Month: April 2025

“Aren’t You Just Running Away From Your Problems?”, and Other Disturbing Beliefs.

I want to do a short series on “those” sayings, the ones that have you doubting your next move and questioning your own agency. The “moving country won’t solve your problems”, “you have to pick a side otherwise you’re supporting the oppressors”, or, “she pushed me away”, or a ironically toxic belief, “he/she is so toxic, I should cut them out of my life”.

I want to start off the series with a particular stickler for some, “moving country won’t solve your problems – you’re just running away”. One that has been a pain point for me at times in the past.

If you’ve ever believed that thought, how does it leave you feeling?

I know for myself if I think back to a situation where I considered moving country and I believed that thought, I would break out in a nervous panic so afraid that I was getting life “so wrong”. How was it that others were seeing that I was avoiding my problems whereas I was seeing that I was trying to save myself – how could I be so mistaken? Why was I not allowed to save myself? I began to doubt my entire way of Being, how could I now trust myself in anything?

What ended up happening was that I became stuck in a limbo, unable to take action, so afraid that others would now judge me to be someone who couldn’t face difficulties in their life. Not only that but I wanted people to admire that I was someone who faced difficulties head on and didn’t “give up” (that will be a belief to investigate at another time).

It was too shameful to leave.

I developed anger towards myself for being in the situation I was in and not being able to escape it. The anger actually a deep fear of never being able to leave – I created my own prison cell without realising it, stuck in a shadowland.

The belief didn’t serve me, all it offered was stress. I can see that by believing it I was avoiding taking responsibility for my life. Not in a way that was conscious but in a way that taking a stand for myself and to buck the trend was too scary to even comprehend. If I first checked with others, whether that be with people in person, or seeking advice online, I presumed they knew better than I. I put down my own intuition and experience in favour of those who had never spent a day in my shoes. I truly believed they were right and that everything within me was inherently wrong.

It became an internal battle of debating the pros and cons and I could feel a wall of worry build up that action needed to be taken but I was stuck in analysis paralysis. Thinking, thinking, thinking.

Much has changed since those days. I took up a Buddhist practice, meditation and “The Work”, and with it more awareness now surrounds the stories whirling through the mind as it attempts to understand, and bring meaning to the world.

Bringing awareness to stressful thoughts allows me to see more clearly how I interact with the world through that belief. I’m not interested in changing how I behave so much as simply being aware of what’s going on, waking up to the dream.

If I put myself back in that past situation and just consider who I would be without the thought that “moving countries won’t solve my problems”, I am back to trusting the direction that I am headed, to trusting myself and noticing what feels intuitively “right” for me in that moment. I feel a little more confident that I can trust that the situation I am in is not serving me, not nourishing my growth or enabling a peaceful state of mind.

I don’t feel anxious about being judged by others for moving. Their judgement is only based on their perspective of my situation, of which they will never have the full story. Rather than being in the business of others, trying to work out if they approve of me or not and behaving in a way that I think will make my actions worthy of appraisal, I’m back in my business – the only place where I can ever feel peace and joy. I can choose to welcome other’s judgement of my actions as a point of self-reflection and, I can also use their judgement as a way of strengthening my own resolve and trust in my intuition. It’s very likely that someone judging another as “moving on and running away from their problems” is struggling with the same beliefs in their own life and is deserving of compassion as much as myself.

I don’t feel a fear of what comes next and there is no longer a weighing up on the pros and cons in an attempt to guess at the future and whether it will be a successful venture. Nor is there a fear of the move not working out – I feel more at ease moving to the beat and rhythm of life.

“Moving Country Will Solve Your Problems”

It’s worth turning around the original statement and seeing if it’s as true as, or truer than the original belief.

Feel free to take a pause here and see what examples come up for you where, “moving country will solve your problems”.

