Templong Anituhan

My friend, one of the most beautiful experiences I have had in recent days is getting to know Diwatang Kanlaon, not through books, research, or questions asked to AI, but through life itself.

When we asked the Council of the Diwata to send new guides and guardians, I prayed that Diwatang Kanlaon would reveal himself to me in the unfolding of each day. I did not seek information about him. Instead, I chose to observe, to listen, and to allow ordinary experiences to become sacred teachings.

And amazingly, the lessons came.

Recently, when I looked at my calendar before leaving for Hawaii, I realized that I would be away from home for about fifty-five days, almost two months. At first, the journey appeared long.

Yet now that I am here, I suddenly realize that in only a couple of days, our eight-day class will already be finished. Soon I will move to my next destination, and then on the 20th, I will fly to Long Beach, California, to conduct another Hilot Binabaylan cohort.

What once looked long now feels incredibly brief.

This has become one of the teachings that I associate with Diwatang Kanlaon.

Time is both vast and fleeting.

When we stand at the foot of a mountain, the climb appears endless. When we reach a resting place and look back, we wonder how the journey passed so quickly. In the same way, life is not measured simply by the number of days we are given. It is measured by our presence within those days.

I feel that Diwatang Kanlaon teaches me not to count time, but to inhabit it.

Not merely to survive each day, but to fully arrive within it.

Another lesson emerged today through my reflections on Hilot Binabaylan.

I have long known that part of our work as healers is to hold time and space for those who come to us seeking healing. We provide a safe place where pain, sadness, fear, frustration, and burdens can be expressed without judgment. In that sacred space, negativity is not suppressed but transformed.

Today, however, I realized something deeper.

When we genuinely spend time with a person, we are not only treating their body. We are nourishing their Muwang.

In our teachings, the Muwang Soul is the soul of intimacy, connection, nurturing, and belonging. It is the part of ourselves that first learns love through touch, care, acceptance, and presence.

Many people in today’s world are not starving for food.

They are starving for presence.

They are starving for someone to truly listen.

They are starving for someone to stay.

They are starving for someone to assure them that they are seen, heard, and valued.

As Hilot Binabaylan practitioners, when we sit with a client, listen to their stories, touch with compassion, and allow them to express what has been hidden inside, we are feeding the Muwang Soul with tender loving care.

The healing does not happen only through techniques.

The healing happens because another human being has chosen to be fully present.

Time becomes medicine.

Attention becomes medicine.

Compassion becomes medicine.

And perhaps this is another teaching of Diwatang Kanlaon.

Just as a mountain stands unmoving while generations come and go, healing often requires us to become still enough for another person’s heart to find rest.

The greatest gift we can offer is not always advice.

Sometimes it is our presence.

Sometimes it is our patience.

Sometimes it is simply our willingness to stay.

A Call to Value Time

If there is one lesson I feel compelled to share, it is this:

Value your time, because time is life itself.

The hours you spend with your loved ones, your students, your patients, your friends, and even with yourself are sacred offerings that can never be reclaimed once given.

Do not be too quick to rush through life.

Make time to listen.

Make time to heal.

Make time to pray.

Make time to laugh.

Make time to sit beneath the sky and remember that you are alive.

One day, the journey that looked long will suddenly feel short.

When that day comes, may we be able to say that we did not merely pass through time.

May we be able to say that we truly lived, truly loved, and truly shared our presence with others.

For perhaps that is one of the quiet teachings of Diwatang Kanlaon:

Time is not something we possess. Time is something we are entrusted with. And how we share it becomes part of our healing legacy.