Hey everyone! I just wanted to remind you all to embrace every moment because our time here is limited. Life gets so busy, but it's crucial to remember that we're only here for a short while, so let's make the most of it! I'm incredibly grateful for the universe blessing me with a healthy body, a healthy mind, and everything else I need for a fulfilling life. Let's start with my arrival into this world on September 14, 2006. My early years are a bit hazy, but I've been told that I was quite mischievous and loved taking my toys apart. I was ecstatic to start school at around 4 or 5 years old and got involved in nursery school and karate. I've always been passionate about learning, and I'll never forget the pride I felt when I scored 98% on a final exam, ranking first in my entire class. However, that joy faded a bit when my name was omitted from the award ceremony list and my scorecard was tampered with. It was a tough reality check for me. Afterward, I was feeling a bit down, but my parents took me to a Gift/Toy Shop to buy me a gift to cheer me up. I was stubborn and insisted on receiving an award/gift from school on a stage, but they bought me an expensive gift anyway, which I didn't accept at the time. Now, it's one of my most cherished memories, and the toy is proudly displayed on my memory shelf. This experience toughened me up and taught me some invaluable life lessons. Since then, I've grown to achieve a 2nd Dan Black Belt in Karate and I'm currently pursuing higher studies. I'm sharing this story not for your sympathy, but to illustrate that life often gives us a reality check. Maintaining a positive mindset has been crucial for me. It's not about the circumstances or the situation, but what we take from them that truly matters. I've also discovered that physical exercise has been a secret to building mental strength. Just a favor to ask: if you make a decision, keep it to yourself until you've applied it in your life. Also, it's best not to give advice on matters that you haven't personally experienced or don't have expertise in. Ananda, or true happiness, is within each of us. Start your self-discovery journey and embrace it. If you'd like to hear more about my life events, feel free to ask!

Mindfulness and Self-Awareness: Sasi Krishnasamy's teachings are rooted in the idea that true happiness and fulfillment come from within. He believes that by developing a deep sense of self-awareness and mindfulness, individuals can overcome any challenge and live a more fulfilling life.5

Sasi Krishnasamy is a well-known spiritual guru and mindfulness teacher who has helped countless individuals find inner peace and happiness. His teachings revolve around the principles of mindfulness and self-awareness, and he has become a sought-after guide for people from all walks of life. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and acceptance. It helps us to cultivate a deeper connection with ourselves and our surroundings, and to reduce stress, anxiety, and negative emotions. Mindfulness also enhances our mental and physical well-being, as well as our creativity, productivity, and compassion1. Sasi Krishnasamy's journey to becoming a mindfulness teacher was not an easy one. He was born and raised in India, where spirituality is deeply ingrained in the culture. However, he initially pursued a career in the IT industry and worked for several years before experiencing a personal tragedy. This event forced him to reevaluate his priorities in life and led him to explore spirituality and meditation as a way to find solace and inner peace. Sasi Krishnasamy soon discovered that he had a natural talent for teaching others about mindfulness and self-awareness. He began studying various spiritual practices and disciplines, and soon became a sought-after teacher and guide. Over the years, Sasi Krishnasamy has helped thousands of individuals find inner peace and overcome life's challenges. He has developed several popular programs and courses, including his “Seven Steps to Mindfulness” program, which has been praised for its effectiveness and simplicity. Sasi Krishnasamy's teachings are rooted in the idea that true happiness and fulfilment come from within. He believes that by developing a deep sense of self-awareness and mindfulness, individuals can overcome any challenge and live a more fulfilling life. Sasi Krishnasamy's impact on the spiritual community has been significant, and his teachings have helped countless individuals find inner peace and happiness. He has been invited to speak at various international events and conferences and has gained a reputation as a compassionate and insightful teacher. Sasi Krishnasamy is also the founder of Ayngaran Foundation, a spiritual non profit organisation that has been providing aid to over 50,000 needy people in Tamil Nadu amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation has been providing essential supplies such as food, medicine, and PPE kits to those in need, including marginalized groups like daily wage workers and transgenders. Ayngaran Foundation has also been conducting awareness campaigns to educate people on how to stay safe during the pandemic. They have set up a helpline for assistance and provided financial support to families who have lost their primary breadwinners to COVID-19. Overall, Ayngaran Foundation's efforts have made a significant impact in Tamil Nadu and continues to inspire positive change in communities.

