The Universe

Blood moon rising

So last Friday, I managed to witness the longest total lunar eclipse of the century! Thankfully I managed to see it from the beginning till totality, and this time round I even managed to take a photo of the moon during totality. I don't have a zoom lens so it's just the photo of the sky. With the red moon and mars accompanying her. As someone who loves astronomy, it's such a cool experience!

I've always been interested in astronomy. Thanks to the Young Scientist badge thingy that we always participate in primary school haha. I remember I took the astronomy challenge and I learned a lot about the solar system from it! That's how my interest in the solar system began.

And I've always been fascinated with the universe as a whole. As I learned more about the solar system, and the universe, I realised how small we are here. It's both a terrifying to think that may or may not be alone here. In the middle of this great nowhere. Although personally I believe that we are not! When I look at the stars at night, there's no way we can be alone here. Right...?

Am I the only person who's actually "weirded" out by the idea of our existence here on this planet, on this blue dot, in this solar system, in this galaxy? Like I mean... Why are we here? On this planet who's been spinning for millions of years. Where evolution has taken place for over thousands and thousands of years. Where civilisations have been here for thousands of years.

Why are we the third planet from the sun? Why not the 4th? Why is it the right distance from the sun to keep us warm and to keep us alive? All of these questions, no one can answer.

I think it's funny how we always search for the meaning of life. Yet we don't really know the reason of our own existence. Why we're here. Walking on this planet, surviving all the odds that could have killed us. Surviving all the other options that didn't happen. It's so... Fascinating.

And at times I'm convinced that we'll never know the answer to all of these burning questions. But I have this belief that we'll know them after we die. Somehow, somewhat....

Alright that's all for this random post about the universe hah. July is ending really soon. I hope it's been a fantastic month for you! Oh gosh, officially 5 more months to 2019!

The Three Laws

I've been wanting to blog about this, since the holiday last month actually! But never had the chance to do so, don't even know why heh. But oh well here it is! It's a chill Saturday night now.

Right. So in life I'm pretty sure we all have rules and laws that we all follow. Some rules that we keep for ourselves, like habits and patterns and so on. And there are also beliefs like your religion and tradition (and superstition). There are also things that don't take shape in a form of object/subject, but just a law of life that you believe and follow. Tonight I'm gonna talk about it!

So there are three laws of the universe that I believe in. I like to call this a "universal law" because I realise that at the end of the day, I will always go back to these three laws. And I have come across many teachings and "laws" of life as well, but they can all be summarised into these three.

The three laws that I believe in are:

1. Everything happens for a reason

2. There is time for everything

3. Whatever will be yours, will be yours

The first law is pretty straightforward I guess. I think it is self-explanatory. Basically everything happens (and doesn't happen) for a reason. If they don't, they wouldn't have happened at all right? Even though most of the time, we won't know the reason straight away. Sometimes it takes a day, a week, a month or even a year. But eventually, one day, we will know the reason. And everything will make sense.

Which brings me to the second law, that everything has its time. It is sort of an extension to the first law. Sometimes we wonder why things happen at a certain timing, especially at times that we don't want it to happen haha. Most of the time, we will eventually discover why they happen at that particular timing, and not other timings. It's crazy but yeah, another reminder that everything has its time.

Last but not least, everything will come to a full circle when you accept all the things that happened to you; when you know the reason, when you know why it happened at that point of your life. For a period of time, we might still be unable to accept the reality. but eventually we will accept everything with out hear. And understand that whatever that is meant to happen to us, will happen.

AKA whatever will be yours, will be yours.

Following these three laws have made me a happier person in a way. And a lot of calmer and peaceful too. I question less and accept more. Or should I say... I see more. There are a lot of events in life that that has made me come to this point. It's like I will always come back to these three laws. 

Let me talk about an example that I went through.

As some of you might know, I was supposed to go to Stanford University for my internship back in year 3. I was shortlisted and chosen to go there. I was pretty excited about it, because I've always wanted to go for an overseas internship, like my sister who went to Sweden for a year. So I was imagining my internship, life in the USA, meeting new people and things like that. I was even planning to meet up with some friends who were also interning in the USA hahaha. 

But three weeks before the school holiday, I wasn't being told anything about this internship. I wasn't being briefed about it, unlike Darren and Jesslyn who were being briefed about their internship in Harvard. I didn't think about it much, until I was called to the office, to be told that due to logistics issue, I'm no longer going to the Stanford but to go for a local internship instead.

Part of me was crushed, cause well I've been imagining things HAHAHA (In Shakespeare's words, expectation is the root of all heartache heh). But part of me was also happy because I get to be close with the others. So yeah. But I was still quite "bitter" especially when my social media timeline was flooded with photos of my friends who were interning abroad heh. But then yup, I told myself the first law, I was pretty sure that I was meant to have a local internship.

It was only until the end of 2012 that made me realise a lot of things. So I asked myself, if I did go to Stanford, how will my 2012 be? I would probably not be able to play for my last Musical Delight, I wouldn't be able to join Stand Chart half marathon, and the dozens of runs I went as well, and many many more. So I felt both relieved and stupid at the end of 2012 - relieved because I have learned why my 2012 worked out that way, and stupid for the time I wasted feeling "bitter".

This is just one of the many things that taught me about these universal laws. As life goes along, especially after I come back home, these laws are becoming more and more evident in life. Accompanied with the Buddhist teaching of emptiness, everything seems to fall into place.

I think life is incredible in this way - that there are so many things we are unsure about in life. But life will always find a way to tell us why, and to teach us lessons and things we don't understand. Sometimes in a short time, sometimes, a lifetime. But whatever the case is, the universe will always be here to give us reasons why we are here. Why we lead such a life, and why life flows in such a way.