Who's there?

You wake up.

You're already feeling it.

You wish you could be somewhere else — anywhere, really.

But you have responsibilities.

So you get up — reluctantly.

You go through the motions.

The obligations, the roles, the hours.

Watching the clock.

Doing what you need to do — waiting for the next thing.

You're with someone now.

They're talking — but you're somewhere else.

Composing your response, half-listening, waiting for your turn.

You're alone now.

Face-to-face with yourself.

No matter — you have your distractions.

So you get lost.

In your phone. A drink. A meal. A project.

Some feelings you can't face.

That's when you reach for your favourites.

Your addictions.

It's night now.

You're brushing your teeth — hands moving.

But your mind's elsewhere.

Exhausted. You lie down.

And for a moment — you find some relief.

How nice.

Then the mind finds you.

What you said. What you should have said. Tomorrow's meeting. Whether you're doing enough.

Whether you're enough.

Sit alone — with nothing to do.

Something is missing.

Something is wrong.

You need to be doing something else.

Be somewhere else.

Why can't you sit still?

You don't know who you are.

But everyone's happy to tell you.

You're only half. Find the one who makes you whole.

You are what you buy. Express yourself. Show people who you are.

You are what happened to you. Your childhood. Your wounds. Your story.

You're a work in progress. Be better. Happier. More productive. Keep working on yourself.

You're not your thoughts. You're the awareness behind them.

Beneath what the world makes of you — there's a real you. An authentic self. Your life's work: find yourself.

Forget finding yourself. You're who you choose to be.

You are what you post. Share it. Check who liked it. Check again.

So many answers — the question remains.

Who are you?

You don't know.

You can't be with not knowing.

So you reach for their answers.

Loved. Successful. Happy. Liked. Enough.

You breathe in.

This is it — this is who you are.

You exhale — who's next?

You want to be at rest.

2,500 years ago, a man had everything.

A palace. A future throne. Every pleasure he could want.

Then he saw an old man. A sick man. A corpse.

He understood.

All of it would end — the palace, the pleasure, him.

He left — to find a rest nothing could take.

He found the best teachers. Mastered their meditations.

He disciplined his body until he nearly starved.

He was still restless.

Then he remembered a day as a boy.

Sitting under a tree.

Doing nothing — at ease.

Maybe that was the way.

He sat down under a tree.

Night fell.

He kept sitting.

At dawn, he looked up and saw a star.

In seeing the star — he found rest.

His first instinct was to keep it to himself.

It was too subtle.

Who would stop to see — would you?

Then he looked out at the world — at others, restless.

He taught.

He met each one where they were.

One by one, they saw it too.

Now it meets you.

I'll never find rest in modern life. Buddhism says: When you work, work. When you eat, eat. When you talk, talk.

I've been working on myself for years. Routines. Therapy. Meditation. I still doubt myself. Buddhism says: Who doubts?

I'm already thinking about what I'll do next. Buddhism says: Did you brush your teeth this morning?

I have it all. The job. The relationship. The life. It's still not enough. Buddhism says: Right now. What's missing?

I'm looking for meaning — why I'm here. Buddhism says: Where's here?

I get it. All of this makes sense. Buddhism says: You get the words. What is it?

You — reading.

Who's there?

You — before you had to be anyone.

You've touched this before.

Listening to music — only the music.

Holding someone you love — no edge where you end.

Sitting still — the breath breathes itself.

Deep in prayer — the words fall away.

On the mountain — nothing between you and the sky.

Just this.

Then you get distracted.

You reach for a word.

The one holding someone calls it Love.

The one who meditates calls it the Moment.

The one who prays calls it God.

The one on the mountain calls it the Universe.

Now — you carry a name.

But the name was never it.

This — before you make anything of it — is it.

Sit as you are.

Sit with your restless mind.

It will go looking.

Come back to the breath.

Again. And again.

Can you be with not knowing?

You get up.

Brushing your teeth — only brushing.

Someone's talking — you're listening.

Alone — you sit.

You're just yourself.