String of Moments

“Always remember… it’s the moment that counts,” my supervisor said as I was getting ready to leave work. I told her how interesting that she should mention that coz I just wrote an entry in my journal (paper not online) about life as being a string of moments. Then she added, “it’s the journey, not the destination.”

God, if I take these words seriously right now, that means my life is like the boy’s life in Paul Coelho’s book, “The Alchemist.” Everything happens for a reason. And why I am here at this job, and why she became my supervisor all happened for a reason. And she said those words to me, as if speaking directly to my heart to tell me that life is all about the moment.

So I shared to her what I wrote…

“A String of Moments”

Today I realized that for me to enjoy each to the fullest, I should look at life as a string of moments. Every moment is a bead that I put on my string. Some of them so uniquely beautiful while a few others are distorted yet they blend in perfect harmony with the rest. Those are the seemingly ugly beads I choose to keep because either they remind me of how strong I was at that moment and overcame whatever adversity it was . Or maybe I decided to keep it to remind me of some stupid mistake I made and to remind me to try not to make them again.

I realized that yes, this is what "living for the moment" is all about. It means taking time to gaze into your friend's eyes s she rants about a bad day at work and how small her paycheck is. It is about how sweet her smile is when she sees you. It is feeling the warmth of your loved one's hands and the soothing sound of his/her heartbeat as you lay your head on his/her chest. It's about hearing the excitement in your niece's voice and enjoying her worryfree laughter. It is about noticing the fleeting beauty of a flower just about to bloom. And the smile of a bride walking down the aisle.

Life is all about noticing the special gift that each moment brings. Every moment is a bead. And when you start looking at life like that, it would become a beautiful string of colorful beads - one beautiful string of moments - and in each bead you'll see a reason why you should smile and how special your life really is.

Job Etc.

First 3 days at my new job was ok. Didn't really do that much since my trainer was on vacation. It was mostly introduction to coworkers, supervisors, reading the employee handbook and familiarizing myself with office policies. My supervisor took me out to lunch on my first day at a very nice CHinese Restaurant (Mandarin Style.)

2nd day was kinda like amazing race. I borrowed the restroom key from one of the doctoral interns so I could go get a copy for myself. Unfortunately, she didn't know where I can get keys made. So on my lunch hour, I ventured into streets of China Town to look for Thai Iced Tea and a key maker.

I had to ask a few places where to get a key copied. And it was like Amazing Race, coz of the language barrier. All the people I asked from didn't speak English and talked to me in Chinese! And all I could do was nod my head and head to the direction where they were pointing at. After about 30 minutes of aimless search for this shop that made keys, I finally found it! After trying to decipher store signs in all kinds of Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese etc.) I finally got myself a copy of the bathroom key. Phew! I just realize how har dit must be to win the Amazing Race.

Yesterday was my 4th day on this job. And boy, it was busy as hell. My trainer was finally here and he's Filipino from Baguio City so he spoke Ilocano as well. He's a very nice guy and showed me a pic of him and his partner. We got down to business and reviewed charts, treatment plans etc. Right about lunchtime, my head started to hurt with all these new info. Information overload. After lunch, I had to sit dwon with my supervisor for supervision. I have weekly supervision which is really nice so I could discuss all my issues and questions with her. Then I had to go to a Team Meeting after supervision where we did updates, both business and personal.

Onthe 5th day of my new job, I ordered myself a copy of DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) which according to my supervisor is the bible of my job. I have a copy sitting here at my office. Heck everybody in the office has one. But I want my own copy so I could read it at home and familiarize myself with diagnosis and blah blah blah. LOL

This going to be a challenging job and I'm lucky to have a new job I look forward to when I get up in the morning. Having a very mentally demanding job right now keeps me from focusing too much on other life's crap. It's all good though.

Ciao.