Peace of mind… is easy to find? Not, but apparently is easily underrated, like Lana del Rey. How about true happiness? For a guy that has it all and a brain without the ability to focus, something always seems to be missing. Have you ever felt truly at peace with no worries in your head and the feeling that you could die right then and there and everything would be alright? Well, of course you didn't, that's why you killed yourself. “Jack, are you talking to C.R. again?”, said my friend P as she passed the joint. “What if she's really listening?”, I said while holding my breath full of brown, before slowly letting the smoke out from left to right, left to right. P was my best friend during high school and the one I would sneak to the roof with during Civics. “I don't think she WANTS to listen, otherwise she would still be here wearing necklaces instead of a noose…”, she said while extending her hand. “Shut up and smoke”, I said as I handed her what would be roughly translated to English as “little cow” (vaquita in Spanish… or was it bachita?), the smallest smokable divisor of the joint, that is, except “1”, the filter, duh. The truth is we both missed C.R. and we both lit our cigarettes. “Are you ready”, asked P. I smiled and said “obvs bitch, I'm the one who showed you.” I never know if you should capitalize the first word after the quotation marks if you wrote something outside the quote before, like it's the beginning of the sentence, but the spoken sentence and capital letters are meant for written language not oral. We each held the cigs up to the sun, vertically with the lit end on top, so that the white engulfed it from every angle. Synchronizingly, we flipped it upside down, lowered it to our bare legs, looked at each other and, without shifting our gaze, gently put them out, each on our left calf. Yeah we do that sometimes. It's not like we're depressed and want to kill ourselves like C.R. did. She was actually the first person I knew to kill herself. We just liked to do it because I discovered that sometimes, just sometimes, there is too much going on inside your mind that you feel disconnected to reality and find yourself in desperate need of a tether, something to remind you to feel. My excuse? I have ADHD since for as long as I can remember. I'm easily distracted and never get tired, bodywise and mindwise. It's like someone long ago started a motorboat engine in my mind, caught some weird timeless momentum and became a uniformly accelerated rectilinear object or whatever. It doesn't even stop while I'm dreaming, I suffer from extremely vivid and sometimes lucid dreams. I tend to confuse dreams with memories, they are so strong I sometimes believe they happened and I get wildly disoriented. P's excuse? Things at home have been wild for her. Her parents are going through a nasty divorce and her sister is having an affair with our teacher. So yeah, sometimes we like to feel alive by putting out our cigs on our legs. Arms would work too, but they are so public. The bell rang with that characteristically nasty loud pitch. Why does every school on Earth needs an annoying bell to signal the beginning and end of classes? Why not use a pleasurable sound? Has anyone thought school experiences might improve if someone changed that Godforsaken sound? P and I lowered our pants to cover the marks, threw the cigarettes over to the parking lot and headed to Math. We were completely stoned so I decided to take a mini nap during class, to which the teacher replied: “Jack, why are you not participating this time? You always get extra points” “I'm not feeling well”. I think Mr. M actually likes me. He is always amazed at how Math just flows through me, even though I almost never pay attention to him. He is also certain I give my friends the answers to his tests during the tests, but he has never discovered how. It's actually quite simple: I grab extra pages for “operational purposes”, solve the exam quite fast and on those pages designated for detailing my operations I solve the exam all over again in a slightly different way than mine. Then, I drop those pages at the same time as one of my friends drops theirs and he or she just picks them all up and voilà. I realized I found an unspoken rule of teaching: if a student is doing really well in a class, the teacher will grant him or her more privileges than other students. I actually don't like Mr. M so I enjoy torturing him like this. I think he is a self-centered misogynistic prick who gets off by showing off his so-called rapid mental calculation and by fucking P's sister. Going to school in Mexico City can be one of the best unintentional social experiments.

