Sometimes the path we take is not the one we truly want. When We Don’t Understand Ourselves I often hear people say, “I don’t know why I do that, even though I wanted to do something different.” Or I hear them say one thing and then act in the opposite way, as if their words and their actions are coming from two different places. And if I’m honest, I have felt that same confusion within myself more times than I can count. There was a time when I started to notice something in myself that I...

I grew up in a dense, busy city where everything always felt in motion. There was always somewhere to go, something to do, something to think about. Life moved quickly, and without realizing it, I learned to move the same way, always carrying a sense that I needed to keep going, keep searching, keep becoming something more. Lately, I find myself thinking about a different kind of life. I imagine a place that feels slower, more open, where there is space not only around me, but within me. A...

The other day, while I was visiting my dad, I noticed something. It wasn’t anything dramatic, but just the way he said something. The harsh tone in his voice from the way he reacted to something so ordinary. But inside me, I felt it immediately, a tightening in my chest, a heaviness that felt familiar. And at that moment, I knew the old version of me was coming back. There was a time when I did not notice this. I would have already been inside the emotion, reacting without awareness. My...

Over time, I began to notice something. It was not always clear at first, but slowly, through different moments in my life, I started to feel that it was never really about whether my wishes came true or not. Even in the moments that felt like silence or disappointment, something was still happening beneath the surface. I began to see that this quiet reaching was changing me, even when nothing outside seemed to change. Over time, even in fields like medicine, people have begun to notice that...

As usual, I received a message from my mom the other day. “Don’t forget to pray.” It was a simple reminder, something she had told me about many times over the years. And every time I see those words, something in me softens a little. It brings me back to a familiar place, one that has been with me since I was a child. When I was younger, my mom would always remind me to pray each day. She believed deeply that if we prayed with our whole heart, our wishes would come true. I remember how...

Learning to Transform It What happiness has come to mean For me, happiness has slowly come to mean something amazingly simple: suffering less. The older I get, the more I realize that happiness is not something we can endlessly add to our lives through achievements, possessions, status, or approval. Happiness becomes possible when we learn how to transform the pain that already exists inside us. If we are not able to take care of the suffering within ourselves, then no amount of external...

How the anger we grow up with quietly shapes the way we speak, react, and love. Growing up around anger I recently had a conversation with a friend about anger, and it stayed with me long after we stopped talking. It made me realize how much anger has shaped not only my family, but also the emotional atmosphere of my childhood. The truth is that anger was never something rare or shocking to me. It was everywhere. I grew up witnessing so many fights and arguments that they became part of life....

Childhood Memories at the Table When I was a child, my dad used to tell a funny story about me. Every time someone brought food to the house, the moment I saw it, I would run away. I was extremely skinny because I simply didn’t enjoy eating very much. While other children looked forward to meals, I treated food almost like something I needed to escape from. But there were a few things I loved deeply. My favorite meal was incredibly simple: rice with cucumber and soy sauce. I loved vegetables...

My Childhood Home I often find myself thinking about how the homes we grow up in quietly shape the dreams we carry into adulthood, even when we do not fully understand it at the time. When I was young, my family of four lived together in a small home in a busy city where land was limited and space was considered a luxury. Owning a home with a large yard was something associated with wealth, and most families learned to live closely together because there simply was not enough space to live...