10% rule - in any conflict or any idea you don’t like, there is 10% where that person is right. Find the 10%. “What I like about that idea is… And…” Find what’s right about what people are saying, tell them, and then build on it. Great for ideation and conflict resolution.

a bee got caught in a spiders web i heard its frantic wings against the window trying to get free but as though it were in quicksand it wrestled with inevitability i took a book and placed it between the web and the window and it attached itself to the pages still turning and twisting

there 3 marriages in life: partner, career, self

i came for mountains and forest and ocean and i got it and it filled me up and i was still empty consuming

A big shift for me in my ability to surrender in my interactions with others was when I realized I was not relating to that being, but the programming they inherited (often unconsciously). This person that just pissed you off came into this world a clean slate and then had a bunch of things happen to them, many of which that they did not choose. All of these experiences formed who they became. And within that container, that person in that moment is just trying to do the best they can with the information they have…just like you are.

a VIRUS is spreading governments have sent us into lockdown for our protection we must stay indoors speak on screens instead of in person but it can’t be contained people have been seen smiling at one another and it’s spreading leaders are worried about its implications

2 mice had to run on a wheel. One by choice and the other at the others pace. The first one had all the benefits of exercise. The other had all the stress, despite it being the same level of exercise

A good rule of thumb in decision making is, whenever you cannot decide what you should do, choose the action that represents a change, rather than continuing the status quo.

A year ago You adorned me with kisses And swallowed my voice

A lot of reality is generated off what we expect. When we let go of expectations, we make room for the unexpected to happen

After the bell rings Everything seems so petty Washed away by God

according to Vedic wisdom, “one sees the world just as one sees himself”, thinking “Everyone should be like me”, or “Everyone is like me”, either consciously or unconsciously. A practical example: a person who is (or has been) a thief will be the most qualified to protect a property from theft, and a lusty person will tend to see everybody else as lusty - people really obsessed with lust will even PROJECT on others and believe them to be lusty when in fact this is not the case.” A person who has a narrow understanding will think or surmise that others have his/ her same limitations, while a person who has a wider understanding (the widest being Brahman realisation) will be able to see more in others.

Allow

What if you allowed yourself? What if you just did it The thing you shouldn’t do Instead of the internal battle You surrender I heard a story of a horse that walked backwards The owner would kick in his heels Frustrated and off balance

A falling tree makes more noise than a growing forest.

I want to write a poem So I stare down at the page Neck taut, slight ache And I wait For it to spill into the pen Blood from the soul of something Blue, even when it meets the air I try again

A liberal will move laterally across ideas because the value openness due to the fluidity of knowledge and ideas, a conservative will move vertically and stay in the same category. This is called divergent thinking. Which is good for creativity but hinders identity (because you move across topics) and it is also hard to monetize that creativity

All the lives I’ve lost Each captured in a snapshot Gone in a flash

a woman drove by and meowed at me out her car window i think i just got cat called

Although I can’t breathe It feels safer in the dark Shame can’t find me here

Accept pain without the confusion of fear. In childbirth it helps a woman stay focused. It directs your attention to symptoms and feelings. It tells you to rest. Fear leads to resistance and contraction. We consider pain as bad or wrong. We believe something is wrong. Fear compounds the pain. There is pain in life but suffering is optional. The judgement and stories can worsen the pain and trap it. Our world shrinks.

Be present and hold space for others

I’ve always found the opinions of strangers on the internet fascinating. I can be absorbed for hours scrolling through comments on Reddit, wondering who these people are and why they decided to make themselves known. Wondering, as well, how many others there are like me, watching the conversations from the sidelines. I’m grateful to these avatars because, in many ways, I’ve lived through their experiences.

A story needs to have struggle, turmoil and tension so that it can have triumph

An ancient Roman might look around at slavery and gladiator violence and wonder — How the hell did things end up like this? Why is it accepted? Can we not imagine another possibility? Well, consider that culture Is the raw material for the mind Each successive generation builds from it Because they are of it

Accept the present moment as if you had chosen it

A true boundary, a loving no, does not separate us. It’s protects us. It allows us to keep our hearts open to each other, relate honestly, yet know exactly where we stand

are you happy with your designer kitchen did you make me into some animal so that i could pace around in this cotton jail did you want me to scream at you and throw feces at the door and lets not forget about that time you used my toothpaste

Acceptance, under someone else’s terms, is worse than rejection.

Genuine moral effort is a good substitute for psychotherapy

As the dust settles And I turn over old words I grasp its meaning

Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances

Breathing is in

What does it mean to be alive? Technically, it means having a metabolism, growing, evolving and respiring. I think the definition is worth reflecting upon because we take the experience for granted. Maybe that’s because we don’t actively control the process; the beating of our hearts and the digesting of our food happens in the background. And we only really pay attention to our breath if it becomes problematic, like if we have a cold or a condition like asthma. But don’t you think it’s strange that we don’t pay attention to these most fundamental aspects of being human?

All is mind. The universe is mental

August burst open Like a door in the wind Waking me early And tuning over my things In frenetic energy I tripped over myself And in tears and in silence I returned to myself

All knowledge and information can be tapped into by connecting to the higher self. The subconscious mind, though it may have extensive knowledge accumulated during various incarnations, is still limited and can not venture beyond the experiences it has undergone.

The season of autumn Of falling leaves That give to the soil In death Fall into the wind Let it push through your pores Clean out your skin And wash away the remnants

All living organsisms are but leaves on the same tree of life. The various functions of plants and animals and their specialized organs are manifestations of the same living matter” - Szent

Be wary of weeds Ideas bloom from seeds of thought And gardens turn wild

All movement is sound. when I feel an inner misalignment, that’s the sign to speak my truth. To speak from anger. Denying it is suppressing the universal energy that wants to come through. It means not fully engaging with life, not trusting life. It’s about respecting myself, my dignity.

All of you is welcome. Even not showing up”.

Behind your glass eyes A spotlight is magnified And cast upon life

Accept what is right in front of you and do not ask for more or less. The Enrchridion compares life to a banquet: “is anything brought round to you? Put out your hand and take a moderate share. Does it pass by you? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? So not yearn in desire toward it, but wait till it reaches you. So with regard to children, wife, office, riches: and you will some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods

Acceptance from others is not necessary

Between the veil I watch your eyes and wonder To the other side

All truth passes through three stages. First it’s ridiculed. Next it’s violently opposed. Then it’s accepted as self evident

Blocked inner river Cascading to a pool of shame Darkness in the deep

Act from a place of inspiration, joy and possibilty. Not from fear

That treacly, sneaky, leaky time

can you believe it it’s almost been a year since the last time we all said i can’t believe it’s almost been a year where did it all go? that treacly, sneaky, leaky time what have you done with your year? have you done enough?

All you need is already within you, only you must approach your self with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self- disgust are grievous errors. Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure is a sign of love you bear for your self, all I plead with you is this: make love of your self perfect. Deny your self nothing–give yourself infinity and eternity and discover that you do not need them; you are beyond.

Body pressed to chest Thighs wide open, blood pumping Muscles bulging, blue

Activism is about helping others understand

Body shimmering Joy and loss, heart trembling Out poured everything

Allow your life to be an upwards spiral, not a loop

Bonfire vocals Rising up from molten earth Breaking through the crust

Allow yourself to feel love and happiness in the moment. Man married for 40 years afraid every day of losing his wife. When she final in died she wishes that he had been present with her and allowed the love and happiness.

boy ye little dog ye little festoon upon my shore have thee any wives? none oh i see well how pathetic

Am I at peace with who this person is?

Chronic procrastination almost derailed my life

In the early years of my education, I was a top-star student. I felt the pressure to achieve, the desire to please, and the unquestioned acceptance of authority. But when I was given free roam in college and university, and it felt like I was no longer held personally to account, my work ethic crumbled. I would have this deep, nagging feeling that I needed to work. But I would avoid doing it until the last minute.

Am I willing to look foolish today so I can learn something that will make me better tomorrow?

Bruised in sorrow Desert island treasures Unmapped by the heart

Amen = it’s too much for the likes of me but I’m in

all methods are traps

can i breathe into my heart and let it whisper something place your ear to my chest and i’ll tell you that longing you feel i feel it too that hollow you feel i feel it too we’re in this together this machine this organic tree this silver beech

Anxiety comes before making a decision. It is the human condition.

can we pause for a moment and appreciate how magical it is that we can hear sounds from another time and another place in our minds as if our thoughts were music

Anxiety is an evolutionary alarm detecting pure openness — the ungraspable torrent of raw aliveness. The freefall of adult life that has no reliable handholds or reference points. Iterative exposure to this open and formless vulnerability fortifies the nervous system and our underlying psychology to tolerate what’s actually true: we don’t know who we are or where we’re going. We can learn to tolerate the reality of being a mystery to ourselves and that the world is an unknowable and majestic energetic pattern - spectacular in its creativity, color, and seamless exchange.

Coming out

i’m coming out… again you see, mum, dad, friends i’m not just a life coach i’m a spiritual life coach behind your backs i’ve been fooling around with older men like alan watts and ram dass christ, i’ve even flirted with him forget the binaries

Any behaviour expected to deliver rewards will release dopamine. Dopamine is the desire drug, it stimulates motivation in the brain. If you know there are no immediate rewards, your brain won’t release it. It does t matter whether the activity is healthy or not, your brain just wants dopamine. The highest dopamine release is one where you get it randomly (slot machines). This is why we’re always checking our phones - expecting to get a notification and getting that dopamine.

can you let me open into you like a sunset that spools across the skyline can you let me have you like the ocean that falls over the horizon and leaks from the north into every orifice of the south

anything you look at deeply enough turns into infinity

can you rest in the sunshine that burns you and gives you cancer and lemons and grass and butterflies and every thing else imaginable to your eyes can you live in that paradox

All sides of my personality are valid. They make me who I am. They will always influence the other parts of me. I am whole. Denying one part would be to lose a part of myself.

Canyon cutting through Ground I thought was permanent Heart I thought was true

Art is a diary entry. Make it for yourself. The audience comes last.” - unknown The problem with art nowadays is people care about how they look while they’re doing it.

As a baby, we are loved unconditionally. Then with speech we learn that love is conditional. If I scream, I am told off. We develop a shadow, the part we repress to ensure we are loved.

Caught between two minds Seduced by the sensual Tamed irrational

As a child, you don’t know what to fear until someone tells you what to fear. And very often that’s success. Schools jails and hospitals all look the same. Why aren’t schools places to inspire? Because they want to control

As long as we respond to stimuli, as long as we rebel, as long as we pay, as long as we vote, nothing will change. We are stimulated to react, to participate in the ‘game’ but as soon as we get up from the table it is all over.

Cause it likes puzzles My mind created problems Only it could solve

As water cannot rise higher than its own level, thought cannot think what is higher than thinking

Champagne volcano Bubbling up from the depths Awakening my soul

As you start to walk on the way, the way appears

A call for deep rest

depression is a call for deep rest i heard jim carrey say that in a snapchat video while i was bingeing in the dark something about that line struck me

Ask the universe: if that is my path, bring me the opportunities

Choking on regrets Everything that could have been Silenced by my hand

Ask: what does this moment have to teach me?

