Many leaders secretly run on a simple script:

“If I get there, then I’ll be happy.”

There is always a “there”:

• The promotion.
• The exit.
• The partner.
• The red Porsche.
• The healed body.
• The next spiritual milestone.

The logic is linear:

1. Define a goal.
2. Reach the goal.
3. Experience a bur
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 You can build a very tight cage out of good intentions.

• “These thoughts are good. These thoughts are bad.”
• “Someone who has understood certain things doesn’t act like that.”
• “If I want to be enlightened / conscious / responsible, I must never do X again.”

The bars are subtle:

• Spiritual i
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Walk into certain temples in India and you’ll see statues and structures that stop you in your tracks.

A giant stone boulder perched impossibly on a slope.
A Dancing Shiva frozen mid‑movement, surrounded by flames.
An entire hall lined floor to ceiling with mirrors, so that every object you see ref...

Recently I’ve had a persistent cough and flu-like symptoms.

Nothing dramatic, but enough to flatten me for a day. Twelve hours in bed, no energy, body heavy.

What interested me most wasn’t the cough itself. It was the stories I noticed myself telling about it.

One story sounded like this:

“Som

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When you travel far from home long enough, something subtle happens.

You return to the exact same apartment, the same furniture, the same streets. But it doesn’t feel the same. A month in another culture rewires your habits and perceptions just enough that your “normal” suddenly looks strange and n...