Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash Everyone’s talking about AI recently (I’m hopping on the bandwagon). Many of us are asking how AI will change the world, for better or worse. I will admit that I've always been suspicious of new technology. But I'm also a curious person, so I decided to test out Chat GPT-4. It turns out I was delighted by how useful it has been so far, lol. What is technology? What is humanity's relationship with it? For a period, we treated it like our servant. Now, it seems that we are increasingly treating it like the parent we always wanted that will take care ..read more

Image by NASA Do we choose who we are to become? I used to believe that was so. Now I suspect that is just partly true. I had wanted many things for myself. Many such things I had received. But not all of them belonged to me. The mind says no but the heart says yes. Putting into question everything I had learned. What is the source of my desires? Tuning inward, I sense a longing for return. A reunion with what feels true. It is a return to my one true home. Every now and then I would arrive at this place. There, I find the sweetness of my own being. The essence of love lies in its centre. Thi ..read more

Anima (2018) by Thomas Lai Self-doubt is something we all experience from time to time. Self-doubt often comes up when we step outside our comfort zone and do something we've never done before. Our self-doubt is often tied to our fear of being rejected. It is also tied to our core human need of self-worth. When I was starting Lifted Being, I faced a lot of self-doubt. I would think to myself: Who am I to start a business and become a coach? How can I call myself a ‘spiritual’ life coach! Who would want to talk to me? What if I'm no good at this? But you know what? I did it anyways. I'm still ..read more

Photo by Vladyslav Dukhin The year’s end tends to bring up a lot for people. What’s passing through your mind? How does your body feel? What’s it like to be you in this moment? Many people are rushing about here and there trying to get things done. There is a mixture of excitement and stress in the air. Sometimes I feel like a bird watching all this from above, wondering with perplexity: what’s all this commotion? But I think I’m beginning to understand. There is a furor to the frenzy, an intoxication to the mania. The bustle gives us a sense of aliveness, even as it wears down our body-mind ..read more

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash You may be familiar with the awkward teenage years. It's a time when you're not a kid anymore and you're not quite an adult yet. I remember doing a lot of cringey things during that period and I rather not relive it. When we first reach adulthood we may have sighed with relief thinking we reached the other shore at last! Finally, the awkward phase is over. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case — at least not from my experience. As adults, we are continuously transforming throughout our life. I'm not just speaking of the wrinkles and grey hairs. We may fee ..read more

Photo by Quan Nguyen on Unsplash “Embodiment is living within, being present within the internal space of the body.” ~Judith Blackstone  When I was a little boy, I would dance whenever I heard a catchy pop song on the radio. There are photos of me throwing down dance moves, exuding joy and vitality. At some point, though, I lost my ability to dance. If I were to guess what happened, I would say that I stopped dancing when I became self-conscious. I was no longer just being; suddenly, I became aware of being someone with a body. So a long and complicated relationship with my body began. A ..read more

Photo by Heather Wilde on Unsplash When I was a kid, I thought I was special because I could draw quite well and got a lot of attention for it. When my classmates asked me to draw things for them, I felt a sense of pride. When I entered high school and met people who could draw better than I could, I didn't feel so special anymore. Many of us spend our lives trying to be great at something. We want to be exceptional—the best. Or we are told that we are special, or not, or should strive to be, or to not even bother trying. I don't think there's anything wrong with having ambition. If you feel ..read more

Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels We all want to experience a sense of belonging, to be seen and accepted for who we truly are. Ever wonder why it is so hard to just be yourself in this (crumbling) system we live in? The truth is we live in an unjust world and many people are struggling to survive and thrive in it. Recently, I’ve been reading this insightful book titled Radical Belonging by Lindo Bacon. In the book, she talks about three places where we’re not allowed to belong. Recognizing these three barriers can empower us to transform ourselves and the world through embodiment and meaningful ..read more

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash This post was originally published on TinyBuddha.com “Omnipotence is not knowing how everything is done; it’s just doing it.” ~Alan Watts We sometimes hear of remarkable people who just knew what they wanted to become from a young age. I, however, was not one of them. When I was about eight years old, I told my cousin that I wanted to become a scientist. Looking back, I find that pronouncement baffling since I wasn’t particularly interested in science at the time. What I did love doing, though, was making art. My interest in art eventually led me to st ..read more

Photo by Nijwam Swargiary on Unsplash Recently I read a piece written by a fellow coach suggesting that authentic selves don't exist. That immediately evoked an incredulous response in me. I remember sitting in my therapist's office years ago, telling her that “I felt like a polar bear wandering on the African savanna.” What I was experiencing was a deep sense of misalignment between my inner and outer reality. Surely, there must be an authentic self yearning to be acknowledged somewhere from deep within. Authenticity has been defined as “the congruence between our deeper values and beliefs a ..read more