Not thinking

“It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.”
- Aristotle

Wherever you go, there you are is the title of a book I read with pleasure a decade or so ago. This morning it came to me anew that wherever I go, I meet myself. My mind is good at creating dreams, which is common for INFP types like me. But in the end, it is how I deal with each situation, how I live each moment, that counts. True value lies in me, rather than in the objects, feelings, and emotions I experience.

So how to tap more into me, and through myself, into the Universe? How do I conduct myself? This morning I felt sleepy. Perhaps I didn’t sleep enough? Or I should learn to manage myself better. After all, my trinity is spirit/soul, mind, and body. Life is good, but good life comes through management, taking charge, of being aware of the choices in each moment, and then acting accordingly. So when I feel challenged by being tired, I should "straighten my back" and tell my body to cooperate.

After some early successes, my determination to get up at 5 am has become a challenge. Allowing myself to return to slumber signalled the end of my good intentions. I simply cannot allow that to happen, but I have done it over and again. I need to get better in taking charge of my moment of waking up, to take the bull by the horns and not give in. It all comes back to awareness, in every moment. Like Eckart Tolle says, there is power in the now. Each time I read that book, I realize its truth.

Yet for a mere mortal like me, I think Steve Pavlina’s advice might also help me be successful in the early morning. Steve cautions the millions who read his blog against thinking anything at the moment of waking up. In stead, he says we should condition ourselves to step out of bed like a robot, without any thought or feeling. Like everything else, that needs practice, which he tells people to do in the daytime when they are in full command of their senses.

I am tempted by the notion of "not thinking" at that tender moment of waking up. So I will try Steve's approach tomorrow and see if by acting like a robot, I could turn my success of waking at 5 into a habit, and thereby reap the benefits that Aristotle referred to. After all, I am there, wherever I go. It is up to me to do, with or without my mind. The latter might work better.

Photograph: Morning in Ubud.

Village life

As I got up at 5, my inner voice told me to go walk in the park, so I donned my sports outfit, jogged down 14 floors, and walked to the park, which is only 200 m away. It was still dark when I started brisk-walking the track, which is attractively laid out. And I realized that my village wakes up early, at least some of its citizens. Several early risers were already walking, stretching, jogging, some alone, and some couples enjoying togetherness, walking hand in hand.

It seemed like a daily routine, because a few cats who were observing the proceedings from the edge of the path did not move an inch when I walked by closely. I enjoyed my morning walk, and on returning to my apartment I decided to walk up the stairs in stead of taking the lift. On Saturday mornings, the park hosts a market, which I will make sure to visit next time.

Wassenaar, the village where I grew up does not have any high-rises like Salcedo, yet is not at all rural either. As a suburban abode of the Netherlands’ seat of government, it hosts lots of diplomatic residences and up-market though small shops, and I enjoyed many walks in its parks, and bicycle rides in the dunes close to the sea.

In contrast, the village of Celab Bu’ung where I am developing my Bali home is very rural, and lacks the amenities I have taken for granted in the towns where I have lived so far. Whatever comfort is needed, I will have to create in my own compound. And yet, it has abundant charms of a natural environment and beautiful people, and I look forward to explore and enjoy living there later on.

Yesterday, I listened to the mayor of one of Metro Manila’s cities explain how she turned it from a non-descript bedroom suburb into an award-winning liveable community for its 500,000 souls, featuring a river-front jogging park, broad sidewalks without vendors, a healthy public market, affordable low-income housing, wifi-enabled schools and public buildings, and more than 50 km of bicycle tracks with 30,000 users. It took the husband-and-wife mayoral team 15 years of vision and values, legislation, social marketing, and enforcement to achieve this, and she is brimming with more ideas.

Through these musings, I am discovering that village life is about living and connecting with the people around me, about making my place of residence into a home, and about contributing to the community that hosts me. All around me, there are people who want to make the world a better place, starting with life in their "village".

Photograph: Small offerings are part of daily community life in Bali.

Morning mix

The light plays brightly around the skyscrapers. As I look around, the roofs of Salcedo village light up as they reflect the morning rays. All around me, people live in high-rises, yet I don’t see anyone on balconies savoring the morning light with me. The fact is, most apartments don’t have balconies and I feel privileged to enjoy sitting on mine, with two small palms and the wall tiles providing a green environment.

As the village comes alive, a fresh breeze greets me lightly. When I woke up at 5, the first sound I heard was birds chirping, which surprised me in such an urban environment. I can still here them now, mixed with cars that gently use their horns, as if hesitating to disturb the morning just yet. A school bus of the Manila International School rumbles down the street, and children are singing happy birthday in a classroom somewhere way below my 14th floor vista. Meanwhile, music from a Balinese ethnic jazz group wafts through the open doors of my apartment. And I suddenly realize that the miracle of life is repeating itself yet again. I feel reborn.

Last Friday marked the start of the Balinese new year, traditionally celebrated with a day of quiet, known as Nyepi. The coincidence only dawned on me in the evening, as I realized that my move to Makati’s Salcedo Village fell on the same day. A good time to celebrate, I reflected, as I entered my new life phase. I live by myself again, for the first time after 20 years.

Today, I will select photographs of my loved ones to display in my apartment. I love my new place, and I live forward.

Photograph: Salcedo morning.