A Zen Stoic, New York, NY (2026)

12/29/2025

A simple question as a practice, as a mindset,
can save us a lot of unnecessary suffering:

𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡, 𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩?

Ask it often.
Ask it before worry turns into rumination.
Before tension spirals into generalized anxiety.
Before irritation turns into chronic anger.

This practice aims long term.
It helps us keep our ego in check.
Not by suppressing emotion,
but by giving it a frame.

When something is in our control,
we gain clarity about 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 and 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.
We stop circling the problem
and start engaging with it.

I know it’s not always easy,
that’s why it should be
a daily practice.
The more we practice this,
the more this “spiritual muscle”
becomes stronger.

And the more we exercise discernment.

More often than not, mental spirals don’t begin with real danger.
They begin when the mind tries to dominate what cannot be commanded.
Weather.
Other people’s choices.
The past.
The unknown.
And more...

This small daily practice doesn’t make you passive.
It makes you focus on the power you have.
On the power you have been given.
Your will.

It teaches you where effort is useful
and where it only feeds tension.
It softens anger by removing false expectations.
It calms anxiety by ending the illusion of total control.

Over time, this question becomes a kind of inner discipline.
A way to conserve energy.
A way to stay centered.

Not everything deserves your reaction.
Only what’s within your reach deserves your action.
—
📌Read more about ways to strengthen this frame
in the book 📙 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 ⬇️

https://amzn.to/3BJialh

12/28/2025

People don’t open up to methods.
They open up to honesty.
To being seen without being analyzed.
To feeling met, not managed.

Knowledge can guide the hand,
but only humanity reaches the heart.
Especially in inner work, especially in connection.

You can’t truly communicate with someone,
if you’re hiding behind credentials.
You can’t build trust
while standing above the experience instead of inside it.

At some point, all the tools must soften.
And what remains is this simple truth:
one human soul sitting with another,
not to fix, impress, or control...
but to understand.

12/26/2025

Whether it’s a machine, a home, or a relationship,
maintenance is always quieter,
and usually will cost you less than repair.

Many things don’t fall apart suddenly.
They erode slowly, through neglect,
assumption, and postponement.
Through the belief that tomorrow
will look like today.

What you don’t tend to, you eventually lose.
Not because it wasn’t valuable,
but because attention stopped flowing to it.

Care isn’t dramatic.
It’s consistent.
Small check-ins.
Honest conversations.
Minor adjustments before
cracks become fractures.

Repair is what we’re forced into
when maintenance was ignored for too long.
And by then, the cost isn’t just material,
it’s emotional, relational,
and perhaps even existential.

So don’t wait for things to break
to take them seriously.
Presence today saves pain tomorrow.

12/25/2025

As Viktor Frankl famously taught,
between the stimulus and the response, there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Meta-awareness is how you find that space.

Swipe through to learn how to find “The Gap”
and take back control of your flashlight. 🔦

📌 Save this post to read the next time you feel overwhelmed or “stuck” in a thought loop.

♻️ Share this with a friend.

➕ Follow for more insights
on psychology, mindfulness, and inner work.

12/24/2025

The real test of friendship often
happens behind closed doors.

When one's tends to throw mud at the other's name,
do those who consider themselves their friend
take a stand,
or do they shrink back into the shadows of convenience?

Because make no mistake:
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩,
𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚.

When they let someone disrespect you
just to keep the conversation comfortable,
they are showing you their priorities.

They are choosing their
convenience over friendship.

They are comfort safety over integrity.
It all comes down to one's moral core.

Of course, some can say that
it’s not a friend’s obligation to protect anyone,
but the thing is that this is more
of an unwritten code of friendship, in a way.

Some values, like loyalty and friendship,
cannot be forced. And they shouldn't.

If one friend can't defend another when they
aren't there to defend themselves,
they don't deserve to sit at their table when they return.

Watch who stays quiet,
when it matters.
That silence tells you everything
you need to know about their character.
----

If this resonated with you,
💾save it for the moments you need clarity,

🔁share it with someone who needs the reminder,

and follow for more reflections on
loyalty, character, and real friendship.

12/23/2025

You’ve perfected the performance.
You shift. You change.
You become exactly who they want you to be,
just to keep the applause coming.

And it works.
The praise rolls in.
The validation hits.
But it never fills the void, does it?

That’s the tragedy.
You’re starving at a feast.
Because deep down,
you know the truth.

They aren't clapping for you.
They are clapping for the mask.
They are in love with the illusion
you built to protect yourself.

And the real you?
The raw, messy, authentic soul
hiding behind the curtain?

