Buddhism is one of the oldest philosophies in human history.

Clear evidence dates back at least 2,500 years, and with an estimated 376 million followers worldwide, there’s no doubt it’s one of the world’s most significant religions.

Life is suffering.

This statement is the core of the Buddhist philosophy, or more actively translated, ‘life does not satisfy’. It’s true. Throughout your life, you’ll experience sickness, ageing, and life experiences, all of which if subject you to suffering.

To some degree.

Yet, the Buddhist teachings explain that if you accept this fact, you can discover peace and start living your life how you want through your thoughts and actions. …

Most of the content written nowadays is written in a way you’d call inspirational. To a degree.

It’s a shared experience written in a motivating way that tells a story with a takeaway that makes the reader feel good and capable.

To write is to connect with your reader and empower them through your words. It’s to provide value in their lives. You take your life lessons and share them with aim of helping someone else learn from them.

Here’s a question for you.

How can you create high-quality content when you don’t feel like a high-quality person?

I love writing. Period. But that doesn’t mean I want to write everyday. Somedays I wake up and have to force myself out of bed. I look at stats and feel disheartened. Maybe this path wasn’t for me. Maybe I should give up. …

This article is not an easy one for me to write. Through experience and reflection upon writing means I’ve had to face some hard truths about me, my partner, and our relationship. I beg of you to do the same in your own.

The world right now can feel like everything is falling apart. Some of us haven’t seen loved ones in so long, and have had to distance ourselves. We communicate more through social media than we do face to face, especially when you’re in a long distance relationship, such as mine.

Through awareness of the condition of your relationship, by tuning into your partner, through reflection you can identify and overcome the problems you’re facing. It many cases, many of your problems will stem from one core problem. …

Here’s the proof.

I sat down to meditate today.

If you’re not familiar with meditating, it’s the practice of sitting down and becoming aware of your thoughts. You don’t have to clear your mind.

You simply become conscious of your thoughts, rather than just unconsciously bumbling through the day, mind occupied by a million thoughts a minute.

That’s anxiety.

Anyway, I sat on the bed: empty house and a 15-minute timer on my friendly little meditation app, so I had nice background music playing as well.

Ocean Night, or something like that.

I crossed my legs, hand on each knee, palms facing upwards, and closed my eyes. …

A few months back, I was struggling.

You know when you find yourself with a few drafts written up, a couple of ideas floating around, a massive list of ideas written down elsewhere, and some little drops of inspiration here and there, but nothing seems to sit right.

You can’t be pleased or proud of anything you write. Nothing seems good enough to publish, and any piece you get close to being happy with you manage you talk yourself out of loving.

I don’t paint, draw, or take photos, but I can imagine most creatives go through the same thing at some point. …

Hey, I’m Mike, I’ve lived for 26 spins around the sun, and I live in the south of the UK.

While my life had been like yours, and has been full of uncertainty and surprises, one thing always remained the same.

I believe in the power of stories.

We use stories to individually perceive our realities, remember the past, and predict the future. It’s how we communicate across space and time.

Stories entertain us, educate us, invoke emotions within us, and stir feelings and spark flames that drive us to go to unprecedented places.

This is mine.

At the age of 20, I quit my job in a supermarket, left my flat, and sold my car (along with plenty of other possessions) to travel the world. It was impulsive yet amazing. I traveled across Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia and New Zealand and created incredible, beautiful memories along the way. …

Consider this.

Your physical body, around 99% of it, is made up of six key elements.

Oxygen. Carbon. Hydrogen. Nitrogen. Calcium. Phosphorus.

All of these different elements combined in lots of different ways to create your body. Every cell, synapse, nerve ending, nipple, blood vessel, and hair is created using a variation of this cocktail.

Unfortunately, as much as I’d love it, this doesn’t make human beings special.

Rocks are made from carbon. Oxygen can be found pretty much anywhere. Earthworms contain cells made from phosphorus and nitrogen can be found in dirt. …