The ability to understand something without prior knowledge or reasoning is often referred to as intuition. In other words, intuition can be interpreted as instant cognition without any form of conscious rational process. Additionally, intuition is often associated with confident decision making, which is often not based on logic. However, intuition is often based on more profound knowledge, feeling, or thought. The issue with intuition is often that it can either be based on biases, projections, and stereotypes. Besides, intuition is often influenced by our self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which often requires a still mind.
 
Intuition is often related and used more frequently in other continents than Europe and, to an extent North America. Personally, intuition has been a challenging ability to develop and cultivate, which is the main reason I have decided to develop my intuition further. Consequently, the development of my intuition has made me more self-aware because it forced me to acknowledge aspects of myself that were less developed or unintegrated. On the other hand, my intuition has also led to financial gains and healthier relationships, but intuition also made me aware of the self-denial I struggled with throughout life. For example, I had to end a recent friendship because of a realisation that the individual would only prohibit me from reaching my goals. The specific individual was not evil, immoral, or even unethical. Still, I felt restrained and had to develop myself more authentically than before, which meant sharing and writing about topics that can be interpreted or categorised as new age or spiritual. However, I kept suppressing the small voice or inner knowing that I had to walk away from them, which led to some suppressed irritation and frustration.
 
The fascinating aspect about intuition is that it does not have to be a positive feeling, thought, or knowing. Additionally, intuition can be a negative feeling, thought, or knowledge that can be a warning or a need to exercise caution. As a result, intuition requires an increase of self-awareness and a more peaceful mind. Besides, if you struggle with an insanely active mind, you will most likely not be able to access or use your intuition maturely (I had to learn that the hard way). Based on personal interpretation, intuition makes us more conscious about our psychic and daily lives. Remember to practice more stillness, mindfulness, and presence to cultivate and improve your intuition. 

After two and a half decades on this planet, something has become insanely evident, which has been bothering and amusing simultaneously. The something is what we as individuals allow to have power over us and dictate our path in life. Power has several definitions but, in this context, it is related to control and influence, especially at an individual level. Specifically, what are the explicit drives or intentions behind your actions, behaviours, and desires? In other words, being aware of where our desires originate from can be as beneficial as fulfilling them. For example, where does our desire for wealth or riches derive from? And why is it valued that much in our society?
 
The most puzzling aspect of our desires is that they are often not ours because they often develop due to societal and cultural influence, which to an extent is a method to get further up in social hierarchies. Social hierarchies can be described as social organizations where particular groups benefit from higher social status than others. However, the pursuit of this is not entirely negative but requires a level of awareness because climbing the social ladder unconsciously might have ramifications. Hence, I am asking what have influenced our desires? Also, what do we get by achieving or receiving our desires?

The past years have been turbulent, filled with different experiences and people, which has left a mark on me. For example, moving to an entirely different country and writing in a language that I only used orally for about five years. Additionally, the insane workload that came with the degree I chose, and the excessive amount of time I spent translating and finding the definitions of various new terms. After my second year, my summer was filled with fatigue and mental unclarity, which impacted my general health. However, I still received a high overall, which I am insanely grateful for. Overall, the high came with its consequences and a harsh lesson I needed to learn after almost two and half decades on this planet. Simultaneously, I became aware of the insanely critical and judgemental internal dialogue that both sabotaged and dominated my life, which can be labelled as the superego or inner critic. Nevertheless, I had no solutions for getting rid of this insane compulsive, judgemental, and punishing aspect of myself.
 
Self-compassion, a concept I have been ridiculing over the past decade, primarily due to the influence of my previous insane environment and social group. The thought of being self-compassionate almost disgusted me because I have been taught to be strict and critical, especially towards myself. Also, I honestly believed that getting further in life required disciplining myself, and in this context, discipline was associated with punishing myself. On the other side, when I began incorporating self-compassion, there was a battle with the inner-critic/ superego, which was difficult to balance at first. After two years of attempting to incorporate self-compassion, I have finally reduced the insane and toxic side of the inner critic. To my surprise, I have actually become more productive and less anxious due to self-compassion, but self-compassion or compassion, in general, is not often taught to us.
 
