Lifestyle – Stillness Awaits

2025-08-13

Why We Can Love Without Losing Ourselves

I used to think love meant fixing the broken parts of someone else. But in trying to heal them, I often welcomed their storms into my life. Over time, I learned that caring deeply doesn’t mean carrying everything.

Here’s how I shifted:

Notice the rescuer impulse – Pause before stepping in. Ask: “Am I helping, or am I trying to save?”
Draw the line between mine and theirs – Their wounds are theirs to heal. You can walk beside them, but not in their shoes.
Set gentle boundaries – Limit the time, energy, and resources you give so you don’t run empty.
Support, don’t over-function – Offer encouragement and tools, but let them take responsibility for their growth.
Choose balanced connections – Fill your life with relationships that pour into you as much as you pour out.

Love is powerful, but it’s not a cure we can hand to someone else. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is to hold space, stay steady, and trust them to do their own healing.

2025-07-23

The Lost Arts of a Modern Mind

There was a time—not too long ago—when wisdom wasn’t something we Googled. It was something we lived. It was carved into us by practice, by patience, by time spent with the slow and the simple.

But the world has changed.
Speed has become our virtue.
Convenience, our compass.
And in the name of “progress,” we’ve lost some of the very things that once made us fully human.

What follows is not a list of complaints, but a quiet elegy—and maybe, an invitation.

1. Critical Thinking

To think for yourself was once the highest form of freedom.
Now we inherit opinions like hand-me-downs—pre-wrapped, algorithmically approved, and devoid of weight.
Philosophers called it reason, sages called it discernment. Today, we call it “too long to read.”

2. Deep Reading

There was a sacredness to reading. Not the scanning of tweets or skimming of captions, but entering a world—word by word.
Reading was meditation. Now, it’s mostly noise.
The question is: Have we lost the attention span, or the appetite for depth?

3. Handwriting

Our ancestors wrote letters that outlived them.
Now we text and delete.
Handwriting was the fingerprint of the soul—personal, imperfect, and alive.
Today, it’s a font we barely recognize.

4. Memorization and Mental Math

When everything lives in the cloud, we forget to live in the moment.
We outsource knowledge, mistaking access for understanding.
But what happens when the power’s out, and all that’s left… is your mind?

5. Face-to-Face Conversation

There’s a depth to presence that can’t be compressed into emojis or voice notes.
Conversation—real conversation—requires vulnerability, silence, and eye contact.
The soul speaks in those moments, but now… we rarely stay long enough to hear it.

6. Map Reading and Navigation

Once, we looked to the stars. Then to the compass. Now, to satellites.
But can you still find your way without being told?
We have never been more guided—yet more lost.

7. Listening

Listening isn’t waiting your turn to speak.
It’s the art of disappearing into someone else’s truth.
Today, everyone is broadcasting. Few are receiving.
In the silence between words, empathy once lived. Can it return?

8. Manual Craftsmanship

To shape something with your hands was to shape something in your soul.
Wood, thread, ink—it all told a story.
Now we consume, not create.
But the heart still yearns for the honest labor of beauty.

9. Cooking from Scratch

The kitchen used to be a place of magic.
Where patience turned raw things into nourishment.
Now it’s more about speed, packaging, and doorsteps.
But nourishment is more than nutrition—it’s the ritual of care.

10. Delayed Gratification

We’ve been taught to click and receive. Swipe and enjoy.
But what about the joy that grows? The kind that requires waiting, building, struggling?
True fulfillment comes with a curve. We’ve flattened it for comfort—and lost the meaning.

The Invitation

These aren’t dead arts. They’re dormant.
Like embers, they still burn beneath the noise.
To reclaim them is to slow down, to remember, to live with intention.

Progress is not the enemy of wisdom.
But wisdom reminds us: not everything worth having comes quickly.
Not everything we’ve left behind was meant to be forgotten.

Maybe it’s time we became artists again—
Artists of thought.
Artists of presence.
Artists of living.

2025-07-07

Discipline – What is it all about?

We often associate discipline with external rigidity: strict schedules, rules, punishments, or a system imposed on us by others—whether it’s teachers, society, religion, or even the personal development industry. But that kind of discipline can feel suffocating, especially when it doesn’t take into account the uniqueness of our inner rhythm.

True discipline—soulful discipline—is not the suppression of our nature but the conscious alignment with it.

It’s the ability to know yourself so well that you move with clarity, consistency, and care. It’s honoring your energy cycles, your emotional needs, your creative bursts. It’s choosing devotion over duty, intention over expectation.

When we follow someone else’s discipline without discernment, we risk betraying our own nature. We may be praised for being “disciplined,” but inside, we may feel dull, disconnected, or joyless.

