Since Chinese New Year, I have spent a few minutes daily jotting down three things I am thankful for. In days when I am not in the best mood, it takes more effort. Habit shapes our character. These few minutes almost always pivot my mind onto something positive, and has the effect of a more positive outlook in spite of challenging moments like difficult work, fake news or bad news.
My husband and I visited Yosemite National Park on Valentine’s day. We hoped to watch the firefall at the Horsetail Fall. Yosemite is a 4-hour drive from home, and we stayed at the well maintained and cozy Yosemite Valley Lodge. The reception forewarned us this year, there was no water, and therefore no chance of any glowing waterfall at sunset. We were already there, might as well do some walking. From the lodge, it was a 45 minutes easy walk to the Horsetail Fall. To avoid damaging nature with too many human footprints, the rangers have set up a driving lane to be a pedestrian-only path. It was a bit cold, we were there around 5pm, and waited for the sunset. There were about a dozen photographers setting up their cameras in the area. Without the water, it was still beautiful to see the turn of color on the rock from granite color to shining yellow to golden then to red, before the sun was down. We joked about seeing “firerock” rather than “firefall”, we took pictures to capture the changes of colors on the El Capitan .
The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast at the cafeteria, and it was pleasing to see the many visitors in full hiking gear, looking happy for whatever they have planned for the day. It reminded me about school trips, though these are mostly strangers. We took an easy hour-long hike to the Mirror Lake. The perfect reflections and the absolute calmness of the lake have been healing, calming and just pleasing.
On our drive back, we stopped at almost every pharmacy, to look for earloop face masks. Along that 180+ miles, there was only one pharmacy shop that had 3 boxes of masks, I grabbed one, leaving the other two on the shelf.
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Do No Harm by Henry Marsh
Written with candor and compassion, neurosurgeon Henry Marsh shares first insights into the joy of brain operating, the successes and failures of his surgeries, the delicate balance of being emotionally detached from patients and being compassionate, and how he faces approaching his patient with no hope of getting better.
Do No Harm provides unforgettable human dramas that take place in a busy modern hospital, with black humor in how the medical system has created more challenges for the doctors who want to focus on just saving patients.
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Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan
Last book written by Carl Sagan, before he died a few months later in 1996.
“Billions and Billions” is a term that he has been quoted saying, but he has never actually said because it was scientifically ambiguous. This is a beautiful collection of stories where Carl Sagan unpacks many interesting subjects that touch our lives. Beautifully written, he applies scientific thinking to weave together the causes and remedy of ozone depletion, the path towards climate control, pro-choice vs pro-life, the self-inflicted military race, and his own personal life and death ordeal.
Here is how he sums up the last century: “The twentieth century will be remembered for three board innovations: unprecedented means to save, prolong, and enhance life; unprecedented means to destroy life,… and unprecedented insights into the nature of ourselves and the Universe”.
On his ordeal over his terminal illness, he writes “Six times now have I looked Death in the face. And six times Death has averted his gaze and let me pass. Eventually, of course, Death will claim me…. I’ve learned much from our confrontations – especially about the beauty and poignancy of life, about the preciousness of friends and family, and about the transforming power of love. In fact, almost dying is such a positive, character-building experience that I’d recommend it to everybody…. I would love to believe that when I die I will live again… I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking”.
The epilogue by his wife is so very touching. Carl Sagan stays true to his belief in scientific thinking and he experiences the fullness of life till the very end.
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oliviatamccue 