Not Bad

The thing that is advantageous is always the same thing that works in a disadvantageous way. That’s what my professor is trying to engrain in our brains about cellular pathways, anyway. I don’t think it’s a particularly hard concept, but it is one that might be hard to accept.

For a person, it’s like saying a positive attribute about his personality is that he is extremely organized and scheduled. This is good because it means he’s never late and he accomplishes what he needs to accomplish. However, this good thing is also what might be considered bad about him. He is organized and scheduled and so he isn’t very flexible and he gets upset when things change, which they inevitably will.

This idea could be scary. It’s easy to get lost on the bad thought train. That the more you work towards one thing, the less you have time to work for another. That have balance between the two means you probably aren’t giving enough to either direction.

However, it also might work in the opposite direction. For every bad quality a person has, perhaps there is a strength lying on the other side. I’d like to think this. Maybe I run late sometimes, but that means that I take the time to present myself well. Maybe I think about myself too much, but that must mean I’m really in tune with my thoughts and being in tune with myself is mental health (Right?? It’s all about self-care these days).

Isn’t it nice to have fall back? When the bad thought train does hit (which, yes, is also inevitable) this is an idea that helps me get off of it.

Feeling Inspired

Since I can remember hearing a teacher or professor say a series of words that I considered important, I would write down the direct quote. These quotes don’t always deal directly with the lecture at hand. Sometimes I’ll write down a thought the professor has on life, or a viewpoint about the subject we’re talking about.

Starting grad school I began doing the same thing when one of my peers said something that I thought was worth remembering.

I like to think I have a lot of self-motivation. However, when that is failing me, I turn to the pages in my notes where I keep these small motivational quotes. I thought that a few were worth sharing.

“I plan on creating a bridge between medicine and biotechnology”

“For Mendel, genetics was a hobby. He had another job. He just dedicated a huge chunk of his time to growing over 900 pea pods because it was important to him.”

“I somehow need to find a way to understand…”

(I particularly love this. The guy sitting next to me was talking about his future dream of studying the biological pathways of autism. The way he was talking sounded like it was his purpose. I was in awe of his blatant determination.)

“This guy in the lab on the floor above us just grew a retina.”

“Learn this because it will make you educated… so educated!”

“Isn’t it just beautiful?”

(I find it important to note that the professor was talking about a biological pathway. I have to agree that it was indeed beautiful.)

{Cell}ebrities: They’re Just Like Us

Today, I spent a lot of time thinking about cellular communication. Our bodies are made up of trillions (yes, trillions) of individual cells (if you don’t believe me look it up). While it’s true that cells are specialized to perform certain functions for the body, all cells work towards one common goal: sustaining life. In order to accomplish this monumental task, messages are being sent and received all over your body through chemical and electrical forms. These messages are going from organ to organ, cell to cell, and even from a cell to itself.

Of course it makes sense that cells need to communicate. How else would they know what function needed to be performed? To break down a molecule or to form one? To transport a molecule when it’s needed? However, what I got stuck on was the part where cells often talk to themselves. A cell will release a chemical and then immediately re-uptake that same chemical and react on it.

At first I thought the whole idea of an individual cell communicating with itself was kind of weird, but then I started thinking that I could probably take a hint from this characteristic. (Sorry for the extra long intro. We have finally arrived at the topic I wanted to talk about.) If a cell has to talk to itself in order to sort out what needs to be done, I probably need to do the same thing.

I’m not talking about having a two sided, verbal conversation with myself on the bus. I’m talking about taking the time to go over information and communicating with myself when I need to. Sometimes I’ll begin thinking about an idea and I won’t have the time (or concentration) needed to give the thought the attention it deserves. Sometimes I know what I’m thinking but I don’t know why. Sometimes I think about something I want to do but I don’t put in any effort to do it. All of these ‘sometimes’ situations deserve to be talked out.

Imagine that, like a cell, I write out a message and send it to myself. I already know what the message says but when I reread the message, I’m reminded of why it’s important or what the point of it is or what kind of impact it might have on me.

Even this idea (the one I’m blogging about right now) started out as a scribble on my lecture notes. The thought was fleeting and I might have forgotten about it, except for the message I left myself in my notes. While this blog post might not be that important, I think the idea is and I’m glad I took the time to think about it.

Item 1 on my list of essentials:

-Thinking out all of my thoughts completely and preferably in the form of writing

(I also feel the need to mention that individual cells only release signal that is to be re-uptaken because the cell usually receives signals from the outside. If the cell releases chemical signal that is meant for itself, then it only needs one mechanism for signal reception instead of two. I was simply using the cell as inspiration.)