An immigrant arrived from Bangladesh in 1986 as a 19-year-old student with $700, limited English, and no safety net. The immigrant worked as an engineering student by day and a janitor by night, learning mindfulness through focused tasks like mopping. A supervisor's advice—'Be one with the floor'—became a survival tool that quieted fear and anchored presence. Early and repeated rejection, including being told not to be engineer material, spurred practical action: building commercial software and securing employment. Rejection and loss prompted redirection, while tiny deliberate acts—mopping mindfully, writing a page, making a call—generated transformation and hope.
My elderly supervisor once told me, "Be one with the floor." At first I laughed, but soon I understood. Focusing on each sweep of the mop quieted the fear of tomorrow. Mindfulness was not abstract theory but a survival tool. It steadied me against chaos and became a cornerstone of my life: clarity and purpose can be found even in the most ordinary tasks.
Rejection came early and often. At the University of Minnesota Duluth, the head of the computer engineering department slammed his desk and declared, "You are not the kind of material who will ever become an engineer." His words stung but fueled me. While still a student, I built my first commercial software and hardware product. Imperfect as it was, it caught the attention of a local company and led to employment.
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