stillness

i've always been a poser believer of zen.

there's something about letting go and letting things flow that attracts me. maybe it's me coming to terms that i cannot control everything and that zen empowers me to find comfort in not being in power. maybe it's something less pretentious than that.

maybe i just want to choose a narrative that i'm cool and all.

living in metro manila means sitting in traffic for hours on a daily basis. hours enough to finish a movie, hours enough to finish at least a quarter or half of a season of a tv show, hours enough to listen to an entire discography of a millennial musician. if there's any scenario that would best test the calming stillness being preached by zen buddhism, it's being stuck in traffic.

you have to tune out the constant bombardment of brake lights flashing, shrill laugh tracks played by overly flamboyant radio djs, or the constant crowdedness of almost every square inch of this mega city. you have to not think of the hours you're wasting on the road, the moments you're missing out on, or the accomplishments that you're failing to work towards.

i can only imagine the inner peace that one could achieve.

god knows i've always been at war with myself.