Before this quarter of college, I never had to purposely sit myself down and clearly set down my priorities. Perhaps, I naturally became so adapted to putting school in first place and school took up all my time. Apart from school, my next priorities include relationships--family, friends, boyfriend. This filled up my plate since 2nd year of college has started a few months ago! The only time I allowed myself to just   c h i l l  and relax was Thursdays after attending 2 classes and then a 3-4 hour lab back to back. Looking back, I am amazed that I survived. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was in the start of the quarter! Major relief came from taking yoga! There was never a time I walked out of yoga not feeling energetically centered, and calm. (But again, everyone says I exude calmness all the time...) You know that feeling you get when you come across a milestone or an event in life that helps further define who you are? Yoga did that for me. I learned on the first day that yoga's not for everyone--one needs to look past the seemingly simple, "non-challenging" poses. It is about harmony, balance, unity, the mind-body connection, etc. It all just clicked and, I understood. Now that the quarter is over with 2 finals down and 1 more to go, I feel like my plate is empty as if I have no more priorities and my agenda is clearing up. This is exactly how I feel right this moment. I feel a spark of life inside me that pushes me towards activities such as calling to catch up with close&dear friends, listening to music, discovering and adding more music to my iPod, planning for future plans such as reunions and holiday festivities, reading what I like to read (definitely a good break from textbooks!), taking a walk outside in the sun, going to the beach, ... So I wonder, why couldn't I fit all of this into my priorities and do them on a regular basis? Why couldn't I alternate between school and all of these activities? I cannot give myself a clear, definitive answer to this question.... 

What do others do? Do they engage in an equal balance between work and leisure? Or are they like me, who do they do their best, giving their work 110%, before play? I guess there are pros and cons for both lifestyles. For the latter, work and play are at extremes. For the former, work and play are meshed and people alternate between the two regularly, which perhaps leads to moderation in work and play. Ah, moderation, balance.. Is this not what I learned from yoga? This was the whispered message or omen I received from some higher spiritual power, sometime around the middle of this quarter. Maybe I should tone down my work time a bit and set down priorities for other activities.

Lets see if this bears fruit. :) 

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." --Henry David Thoreau

I wonder... Out of all the residents at the nursing home I volunteer at, how many have fulfilling lives?  Looking past their present ill suffering state, a few appear to have made meaning one way or another. Gladys never gets bored of watching opera in the morning, and probably has a huge family which she loves dearly; Lorraine has collected jewelry for the past 30 years and looks forward to showing the nurses her next ring; Another has been a piano player at nightclubs/lounges and still continues to play. I clearly feel the essence of their life. If there's one thing I gained from my summer experiences here, it has got to be this: find your destined passion. Your journey will shine through in the end.