There is a belief that has been slowly settling in my life, not as a concept but as a lived truth: the greatest investment we can ever make is the investment we make in ourselves. Not in the sense of perfection, productivity, or constant improvement, but in the subtle, often invisible act of returning to ourselves again and again.
I deeply believe that we create through our attention and our energy. What we focus on expands, not because life is always kind or fair, but because our nervous system, our perception, and even our biology respond to where we place our awareness. I am not perfect. I am very aware that I still disperse energy in places where, deep down, I would rather not. But little by little, I am reclaiming it. As I once wrote before, as long as I am alive, every day is another opportunity to begin again. I do not need to wait for New Year’s resolutions to start over.
Energy, attention, and the quiet act of returning
The relationship between energy and expansion deeply fascinates me, especially because it has taught me to observe myself with more honesty. I try to identify what brings me into a state of peace and presence, and writing this text is one of those places. When I choose to dedicate time to what grounds me, that time becomes energy, and that energy becomes creation. I can feel how a part of me is gently transferred into my words, not as effort, but as expression.
From a scientific perspective, this is not merely poetic language. Attention shapes neural pathways, strengthens certain circuits over others, and influences how we regulate stress, emotion, and meaning. From a conscious perspective, attention is also intention. Where awareness goes, life organizes itself around it, slowly and often invisibly.
And yet, nothing external can truly give us what already resides within us. External tools, experiences, or guidance can help us remove layers, soften defenses, and access what is already there, but they do not create completeness. They simply reveal it. Reaching that state is not easy, and not knowing it is completely normal. Even now, I need to establish a daily ritual to return to my center, because dispersion is easy in a world full of stimuli.
Self-knowledge as the foundation of everything
If I had to offer one piece of advice to anyone who wants to build something meaningful, something big, something deeply aligned, it would be this: give yourself time for self-knowledge. It is the greatest gift we can offer ourselves. It does not matter what goal we pursue, whether it is money, a relationship, healing, or purpose. Everything begins and ends within us.
At the Temple of Delphi, the inscription read: Know thyself. Not as a philosophical luxury, but as a necessity. Why is it so important? Because we can achieve goals and reach milestones, but the pursuit itself will always feel empty if it is born from lack. When we chase something believing it will complete us, we are moving from scarcity. That does not mean ambition is wrong. On the contrary, I have goals, dreams, and direction. The difference is subtle but profound.
When I return to myself, I feel strong in a different way. Whether my goals materialize or not, I am not my results. I act, I execute, I create, but I release attachment. This is radically different from my past, where every mistake felt like a verdict on my identity. That shift came only through knowing myself, through realizing that I am far more than what I desire, far more than my image or my body. I simply am.
Faith, loss, and the uniqueness of this human experience
Recently, while having coffee with a friend, she shared that she stopped believing in God after experiencing painful events in her life. I could feel the anger beneath her words, the sense of abandonment that can arise when suffering collides with belief. I try to remain neutral in these conversations, because I deeply respect every belief system. Each of us lives a unique life experience. As astrophysicist Hubert Reeves once said, the universe is a story, and each human being is a chapter.
I told her that beyond beliefs, what is undeniably real is that we are alive. This earthly experience, exactly as it is, will not repeat itself in the same form. Whether consciousness continues beyond this life or not, what we have now is an experience with a beginning and an end, gently placed in our hands. What we choose to do with it is where the magic lies.
Two people can go through similar trauma and emerge on completely different paths. That is the creative force of consciousness, the quiet power that was entrusted to us without instruction manuals. Not to control life, but to respond to it. To shape meaning, not avoid pain.
Simply being, without conditions
There is something profoundly healing in realizing that we do not need to earn our worth through outcomes. We are not our failures, nor our achievements. We are participants in a human experience that includes tears, grief, joy, peace, confusion, and moments of deep clarity. When we allow ourselves to simply be, without conditions, we stop living as if something essential is missing.
And perhaps that is the deepest investment of all. Not the constant pursuit of becoming someone else, but the quiet courage to know ourselves, return to ourselves, and honor this fragile, powerful, and unrepeatable experience called being human.