“Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries do not mention her greatest discovery. […] Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know.”
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Jeremy Knowles, discussing the complete lack of recognition Cecilia Payne gets, even today, for her revolutionary discovery. (via alliterate)
OH WAIT LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT CECILIA PAYNE.
Cecilia Payne’s mother refused to spend money on her college education, so she won a scholarship to Cambridge.
Cecilia Payne completed her studies, but Cambridge wouldn’t give her a degree because at that time there’s not much exposure for woman, so she said to heck with that and moved to the United States to work at Harvard.
Cecilia Payne was the first person ever to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College, with what Otto Strauve called “the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.”
Not only did Cecilia Payne discover what the universe is made of, she also discovered what the sun is made of (Henry Norris Russell, a fellow astronomer, is usually given credit for discovering that the sun’s composition is different from the Earth’s, but he came to his conclusions four years later than Payne—after telling her not to publish).
Cecilia Payne is the reason we know basically anything about variable stars (stars whose brightness as seen from earth fluctuates). Literally every other study on variable stars is based on her work.
Cecilia Payne was the first woman to be promoted to full professor from within Harvard, and is often credited with breaking the glass ceiling for women in the Harvard science department and in astronomy, as well as inspiring entire generations of women to take up science.
Cecilia Payne is awesome and everyone should know her.
1. Focus on doing one thing at a time. Tackling multiple activities may seem more efficient, but giving one task your complete attention is actually more productive in the end. It also cuts down on your levels of stress.
2. Slow down and enjoy the journey. Whatever you’re doing is important right now. Don’t wish it was over; and try and make it fun.
3. Stop being such a perfectionist. Don’t stress over details and impressing everyone.
4. Learn to delegate to others; take the pressure off yourself. Perhaps other people won’t do the job as well. But that’s how people grow so maybe give them a chance. It means you can do what you’d prefer to do as well.
5. Don’t always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Most of the time things work out fine. There’s no need to worry. Relax and enjoy life.
6. Focus on what you have, not on what you wish you had. We all have things we can be grateful for. Not everything is awful. life isn’t always bad. And if you change your focus to what you’re thankful for, you’ll find you’re happier, and you worry a lot less.
7. If things go wrong, just shrug your shoulders and move on. Remind yourself that life will still go on. Things might work out next time. Tomorrow’s a new day
Surah duha was revealed when Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was depressed due to no revelation for 6 months.
This surah has power to relieve depression and sadness and find peace and hope.
Ayah by ayah it says..
Wad duhaa— By the morning brightness
This is the first thing you need to hear when you’re depressed: Wake up, look at the sunshine! Everything in life is not doom and gloom– you just have to look up!
Wal laili iza sajaa— And [by] the night when it covers with darkness,
Why is this aayah immediately talking about darkness? As a reminder to us that the night is meant to cover and give us comfort and rest.
Generally when we’re depressed, we tend to get into a very bad sleep pattern by staying up at night and sleeping all day, thereby worsening our state of mind. This aayah reminds us to use the night as a comfort to ease our distress.
Ma wad da’aka rabbuka wa ma qalaa— Your Lord has not taken leave of you, [O Muhammad], nor has He detested [you].
This is a very powerful verse from Allah telling us that He doesn’t hate us and hasn’t forgotten us– reminding the depressed person that He is always by his or her side!
Walal-aakhiratu khairul laka minal-oola— And the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life].
Many times when we’re depressed we think: Is this all my life is going to be? Is it never going to get better?
This aayah serves as a perfect answer to those questions, reminding us that life in this world is temporary and that Aakhira is certainly a better, more permanent place for us than this world could ever be.
This makes us look forward to attaining our place in Jannah and helps us look at any problems in our lives as temporary tests of our faith from Allah.
Wa la sawfa y’uteeka rabbuka fatarda— And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied.
A promise from Allah that very soon he will give us a massive reward (Jannah) and we will be happy! Subhanallah!
Isn’t this the best thing to hear when you’re depressed and fed up with this worldly life and the problems you’re facing?
Alam ya jidka yateeman fa aawaa – Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?
From this verse onwards, Allah gives us reason to believe His declarations and promises in the first half of the surah.
Now many of us may think: how would this aayah about orphans relate to the majority of us? Think about it– weren’t there many times in your life when you were sick or lonely and felt like you had nobody who cared about you? Who was the only one by your side at that time? Allah! It was He who took care of you and guided you out of that stage in life.
Wa wa jadaka daal lan fahada— And He found you lost and guided [you].
How many of us, despite being born Muslims, have found ourselves misguided and straying away from Islam in the past? It was Allah who gave us that hidaya and brought us back to the straight path and to Him and made us practicing Muslims. Alhamdulillah!
Wa wa jadaka ‘aa-ilan fa aghnaa— And He found you poor and made [you] self-sufficient.
Many of us have probably gone through many periods in our lives when we have been short of money and wealth. Now when we look back we realize that it was only Allah who gave us that rizq in some form and got us through those tough financial times.
When a person is depressed, giving him or her examples of how Allah has helped them in the past will strengthen their conviction and belief in the promises Allah makes in this surah for their future.
Fa am mal yateema fala taqhar — So as for the orphan, do not oppress [him].
This aayah is the ultimate antidote to depression!
Depressed people are mostly consumed with their situation and feel that nobody could possibly be in a worse situation.
This aayah reminds us to look at people who are in far worse situations than ourselves when we’re feeling hopeless and depressed— Look at the orphans, who have no family or loved ones and nobody to care for them. We have families and parents who love us, a roof over our heads and food on the table and we still think we’re in a bad situation? Subhanallah! Wa am mas saa-ila fala tanhar— And as for the petitioner, do not repel [him].
Another example is of the beggar – to once again remind us of the many material blessings that Allah has given us that we take for granted – food, clothing and shelter. How many of us have ever gone to sleep hungry? How many of us don’t have clothes to wear? Or don’t have a home to go to?
These examples of the orphan and the beggar are ones we should constantly remind ourselves of to be thankful for the numerous blessings Allah has given us, get over our depression and feel connected to Allah again, out of gratitude.
Wa amma bi ne’mati rabbika fahad dith – But as for the favor of your Lord, report [it].
This final aayah is about maintaining that renewed faith and bond with Allah – by pondering, glorifying and talking about the blessings of Allah! Either in terms of halaqas, discussions with family and friends or even da’wah! Dhikr, reading quran and listening to lectures are also great ways to keep the remembrance of Allah close to your heart!
Eight Rules For Writing – from a long ago piece I wrote for The Guardian.
1 Write.
2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3 Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
5 Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
6 Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
7 Laugh at your own jokes.
8 The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
“WRITE IT BADLY. Write it badly, write it badly, write it badly, write it badly. Stop what you’re doing, open a Word document, put a pencil on some paper, just get the idea out of your head. Let it be good later. Write it down now. Otherwise it will die in there.”
— Brandon Sanderson on overcoming writer’s block to create a first draft as a professional author (via almost-always-eventually-right)
Write it badly and call it an outline if writing a bad first draft scares you. Outlines are made to be written more fully the second time.