I can see that the situation I was in had worn me down – I was depressed, lonely and there was no spark of joy residing in my heart, I was leading a robotic, unaware life. Therefore, a change, a move to a new country could provide new opportunities, enabling me to discover what I’m truly interested in, it could open up the social pool to potentially connect with more like-minded people, as well as potentially leaving me feeling more connected to myself. Moving to a new country would most certainly lead to personal and spiritual growth, something that had actually stagnated in the situation I had been in.

Putting myself in a new environment could be like taking a stunted plant lacking in vitality and putting it in soil, rich in fertiliser and moving it out of the shade and into the sun. Sometimes all that’s needed is space, time and a fresh perspective.

Living a good, wholesome life does not mean one must remain in a fixed situation for a lifetime – it’s about being adaptable and learning to hear the voice of the heart, of intuition. As with all things, it becomes weaker with a lack of practice, yet with dedication one can start putting a little more trust into what life calls us to do. Perhaps first with judgement and then eventually, with enthusiasm, joy and a profound trust in life.

“You aren’t running away from your problems”

There is another turn around to investigate here for, “you are running away [from your problems]”. It can be turned around to, “you are running towards your problems”, or, “you aren’t running away from your problems”. I will leave that one for you to question and see what arises for you from inquiry.

If you do choose to take me up on the offer, just remember that you are investigating your own experiences and truth, not that of others.

Thank you for reading!

April 29, 2025
How Conceited of Me!
This article came about because I felt stressed. I was wanting to create a new social media post and caught myself in a state of believing I needed to be both motivational and wise for you, my audience, and found myself lacking in both insight and wisdom.

It’s the first time I’ve paid attention to the thought, “I need to motivate my audience,” and I thought, “Hell, let’s question it and stick it in the blog.”

My social media feed is mostly made up of content of the likes of Byron Katie, Bashar, Eckhart Tolle and so on. These are people I view as having had “awakening” experiences and the wherewithal to share their wisdom in profoundly simple ways. Reading their content gives me pause to reflect and typically imbues me with a deep peace and acceptance of what is.

So it finally came to my attention the other day that I have been wanting to instill the same in my meagre following, and that such a belief really stresses me out (perhaps you’ve experienced something similar with wanting to impart something on others). I notice I’m left feeling the weight of comparison between myself and those “masters”, viewing my insights as somewhat lacking, chalking it up to having not been labelled “awakened” or “wise”. Whatever words that do come to mind feel somehow childish. I become confused about whether what I’m saying has any inherent meaning. It becomes a case of trying too hard. The thoughts are now convoluted, and any sense of clarity has muddied over. I give up trying to write anything and resign myself to not being “wise enough” – a thought that extends far off into the infinite future. I write off my own experiences and dismiss their importance in the world.

Now, if I pause for a moment and consider who I would be without the thought “I need to motivate you all”, my life suddenly gets a lot more peaceful. I find I can share with the world what I genuinely wish to share – what interests me, without believing I need to manipulate you all into being motivated when you see my posts. It’s interesting how synonymous “motivate” and “manipulate” are when our intention is unclear. There’s a wanting to instill in you the same sense of peace and deep understanding that I experience when I read “wise” posts, however, I notice my intention is not so that you suffer less; it’s so that you see me as “wise”.

Before I continue on, it would be wise (!) of me to share with you that this article is based upon the insight practice of Byron Katie’s “The Work”. The Work is a way of questioning beliefs that cause us suffering in our lives, and at its core is a meditative practice. It’s a way of bringing more awareness into our lives and waking up to the thoughts that we have been blind to, that have kept us in a state of suffering.

It’s a simple method and something I can go into greater detail in future articles. It goes something like this :

Step 1 : Identify a thought or belief that is causing you stress in a specific moment. Write it down in the format:

I am [emotion] with [person] because [reason for emotional hurt].

e.g I am upset with him because he doesn’t respect me.

