Long before we came along, with our brains and matcha tea, early life forms only had rudimentary sensory systems.

They detected and responded to environmental stimuli… things like light, pressure, or temperature.
These primitive systems didn’t “think” in any way we’d call cognition, they just acted.
They supported survival by guiding our behaviour: moving toward nutrients, away from toxins, or reacting to threats.

As nervous systems evolved, first as simple nerve nets (don’t even ask, it’s beyond me), then centralised structures, and eventually brains… those older, sensory systems (or embodied response mechanisms) didn’t disappear. They became the foundation of what we now experience as intuition, gut feelings, or emotional instincts. They operate waaaayy quicker than our rational thought because they’re rooted in ancient survival circuitry. For example, the amygdala and brainstem responses can trigger action before the cortex even finishes processing what’s happening (sometimes you know something before you know it).

So…intuition and feeling aren’t just “soft” or “irrational”, they’re actually evolutionarily ancient tools for survival and rapid decision-making. Rational thought is a newer layer built on top.

For a long time, I thought stability and good communication were enough…that if you worked hard at a relationship, flow and connection would naturally follow.

But they don’t.
Not always.

Sometimes two people can share affection, safety, and even intimacy… and still miss the spark that makes everything feel alive.

That kind of flow doesn’t come from effort alone, there’s a deeper layer of nervous-system compatibility that has to exist.
Mutual affection doesn’t equal reciprocal energy. For example, you can have all the intimate facets (touch, talk, connection), yet still lack the spark of play or a sense of moving forward together. Sometimes a relationship can feel emotionally rich, yet subtly draining, if for example, playfulness is missing and is the thing that makes you feel most alive.

I used to make decisions top-down: over-analysing data, drawing insights, reasoning my way through everything. These days, it’s more bottom-up…the collection of experiences either feels right or doesn’t. Sometimes you know immediately; other times you have to let it unfold until you feel certain of the path. And we’ve all been in situations where our intuition knew the answer long before our intellect caught up.

Gentrification is weird, man. I thought I’d be into it, you know, polished coffee shops, places that sell only cacti and vibes.

But I miss the old locally owned spots. They were rough around the edges, but real, like some auntie’s haberdashery that also sold chicken wraps
…and unsolicited marriage advice. Wholesome stuff.

That’s why we need to bring back community land trusts.
Actually, we should rebrand them to protect them… call them Community Land Investment Trusts.
Or C.L.I.T. for short.

Because the hipsters wouldn’t be able to find it.

…tbh, neither would half the population

I have the soul of a poet and the mind of an engineer… a disastrous combo for my sanity.

I visited a city for the first time. I put some thoughts together:

It strikes me as an artificial monument to excess…where refrigerated interiors and arid exteriors reflect a deeper disconnection from nature and humanity. It thrives on spectacle and subjugation: imported labourers build the skyline while the elite applaud the illusion of “efficiency” and “luxury.”
Its environmental negligence isn’t born of necessity. It tries to come off as ambitious, but it’s basically greed dressed as aspiration. Rather than leading as a beacon of sustainable innovation, it becomes a playground for the wealthy, powered by exploited workers and extractive economics.

Notes:

1. Instead of adapting to its geography with humility, it tries to dominate it…creating islands, mega-malls in defiance of ecological logic.
2. It mimics Western consumerism and glosses over regional depth for aesthetic conformity.
3. It postures religious values, but its soul is commodified. Symbols of faith dot the skyline, but ethical care for fellow humans is absent in labour conditions and social equity.
4. Skyscrapers and imported foliage suggest advancement, but they mask a brittle system: socially and ecologically unsustainable, built on finite resources and infinite marketing.
5. Most residents are expats on time-limited visas, leading to a city with little emotional or generational continuity. It feels rented, not lived in. It’s hard to belong here.
6. Its culture isn’t built on art, music, or collective imagination…but on status, luxury cars, and controlled aesthetics. Depth is traded for surface sheen.
7. A reputation for suppressing dissent, hyper-surveillance, and lack of free expression underscores the shiny surface with an undertone of quiet authoritarianism.