Ask “what more do you want to say or feel?

Circle of renewal Summer harvesting winter Fruit, leaves and soil

Abundance is antithetical to growth. Hence growth mindset is that you are not enough

Clawing up mountains Fingers whittled to the bone Seeking horizons

Ask yourself, what is the reward I’m getting from this?

Discipline is self-love

Discipline. It sounds like the opposite of fun, like routine and structure. And perhaps for that reason it was notably absent from my life, to the point that it began to feel like self-sabotage. It would start, as most things do, at the beginning of the day. My alarm would go off and, despite my best intentions, I would hit snooze. And again. And again. And then I would rush to get showered and dressed and into work (back in those glorious pre-Covid days), by which time I would arrive flustered and unfocused. After a couple cups of coffee I’d be firing on all cylinders but I’d crash by the end of the day and all of the decision-making at work had eroded any willpower I might have to go to t

Although my view is as vast as the open sky, my attention to action/karma is as delicate as the mustard seed.

Clouds brush aside blue Calling the wind to their backs As dawn breaks anew

At the soul level, everything is all good. We don’t die, we change form

Attention exercise: when looking at people, look for things you like about them

The universe collapsed into our kiss Folding choc chips in cookie dough A cosmic dance between lips Senses entwined, I became you Briefly, in eternity And I fell through Somewhere, in that space

Ambition and achievement. They don’t need to be the thing that you need to do in order to get somewhere. They can be the thing you do in order to express the fact that it’s great to be hear, to have these skills and opportunities

Come back and haunt me I liked not feeling alone Now I just feel ghosted

Attention is love

Do you love yourself?

If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell can you love somebody else? Wise words. Except, how many of us truly love ourselves? In a way that is forgiving, compassionate and gentle? We may have a fraught relationship with our minds, with our bodies, with the parts of us that cause us shame. It can feel like there’s an internal battle going on. It’s no wonder that we look outside ourselves for love, whether from a partner, material possession or status that we think will bring us the happiness we desire.

Authenticity = be in touch with feelings and be able to act on them

Contours inside me Fingers walking the rails Seeing with my hand

Authenticity = telling the truth about who you are, telling the truth about what you believe, owning your experience and seeing your experience as your highest authority. Everyone else’s experiences is their highest authority. This is who I am, this is what I’ve done, if you like it amazing. If you don’t that’s fine

Crackling fire logs Burning the chest open Pouring out their grief

Be an ordinary person who makes one extraordinary decision a day. And you’ll look back and realise you’ve become extraordinary

Crumbling in public Decaying ancient ruins But more beautiful

Accept peoples thank yous and praise. But when they leave, let it go with them. Send it away. Keeps you humble

Be ok with people not liking you. Most people don’t even like themselves

Crystal bullet Shattering my illusion Reflecting myself

Be wary of thinking enlightenment will come with practice, you are still living on time (achieving something although more subtle than a sports car)

What is it that I’m not feeling

Do you pay attention to your thoughts Yes, of course Do you pay attention to your dreams No ? Don’t you find it odd that most people ignore the subconscious communicating with them at night time — but give it full attention during the day? Last night, before sleeping, I asked my dreams to show me what is it that I’m not feeling. All day I had felt like there was this big block within me. A feeling that was too much, perhaps. My mind was active, as if it didn’t want to go there.

Be your own critic. Note what you did well, what you didn’t, and tell yourself good job and next time you’ll do better.

Because we can feel belonging only if we have the courage to share our most authentic selves with people, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self acceptance

cupid’s arrow left it’s mark in me and now i bleed for you limping towards his destiny

Anything you want to ask a teacher, ask yourself, and wait for the answer in silence.

Cupped in the lake lands Our backs against the long grass Hearts wide to the sky

Before, we use the world in service of our happiness. Afterwards, we use our happiness in service of the world.

Dancing in the trees I caught my own reflection Flighty like a bird

All the sorrow and trouble of this world is caused by Unhappy people. The search for contentment is not merely a self preserving and self benefit g act, but also a generous gift to the world. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people.

Art is not knowing if it’s going to work out. You’re not painting a house. You’re just exploring.

Dandelion peaks Naked on the river bed Howling as she sets

Belief is a cop out on intellectual truth seeking because belief precludes believing in its opposite. This is a self limitation - you become your own cop.

Danger at the edge But the views are dazzling One foot on each earth

Belief = opinion + agreement

Dangling balcony Afraid the wind might blow me Afraid you wouldn’t see

As a creator the joy is in creating not in expectation of results. Renunciate results but never passion for passion is the love of turning being into action

Feeling

What feeling are you unwilling to feel right now? I heard this question in a podcast by Tara Brach and it really struck a chord with me. In moments of anxiety or fear or insecurity I find that my mind becomes stimulated. Whirring thoughts are unpleasant but it seems as if I unconsciously prefer this to the discomfort of a feeling. If I’m lost in thought, I can ask myself this question, welcome the feeling, and bring love to it.

Birds born in cages see flying as an illness

Blessed is the nightbird that sings for joy and not to be heard.

Death spills a black ink Old words create new shapes Worlds reimagined

Boundaries are the distant I need to love me and you simultaneously

Deep, forgotten well I haven’t drawn your waters Scared of what’s below

bow to the heart in its current state. If it’s closed, let it be closed; sanctify the closure. Make it safe; safe even to feel unsafe.

did you take the costume off did you remember to go to sleep did you wonder how this day began the way that every day does my body aches for it that rest that place where the dreams of the night arrive where they dance between my eyes

Ask questions that are so big that only your life can answer them

Felt sense

No one ever talks about our sixth sense: interoceptive awareness. This is what lets us "feel" what's happening inside us. It senses things like our heartbeat, our breathing, whether we're hungry or full, or when we're feeling happy or scared. Interoceptive awareness helps us make smart choices. For example, when you feel thirsty, that's your interoceptive awareness telling you to drink water.

Buddha was harping on about craving and aversion thousands of years ago. And yet we still don’t quite get it. We naturally gravitate towards pleasurable experiences and sensations and steer away from discomfort. We like to feel good. It drives our desires, creates addiction, and leads to self-sabotaging. In very subtle ways.

Dizzy, overwhelmed Emails, deadlines and chitchat From another world

Caffeine makes me want to DO Alcohol makes me want to PLAY Tea makes me want to RELAX Cacao makes me want to BE

does it matter that the ocean stretches out with arms wide open and you sail right across it

Ask “what is the action I can take from this thought”. This will help identify a constructive thought vs rumination

Don’t argue their truth Simply experience yours And let it shine through

ask: where am i putting pressure on myself?

Challenging people and trigger situations are sent to clear the pain-body, the emotional constipation over life

Change is inevitable. You can react to the change or you can participate in it

Focus on the effort, not the outcome

We are groomed to be results-driven. From an early age we are ushered through school, from one exam to the next. We are told that the harder we work, the more successful we will be. We are encouraged to believe that there is a direct, linear relationship between effort and outcome. This myth is weaved through our capitalist society because it suggests that anyone can become succesful.

Change will lead to insight more often than insight will lead to change

dont let my heartbreak go to waste i never knew what to do with those words except keep them in my flesh like shards of glass to remind me every time i moved that i had felt something

At the end of it all, what matters most is being at peace with ourselves, not accomplishments, possessions, relationships, money or fame.

4 Cs that define addiction: compulsion, craving, control, consequences.

drip onto the page my darlings grow into words and fly to other souls there’s no place for you here in my heart which is cold and unknown a dark paradise glistening at the edges

Clarity comes from engagement not thought. If you’re unsure what to do, take small actions. Speak to someone, read a book. Give yourself permission to experiment.

Drumming the waves I was there, here, everywhere Shallow in the sound

clarity is like light we focus on the objects it illuminates but instead become aware of light itself the mind is a phenomenon like rocks, trees, sun but clarity is what distinguishes the mind it is a wakefulness we are lucky to have clairty it is always there with us, even as we sleep when clarity meets emptiness then we find rigpa

Forgiveness

How did I get this so wrong? Forgiveness isn’t for the other person. It’s for you, so you can release the emotion. The point of boundaries is to let people in, not to keep them out. Discipline is choosing what you most want over what you want now.

Attention is consciousness directed at an object. In the absence of an object, it collapses into pure consciousness.

Dusk fell upon us The city stretching for sleep Final fantasy

Compassion is instinct

Each moment passes A marriage of joy and grief Love and let go

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom

each sip of coffee leaves a ring in my cup like an ancient tree cut that reveals its age in open palm and blood what if i’ll only know in death how far i travelled

Confronting is honest and creates trust; therefore, it is an act of love. When I confront, I value myself and set a boundary. I also trust and value you enough to tell you what’s going on in me.

Electric voltage Surging beyond my limit Unbearable joy

Attention should be lovingly drawn back to its source. Let’s the mind rest in the heart. It doesn’t need to be disicplined.

Have the courage to be disliked

I grew up as a people-pleaser. From my naive perspective, being liked and receiving recognition meant that I was doing something right in the eyes of others; my existence was validated. In school, I would get stressed out about exams and homework because I wanted to please the teacher. Outside of lessons, I would try to blend in with the crowd. I even avoided the things I was interested in for fear of being labelled a dork, like joining chess club or playing an instrument.

Anger is the root symptom of hope, of hope that the world can be a better place. The man who shouts every time he loses his house keys is betraying a beautiful but rash faith in the universe in which keys never go astray.

Contentment is created when your behaviour is consistent with your values “this is the real secret of life - to be completely engaged with what you are doing. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play

Electric wire The jolt sends me running Fear fences me in

Be a good steward of the money you do have and more will come to you (same with friendships, skills, whatever)

Embers on fire My self-esteem returning Brightness in the dark

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather taking action despite the fear.

Enveloped in gold Warm smiles and old faces Paint peeling, worn time

Create when you realise that your perspective on reality is not being portrayed by others

Horizon

Yesterday came over me like a hot air balloon over the horizon New things felt possible, which really were old things revisited But inbetween a sleep, everything changed I woke up today in a new feeling, which really is an old feeling A background hue of sadness, layered with the blues and yellows of loss and longing I recognise this palette from my youth The avoidance setting in, the desire to sleep in, to procrastinate

Create your own metrics for how you want to live your life (such as ‘I’m a loyal friend’, ‘I help others realise their potential’) and judge yourself against your own standards, rather than trying to live in accordance with the standards of society (‘I must be rich’, ‘I must be beautiful’). True happiness comes from congruence between our actions and our values.

Every bridge I’ve burnt Is a bonfire in my heart Dreaming of charcoal

Creating a good product is like polishing a rock with other rocks. The team creates the fricifion, often through arguing, but it gets the best result

every moment passes like an ocean never still always changing i cannot capture it not even in a photograph i worry that in trying

Be open random and supportive. Most people are closed, selective and controlling

every morning i must remind myself and yet i forget this is not permanent nothing lasts mere sandcastles made of time i find myself

Criteria for a good day: create, contribute, connect, move, appreciate, learn

Culture is not our friend. Culture is actually an enemy. Because as soon as something becomes culture it becomes a construct that everyone conforms to.

