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Hello & Welcome to I.B!

I believe in personal freedom. Financial freedom. I believe in being able to lead your life responsibly. Don't settle for the rat race—this includes schooling, jobs, the things you buy, and everything that keeps you in meaningless motion.

This blog is about a compilation of insights that will help you refine how you see so that you can refine how you do. It will change the way you perceive life. It will amplify your perspective and improve the quality of your decisions.

Will you join me on this journey? If any of these words resonate with you, subscribe and let's figure this out together. Happy reading!

Holding on and Letting Go

“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

In childhood, we don’t really own anything. As students, we have yet to achieve something. All youth is a process of learning. Children are naturally interested in learning, playing, and exploring. They hold on to the few people they know well, but there isn’t much for them to let go of. Children are free—they don’t have to worry about holding on or letting go (that’s our hope). They simply live in the present, and we prepare them for the future. And as we grow older, we gradually transition into the business of “accumulating.” Read more!

Love Within, Action Beyond

Balancing Self-Love and Selfless Action

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love moves the world. It moves us. It gives our lives meaning. We all know what it means to love and be loved, but it’s much harder to know how to stay in love. However, when it comes to loving ourselves, we don’t know what to do. It’s as if the love we deserve is only validated externally. But eventually, we must realize that to learn to love ourselves and to seek within are fundamental pillars of our well-being and fulfillment in life. Many problems arise throughout our lifetimes when we don’t. We get depressed. We feel lonely. Nothing makes sense and we turn outward for love, creating all sorts of additional problems. Read more!

The Truth About Finding Purpose

A Guide to Meaningful Living

After decades of school defining my sense of purpose, the idea of finding myself seemed intriguing. I first came across this concept in Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within, where he discusses the importance of understanding your “why.” He explains that with a strong enough why, we can better navigate emotional struggles, overcome life’s obstacles, and remain committed to our goals. With a clear purpose, he argues, we can always find the “how.” Since then, I’ve read countless books on everything purpose-related: personal calling, starting with why, intrinsic motivation, higher purpose, and the true north—you name it. What I’ve come to realize is that the truth about finding purpose extends far beyond just self-reflection. Read more!

Embracing the Paradoxes of Life

Embracing the paradoxes of life reveals how it isn’t linear, nor does it have a single right answer. Life can be better understood through seemingly contradicting truths that challenge our conventional thinking. Each paradox opens us up to a deeper understanding about the inner workings of life, helping us grasp what we otherwise couldn’t. Read more!

Reclaiming Virtue, Wisdom, and Meaning in Life

Why Balancing Reason and Wisdom in the Modern Age Matters

“It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero

I believe that humanity stands at a critical crossroads. Our obsession with science, technology, and now artificial intelligence is systematically undermining the very essence of what it means to be human. This transformation begins with how we educate our youth—with a definite bias toward scientific rationality. While the Western educational model separated from religious institutions to honor cultural freedom and diversity, it left a void that hasn’t yet been filled, deeply affecting our human experience. Let’s explore how reclaiming virtue, wisdom, and meaning in life can start with understanding why virtue forms the vital foundation of our human development. Read more!

A Philosophy of Gratitude

A Gateway to Virtue

“Gratitude is the single most important ingredient to living a successful and fulfilled life.” -Jack Canfield

Gratitude is such a powerful concept, essential to our being and pivotal to our life, that I keep coming back to it. After exploring gratitude through appreciation, expressing it, finding gratitude when it’s hard, and giving, a deeper philosophical question emerged: How does gratitude influence our success, shape our perceptions, relationships, and worldview? Let’s explore. Read more!

9 Reading and Writing Principles You Can Apply to Your Life

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” -Dr. Seuss

Reading and writing are fascinating. I believe they are the most important skills you can learn in school. Writing is generally about communicating ideas and stories that transport the audience to a place from which they leave transformed. Less obvious, though, is that writing is also about the writer’s personal transformation. Writing is like a liaison between our inner world and the outer world. Read more!

Beyond Inspiration, Willpower, and Hard Work

How to Keep Learning, Growing, and Moving Forward

There are moments in life that just happen. When we’re young, we can learn a second language effortlessly. As adults, sometimes we feel inspired and suddenly tap into our creativity. We want to believe that all it takes to achieve important things is willpower. We think, if only we tried hard enough. We push ourselves to get things done through sheer hard work, but eventually we relapse into our old ways. Making progress is anything but linear, and to sustain it, we need a better approach. We must go beyond inspiration, willpower, and hard work. Read more!