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…

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…

Teaching what you need to learn can have immense value for the world — I recently came to terms with this: If you’re doing something for the first time, you won’t feel ready for it. That’s impossible. How can you feel confident about leading a workshop if you’ve never done it before? Confidence is an aftereffect of experience — not a prerequisite to it. …

True growth isn’t about trying to fit your experience into a narrowly defined box — When you decide to consciously pursue personal growth, you may eliminate things from your life. You get selective about your experience so you can better understand yourself. A smaller number of stimuli helps regain clarity. You engage in productivity systems by eliminating distractions. You cut out (or minimize) certain relationships…

Our culture puts self-actualization on its head. — A while ago, my friend posted this poll on Twitter.

My first tandem cycling tour reminded me about this — Both bloggers and travelers are storytellers. They just function in two different spaces. I’ve been both and let me tell you that people seem way fonder of the traveler type. As I recently crossed the UK on a tandem with M, I saw this as clearly as ever. During this…

Not getting it would have made me feel like I’m a selfish elitist — What do you do when you have no clue what to believe — and, you can’t see any way of deciding how to choose what to believe in? What do you do when, presented with two options, you have no idea which one will keep you safe? I know that…

Connecting deeply with those closest to us is often the hardest — here’s how to make it happen — Since I can remember, I craved more connection than I knew how to create. As a school kid, I considered myself shy and awkward. I was that geek you’d copy your homework from — but not have much fun hanging out with. The awkwardness continued through teenagehood and into my…

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. …