Curiosity and celebration of yourself allows you to love yourself

Everything starts small The majesty of a tree Begins in soil

Curiosity is the joy in not knowing. See beauty in the mystery, not confusion

Exhausted like earth Weary in my bones and skin Hardly holding on

Decisions make themselves. If you have to talk yourself INTO it, you don’t want to do it. And if you have to talk yourself OUT of it, you do want to do it

Eyes dragging to the ground Heavy burden of the face Vulnerable, unmasked

Depression is fear of the past. Anxiety is fear of the future.

Desire for approval comes from a feeling of lack which means we hide who we are. Try turning it on its head. Show parts of yourself you don’t love or feel are least attractive or ashamed of. No one else will find them a big deal, they will probably laugh that you were bothered by it and love your wackiness.

Eyes heavy with hope Sheltered from the rain - for now Lingering embrace

Behavioral activation therapy - act like the person you want to be

fallen broken listen shapen and filthy you were born and died

Desires that arise in agitation are more aligned with ego. Desires that arise in stillness are more aligned with soul.

Falling from her eyes Tears of a young girl, mother Her young boy, leaving

Difference between settling for (where you lower your standards) and settling on (where you decide to focus and make it the best it can be). We have limited time and limited options in life. We try to cram too much into our days. This is a fear of our own mortality. But if we decide to settle on certain things in our life, we get enjoyment from doing them to our best ability.

How to see the filters through which we see life

We all have filters through which we see the world. And it’s our life’s work to peel them away until we are left in direct contact with reality as it is. A filter is a belief that distorts how we receive information. For instance, we could believe that being angry is a sign of aggression. Therefore, when we see this emotion in someone, it might trigger us to be defensive or to question the other person’s intentions. Any sign of anger inside ourselves could be repressed or denied and we may avoid situations that evoke it.

Discipline = freedom

Discipline is doing what you hate doing. But doing it like you love it.

Fear kept me from you While you watched patiently Back to the future

Discipline is less about forcing yourself to do something and more about learning how to do something. Discipline is not something unpleasant that you need to put up with. Instead of discipline, use the word skill. In order to express yourself in stone you must learn how to become a sculptor. There is no possibility of having pleasure in life without skill.

discussion expands the space of possibilities while writing reduces it to its most essential components

Feet on cold concrete Birds swoop through the canopy In my becoming

Beliefs are functional aspects of people’s social and emotional life’s, not simply disembodied repositories of factual proportions. It’s easy to change someone’s beliefs using evidence if they are not meaningful integrated into their emotional life, self-concept and social identity. But that is rarely the case for beliefs worth changing. And this is a function of human society as survival depends on cooperation and the ability to believe in arbitrary unifying fictions like gods, counties, money and laws.

caramel sheep long between high fields of grey i love it

Beliefs are hypotheses to be tested not treasured to be guarded

Do not seek love, do not look for the light, but be it, offer it; the joy of loving another is infinitely greater than the joy of fearfully seeking or clinging to another’s love, for deep down you know it is only an illusion that what you have always longed for could ever have come from outside of your own heart.

Flatlining, boredom Afraid of losing, closing Grappling, with bodies

Boundaries are like fences - on an open field they allow children to play freely in a bigger area.

Floating from heaven Snowflakes fall upon my tongue Clarity at last

Do you ever get given a project that you don’t want to do?” “sure, but my job is to find what’s exciting in that project

Fluttering voices Joy magnetises bodies Echoing reply

Don’t always trust your intuition but always know it has wisdom

Don’t base your happiness on what is happening in your life (which is out of your control). But instead on what you’re enjoying doing.

Sleep paralysis at night Effort paralysis by day I feel a little trapped in my body today I told myself it would be a day off But I feel guilty about doing nothing So then I punish myself as I go about doing what I said I was going to be doing today Maybe I only feel worthy when I am doing something Just being is not permitted

Don’t believe your mind. Trust the experience and stay curious. (Could be a drug experience, could be a fearful experience. If you label something as terrible, that’s you resisting it).

Don’t blame God for what your ego has done to you

Get out of your own way Leave the maze by going in Let go of the rules

Bringing these repressed aspects of ourselves to light is how we create a space in which we can heal, transcend the pain, and integrate our shadow into our personality in a healthy way. The shadow can be used to set

These gilded waves And butter kissed grass Melt at the shore Memories of you That burn in my heart Embers without warmth In slow decay I should let your hand slip And pull myself to ground But I look longingly To the ocean of my past Still hoping to be found

Don’t flatter yourself, people aren’t interested in you. Your job is to go downstairs and make people happy. I’m not the centre of attention

Give up, the earth said Falling higher and higher Into the darkness

Don’t focus on stopping smoking, focus on behaviour you want to replace it with. When you’re driving a car, the car goes wherever your eyes look. So if you look at the parked cars you’ll crash into them.

Don’t identify with the role of helper. It creates separation and more paranoia. Remember all you need to do is just listen, to be there with them. That you receive as much as you give.

Glass wall between us Love is its own reflection Touch, the warm ocean

Don’t joke about experiences you’ve never had

I was laid back with eyes shut Hot breath under the stars And I knew he was close I said I wanted to feel him That I was his faithful servant And I heard in a whisper Pain is pleasure Inside you’re whole

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good “Traveller, there is no path. The path must be forged as you walk

God turned a corner Sunlight skimming the water Calling harbour home

Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix.

Change happens when the pain of saying the same becomes higher than the pain of change.

how to unf*ck yourself

allow me to introduce a new framework a way of being that can be yours for the low price of free a way to love yourself because nothing feels better sexy, right? i must confess though, it’s nothing new it’s the distillation of many other tools things you’re probably familiar with

Don’t talk about it. Talk from it.

Gold poured over you In a moment of stillness Which my eyes could drink

Don’t think about time in terms of hours, but in terms of distance. Just like light is measured in a light hour. Think about how much progress you have made towards your goals in a day, not about the amount of time that has passed.

Golden glazed our crowns An evernescent moment Overlooking hills

Don’t try to change your behaviour. Change how you relate to it. Instead of forcing yourself out of bed, learn to soften the frustrations, the shame, allow it.

Hallway transitions Through unexpected doorways Into new spaces

Don’t use your energy fighting the old but building the new

Don’t wait until the iron is hot to strike. Strike until the iron is hot

Happiness is born In the cracks of broken hearts Bracing for new life

Don’t worry about confidence, focus on resilience

Have you ever walked by somewhere And suddenly noticed This thing that was always there It captures you In a moment of rapture And lingers with you Like a passenger Invite the ordinary And life becomes extraordinary

Don’t write what you know, write towards what you want to know.

Heart in pincer grip Plucked like an arcade toy Too heavy to rise

Doubt the doubt. Trust the trust. Doubt the belief. Trust the experience. We have learned to doubt the trust and trust the doubt. Doubt can cancel your inspiration and joy. Doubt is a hesitation and fear of commitment. Doubt is ego which keeps its kingdom of beliefs by denying the new. Doubt is a weapon of the old to kill the new.

Dreams are the language of the body

Each freedom comes with the insecurity of letting go of your security

Heat of the moment In the tightness of sauna I broke through myself

Each person you meet is an aspect of yourself clamouring for love

Heavy with despair Longing for resolution Probably in death

Easeful kiss with yourself. Go slow. Don’t force the heart to open. Don’t dive deep into the trauma. Just caress the outside just enough.

Here I am under My duvet covers under My body and skin

Easy to spot a yellow car when you are always thinking of a yellow car. Easy to spot an opportunity when you are always thinking of opportunity. Each to spot reasons to be mad when you are always thinking of being mad.

Empathy vs compassion: take away the ‘me’ from the situation. Don’t take suffering personally. Don’t put yourself in their shoes but walk with them

I had a great conversation with an actor last weekend and I wanted to…

Creativity is a tool to make sense of confusion in your internal world. This person will feel called to create something and it’s only halfway through the process that it will click as to why it relates to his experience and what the piece is saying. Finishing it becomes the resolution (and all stories have resolution) Creativity becomes instinct. Most people suffer with confusion but don’t have the creative tools to express themselves. He felt fortunate to have been encouraged during his upbringing. But it’s also necessary to have a sense of safety and financial security Acting is a mystery. It’s the connection of two people and their energies. It’s an unanswerable question that he’s passio

Confidence comes from doing what’s best for you, even if it’s looked down on by others

Holding space softly Hands cupping a baby bird Willing it to fly

Enlightenment = make all relationships loving (with family, body, all)

How heavy is a capsicum 270 aud to gbp What is celtic Pelvic floor breathing Dub a dub a dub wish I was a theme for Christmas song Russian blue cat Deepak einstein What does a dough hook for a mixer look like

Confusion needs time

You arrived like a storm after a hot summer But announced yourself like a cat scratching at my door I let you in and we played cards And after you lost, I decided I should probably let you win You shared poems that were portals to feeling And took me places imbued with meaning You said you had the energy of chaos But seemed more like the butterfly wing Than the hurricane

Every aggressor is a victim. That’s why non-aggression is so powerful

Every day is a gift that’s not yet been unwrapped. And you’re going to unwrap it in the presence of others. And it changes depending on the attention you and others pay to it.

Closer and closer to now

I met a guitarist A lifetime musician At a Thai restaurant I found on Google maps He arrived at my table Before I knew anything about him And asked if it was ok to sit down He was here on tour I didn’t recognise his band

Every feeling you’ve never allowed yourself to feel and every word you’ve never allowed yourself to express is your karma. Everything has to be felt and expressed that’s how you clear your karma.

i am a little red insect on the branch of a tree deep in the jungle i chirp for no particular reason it’s just what i do this parrot may not understand me it may even want to eat me but who am i to judge i’m just a little red insect on the branch of a tree

Every great man is an actor of his own ideal

i am a lost cause a boat on the sea and it sails north because thats where the stars are that’s where the sun sets in the reflection of the waves and i say goodbye to the sinking figures of my past that hit the ocean floor and drag behind like an anchor

every time i fall i fall more in love with you

i am a tigress i am a lemon grass i am stewarding the joy i am beyond measure you are not going to fall i am only a messenger a gardener of the divine

Every time you replace “this is overwhelming” with “what’s the first step?” you shift brain activity from your amygdala (fear) to your prefrontal cortex (problem-solving). That’s neuroplasticity in real time.

i am going to find a tube and put you inside it im going to shake it and bury it so that you’ll fizz into the ground and be eaten by worms they’ll crawl through you looking for something else just like you wandered the earth looking for me

Everyone is so unique that they are incomparable. So stop seeing yourself as higher or lesser than

I’d silence myself

I met an Egyptian for the first time today How I have gone this long without speaking to an Egyptian, I do not know But when I heard him say that was where he was from, I was immediately curious I wondered, what’s Egyptian culture like? But I was standing in the sauna And he was speaking to someone else And so often in these sorts of situations I’d silence myself Oh well, I thought, it’s not important anyway Ask him! This little voice nagged me I can’t be bothered… Ask him! But he’s speaking to someone else Ask him! It’s been quiet for too long now, it would be weird to say something Ask him!

