There was so much to reflect on. What really stuck out for me is healing a wound allows us to reach for or go towards something we love (a new place, happiness). And sometimes we have to go away to come home.
This is so beautifully said, Priya! What you said about healing a wound letting us reach out for something we love makes me think too of the importance of letting ourselves be guided by what draws us, and not simply by what repels us. And I absolutely love and resonate with what you said about sometimes needing to go away in order to come home. Thank you so much for sharing and being here! 🪻
Suyin, you write about place and belonging in such a moving way. The glimpses of your travels hold such deep presence which makes me feel like I’m seeing the beauty of the world through your eyes. This piece feels so vibrant and vivid with colour, memory and emotion. I always love sinking into the stories woven together with your words.
It’s always such a privilege to read your pieces, it feels like getting lost in a film.
Also that photo of the plane going through the moon is incredible!!! Wow, what an extraordinarily beautiful capture. I feel like it was such a symbol of travel (the plane) and emotion (moon). Almost as if your journey home collided with your inner emotional world, transforming it into something new and fresh 🥲
Jennae, it means so much to me how I am always able to experience my own stories and words in a new way through your eyes.
I'm so lit up by your reflection about the plane and the moon as a symbol of the coming together of my travel and journeys with my inner world and my home, and I will carry that with me always 🥲☁️✨
Reading your words and the way they make me feel are always a powerful reminder to me of why we write and create art, as well as why we read and receive it - to live, to connect, and to belong 💕 Thank you so much for your voice, your words and for being here, I really appreciate you! 🥹🥹🩵🩵
This was such a beautiful piece that moved me deeply. On leaving, transitions, belonging, tea 😭 and how we share 韵 in our names ~ I always feel like I am looking up what my Chinese name means and forgetting jt the next moment. Somehow reading you describing it as rhyme and balance of sound lit up so many things within me. This is your first piece I’ve read but I am looking forward to reading more - I am so inspired by your journey, and your heart, and I am now off to watch Perfect Days today 🩶
Hi Rachel, thank you so, so much for reading and sharing your own heart and reflections here! And yes, how special it is that we share 韵 in our names! I noticed it too from your IG profile and thought it was so meaningful, particularly as we are in a writing community now together ✨✨
I'm so happy to hear that my reflections sparked so many things for you about your name, and would love to chat more about that personally at any time if you'd like 🍵 I'm slowly realising how powerful our names are in giving us a sense of our identity, our roots, our hopes and our dreams 🥹
I hope you enjoyed Perfect Days too! I'm so grateful for your kind words, and for you being here 🥲🩵
I was so moved by your reflections, Suyin. The details, the mood, the emotions—all perfectly expressed. What gorgeous writing! I also loved your photos.
Hi Marla, thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your feelings and reflections on my writing and photos! 🥹 It means so much to me to know that they moved you. I really appreciate you reading and being here 💙
What a beautiful return, I felt the grief and the loss together with the blessing, the celebration, the surrender to the movements we are asked to make outside of our great plans, and graced with blessing and connection in the process. Thank you for your vulnerability, thank you for reflecting back so much of what has been swimming around within me and that I have struggled to put forth in to the world, thank you for showing up and being your beautiful raw self ❤️
Dear Zhen, thank you for capturing so beautifully what my journey and return felt like for me - it's such a treasure to have this essence reflected back at me through your words ✨🌸
It expanded my heart to read your writing about the journey you are on too, and it reminds me how when we show up for our words and our writing, our words can also show up for us in ways we could not imagine and bring us all that we didn't know we needed.
Thank you so much reading and sharing your heart, and for being here! 🥲💕
I read this with a cup of tea in hand, of course, which felt so appropriate as I made my way through your gorgeous description of that 茶韵 teahouse experience. And I love how at the end, you brought it back to balance with the chocolate metaphor. Masterful.
My heart rejoices knowing your experience of Singapore, and your reasons for the way you move along the world, are so different now, Suyin! Sending you all the love.
My dear, thank you so much for your warm hug of words on my writing and for sharing this with me – I’m writing this to you together with coffee today, and somehow I feel like we’re connecting in a café across time and space. Food will always be one of my greatest inspirations :) :) And thank you especially for all your love, for always seeing me and being with me on the journey! So much love and big hot chocolatey hugs to you too! (and I’ve so much else to reply to you about… things have certainly been a whirlwind from both our corners of the world in the past months. Can’t wait to speak more soon!!)
