Thank you for being by my side this year
My 2019 ending was not a part of my initial goals, one of my favorite books of this year, 52 lessons of 2019, top articles on race, having what it takes
Hi friend,
Has it really been a year already?
We left everything to travel the world, sat in silence, cried on a retreat in Thailand, gardened in the South of France, had so many revelations and walk down memory lanes, launched a podcast, took a last-minute trip to Burning Man, moved back into New York, launched a monthly support group, and had an article on racism go viral.
If you are new to this newsletter, welcome. These are some of the highlights of my travels this year. (TLDR) 2019 in a nutshell: I left my job to study meditation throughout the world this year and ended up back in NYC to start my own mindfulness projects.
If you’ve already been following, especially from the beginning, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am so humbled to have you on this journey with me.
Looking back when I first left on this trip, I would never have imagined where I would be today. To be honest, I was imagining a very different future. Mindfulness was going to just be one side project while I pursued other tech projects that I have incubated over the past few years.
Will I get to those one day? Maybe. But for now, I have a strong calling in the space of mindfulness, meditation, and spirituality that I want to spend more time exploring.
(2019 goals I wrote in December 2018. Highlighted were my tech startup goals.)
From being extremely burnt out at the end of 2018, unable to survive another week of work, to sitting in two months of silence, I flipped through extremes desperately seeking my purpose in this world.
In these quiet moments, I found answers that my busy “hustle" life could not provide.
My biggest insight from this year?
Being lost is cannot be simply fixed using external interventions like pharmaceuticals, seminars, and life coaches. In fact, the direction we need lies within us all. By cultivating a relationship with ourselves through self-love, acceptance, and compassion, we can begin to hear the familiar whispers of our intuition that can guide us to where we are meant to go. It’s never too late to start listening to ourselves.
I hope you all have an amazing wrap up to your 2019 and I can’t wait to continue sharing my adventures with you this upcoming year.
A book that left me in tears
In 2015, an unconscious woman was raped on Stanford’s campus. Her name is Chanel Miller.
Chanel’s writing first caught the public eye when Buzzfeed published her final words to her assailant. In just a few days, it became a viral sensation and millions had been moved to tears by her harrowing words.
A few months ago, she published her memoir called Know My Name, which captures her journey throughout the court case. It’s incredible. In fact, incredible doesn’t even cut it. Her prose is absolutely breathtaking and I was in tears during a few parts of the book. It’s rated 4.8 on Goodreads, which makes it the highest-rated book I’ve read all year. (Second highest was Draplin’s design book)
52 Lessons of 2019
Stumbled on a list of 52 interesting facts an author learned in 2019.
Some ones I liked:
Placebos are so effective that placebo placebos work: A pain cream with no active ingredients worked even whennot used by the patient. Just owning the cream was enough to reduce pain.
In the US Northwest, rain can damage the fruit on cherry trees. So helicopter pilots are paid to fly over the orchards, using their downdraft to dry the fruit as it ripens. For the pilots, it’s a risky but potentially profitable job.
A man who bought the personalised number plate NULL has received over $12,000 of parking fines, because the system records ‘NULL’ when no numberplate has been recorded.
A look at race
Take a look at the top ten powerful articles on race by the New York Times.
You have what it takes
"The greatest discovery of my generation is the fact that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” William James
As always, thanks for reading!
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Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
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