Step 2 : Ask the following four questions about the stressful thought and turn the thought around, like so:
1. Is it true? (yes/no – if “yes” proceed to question 2, if “no” proceed to question 3)
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (yes/no)
3. How do you react, what do you think, say or do, when you believe the thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?
The turnarounds are a way of questioning if the opposite is true or truer than the original statement. If I use the stressful belief in this article as an example, “I need to motivate people,” and turn it around, I can find three opposites:
1. I need to motivate me.
2. I don’t need to motivate people.
3. They/people need to motivate people.
For each of the turnarounds you look for examples as to why it may be true or truer than the original statement. Sometimes the turnarounds don’t make sense and it’s okay to disregard them.

If you want to learn more about this method you can go directly to Byron Katie’s website.

I don’t need to motivate any one of you, and you will all still manage to live your lives perfectly.

So, going back to me needing to motivate you all, how’s that going for you!?

I notice that the only person that I can ever motivate is myself. Even if it’s reading or listening to someone else’s words, it’s still me who’s motivating me by hearing them. That’s down to what I focus my mind on and the qualities of mind I wish to cultivate. I could listen to a basketball coach giving the motivational speech of his life, but as someone who doesn’t play, it won’t arouse my mind. However, listening to Byron Katie talking about how questioning our beliefs can wake us up to our self-inflicted suffering puts my mind in a state of heightened awareness and motivates me to identify where I suffer.

Therefore, if it’s impossible for anyone/thing to motivate me, there is not a single person in this universe that I can motivate, and gosh, that feels like such a relief. I can recall the stress of wanting to motivate my co-workers and being met with frustration when they wouldn’t rise to the challenge of performing with my idea of excellence. As I see it now with greater awareness, the last thing I want is an audience that is dependent on me for motivation, for whom I could end up taking responsibility. Every single one of us, without exception, carries the wisdom within, and the greatest of teachers always point that wisdom back to us like a mirror.

At this point, I wonder what on Earth I was signing myself up for, believing that I wanted to motivate you. Of course, these beliefs are not chosen; they are conditioned, and it’s amazing that these seeds can be planted and watered long before we have any awareness of them. They grow quietly in the dark, fed by habit, getting louder, until one day, sometimes for no particular reason at all, you shine the light on the belief, making friends with it. You recognise you hadn’t been in touch with reality whenever you had believed that thought and instead had told yourself some story to validate your suffering.

Questioning the need to motivate you all leaves me with the freedom to express myself without needing to be “wise” in your eyes.

In fact, I’m likelier to be happier Being the “fool”.
April 22, 2025
Audentes Fortuna Iuvat

Fortune favours the brave.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the world that exists today is radically different from 100 years ago!

At that time, the only mode of in-absentia communication was the written letter. There were no TVs, devices, or screens to invite strangers into your bedroom upon waking each morning. Now you have photos and snapshots of their daily lives to which you can compare yourself to their filtered and curated portfolios. Now, with the introduction of AI, we enter new territory of hyper-content. Articles and posts are either entirely written or edited by AI before publication, and everything reads the same. Posts jump out at you as SEO-hyper-charged titles lacking any wit or character to differentiate one author from another. I am by no means anti-AI or tech, however I am aware of how it dilutes my creativity when it comes to writing, art, and living itself.

Do you know there is a scoring system for how easy this article is to read? I am encouraged to make it easier to get more views – it’s not difficult to see how this ends up. I am even encouraged to be more assertive in my vocabulary. To not come across as unsure even when the truth is that life is completely uncertain – ironically, something I am assured of. Have you ever found yourself wondering how it can be that people seem so self-assured online as if speaking with absolute authority about what “problem” it is you’re suffering from?

And so it is that I notice my proclivity to want to conform to the “algorithm” and to be able to compete for attention with such players in the hopes it brings financial prosperity and opportunities. But to what end? The world as we know it now appears to be a result of the majority wanting comfort at the cost of spiritual practice and wanting ease at the cost of growth, and it appears to have led to a more violent and impoverished world.

Therefore, I resolve to accept my creative personality quirks that don’t allow for consistent content. That I may currently lack the structure that makes this writing coherent and punchy. I certainly don’t wish for my readers to “take an action” following reading my blog – why should I presume you, the reader, take anything away from what I write?

