Yesterday my undergraduate students presented their research in the department and this marked the end on the year since masters already presented last week. I was particularly pleased with my students, their research results and the way I can see how much they improved their hard and soft skills during their stay in the lab. It’s a very nice feeling and it is very motivating. So this morning I am full of positive energy, and with the beautful blue winter sky, the crispy air And I need to take time to think. There are so many things I need to think about and I am usually too busy when seated in my office to take the necessary time for that. I find that walking outside in the city is a great way for me to sort my ideas (I think I also miss working in the city). I would usually do that when I have meetings in town or more often when I go to practice kyudo, walking there is about 40 min and it’s perfect to arrive in a calm and rested mind, but recently for too many reasons I haven’t practiced, the first one being unable to find the proper time and the proper calmness, the second being all this muscles and joints ache I have had since the beginning of January, that was definitely related to work and forced me to slow down a bit and is getting slowly better. Yet I didn’t take the time to walk.

And I am very lucky because the train was not working properly this morning, if working at all. I know it sounds strange to say that, because usually it’s when I’m in a hurry for class, or appointment, or when it’s pouring and there’s no taxi to be found. But not today. No meetings scheduled, perfect winter weather, no heels so perfectly equipped for a walk, so I decided to skip the Sobu line and walk to my next transfer. Probably nothing more than 30min at my pace. And that was so great. Tokyo is not of of these European old and beautiful city that you just watch, it’s a city beautiful from the small things going on there everyday, and it’s humility. Feeling the city moving around, people going to work, many walking because of the stopped trains, the shops preparing to open, the homeless sleeping like cats in the sun, the tourists in Akihabara waiting for the shop to open… It just boosted me and gave me an opportunity not only to think properly, but also to reconnect with this city I love but I haven’t enjoyed properly recently, and it just confirmed my feeling that I need to take more time to walk outside!