Dud Day

Today was the day I was supposed to embark on the monumental project of writing my thesis. I ended up writing little more than the title of my first chapter, which I can hardly claim credit for either--the title was suggested by my supervisor. To say that I had an unproductive day would be putting it mildly, but I don't feel frustrated. Research is messy and haphazard, and the dud days are also valuable. Who knows what wheels turn at the back of our minds without us even realizing? It is only after an idea spills out and we get to work that we feel productive. But the thought processes that went behind that idea or breakthrough remain a mystery. I don't want to glorify research too much and pretend that it is high art, but I actually don't think they are that different. Art flows from the spiritual, research aims to illuminate the real, but the real and the spiritual are connected by the emotional. I don't want to make this post a rumination on the real and the spiritual, so I am going to leave it at that. All I want to say is that research is haphazard, progress is non-linear and one is better off trying to embrace the messiness.
I am also pleased that I am getting better at limiting my screen time, especially the time I spend on Twitter and news websites. I often log on to them without thinking, whenever my concentration flags from the work task at hand. But being bombarded by news about what's wrong with the world is not great for one's  disposition.