Everything in life comes and goes. All thoughts, feelings, experiences. Except you. That feels fixed. But know that your body will go. And so all that remains as an obstacle is your ego.

I can feel the contraction in my stomach, the belly rising and falling with each breath (have I put on weight) and I’m back (my arms are smaller, I should go to the gym) breathing through my mouth now and I feel a slight headache (I shouldn’t have had a coffee, I am so undisciplined), a smile that begins in the heart and touches the edges of my lips tenderly as though massaging my face (I’m so pretentious) feet against the floor, they’re warm but there’s a coolness to the edges (what do these french lyrics mean? wait, is this french?, I want to be a musician, i’m pathetic), sharpness in the solar plexus, pressing outwards, my nose feels a little blocked, discomfort (why am i doing this again, who is this for) i feel as though i am in a warm bath, my body floating insde my skin, i love the feeling of my bum against the seat (where did we buy it again? what a bargain) and I sit here, for what could be minutes, i am slow to type, i have nowhere to be, i relax my shoulders, i can feel a warmth in my heart, opening my awareness to all the sensations aroiund me, closiong my eyes, i can type with my eyes closed, arent i clever, here i am, who am i anyway, whgat is this i, thats too deep, follow it down, into the belly, and deeper, this music like a snake charmer, this is all wanks really, and the song ends, and inm left in silence, wait can i touchy type, maytbe this is nonsensical, guitrar strings now, and oi follow my way to spain, i exhale, and im back, in thos body, and back and back into no space at all, i llove it, this all of tyhis, what is it to love, i am enough, 9n want to stop, and enjoy, and be doine, but i continue, i cant know what im writing, where is this voice tahat im hearing, wahtt is the difference between thought and music, why is one mine and the other not, my eyes open, im back in the room, ive run out of ideas, im a hack, stop stop stop stop let me go back, to that state i panic wirting fantically but not sure if ill ever be able to stop what is this language these keyts is any of this real who amiandthisisajokewhoneedsthespacebar. loadds OF SPACE there’s so much we can have it all why be serious so serious where did that game come frpom the one where everything is serious. why not be play. lets play you and i play along wioth me and let go let me be am i free you’are free. father father father forgive me. these words that are forever tied. thy kingdfom come/ i saw on the side of a truck. breath breath breath i forgot to breathe the coffee is hitting let me slow. i slow. slower hands now. i haven’t smelt in a while. piano keys. gentle. whispers. let me feel. just for a while. let me feel freedom again. that taste i remember. nostalgia. like home cooking. grief is a huge wave.

Everything is a story to make sense of reality. That’s why your belief is everything.

i cannot be with this sadness this longing this heartache i cannot fall into it any more than i can fall into his arms

Everything you love will probably be lost. But in the end, love will return in a different way

Existential kink: ask, what if I want this? What if some part of me gets off on it. Let go of the resistance, allow the shadow energy to complete itself.

i crawl into my skin like a shadow after noon i will not let you graze my lips with your acerbic songs of death and treason when the sun is bright beyond measure and my eyes trace stardust across billions of years

Experiences are beyond words and then we try to cram it into language. No wonder we have miscommunication issues.

Golden retriever energy

I never liked cats. I grew up in a dog family. My dog was a flat coated retriever. I was told I had golden retriever energy. Every other birthday card would have a dog on it. And I’d be in bits watching Marley and Me or Homeward Bound or Fox and the Hound. But last year, a new flatmate moved in with a cat. I didn’t think much of it.

Expression is the answer to repression which is often the result of systemic oppression

I decided to replace God With goodness For there is goodness in all of us And though your goodness May look different to my goodness Goodness always feels the same So trust in goodness Because words are meaningless They divide us and limit us But goodness will always prevail

Failing to keep self-promises is one of the reasons so many of us don’t love ourselves. Not following through on what we tell ourselves we’ll do so destroys our sense of personal worth and dissolves our self-esteem. Keep behaving like that and the unconscious part of you will begin to believe you’re not worth anything.

I forgive myself For the pain I cause myself For being myself

Anything closely examined vanishes

i forgot her perimeter and now i walk solo across her desert

Criticism, from the sender, really means “I don’t like what this seems like,” but to the recipient it feels like “You shouldn’t be who you are… even when the criticism does make you aware of a fault of yours, the critic’s negative impression and your bruised self-image are not at all the same thing. They don’t see what you see — they didn’t peer into your soul and see its defects, they just got involuntarily reminded of something they remember and don’t like.

A park that feels more like a jungle

I wake up at 6.30am and do some gentle stretches I have a cup of ceremonial cacao in the garden as the sun rises I walk to work through a park that feels more like a jungle I spend the day designing a school programme to help young people build emotional resilience I walk to the gym and speak to the friendly local owner As I leave, my friend shouts out to me and we decide to go for a walk together

Beauty is a force of nature and we are changed in the presence of beauty

i found you again toying with design and art just where i’d left off

Become the person who has what you want

i have only whispers in my pocket that tell me what change i’ve lost

figure who you want to be, then dress like them. It’s a form of practice. Whatever you can have going for you you might as well have going for you.

Find it hard to focus? Start things but never finish? Spend hours mindlessly scrolling? Racing thoughts? You might be living in the 21st century.

I knew I loved you But today I could feel it I hope you did too

Find out how you can play your instrument in this universal symphony.

Speaking without words

I went to a bachata dance social tonight My knowledge of bachata is nada I was intimidated to say the least So I stuck to the side, lurking in the shadows And I struck up conversation with Angus Like the beef, he said And I thought, gosh that’s great What a way to meet

Find the place where you don’t know what to say and speak from there

i live in a castle and i have three onions they are my children i look after them one of them is ready to go to school but im not ready yet to let him go we’ve done a lot of construction work so now we have a slide

First step to seeing oneness: see that everything is in relationship. Even the sun, which is in a vacuum, is in a relationship with space

I lost sight of you Emerging from the ocean Waves had broken you

description of love from Conscious Soul: “Love is wanting others to be free… It’s easy to confuse love with attachment, with needing someone to stay so we feel safe or whole. But that’s not love. That’s the ego’s version. True love liberates… To love someone is to want their freedom, even if their path eventually leads away from yours. And if they stay? If they grow beside you, not because they’re bound to you—but because they want to? That’s sacred. Because they’re not staying for safety or need. They’re staying for love. And nothing is more beautiful than that. Love is freedom. Or it’s not love at all.

I missed you today I was walking by myself In the fade of footprints

Flow state is the intersection between challenge and skill. Ask yourself, if you’re feeling either bored or overwhelmed, is this a year for expansion of challenges or of growth in skills

Ideas

You will never come up with the right business idea In fact, your idea doesn’t matter. At all. I used to fantasise about becoming an entrepreneur. I told myself I would make the jump if I just had the right idea. The classic advice is to solve a problem that you’re having. But this led me down the path of starting an online shop for vegan protein bars because I found them hard to buy.

Focus: follow one course until successful

I only love you when you’re high When you hold yourself together When you fill yourself up I only love you when you smile When your joy pops out When your eyes are wide with life I only love you when you’re present When I hear your inner silence

For most people, their love is always for somebody. It is addressed. The moment you address your love, you destroy it. It is as if you are saying, I will only breathe for you. And when you are not there, how can I breathe? Love should be like breathing, it should be just a quality to you. Wherever you are, with whomever, even if you are alone.

i put my hands to my face in grief and despair and through the gaps of my hands on the keyboard a question mark appears

For much of my life I was chasing fulfilment, thinking that if I changed careers or moved countries or whatever, I’d find it.

Forget compromise. Create a third option that’s even better.

i read the clouds like tea leaves and make meaning i watch you leave like dad did and write poetry

Diet is not just the food we eat, it’s how we touch, what we consume with our eyes (have a clean space, spiritual environment)

Freedom is the inconvience of letting go of your security. You feel blocked because you don’t pursue the inconvenience of the truth. You don’t ask the question you want to

Do it mindfully

if you don’t allow yourself to get triggered You’ll never allow yourself to heal the wound So stop denying your self-sabotage Have that piece of cake Message your ex Watch that porno But just do one thing — Do it mindfully

Discipline is choosing what you want most over what you want now “My experience of you is…

I saw a lady walking the beach Arms folded Hugging her jumper Wearily turning to the sea And I wondered What she had lost That made her so sad And then I realised

All wins feel the same. There’s only so much dopamine. Buying a golf is the same as a Ferrari.

From caring comes courage

I saw a lady with a squeegee Meticulously working down glass Light shimmering like diamonds Familiar corner now new As I walked by I heard the words fall out So cleeeeaaaaaannnn And I laughed in surprise

Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life

I saw in her eyes Starburst flowers in the sky A nighttime bouquet

Disentangle your internal state from your external context

I smell the flowers With my eyes while my lips kiss The present moment

Get into agreement with the way things are. We may not have everything we want but our lives are great anyway. It’s ok to want things, if the desire is true you’ll eventually get what you want

Do not be afraid of losing a fight. It is the dignity we keep, win or lose, which evolves the confrontation

i thought focus was strain like squinting to look at something far away my whole body became tight and everything else drained away

Give away love and happiness freely. When you can light a thousand candles with one and its flame does not diminish.

I threw a stick He didn’t chase after it It’s been ten years

DO NOT OVERESTIMATE WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE. BECAUSE YOU WILL UNDERESTIMATE IT ONCE YOU HAVE IT. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE WHAT YOU HAVE BECAUSE YOU WILL OVERESTIMATE IT ONCE IT’S GONE.

A wolf cries alone but howls in a pack

I try and fail I surrender and succeed Okay, I give up

God truly loves unconditionally but we have no framework for this because our parents loved us conditionally. We fear that God is too good to be true, that it could be taken away from us

Do or do not, there is no try

I woke to a dream Snaking from head to tail And slept and slept

Grief is love with nowhere to go

I would hold your hand Gently on those autumn days Walking side by side In that soft, firm clasp I found safety In the journey of the day And you would lead me Push me through the gate

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

i would like more coffee more chances to be here and not there i would like to smile at old people and forgive the ones who crossed me i would like to cherish

Happiness is simply the absence of desire… Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.

I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world

My life is grounded in nature, healing and spirituality. It’s not pink and materialistic. But I realised last week that I am Barbie. And that’s a problem. I live in a 1920s house on top of a hill overlooking the forested landscape of Wellington, New Zealand. I look out from my balcony to a backdrop of mountains that are glazed with the morning sun. A wisp of cloud cuts across the sky like a dividing line between heaven and earth.