Mastery of the self means knowing when to rest and when to rise.
It means following through not because someone told you to, but because your inner being has chosen it.
It means structure that supports freedom, not restricts it.

In this light, discipline becomes less about obedience and more about sacred commitment—to your joy, your truth, and your becoming.

2025-07-05

What Alan Watts Would Call a Happening

There are certain moments in life that seem to unfold without effort.

Not because you planned for them.

Not because you earned them.

Not even because you were ready.

They just… happen.

Alan Watts called these moments “happenings.”

They are not tasks.

They are not lessons.

They are not punishments or rewards.

A happening isn’t done to you, nor is it for you.

It simply is.

Like a breeze rustling through the leaves.

Like the tide coming in.

Like laughter erupting in the middle of silence.

The happening is life moving through form—without permission, without apology, and without agenda.

But here’s the subtle grace of it:

While a happening doesn’t revolve around you, something remarkable occurs when you begin to resonate with it.

Not resist it.

Not analyze it.

Not control it.

But meet it.

You and the happening begin to merge, not as two separate entities, but as one synchronized expression of presence.

Like a musician becoming indistinguishable from the music.

Like a dancer being danced.

When resonance occurs, the happening is no longer “out there.”

It is not “yours,” yet it is you.

It becomes the unfolding of your being in perfect rhythm with the cosmos.

This is the beauty.

Not that something happened to you.

Not that something happened for you.

But that you were in harmony with the happening itself.

That you were available enough, quiet enough, alive enough to notice:

Life is not something you control. It is something you meet.

And when you meet it with stillness and wonder,

with humility and presence,

the happening becomes a sacred echo of your own nature.

You weren’t chasing the moment.

You were the moment.

Just… happening.

2025-07-03

“Jesus Is the Way”: More Than a Man, It’s a Metaphor

We live in a world built not on facts alone, but on symbols.

Every idea we carry, every word we speak, and every belief we hold is filtered through the lens of metaphor. From flags to wedding rings, from poetry to the cross—human beings make meaning through symbols. Without metaphor, we’re left with mechanical definitions. But with metaphor, the invisible becomes visible, and the eternal becomes intimate.

So when Jesus says, “I am the way,” what if we stopped treating it like a rigid declaration—and instead, approached it as a profound metaphor?

Not Just the Man—The Message

The historical figure of Jesus walked the earth over two thousand years ago. But the phrase “Jesus is the way” endures not because of the physical man alone, but because of what he symbolized.

He embodied forgiveness in the face of betrayal. He modeled radical love, even for enemies. He walked among the poor and outcast, seeing their worth when others could not. His “way” wasn’t merely a set of doctrines—it was a way of being.

When he said “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” he wasn’t handing us a password to heaven. He was offering a living metaphor—a path to awakening. A path that anyone, of any faith or background, can recognize: the way of humility, the way of surrender, the way of love.

The Path Is a Mirror

When we treat Jesus as only a person to worship, we risk missing the deeper invitation—to walk the path he walked.

It’s like confusing the map for the terrain.

The map (Jesus the person) points us to something universal (the Christ-consciousness, the awakened life, the return to divine truth). But if we cling to the symbol without understanding what it symbolizes, we stay on the surface of the sacred.

Metaphor Is the Native Language of the Soul

Throughout history, spiritual truths have always been spoken in metaphor:

The Buddha spoke of crossing the river to reach enlightenment. The Tao Te Ching begins with “The Way that can be named is not the eternal Way.” Rumi wrote of becoming the sky and melting like snow.

And Jesus, too, taught in parables. He knew that truth must be felt to be understood. That truth enters not through the intellect alone, but through the imagination, the heart, the inner ear that listens in silence.

What Does It Mean to Walk the Way?

To walk “the way” is not to recite a creed, but to live with open hands.

To offer grace when it’s undeserved.

To surrender when you want to control.

To forgive when it breaks your heart to do so.

To listen deeply. To love courageously.

To become less so the truth within you can become more.

So Yes—Jesus Is the Way

But not just in name.

Not just in history.

Not as a gatekeeper to a distant God.

He is the way as a mirror to your own soul.

He is the way as a living metaphor for the path back home.

And that path is available to everyone—not because of a title, but because truth, when it is truly alive, cannot be bound by language, religion, or time.

Because the way is not a person.

The way is a posture.

A practice.

A path.

A presence.

And it lives in you.

2025-07-01

Softness is My Strength Now: A New Way to Shine

For a long time, I believed that being strong meant being untouchable. I thought I had to hide my softness, my sensitivity, and my struggles in order to be respected—perhaps even to survive. Vulnerability, I was taught, was a liability. And so I armored up.

