A Moment in Time: Logan’s Birthday

I’d like to start with a shout-out to Randee at A String of Pearls. She is the one who got me thinking about these specific moments in time. She would randomly select a moment in time and post it on her blog for others to notice. If you chose to participate, you would be aware of the moment when it arrived and then share your written reflection on what happened. I’ve participated a few times, and my daughter gave it a mention in one of her posts–a moment that she otherwise would not have noticed in the same way. As she prepares for a blog pertaining to time, she thought about focusing on a specific moment in time.

So I plan to join my daughter at Sincerely Kate at 1:23 pm on 1/23/14, as we notice what happens at that particular moment on Logan’s 3rd birthday. The moment will arrive for me in Taiwan a full 13 hours before it arrives for Kate and Logan in Michigan (the Eastern Time Zone in the US).

The other thing that will make this special for me is I will be on an overnight trip when the moment arrives. Because other people are planning our activities, I have absolutely no idea what we’ll be doing at that moment in time, adding to the adventure of the reflection. This is only the second time that Dave and I have been away overnight since being in Taiwan. The last time was last year at this time when we attended a wedding in northern Taiwan. This time we are headed to southern Taiwan–a must-see destination for visitors to Taiwan, but somewhere we have not yet been. We will board a train tomorrow morning at 8:11 to make the 4-hour trip. We will be greeted at the train station by one of my former students and her father. We will later meet up with another student from our university and will spend most of our time with them. It will be interesting because the parents of the second student don’t speak English. But they have graciously invited us to stay at their home. It will be a great adventure.

So, there you have it. Although Randee has decided to part with this concept, Kate and I are going to do it one last time in honor of Logan’s birthday. If you’d like to participate, feel free to join in and link back so we can see what you were doing at this moment in time: 1:23 pm on 1/23/2014. If you haven’t tried it, give it a go. You may be surprised.

11:21 a.m. on 1/4/14

Jigsaw puzzle on New Year’s Eve

As the new year begins, I am doing a lot of reflection and planning for what I want to pursue. But I won’t be making resolutions. I’m not out to resolve things. I am out to live more fully and to embrace my goals and dreams for the future. Part of that involves really discovering what it is I want in life. And I intend to do some explorations in many areas of my life to refine what it is I want. I’ve started making lists, and I’m excited about the possibilities. You’ll be reading about some of them in my blog over the next few weeks, but at 11:21 this morning, I had just revealed one of my fun intensions to a friend, and now I’m going to share it with you.

At 11:21 this morning, I was talking on Skype with my friend Joycelyn of Farther to Go! fame. She and I have been friends for forty years and have been through a lot together. For the last few years, while I’ve been in Taiwan, we try to reserve this time every week to catch up, and to support each other in our respective endeavors. I knew when we started our conversation that the specified moment would arrive sometime during our conversation..

Joycelyn and I were having an interesting discussion about our respective fitness programs and how we were feeling differently because of what we were doing. We realized in the discussion that most people talk about going to the gym as a goal, when that’s not really the goal. It’s the means TO a goal, such as feeling better, getting stronger, getting in shape, or other possibilities. But at this time of year, people set a GOAL of going to the gym as if going to the gym in itself is something we really want. No wonder fitness goals often fall by the wayside. There is no real desire and motivation behind them, except maybe prodding from a doctor or loved one, or guilt, or some other negativity that we’re convinced we can (re)solve if we just have enough will power. Right!

There was much more to the conversation, but we began sharing some of the things we wanted for ourselves in the new year, and at 11:21, I had just finished telling Joycelyn about a challenge I have given myself for the year. Something I’m excited about. Something that will keep me jazzed and move me toward a goal I have had for a while, but was having trouble getting there.

So here’s the background. I live in Taiwan. This is my fifth year here, yet I know very little Chinese. I know enough Chinese to be somewhat entertaining to the natives, but that’s it. To be fair, I’m so busy with teaching, editing, and textbook writing, that I don’t have a lot of time for language study. And I did make a real effort before arriving, but learned the wrong accent, so even my minimal phrases I learned before I came weren’t too helpful. I’ve tried working with a few students who wanted to teach me some Chinese, but that never worked very well.