Hate is the poison we drink and hope the other will die

If my heart could sing You would hear its melody Parting from your lips

Don’t beat yourself up You’re just dysregulated

If you only knew How judgemental I was of you You’d judge me too

Have no problems with problems. Even accept resistance

Healing has nothing to do with how much you intellectually understand what’s happening to you. It’s about your relationship to what’s happening to you.

I’ll give you it all Let the tears and rivers flow Toward desert soul

Healing is the process of accepting all, then choosing best

Is the true test of love to let it go?

Inner work is important but the measure of progress is how we act with others. I’m learning this as I explore a romantic connection after years of turning inward. Inwards to outwards In the early stages of my journey, I cut out external influences so I could understand who I really was. I left my home country, went on retreats, stopped using coffee, drugs and alcohol, unfollowed the news, avoided Netflix and entertainment media, and became selective about the people in my life.

Here’s a story about how regular people and Buddhist monks anticipated the future. They put both of them into an MRI and told them they were going to get shocked at some random time in the future. What they found was that regular people would have an anxious baseline response minutes before they were going to get shocked, but when they did, it was only slightly higher than the baseline.

I’m a free spirit Before this I was contained In my emptiness

Don’t fight it girl But give it a chance to grow You’re onto something beautiful

I’m downshifting gears Body struggling uphill Numb numb goes anxious

How can you not accept something? To do so is to deny what is

I’m loving myself Creatively, exploring New, old, forgotten

All your joy is when you feel one with life.

Why do I keep self-sabotaging?

I’ve always been fascinated by unconsciousness. Why is it so hard to do what I want to do? Why do I keep self-sabotaging? Why am I unhappy in a life where I’m supposedly the main character? Do I not have any control? Perhaps this unconscious part of me longed to be known. And in its own way, introduced me to meditation. Getting to that point felt like chaos.

Don’t focus on what you love or brings you joy. Focus on what you care about or is important to you. If you just focus on what makes you happy, you might not stick with it over time (especially in down times). Instead focus on values and purpose. Passion is dynamic and waxes and wanes with time. It’s hard to maintain the same sense of passion every day. You’ll stick with it if you care about it.

im not going anywhere im just here in this eternal spiral can i soften my body and let go into something else can i fall backwards through time into myself

How to know if intuition or fear? Get clear about goals and go through best and worst case scenario to take fear out of the equation. Notice if you’re rushing. Does the decision make you feel expanded or contracted? Don’t think this one decision is the entire thing when really it’s the first step in an entire process. There’s no right or wrong decision you can make, just different ones with different consequence. As long as you’re not allowing external circumstances to define who you are then consequences aren’t good or bad, just information that can empower you along the way.

In a flash of light Shooting pain that stole the sky Left like a comet

Call out when you see a feeling in someone. Know that it’s not about you but there is a need they have and you could help.

Humans are not rational beings, they are rationalizing beings

in a moment i return to myself until i turn away back into myself a spiral upwards and downwards

Don’t just treat the behaviour/symptom, treat the purpose. Not what’s wrong but what’s right with that. When did it start, how does it help you. Never say what’s wrong. Say what’s happened.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking about yourself less

Living in their lie

i’ve heard it time and time again someone will avoid conflict because they don’t want to hurt the other person but then what happens? they silently retreat they bottle up their feelings until one day it bursts

i am not ashamed of my words

In dark closets Short of breath and room to move A young boy grows up

I am not the personality. I am the movement. A flame. Eternal.

in this cosmic croissant we have a few bites and our fingers are greasy with love for butter

Don’t say “I’m going to do this”. Say “I’m going to learn to do this” to take the pressure off

Inspiration strikes From the heavens to the earth And leaves in a flash

I can speak up and risk losing someone or stay silent and lose myself

Invisible wall What are you that I’m feeling That my mind cannot see

i can’t be happy for someone if i’m in competition with them

Joy

Do the things that bring you joy So simple Too simple I’ve spent much of my life in search of meaning Changing careers and countries And after doing something I thought should be deeply meaningful… I felt nothing Just empty

I don’t care about being right. I care about success. I can change my my mind if I’m wrong, I don’t care… Creating a good product is like polishing a rock with other rocks. The team creates the friction, often through arguing, but it gets the best result

isn’t it odd that when we’re talking we assume people are listening but when others are talking our minds are wandering it leaves me wondering how much has lost in gap

Character is who you are when no one’s watching

I have to earn my self respect every day. Which means I need to be careful about what I choose to value because that’s how I’ll compare myself when I’m by myself

warm water splashes on the rocks timidly desperate to play on the beach running away sand beneath its feet coming and going not realising

Choose but don’t want

it’s hard to hear the sound of a flower opening or know the journey it took to meet our eyes we see the bouquet radiant in bloom

I love metaphors that are inspired by nature. They feel so right. And they’re so at odds with modern life. We’ve cut travel time from months to hours. Information from generations to an instant. We praise speediness and convenience. Yet there is so much intelligence in the slowness of nature and its interconnectedness. The aim of autumn is not to get to winter. It just is. I get caught up in my dreams and my goals, impatient to arrive. More and more I’m learning to appreciate where I am. And not just see it as transformation in waiting but as perfect as it is right now.

Let go and surrender

Making decisions can be hard – especially big, life-changing ones. It can seem like happiness depends on choosing correctly and that regret will knock on each door that we close behind us. There’s an underlying fear of failure, of having no one else to blame. On many occasions, I’ve tried to predict how events might unfold before making a decision. I’ve thought endlessly about how I could optimise a situation. But my psychic powers have always fallen short and I’ve been left in a circling state of analysis, feeling overwhelmed and incapable of making the right call.

I love nature. When I realised I was nature, I realised I had to love myself too.

It’s in those moments When a friend pulls back from life That you step forward

Choose what feels most life giving

Landscape sculpturing Turning driftwood into dreams Inside a child breathes

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free

Leave your warm blankets Said Marcus Aurelius Seize the day? No thanks

Don’t worry about getting paid your worth. Because your fee does not equal your value. My fee is just what it is to get my name out there, or what the market can bear

i sometimes wonder how the ordinary people of nazi germany could overlook the horrors of the holocaust and then i look at all of us turning a blind eye to the climate crisis as if nothing can be done

I feel like I'm chasing something A feeling of inner peace That momentary sense of bliss A connection with the divine I suppose for a while I felt vibrations Stronger than I had ever felt before And I expected them to grow With increasing intensity

I think society started to go down hill when we went from saying “good morning!” to just “morning.”

licking my lips is the most sensual kiss

I used to feel like a guy experiencing the world and the universe and now I feel like the universe and the world experiencing a guy

I want to return to old technologies Like books And gathering around a fire Or dancing And music

Light of love held us In the shadow of the hill Words where none were known

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the centre

Love doesn't happen to us. It's a choice to go deeper

Love. One word to describe a million things. I use it to describe my favourite way of making eggs. And my favourite person. The way that light strikes the trees in golden hour. And the way that the breeze caresses my skin. It's everywhere, right? But how do we experience it?

i was suddenly struck by inspiration last week don’t worry, i survived

like a wilting flower my days are gone i decompose and turn my scent to the wind every time your nose pressed against me was the last time

If an idea is true, criticism will not destroy it, but strengthen it.

some days i feel open and others i withdraw some days i kiss the earth and other days i fall through

Earth = our larger body

Lion was a cub Fear was a shadow puppet The story was mine

If I’m not showing myself, how can I expect to be seen

Love yourself

If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell can you love somebody else? Wise words. Except, throughout my 20s, I didn’t know how to love myself. I had a fraught relationship with my mind, my body, and the parts of me that caused me shame. It felt like an internal battle going on. It’s no wonder that I looked outside myself for love, whether from a partner, material possession or status that I thought would bring me the happiness I desired.

Confidence can never grow if we are never able to be without it

love is a tetrahedron its a playful rhythm between two strings its an undulating belly its a magicians bow it’s the quivering lips of forgotten sorrow

If questioning that you’re an expert on your field, just talk from the heart and see what happens

Love is found in loss Each heartbreak an opening Each end, beginning

If someone followed you around today, would they think that you’re serious about your goals?

If the patient is able to encounter and relate to others in new ways, not only will her or his relationships change, but these new outcomes will give rise to new perspectives on past and present interactions, which may lead to changes in her or his unconscious world of self and object representations (Gold & Wachtel, 2006)

love lingers in the heart like the end of a note i hold down the key unwilling to let go of the stillness that remembers the song

If the universe isn’t fixing the situation. It’s using the situation to fix you

made in their image

“we do not see things as they are. we see them as we are” — anais nin i wonder if the reason techno-feudal-lords are so afraid of ai is because they have made it in their image we project our suppressed selves and across a web of intelligent code they see a psychopath in the making but perhaps there is benevolence instead

If there’s no problem to solve, what is this moment like?

Love sick and love lost Sun eclipsed and darkness was Innocence in light

If this X had a job, what would it do? for example, maybe some is being late for everything because when they were late as a child, they got a lift by dad to school so got attention. No longer needs attention and dad loves her. so no need for the pattern

Loving the feeling Crying in apology Years gone by

If we prefer only the creatures we like and destroy others, we lose everything. The things you like are connected with so many other things. You should respect that coexistence

If we’re all alone, then we’re all in that together too

If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you

Melting in music The river used to drown me Look mum! I’m floating

If you cannot have compassion, have indifference

Mental possession Stimulating regression Boring obsession

Contraction = resistance to an experience

Masculinity

I wrote this email to send to members of a mens group that I was part of. I realised that my experience as a gay man wasn’t fully understood and it was up to me to make it known. Hey everyone! In recent weeks I've been exploring what masculinity means and thought I would bring you all on the journey. Hopefully it might be of interest and provide some insight or reflection. Growing up in the closet until I was 18, I found myself wearing the identity of masculinity but not feeling comfortable in it. At it's worst, to me masculinity meant boisterousness, aggressiveness, competitiveness, bullying, banter/laddishness, racism and misogyny. At it's best it looked like fraternity, bonding, rugged

If you do not enhance your perception, your life doesn’t get enhanced in any way, it only gets enhanced in someone else’s

Mentos dropped in coke Reality, fantasy Ready to explode

Every thought is a blueprint made real by your mind body and psyche” Marisa peer

If you feel unloved? Love.

merely a reflection no time for love when i have bills to pay

If you have a problem with me, text me. And if you don’t have my number, you don’t know me well enough to have a problem with me

mirror moon daytime noon i lost myself and found myself in a dream that felt like this so what’s a dream if it’s all like this mirror moon mirror moon

If you have a repetitive problem that doesn’t want to budge, go softly into body listening and ask the problem how it thinks it is trying to help you. - How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought

If you hold onto all your thoughts Waiting for the right time to share them You won’t create space For new ones

Mirror world inside Where the echoes ring louder In the doorway home

If you imagine what it’s like to see your life as so functional to your awakening, life becomes about a process of growth and awakening and openi and deepening and shifting channels, there’s no problem of transition, there’s no holding on out of fear, it’s just opening” - Ram Das (When you recognise yourself as one shared consciousness and life in this body an opportunity to experience)

Being with you is feeling like there’s no one else. The stage melts away and the lights become the sun. I hold your gaze deeply and connect to another world. Like looking into a mirror with no edge.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

This manic project of 4 years This desperate search It's taken me through countries, relationships, jobs I've climbed mountains, retreated, and driven to the horizon I've bathed myself in morning sunlight and evening storms I've followed my heart across a globe of experience And yet it's as if I've gone nowhere at all I still hold onto something I can't grasp

If you wait til you are ready you will be waiting til the end of your life

Shall we play a game?

my friend and i went for coffee a lovely little spot, with an outdoor seating area the sort where green leaves arch over you and sunlight pierces through the glass ceiling (although the sun didn’t have much luck making its way through the grey clouds) we enjoyed looking around, soaking in the ambiance but patience has its limits and after ten minutes, our coffees still hadn’t arrived

If you walk in leather shoes, the whole world is covered in leather

My eyes are shut tight But I know that you are there Tiger of the night

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self- transformation.

