A person can’t be contained in your ideas about them. This was a core idea for us. To whatever extent I assumed I knew who Johanna was, I treated her as something that I could fit in my head — as something smaller than me. But she couldn’t fit in my head, nor I in hers: that was the exciting thing about it. You can only ever know another individual if you meet them in open dialogue — if you treat them as unfinished, as capable of surprise.

But some audiences are like Johanna. Individuals or groups that enable continual unfolding, who are interested not in a particular version of you, but the process of you. People who will encourage and enable the searching, creative, illegible you of today, rather than the polished you of your past achievements. This is true in all walks of life, not just writing. Some friends, communities, and employers limit your personal unfolding. Others support it.

- If you want to find a good design—be that the design of a house or an essay, a career or a marriage—what you want is some process that allows you to extract information from the context, and bake it into the form. That is what unfolding is.
- It is a feedback loop between you and the context. By gradually adjusting the thing you are designing and observing how well it fits the context, you create a feedback loop that embeds the context’s knowledge into your design. Your design ends up smarter than you.
- Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.

Sometimes, I read for the pleasure of entering a mental world I hadn’t anticipated; sometimes, I read to be transformed. This essay is about the latter kind of reading.

Being able to spin up a room of your own with a few clicks is one of the great advantages we have over previous generations. Make use of it.

Follow your why.

When something sparks your interest, don’t rush past it. Ask yourself why it matters to you and see what comes up. You may notice patterns or insights you hadn’t before.

Men would certainly benefit from gender equality as much as women (if not more) and IWD is a day to celebrate women and the barrier that was placed in front of humanity by "men"; a male centred barrier in the form of a patriarchal power structure established by powerful men to benefit powerful men over less powerful men and all men over women.

این روزها یه لیست از آدم‌ها دارم که دوست دارم باهاشون صحبت کنم، ازشون خبر بگیرم، بدونم توی دنیاهاشون چه‌خبره و به لیست افرادی که باید براشون بنویسم، هر روز اضافه می‌شه. سرم بیش‌تر از هر وقتی شلوغ‌ه و نمی‌دونم کِی قراره خلوت بشه. اگر این‌جا رو می‌خونید، بدونید که در خاطر من هستید.

You become what you repeatedly practice; not what you think about, not what you "plan" to do, but what you actually practice daily.
We act in alignment with who we believe we are.
Belief → Practice → Identity

The most dangerous procrastination feels like preparation.
Books are maps, not the journey, starting points, not destinations. Don't build a library where you should build experience. Read one good book. Apply something fully. Then maybe read another.

Productive: "Let me understand the basics to start”
Productive procrastination: "Let me understand everything"

As long as one continues to use ones misfortune to feel special, one will always need that misfortune.

If you're always living for what's next, when do you actually live?

ما باید تعداد و سرعت کارهایی که می‌خوایم بکنیم رو کم کنیم.

Some relationships are meant to be transactional (and that's okay; It’s how most of the world works.).
But the relationships that hit different are the ones that don’t keep score. And it's worth knowing which kind you're in and which kind you're offering.

"Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

مردان رومی برای خویشتن همسرانی از خانواده‌های سرزمین سابین، که در همسایگی آن‌ها قرار داشته، «می‌ربایند.»

خشایارشاه دستور داد ملکه وشتی، زیبایی‌اش را به مقامات و مهمانان نشان دهد. ملکه امتناع ورزید و پادشاه بسیار خشم‌ناک شد.

January is a fresh start—a chance to pause, reflect, and think about what you want for 2026. It’s about setting goals that feel meaningful and true to you.
Choose a word that reflects how you want to navigate the year ahead.

They say the more efficient you get, the more you can get done. But does “success” just boil down to getting the most done and as fast as possible? Hmm. Depends how you define success.
Instead of doing more, I want to noticing more, feel more, and appreciate more.

A lot of people when asked, are very quick to say “I would die to protect the people I love”.
I’d argue that’s the easy part.
The harder question is “would you live for the ones you love?”.
Would you exercise for your children? Would you get consistent sleep for your partner? Would you have a balanced diet for your friends? Would you set aside your personal desire for convenience, and embrace healthy habits that prolong your life, not just in length, but in quality?