It remains unseen.
Un-mirrored.
And deeply, painfully alone.
You can’t feel loved for who you are
if you never show them who you are.
--

💾 Save this as a reminder if it resonates with you

🔄 Share it with a friend who might find this thought provoking

👉 Follow for more reflections

12/21/2025

You may hear often that every day is a gift.
But let’s be real.
Some days, the wrapping paper is barbed wire.
Some days, waking up feels less like a blessing
and more like a battle you didn't sign up for.
I know, it feels messy, and even ugly.

It’s the kind of heavy that sits on your chest
and makes you wonder if it’s even worth it.
But you don't have to pretend
to be happy to be grateful.

The gift isn't that life is perfect.
The gift is that you are still here to feel it all.
The anger, the grief, the exhaustion...
it means you haven't turned to stone.
It means you're still fighting.

So let it suck. Let it hurt.
But don't you dare let it defeat you
to the depths of your spirit.
You’ve made it through your bad days before.
This is just another one you’re going to conquer.
Keep going.
--

📓 In the book 8 𝙏𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙨,
I explore how the victimization pattern quietly takes root,
how it drains your power while pretending to protect you,
and (most importantly) how to dismantle it with
awareness, responsibility, and inner strength.

👉 Available on Amazon ⬇️

https://amzn.to/3LyQ9BD

12/20/2025

There are two types of intelligence help us
move through life and
navigate difficult situations.

One understands patterns.
The other feels the situation.
Both are necessary.
Neither is sufficient alone.

Many struggle not because they lack intelligence,
but because they rely on the wrong one at the wrong time.

These kinds of intelligence are often defined as
Cognitive and Emotional, but I refer to them as:

1️⃣ The Pattern Processor
2️⃣ The Vibe Feeler

One remembers with patterns.
The other remembers with feelings.

👉 1. The Pattern Processor

This intelligence interprets patterns
and exercises deductive and inductive reasoning.

It works with pattern recognition, strategic planning,
complex problem-solving, and mitigating long-term risk.

When it rules: When building a 5-year strategy,
interpreting behavioral patterns,
developing a case study, and more.

Its Role: It provides Rational Clarity and Direction.

👉2. The Vibe Feeler

This is your intuitive and somatic intelligence.

It doesn’t have time for a spreadsheet;
it reads the immediate environment through
sensation and “gut feeling.”

It flows with the atmosphere.

When it rules: During a rapid response,
“reading the room” in a negotiation,
sensing unspoken tension,
or adapting to sudden chaos.

Its Role: It handles the Waves.

📌 The analogy:

The winds of the sailor symbolize mostly the ability to handle emotional “currents” in many situations in our life.

The map and compass symbolizes mostly our rational ability to process and understand patterns in every aspect of our life.

⚖️ The thing is that we are not often educated to cultivate and balance both, and that’s why there are times where people fail to act.

Of course there are other types of intelligence and sub categories of what I mentioned, but here I wanted to emphasize on this distinction.

Are you the type who more watches the charts, or feeling the wind?

12/17/2025

Light enters only when you
stop guarding the cracks.

At first, the walls you built made sense.
They protected you
when pain was too much,
or perhaps when your
sense of self was still forming,
when exposure would have probably
broken you instead of healed you.

Defense mechanisms aren’t the enemy.
They’re intelligent responses to overwhelm.
But problems begin when
protection turns into imprisonment,
when the walls meant to regulate pain
start sealing it inside.

Cracks aren’t failures.
They’re pressure points where
truth is trying to breathe.
And the more fiercely you guard them,
the darker it becomes within.

Healing doesn’t start when
you become invulnerable.
It starts when you allow yourself to be honest,
about the grief you carry,
the anger you never named,
the wounds you learned to hide because no one taught you how to hold them safely.

Your cracks are not weaknesses.
They’re openings.
Places where awareness can enter.
Where compassion can soften what rigidity couldn’t fix.
Where growth finally has room to happen.

You don’t need to tear the walls
down all at once.
Just loosen your grip.
Just stop guarding the cracks so fiercely.

That’s where the light has been waiting.
—

📌Read more in the book 📓8 𝙏𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙨. ⬇️
https://amzn.to/3LyQ9BD

12/16/2025

The potential and unpredictability
of the wind is often symbolically
associated with emotional turmoil,
which we often experience to a
certain degree.

Change, loss, pressure, uncertainty,
none of these ask for permission.
But your depth changes how they’re met.

Deep roots are built quietly.
In the choices no one sees.
In the values you return to when things shake.
In the work you keep doing beyond
the ups and downs of motivation.

When your foundation is solid,
you don’t panic at every gust.
You bend when needed.
You stand strong when it matters.

The wind reveals what was shallow.
It doesn’t create weakness, it exposes it.

So don’t spend your life trying to control the weather.
Go deeper.
Strength grows downward long before it shows upward.

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙨?

12/15/2025

Out of these, which way do you learn more often?

A Zen Stoic

12/29/2025

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