What activities do you lose yourself in? . People often ask what activities make you lose yourself. As if it’s some neat little hobby list. Like: Reading. Painting. Yoga at sunrise. Very aesthetic. Very organised. Unfortunately, my mind does not operate like a well-labelled storage box. I don’t schedule losing myself. I simply… vanish. Sometimes […]
The Places Where I Accidentally Disappear
When did humankind become so goal-oriented that we forgot to have fun?
The Philosophy of a Hobby
Maria Shriver’s book, Just Who Will You Be?, invites readers to explore their true selves beyond societal expectations. It offers ten pledges that emphasize self-compassion, honesty, service, bravery, gratitude, imperfection, silence, forgiveness, curiosity, and authenticity. Ultimately, Shriver advocates for removing external noise to discover one’s genuine identity.
Living Authentically: Key Lessons from ‘Just Who Will You Be?’
For a long time, I carried this heavy weight—a strange feeling that I had to follow every twist and turn of a complicated argument until it hit its messy breaking point. Whether the topic was intense policy debates, social justice, or some super abstract theory, I felt like I had to jump into the trenches right alongside […]
Quietly Exiting from the Noise & Nonsense
Wine gets better with age. Do we, as well? In some ways, this is possible. As I recently learned first-hand, the number of years we’ve lived is not indicative of our health for the remainder of our lives. I had two serious illnesses over the last dozen years that are now resolved, for the most […]
Better with Age
“All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.”–American emeritus professor and stress reduction teacher, Jon Kabat-Zinn Oversleeping usually triggers my stress. Intellectually, I know it should not. I no longer work in the conventional world of business and I have few appointments and deadlines. Instead […]
Stressed
Emotional connection is not fireworks.It is not the perfect line said at the perfect time.It is quieter than that.Slower.Harder. It is s two peoplelearning the fragile geographyof each other’s heartswithout trying to conquer them. It matters because life is loud.People touch skin every daywithout ever touching the soul.They speak in quick replies,half-listening,half-leaving,while carrying entire storms […]
Emotional Connection
My wife and I went out last weekend to see a Canon Shakespeare Company production of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus on a whim. I loved that a small scrappy company was taking it on—I had never seen the play, though I once taught the text at my college 20+ years ago. It was wonderful to watch […]
The Devil in the Machine
What’s the best way to build self-confidence? If I had a rupee for every time someone said, “Just be confident,” I’d probably have enough money to buy confidence itself. Seriously though, confidence is one of those things everyone wants but nobody really knows how to get. People act like it’s hidden in a secret cave […]
The Real Secret to Gaining Confidence
One can constantly argue about the pros and cons of social media, as it sure has both. I have now come to talk about yet another downside of it: how having a simple, normal life is now considered boring and not enough today. Everything started a couple of days ago, as I was browsing through […]
Why a Normal Life Isn’t Enough Today