It seems to have been forgotten that creativity and by extension, the heart has it’s own unique expression and timing and cannot be quanitified and comodified if one truly wishes to live from a place of open-heartedness. I am sure many of us still relish the bold, the brave, and the beautiful when it comes to self-expression, for it is unqiue and irreprecable.

The world we wish to live in exists only in our minds and by contrast, the world we don’t wish to live in also exists only in our minds. You get to decide which world to live in, and act accordingly.

April 14, 2025
Trust Your Own Path

There is no one else like you. We’re all unique, shaped by different experiences—even within the same family. Considering just the birth order of children alone has a profound effect; the first-born meets parents stepping into the unknown, often wrapped in fear or overprotection. The last-born finds parents seasoned, more confident, perhaps freer to let mistakes unfold. Our conditioning carves distinct paths from the very start.

It’s tempting to cast our eyes around, to measure ourselves against others—gauging how far ahead or behind we appear, based solely on what we can see, hear or touch. We pour time and money into questioning whether we’re on the “right” path, aching to know for sure. And when we convince ourselves we’ve strayed, we suffer deeply—as if we could ever be anywhere but exactly where we are!

What if it’s impossible to stray from your path?

Imagine waking up, brewing a hot cup of tea, and truly feeling that this—right now—is what you’re called to do. For most, it’s a fleeting pause before the mind races to “bigger” things. That’s where we lose ourselves. We fixate on grand moments—those rare, fleeting peaks that claim so much of our thoughts, and time—while the small, daily actions slip by unnoticed. Yet those seemingly, insignficiant moments hold the greatest power.

As I write this, I trust the process. This is my path in this moment, I don’t need to worry about where I’m going next. It feels like my whole life has led me here—not because of what this blog might become, but because of what I am doing now. It could flop, gather dust, or be dismissed as trivial by others. That doesn’t matter. The act of writing it is mine, and that’s enough. If we could see more moments this way—the seemingly small acts of brewing tea, walking, breathing, making the bed —we’d start to feel a deep appreciation for life. It becomes magical. Wonder creeps in when we stop chasing something better and simply witness what’s here. It doesn’t mean you stop living life. I still take action, but I’m not trying to escape in my mind to a “better” place. I trust that everything is my path.

There’s a phrase I’ve heard: “You’re not on your own path.” It’s often aimed at someone caught in habits or choices that don’t seem to serve their highest good, and it is usually served up by worried and concerned friends and family. It is however a judgment, an assumption that one person can play God and know what’s best for another— it wrongly assumes that we can just pick a new path like it’s a coat off a rack. I see it differently. Every step you’ve taken is your path: the friends who fed bad habits, the job that broke you down, the extreme sport that pushed your body too far and broke it. Each choice, each stumble, has been a teacher, giving you exactly what you needed to grow, to overcome, to soften, to let go. Believing you’re “off” your path is disempowering—it whispers that you’ve made a wrong turn, that someone else could’ve done it better if they were living your life. No. You’re exactly where you need to be.

This doesn’t mean staying stuck in harmful environments. Being on your path isn’t passive—it’s active, alive. It’s about moving forward without being shackled by limiting beliefs about what’s possible. Trusting your path means seeing every moment as yours, every lesson as necessary, every challenge as an oppprtunity for growth, and every small act as a thread in the tapestry of your life.

If you want to continue following my journey and finding out how to question limiting beliefs, consider subscribing to receive notifications of when posts go live.

April 8, 2025
What is “Project : JourneyHome”?

At its core, Project: JourneyHome is my way of documenting the process of finding my way back to myself at time of much uncertainty. It began as a quest for a literal home—a destination at the end of a voyage, much like the hero’s journey. But, as with any true journey, I’ve come to see that the external only mirrors the internal.

Within us all is a calling, one that many of us cannot hear. Some people hear these in childhood, and for others, they come later in life. It’s not something that the mind can decide, it’s a matter for the heart.

