Have I been too restless or not dedicated enough to one specific field of enquiry ? There is perhaps some truth in that, but mainly I believe it is something else. In retrospect it is quite clear that I have strongly followed through on, and reflected, the main four emotional and mental phases (as discussed on April 13) of my life.

This is undoubtedly why I have been able to recognise them so clearly in the first place. Others, with a more stable life pattern, may have experienced these phases in a much less pronounced fashion, perhaps with gradual transitions rather than sharp boundaries separating them.
During my Materialistic Phase I was a Geologist, while during my Creative Phase I became a musician and music educator. Now in my Reflective Phase my former passion for music has receded to a pleasant pastime, while I focus on wider (and sometimes deeper) issues concerning life and the world (to a large degree catalysed and crystallised through my thinking and writing for this Blog).

This restlessness, constant need to change, to move forward, is stabilised, and separated into segments, by sustained periods of physical (but not mental) laziness (thank goodness for that). I also see now very clearly that this recurring pattern is present at all time levels of my existence.
At the time frame of my life as a whole, the pattern (as shown above) is clear for all to see.
At the time span of a single year, like next year for example, my physical movements, give or take a couple of weeks, will probably be something like :

Within each period of rest I don't move about much, but I establish certain routines in order to create a bond with the environment I am in.
Here on the Mango farm near Darwin I experience at present a wonderful period of the utmost peace and tranquility. But deep inside I can slowly feel the adrenalin building up in anticipation of the 4-5 days drive through inland Australia on my way to the Sunshine Coast (in SE Queensland).

When in Europe this pattern is repeated, but at shorter time spans. I may for example be in :

In each of these locations I develop set bonding routines, like a daily walk, contemplation on a bench, visit and talk to people at an Imbiss, pub, restaurant, hotel. I rarely do any "touristy things" wherever I am. It does not reflect real life at the place and its community.

In Australia too within each single otherwise quiet day there is a point, often around lunch time, when I must get out to satisfy my restless nature.
My son in law Doug (who too has done many different things in his life) is a man who pocesses great tranquility. He can quietly remain at home at ThreePonds for days on end, only going out when he absolutely has to for buying food or for an other errant.
I can not do that, I must get out, even if it is for only half an hour or so. Once I have done that I am fine for the rest of the day.

Even when it comes to the very small time frame of my nightly reading, my restless need for change has a hand in proceedings.
On my bedside table is always a pile of half a dozen books or so. Depending on my mood I may select first one, then (more often than not) after reading a bit switch over to another book. Perhaps other people do this too, I don't know, but it is quite typical for my reading habits.

Having recently finished a few I have just added two new books to the pile. One is "Tender is the Night" by F.Scott Fitzgerald I found in one of the boxes in my van. I started on this book before, but unlike "The Great Gatsby" which I absolutely loved, I only got halfway through this one.
But as Ernest Hemingway observed (as printed on the back cover) :
"A strange thing is that in retrospect "Tender is the Night" is getting better and better." That is certainly what I find this time around, but it is important to be in the right patient and observant frame of mind to read this book. Something which was certainly not the case with me the first time I started it.

The other new addition is a copy of Richard Dawkins' book "A Devil's Chaplain" (purchased at Dymocks after my usual Wednesday Sushi lunch in Casuarina). It consists of a selection of Dawkins' essays on a wide range of topics. I am quite interested (and in fact pleased) to see he is having at least in one of his essays a crack at what he calls the pseudo philosophers (on the definition of "truth" for example). I have observed too that so called philosophy can (and sometimes does) easily degenerate into absolute trifling trivial bollocks. Good on him.