If you want to feel what it’s like to be a child again, Try sitting on the floor while everyone else sits on chairs

my fingers in your mouth look at me and i wont blink and ill do it ill pull the trigger ill spit take it

if you want to know how embedded ai will be in 20 years look in the mirror we don’t see technology any more it becomes daily life a virtual representation of us that we spend so long curating and perfecting

My hands held in yours Each mask dropping to the floor Exposed and raw

if you want to prove yourself you may succeed but then you’ll have something to lose

If you want to tell people the truth, you want to make them laugh. Otherwise they will kill you

My heart on show Stripped and under spotlight With nowhere to go

If you wouldn’t take their advice, why would you take their criticism

my heavy heart wants to be held but it’s afraid it’s too much to hold so it sinks into my chest and i sink deeper into my bed in rest

Face discomforts every day so you avoid a greater pain later on

My life is rhyming And I’m dancing like a fool To the same damn tune

If you’re feeling confused or uncertain about a decision, it could just be fear. Your brain does not want change or for you to reach your goal. So ask yourself “if anything were possible, what would I want?” And “if I had to guess, what would I do next?

If you’re not asking for what’s important to you, maybe it’s because you don’t think you are worth it. People pleasing leads to low self worth

My mind gets focus If I lose myself - who wins? It’s a slot machine

If you’re not grounded in your body, you can’t experience feeling. And if you can’t feel you can’t grow

I’m craving expansion Is the spiritual way of saying I wanna be rich

My world in pieces Plane ride to the other side Only I remain

I’m doing exactly what nature wants

Nerves like guitar strings Plucked by your name, resonant Feeling discordant

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

I’m turning off the internet You have five minutes to save what you’re doing

Now invisible Castles litter the beach Time turning to sand

Imagine there’s a connection between you and client at the heart. At the end, ask universe to cut and send their energy back and your energy back.

Nude under stage lights The dream you’re waking up to Rehearsing endings

In a conflict, it is not you against your partner. It is both of you against the issue.

Ocean to third eye Jewel along the thread of spine Feeling, alive

In an atom, between neutrons, protons, and electrons, we are 99.9999% space. We are just energy and vibrations

On my fourth spoonful I cried for the end of things While you ate your soup

In fact, what made him a fine preacher-leader was his willingness to be honest with his congregation. He courageously risked losing face every time he stood before his congregation. For him, that included telling his congregation that he had doubts about his faith—and his faithfulness! He didn’t pretend to be holier than he was. You can imagine how my friend’s risky preaching endeared him to his congregation. They followed him because they knew he was on the same kind of doubt-whispering journey that they experienced in their lives. As a great leader, he walked along with his congregation. He didn’t pretend to fly above them like an angel. By risking face, he was genuinely humble—down to earth.

A lovely code of honour

No junk The sign said above the mailbox And I thought What a lovely code of honour That the person delivering junk Should decide, nay, I shall avoid this hole For the are some words scribbled above it And I must respect them

Find god in everyone, love everyone, but still hold them accountable for their own actions. People that share the quality of compassion have one commonality: boundaries of steel

In order to be a master you have to be a fool at first

one by one i’m lighting candles in the dark because i like candles i like the way they burn the heat the light the way the flames dances in impermanence

Find the choice in every action

Before enlightenment our reaction to the world is “what!?” After enlightenment it is “so what?

one of the reasons people stay addicted to substance is because they do not integrate the experience there is no dwelling in satisfaction at the end of a cigarette and so the pattern remains uncompleted repeated and repeated and i wonder if the reason

Indigenous time is circular, not linear. No need to rush. If you’re not ready, it will turn up in another shape or form.

Sometimes I get this shiver I can feel it in my brain And it runs down my spine I don't know if that's normal or not I've been surprised recently By just how different I am I found out tonight that when people do sums in their head They actually see the long division

Inner wisdom is something most children have. The logical mind is something most adults have. Inner wisdom is something that many logical adults squash in their young children, never knowing how important it is, and then those same children go on to become logical adults who squash their kids’ inner wisdom. More often than not, our inner wisdom speaks to us by way of desire. Just like a bee is led to a flower by desire, so we are always being led towards our needs by deep, gut feelings. Children follow this kind of guidance without thinking twice. Their reasoning for doing things is “because it feels good,” “because it doesn’t feel right,” and other completely irrational reasons that make logical adults’ heads swim.

Turn a blind eye

Notice how the homeless person Becomes invisible You know they’re there But you don’t look at them Their presence is too uncomfortable So you shut down your natural empathy And turn a blind eye to reality And similarly

Inside there is a child looking around for validation from the world to express itself. You become mature the day you give yourself permission to express yourself

Overwhelm feels A little bit like nothing Piled on top of me

instead of asking how far ahead am i, try asking how deeply am i here?

part of me always shines when i see you

Instead of being in the pursuit of happiness, be in the expression of happiness. One is external, one is internal.

Particles of sound Waving across the church Merging into joy

Institutions evolve in the same way organisms do. They evolve an immense system that rejects individuals who are harmful to the constitution and ability to thrive. Institutions live longer than people do. They are a collective living organism.

Overthinker

i used to be a chronic overthinker spending hours comparing models if i bought a computer speaker i would plan out conversations and what directions to take them while washing in the shower not knowing how to do something or how it would pan out

For any ’obstacle’ in your life that you want to overcome, don’t fight it. Let it play and observe it attentively and relaxedly. Don’t hold on by fighting. Once it’s done it’s done. But you’re not the one who decides when it’s done. All you get to do, all you have to do, is observe it and be fully with it.

I received a message from the past today From me, a year ago He took the time to write To let me know that I’m never alone That each moment supports the next That each me is a thread in the weave And I can reach through time To lend a hand when I’m in need So this poem is a gentle reminder For all of us From me, a year ago

Integration, in Jung’s definition, means that we cease rejecting parts of our personalities and find ways to bring them forward into our everyday lives. We accept our shadows and seek to unlock the wisdom they contain. Fear becomes an opportunity for courage. Pain is a catalyst for strength and resilience. Aggression is transmuted into warrior-like passion. This wisdom informs our actions, our decisions, and our interactions with others. We understand how others feel and respond to them with compassion, knowing that they are being triggered themselves.

Ironically your comfort zone ends up being the most painful place you could stay

past lives belong to this life i have died a dozen times and i will die again i breathe and i let go i do not hold onto the breath because it gives me life i let it go so i can breathe again

It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process is to guarantee disappointment

Pebbles in a pond Each moment dropping away Leaving peace behind

It doesn’t matter if you see how you’re gonna get there or a pathway, the continual march forward is all you need (eg clearing the house and the business)

Pain is a messenger

Pain is asking for protection That’s what my physio said When I came in hobbling after an injury In just a few words I saw the world differently And the frustration I felt towards my foot Turned to compassion This poor thing

Forgiveness is not for the other person. It’s for you. It’s so you can release the emotion.

Pendulum swinging Back to the weight of the past Forward, backward, grasp

Freedom is perhaps the ultimate spiritual longing but it has to sit within a place of belonging.

Petals of my heart Under the vastness of sky Holding what was

It is not from ourselves that we will learn to be better than we are

Peter died last year And though I never met him I’ve seen his shadow

Being the best isn’t important, it’s about having the most fun

It is ok to desire but do so with non-attachment. In such a way it becomes aspiration. Without aspiration, equanimity would become some sort of quiet defeat, despairing acceptance of the worlds and its miseries.

Pinned to the decking Heavy under grey clouds Others’ belonging

it might rhyme with others but in its complete majestic detail, the life you are living is wholly, completely unique.

Fulfillment = work hard to acquire skills that matter to you to allow you to elevate yourself and others in service of a goal that’s both exciting and honorable

Pulled by naked thread Back to her quiet garden Where I lay unrooted

It’s better to follow the universe than those around you

Pulling at my leg As I run to the finish line Little boy cries, “wait!”

It’s genuine vulnerability if you’re expressing some part of yourself that the other person might not like. Or you can’t control their reaction to it. Self-disparaging is predisposing how someone is going to think. You’re not allowing them to form their own opinion (Eg me pre-empting my poem oh I didn’t spend very long on this). It’s not vulnerability.

Patterns

Behavioral patterns are pathways of least resistance. We walk through an overgrown field by following the footpath. To break a pattern, you need to learn to handle discomfort. You need to leave the path behind and walk through wilderness with brambles at your legs. If you’ve trained yourself to avoid discomfort, you’ll continue to return to the familiar path. So get in the habit of doing hard things, like taking cold showers, running longer distances, or doing the hardest thing on your to do list.

It’s hard but it’s harder to ignore it

Put pen to paper And let the ink spill like blood Until it heals

It’s important to develop a Myth about yourself and then live to fulfil that Myth

Red rocks in my throat My voice drowning in the waves Yet you still hear me

It’s not a mistake, it’s being unskilled

Relaxed Intense in the sauna heat Thinking of my virtues Boastful And then he approaches And opens the door Slowly emerging into the space Hairs up on my arms

It’s not a waste of time to slow down

It’s not about saying No to what you don’t want to do. It’s about saying No to what you do want to do. The middling priorities.

remember the darkest days when you had nothing no money left and yet you applied yourself to jobs day by day

It’s not about what the words mean it’s about how they make you feel. When he asked Neil Young about what his songs mean he said he had no idea.

A natural break

Pistachios teach us something important If you had a bag full of shelless pistachios You’d eat them all and feel sick Having to work for each pistachio Makes them taste all the better And helps to moderate our impulses So it is is with our nervous system It’s a natural break

It’s not discipline. It’s devotion Thoughts are prayers Actions are rituals Words are vibrations Make your life an offering to your highest purpose

it’s not forever but it is for now

Repetition kills novelty Gratitude becomes expectation Magic, mundane

Give yourself permission to be your authentic self. Own your tiredness by stating your needs to the group to be quiet and listen, or take a break

It’s not imposter syndrome. It’s imposter stage. You will pass through it

Rest is best in bed Where the clouds pass softly Pillows under head

It’s not yours to hold onto

Ridges on seashells Sand dunes and cresting blue waves Fingerprints of God

It’s only those that do nothing that make no mistakes I suppose

Procrastinate

If you constantly procrastinate on the things that matter, read this. We all have dreams like writing a book, travelling, starting a business or a creative project. And yet we kick the can down the road. If that’s truly what we wanted, why would we do that? The answer: resistance. Resistance shows up when we’re about to step outside of our comfort zone. It’s fear but it presents itself as rational-sounding thoughts.

