80 days to go...

I got up early again today and enjoyed watching the sun play its rays in the garden.

For my journaling I changed to an old Parker pen. My beloved bordeaux red MontBlanc doesn’t work at the moment. There is something wrong with its cartridges. They stop flowing after a short time. It’s the sixth cartridge that has this problem, and my retailer has returned the stock to the supplier.

In contrast my Parker flowed well, in very fine lines, which is very different from the broad lines from my MontBlanc writing instrument.

So I decided to use Fine Lines as my theme for the day. I stated my intention to listen carefully to others, and to my own inner voice. To be attentive to the smaller details of the life taking place around me. To conduct my own actions with gentle strokes. To see fine lines appear around me to connect the dots we normally see as independent, like people, thoughts, and events. To make notes of anecdotes that come my way during the day.

Not much success I had with this. The day was overloaded with work, and it proved difficult to pay attention to my theme. I also ended up talking much more than I had intended. Not much time at all was spent listening. In stead, lots of things needed writing down and verbally presenting and explaining.

Oh well, it was a good idea, and I can try again tomorrow. Overall, I remained joyful, although very tired at the end of the long working day.

Yesterday evening I met Michael, an architect, at the art exhibition of Asia Society. We had a nice chat, and he told me that some of his former professors in university started to show up in his classes. He was a little concerned about this, as he didn’t want to end up having debates with the older generation about which philosophy or approach in architecture was better.

His professors told him, however, that they were interested to attend his classes to stay in touch with new thinking in their profession, and that they were looking forward to sharing rather than debating. Michael then asked them a question which had bothered him for years. Why had his professors in the sixties and seventies promoted designs of houses with smaller rooms and lower ceilings than before?

And he got an answer that surprised him. They explained that in those days everyone started using airconditioners in their house, and that the most popular models were low cost and small capacity. Hence the choice for smaller rooms with lower ceilings, to accommodate the wishes and purses of the owners.

I learned from Michael too, when he explained that he asks his students to spend more time getting to know their clients and their family members, to know their life styles and requirements before choosing the design for their new house. He teaches his students not to underestimate the power of architectural design, saying that internal architecture can have a great influence on how people conduct themselves in their daily life, in the house and outside.

He observed, for example, that houses with winding corridors could lead their inhabitants to go through life in a similar winding manner. On the other hand, if a house had been designed with good style, the owner would be more likely to conduct himself in his life with good style too. I could imagine that he is right, and I started wondering about my house and my conduct. A new perspective to ponder.

Photograph: Sunny leaves in the early morning.