Pen{g}sieve Vol 1: Welcome
Welcome to the very first issue of the Pen{g}sieve newsletter!
Pen{g}sieve is about my journey of personal transformation that started about 16 months ago. It began at a time of uncertainty while I was in a state of confusion. But little by little, changes started to happen internally, one habit at a time, until one day (much more recently) people around me started to notice too. I will try to dissect the system of personal change for you as much as I can. Hopefully, this will spark some changes in others too.
Original blog posts
In the very first issue, I want first to explain why I start this newsletter. This is intended as much for the readers as for myself, as I probably need to be reminded of what I set out to do from time to time.
People often ask me how my personal changes happened. There is no simple answer. But, if I have to compress it to one sentence, it would be:
Mindfulness + tiny habit + mind-shift + new environment => personal change
The next two posts demonstrate some aspects of such a system.
My journaling system is a tool to establish new habits and to incorporate a daily mindfulness practice. In the following post, I give specific examples of how I use journaling for diving deeper into my mind.
While I am a strong believer in tiny habits, I believe real transformation is more likely to happen when a fundamental belief is altered. The system of inquiry (i.e., asking questions) is one method to shake our existing beliefs. This blog post shows the list of thought-provoking questions that led my journey to change. It is also the master post for all subsequent blogs that dive deeper into individual questions.
Curated content
I want to share one course I took earlier this year called Learning how to learn. This is one of the top courses on Coursera, and Dr. Barbara Oakley is my favorite online professor. “Learning how to learn” not only upgraded my framework for learning but also triggered a fundamental mind-shift that I will cover in a later post. I hope you enjoy this course as much as I did.
Tip of the week
Try to organize an online reunion or to reconnect with a friend you have lost touch with. Initiating may feel vulnerable, but you will soon find out that most people long for connection and appreciate your taking the first step.
Last month, I organized two such online reunions (the idea just came to me one morning). One reunion was with my (former) PL team members. It turned out that though we all worked in different places now, almost all of us had witnessed some lay-offs in the company we (or our spouse) worked at. Sharing these vulnerable moments brought us closer. It is a beautiful thing to experience a genuine moment of human to human connection.
Inspired by the reunion idea, I recently started a tiny habit of having at least one Zoom chat with a long lost friend per week. It is my latest life hack to rebuild my social network with meaning.
Final words
If you like what you read here, please leave some comments so that I have the motivation to continue (a shoutout to @Du Li, your encouraging words literally supercharged my writing of the inquiry blog this morning :). And yes, feel free to share Pen{g}sieve with anyone who you think may benefit from reading it.
Finally, thanks, Ellie, for editing all of mommy’s blog posts. You are such a sweet, positive, and reliable helper.
Your attitude to your life and your writing are so inspiring. I learned a lot from you. Thanks! Look forward to reading more.
"Learning how to learn" is indeed a great course.