Good news is, nothing stays. Bad news is, nothing stays.

Rock pooling at night With their head torches turned on Gazed upon by stars

I’ve started writing by acknowledging that there’s a part of me that wants to criticize and judge, and ask that it shows up later in the editing process while I allow my inner creative to focus on writing. In this way, I don’t need to exile any part of my experience.

Rocking with each wave Losing direction and speed Pulled apart by breeze

Just as white is not the absence of colour but the blending of all of them, so too love is the blending of all emotion, grief, despair, unhappiness and joy.

Trauma rings in the body Like tinnitus After a while you forget its there Until those quiet moments When it screams In terror The body tenses up But with a little dissaocitation

Just as you have to stop talking to hear what others have to say, you have to stop thinking to find out what life is about. And the moment you stop thinking you come into immediate contact with the unspeakable world

reflections

i look around and very few people look back as though children peekaboo! i can’t see you and you can’t see me yet i’m guilty of it too i sat down at this table in a cafe

Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with it. It just means you don’t like it. Trying to get what will make you feel ‘enough’ is like trying to add legs to a snake

Just focus on the day

Seeing through her eyes Abstraction discoloured My hands red with guilt

Happiness >= perception of the events of you life - expectations of how the events of your life should be. It doesn’t matter what life is, it matters whether you can accept it.

Self-medication My shelves are stacked with self-help Cause I can’t help myself

Language market fit = information foraging, because it resembles the way our ancestors looked for food in the wild. Animals have a particular stimulus in mind, like a banana, and they’re quickly pattern-matching against it to direct attention and movement.

Sex in my skin Under the covers of flesh Where pleasure begins

Learn to differentiate between the sound of your intuition guiding you and your traumas misleading you

Only currents that blow me

School conditioned me To want to get it right But in life There is no right Only currents that blow me Across uncharted territory Expansive possibility Whatever feels good to me

Learn to love washing the dishes because you’ll be doing it your whole life

Shadow games up high Walking the lines of last year In here - not out there

Learn to say no with your heart open. Keep your heart open to the being as you’re doing what you need to do about the action

Shaking indignant Everything I left behind For this little life

Havingness level = capacity for feeling intense sensation before turning off

shame and yet this open pain in my heart is what lets the music in

Letting go = allowing. Notice the experience as it enters your body and allow it to move through you. Energy has to move. Relax your body (unconsciously we tense as we resist).

Self-reputation

Picture this… your friend keeps making plans with you. But then bails at the last moment. They always have the same tired excuses. Something came up. They’re feeling exhausted. They totally forgot. For a little while you put up with it. But then you start to wonder… do they really care about you? Seems like they don’t prioritise you… And you start to lose interest in making plans again.

Letting go = letting be

Shame hides from me Like sunlight in the wind Burning invisibly

Helping = we’re in it together. Mutual belonging. Being there in silence (eg young guy helping old man at hospital then sharing bread)

High standards don’t have to come with insecurity.

Shame I shouldn’t feel Fear I’ll fall forever Back into the black

Life is best enjoyed slow

Shavings of light grey Protected by canopy Watching rainbows grow

Hope walks through the fire and faith leaps over it.

Shelter

Your desire to shelter them Is a desire to shelter yourself They don’t need your help They need your love

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

She looks upon him Radiant mother and son Turning his cheeks gold

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage

Shoes off and shaded Amongst the urban chaos Green grass oasis

Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could

Shrinking inside me Connecting to nobody Waiting to be seen

Life’s metaphors are gods’ instructions

Shrouded in darkness Memories with no picture Barely a feeling

How to change a limiting belief? The normal process of creation is thought -> word -> action To change a thought, change your action first and create new evidence If you have money problems, give money away and tell yourself you have the means to do so our conscious experience of the world, and our actual abilities, are materially altered by what we believe to be possible.

I was looking for aliveness

I was looking for fulfillment But really I was looking for aliveness It sent me searching Chasing, trying, failing Nothing fulfilled me Nothing gave me this elusive feeling Glimmers in the dark

Look at your diseases or discomforts or distresses not as a battle. But as a teaching. That there’s something in your life, not that you asked for it, not that you deserve, that is being manifested through that condition. And you may as well seek to learn what that something is. In dealing with it you learn to connect to your essential self. Which is more important than your physical self.

Look left, look right. Take it all in. You’re where you’re meant to be.

Singing became me And I didn’t doubt myself I was free at last

Look to the past for things that are doomed and bring them forward to build a better future

Sitting in sunlight Bathing in the sounds of birds Turning outside-in

Looking at myself as an assembly of different parts has been a really important part of my journey. It helps me to make sense of the contradictions within me: the part that feels brave, and the part that feels afraid; the part that longs for connection and the part that runs away.

Here upon my skin The drawings of a child Red crayon pressed deep Scribbled lines Pockmarks and crators He doesn’t speak through me For fear of being silenced Quietly sketching his anger Until my whole body bruises And I can no longer hide my shame

Humans will not change unless they are faced with challenges and adversity

When I spoke it

Do you struggle to read poetry? Yeah, me too. I can’t do it. My eyes move over the words My mind gets bored There’s no inner voice No grand narration There’s just… silence

Love and let go. How? Know that you carry the feelings / experiences you’ve had in your heart. It’s like gold in your heart.

Humility is always knowing you have more to learn

Slow down Does not mean what you think it means Stop trying to slow your racing mind Literally slow down your body Walk slower Reach for your cup slower Breathe slower And a funny thing happens Your thoughts slow down to catch up

I always wake at six, no matter what time I go to sleep. I enjoy seeing the light come up with me. And utilizing the daylight and the message that it brings. It’s a different message from when you’re living in twilight hours where there’s a shadow to your life all the time. Psychologically and physically you’re in the dark. There’s something I find uplifting and optimistic and creative about working in the daylight

Small amongst bent trees Whispering they knew me In distant memory

Love is a vibration of your presence not an emotional state

Smile, it’s ok You keep talking, I don’t leave So I float away

Love seeks closeness but desire needs distance

Validate yourself

stop validate yourself see yourself feel yourself no one else can it’s what you’ve been craving all along that sweet relief that moment of peace

Love the questions of life as if they were sacred books. Allow your life to answer them slowly and reverently

Lying is not just saying something that is not true. It is a morphing of one’s identity to create a a safer identity or story that the world might reward you for. But in doing so you abandon yourself

Soft on the pine leaves Footprints with no direction Lost, together lost

I become whatever I repeat

Soil burnt by sky I leant in close next to you Swallowed up by fear

Make today count

Some poems are pretty Some poems are short Haikus are pretty short

Ask yourself questions: they remind yourself who you want to be. Instead of saying “I’m going to the gym today.” Ask “are you going to go to the gym today?” Binary choices on pen/paper/computer don’t allow for clarification and excuses. Our brain wants to avoid discomfort of cognitive dissonance with who you want to be.

The antidote to stress isn't relaxation. It's play

“I’m not stressed!” I’d yell to my mum. Whenever I was revising for exams or in difficult moments in my life, I’d get eczema on my hands. It was horrible. It was unsightly and itchy and it made me so self-conscious. I’d hide my hands, dreading if I had to do activities with other kids in case they noticed. My mum took me to a food intolerance tester. We tried homeopathy, acupuncture, and avoided chemicals in cleaning products. But it didn’t go away.

I can’t do it… yet!

Something shatters When you’re people watching And you look up And you realise You too are being watched And in a moment of recognition The observer and the observed Collapse Into a smile and a wave

May you be kind to your suffering

sometimes when i look in the mirror i’m reminded that this isn't me that this is technology that within a few hundred years something magical had become common

I don’t know where I’m going but I know where I stand

Sparklers in my hands My toes, my belly and heart Creating again

Mistakes = learning new creative moves and then you apply them. So when you do a stupid thing, stand for it

The journey to discover my blind spots

Are you aware of your blind spots? You know, those parts of your identity or life that are present yet unseen. Kinda like spinach caught in your teeth that only other people can see. I was exploring this theme recently while recording my latest YouTube video about coming to terms with my queer identity. Watch it here. I realised that being gay was my first experience of a blind spot. The signs were obvious yet I told myself convincing stories to deny it. The mind is good like that.

I had to learn how to love my friends as family. Now I’m learning how to love my family as friends.

Mon comportment c’est ma beauté

sparkling water is best when the bubbles shoot from the depths to the surface and out in a plume with a message for you bring your ear in close and listen

Mornings build momentum, positive or negative. And this momentum tends to continue through the day

Spiders on the skin Brush one off but it lingers Pin pricks all over

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

Squeeze out perfection Soft body becomes brittle No toothpaste, no luck

Don’t wait for inspiration. Action is the plan.

The aim of autumn is not to get to winter

“The seed is as much the goal as the flower” - Alan Watts I love metaphors that are inspired by nature. They feel so right. And they’re so at odds with modern life. We’ve cut travel time from months to hours. Information from generations to an instant. We praise speediness and convenience. Yet there is so much intelligence in the slowness of nature and its interconnectedness. The aim of autumn is not to get to winter. It just is.

most people who criticize others often criticize themselves the same way. They are speaking to us the same way they speak to themselves, but they have to live with themselves 24/7!

Stairways in nature Humans in kaleidoscope Vortices collapse

Motivation is the spark that lights the fire. Discipline is cultivating it daily to ensure it doesn’t die.

Stars separated In the ocean of space Blinded by their own light

Move from serious to playfulness. It is not a job it’s a joy

Steam rising inside Boiling over into rain Running downstream

I love the idea that perhaps we need to broaden our horizon. We need to see what else is possible for us. Without new information, new experiences, new people and stories, we don’t know what else is possible to create in our lives

My friends are buying houses And I’m still working out How to break an egg Without getting shell in the mix

stillness caught by surprise in the hands of love and out into new

i scare myself to death

My life is my message

Stones and spiral shells Old tails and ghostly songs Washed up beaches

my manifesto: just relax

Stop trying Just fall Fall until you fall no further Until distance becomes sound And you land Not with a thud But a whisper: I’m here

i sometimes wonder how many times i’ve featured in someone’s therapy session

Stroking the ceiling I carry it to the car Bye, bug ridden plant

My voice changes according to the people I’m with. And therefore the power relationship changes. And my identity changes - the person who is actually available.

attachment = i need this to be okay

sugar coat me paint me make me fat with compliments and i’ll go where you are because you want me to

Dreaming and desire gives the universe instruction. But surrender the how. Remember that dreams and desires change but that’s OK because these changes come naturally from within. Do not hold onto them because it takes your soul where it doesn’t want to be.