I'm not talking about the weird thing with the folds, I'm referring to the voice inside our head. It doesn't leave our tail for our entire life, I don't think it leaves even when we're dead. It tells us what to do next, Usually what we like utmost. We mostly get into brewing some trouble, And end up like a burnt toast. It goes blank sometimes, Actually when we need it more than anything, If we choose to feed the right wolf, then it's okay, The wrong decision tangles us in the dirtiest string. It's a complex thing to understand, Only few people have achieved that feat, I just consider it as my companion, A supernatural entity enclosed in meat.

There's nothing as dangerous as the absence of an unoccupied mind. An occupied mind is a troubled one. A troubled mind is one that is filled with so many distractions and hence cannot think straight and critically. This, in turn, affects decision-making in the life of the affected. About five days ago, I had a heated conflict with some friends of mine. It was heated in the room. Our love for football had us sitting in the living room that evening, watching my club play. The other guys in the room were not fans or supporters of the club I love. They just watched to enjoy football. Like in every football room, immediately after the kick-off, the criticisms followed suit. I wasn't having that. All of a sudden, I lost it. I became angry. I started speaking with my voice raised and trying to let everyone know that they were speaking rubbish. One thing led to another and everyone present in the room that day was angry and also tried to make their points known (except for the father-figure who was also present in the room but decided to keep mute, ignore us and focus on what he was doing on his mobile phone). I remember shutting up a friend who was a lady and was also present in the room that evening (although she was not watching the match, she was disturbed by the noise we created as we watched). She tried to calm me down, but I told her not to disturb me and was not in the mood for her hypocrisy. She felt bad and walked into her room. I, paying no attention to her feelings, continued in the argument. On noticing how heated the atmosphere was, how angry everyone felt towards me and how the ocean of offensive words I had doused them with created a spark of fiery arguments, I paused to think. I thought about everything again. There was nothing wrong with the words my friends had spoken. “Or did I overreact?” I asked myself. Of course, I did. You see, the problem was never the talks or the words spoken by my friends. I have had so many similar scenarios where I would be at the receiving end of a thorough lashing of words from my friends, so it was nothing new. Even I did the same when they were in my position. Then I realized it was not what was spoken actually. Although what was spoken by my friends served as a trigger for the already brewing lava in me, they were not the real cause⎼ they did not create the anger. It was as a result of something that I had been thinking about for a while. Before that faithful evening, I remember I was overwhelmed by some thoughts. Although I tried to shrug them off, they were only suppressed and not tackled or defeated. I was planning to get a new phone as my current phone at the time was doing a pretty good job at keeping my frustration level on a record so high. I had planned to get the phone and pay by installment but my plan failed (the same plan I had the month before and carried out but failed due to certain reasons unknown to me). I managed to take my mind off the matter as quickly as I could. I guess it didn't work as much as I expected, because it laid the foundation for the anger that appeared later that night. After I had taken a little time to think about my actions that night, I noticed I had been wrong. I was pained. Though, this was not really because of the actions of my friends particularly, but because of some failed plan earlier that day. What happened earlier that day created an opening⎼ a safe passage for words that I heard regularly to find a way through to my heart. I felt the need to apologize. I did instantaneously and I felt certain relief flow through my spine. I realized that night that there is something about making peace with people. It relieves you of the burden of having to ignore them or feel heavily uncomfortable when you see them. It becomes even harder when the people you are trying to ignore are your very good friends. I woke up the following morning, only to be served with a serious snub by the lady I had harshly spoken to the night before. I had completely forgotten I did that and not remember to apologize to her. I felt uneasy within me once again. But I decided that I was not going to waste any time thinking of what to do. I knew what the root cause of the problem was, I had found peace within myself and all I needed to do was apologize. I walked up to her in the kitchen and apologized to her. She understood immediately and we were good again. Later that week, my phone completely stopped working and I was with no phone. She was told about my current situation by her brother and she, without hesitating, gave me her old phone to make use of; pending the time I got a new one. I was overjoyed. All the while I was seriously disturbed about my phone's problem, there had been a solution to it. I got to understand after these occurrences that a lot of unwanted things can be avoided if we try to create or maintain peace within us.

