Mind & Spirit
-
Connecting the fragments back together
Each of us has our own ‘personal narrative’. It reflects how we see ourselves, and so also how we see the world. For example, some people speak with a timidness. They talk about how they’re nothing special. To them, they had a ‘boring’ upbringing. It’s…
-
On rekindling the flame of desire
One of the big potential traps in modern day society is to lose that spark. It’s particularly visible in a city like Brussels. So many people come here with big hopes and expectations. The reality of the clunking system can be pretty soul crushing if…
-
Seeing the purging as the purification
When we’re looking to improve, we often think that it’s all about building upon our existing knowledge. We often talk about ‘growth’, and ‘improvement’. But if we only build upon what we have today, we are relying upon the foundations that we had built earlier…
-
A Sunday morning of tidying up the office
Empty Sunday mornings are pretty good days to do some tidying. I’ve accumulated so many bits of paper in the last few years that it has started to overflow. My office space has become generally noisy, to the point where the clutter has become a…
-
The understated value of being discreet
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash We live in a world where the measuring stick is how vocal and loud you are. If you’re not making noise people seem to think that you aren’t doing anything. Social media serves to blast out our everyday acts.…
-
You *cannot* be anything you want to be
It was a lie. But in your heart, you probably knew that already. Even now, it doesn’t stop us telling that to our kids. After all, our generation may be doomed, but the next one will have real freedom, right? For a long time, this…
-
Learning the lessons of life’s tests
Photo by Daniela Muntyan on Unsplash One thing I’ve noticed is that my mind feels calmer. Despite shifting storms, political and personal uncertainty, I feel more balanced. This doesn’t mean life has gotten any easier. But it seems to feel a little bit easier anyway.…
-
Keeping faith with the tides of the universe
Sometimes it’s pretty hard to keep faith in the world. This weekend, there was a far-right protest of over 100,000 in London. On the same week, we had the shooting of Charlie Kirk in the US too. It’s safe to say we’re in choppy waters…
-
On being more forthright with your opinions
When it comes to sharing our own opinions, many of us get in a pickle. On the one hand, we feel our internal psyche telling us something that needs to be said. Sometimes this might not be particular popular or welcome. On the other hand,…
-
A polite reminder to see how far you’ve come
Whenever I see a post telling us to remember what we’ve achieved, I tend to scoff a little. It feels a bit cheesy. It is like an invitation for self-congratulation, which feels even more bizarre when it often comes in response to facing a current…
-
I don’t believe that I should be authentic
I was at a work party once a number of years ago. We were speaking about ourselves, so cue a moment of self-effacing humour. I uttered the words ‘I think people like me, until they get to know me’. Although I’ve left the UK, one…
-
Doing a diagnostic on our daily anxieties
How often are you feeling anxious during the day? For me, that number has turned out to be a lot higher than I realised. I came back to Brussels on Monday after a visit to my parents in London. When I’m with my parents, a…
-
Another year of revolving around the sun
Each year, I write a reflective post around the time of my birthday. This year, I’m not really sure what to say. It is as if my mind has become even more fogged in confusion than ever before. One of the ironies of life is…
-
When you can’t seem to ‘have fun’ in life
I’ve noticed recently that my life has been lacking pleasure. I don’t really seem to be having much fun. That’s not to say that I don’t have access to fun things. It’s more that I don’t end up feeling like I am enjoying myself. And…
-
Riding the emotional downs without guilt
For the last few weeks, I’ve been waking up feeling pretty ‘ugh’. The film Inside Out 2 introduced a new character to personify this. The character was called ‘ennui’, with a stereotypical French manner of ‘bof’. Ennui is essentially a feeling of disinterest and melancholy.…
-
Why we need to stop ‘grinding’ for success
Competitive culture is getting us obsessed with grinding. The answer to any setback in life just seems to be to try harder. But grinding is not healthy. And often, it’s actually very counterproductive. It is true that many valuable things require hard work. Healthy relationships,…
-
It’s time for you to change the world
The stage is set. The audience is waiting. It’s time for you to step up. No person was simply destined for greatness. It is honed, cultivated and created. ‘But who am I to make a change?’ You have a deeper reservoir of power than you…
-
Being in the happy, natural flow of life
Since April, I feel like I’m making progress. I’m putting in effort, and I’m seeing results. This is in stark contrast to the last twelve months. Things have felt a struggle. There was a constant sense of ‘two steps forward, one step back’. I wasn’t…
-
Why I do not need to be the arbiter of justice
How many times have you felt wronged by someone? Feeling the anger seeth through you, you feel the need to argue what the other person did was wrong. And if they don’t understand, you think about how they should pay for their actions. I’ve felt…
-
On the challenges of creating a community
One thing I’ve noticed recently is how people seem to be crawling out the woodwork. After a long period of post-COVID isolation, I’m noticing more efforts to unite together. Perhaps this is just my view in Brussels. Perhaps it’s because people are feeling driven to…