The question I struggled to answer was how someone can become self-compassionate, which seemed senseless for me at first. However, I found out that several other people struggled with self-compassion and that most are unaware of self-compassion in general. Nonetheless, how was I able to incorporate self-compassion? Well, my journey began with a simple twenty-minute meditation that focused upon self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others, which is most likely difficult for each one of us. The meditation began with a visualisation practice where I had to imagine a younger version of myself and attempt to create a safe holding environment for him. Additionally, attempting to nourish and educate him about his behaviours, experiences, etc. As a result of the practice, some emotional releases began, and I had excluded any self-judgments to make it a sufficient holding environment. On the other side, I had to choose people from the past that I had to forgive and required honesty about my feelings. Lastly, I hope you implement self-compassion, and I will share the link to the meditation! 
 
I feel like Oprah!

http://www.attunementmeditation.com/compassion/ 

Over the past years, I have noticed how the Persona or false Self is misleading me and others into thinking that other people have figured out life. However, the further I have gotten into life and my studies, it has become evident that we are all, to an extent suffering from this flawed perception of society and others. Consequently, the flawed perception has influenced our views and beliefs about life, which is often perpetuating a negative frame of the global situation and our lives. The most significant impact this flawed perception has had is the idealisation of other individuals. The people who seem to have achieved the societal demands in appropriate timing often get related to success.
 
The word success seems to be intertwined with these societal demands, especially the demands that have been perpetrated by society through decades. Such demands or achievements as marriage, relationships, careers, finances, etc. However, most people who chase after success present an image of the false Self or Persona, which is often in accordance with these societal demands, which is not something they often desire. The false Self is similar to Jung’s Persona in that both acknowledge that people construct a façade that is based on external demands, which is often influenced by negative experiences and conditionality. Due to these experiences, the individual attempts to improve or adjust their behaviours, actions, opinions, etc. However, these adjustments are based upon rejections and desire for love. Additionally, this false Self has been speculated to be one of the causes of some mental disorders.
 
Some may never acknowledge their lives being shaped by the false Self or Persona, which can lead them into emptiness or purposelessness. The feeling of being an actual living being without necessarily living. Based on personal experiences, many of my previous colleagues faced this particular challenge, which was evident through their apathetic mood on a daily basis. For example, I worked with a 62-year-old man who never seemed to be enthusiastic, and based on our brief conversations, it was evident he had strict parents whilst growing up. The most evident behaviour exhibited by him was how he behaved incredibly appropriate, which was almost similar to a machine. Additionally, he was never exposed to any forms of activities except for anything related to academia. However, this man was still successful based on society’s perspective, which would suggest that he should have been more enthusiastic about life.
 
The lesson behind these experiences has been to be less impressed by others and my own Persona, which is often just a false image constructed to receive care and love. The care and love we never received when we were not the ideal or good individual the external world desired us to be. Additionally, the conditional love and care given to us in order to become what others think are good for us. To emphasise, these are only the opinions of others, and they are not omnipotent, which means you can take the pen back again. In other words, these realistic, pragmatic, logical, and “common sense” people are just trying to manipulate us.

From: Arselan
To: The realistic, pragmatic, logical, and “common sense” people

Hi,

Fuck you, and you don’t get to control or manipulate me anymore.

Best wishes,
Arselan
 
Take the pen back again and start writing the story you actually want.

Recently, I finished reading the book Memories, Dreams, and Reflections by Carl Jung, which was a part of the readings for a module. The book left a significant impact on me and the outlook on life in general but forced me to acknowledge the insane intellect that Jung had. Additionally, Jung's specific characteristic sparked an interest and a call for action to change my perspective on personal and world events. The specific characteristic I am referring to were his belief in ascribing meaning to everything, which developed a more optimistic perspective on life, based on my interpretation. Besides, the most fascinating belief Jung had was that mental diseases have a purpose for an individual's life.
 
In the book Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, Jung emphasised how he ascribed meaning to each event that happened to him, which impacted his perspective on life. Additionally, Jung mentioned that early in his career, his intention was to provide evidence that delusions and hallucinations had a human meaning and were not only symptoms of mental diseases. Personally, the concept has been challenging to implement on a daily basis. However, when I have attempted to ascribe events or just everything a meaning, optimism has increased. Simultaneously, I have never felt the concept of numinous deeper than ever before. The numinous refers to a feeling or presence of divinity associated to higher emotions or a level of spirituality. To be honest, I have not experienced the current level of peace and contentment in my life before and a deep trust in life.