When I Breathe.

Life feels wild. The world feels untamed, unhinged. Suffering is everywhere—and yet, so is beauty. People coming together. Neighbors helping neighbors. Voices rising, young and old. Unity amidst division.

At a micro scale, I sit and write as the sun sets. Another day behind me. And surely tomorrow, the sun will rise again—awakening something new in me, and maybe in you too.

I breathe.

I come back to the here and now.
For a moment, the tension releases.
The wind speaks. The sun softens.
Everything stills.

And I remember—
Peace is possible.
Calm is possible.
Harmony is possible.

In the breath.
In the pause.
In stillness.

Our Times Demand Attention—and Intention

We live in times of shared humanity.
We also live in times of endless scrolling.

How much do we scroll past and pretend not to see?
Or see, and pretend not to feel?
Or feel—and carry on as if nothing happened?

It takes a toll.
And so, I return to my breath.

“Social media is a system that profits by creating and amplifying outrage, division, and misinformation. It’s not a mirror; it’s a distortion machine.” — Yuval Noah Harari, historian and author of Sapiens.

As someone who works with social platforms, I know this tension well.
I’ve taken long pauses on She Ventures, and shorter ones on my own account, using that space to reflect:

What do I actually want to share? What might serve others?

This week, I lost 1,000 followers.
In the grand scheme of things, who cares?
And yet, in a world where follower counts shape opportunity, those numbers carry weight.
I’ve lost book deals, partnerships, and invitations because of them.
Others haven’t.
Welcome to the world of diversity.

When the World Hurts, I Breathe

I’m a daughter of immigrants. The protests in Los Angeles struck a nerve. The treatment of immigrants stings even more. What hurt most wasn’t just the injustice—it was the division, the targeted hate, the disinformation poisoning yet another marginalized community.

It’s taken a lot of healing to see my brown as beautiful.
To recognize my difference as sacred.
I was taught to assimilate.
To fit in.
To survive.

But I was never meant to fit in.

Nature doesn’t “fit in.”
She thrives in diversity, coexists in harmony, evolves through difference.

So I breathe—to remember what is real.
To come back to my center.
To come back to love.

Every Act of Hate Is a Call for a Surge of Love

Earlier this month, I sat in ceremony with an Indigenous spiritual guide from Peru. Afterward, he reminded us of this:

“Take care of your inner planet. Fill yourself with the prana of the sea, the forest, the garden—so you are full of love. Then, go out with that love and positive energy in the world as you fight for change.”

This stayed with me.

The rage.
The heartbreak.
The grief of witnessing so much harm—children starving, violence normalized, meaningless wars, exploitation celebrated around the world.
From Gaza, to Congo, to Sudan, to Ukraine, and so many others.

And then…
An act of kindness.
A reminder.
A breath.

We may not be able to control what others do.
But we can choose how we respond.
No act is too small to bring love, care, and concern into the world.

Don’t get swept into the storm. Be the force of love.

It’s not enough to feel.
We must act.

Love in action is a powerful force—
A roaring river that can cut through the most stubborn of stone.

Ceremony reminded me:
We are each healing.
And in our individual healing, we contribute to collective healing.

Yes, we live in a capitalistic, individualistic system.
But it will be collective unity that gets us through.

Unity built on breath.
On compassion.
On remembering we belong to each other—and to the Earth.

It will be remembering to breathe before lashing out.
It will be with compassion in our hearts.
It will be leading for a better tomorrow, tapping into more than just our minds.

It’s a hard time to be walking this planet—
And also a beautiful one.