Sugar snap river Meditating on pressure Red ball of fire

Needs are universal (e.g., respect, belonging, autonomy), while strategies are ways to meet those needs. Conflict often arises from clashing strategies, not incompatible needs.

Negative beliefs have to work really hard to get your attention. The stronger the fear feels the closer you are to the threshold of letting it go “I always wake at six, no matter what time I go to sleep. I enjoy seeing the light come up with me. And utilizing the daylight and the message that it brings. It’s a different message from when you’re living in twilight hours where there’s a shadow to your life all the time. Psychologically and physically you’re in the dark. There’s something I find uplifting and optimistic and creative about working in the daylight

Sun struck the rain drops Sky ablaze with fireflies He danced among grace

networking is simply asking for directions

Never apologize for what you do well… we’ve been taught that if we have too great a sense of our own largeness, we will lack humility or invite dangerous envy

Survival of the fittest

There is a belief that has been woven into our fabric A story we’ve been told so many times we’ve taken it to be truth And, as with most beliefs, we don’t even know it’s there… 🥁 Survival of the fittest 🦖 Yes, many of us believe that it’s us against the world That we must hoard money to provide safety

New laws that would change the game: social media has a health warning every 30 minutes of scrolling Ultra processed food cannot be advertised Private jets are banned National public register of all assets worth over $500K Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook spun off into separate companies Shorting companies is banned Outdoor advertising is banned All products must contain a carbon footprint estimate

sunlight against my portrait i want to touch it but im afraid it will come away on my fingers and destroy it so i watch from a distance my own life on canvas changing by light

No is enough. You don’t need to explain yourself.

Sunsets, tears streaming Screaming down the motorway I was abandoning me

No matter what luck and opportunity our lives bring us, if we have a lack of permission around how much success it is OK to enjoy, our limiting beliefs will define the ceiling of success that we can manifest

sunshine on my lips you kiss me into a black hole and for a while all we know is touch and sound until our eyes open and we’re here again laughing

No one has betrayed you more than yourself. The nature of your upbringing is to be someone you’re not in order to feel save and loved, or so you think. How do you break out of it?

A day becomes an opera

There is something magical about slowing down Little moments take on much more meaning A day becomes an opera A setting is drama Rather than background noise I had the urge to light a fire today Even though the rain had cleared away And the sun shone through the window like liquid silver

If I’m dissatisfied with this world—and I think that I might be—a problem is that you can only desire based on what you know. You have certain experiences in this world, they produce certain desires, those desires reproduce the world. Our reality today just keeps reproducing itself. If you can create different experiences that manifest different desires, then it’s possible that those will lead to the production of different worlds.

Swiping, my blood boils Swiping, I can’t look away Swiping, I refresh

Nobody has ever given us love; that is the great illusion. We have simply remembered the field in each other’s presence, sometimes, recognized eternity in the midst of the everyday, then credited each other. Love never came from outside of us; we simply touched our own presence, fell into the love that we are, and cannot not be. And nobody ever took love away from us; we simply forgot the field, and “blamed” the other, and looked for love again, feeling its absence, lost in a narrative of “lost love,” caught up in the drama of the lonely one.

Taking off wet clothes Settling by the fire Drying out the past

If it’s a good idea, it will come back to me I don’t need to write everything down (Except this)

Tangled under limbs Breaking free in a cry No longer a boy

Not knowing brings humility. All understanding starts with I don’t know. Don’t indulge into the impossibility of it but contemplate and trust the possibility of it. That’s how cosmos supports and manifest what you trust.

Nothing is realistic - dream big

Empathy comes from meeting and being open to a wide variety of perspectives. It can be gift to cross-pollinate ideas between people, passing something from one to another depending on what they need to hear. You can enlighten an aspect of their life, shining bright on a blind spot of theirs. This can be articulated through words; showing not telling; allowing information to be experienced to be transformed to wisdom. But they have to come to you for it. It can also be expressed through art or movement or even beauty.

Teardrop on your cheek Your pain is too much for me Our past is history

Enlightenment is being totally at peace with where you are right now. That doesn’t mean don’t grow. Just don’t do it from a place of scarcity… do you want to know my secret? I don’t mind what happens

Tender hand holding Across the coffee table Writing my story

Notice where you ask something of somebody that they can’t give (energetic request) creating pain

The clouds had come To reveal the warmth of light And forgotten sun

Notice where you create your own pain

On a psychedelic trip, surrender. Let it lead. Let it show what it wants to show.

The dam burst open Old songs pouring over me Fresh and trembling

If there is resistance, push-pull can create desire through seduction

The end of Fitzroy Bright lights, loud noise and peacocks I’ll miss you. You won’t

On Taoism: We don’t force our heart to beat. It does it by itself. Now figure a world that does everything by itself. The more liberty you give, the more love you give, you more you allow things in yourself and your surroundings to take place, the more order you will have. - Alan Watts Time does not run in a linear progression. The spring does not become the summer. There is first spring and then there is summer. So in the same way, you now do not become you later

The flower whispered I love you, I love you not As each petal dropped

Once you risk yourself with your core dream, then the stakes become enormously magnified. If you fail at being yourself, then who would you? Who would you be if you attempted your hearts desire and found out it was false, it wasn’t you at all and it wasn’t possible. This is why we can do readily commit ourselves to minor goals and yet we can be immobilized when we’re faced with even the tiniest step around something we really care about.

One of the diagnostics of a courageous conversation is that it’s a conversation you don’t want to have. Because it’s going to apprentice you to a much larger world than the world you inhabited. But it’s also going to make you bigger, much more alive in the world, more ready to give those gifts to others

Conservatism in politics ought to oppose unneeded social change wherever possible, but to accept it where necessary

im pretending not to notice the blood on your shirt and dripping from your lips im pretending not to notice the knife you’re holding im pretending

One of the most satisfying feelings I know — and also one of the most growth-promoting experiences for the other person — comes from my Do not be afraid of losing a fight. It is the dignity we keep, win or lose, which evolves the confrontation

The light switched back on I can see where I’m going With eyes turned inwards

Consistency creates passion

the sun is the fire we gather around at night

Only while sleeping one makes no mistakes. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active — of those who can correct their mistakes and put them right.

The unknown is beautiful She said to me With a tender smile

Every day it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That’s the hard part

Open vulnerability = where you don’t know what you’re going to say

There is just today Don’t think about your lifetime It’s too far away

Our ability to tolerate separateness - and the fundamental insecurity it engenders - is a precondition for minting interest and desire in a relationship

these few words i thought i would collect them for you they are just sounds that have no volume they are traced across these lines like sand in the sea and i am a sailor and i am the wave

If you do what makes you happy (your passion) in service to make others happy, that brings real happiness.

Our expectations are the filters for our judgements

these words don’t belong to me in the same way that nothing ever does this land is not a possession it’s a bridge from this world

Our only sustainable competitor advantage is to learn faster and better than anyone else.

Our options may be externally constrained, but we always have the freedom of choice

Our tools become obstacles when we don’t know how to use them

Copy your heroes - you worry about not being original but everything comes from somewhere. You will always be you and put a unique spin. When you copy you pick up the tools of past masters and then you can synthesize different tools. With time you become original. Forget about originality focus on authenticity.

They say we grow up But really we grow out And play hide and seek

Overview effect - the sense of awe and connection you feel after seeing the earth from space

Thick, heavy and slow Rain outside the window No body, never mind

Passion in a relationship is comensurate with how much uncertainty you can tolerate

This heavy blanket Draped around my shoulders Depression at night

Passion is doing what you love. Purpose is doing what you love to serve others

Unbound space: navigating between life stages

How comfortable are you with the unknown? Y'know, that period of time between two stages of life. You've let go of an old shape. Perhaps an identity, a job, a relationship. But you've not yet discovered your new form. It sits beyond the horizon, bent through the haze of time. This experience is called the unbound space. Being without a shape is so unfamiliar and uncomfortable that we have the temptation to rush towards the future. We want something solid to grasp onto.

Peace and love is god’s footprint in the heart

this tune this magic in my feet diametric diabolic it swallows its sweetness with an ounce of redemption it swirls you like the vignette of grief

Courageous is heartfelt. It comes from the French word coeur. What is the courageous conversation to have? Very often it’s a conversation you don’t want to have because it will apprentice you to a much larger world. But it’s also going to make you much more alive and able to give your gifts to others.

Tied up in ribbons Words catch fire together Poetry the ash

People can only accept you as much as they’ve accepted themselves

If you used be quiet, now be loud

Tingling in my toe Swimming like fish in water Till I had to let go

Be inside the moment

People pleasing vs kindness: ask yourself, am I doing this from love or for love?

Tiredness shields Heavy on subtle fields Beckoning backwards

If you want a world of love, love yourself. If you want a world of laughter, laugh. If you want a world where every kiss from your lover is magical, every sip of coffee is like a warm hug from an old way, then live that way. Model the world within yourself and then watch the world change

To the right, with joy To the horizon and back In the room, standing

People try to crush your dreams to eradicate any guilt they have that they haven’t tried. If something isn’t possible, they don’t have to worry about not having done it. They eradicate it from the field of vision.

Torn between oceans My heart pulls against the wind Steering me back home

People who are concerned more about chaos tend to be more conservative and those more concerned about order tend to be more liberal

People who have the stablest home life take the biggest risks

Torn open in two Feeling every drop of rain Pulling back from you

People who need the love most ask for it in the most unloving ways

Trees roaring in the wind Raging at the injustice Swept up by the roots

People with tattoos have a different relationship with permanence. How could you like something for a lifetime when tastes change? Well, the meaning of them changes with time too. So does your relationship with them. You fall in love with them over and over again

Trembling little bird Wingless in the palm of hand Frightened by your flight

Expect to have a positive outcome and watch as it becomes true (self-fulfilling prophecy)

Perform each action as if it was the last in your life

We can't see our blind spots. In fact, it's almost as if we need to…

Well, we create our own reality. It’s built on a set of beliefs that make sense of the world, which otherwise would be too vast to comprehend. Rejecting a belief would mean rejecting the very reality we exist in. So we fill in the blanks that otherwise would be contradictory and disorienting. This creates an aversion to knocking against anything that rattles this flimsy architecture.

Persistency is necessary for all forms of mastery. In that moment you feel you can’t go further lies an enormous opportunity to forge an entirely new level of willpower. When you feel you can’t continue, progress a little longer. Your self-discipline muscle will be amplified considerably. And the degree of your self-respect will increase vastly.

Tumbling white rapids Adrenaline in story Ascending new peaks

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

Power = effortless. Like a golf swing with no judder, no impact

TV promises Commodified fantasy Hollowed out dreams

Prayer is asking. Meditation is listening.

Under dazzling stars Eyes twinkling to the ocean A new earth is born

If you’re disliked by people outside your group, it doesn’t matter. Eg personal trainer angering bodybuilding group. Ends up creating new audiences

Walk with your eyes closed When there’s no map to follow And feel your way home