Rhythm

In the mother’s womb, there is the gentle heartbeat that the fetus feels. As a babe, there is the loving rock, the pats on the back, the schedule of eating, sleeping, eating and sleeping. Rhythm: a pattern of life. It’s just so important, having a base to work from.

My father had a rhythm. He would wake up early — meditate — and then go to Mass. I have a rhythm which forms the basis of my life. Even if I try to sleep late, my body clock gets me up early. Usually by 5 a.m., I take a shower, do yoga exercises and meditate. Without fail. It sets up my day. Even if I have an early appointment, I make it a point to get up earlier. It’s my rhythm.

But it can’t be rigid. For example yesterday, a holiday, was a beautiful rainy day. Not typhoony, but soft. There were drizzles throughout the day and it was cool. There was such a lovely feel to it. I just decided to meditate longer. I cleaned my meditation room... dozed off... went for a jog in the afternoon because the air was so clean. I didn’t follow my plan of getting work done — the day called for me to just relax. It was great. I felt peaceful. And when I am that way, everyone around me is just so much happier.

Usually, one’s rhythm evolves. It’s never stagnant. Because we evolve. Our needs change, so our life flow naturally shifts.

It’s vital that we don’t become slave to daily pressures. That we have a macro outlook on what is best. For example, if one succumbs to the daily schedule of working really early and going home late because of work — at the end of the day, it is work that will suffer. There needs to be a set of priorities. We need to eat healthy, sleep peacefully, exercise, and include time to pause in our daily lives and take stock. I have found that each situation in life — literally, each situation — has something to give us in terms of learning. From the situation where we lose our cool with our help (now, why did I do that? And did that help? And could there be a better way?), to the way we deal with people who irritate us (why?) to times in life when we need to step up to the plate, and develop our potential.

Then life becomes a beautiful experience of growth — a rhythmic dance, instead of something we simply go through mechanically. And the boat of rhythm is a steady way to go.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.