A fond memory

The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars,  
 Up to its very summit near the stars,  
A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound  

No other tree could live. 

Reading Toru Dutt's Our Casurina Tree is always nostalgic. Particularly because I had a similar chapter in my childhood too. It was at the age of eight I came to stay at my mother's family house, in the Aleppy district of Kerala. With its red stone steps which led to the pebble-spread courtyard, the ancestral home in my memory, had a rustic charm. An arched Cassia tree bend over the smooth worn-out steps, littered with yellow Cassia flowers. But it was the grand Badam tree with its broad dark green, light green, bright red, and rust-colored leaves that set the stage. The tree had a python-like money plant and a climber jasmine slithering over its trunk to the top. The courtyard smelled of jasmine. 

Routine

 

"Routine provides time and freedom". That's what James Clear, the author of 'Atomic Habits' says. I couldn't help frowning at the statement. 

 I used to feel sorry for those people who went through their days like automated machines living a regular routine life. How boring such a life could be! No surprises, no impulsive decisions, everything predictable and just as expected. 

That's how I thought.

"It's routine all I wanted"- says Michelle Obama

 Think of those days when we wake up and crumble into the sofa thinking about what to do, what to eat, what to cook, when to do this, and whether will I get time for it today. And by the evening it will be like 'had no time for anything at all'... But what have I done today really! 

This kind of day can be distressful. Time flows through my hands leaving no account of what I have accomplished that day.

'Thinking, thinking what to do, one can waste a whole day". 

Now, if we know beforehand what to do when we wake up, won't that save the thinking time? 

Here comes the benefit of a routine. If we are sticking to a routine/plan, at the end of the day, we will know what we have done that day. We will be aware of how we spend our time. Will be able to find time for doing more.

 If we rightly do what we 'have' to do, there will be enough time to do what we 'want' to do.

NB: My dear friends those who are great in time management, please forgive me.