Reflections

Essays from my experiment of living deliberately. Personal stories, philosophical questions, and lessons from testing assumptions on myself about growth, presence, and the finite time we have to figure any of it out.

Reflections

Reflections on an Ageing Fox

Cassidy is 13 years old and is steadily losing her eyesight and hearing. Her youthful bounce has given way to a slower gait and a slight limp, her once vibrant ginger muzzle, like that of a fox, is shaded in with silver. She is old, which is a miracle. To

Reflections

Trust the Process

When I was growing up, physical activities were anathema to me. While my classmates eagerly anticipated sports like cricket or rugby, I avoided them. I was a geek, and my physical prowess matched my persona. I preferred to flex my mental muscles through cerebral pursuits like creative writing and chess.

Reflections

Interlude

Well, look at that. It's already Monday, and my article isn't ready. Tsk tsk. I was tempted to publish Draft 2 anyway. I mean, it's good enough, right? But, then I heard Lenja's voice in my head telling me I'm

Reflections

On the Duality of Life

Life is an intricate web of interconnected opposites. We exist as delicate threads oscillating between light and dark moments, yin and yang. Existence is beautifully multifaceted. It is an expansive flow of love and magic, but it can also be harsh, laced with sadness and pain. Nature is unpredictable, with

Reflections

Master Your Craft Using Deliberate Practice

When I finished the first draft of my first blog post, I showed it to my wife. I was nervous. It was the first time in years that I was showing her anything of substance. Lenja is my biggest fan and also my biggest critic. I asked her to be

Reflections

How to Find Inspiration in Our Own Stories

Stories have the power to captivate us and shape our lives, but have you ever wondered why that is? Do you remember the last story you heard? What about the last one you told a friend or colleague? Human beings have been telling each other stories for countless generations. One

Reflections

Embrace Your Civic Duty

A few weeks ago, I got up one morning to find the neighbourhood's manhole cover out of place, an unsightly mess of waste, wet wipes, and unpleasant odours spilling over, blocking my path. I spent the next hour with gumboots and a spade, controlling my gag reflex while

Reflections

You Have to Commit

I recently finished watching the 2016 series, The Night Manager, based on the suspenseful novel by John le Carré. Without revealing spoilers, the story follows Jonathan Pine, a high-end hotel's night manager, who goes to great lengths to avenge a death. At one point in the show, after

Reflections

Interlude

Life ebbs and flows like the tides: at times it rolls on gently, while at other times, it is turbulent. We can experience lulls in our work, sporadically interspersed with days or weeks of long, intense hours. During these hectic weeks, I rarely have time to do fun things like

Reflections

From Chaos to Clarity: How to Connect with Your Inner Voice

Growing up in a Portuguese household, I rarely experienced silence. My parents worked from home, so there was always some form of auditory assault around me. The TV would be on, pots clanging in the kitchen, and the loud pshhhhhht and mechanical whirring of my dad's compressed-air paint

Reflections

How To Boost Productivity And Get Things Done

Picture this: Vienna in the 1920s, a bustling restaurant and a curious psychologist named Bluma Zeigarnik. She's sipping on her coffee and watching the waiters go about their business when she notices something interesting: they would expertly remember long orders, but after their customers paid, they struggled to

Reflections

Live Intentionally

I used to be an avid video gamer, spending hours glued to my screen, completing quests, defeating monsters, and acquiring gold. Getting transported to alternate worlds and controlling the story's hero was fun. However, today, I have stopped playing video games altogether. Although I still love gaming, I

Reflections

On Progress

Our time is finite and precious; we should spend as much time as possible working towards our goals. Yet, as motivated as we may be, we will experience setbacks that eat into our time, like a spike in workload or personal responsibilities. Maybe we didn't get to spend

Reflections

Fail Your Way To Success

One of the most rewarding outcomes of building a business was employing staff for the first time. They trusted me with their livelihoods and were excited to be part of something meaningful. I encouraged them to improve each day and was proud to watch them and my business grow. Business,

Reflections

3 Steps to Physis

To live in alignment with nature is to be in a state of physis. A state where we change and grow, following the same rules that govern the natural world. We all have needs and ambitions, and for most of us, our immediate needs can be easily met. If we&

Reflections

Interlude

This has been a particularly busy week, with a busier-than-usual weekend. The weekend was fun and relatively productive, but it left me too little time to write a substantive article. So. Let's consider this post an interlude, with five philosophical quotes to tickle your brain this coming week.

Reflections

36 Short Lessons After 36 Long Years of Life

Tomorrow, I turn 36. It’s been a wild ride. When I look back at the last three decades of my life, I’m proud of the person I’ve become. Like everyone else, I’ve made mistakes and experienced failures. But, with mistakes and failures come lessons, and life

Reflections

Marry Your Best Friend

Fifteen years ago, I made a pivotal choice. I asked my wife out. We met at a rock nightclub a few weeks earlier. I was a regular there: it was ten minutes away, played music I loved (like Disturbed and System of a Down) and offered 50% off on Student

Reflections

The best way to achieve our goals.

A few years ago, I made a life-changing decision: I resigned from a lucrative corporate job to pursue my dream of being a wildly successful entrepreneur. The job was good for me. It paid well and offered plenty of growth opportunities. Yet, I wasn't happy. I felt constrained.

Reflections

It's not really a conundrum.

I have a confession: I almost didn't publish a post today. This is my first week back at work after a short break. On Monday, I was greeted with emails in the triple digits (I left at inbox zero) and a workload that had grown. A lot. I

Reflections

How to make the most of 2023

Happy New Year! 🎉 It's that time where we discard the past and make resolutions for the future. Like many people, I've given up on New Year's resolutions. The vast majority of us  set resolutions and then give up a few short weeks later. I

Reflections

It's the most wonderful time...

When I was young, I loved the festive period for two key reasons: (1) presents! and (2) gorging myself on the mountain of sugary foods. When it was time to open presents (at exactly midnight, no matter how tired we were) I would hold the boxes of meticulously folded and

Reflections

Resist the Little Voice

I know I promised you a post a while back. My intention when soft-launching the website was to get to work, writing. Writing every day, churning out content and publishing a newsletter at least once a week. I had decided that I wanted to be a writer, right? It was