la plume inspirée

Hello Megs

It is a truth seldom spoken, yet universally felt, that happiness most often finds its fullest form in quiet concealment; indeed, pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés. This wisdom, though appearing to some as merely quaint or evasive, is rather an invitation to the truest contentment—to a life free from the cumbersome obligations of display. She, in her own reflective solitude, found this maxim neither idle nor antiquated, but rather a balm, a gentle urging towards a happiness unencumbered by the weight of society’s ceaseless gaze. In her solitude, where thoughts could meander without the restraint of judgment and heart could blossom without the fetters of worldly expectation, she discovered a depth of joy that neither applause nor approval could bestow—a joy composed not of spectacle but of substance, as enduring as it was unseen. In the cafe, drinking tea, dreaming, not fighting a dragon, often breaking into a run.

coming next on

The Cloister of Contentment

  • The funeral nobody attended

    The occasion was a close-knit Heart Circle of friends and near-strangers, and that day we were invited to name what was dying in our lives and what was being born. Two persons shared before me, and while they spoke I… more ›

  • The Witness I Never Was

    I walked through Jardin Majorelle with you. You accompanied me to that one place I had longed to see. Thank you. The walls, the cobalt blue, the trembling palms—they were breathing a love story. Pierre’s love for Yves was everywhere,… more ›

  • The Hearth Gone Cold

    I did all that was right and true, by mine own hand and heart. At every turning, I did choose you-the ways I knew how.  At each hard-fought juncture, I pressed forward with steadfast soul, never faltering in my devotion.… more ›

  • Day 4 – Emptied, Then Filled: My Vacuum

    Today marks the most tolerable of days, a fragile reprieve from the vacuum that has enshrouded the preceding ones. In the void, aught is drawn away, an empty vacuum, a vacuity most grievous, a hollow rent in the fabric of… more ›

  • Day 3 – The White Linen Shirt

    There’s a lunch appointment today. I have contemplated forsaking no fewer than twenty times in my mind. Yet it stayed on the calendar, unyielding. It’s set for 12:30 p.m., and at precisely 12:29, I did at last rouse myself from the… more ›

  • Day 3 – Can Sadness Weep & Not Be Seen?

    I was sitting down, staring into nothingness, my mind as still as a void. No thoughts, no words, just silence. And then, tears started flowing. Strange. No thoughts—and yet, they trickled down, unbidden. I wiped them away, the skin around… more ›

  • Be radically open-minded

    The two biggest barriers to good decision are your ego and your blind spots. Together they make it difficult for you to objectively see what is true about you and your circumstances and to make the best possible decision by… more ›

  • Looking from a higher level

    Good principles are effective ways of dealing with reality. Look to the patterns of those things that affect you in order to understand the cause-effect relationships that drive them and to learn principles for dealing with them effectively. Embrace reality… more ›

  • It is important to me

    “As long as it’s important to you, it’s important to me…” was R’s reply to me when I texted him about something that happened last week that affected me deeply. I wanted to but didn’t text him back, “It is… more ›

  • Gratefulness crippled me

    Dear Pei Pei, I just finished my third round of therapy session with my therapist Reshie. He is a trusted friend and probably one of the best Singapore has to offer in his vocation. There was an incident, probably when… more ›