Glory in my mind and A story in my life What I want to live is a glory in my mind But, what I have to live is a story in my life I wish I can fly in my life but that's the story of my mind not the glory of my life! It was the morning of 2000, a clock ticking at 7:00 A.M I was sleeping deeply eventually I felt the footsteps of someone coming towards my room, I placed my blanket over my head. While endeavoring myself for the savage that person arrived in, my mother arrived in my room pulled off my blanket, Joe getup its 7'o clock we are getting late son! hurry-up Joe, are you listening to me? I said get up, Although I was listening to her, really don't want to respond because I was busy arranging those chaos happening in my mind. Chaos? No, that's my world, designed by me, that's the world where every single thing happens according to me but not every time whenever I am sleeping that remote control world is free to do anything but whenever I am arouse nothing happen in that world regardless of my choice. Suddenly, I felt that some fluid is dripping on my face and I get up shouting someone is peeing on me? When I completely opened my eyes I saw that's my mom spilling water on me so that I can get up as it was getting late for my school. So finally I got up, Ahhh! Shitty dreams you always make me feel awkward in front of others. Anyhow, I got up, get myself to take bath, turned on the shower, put my depressed head below falling water of the shower, there were a lot of thoughts rushing in my busy mind, that project, that quiz, oh that home task I have not done any one of them, Joe you are such a lame boy u can't do anything in life, you're always late, you're always sick but why this all happens to me every time. No one understands, I always try to do my best I tried to prepare quiz but what happened that I am not ready for it? Whenever I open my books and try to memorize something I felt like there are already so many things to remember my thoughts took me to another level, I started thinking about what if have to do nothing but no one scolds me for doing nothing? What if I rule this world? If I rule this world I will demolish all the monsters over there, those monsters who bruise innocent lives for nothing, those monsters who are spreading anarchism everywhere, you all shitty monsters I will knock down all of you one day. Okay, after demolishing monsters what will I do? Umm, I will bring my parents a prestigious lifestyle, I will bring them all they ever want but unable to get because of their little ones, my parents are a great endowment of GOD for me, I will do everything for bringing happiness to their pretty faces. Have you ever experienced sky diving? Alack, I never had, I wish I am a great skydiver, I wish I could fly in the sky, I wish... what's pinching in my eyes? ah, it's painful, oh my bad I put soap in my eyes. Joe, you shitty Joe, come out of your dreamy mind you are taking a bath, aren't you? You dumbo, you are getting late for school hurry up and go outside. Now the clock is at 7:45 a.m my mom came to the room and started knocking the door of the washroom (now you have to face a big deal Joe, just be ready for punishment). She started yelling at me, Now, you can keep on taking your bath, you don't need to attend your school, just keep on sleeping and wasting your time, we can't wait for you anymore, we all are going to our workplaces and you can keep on enjoying the company of your bathroom! I will punish you hardly just wait for me to come back. BYE. Her words make me feel pity for myself (now I have to go to school on my own, as there was no one to take me). I run as I have never before, Joe hurry up!! You have to reach your class before 8:a.m you have to attempt your quiz either good or bad but you have to attempt it at any cost, otherwise your dreams will never come true. Hurry up, hurry up, run fast. Finally, I reached school at 7:56 a.m, 4 minutes before, I attempted the quiz and got 7 out of 10, not much good and not much bad. From that day I promised myself that I will work hard for my dreams. I will never stop my mind from taking me to my fantasy world because that world means a lot, that world is the other side of our story. We all have different kinds of stories running in our minds, good or bad. Bad stories are for gaining lessons in life and good stories are for amusing ourselves with good experiences. If you never had a dream, you can't have something miraculous in your life. Dreams are the beautiful reality of us, now it's up to us that how we assemble our dreams. Now, it's a morning of 2020, after 20 years me being Joe, I am an owner of my own multinational company running worldwide with unexceptional achievements every day. Although I can't rule the world (LOL) I can get everything I dreamed of and that's all because of that hustle in my mind which makes me feel pity for myself but sometimes it makes me the most confident person of this planet. Thanks to my dreams!!!

