There is a much richer experience available to you than just building yet another productivity habit
When you feel angry for seemingly no reason, it’s not because you’re a bad person. More likely, it’s a reflection of your past experience. The same goes for jealousy, laziness, sluggishness, and all the other feelings that stop you from loving yourself.
To really see this for yourself requires a high level of self-awareness — or, a conscious relationship with yourself. That’s what self-awareness is, in a nutshell: an ongoing awareness of the self and of how you behave towards it.
I’ve recently become a bit bitter about self-improvement. Or at least, about that part of it that positions “positive…
Building self-awareness resembles building a house. Here’s how to find the bricks, cement, tools, and architectural design to construct one that’s uniquely yours
Self-awareness is such a complex idea. We all want to improve it, but many find it hard to unpack the concept. What does it mean to be self-aware?
Over the past few years, I’ve explored this question from many angles. At first, self-awareness seemed to be a primarily spiritual endeavor. I discovered that all my experiences, at any given moment, can be used as raw material for discovering my essence, i.e., that part of my consciousness that remains unchanging.
Even now when I write these words, I feel chills of excitement.
As I kept meditating and exploring other self-awareness techniques…
When people sit in a circle, they can see what used to be hidden.
On the last Full Moon, I did it again.
I know I shouldn’t have. The current limits on social gatherings are still quite strict. Yet, the promise of what we would create together was much greater than the perceived risk.
(Note: Although the gathering was bigger than allowed, we did follow social distancing rules and met outdoors.)
Under the cover of the night but with the guidance of the Moon, ten women went into the forest to sit around the fire. Each made her way through the darkness and to the sacred space. There, we knew we could feel safe…
Yet, more people than ever focus on churning out the latter
I thought that being a content creator would grant me a life free from conformity. Ironically, it’s done the opposite.
The concept of “creator” hints at the freedom of expression. But, when prefaced with “content,” that changes. Creating content, by definition, means filling up a pre-existing container. Whatever comes into that container needs to fit its shape and size.
Similarly, content creators need to adhere to predetermined standards and expectations. This means 99% of their work regurgitates what’s already been said.
It reinforces echo chambers and information bubbles.
Meanwhile, the world desperately needs art. Art opens doors to new conversations…
There are more downsides to this career than just unstable pay
The year was 2017 and the month was June. I just got laid off from a remote job I hated. What I felt was a mixture of relief, anxiety, and excitement.
Relief, because I wouldn’t have quit that job myself, at least not for a while. I was glad someone decided that for me.
Anxiety, because I wasn’t sure what to do next.
And why was I excited? Because during my final days at my company, I landed my first writing gig on Upwork.
It wasn’t huge and it wasn't particularly well-paid. But, it planted a seed in my head:
…
When choosing a healing profession serves as self-validation
We live in a time when getting into a healing profession is a click, a few hundred dollars, or a couple of weeks of training away. Sometimes, it’s not even that much. Self-proclaimed expertise is enough to call yourself a healer or spiritual coach.
For the past few years, I’ve tried to position myself as a “mindfulness coach” through my Self-Awareness Blog. I led guided meditations and had a few takes on creating a self-awareness course and newsletter. I decided my career would be instructing people on all things mindfulness.
And you know what? It didn’t work. It just didn’t…
After 4 years, I put my mind in the right place
Medium is a very special place. It offers a very enticing promise — “write whatever you want and make money from it.” This attracts writers from all walks of life.
It’s understandable why a lot of writers sweat and bend backwards to make Medium work for them. I’ve been one of these writers for almost four years — and I spent a big chunk of that time feeling frustrated. Despite doing my best, I could never “make it” on Medium — not financially, not in terms of builing an audience.
I pondered quitting many times. But, I never did. There…
Your default ways of relating may not apply to the “new normal”
How we treat people in our lives is something we learn in childhood. We then carry it into our adult lives, often without realizing what we’re doing.
But an upending event like a pandemic may strip us of our illusions. This is certainly what it did for me.
I’ve been away from my family and childhood friends for almost a year now. During the first UK lockdown, I was isolating with someone whom I met just a couple of weeks before. …
Sometimes, you need time to learn how to love running
Most worthwhile things in life take longer than expected. We like to think that we can make big changes in days or weeks. But more often, it’s months…or even years.
That’s been the case for me with building a career as a freelance writer. Four years and 1 million + words in, I still don’t feel like I “made it” — or even, that I’m particularly good at it.
But four years is still relatively short compared to how long it took me to make running a consistent part of my life. I knew I had a special relationship with…
Fat on a female belly is natural and healthy — let’s stop demonizing it.
I’ve never worried much about my boobs, ass, or legs. They’re certainly not “perfect” by the common beauty standards, but I like them anyway.
But my belly — that’s a different story. I’ve probably been sucking it in most of my waking hours since the age of 12. I’m more self-conscious about this part of my body than any other.
Of course, I have better and worse days. On good days, I look in the mirror and agree to the layer of fat around my waist. I say to myself my belly is still within the “acceptable” range.
But on…