But over time, I began to feel the weight of that armor. It didn’t protect my peace—it held it hostage. The walls I built to seem strong also kept love, presence, and connection out. And maybe, like me, you’ve realized that in trying to be invulnerable, we become invisible… even to ourselves.

So today, I’m choosing something radical.

I’m choosing to be soft.

For the world.

For the people around me.

For myself.

Because softness is not weakness. It is the quiet courage to stay open. It’s the power to feel deeply and still stand tall. It’s choosing peace over performance and truth over image.

Why Softness Matters

Softness brings peace. Hiding parts of ourselves creates tension. Softness is the great exhale. It’s the moment you allow your shoulders to drop and say, “This is who I am.” Softness deepens connection. When we let others see our hearts, we create space for real intimacy. Our vulnerability invites others to be real too. Softness is human. We weren’t made to be machines. We were made to feel. Our tenderness is part of what makes us whole.

Practicing Softness: Where to Start

This isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about remembering who you were before the world told you to hide. Here are a few ways to begin:

Name what you feel. Pause in the middle of your day and say to yourself, “Right now, I feel…” There’s no right or wrong answer—just notice. Speak one small truth. It could be “I’m overwhelmed” or “I really needed that hug.” Let someone see a piece of your inner world. Protect your softness. Being soft doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. Boundaries are what keep your tenderness safe. Saying “no” when you need to is an act of self-honor.

Softness is a quiet revolution. And it begins inside. Not everyone will understand your softness at first—some may see it as strange or even inconvenient. But stay with it. This is your truth unfolding. This is how peace returns.

Because when you stop hiding, you begin shining.

2025-06-30

Cosmic Sex: Where Spirit Meets Skin

In a world so often obsessed with performance, appearance, and outcome, the idea of cosmic sex may seem foreign—perhaps even mystical. But at its heart, it is not about escapism or fantasy. It is about presence. A sacred merging of body and soul. A remembrance of what it truly means to be with someone—not just physically, but emotionally, energetically, and spiritually.

Cosmic sex is not simply a physical act of pleasure. It is a divine exchange between two souls who choose to fully surrender—not just in body, but in heart, mind, and spirit. It is a connection that transcends the flesh and becomes a potent source of healing, awakening, and deep unity. When approached with reverence, intention, and love, it becomes a portal for transformation.

The Temple of the Body

When a man enters his woman in this sacred way, he does not merely seek release—he seeks reverence. He approaches her as a living temple. His presence is not about taking, but offering. Offering his stillness, his attention, his protection, his love.

He touches not just her body, but the soul within it.

And when she feels this, when she knows she is being truly seen, cherished, and honored—not for what she looks like, but for who she is—she begins to open. Not just physically, but emotionally. Energetically. Spiritually.

She becomes not passive, but powerful. She rises—not in resistance, but in radiance. Her feminine essence awakens, flowing through her body like light through stained glass. She receives not because she must, but because she wants to. Because she feels safe. And in that safety, she becomes infinite.

A Dance of Sacred Energies

This isn’t the typical dance of lust. It is a communion of polarities—masculine presence and feminine energy, Shiva and Shakti, yin and yang. Their union creates a rhythmic spiral, a wave of mutual giving and receiving.

Every breath is a thread. Every kiss, a mantra. Every movement, a message:

“I see you.”
“I honor you.”
“I am here.”

This is not sex as we’ve been taught to understand it. This is soul work. Energetic healing. An initiation into wholeness.

As the two bodies move together in this sacred rhythm, something deeper stirs. Past pain may rise and dissolve. Emotions once buried begin to surface and soften. There may be tears—not from sadness, but from the sheer relief of being finally met. Fully. Without condition.

The Alchemy of Union

Cosmic sex is not about climax. It is about connection.

Orgasm is not the goal—it is the echo. The true ecstasy lies in the meeting. In the trust. In the surrender. In the moment where two become one—not in form, but in frequency.

And when the bodies finally rest, breathless and still, what remains is not separation, but fusion. There is no “I” and “you.” There is only us. One breath. One heartbeat. One radiant presence that feels older than time and more sacred than language.

It is in this place that something ancient is remembered—
that love is not something we do,
but something we become.

Final Thoughts

Cosmic sex is a return to the sacred. A reminder that our bodies are not tools, but temples. That pleasure is not selfish, but spiritual. That love, when rooted in presence and devotion, can become a healing force far greater than any therapy or technique.

This kind of intimacy asks more of us. It asks us to slow down. To listen. To feel. To be. To meet one another with reverence, and to make love as if the universe is watching—because in truth, it is.