But one of the students from the new writing group is double majoring in English and in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. She and I are setting up biweekly lessons for me. Just enough to give me a bit of language without it being too overwhelming. (She is one of the puzzle solvers in the picture above. She’s on the right.)

OK, now here’s another piece about me you may not know. I use to be a music director for a church. I’m a keyboardist, choir director, and vocalist. Though I don’t do a lot of singing anymore, and never did much karaoke in the past, it seems like a fun way to spend a little time with students. The students tell me that most of the English songs at the karaoke places are “old.” They obviously forget who they’re talking to. I can do “old” songs.

But a couple of days ago, I realized that if I had the Romanized Chinese words and a YouTube video, I could learn a song in Chinese! It would give me an extra motivation for my language study, and satisfy the urge I have to sing. I can go with a group of students and do some singing in both languages. I am psyched!

I emailed the young lady in the picture above and told her of my plan, and she’s already sent me a couple of videos and the Romanized Chinese for both of them. Now I just have to talk to my new tutor and tell her of my crazy plan, but I know she’ll be as excited about it as I am.

And at a future moment in time, I will be singing a song in Chinese. And the plan is to record it and share it in a blog post. Stay tuned!  I’ll keep you posted!

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A Moment in Time is a shared blogging experience, where writers document and share their stories from the same moment on the same day. The day and time for the next A Moment in Time is posted by Randee every few days in such a way that you’ll have a heads up on the exact moment to which you need to attend and focus on and, if it’s significant in some way, write about and add to the list.

http://randeebergen.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/a-moment-in-time-1121-a-m-on-1414/

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I’m also participating in Just Jot it January *JusJoJan.” You just jot something everyday, even if it doesn’t always result in a blog post. Maybe several days’ jottings end up in one post. Lots of possibilities. Check it out here:

http://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/jusjojan-1-the-rules-are-easy/

9:16 a.m. on 12/21/13

(Photo credit: Etenil)

Saturday mornings have a bit of a routine, and this particular Saturday morning was no different. At 10:00, I usually receive a Skype phone call from the other side of the world, so between breakfast and the phone call, I try to see how much “work” I can get done. On most Saturday mornings, that means catching up on grading, or email, or doing some editing. On the particular morning in question, it was looking at textbook proofs and writing notes.

I am pretty much tired of the textbook project. The stress involved with getting Book 2 (of 8!) out was worse than expected. I won’t go into details, but I’ll be glad to be able to move along. Book 3 should be much smoother, and most of my attention can now be spent looking ahead at the plans for Book 4. And in theory, things should start getting easier. That’s my hope, along with the hope that this project will stop creeping into my weekend time, but for now, we’re pushing the publication deadline. In another week, I’ll breathe easier. At least when it comes to the textbook project.

Not an exciting moment. In fact, the less time I spend on it, the better. But these textbook moments have become significant in an unexpected way. The more of them I put in, the close they lead me back home to the U.S. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Here’s a bit of inspiration for focusing so I can move on, compliments of my daughter, the Collaborator.

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A Moment in Time is a shared blogging experience, where writers document and share their stories from the same moment on the same day. The day and time for the next A Moment in Time is posted by Randee every few days in such a way that you’ll have a heads up on the exact moment to which you need to attend and focus on and, if it’s significant in some way, write about and add to the list.

http://randeebergen.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/a-moment-in-time-916-a-m-on-122113/

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I’m also participating in Just Jot it January *JusJoJan.” You just jot something everyday, even if it doesn’t always result in a blog post. Maybe several days’ jottings end up in one post. Lots of possibilities. Check it out here:

http://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/jusjojan-1-the-rules-are-easy/

10:23 pm on 12/06/2013

(Photo credit: jefito)

Have you ever wondered what you really wanted? Have you ever really defined it? Or dared to admit it to anyone, even yourself? Or do you, like me (and probably many others), avoid the question or answer it superficially. In this post from Farther to Go!, there is an exercise that asks you to answer that question every day for 30 days.

