THE ART OF KEEPING STILL

It is a lost art in this fast-paced world but just like anything lost, it can be found. :)

After working very hard for something we badly want, we also need to learn to just wait. Things cannot always be given now. Some things are meant for later. And if in case things don't go the way we want them, we learn that we can't have everything we want. Sometimes we can't have some things yet. Sometimes we can't have them ever. It takes time to find out which is which. Not knowing the answer is a humbling experience.

We all have our own questions in life and we often search for answers outwardly. For some reason as human beings, we have the tendency to wander off to far and unknown places to gain new experiences with the assumption that answers could be found there. Then, after experiencing everything there is to experience, we declare when enough is enough. In the end, we realize that answers actually come from within us and answers come to us when we keep still.

This, however, must not be misconstrued as ignoring the importance of experience. There's a good point in having to go through experience. New experiences validate and strengthen our core values and beliefs. And they help form new values, new beliefs, giving us -- in a word -- learning. At times, as sad as it may be, it takes a certain form of absence and breaking away to find answers that have always been there. These answers were perhaps once taken for granted, ignored, or blinded by emotions. And it takes time for us to discover all these. And this is why the wise ones do not decide in a rush nor do they decide in the middle of heightened emotions. Rather, they give time time.

Time is constantly on the move, which ironically makes keeping still the key to perfect timing. After everything has been said and done, there comes a point wherein nothing else is left in our finite power. At that point, keeping still is one of the most beautiful and liberating decisions. It is allowing a Greater Hand to let things flow into where they should be.

If in case things do go the way we want them to, then we must have done our part well. More importantly, when this happens, we need to continuously appreciate what we have received.

Right now, I am waiting and I am humbled. It feels like correcting my own mistakes from being too hasty and hoping that all these would be enough. The real art of keeping still is about letting go of worries. It is about believing in the purpose of events in our lives. Yes, everything happens for a reason.

Since I’ve been waiting, I've learned to appreciate every little gesture of kindness. I've learned to appreciate the basic essentials in life. I’ve learned about personal priorities. I've learned about choices and decisions that are made not out of whim but out of discernment. I've witnessed goodness and small acts of miracles. And all these make me hopeful and faithful as I keep still.