Age is certainly a relevant factor in wanting to settle down, yet for each of us, this process is unique—a different calling, a different path. To me, this project is about recognizing that we all carry these callings, sometimes tucked deep within not having been heard in a long time. It’s about learning to stop, to let the mud of the mind settle until the water clears, revealing what’s true for us. When we think too much, emotions churn, and the noise of the mind drowns out the stillness required to hear our hearts.

We convince ourselves, and others that purpose is something to be chased with thought, but I’ve found it’s not the mind’s job to uncover it. Instead, it’s in the quiet—in the presence—that purpose whispers. This takes practice, a skill we’re all capable of and were in touch with as children.

The home I seek outside only takes shape after the one within is at peace.

Within us all lies a need to feel accepted, to be at peace in our own lives. Symbolically, the home reflects this: a place of safety, nourishment, and family, where we cultivate our hearts to love those closest to us—and then the world beyond.

My Process

Where do I begin? How far back do I go to show you where I stand now and how I’ve come to see life? For me, it’s only recently that I realized I’ve had a dream all along. As a teenager and young adult, I suffered from not knowing what I wanted, believing I didn’t have a dream. Without a dream, my life lacked direction and purpose. My mind spun endlessly, trying to figure out what I should be doing. Nothing seemed to fit. I saw others walking their paths—leaving university for jobs, traditional careers, digital nomadism, freelancing, entrepreneurship, infleuncers… I don’t dismiss these roads; they’re all valid, all needed. But my heart doesn’t sing.

Then, something shifted recently. I can’t pinpoint exactly when, but I remembered a childhood dream: to live in Africa. Growing up, I’d heard stories from relatives who’d been there, watched films like Born Free that set my heart ablaze. Every Christmas and birthday, I begged my mum for a lion cub. Of course, I was disappointed each time she didn’t deliver—though I can’t blame her for not producing a wild animal! At some point, that dream faded. I don’t recall being talked out of it; it wasn’t that overt. Instead, I think society’s conditioning—school, the push toward university, jobs, and city life—funneled me into believing Africa was for “special” people, other people, not me. I never questioned why I couldn’t go; the belief just settled in, a quiet limitation I didn’t see.

Recently, though, it dawned on me: that dream never fully disappeared. For nearly five years, I’ve been exploring my mind, drawing from Buddhist teachings about desire—how it can overtake us, how we refine it to know what’s true. There’s a difference, I’ve learned, between a fleeting craving and a deep calling. A desire—like wanting ice cream and then sulking when the shop’s closed—is impatient, overpowering, blind, it draws us into suffering. But a childhood dream? That’s gentler. It arises again and again, patiently calling out to be fulfilled. Some might call it God’s voice, the universe’s nudge, or a purpose etched into our DNA. Every cell feels drawn to it. Ignore it, and it’ll return—sometimes loud, sometimes soft. I’m learning to come to trust these callings. I don’t overthink them so much anymore—why this one? Will it succeed? Is it needed? All I know is there’s a loose end to tie up, and when it’s done, the mind lets go. I don’t even know when the mind will let go, it’s always mystery and it’s none of my concern.

Rediscovering the Dream

This dream—to go to Africa—isn’t about fame or fortune. It’s about listening to the inner child who’s been whispering all along, thrilled that I’ve finally heard her. “Yay, thank you!” she says. It’s taken a long journey to reach this point, shaped by moments I’ll share as this unfolds. Some people know their dream early and pursue it; others, like me may have buried it, dismissed it as childish, put it off, or forgetten it entirely. And that’s okay—there’s no one right way, sometimes many other lilfe circrumstances need to fall into place first before we’re ready. What matters is we don’t compare our paths. Each of us has unique lessons, a personal combination to unlock our hearts.

This is where Project: JourneyHome begins. If you’re curious to see how it unfolds, sign up for my latest posts. Through this, I hope to inspire you to listen to your own heart’s calling—whether you’re young or old, rich or broke, shaped by joy or struggle. We all have a childhood dream we can still chase. Let’s find it together.

April 5, 2025