I'm sorry i'm sorry
I'm sorry that im not the expanse you're seeking
Not the fire
but the water
What is identity? What is self without the external? What makes one's self without the external's
influence?
I don't think we are ever lonely. Be alone, yes. To feel lonely, yes. But /be/ lonely?
I think our identity, our personality is with the collective. With the universe.
Our thoughts, with the universe.
Thoughts, with the universe. Thoughts with the universe.
I dreamt of Mama and Papa
of how in her sleep, my Mama talks to herself
of how at work, my Papa assists me.
Love and Life, I started to doubt you
Love and Life, Mama and Papa
gave me.
A note in the refrigerator's door.
A tarot reader last night on Youtube told me that this isn't the right connection to be in.
Why bother what was already dead?
Too cold to escape.
Too hot to leave.
20.09.2020
I have learned that the act of discovering, whether by myself or through good friends, is a part of
what's keeping me grounded in life. Maybe it's because I get to experience and explore a new
space, and whenever I dig deeper and find these small details I like about it, my body responds with
this rush of joy and this appreciation of life's reminder of how larger it is than what it seems. To
be in awe, and the desire to extend this space to others. Below is a list of finds I had this past week,
hoping that in these little spaces you can find a temporary shelter to sit and ponder upon.
Fiona Apple and Alan Watts
I was listening to Fiona Apple's latest album while I was cleaning our house, and when "I Want
You to Love Me" played its second verse:
I move with the trees in the breeze
I know that time is elastic
And I know when I go
All my particles disband and disperse
And I'll be back in the pulse
And I know none of this will matter in the long run
But I know a sound is still a sound around no one
And while I'm in this body
I want somebody to want
And I want what I want and I want
I somehow found a connection to a particular paragraph in Alan Watt's "The Wisdom of
Insecurity":
Where do I begin and end in space? I have relations to the sun and air which are just as vital parts
of my existence as my heart. The movement in which I am a pattern or convolution began incalculable
ages before the (conventionally isolated) event called birth, and will continue long after the event
called death. Only words and conventions can isolate us from the entirely undefinable something
which is everything.
I loved how both acknowledged our temporary stay here on earth, and how we are interconnected with
everyone and everything around us. This pandemic we are in has probably put this reminder in the
forefront, but on a personal level, this has given me more respect and appreciation to the vessel that
is my body.
Central Park
When I got a new phone a few months back, it came with a free subscription to Apple TV+. Scrolling
through its catalog then, I remembered being unimpressed, so I seldom opened the app after. But last
week, I thought that I didn't want the subscription to go to waste, and so gave it a try again. I
found that they added new shows and what really piqued my interest was "Central Park," an
animated musical series about Central Park's manager and his family's adventures.
Central Park has the right amount of comedy and warmth brought by the family's support for each other
as the went through their own individual journey. The musical tracks are catchy, too!
NTS.live
My friend told me that he seldom discovers tracks through Apple Music or Spotify lately, and relies to
this radio site instead. I am so glad that he shared this site because it offers a lot of radio stations
you can listen to, and you can pick based on the very particular list genres and sub-genres that the
site has provided. As I am writing this, I am listening to this radio
episode of SONGS 4 GIRLS under the Modern Classical and Ambient Jazz sub-genres.
20.09.13
Last weekend, I read a very humbling book by Alan Watts titled "The Wisdom of Insecurity." I
found this in an interview of Sevdaliza wherein she recommended this book. It was probably the
word "insecurity" in the title that piqued my interest that I had to buy and read the book
immediately, because I, too, like everyone else, am dealing with a great deal of insecurity in my life.
This book has changed my perspective about that word.
From my previous understanding, "insecurities" are to be rid of as they're obstacles into
fulfilling a greater love for myself & for my present surroundings. I have always felt shame for my
body's imperfections and my past that it has always prevented me from interacting with the world
& people fully. To deal with them is to get rid of them. Alan Watts has challenged this perspective
of mine in his book by saying that "insecurity", the "present," and
"change" are all of the same meaning. That to rid or to escape my insecurities is to escape my
present & to resist change—which is indeed futile.