I started about three weeks ago. I can’t tell you exactly without digging out the notebook I was using. I wasn’t using cards as suggested in the exercise–not at first. I am now. I’m doing several things differently now.

On Friday (12/6/13), I realized that the exercise wasn’t going very well for me–for reasons I will share below. But, the bottom line is that I decided that day that I would start over, and change the things that weren’t working. So that evening, at about 10:00, I filled out my first card for the new 30-day period. And afterwards, I had a breakthrough.

It may not have been exactly 10:23, but I suddenly understood with complete clarity that I could no longer settle for mediocrity. I had to think about what I want without limits, especially the limits I put on myself. Thinking that I can possibly know what’s best, or what’s practical, or what’s feasible, or–most importantly–what’s possible. My life to this point is full of experiences that would have seemed impossible by any standards and yet I’m here, living this crazy life that couldn’t have been imagined prior to living it. I realized that the starting over was important, that by changing the way I approached the process of exploring what I wanted, I would be more effective, and more free–I could imagine even impossibilities. Up to the point of starting over, four basic things were getting in my way of making the most of this exercise.

1. Sometimes, I’d miss a day because I didn’t set an intention for writing in the notebook. If I had it would be on my daily list, and it wasn’t. I thought I could remember something as simple as adding a few lines to my notebook each day. (I know better than this!) To learn more about the power of intentions, look here. Further, the routine itself has an effect on what emerges. If I get in the habit of making the list each day, the pump is primed when I sit down to fill out the card..
2. I started by using a notebook for making my lists, instead of the 4 x 6 index cards suggested in the activity. I didn’t realize it at the time (obviously), but it really makes a difference to have a confined space with a specific amount of lines for each day. Even if I had used the index cards, I suspect I wouldn’t have written something on every line. Many of my lists in the notebook wouldn’t have been long enough to put something on each line of a card. I took the “easy” way out, If no more ideas were immediately accessible, I stopped writing. Using a notebook made it easy to fall into that trap, so using the index cards is a much better method–for me at least. No stopping until I actually have something on every line. This problem is also related to the next one.
3. I was approaching my list-making from a place of practicality. I knew on an intellectual basis not to do that, to let my mind go and to explore the possibilities in spite of the reasons for censoring. And while I KNEW that the sky was the limit, my lists had become rather dull and lifeless. At first, I wasn’t sure what had happened, and then I realized something that put a lot of things into perspective. I had fallen back into moving through my days and activities on autopilot. From there, it was more than a slippery slope to falling into old habits: it was a free fall into a pit of mediocrity.
4. I needed to re-commit to paying attention, to being mindful of the process, and not just make the listing another thing to check off. Yes, it’s important to schedule it to make sure it happens, but the actual process has to be more mindful than that.

(Photo credit: koalazymonkey)

So on Friday, I dusted myself off and began again with 30 4 x 6 cards, a clear intention, and a plan. I can already see and feel a difference. Each of these cards is completed in just a few moments, but the impact isn’t limited to the immediate moment. Wherever this path leads me, I know that my life will be different because I dared to answer the question of what I really want. As I write this post on Sunday, I just finished my 3rd card, and I am excited about the possibilities that are showing up. Now when I finish a card, I’m smiling. I have gone beyond the intellectual grasp of the concept back to an experience of reimagining my life. I can’t wait to see where this path leads.

If you’ve never thought about what you really want (or even if you have), I recommend this exercise. It only takes a few minutes a day, but the results may change the way you think about what’s possible.

Related articles:

http://randeebergen.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/a-moment-in-time-1023-p-m-on-12613/

http://farthertogo.com/2013/11/11/what-do-you-want-2/

https://myriad234.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/reimagining-my-life/

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A Moment in Time is a shared blogging experience, where writers document and share their stories from the same moment on the same day. The day and time for the next A Moment in Time is posted by Randee every few days in such a way that you’ll have a heads up on the exact moment to which you need to attend and focus on and, if it’s significant in some way, write about and add to the list.

