Celebrating life from within
Today is my birthday, and as I write for you, I feel that celebrating life is also an act of introspection. Yesterday, while reviewing my journal, I was surprised to notice that the words I wrote during difficult times seemed to belong to someone else. My mind, after overcoming the experience, rewrites the story and softens the pain, just as cognitive psychology explains: our emotional memories can transform when we learn to accept and let life flow. It doesn’t mean the pain disappears, but it integrates, leaving a space where perspective can emerge. Rumi said: “Do not cling to the past; let it go and watch life bloom.” That is exactly what I feel: looking back, what once seemed unbearable now shines with a new, gentler, wiser light.
From theory to practice: entering the darkness
I have loved books since I was a child, always finding magic in words, yet it remained in the intellectual realm. As Jung said: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” That phrase marked me deeply. I had knowledge, but I lacked the courage to apply it to my life, and I was terrified to face my shadow. Yet, when I finally dared, I understood that what frightens us most is often what needs to be heard the most. Hafez expressed it poetically: “The door is closed, but your heart holds the key.” This inward journey toward the shadow is what Jung would call individuation: ceasing to be what others expect and discovering who you truly are, confronting fears, resistances, and wounds, and finding at your center a presence that has always been there.
Returning to my center and choosing my path
I have traveled rivers, seas, mountains, cultures, and cities, learning about everything and everyone, yet I knew very little about myself. That avatar who accompanied me every day, whom I sometimes treated with harshness and strict expectations, was unknown to me. No one taught me to look within, to listen, to choose myself. Along the way, I left behind family, friends, connections that seemed solid. Hafez said: “Sometimes the heart must close doors in order to open to freedom.” In my case, I had no choice but to choose myself. Being internally free and fully accepting myself has been the deepest gift I could give myself. And though this is the loneliest period of my life, far from many I love, I do not feel alone: there is something invisible, immense, supporting every step, beyond what the intellect can grasp, reminding us that we are part of something greater.
The sky, the clouds, and the glitter
When unwelcome thoughts arise, I look at the sky. The clouds are my thoughts: they come and go, they transform. I, on the other hand, am the sky: vast, serene, constant. This morning I walked my dog, and the sun shone brilliantly over the freshly fallen snow. The snow sparkled as if covered in glitter, and I felt immense gratitude for something so simple: the sun on my face, the crisp air awakening me, life pulsing in every moment. How paradoxical that someone who once didn’t love life can now write words of gratitude for breathing, for seeing the light, for feeling. Rumi expressed it beautifully: “Your task is not to seek love, but simply to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Entropy, time, and inner order
You are not alone, even when it feels that way. When we feel overwhelmed by a situation, we tend to react immediately, multiplying decisions that complicate everything. Physics would call this entropy—the natural tendency toward disorder. But when we allow time to enter, breathe, and pause, order appears. Psychology calls this conscious emotional regulation: the space between stimulus and response where we reclaim our inner freedom. Every moment of calm we allow, every thought we observe without reacting, brings us closer to internal harmony. Jung said that life always urges us to integrate our shadow to achieve wholeness, and Hafez reminded us that beauty and clarity emerge when we release fear and open ourselves to the present.
The journey continues
Today, on my birthday, I share this message with you: returning to oneself is true rebirth. It is never too late to look inward, accept your shadow, open to life and love that is already here. The force that sustains us exists, even if we cannot always see it. We only need to breathe, look at the sky, and remember that we are the sky, not the clouds. Life waits patiently for us to open our hearts, and every step we take inward brings us closer to the freedom and fulfillment that have always been there, waiting to be recognized.