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Monday, April 2, 2012

The Drifter's Direction


I have known people, who have been quite sure of what they wanted to do in life and even arrived where they knew they wanted to be. I have admired their clarity. I, on the other hand have been a drifter, never sure what I wanted to do or be in life and as I drifted from one course to another considered one job or another, I was not arriving anywhere, rather I was forever eliminating what I didn't want!

Definitely not medicine or engineering, too much study involved, try agriculture maybe. Nope, agriculture as a subject was proving too memory based for me; bailed out from the field after graduating into Environment Science, hoping I might find something interesting to do in that sphere.

Non Governmental Organisations seemed interesting but they worked where I couldn’t communicate my cosmopolitan mindset. Education field could provide an opportunity to communicate? Yeah this seems right for me and yet there were lot of other works, and interferences involved which edged out the freedom and hence efficiency of the communication.

I am sure I do not seem very practical? After all, any job will have one or the other uninteresting aspect to it! Why wouldn't I adjust, why was I only always eliminating what I did not want to do? Yeah it is true I did not need a job for a living, I needed it rather to express my being...

And finally by a twist of circumstances and unrelated happenings, through those very, seemingly wrong choices and the people and institutions I came across as a result of those choices, I arrived at the job I found just right for me. Preparing a course material for college in my subject Environmental Science. In this work, there was to be clearly thought out written communication, there was freedom to express more or less the way I wanted to, and that too in a subject I had passion for. Just an over one year work, but it brought me the satisfaction I had been looking for all my life. I realized then, that we all have an internal compass and one way of arriving at what we want is through a process of eliminating what we don’t want!

And even as I journeyed through the process of preparing the material, there were intriguing coincidences. Whichever topic I was working on,seemed to be the topic the world was working on during the same time frame.

When I was writing about nuclear hazards, the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan happened and I added an additional reading and perspective on it.
When I was writing on capitalism affecting food distribution, highly priced tomatoes were being abandoned by farmers on the roads of Jharkhand because middlemen wouldn’t pay them even the production cost, leave alone transportation cost.

Whatever topic my mind was filled with were the topics my eyes fell upon wherever I looked, newspapers, books, magazines, even facebook! It was as if the topics were travelling to me. In that period it was as if the universe had been helping me, not only in collecting and perfecting the content, but even strangely in meeting deadlines; as if I had been destined to do this Job in this time frame.

What I could conclude is exactly what Paulo Cohelo says in Alchemist, “There are no coincidences”. When we, our very core, wants something, however unsure we are about what it is, all things work together to bring it to us, be it through a process of elimination. And so however winding, long or tormentous our road may seem, we are never drifting; rather we are always going where we are meant to go.

21 comments:

JANU said...

Completely agree with you. Nice post.

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Yes, Jerly, we ARE always going where we are meant to go.
Wonderful insights here!

Corinne Rodrigues said...

I like what you said about our internal compass guiding us - it's so true. About finding material that we need, I think at times, things are there all along but we need new eyes! Fantastic post, Jerly!

Mary Hudak-Collins livingthescripture.com said...

Doing what we love, and loving what we do is something that is grand to find in life. So glad for you that you found you niche. And I agree...I don't believe in coincidences in life...I believe we are where we are meant to be at any given time, experiencing life.

Jerly said...

Thank you Janaki,Martha, Corinne and Mary for appreciating the post. And I do agree Corinne that in fact when our mind is filled with one topic we do get a new set of eyes that can bring those very things into focus (which were always there though out of focus). Thats again exactly why there are no coincidences. Immediately after writing this post I happened to see the movie "Pay check" in which all things in Ben Afflecks envelop are tools to help him that he provided for himself before his memory was wiped. It was for him to trust in the seemingly unhelpful and worth less things and discover what helped where to guide him on his way...

The Poet said...

Hello.
In this life, we'll stumble, we'll fall, we might even take a few wrong turns, but we are never lost. There's always a higher power guiding our footsteps to our ultimate destination. Nice post Jerly!

Day 3: Cosmopolitan Flower

Fhermission said...

Strange as it may sound but I like to be a drifters...going to where the wind carries me.
Alas! There is always a divine guidance to lead the way...
:)

photos by jan said...

I love the way you have worded all this...I was always a drifter and loner, or so I thought.I was as you say being guided to where I needed to be, for me it is behind my camera guiding my family and splashing in mudpuddles...great post Thank you.

Jovy Thomas said...

The line "when we, our very core, wants something, however unsure we are about what it is, all things work together to bring it to us, be it through a process of elimination" did touch me!! Great post dear!

Jerly said...

Thanks Andy, loved ur poem- cosmopolitan flower.
I know Fher,not strange at all, I am sure u can feel the direction of ur drift
Thanks Jan I am glad you discovered that you are where you wanted to be. May u find more blessings
Thanks Jovy,... What we come to with hope but have to eliminate is what pushes us to our direction. While writing this post I was reminded of that old time song.. "Musafir hun Yaron, na ghar hai na thikana,...Subah se shyam se mera Dostana..." I am a traveller, I have a friendship with both day and night...

Manisha Bhatia said...

Yap true we find a way if we really desire something. Glad u found something which makes u happy.

NJY!

ralph said...

agree, we made the choices in life... however, there will always be factors that we can't control and thus, we adapt. Yahweh bless.

http://trunklocker.blogspot.com/2012/03/foreigners-in-singapore-third-day-to.html

Rika said...

So true..I believe in destiny and unknowingly we are going the way where we were meant to be...awesome post!

vinayak said...

Well narrated Jerly :) There are many reasons for which i liked you post much. I am happy to share here that i am a drifter too by the way i chose my branch in engineer by eliminating the branches i don't like! I liked the placement of Paulo coelho's words in the post. I like the book too.

http://knvinayaka.blogspot.com
your new follower :D

Unknown said...

There were many things I'd have liked to do in life. But none of them were things I would have wanted to do all the time. So now I just travel intuitively and hope I can grab opportunities as they come. And do my best to enjoy what I have.

Rahul Bhatia said...

Jerly, when one is determined to do something, even the cosmic powers align accordingly, to ensure success:)

The Poet said...

Hello Jerly.
Each week over at my blog, I give thanks to my friends and readers who supported me through my first blogging year. This week, you have been selected as one of the Featured Followers! For more information or to claim your award (if you so choose), please click here...

deeps said...

what matters at the end of the day i think is whether or not you are happy and those dear n near ones around you :)

Melissa Tandoc said...

This is such a beautiful post Jerly. I have visited it several times before making my comment.

I also resonate with your reflections. It took me a decade to realize what it is I truly want. And I am still learning...I haven't specialized in anything and took my talents for granted for a long time.

Perhaps, I was too busy pleasing people that I have set aside my real happiness in life.

But in all, I do not regret a single thing in those ten years I had as a missionary. I believe that I got what I want at the right time and at the right moment.

Truly wonderful reflections :) I commend you for this.

Red Handed said...

Now that is commendable. To begin withyou always knew what you did not want. That in itself shows a winning streak. And I like your optimism. And I hope the Universe is working for my benefit rather than conspiring behind my back :)

Jerly said...

Well You can say that although I did think psycology might be good but went for agri instead.
Yup observation, experience both support my optimism :)

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