I read therefore I write

The title sounds cliched, but is so true. My current read, Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman is peppered with gems in the first three chapters. Phrases like Stubborn Gladness, Bright Sadness and Sober Joy jump off the pages. These describe what a cancer survivor feels when they come out on the other side of their treatment and are declared disease free. As the author writes, this is the kernel of wisdom in the cliche of the celebrity who claims that a brush with cancer was 'the best thing that ever happened to them'.

Such experiences, as the author writes, however wholly unwelcome, often appear to leave those who undergo them in a new and more honest relationship with time. It definitely rings true for me.

Reading these paragraphs, I couldn't help but think that it does not necessarily have to be about cancer. This could also be some life altering event that happens that makes us question the infinite nature of time. And the fact that each and every one of us at some point of our lives will undergo something that is of extreme to average sadness or hardship, in itself could be a life lesson.

While continuing to read the book, I meandered to the fact that this ties to many tenets of religion. Visiting over ten Monasteries in the Ladakh region in 2019, I was drawn to the frescos at many of them which beautifully depicted the eight fold path, as the ultimate way to attain salvation.

The book puts so many things into perspective about how time in itself is something that is not necessary to measure. As mortals, we can go about our day to day, without any productivity hacks and be better for it.