Your name describes you perfectly! The 40 days were well spent indeed. :)
I am always a little afraid when I go back to my birth country, and my hometown. Even back then, when I was still living in Malaysia but I do extended backpacking, like for months and months on the road, whenever I come home, I come home with a little apprehension, because I knew I was changed, and I have lived on a different plane, somewhat like a parallel time, and then I come back to "before", I know I'll feel unhinged, and each time I see the gap widening.
But I have moments like yours too. Like seeing old familiar things with a new lens. And it can be quite enlightening too. Like somethings you never noticed before or seeing something in a new light.
Also, a very interesting note about the connection to Portugal. And incidentally, Porto has a very special place in my heart, served even as a backdrop in one of the most important scenes in my life. I'll share the story someday, once I manage to get it out of draft stage!
Thank you, Rachel! I've connected so much more deeply with my Chinese name in recent years :) Sometimes it almost feels surreal how we can come to so fully embody a name or identity that was given to us at birth, before we knew anything about the world.
I really identify with the fear you describe about returning to our place of origin. "Unhinged" was absolutely how I felt when I returned to Singapore right after an extended period of solo travel around the world too - like I went from feeling so high on aliveness and joy and feeling myself to crashing down into a murky, thick swamp. It was such a shock to the system. Prior to my most recent visit that helped me see things in a more peaceful and gentle light, I think it made a difference that I had a lot of time to process and integrate the new person I was becoming, together with everything I had experienced in life up till that point, before I went back home again as someone who was more myself and more centred.
Wow, it's so special to hear about your connection to Portugal and Porto! I'm so looking forward to reading about your story one day, and also if you ever find yourself coming round to Porto again at some point, please let me know! It would be lovely to meet up :)
☁️✨🤍 this was such a beautiful reflection, I loved reading it so much xx
Thank you so much, Chantelle! It means a lot to me to know how much you loved reading it 🥰☁️🩵 I so appreciate you being here! xxx
There was so much to reflect on. What really stuck out for me is healing a wound allows us to reach for or go towards something we love (a new place, happiness). And sometimes we have to go away to come home.
This is so beautifully said, Priya! What you said about healing a wound letting us reach out for something we love makes me think too of the importance of letting ourselves be guided by what draws us, and not simply by what repels us. And I absolutely love and resonate with what you said about sometimes needing to go away in order to come home. Thank you so much for sharing and being here! 🪻
Suyin, you write about place and belonging in such a moving way. The glimpses of your travels hold such deep presence which makes me feel like I’m seeing the beauty of the world through your eyes. This piece feels so vibrant and vivid with colour, memory and emotion. I always love sinking into the stories woven together with your words.
It’s always such a privilege to read your pieces, it feels like getting lost in a film.
Also that photo of the plane going through the moon is incredible!!! Wow, what an extraordinarily beautiful capture. I feel like it was such a symbol of travel (the plane) and emotion (moon). Almost as if your journey home collided with your inner emotional world, transforming it into something new and fresh 🥲
Jennae, it means so much to me how I am always able to experience my own stories and words in a new way through your eyes.
I'm so lit up by your reflection about the plane and the moon as a symbol of the coming together of my travel and journeys with my inner world and my home, and I will carry that with me always 🥲☁️✨
Reading your words and the way they make me feel are always a powerful reminder to me of why we write and create art, as well as why we read and receive it - to live, to connect, and to belong 💕 Thank you so much for your voice, your words and for being here, I really appreciate you! 🥹🥹🩵🩵
🥹🥹🩵🩵
This was such a beautiful piece that moved me deeply. On leaving, transitions, belonging, tea 😭 and how we share 韵 in our names ~ I always feel like I am looking up what my Chinese name means and forgetting jt the next moment. Somehow reading you describing it as rhyme and balance of sound lit up so many things within me. This is your first piece I’ve read but I am looking forward to reading more - I am so inspired by your journey, and your heart, and I am now off to watch Perfect Days today 🩶
Hi Rachel, thank you so, so much for reading and sharing your own heart and reflections here! And yes, how special it is that we share 韵 in our names! I noticed it too from your IG profile and thought it was so meaningful, particularly as we are in a writing community now together ✨✨
I'm so happy to hear that my reflections sparked so many things for you about your name, and would love to chat more about that personally at any time if you'd like 🍵 I'm slowly realising how powerful our names are in giving us a sense of our identity, our roots, our hopes and our dreams 🥹
I hope you enjoyed Perfect Days too! I'm so grateful for your kind words, and for you being here 🥲🩵
I would love that 🍵 I’m so happy I am here too 💌💛🥰
I was so moved by your reflections, Suyin. The details, the mood, the emotions—all perfectly expressed. What gorgeous writing! I also loved your photos.
