Eyes closed, in a cloud not high nor low.
Floating, breeze toying with your skin.
Inner peace.
Not cold, not hot, warmth inside out.
Moment, and moment, and moment.
Easy smooth. Gliding, skin warmer, eyes still closed.
No ground, no sky, neither up nor down.
Around, and around.
Stillness within.
Moment, and moment, and moment.
No sky, nor ground. Only soft as cloud.
Peace.
Is destiny real? I believe it is. So is serendipity. I think though that we are sometimes so caught up with out daily activities and thoughts that we either do not see destiny or that we are so caught up in our circle of routine lives that we barely allow destiny to say hi.
When it does pass us by we see it as an anomaly or a fun coincidence that we fail to fully understand it or consider it as something more.
It can sometimes be that we meet people recurrently at the oddest places. It can also be an opportunity that you could purse that seems a little far fetched- but it’s right there just waiting for you to make a move.
Whatever form it may take, destiny will come and go, it will be your decision whether to hold its hand when it offers it.
What will your choice be? Ignore the hand, or take a leap of faith and see where it leads?
This will be a very techy post about Windows. Proceed with caution.
My main operating systems are Windows and MacOS. Windows for work and MacOS is for my personal use. I have been having this organizational issue with my files and folders and the current capabilities of the Windows operating system feels lacking.
Since the dawn of operating systems such as Linux and Unix then DOS, Windows, etc. operating systems have always had a tree structure. A hierarchical approach to organizing files and folders. This makes sense to an operating system where the code already exists and (should) knows where to find the files it needs to keep the system running.
In some cases, Windows uses settings and configuration files to state the location of certain folders or files. All the application needs to do is read the registry entry and get the value for the specified folder. Other operating systems use symlinks where a certain path is defined and links to the latest version of a library, executable, or configuration file. This is all good and dandy. Until someone like me comes along and tried to include the same file in different locations.
Here are the current options I have tried: (I’ll mainly refer to Windows since this is where my main problem exists)
The first option is just ridiculous, creating multiple copies of the same file is stupid and if you don’t know why its only because you haven’t worked with hundreds of files all who belong to multiple projects or ideas and are scattered in some hundreds of folders.
The second option, while maintaining a “single” file route still doesn’t fulfill the requirement of being able to copy the folder that contains the shortcuts to somewhere else because once you lose access to the path, the file is no longer accessible.
The third option required administrator privileges on Windows and has some odd rules about being able to link to specific volumes or not. This also is a local setting and is not preserved on a network shared folder. The other problem I have with this is similar to shortcuts. If the original file is inaccessible, the link becomes inaccessible (unless it is a hard link in which case both should be accessible).
The fourth and final option that I looked into is creating a Library in Windows and simply adding the files I need to group together. Unfortunately, this option only adds folders, so you can’t add single files. Another limitation is that it is local and does not carry over from the network. A third issue is that libraries are only created in the Library part of explorer. You can’t have a “Library” on your desktop. Albeit you can create a shortcut to the Library and place where wherever.
So, after all of these tries and options and nothing seems to satisfy my requirement yet. On other operating systems you can create links to folders and files that carry over on the network or locally, you also don’t need administrator rights since information about the link are saved in the file and not on the file system.
Here’s a new idea, or maybe an old one that never got implemented. How about creating “Collections” as a base feature in the operating system. Collections would serve as virtual folders but are not really folders so they’re actually files that house many different files. Unlike folders however, they’re not tied to a specific location on the hard drive, instead, they’re a function of the operating system itself.
Files can be added to different collections, and such collections can be copied, moved, or deleted without affecting any other copies of the file in the same operating system. However, the file is the same in every collection and if edited in one collection it reflects these changes in other collections as well.
I’m not a guru so this may actually exist somehow or maybe there are apps that support this. Unix/Linux supports this with hard links too. However, my main issue is with organizing files in Windows and not having to duplicate the same file or manage multiple copies of the same file.
Alas, I am not at the end of this journey, I will continue to keep looking for a solution to my organization dilemma and if and when I find a solution I’ll try to remember to update this, or post a follow up entry.
I have been having this thought on my mind for a while and couldn’t simply share it on my Twitter (@nalhilal) since it will be more than 240 characters.
The idea of the Phoenix has intrigued me for a very long time. The mythical creature that dies by internal combustion and turns into ash only to be born again from those same ashes.
The phoenix symbolizes renewal. In a sense, we can say that our spirit can be like the phoenix. It can die and be born anew within us. This of course is different than the traditional resurrection or reincarnation. This concept is more of a rebirth of the mind.
I do believe that we can develop and learn however, is it all accumulated, or do we lose something when we gain something new? When we move on, do we let go of somethings, or do we keep everything and just keep building on what and who we are? There may be answers out there, maybe even scientific answers that have studies on how the mind develops and how it learns. Although, what matters here is the concept itself, of being born again, or being renewed into something similar but maybe better.