Boredom is a bad word. It is distasteful and inappropriate, for all situations, and at all times. It is the killing of the mind. With the mind, nothing is without a chance of good pass-time. Boredom cries for entertainment. And yes, entertainment can be derived of every lull if given effort. But then, does everything have to be entertaining? Can there be no entertainment and no boredom, at the same time? Entertainment is usually a distraction from everyday actions. A source of interest beyond the usual interactions of life. What, on the other hand, is boredom? The picture that generally comes to mind for boredom is lulling eyelids on an expressionless face, and a mind that cries for distraction, but is too tired to find it. Boredom is commonly associated to being "stuck" with nothing to do. When there comes a moment with nothing to do, very often it is described as a "boring" moment. And usually, when someone says they are "bored," they say it with a disgusted, annoyed tone of voice, which seems to imply that someone needs to entertain them, fast. But why? Sure, they need a break from everyday exercises, but do they need a lively distraction from it? Entertainment is good and healthy, without argument. Nonetheless, life should not have to consist solely of everyday routine, and entertainment. There is one more thing in life, which is commonly forgotten, but which is arguably the biggest secret to sanity. This secret is nothing. Simply doing nothing. Oftentimes there is little chance of doing nothing in our busy lives, but this is not about busy times. This is about times in life when things are the least busy. Times in life when it seems like everything stops. Times when things are slow as molasses. There is every reason to just sit. It has been given a bad name, doing nothing. Obviously we all know that it is only bad to do nothing when times are busy, and when duties call, which is most of the time. But when those times have a cease-fire, for one reason or another, it is quite healthy just to sit and look around, or close your eyes, and listen, and let yourself be still. There is so much good to taking advantage of lulls in life, just to do nothing. So much goodness grows out of stillness. A flower makes very little effort, if at all, and yet it becomes something of great pleasure to all. Trees are the soul of deep-seated stillness, and yet they become tall and lush and their branches are a welcome shade on a hot day. This secret of doing nothing is why boredom is a bad word. Because in associating stillness with lackluster, boredom has given a good thing a bad name.

There is a sign, of course, at the foot of the drawbridge: “Welcome to the inside of my head”. Ah yes... take in the brilliance of my Disney-like castle. The palatial grandeur, the iridescent colours. The bricks are units of time: from small second-bricks to huge year-ones. And those turrets? They're decades. The fourth one is still under construction. Do you see how my castle shimmers on a sunny day? When the skies are warm and blue, marvel at the French doors that swing open to the sound of music. Out pop amazing stories of wild adventures, daring encounters and breath-taking journeys. Out dance passionate affairs dripping in salacious details, followed by hilarious conversations, endearing anecdotes. Inside my Castle of Time it's like one of these multi-screen cinemas where rich assortments of films are playing simultaneously, in various languages and with different subtitles. There's upbeat jazz music – the quick tempo a perfect remedy for the chaos of my ever-spinning thoughts. Fairy lights are a-twinkle and the scent of freshly baked bread magics a smile upon your face. “How clever, how witty!” visitors say. “Super creative… fabulous imagination.” “Aren't you tired? There is SO MUCH going on here,” says a kind soul. “Inspirational.” “I can't stop laughing. Do you do this professionally? No? Well, you should.” “Those psychedelic dreams!” “So capable,” says a tourist, clapping me on the back. “Great potential. When is your book coming out?” But suddenly, thick clouds set in and drown out the sun. The drawbridge creaks and heaves as it clanks down. There, in that muddy moat that hugs the castle, live terrible traumas. Hideous monsters that rise from the murky depths. The tigers crouching under the drawbridge are males who touched me, uninvited. The dragons hiding in the rye are the screamers; dominant men who must be in control at all times. There are more demons in that pond, lurking in the shadows of the Castle. The snakes are the cheaters, the scorpions the contaminators. Worst of all are the piranhas; the loved ones that simply upped and left. They wake up when my castle is stressed, scared or worn out. That's when the CP (Condemning Priest) who rules the place spews his poison, his Sect of Smug Women screeching that nothing I do is good enough. “My book,” I tell the tourist, breathing away the tension, “Oh, I don't know. I…” By now, the grey sky is pressing down on me. I feel exhausted. I want to run inside the donjon and hide in a room marked PRIVATE. It has a sofa with a warm blanket, a TV, books, and mountains of chocolate. “You'll never amount to anything,” the CP sneers. His Smug Women snigger. They've caught up with me, loving the torture. “Others write better, more poignant stories,” they mock. “They're successful. You're not.” “You have no energy to pull it off, a book on the market? You're always tired. Loser!” “Failure!” “You've got wrinkles. Time's up.” “Your