Category: Blog

In the last couple of posts, I’ve mentioned a few times that I will be going abroad this September. I’ve been keeping it pretty quiet so far, but now I feel I am ready to finally reveal where I will be going, and what I will be doing. Firstly, I get a lot of people…

“What I propose is a spiritual revolution” ~ Dalai Lama As political freedom spreads to more people and technology integrates into our lives, one would think that man’s quest for happiness is more obtainable than ever. And yet, there is still so much suffering in the world. There is still discrimination, war and violence. People are…

Live simply so others may simply live ~ HH Dalai Lama Six billion people live on this planet. Each and every one is worth just as much as the next. But many of them have to struggle to obtain basic human needs such as water whilst others are wasting it washing their cars. According to…

Two shoe makers go to a remote village. One of them immediately gives up and goes home, declaring, “It’s hopeless! Nobody here wears shoes.” The other, smiling, declares “What a glorious business opportunity! Nobody here wears shoes”. Opportunity is something that you discover, not something that you wait for   Whether it’s new business idea,…

This is the final part of a five part series on Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life. Read Part I – Finiteness, Part II – Protecting time and living in the present, Part III – Desire and life goals, Part IV – Learning. A typical person living in the Western world is expected to live until about 70-80 years…

Back when I was an aspiring career girl who thought the epitome of success was earning a Director’s title and a generous bonus package every year until I retired comfortably at 65, I used to be obsessed with productivity. How could I get more things done in less time? How could I fit more into my…

It was my 27th birthday this month. Although I don’t feel that old yet, almost every day I’m reminded of memes I don’t understand, trends I haven’t heard of, or technology I didn’t know existed. I feel a big difference between myself and ‘kids these days’. In fact, I have a brother who is 11 years younger…

An often misunderstood part of minimalism is that it is an all or nothing deal. With popular books, articles and videos showing ‘minimalists’ living in white boxes with just three shirts, two plates, and one pen, it’s no wonder why most people get the wrong idea. A minimalist lifestyle is defined by each individual’s own terms. For some, owning…

A lot of people mix up travelling with ‘escaping’. They think that people who travel are trying to run away from bad things in their lives, or bad things that will/might happen to them like work, debt or demanding bosses. But the problem is, it’s not simply enough to ‘run away’. That’s what a vacation…

The last time I wrote about my minimalist bedroom, I was living in Kobe with a host family. My room was simple – just a futon, a chair and a desk. There was also a piano in the room that belonged to my host sisters, which I would use from time to time. It turned out that…