Saturday Evening Posts
December 27 to January 2 Edition
Prana with Open Arms
September 7, 2014
Sunday
It's only a quarter past eight in the morning as I write
this but I've already made my day very productive.
I woke up at dawn and ran around
the jogging lane at the back of Cebu's business district, just a block away
from Gorordo Avenue near I'm presently staying.
I did deep breathing exercises and
some yoga stretches in the open air. It inspires me to further minimize smoking
and to bring more focus on perfecting my current physical body.
All around me were large fields of
bermuda lawn and robust trees like in an Ivy League campus. A lot of my fellow
joggers are foreigners and rich folks with their own cars.
I took in great gulps of fresh air,
constantly on the move away from the areas with the pungent smell of dog
droppings and the locals who spit everywhere, bizarrely oblivious to how
disgusting they are even for someone who tries not to judge.
I sat down on a tree stump in the
sea of grass, absorbing the prana from the air and drawing energy from the
earth. I visualized a white healing light filling and purifying my entire being
as I inhaled deeply, and I visualized all the stress and negative thoughts as
dark smoke being expelled and instantly disintegrating as I breathed out.
I feel an overwhelming calm because
of the paradoxically exhilarating sense of physical and spiritual well-being.
The white light is God and fills up my senses.
When the sun turned hot and before
going to the gym, I walked to the public market in Cabantan about fifteen
minutes away to buy fruits and vegetables. Apples are out of season, I was told
by a vendor. I bought some bananas.
My typical breakfast for the past
weeks is chopsuey and canton noodles with chopped vegetables. I find it very
Chinese (I sometimes buy take-out so I can eat them at home using chopsticks)
although I have certain aspects that makes me more like Japanese in character.
I'm renting a room in a small house
which I share with the landlord, set apart in a quiet family compound. This is
in an old wide avenue that gradually became a commercial area, unlike most
other places where residential areas with narrow streets deteriorated into
urban squalor.
Last night past midnight, I stayed
alone in the dark garden, drawing strength from the silence and the solitude.
The moon was pale and ghostly. The only light came from my room through the
window. I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just letting my mind
breathe, like opening all the doors of your car just to let the air circulate.
But I remember feeling a tinge of
melancholy one afternoon a few days ago as I looked out the window at the rain.
It fell so hard it felt like a typhoon, and the garden had become a lake. There
is something in me that's evoked by the rain, something elemental that responds
to one of the wondrous secrets of nature.
That's one of the many joyful
mysteries in my life.
Jonathan Aquino's Journals
August 18, 2014
Monday
Dahil sa mga pinagdaanan ko sa pakikisalimuha sa iba't ibang
uri ng tao sa dami ng mga napuntahan ko ay lalong naging matalas ang pagkilatis
ko sa tao.
Napansin ko na karamihan ay hindi
nila pinapakita ang tunay ng saloobin nila sa madla. May mga tao na mahilig sa
mga party at inuman, at kung titingnan mo ay parang walang problema sa mundo.
Pero ang iba ang may mga
pinagdadaanan sa buhay, yung iba naman ay malungkot ang kanilang personal na
buhay. Likas siguro yan, na karamihan sa mga taong nasasalubong mo sa daan ay
maraming bagay ang nais nilang baguhin sa buhay nila.
Ako man ay ganun din ngunit may
malaki at napakahalagang pagkakaiba. Malungkot ako ngayon dahil malayo ako sa
pinakamamahal ko. Tila ba ako dagat na malakas ang alon ngunit sa ilalim ay tahimik.
Mayroon kapayapaan sa puso ko na kung saan ay pinaghuhugutan ko ng lakas.
Mas maaliwalas ang pananaw ko lalo
ngayon na alam ko na ang mga bagay ng gusto ko at alam kong dapat gawin sa
buhay ko. Higit sa lahat, natagpuan ko na ang taong nais kong makasama
habambuhay. Walang mga salita na maaaring ilarawan ang aking kasiyahan at
pagpapasalamat dahil nasa akin na ang bagay na hinahanap ng lahat ng tao ngunit
di nila natagpuan.
Inaaliw ko ang sarili ko sa
panonood ng cable sa office pantry bago at pagkatapos ng trabaho.
Nakakatutulong din sa akin ito dahil hindi ako nale-late at hindi ako stress na
kasabay ang mga crowd sa elevator. Noong nakaraang Huwebes, palabas ang The
Patriot habang kumakain ako ng hapunan.
Ito ay kwento ng isang ama, balo,
at mag isa niyang pinapalaki ang kanyang pitong anak.
Yung ang panahon ng himagsikan sa
Amerika na kasalukuyang sakop ng Inglatera.
Di siya pumayag na sumali sa gera
dahil daw sa mga anak niya. Wala na nga silang ina, at mawawalan pa ng ama.
Ngunit, tanong sa kanya, paano
naman ang prinsipyo niya?
Ang hirap ng ganun sitwasyon, kung
saan naglalaban ang konsyensya dahil kailangan mamimil. Ang panganay niya ang
sumali sa gera kahit labag sa kanya. Ang tanging nais niya ang ay mabuhay nang
tahimik kasama ang pamilya. Ngunit iyon ay panahon ng gera.
The Patriot
Hanggang sa isang araw, dumating na
ang mga kaaway. Halos mabaliw siya nang harapin niya mismo ay binaril ang isa
niyang anak. Wala nang mas masakit at mapait na kapalaran kaysa dun. Dun
nagbago ang lahat, at ang nakalipas ay kailanman di na magbabalik.
%2BSheena%2BEaston.jpg)
