Author: Fallton Havenstonne

For the past year, I’ve been putting many of my thoughts in a notebook. I use to write them down on a sheet of paper or type them in my phone. The problem with paper is that it can get really cluttered and disorganized. If the papers aren’t numbered or if they’re scattered about on a desk, it can take a long time to sort through them. And while the phone is convenient to type one’s thoughts in, since it’s quickly accessible, it can take a lot of sifting through to get to the idea someone wanted to reread.

In a notebook, however, I can see the progression of ideas, see how it built up to what it is now. Plus, there’s something about writing an idea down that makes it stand out. It’s as if writing something down etches the idea in my mind, and when I’m typing it, it’s moreover like I’m recording it.

I’m less likely to reread my notes on my phone than when it’s on paper. The reason is that when it’s on paper, I can add things to it in the margin or on the side, whereas on the phone, I have to keep adding things to it on the bottom of the document (or type next to what I already typed).

When we’re idle, it feels like we’re lost, like we don’t know what to do. It’s not that we’re incapable of accomplishing anything, but that we don’t know what to put our time and energy into.

As a result, we do things to pass time, things that aren’t productive or don’t help to organize our space or our thoughts. Things like shopping for items we already have or don’t need, or watching tons of TV (channeling surfing), or looking up news articles for hours when we’ve learned everything we need to know in just a matter of minutes.

I’ve gone through periods of idleness after completing a book or finishing a project. It’s great to get some downtime after months of non-stop work, but at some point, we have to get back to working on something again, or else, we’ll just remain idle, and it’ll be hard to get out of it.

At night, there’s a sense of quietness and peace that we don’t get during the daylight hours. At night, we’re not consumed by all the things we’re busy with during the daytime. Things such as work, chores, or projects that we need to finish. At night, it’s a time when we get to relax–when all the worries of the day come to an end.

But at night, there’s a feeling that something could be lurking in the darkness, something that keeps us on our toes and vigilant when we drive or go outside and walk in the streets. Although it might be quiet and peaceful when it’s dark, there’s never a sense that we should be outside for very long. We naturally seek light, and we always return to it so that we can see what’s around us and to know where we’re going.

I can only imagine what it must’ve been like hundreds of years ago before the advent of electricity, street lamps, and flashlights. To walk in the forest or on a path and not know what was around me or if I was going in the right direction would bring a sense of uneasiness. But when we’re inundated with light, it brings to mind that we should be busy, that there’s something to do . . . and we shouldn’t sleep.

Each day comes with its own rewards and challenges. When we focus too much on what’s ahead, it’s easy to dismiss it like it’s any other day. If we see it as nothing special, we can miss those moments that are unexpected and rare, moments that are meant for us to grow and to learn something new. We can miss how unique that day was–forget that we can never experience it again.

Each day comes with new choices, new thoughts, and new opportunities. Even though the day might seem like any other day, that’s just how we look at it when we’re focused on what’s ahead, rather than in the present–in the now.

And once a day passes, it’s gone forever, becoming another memory amongst many. But if we appreciate it, learn from it, the next day will seem like an invitation to something new and wonderful.

It can be hard to sleep when we’re wide awake. It’s like trying to sleep during the daytime when we’re alert and full of energy. When it’s late and we need to sleep but we can’t, it’s like we know we’re losing sleep, know that we’ll be tired tomorrow, but even if we try, we can’t go to sleep for one reason or another.

We close our eyes, hoping that our thoughts will be quieted, hoping for tiredness to set in. But there’s still noise in our minds–discourse, music and sounds, perhaps. It’s like there’s brouhaha in our thoughts, and we can’t seem to escape it no matter where we go.

We jump out of bed, moving about restlessly as we try to figure out why we can’t sleep. In the process, we realize that there was something lingering in our thoughts–something troubling us, something that needs an answer, something that doesn’t want to be set aside any longer. It could be a question, an enigma, or a dilemma that we need to figure out.

That worry kept us awake. It hid from us, stood in the shadows of our thoughts rather than in the forefront of our minds. But once we became aware of it, we knew why we couldn’t sleep. And as soon as we addressed it, our minds could easily slumber.

Numbers are a huge part of our lives whether we realize it or not. Numbers play a major role in economics, finances, telling time, the calculations made by computers and machines . . . even our health in terms of our biometrics.

It could be said that numbers are everywhere. We use them because they’re precise compared to saying “many,” “some,” or even “a lot”. They’re used in GPS, in scheduling appointments and meetings, in making transactions online and in stores, and in the appraisals of houses, just to name a few. Without numbers, everything we would be an estimation–a rough guess.

It’s one of those things that we take for granted because it seems like it has always been around–will always be around. But what if we lived a day without numbers? What if we lived a day without knowing what time it was, without knowing what day of the month it was, without knowing anything about mathematical formulas, or even the basics of counting? Perhaps there was a time when this was the case–thousands of years ago–when the development of numbers was still in its infancy. A time when hours would go by and all there was to measure time was the sunrise and sundown.