body is flabby, you can't stop bingeing.” “You say you work hard but you have only ONE child. Pish.” I try to ignore their scorn. Grunting, I shove the CP and his haters in the pantry and lock it. I have another tourist to show around. “And where are you from?” I ask as I throw away the key. “Macedonia.” “Great,” I smile, opening the golden doors. “Здраво. Јас сум Сузана. Како си? добро или лошо? Мило ми е.” The woman's mouth falls open. “How did you...?” “I learnt some Macedonian whilst studying in Barcelona.” “Which languages do you speak?” “Oh,” I say shyly. “English, Dutch... and to varying degrees, French, German, Spanish, British Sign Language, Arabic, Italian, Mandarin and Turkish. “Can you read the Cyrillic alphabet?” “It was amazing to read signs in Moscow,” I say excitedly. But in the distance, I hear banging and clanking. The CP and his army of Smug Women. They're breaking out of the room. I feel anger bubbling inside. “What about Arabic?” the tourist asks. “Love reading and writing from right to left.” “And the Chinese one?” “Don't push it.” Grinning, the tourist picks up a memory. “Wow,” she breathes. “You covered this posh hotel in the Seychelles? You're a journalist? A writer?” Before I can even reply, the CP comes galloping up, flanked by his faithful followers. “She was,” he barks, “but now...” BAM! My fist hits him square on the nose. He slumps on the floor, clutching his bleeding face. Did I just do that? The tourist is too wrapped up in pictures of tropical trumpet fish and gorgeous Creoles to notice. She grabs a Huge Fact off a shelf. “Who's this handsome little prince? You're a Mum too?” “Lazy sloth…” one Smug Women starts. "She..." But I don't let her finish. “Oi,” I say, yanking the Smug's hair. “I am the Queen of my castle,” I bite at them. “No one else. Shoo!” “That's right,” I tell the tourist as I glare at my retreating demons. "And I do both well.” Yes, I've got some fight left in me. But how do I banish the baddies from my castle forever? Time will tell.

How often do we look at successful people and feel intimidated and jealous? We are either forced to admire them or hate them. We think of how much better, smarter and more driven they are. But if we were to look closer we would see at the core of every great person lies a series of simple decisions. Success comes not just from luck and smartness, but from simple choices that ultimately define who we are and what we become. To become successful, we first have to empower ourselves and learn to love and appreciate all our flaws. And to do so, we have to start from the simplest step; our thoughts Our mind is our biggest asset, but also our biggest obstacle. It is the most important tool at our disposal, but it is useless if we don't know how to apply it. Here are some steps that can help us to learn how to befriend our mind, become its master and allow us to walk on the path of self-awareness. Control your reaction We are often faced with an undesirable situation in life that is not in our control and which leaves us feeling helpless and frustrated. Not being able to control people and situations doesn't mean you're powerless; it just means that you have to control your reaction towards them. If you can't control a situation, then prepare for it. Instead of losing temper, it is more helpful when you accept the obstacle in front of you and try to work on finding the solution. This will help you to slowly build patience and resistance to an undesirable situation. We're often so fixated on getting people to behave the way we want that we forget to focus on ourselves. The best way to stop people and situations from controlling your life is to take charge of your own decisions and become stronger and smarter. Watch for self-criticism Your unconscious mind is your greatest critic. It is imperative to always speak to it in positives. Having a cynical attitude about every action you do only give you more reason to become sad and confused. Instead, praise yourself for any kind thing you did today, no matter how small it is. Change your self-talk and you'll be on a fast track to a more positive and empowered relationship with yourself and the world. Do not overthink Humans tend to overcomplicate things because we overthink them. It is therefore important to take a step back and remember your priorities and make the right decision. Don't wallow in self-pity or spend useless time thinking about that one mistake you made. Learn to appreciate your choices and move on. Listen to yourself Whenever things get confusing, close your eyes and think about yourself. The key to becoming self-aware is to recognize your strengths and accept your weaknesses. Sort out your priorities and goals and work towards their fulfilment without getting distracted. Reward Yourself Once you complete your goal, it is important to reward yourself, no matter how big or small your achievement was. This helps is keeping us motivated and makes the tasks seem enjoyable. But it is important to be honest to yourself. The reward system will work as a motivation only as long as you didn't cheat on your goal. Smile and Relax Smiling is infectious; not only will it make you happier it will attract people with the same positive energy around you. Throughout your day, take a moment to breathe. It's as simple as remembering to take a deep breath. By doing so, you are giving a command to your mind to relax. And a relaxed mind is an open mind. It will also develop your discipline, which leads to even more self-mastery.