May we all find the courage to love this deeply.
To touch this consciously.
To meet another soul, not with performance…
but with presence.

2025-05-08

Shifting into Gears: Auto VS Manual – From A Spiritual Lens

Driving a manual car vs. an automatic can be a powerful metaphor for the spiritual path:

Manual Shifting: The Path of Conscious Presence

When you drive a manual, you must be fully present.
Every movement—clutch in, gear shift, clutch out, throttle—is an act of awareness.
You can’t coast through traffic in your thoughts. You must feel the road, listen to the engine, sync your movements with the rhythm of the vehicle.
This is the essence of spiritual practice: to be awake, aware, and in flow with each moment.
Manual driving teaches you the value of effort, timing, discipline, and harmony.
It’s the yoga of driving.

Automatic Driving: The Path of Surrender and Trust

An automatic, on the other hand, is about letting go.
The car does the shifting. You trust it. You lean back, let the system handle the transitions.
Spiritually, this mirrors surrender—trusting life to unfold, trusting the Universe, God, or Source to carry you forward without constant effort.
You can focus more on the broader journey, not the mechanics.
It’s a more receptive state, where the vehicle becomes an extension of the road rather than something you must master.

The Balance

Both paths are valid.

Manual teaches mindfulness through mastery—like meditation, mantra, or disciplined ritual.
Automatic teaches presence through surrender—like prayer, stillness, or letting go.

Some days your soul needs the clutch. Other days, cruise control.
The question is:
Are you awake behind the wheel, or are you just going through the motions.

2025-03-09

The Resilience Loop: How Societal Patterns Inform Software Development Strategies

To compare the cyclical concept of “good times create weak people, weak people create bad times, bad times create strong people, strong people create good times” with the software development life cycle (SDLC), we can draw parallels between the phases of societal development and the stages of software development. Here’s how these concepts can be aligned:

Cyclical Concept vs. SDLC

1. Good Times (Prosperity) vs. Maintenance Phase

Good Times: In prosperous times, societies may become complacent, similar to how software in the maintenance phase can become outdated if not regularly updated. Both require vigilance to avoid stagnation.
Maintenance Phase: This phase involves continuous updates and fixes to ensure the software remains relevant and functional. Similarly, societies must adapt and innovate during prosperous times to maintain their strength.

2. Weak People (Complacency) vs. Planning Phase

Weak People: Complacency can lead to a lack of innovation and resilience. In software development, poor planning can result in a flawed project foundation.
Planning Phase: This phase sets the project’s direction and scope. Just as societies need strong leadership and vision during challenging times, software projects require clear objectives and resource allocation to succeed.

3. Bad Times (Challenges) vs. Testing Phase

Bad Times: Societies face challenges that test their resilience. Similarly, the testing phase in SDLC identifies and fixes defects, strengthening the software.
Testing Phase: This phase is critical for ensuring software quality by revealing and addressing issues before deployment. It mirrors how societies must adapt and innovate during hardships to emerge stronger.

4. Strong People (Resilience) vs. Implementation Phase

Strong People: Resilient individuals drive societal recovery and growth. In software development, the implementation phase transforms designs into functional applications, requiring skilled and motivated developers.
Implementation Phase: This phase involves coding and building the software based on design specifications. It requires strong technical skills and attention to detail, much like how strong individuals contribute to societal progress.

Key Takeaways

Adaptability and Innovation: Both societal cycles and SDLC phases emphasize the importance of continuous improvement and adaptation to changing conditions.
Resilience: Building resilience in software systems mirrors the development of strong individuals in society, both of which are crucial for overcoming challenges and achieving success.
Cycles of Improvement: Both concepts involve cycles where challenges lead to growth, and prosperity requires ongoing effort to maintain strength and relevance.

By integrating resilience and adaptability into both societal development and software development, we can foster systems and communities that are better equipped to handle challenges and thrive over time.

⁂

2025-02-05

Gratitude: Questions To Reflect On

What was one moment today that you felt grateful for, and why?
Name a person who helped you this week. What did they do and how did it make you feel?
What is something small that you often overlook, but truly appreciate when you think about it?
When was the last time you felt thankful for something unexpected? Describe what happened.
What is one way you can show gratitude towards someone this week?
Think about a difficult situation. Can you find something in it that you are grateful for?
What is an ability or skill you have that you are thankful for? How did it help you recently?
Reflect on your surroundings. What is something in your environment you are grateful for today?
Who is someone that you haven’t thanked recently but deserves your gratitude? Why?
What is something you’re looking forward to, and why are you grateful for it?

These questions can prompt players to reflect on various aspects of gratitude in their lives, from interpersonal relationships to self-awareness and appreciation of the mundane.