A Zen Stoic, New York, NY (2026)

08/17/2026

Indeed, in many cases human suffering comes from incompetent people having seized power.

This can result from factors such as family inheritance, social networks, or events that create powerful institutions, giving a small group of people significant influence over the lives of many others.

It’s a kind of disbalance of power.

There are many documented cases that support that.
And when we deal with such power imbalance, perhaps the first thought that comes to mind is that it requires some power to counteract it.

For example: Political power, institutional power, economic power, collective power, just the ability to mobilize people that can force change for the domination of all.

Okay, perhaps this works, and in many cases in history, it did.

But let us think a bit. Is this solution perfect? Or does it create more dilemmas and problems?

Let’s say someone appears who possesses competence, discipline, and has power to destroy a corrupt system.
But in the process, or even after, what can guarantee that this person will remain the same as they control the political system?

What guarantees us that they will not be consumed by the power they used?

What is it?

Will it be pure intentions, intelligence, strength of character?

Should this guarantee come from that person itself?

If we reflect, and observe patterns, history teaches us to be cautious about some elements in particular…

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Original video credit: Hunter × Hunter created by Yoshihiro Togashi.
2011 anime adaptation by Madhouse.

08/15/2026

Sometimes the path only reveals itself as you start to move, and that can be difficult for the mind to accept.

Often, the mind insists on certainty before starting. It wants a precise map and 100% proof that the path will work out as it imagines.
But life rarely works that way.

There are times when clarity comes AFTER action. After trying, after adjusting, after warming up emotionally, and seeing that it wasn’t as terrible as you fantasized it would be in your head.

People long for perspective to give them just a bit of reassurance, but they forget that the perspective they are looking for lies behind the movement they are trying to avoid.

Planning and strategic thinking are often needed, but it is also true that we can’t think our way into every answer.

Sometimes we have to take that uncertain step and let reality teach us the lessons we need.

This is one of those cases where the courageous and wise step is one and the same.

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08/14/2026

Motivation is a feeling, and like any feeling, it comes and goes. In fact, it is often missing on the very days when showing up matters most.

Of course, that should not be seen as personal weakness. It is simply the nature of motivation.

Discipline is not motivation with more intensity, but something different altogether.

It is a system, and the goal is not to rely only on motivation. It is to build a structure that keeps you moving forward, even when motivation is nowhere to be found.

📙The book, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 shares a practical method for cultivating both Willpower and Discipline.

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08/12/2026

This idea may seem contradictory at first sight, but in reality, it isn’t.

We have our passions, talents, and things we like to invest our time and energy in, but there is always the risk of tying what we do to recognition. And this happens mostly unconsciously.

Feedback is one thing, and it is something we should welcome, but when we want our progress to be acknowledged as a way to recharge our self-esteem, or when we want our transformation to be confirmed by someone outside of us, we give away our power.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying appreciation either, but the problem begins when being seen becomes the main reason we do things.

Because then the light no longer belongs to us, but to attention, reactions, or whether the world reflects back the image we hope to see.

This way, we start to give up what makes us authentic, with all our virtues and imperfections.

There is something deeper in dedicating ourselves to what we do without worrying about whether others are there to applaud.

Practicing a craft. Developing character. Creating something authentic and living in resonance with it as much as you can.

In simple words, it means creating because it is a living need you feel from the depths of your being, appreciating that it is something you contribute to others, but without being attached to the outcome.

Does that make sense?

If it does, it probably means that you have found something that fulfills you. And that fulfillment comes from creation itself. Everything else is something extra that you appreciate and enjoy.

Create, but don’t confuse shining with needing to be seen.

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08/09/2026

You can be gentle or fierce when necessary.
Compassionate or stern against disrespect.
Peaceful without becoming passive.
You can cultivate inner strength without needing to harden your heart.

People often think maturity means choosing one side,
but becoming whole is rarely about choosing one half and rejecting the other.

Rather, it’s about integration.

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08/08/2026

Seneca left us three coins:

1- The past, already spent.
2- The future, promised to no one.
3- The present, the only one, still warm in your hand.

They cannot trade places.
None is worth more than the others.
Together they are the whole of what we call a life.

Spend the one coin you hold, because it is the only one that was ever yours.