Hi Marla, thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your feelings and reflections on my writing and photos! 🥹 It means so much to me to know that they moved you. I really appreciate you reading and being here 💙
What a beautiful return, I felt the grief and the loss together with the blessing, the celebration, the surrender to the movements we are asked to make outside of our great plans, and graced with blessing and connection in the process. Thank you for your vulnerability, thank you for reflecting back so much of what has been swimming around within me and that I have struggled to put forth in to the world, thank you for showing up and being your beautiful raw self ❤️
Dear Zhen, thank you for capturing so beautifully what my journey and return felt like for me - it's such a treasure to have this essence reflected back at me through your words ✨🌸
It expanded my heart to read your writing about the journey you are on too, and it reminds me how when we show up for our words and our writing, our words can also show up for us in ways we could not imagine and bring us all that we didn't know we needed.
Thank you so much reading and sharing your heart, and for being here! 🥲💕
I read this with a cup of tea in hand, of course, which felt so appropriate as I made my way through your gorgeous description of that 茶韵 teahouse experience. And I love how at the end, you brought it back to balance with the chocolate metaphor. Masterful.
My heart rejoices knowing your experience of Singapore, and your reasons for the way you move along the world, are so different now, Suyin! Sending you all the love.
My dear, thank you so much for your warm hug of words on my writing and for sharing this with me – I’m writing this to you together with coffee today, and somehow I feel like we’re connecting in a café across time and space. Food will always be one of my greatest inspirations :) :) And thank you especially for all your love, for always seeing me and being with me on the journey! So much love and big hot chocolatey hugs to you too! (and I’ve so much else to reply to you about… things have certainly been a whirlwind from both our corners of the world in the past months. Can’t wait to speak more soon!!)
Big hot chocolatey hugs to you. I love this. I love you!
I love you too!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Your name describes you perfectly! The 40 days were well spent indeed. :)
I am always a little afraid when I go back to my birth country, and my hometown. Even back then, when I was still living in Malaysia but I do extended backpacking, like for months and months on the road, whenever I come home, I come home with a little apprehension, because I knew I was changed, and I have lived on a different plane, somewhat like a parallel time, and then I come back to "before", I know I'll feel unhinged, and each time I see the gap widening.
But I have moments like yours too. Like seeing old familiar things with a new lens. And it can be quite enlightening too. Like somethings you never noticed before or seeing something in a new light.
Also, a very interesting note about the connection to Portugal. And incidentally, Porto has a very special place in my heart, served even as a backdrop in one of the most important scenes in my life. I'll share the story someday, once I manage to get it out of draft stage!
Thank you, Rachel! I've connected so much more deeply with my Chinese name in recent years :) Sometimes it almost feels surreal how we can come to so fully embody a name or identity that was given to us at birth, before we knew anything about the world.
I really identify with the fear you describe about returning to our place of origin. "Unhinged" was absolutely how I felt when I returned to Singapore right after an extended period of solo travel around the world too - like I went from feeling so high on aliveness and joy and feeling myself to crashing down into a murky, thick swamp. It was such a shock to the system. Prior to my most recent visit that helped me see things in a more peaceful and gentle light, I think it made a difference that I had a lot of time to process and integrate the new person I was becoming, together with everything I had experienced in life up till that point, before I went back home again as someone who was more myself and more centred.
Wow, it's so special to hear about your connection to Portugal and Porto! I'm so looking forward to reading about your story one day, and also if you ever find yourself coming round to Porto again at some point, please let me know! It would be lovely to meet up :)