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Most of us feel some tangible amount of happiness when we are enjoying a gastronomic, sensual, spiritual, transcendental, drug-induced, religious, artistic, carnal or humanistic pleasure. The degree of said happiness is largely bound by biological forces—DNA, serotonin, dopamine, neurotransmitter activity—which are interlinked to situational factors—physical setting, mood, people present, etc. […]

Deliberate Savouring

A zoomed in version of a heart is shown with all the previous people and situations 6
NEW: audio commentary now available! Have a listen before/after the article 🙂       Pointless arguments over meaningless ideology Presidential candidates, indistinguishable Name calling, finger pointing, arms flailing Shaky platforms and loose morals Demagoguery always in style         Uncountable suffering delivered through the iron sights of a rifle War, […]

We’re All In This Together

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NEW: audio commentary now available! Have a listen before/after the article 🙂         Contrary to what your intuition may believe, looking forward to playing a tennis match on Sunday afternoon isn’t really about the tennis match at all. What makes your nightly ritual of blanket-slippers-tea-kindle special hasn’t got much […]

Imagining Life as a Stack of Mental States

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Oh hello, it’s you again. What if I told you that you probably shouldn’t go on expensive vacations and buy business class seats, for reasons other than affordability? And then if I followed that up with a well-meaning suggestion to not sign up to the highest quality gym in your […]

The Pleasure Ceiling

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The purest essence of what it means to be human. Ethereal, yet not ephemeral; intangible yet palpable; difficult to secure, yet effortless to lose. It constitutes one of the realest emotional peaks of the human condition. It flourishes on its own, naturally and effortlessly, not relying on the forced attachment […]

On Deep Friendship

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Remember that time you finally took that short vacation you’ve been looking forward to for months, only to find it a little underwhelming, perhaps even stressful? Or trying to cook an exotic new dish, painstakingly following the recipe line by line, only to have it come out completely botched? Do […]

The merits of setting low expectations

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Every language breeds its own silly parlance and overused clichés. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—depending who you ask—it’s more like a natural part of a language’s linguistic growth over time. Certain words have become so watered-down and commonplace that they’ve lost any semblance of their original meaning. Words like […]

Rethinking Success

New here? Click here for part 1 of the story. You decide you’ve had enough! It’s time to banish the unyielding creature from your life, so that things could go back to how they once were. A combination of new habits, mental paradigms, exercise, support from close ones, time, a new […]

Overcoming the Depression Dino [part 2]

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Things were normal. Perhaps they were even good. You’re not quite sure anymore. You were living your days, going about your regular human business. Life was happening. Days were passing. Yet you started noticing random bouts of sadness every now and then, creeping in with greater frequency into your regular disposition. How […]

The Depression Dino [part 1]

We are all walking, talking, ticking time bombs. Now granted, our fuse usually stretches 70 years long, and although it has increased sharply in the last century, every living thing has an ‘expiry date’ from the day it emerges into this world. Expiry dates are largely arbitrary: determinable by genetics, time […]

What’s your relationship with death like?

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Our arrival to this point of cosmic history deserves nothing short of the English word ‘miraculous.’ I find our journey incredibly fascinating and awe-inspiring, which is why I decided to dedicate these last two posts to it. The beautiful tale about how we got here has been permanently etched in […]

The Cosmic Imperative to Live Better

We all come from the same source. The same starting point. Every stranger you’ve brushed shoulders with, every wild animal you’ve learned about, every blue pen you own, every grain of salt you’ve cautiously sprinkled unto your eggs and every molecule of air you’ve ever breathed. All of it. Every […]

The Universe and You: A Visualized Guide to Your Origins ...

The next time you go for a quick walk outside, take a detour and inspect that innocent looking dandelion in the field. Touch its stem, noting the fine, tactile fuzz in just all the right places. Observe that miniscule ant climbing up the dandelion, well into the process of doing […]

The Quest for Learned Complexity

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You discover a hit and run dent on your rental scooter. Like every other risk-taking anarchist, you opted out of incidental insurance. An unexpected thunderstorm on your walk to work and oh-shit-I-forgot-to-buy-a-new-umbrella.  A nudge to your dinner table spills a glass of cabernet on your pants. Gosh darn it, they […]

Challenge Your Default Voice