The benefit of writing is allowing your mind to speak and unburden your soul to bring yourself to new emotional heights once the emotional burdens of thoughts are lifted. Writing is a wonderful way to unload the mind of useless chatter at three in the morning and play friend to yourself. Writing allows one to communicate their thoughts and exercise themselves Spiritually thus allowing healing to occur and can help bring closure in many situations. Calming the mind helps to refocus your thoughts when times are deeply stressed or simply to convey a spontaneous creative thought for use at another time. Writing out your thoughts can be both relieving and satisfying. This also allows one to reconnect with themselves; opening themselves up to self confidence and self nurturing by allowing their mind to freely express its most secret self as it is most liberating and promotes emotional well-being. Another benefit of writing is that it provides a mentally physical job or hobby for someone incapable of physical exercise or daily movement. Having a way to express oneself is a great way to combat against depression and mood swings and is not limited to any one kind of person. Writing is for everyone. Writing may provide keeping a language alive. Through writing you may build bonds of friendship or earn awards thus promoting your own mental health. Writing soothes the mind and balances your psyche. Another benefit of writing is that another perspective may be sought out or brought to light. This engages conversation. Writing is a mutual alliance with your soul and mind joining both in a place where emotions are equal and transforming; creating spiritual healing in some cases or you're just flourishing out in some kind of story telling. In either case, writing anything; even if it sounds silly, is an excellent deterrent for other health problems like dementia and Alzheimer's. Writing is a great way to exercise the recesses of the mind and in that, you may find emotional well being and better understanding of one's self. Writing sets you free to explore your world and it's surrounding without bias. You can love or hate anything and in that comes the ability to identify with the pros and cons of reality possibly transforming that into your greatest work of art. Writing is soulful and expressive leading one to experience Spiritual Peace. Writing is creative art. Writing is essential to success in life. Lastly, writing is the best tool for communicating with others whether it's in the sand or on paper. Every line is valuable. Every word needed. So remind your mother, brother, sister and friends to write for their life, loves and hates. For in that we all Live.

"How would it feel to be able to wake up for once and not have negative thoughts crowding my head?" "Will a day ever come where I will never have to feel worthless or insecure again?" "Am I loved?" "What is wrong with me?" "Why me…why me?" Let those sink in. Many of you have asked yourselves one, two or maybe all of these questions. These happen to just be a small portion of the questions you constantly ask yourself every day. Crazy huh, how you try hard to obliterate every negative aspect out of your life. Nothing ever works though and instead you end up falling somewhere on the mental health spectrum. You ask yourself these questions, knowing you will attempt to answer them yourself. Do your answers usually revolve around it being your fault for even having these questions swarm your mind in the first place? Many become obsessed with trying to find answers…you become obsessed with trying to find answers. It gets to the point where you feel as though you can no longer deal with the never ending emotional, mental and physical pain. You cannot separate yourself from this darkness and instead your need for life to end, pulls you deeper and deeper into the abyss of despair. Well it is time to cut the chain death has on you and begin to resurface. Understand that you are a representation of true beauty. True beauty can be anything you want because you define your true beauty. Every scar, internal and external is not a defect. Look at how God did not make a mistake. You were created detail by detail. There is more to you than you realize. Mental health is a piece of a puzzle. It is not the puzzle. It is not you. You are complex. You are beautiful. You are an intricate masterpiece.

