Bulalo and the Meaning of Life
Time Space Warp #29
Hey—It’s Toffer.
I was in the middle of eating Bulalo when it hit me.
Well, not literally—though I did burn my tongue on the piping hot soup, which should have been a sign. But what really hit me was this: Clarity comes from going deep.
See, I’d been stirring the soup absentmindedly, watching the marrow melt into the broth. And I thought—this is it. This is depth. You don’t get the best part of Bulalo by skimming the surface. You have to go in, scoop out that rich, golden marrow, and savor it. If you stop at the surface, you’re missing the point.
That’s exactly how I feel about ideas. About work. About time.
Estimated read time: 5 minutes
Depth = Focus = Clarity
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the idea that going deep is the key to clarity. The deeper you go into something, the quieter everything else becomes. It’s like sinking into the ocean—at first, there’s the chaos of the waves, the noise of the world above. But the deeper you go, the more still it gets.
And let’s be real—most of us live at the surface level, bouncing from one thing to the next. We’re scrolling, swiping, checking emails, switching tasks like we’re opening too many tabs on Chrome. No wonder we’re overwhelmed. It’s all noise.
But when you go deep—when you really sink into something—everything simplifies. The distractions fade. The unnecessary disappears. You stop thinking about what else you should be doing and just do this one thing.
And that’s when clarity happens.
Deep in Time
I think about time a lot. Probably too much.
But here’s the thing—the more I dive into time, the more it forces me to focus. We don’t have enough of it to do everything. And that’s a good thing. It means we’re forced to choose wisely.
People say, “Every second counts,” and most of us take that to mean we should be rushing. Hustling. Panicking that we’re running out of time.
But what if it actually means the opposite? What if it means: Don’t waste this second by rushing through it. Be in it. Be deep in it.
How to Go Deep (Without Overthinking It)
So how do you go deep? I’ve got a few tricks.
Walking – The best ideas come when I walk. Something about the rhythm of my steps, like a drumbeat, knocks ideas loose in my brain. It’s like when you stop scrolling mindlessly on Instagram and actually read a full caption—you suddenly remember something important. (Walking is basically deep focus mode, but for thinking.)
Writing – If I’m overthinking, that’s a sign I should be writing. Because if an idea isn’t clear on paper, it’s not clear in my head either.
Iteration – I test ideas, challenge them, throw them against the wall and see if they stick. I even use AI sometimes, just to mix things up. (Yes, I ask an algorithm for advice. This is the future.)
Movies & Fiction – Storytelling helps me see things differently. Fiction teaches me things reality can’t. It’s why I’ll shamelessly quote Spider-Man: No Way Home when talking about choices—sometimes, you have to lose everything to see what truly matters.
Going deep isn’t always comfortable. It’s not sustainable to stay there forever. You dive in, find clarity, and come back up. But if you never go deep, you never find what’s really there.
Try This for Yourself
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, scattered, or stuck in analysis paralysis, ask yourself:
Am I staying at the surface when I should be diving deep?
Am I letting too much noise distract me?
What’s the one thing I should focus on—really focus on—right now?
Because clarity isn’t about adding more. It’s about stripping away what doesn’t matter. It’s simple. It’s elegant.
It’s like Bulalo.
You don’t sip at the surface and call it a day. You crack the bone open. You scoop out the marrow. You go deep—because that’s where the real stuff is.
And once you taste that, there’s no going back.
Your Friend in Time,
Toffer