Emotion

If one of the keys to effective fighting is unpredictability, then Metro Manila motorists make good fighters had driving been a form of sparring.

First, they never let their intentions known. Making the move is the primary concern. Announcing this move by signal would be purely optional.

Sure, make that turn. Signal only when you've come millimeters away from leaving a dent in someone else's fender.

Another thing that makes Metro drivers effective sparring partners: they show no emotion.

Show it, you lose.

***

Controlling emotion.

I used to believe I learned much of this precious skill at the workplace.

Over a decade of meeting different people in different circumstances lead me to believe that somehow I would have earned myself a decent amount of skill over this domain.

But no.

Life still has been blessing me with people who show me how little I know, and how much more I have to learn, about controlling emotion.

The mask that I so proudly wield seem so puny compared to the kind of walls these extraordinary people could deploy.

I have to sit for an entire hour staring at nothing to take it all these lessons in, and even that won't be enough to realize how far I still have to go.

A day at a time. Just take careful note of every word and every act, and from them build that wall.

Because the mask can only conceal, but not protect.

Oh, so emo. ^^