Fortunate Life

There was a quiet season in my life when I realized something uncomfortable: I was not stuck because life was hard. I was stuck because my mind was untrained . No one tells you this growing up. We are taught to follow our feelings, trust our thoughts, and protect our comfort. But after years of working with people, teaching, coaching, training, and walking through my own reinventions, I learned a harder lesson: If you don’t understand your mind, it will quietly run — and ruin — your life. Here are the five truths I wish someone had told me earlier. 1. Your mind is not your friend — it is a survival machine Your mind’s job is not to make you fulfilled. Its job is to keep you safe . Neuroscience confirms it. Ancient wisdom warned us. Your brain is wired for threat detection, pleasure-seeking, and energy conservation. That’s why change feels terrifying. That’s why discipline feels painful. That’s why growth feels unnatural. Every time I avoided a hard decision, postponed an imp...

  This post is part of my 30-day journey reflecting on Carl Jung’s teachings and how they unfold in my own life. Each day, I explore a different aspect of the psyche, inner growth, and self-discovery through personal reflection. After learning about my Shadow, I’ve started to notice how often I try to hide the parts of myself that feel “wrong.” The moments when I get impatient, insecure, or jealous — I used to push those feelings away quickly. I thought that being positive meant not having them at all. But now I’m beginning to see that those feelings aren’t enemies. They’re just signals. They show me what still hurts, what still needs understanding. The more I deny them, the louder they get. The more I listen, the quieter they become. Making peace with my Shadow doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not about becoming perfect. It’s about learning to say, “This is also me — and that’s okay.” When I do that, I notice a small shift inside — like I’m becoming a little more whole, a littl...

This post is part of my 30-day journey reflecting on Carl Jung’s teachings and how they unfold in my own life. Each day, I explore a different aspect of the psyche, inner growth, and self-discovery through personal reflection. There are parts of me I don’t always like to admit — sides I usually hide from others, and sometimes even from myself. Jung called this the Shadow . For me, the Shadow shows up in little ways — when I get jealous, when I judge someone too quickly, or when I pretend I’m fine even when I’m hurt. These are moments I usually try to brush aside, but lately I’m learning that they have something to tell me. The Shadow isn’t about being “bad.” It’s about being human. It’s the part of me that holds the feelings I’ve pushed away because I was afraid of being misunderstood, or of not being “good enough.” Sometimes I catch myself reacting strongly to something small — and later I realize, maybe it touched a part of me I haven’t healed yet. I used to feel guilty about that....