7:11 pm on 12/3/13

Sometimes, moments are messy. This particular moment didn’t look messy to the casual observer. My husband and I were having our amazing dinner. He had prepared dinner (as is the case most of the time), and it tasted great. I was aware of the time. In fact, he noticed me checking the time. It was 7:08. And at 7:11, he had just initiated a conversation about the desks in my office. That all of the desks are now in their appropriate cubicles. Oh happy day!

Our offices were relocated from one building on campus to another, and the past weekend was “moving day.” I did meet with someone about the textbook project on Monday, but it was loads of fun without a desk, so today, I came home after class to work. Now that the desks are back, life can resume.

But I also realized that there was a project that I wanted to be further along on. And because, some projects are taking more energy and attention than is warranted, other things have slipped away. I haven’t let myself dwell on them, but tonight they were somehow coming back to haunt me, just subtly–around the edges of my consciousness. Time to make a new list. Organize the things that are floating around in my head. Because the high spirits I had earlier thinking things were moving along ok are more illusionary than real.

So I will regroup tonight. Make that list. Spend a few moments catching my breath and planning for tomorrow. Enjoy my husband’s company. And start again tomorrow. This is just one moment. Others will be better. Others will be more significant and relevant. I won’t dwell on this one.

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A Moment in Time is a shared blogging experience, where writers document and share their stories from the same moment on the same day. The day and time for the next A Moment in Time is posted by Randee every few days in such a way that you’ll have a heads up on the exact moment to which you need to attend and focus on and, if it’s significant in some way, write about and add to the list.

Related articles

• 3:44 p.m. on 11/30/13 (myriad234.wordpress.com)
• http://randeebergen.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/711-p-m-on-12313/#like-1573

3:44 p.m. on 11/30/13

At 3:44 the doorbell rang.

I couldn’t believe it. I was on high alert because I was keeping an eye on my computer clock so I would know the exact moment that the pre-ordained moment arrived. I expected the doorbell, but not until 5. So when the doorbell rang, and it was actually 3:44, I knew what I would write about.

The person at the door is one of my former writing students, Teela. Now she is a senior, and I am her senior graduation project advisor. But she wasn’t here because of the graduation project. She was here to help me for the next two hours with whatever tasks I had in mind. Sometimes, we work on data entry for one of my research projects. Other times, we work on record keeping. Whatever needs to be done is fine with Teela.

Normally, Teela comes on Friday evenings to help me. This week, she had something come up for Friday evening. It was no problem for me, she’s doing me a favor. It was fine for her to have a pass for the week. But she wanted to come and offered me three options for other times that she could come. That’s one of the amazing things about her. But there is more.

Teela has an amazing command of the English language. And I am in awe of the vocabulary she has. I asked her once how she managed to have such a large vocabulary, and she attributes it to fiction reading. Teela loves to read, and she reads novels in English and expands her vocabulary along the way. And it shows. When we are going over things that require reading, she has very few questions. She asks occasionally about pronunciation, which I’m happy to help her with. She is likely to actually use the words–correctly and in the right form.

Her understanding of English is so strong that she gets the most subtle forms of humor. She understands jokes, and makes a few of her own. She does this in verbal and written communication. She also has quite a grasp of American pop culture, so we always have lots to talk about. In addition, one of the things I like about Teela is her ongoing curiosity. She has many questions about all kinds of things, and she doesn’t hesitate to ask. Sometimes, I forget that English isn’t her native language.

Teela is one of the many people who make me feel comfortable and welcome in Taiwan. Through them, I have a new web of friends and a wealth of experiences; I treasure the friendships and the moments we share, and it will be very difficult for me when it is finally time to leave this place.

Thanks, Teela! I appreciate everything you do to make my life better. It’s a joy to spend time with you, and I look forward to next Friday.

A Moment in Time is a shared blogging experience, where writers document and share their stories from the same moment on the same day. The day and time for the next A Moment in Time is posted by Randee every few days in such a way that you’ll have a heads up on the exact moment to which you need to attend and focus on and, if it’s significant in some way, write about and add to the list.

http://randeebergen.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/a-moment-in-time-344-p-m-on-113013/