amazing how many new things I learn about the world and myself every day, even after having lived in this earth for almost half a century. Yet it is wonderful when you finally notice and clear the cobwebs and dust that had been obscuring the true nature and beauty of everything.

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