I am an overthinker, which is to say I always think of the "outcome" or the future of an action
I will do in the present, or think that the feeling I am feeling in the present won't be the same in
the coming days as they are fleeting. My present spoiled. I then feel anxious, heart beating fast, and
attempt to make everything "worthwhile" in the present in hopes that the coming days will feel
more secure. Do you feel this at times as well? I have learned from Watts that this happens when our
mind (the "I" or the "ego") divides itself from the body and the present, and thinks
ahead of a future that does not exist. Yes, feelings in the present are fleeting, as our present is
always changing. But the feelings/ideas we have about the incoming days are nothing but just
"ideas" as well in our minds, informed by our past and present. They are not real. They are
not guaranteed. We might not be as "happy" in the coming days, but we might not be as
"sad" as we think we would be as well.
The only real thing is our present body and surroundings. I might be thinking of the sad thought of there
will be work again tomorrow, but I am learning to call myself out by saying: one, it is not real that
work tomorrow means you will be filled with sadness and contempt tomorrow, and two, that you are not in
work now. I might be thinking that my past and my body imperfections are hindrances for me to find
someone who can accept me for who I am in the future, but I am slowly learning to accept that these are
not to be rid of, as these are marks of experiences I have garnered to be where I am now in the present.
That to deal with them is to not get rid of them, but to embrace and learn from them in the
present.
One more radical idea I got from the book is that although the idea of the present being ever-changing
might be scary, it is also humbling in a sense that we die and are birthed every millisecond of our
existence here in our present. I find this humbling because it implies that not everything that comes to
us are often good, and they are not often bad. Not often exciting, not often boring. Death of a feeling
or a thought or an experience in our bodies allows a birth of a new one. That "new" one, as
mysterious as it may seem, if we open ourselves to it, allows us to learn from them.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there is an abundance of things to learn and act on in the now
that thinking about the future can't offer us. Our idea of a secure future version of ourselves
betrays us from this. It is often we forget that this version of ourselves isn't guaranteed to come
even if we take all the necessary steps in the present.
I would be a liar when I say that I don't disconnect from my reality whenever it gets overwhelming. I
still do, which is more tempting especially with what's happening with the world. But it's in
the awareness of these thoughts from Alan Watts that I find courage and trust in the present. I am
learning to trust my body's signals. Learning to trust that answers aren't always sought, but
they are also brought by my present reality. Learning to trust that they are sought and brought at the
right time.
After all, in restrospect, these thoughts from Watts were brought to me by an interview I read in a time
I have felt tangled and lost.
Interocept / 20.09.03
i.
Pleasantness
is what my body told me
when the bus arrived
carrying you to
the stop where we
first met that midnight
ii.
“Unpleasant,”
my chest whispered
when you kept asking me
to untangle the thread
of letters you sewn
before in benevolence
iii.
Arousal
when I have
finally
put up the curtains
closed the door
informing you
that untangling you
& your sewn
letters
is not
of my ministry
iv.
Calmness
is my body
switching the lights on
returning home
with hands liberated
with the bus
carrying you
away
20.09.02
2020 hasn't been merciful to us. This pandemic we're in has left us in a confusing and
frustrating state as we witness the virus spread and affect several people, hoping in the confines of
our home that we won't be the next. It is an understatement to say that my mental health has been
bruised up. Although I am eternally thankful to still have a job and to be at home with my family, I
guess denying myself of my spiraling won't do me or anyone a favor.
The past months have been nothing but a huge blur. My then-boyfriend and I decided to part ways through
a text message. The client work that I thought wasn't pushing through came back at a time when I
felt lost. Stalled that client work. Stalled household chores. Work was nonstop and hasn't been the
healthiest environment. Felt restless, felt breaking down in the middle of the day would help me get by.
All of these overlapped with each other and I felt like that I can't untangle myself from the mess
that I have unknowingly created. Every morning I felt guilt and have wished to prolong my sleep, to
escape.