Sharing wisdom I’ve received from the Moon as one of my favourite days in the year coming to an end. It’s Mid Autumn Festival, this year coinciding with the birthdays of two people I hold dearest in my life. Honouring the full moon as reason for gathering with others, as well as longing for loved ones. 

Happy Mid Autumn Festival 
中秋节快乐🌕🌙✨ It's okay to be in progress. The Moon shows up in any state, whether full and bright or partially hidden. In the quiet reflection of moonlight, find solace and clarity. For even in darkness, there is guidance. Never rush. Keep moving steadily within your own orbit. Love unconditionally and unwaveringly. You never know who you might reach. Remember to look up and wonder. There's always beauty around you to appreciate. Embrace patience in your journey. Trust that every phase has its purpose. Transformation is natural and necessary. Just as the moon waxes and wanes. Which is your personal favourite?

We’ve been going to couples therapy since the beginning of the year. Once every two weeks… and it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. We rarely fight, in fact we used to wonder if it’s odd that we don’t argue much as a couple. Even now that we do 11 years on, they tend not to be serious or important enough that they get swept under the rug when the next trip or the next family occasion comes. I hear this can be a common experience of long term relationships, where the perpetual cycle of small matters can risk building up towards resentment. Going to therapy together (and having a queer therapist) made us communicate in a way we never have before as a queer ESEA couple. We were asked questions we haven’t considered asking each other. “I hadn’t realised you felt that way” was a common response we shared upon discovering where our orbits of awareness had yet intertwined in all its complexities. Tears were definitely shed on occasion, as well as moments of silence, frustration, anger and everything in between. But we’ve promised each other we will always come out of every session with a long hug. No words exchanged. Just us holding each other, in gratitude of the effort we continue to put in towards us. Over time, the sessions became a way of carving out time to check in on our relationship, to practice more intentionally being curious about each other as we ourselves continue to grow and change. Our therapist shared it’s like tidying a knot regularly instead of seeking help only when a relationship is down to its last thread. These knots I hope we will continue to tend to over the next 11 years. I’ve always been an advocate of mental health, so I wanted to share a different angle on #mentalhealthawarenessweek. Mental wellbeing can feel mostly like a private and personal journey, but there are also beautiful opportunities for collective healing in these settings as well as circles. Collective care starts from the ones closest to us after all. And this relationship is for sure my biggest teacher of unconditional love, whether receiving or giving. Here's where we found our therapist. : https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #loveislove #collectivecare #lgbtq+ #queerasiansexuality

I found it really refreshing the other day when a dear friend of mine nonchalantly expressed that he was sad. He said it in such a way that it seemed he did not need to know why he was sad. He just leaned in and allowed himself to feel. I never realised that was a possibility. Whenever I feel something, I almost immediately prescribe the cause of my feeling. Maybe I've worked too hard, accomplished too little. It might be that I've not been sleeping well. That weird dish I made for dinner. Or something he said. Perhaps the anxiety about getting back to 'normal' and what that means. No it's most definitely because of the nagging pain in my hips... The reality is that it might be all of that entangled within a singular feeling we particularly relate to for a brief moment. Or none of it. It's almost as if my friend recognised this truth and simply acknowledged his feeling, trusting whatever comes will also pass. This space between feeling and recognising is something I am presently pondering upon, in an attempt to untangle the immediacy of labelling. We are a web of wonder after all, from our ocean of thoughts to our complex and layered physiological self.