This has been on my mind recently because of what I have been experiencing lately. Pursuing what we want in life is directly related to our ability to pursue it. We become capable of pursuing what we want when we develop ourselves in a way that gives us the knowledge, strength, and mental ability to follow our goals and achieve them. Sure, we do build on our knowledge, however this does not mean that we remain the same as we once were.
Herein comes the idea of the Phoenix. When the time is right, it dies, but it is born again from within its own ashes. So even when you feel like you’re at the end or when there is no exit or hope, believe in your own rebirth and be born again into the person you wish to become.
It starts with an audible “tick”. You think nothing of it, engrossed in your task. You hear another “tick”. This time it sounds different, yet the same. As your thoughts assemble, your thought process is disturbed again and this time you hear these ticks faster. Before you look to see what is happening, you already sense that relaxed feeling in your chest.
It is raining.
It is that feeling of joy you feel, your young heart wants to go out and run around in the rain. Yet, you smile to yourself just imagining that thought and knowing that you so very well could do so. You think you probably shouldn’t get yourself wet, but seeing those drops of water falling from the sky are inviting.
You hesitate for just a moment, just enough to clear your mind and then you rush in. You close your eyes, with a faint smile drawn you lift your head ever so slightly, just enough for the water drops to glide across your face. Your smile widens, and how your heart starts to beat a little faster since your excitement has grown.
Eyes still closed. Raindrops caressing your face. You think of nothing, but of the water as it drops on your face, on your eyelids, your cheek, your forehead, your lips, and then your smile widens and you taste that raindrop. Your chest is swelling with emotion and you start to chuckle to yourself.
This is it. Pure happiness.
Life is full of distractions. Distractions come in all shapes, sizes, types, things, people, thoughts. I believe an important thing to consider is whether the thing you encounter is a distraction or not, regardless whatever form it takes.
For me, thoughts are a distraction. I sometimes need to actively stop myself from thinking or the path that my thinking has taken. The problem with distractions is that they cause unnecessary responses, actions, or feelings that do not contribute to what you’re trying to achieve.
If you’re heading for a goal, distractions can prevent you from reaching that goal. It is then up to you to decide whether a distraction that comes up is welcome or unwelcome, whether it will eventually help in you reaching your goal or not. Sometimes serendipity does its magic and in fact you are even closer to your goal.
Sometimes distractions are unavoidable and have to be dealt with. In this case, you need to manage it to the best of your ability, in order to move forward.
Focus. You can achieve what you want to achieve, all you need to do is start believing.
I have a huge writing task ahead of me. Actually, not one huge writing task, it seems most of my current major tasks are all writing related. You’d think since I’m writing here, I’d like to write there, but not really. This is my warm up, sort of.
Ever notice, that we used to be able to write so much before, but the more we get older, the less we want to write, the less we want to think, and definitely the less we want to hear. What do you do when you have several huge tasks ahead of you? What’s your routine?
There are those who love to go to cafes. They take their stuff, order their double shot espresso, or triple ice-shaken vanilla toffee Spanish late (whatever works), and they chill out with headphones and get to work. Then there are those that work at home have their own space and their own thing. I can’t imagine another scenario here. What rituals can there be?
Hmmm.
On a side note, I realized that sarcasm doesn’t get through too well online.
“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.”
― Richard Dawkins
Ever known someone for quite a while, then lost touch and got back in touch with them only to find out that they haven’t changed at all, for better or for worse? That’s happened to me a few times, and I guess its happened to some who have known me as well. In fact, when I see someone whom I haven’t seen for a while, when I see that they haven’t changed I feel like I’m the one who’s changed. This sparks thoughts like, “maybe they’ve changed but revert to their previous self because they feel more like how they used to be at the time.”
Yeah, I agree, this is a very intense topic way early in the morning and it got me thinking. I for one take steps to improve myself, my communication, my interactions, to make the lives of those who are closest to me and those I care about better. I’m definitely not the same person I used to be a year ago for example, yet I try to be genuine to myself and to others. Like principles, that I see have been lost by many.
What I want to get across is, you can always improve yourself. You can always make yourself better. You can always keep moving in a positive direction. A key and I believe is the most important thing is not to lose yourself or who you are during this whole process. Changing for the better does not mean being someone else, but being the best version of yourself.
I’ll admit it. I’ve been very detached recently, in almost everything and every aspect of my life. You know when you sometimes pause. Just pause, either to think, take a breath, distract yourself, or even just rest. I believe I’ve been excessively pausing, to the point where things are quite scattered (whatever that means). But hey, at least it is something.
If you’re like me, you probably question almost everything. You question yourself, your actions, things around you, people, their actions, interactions of the world, well everything. After a while you think to yourself, that you’ve thought too much, and try to get back to whatever it is that you were doing, say entering your pin at the beeping ATM machine while a hoard of people are getting impatient with you’re moment of spacing out.
Getting things back together and aligning them and working on them one by one isn’t an easy thing to do. It can be done, with some focus and some persistent determination, it can be done.
Stay positive, and persevere.
All the best,
N.
P.S. All stock photos are from https://www.pexels.com (free and no watermark!)