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08/07/2026

More often than not, you don’t become the person you want to be by waiting until you feel ready. You become them through the spiral of action followed by reflection.

Two steps forward out of crystallization (comfort zone) + 1 step back to digest and assimilate – Repeat, but with changes in consciousness.

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08/05/2026

Sometimes people become too attached to relationships, career paths, ambitions, or even a version of themselves that they thought could make them complete, and as a consequence they blind themselves to many other opportunities life has to offer.

There are times where we should insist, put more effort, be patient, because we need more time.

But there are also scenarios where we are just refusing to accept that something no longer fits, and that is what makes some attachments so difficult to recognize and let go.

Oftentimes, people are not holding not the thing itself, but to the meaning they attached to it, like the person who was supposed to understand them, or the path that was supposed to give them meaning.

In such situations, letting go can feel like admitting they were wrong, or that they invested too much.

That’s why they continue to cling to expectations long after reality has changed, and while they are still immersed in these expectations, they wonder why nothing reaches them.

If only that could expand their vision for that moment, and see how many worthwhile opportunities life has to offer.

Not everything that once mattered is meant to fulfill you forever.

Some things guide you for a season.
Some teach you what you need.
Some reveal what fulfillment is not.

The difficult question is not always:
“How do I make this work?”

Sometimes it is:
“Am I still choosing this because it fulfills me, because it fills me with life, or because I cannot release what I once believed it would become?”

Sometimes the first step toward fulfillment is letting go of the hope that an old situation will finally change. Openness begins when you accept it for what it is and make room for something new.

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📕 Read more in the book
100 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧

⬇️🔗 Available on Amazon
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08/04/2026

Struggling alone doesn’t mean that you are weak, that you are a failure, or that you should be ashamed of it. Because more often than not, this is connected to something deeper. The situation is not the real difference between loneliness and solitude. The real difference is the relationship we have with ourselves.

When we feel uncomfortable alone, we feel lonely, but when we learn to change the relationship we have with ourselves by making it kinder and stronger, the same alone time becomes one of the greatest pleasures of life: enjoyable, restorative, and a way to reconnect and recenter.

And don’t fall into the trap of thinking that this can’t be changed. This relationship can be cultivated like any other relationship. Of course, it needs patience, understanding, and practice without becoming discouraged, because results won’t come in a day, neither in a week, perhaps neither in a month.

If these words touch something difficult, I want you to remember that you don’t necessarily have to face this alone. There is no shame in asking for help. Or you can start small: give yourself two quiet minutes, then two more tomorrow, and gradually build up.

And you will see that, with time, this silence won’t feel like an escape and will start feeling like a place you call home.

📌 Read more about this topic in the book
📓 8 𝙏𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙨

⬇️🔗 Available on Amazon
https://amzn.to/3LyQ9BD

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08/02/2026

Given that it is talking about thirst metaphorically, it includes thirst for attention, approval, and more.

Replace the word “thirst” with “needy,” and this phrase makes even more sense because there is a great difference between needs, which we all have, and being “needy.”

Being needy is often a way to desperately seek other sources to fill a void that, in reality, we ourselves can fill, or at least to a certain extent.

But unfortunately , many people are just not aware of this and develop dysfunctional ways to fill that emptiness.

Neediness is a consequence —and, from a point onward, a reinforcing cause of this—because it becomes a vicious circle.

It is like salt water: the more you drink, the thirstier one becomes.

When you experience this kind of emptiness, every kind of offer tends to look like relief, and as a consequence standards and discernment tend to fall.

They tend to ignore both inconsistency and red flags because they crave something—a connection or attention—or because they have reached a desperate state where they look at the world through the lens of scarcity and desperately fear that some opportunities will disappear.

I am not writing this to make anyone feel bad because we have all experienced neediness at some point in our lives.

I am writing this as a point of reflection to keep in mind before spiraling into the vicious circle of neediness.

It is a cycle that can be prevented in time with enough pause and reflection.

Of course, this doesn’t mean distrusting every person and helping hand because not every “cup” is dangerous.

The lesson is not to let desperation make decisions for you.

Pause. Look at what is being offered and who is offering it. Notice whether their actions support their words.

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A Zen Stoic

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