A year ago, the Philippines faced a devastating terrorist attack in the Islamic City of Marawi, Lanao del Sur. This attack came to be known as the “Marawi Siege”. It went on for months ending in November 2017 when President Duterte announced the city's liberation. Days after the siege begun on May 2017, in a volunteers' group chat of our NGO, we were asked if we're available to join a peace mission in an evacuation center located in Lanao del Sur. The slots were filled immediately and although I fiercely wanted to join the said mission I didn't have the opportunity. Nevertheless, I did what I could to support the team. Yet, even now, as Marawi begins to build its city, there is still a piece of me that wishes to have been part of that peace mission, to have been able to bring joy and support to the children of Marawi while the siege is ongoing. Weeks turned into months and Marawi City was liberated from the terrorist group but it left part of the city, near Lanao lake, completely obliterated. Back in Manila on March 2018, I was asked by my friends if I'm available to join a month-long peace mission in Mindanao; I had mixed feeling about it. I felt like this maybe a blessing since I've already wanted to resign from my job, but, this may also be a test, to see if I am brave enough to resign from my job without another work lined up when I get back from Mindanao. Add in the fact that volunteering is my passion and the feeling that I'm wasting away in the office helped me reached my decision. Turns out, I did have the guts to resign without another job lined up and the trip really was a blessing. The peace mission was a blessing due to a number of reasons. First, I was able to live in Mindanao for a month and immersed in their culture and lifestyle. Second, I was able to see the battle ground or what we like to call “Ground Zero” in Marawi City from afar. “Ground Zero” is still prohibited to civilians because the armed forces is presently in the process of clearing out the areas of undetonated bombs and IEDs. Lastly, I was able to act as a support to the children of Marawi, at least for those in the group I facilitated in. The peace mission we conducted in Mindanao was in the conflict areas of Maguindanao and Marawi City. We taught the children and their parents peace education. In Marawi, I was given the chance to act as lead facilitator for one of the 10 groups. Together with me is a member of the “Hijab Troopers”, they are women soldiers who wears white hijab. Our group was composed of 3 boys and 4 girls, all coming from 4 different schools. Despite being strangers, our group was able to form a bond like that of a family. I was their big sister who helped them with their activities such as writing and drawing. But, there was 1 kid who was extremely shy. He would not answer my questions (that were spoken in Filipino) and at first I thought that he could only understand Maranao so I asked the other kids to translate for him, but he still wouldn't participate in our activities. In that case, I told him that it was alright if he doesn't share his thoughts but if he wants to share then his new friends can translate for him. During the 2nd day, as I was observing all my kids, I felt elated on the fact that everyone is bonding, they maybe strangers yesterday but now, they've accepted each other as friends. I also found out that the shy kid can understand and speak Filipino well but he adamantly refuses to share his answers in the group. Accordingly, after an activity where everyone had to share their drawings, I went to him and asked him to share his drawings to me, he started telling me the reason behind his drawings and I felt like I was going to cry at that moment because finally, I was able to get through his walls even if it was just a little. Indeed, those 3-days were the best but they were also the most exhausting. Handling 7 kids is draining emotionally and physically. It made me really appreciate the kindergarten and elementary school teachers all over the world for their limitless patience and energy in handling hundreds of kids in their career life. On our last day in Marawi City, we visited an area near Lanao Lake where “Ground Zero” can be observed. The only word that came to mind when I saw it was destroyed. The battle ground area was completely and utterly destroyed. The whole area was colored gray by ashes. Mosques that were once magnificent now had huge gaping holes in them and houses that were home to thousands of Maranaos were reduced to piles of rocks. As I watch the scene before me, I felt anger and the thirst to find out the answer to my questions, “why? Why do this? What did it accomplish?” And as our group continues to hear the stories of the Marawi Siege, one person shouted “look, there's a rainbow” and as we all turn to gaze at the breathtaking beauty of the rainbow, I said to myself “how ironic.”