Free Thoughts

The void that creates, the Arabian phoenix, and the missing community: reflections from an intense weekend

Complexity, Free Thoughts /

A weekend that mixed everything together: personal news I chose to face instead of endure, liquidity weighing again, and friends opening up about their own struggles. In the middle of it, the discovery that the Go stones are truly working, that the mind is shifting from rumination to agency.

And confirmation that community, real support around mental health, is still deeply lacking in this society. But something, slowly, is moving.

The void that creates, the Arabian phoenix, and the missing community: reflections from an intense weekend Read Post »

Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus: two faces of stoicism when the pressure shifts

Free Thoughts, Pragmatism /

Marcus Aurelius wrote for himself, with no thought of publication, and that journaling helped him govern an empire under enormous pressure. In this period of liquidity stress I understand why: Epictetus gave me the theoretical foundations, but it is Marcus Aurelius who becomes essential now, when theory must turn into concrete action.

You do not give up the planting. You face it, one number at a time.

Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus: two faces of stoicism when the pressure shifts Read Post »

Accepting is not enough: why not succumbing is the real challenge

Free Thoughts, Pragmatism /

Accepting a trigger from the past does not automatically mean feeling fine. The real challenge comes after: not succumbing when that trigger resurfaces. In moments of tiredness, when even metacognition risks becoming a spectator instead of a guide, it is the Go stones placed in calm moments that make the difference.

As Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius taught, each in his own way: do not deny the emotion, do not let it take control.

Accepting is not enough: why not succumbing is the real challenge Read Post »

When the mind knows but the body will not obey: grief, friendship and fear

Free Thoughts /

Yesterday something unpleasant happened that showed me three things at once. How the mind can know a fear is irrational without being able to act on that knowledge. How “call me if you feel bad” is not enough, and real presence is needed instead. And how you can grieve someone who is still alive, when the person you knew stops existing while still being in the world.

Today, the day after, I am well. Not perfectly, but well.

When the mind knows but the body will not obey: grief, friendship and fear Read Post »

Internalisation, part two: when it arrives to save you precisely in the tired moments

Free Thoughts, Pragmatism /

Internalisation truly shows itself when it arrives precisely in the tired moments, almost saving you without looking like a miracle.

During this period of accumulated tiredness I saw metacognition block compulsive tendencies at work, I saw how talking openly helps in the family more than any technique, and I understood the thin line between personal growth and dangerous narratives built with the very same tools we use to improve ourselves.

Internalisation, part two: when it arrives to save you precisely in the tired moments Read Post »

Internalising: when a concept stops being a tool and becomes part of you

Free Thoughts, Pragmatism /

Internalising does not mean repeating until you memorise. It means bringing a concept so deeply inside that it becomes an automatism, something you no longer have to reach for when you need it. Over the past year philosophy moved from work into personal life as a genuine escalation.

Two recent episodes, a complex negotiation and a volunteering situation with an aggressive interlocutor, showed me what it means when Socrates, Dewey and Gadamer stop being tools and become part of you.

Internalising: when a concept stops being a tool and becomes part of you Read Post »

Two Sundays later: internalisation moving forward

Free Thoughts /

Two missed Sundays, many themes emerged. The tiredness weekend brought something about acceptance to the surface. GIF, Giovani In Festa organised by Croce Verde, brought internalisation forward with force. Today I am not going deep, I am giving a preview. Because I am tired, managing a complex period, building.

And yet I feel happy. And writing it here reminds me of this when the days come in which I will find myself thinking the opposite.

Two Sundays later: internalisation moving forward Read Post »

Dialogue, neurodivergence and dead branches: when understanding is not enough

Connections, Free Thoughts /

“This is just who I am, accept me.” How many times have we heard this phrase, or thought it ourselves. Sometimes it is honesty, often it is a mask. And when it intertwines with unrecognised neurodivergence, the defensive narrative that builds over time can become impossible to manage, for those living it and for those around them.

I learned the hard way that acting sooner, with respect but with clarity, is not cruelty. It is care.

Dialogue, neurodivergence and dead branches: when understanding is not enough Read Post »

The void that creates: navigating chaos without fleeing it

Complexity, Free Thoughts /

We keep fleeing the void, filling it with thoughts rather than facing it. And yet physicists are discovering that the quantum vacuum is not absence but potential, energy fluctuations that create. The same applies to the mind. This week was genuinely hard, the challenge is still ongoing.

But in the void I found something precious. And I am still here.

The void that creates: navigating chaos without fleeing it Read Post »

Simplicity as a superpower: when less becomes more

Free Thoughts, Pragmatism /

Complexity is a composition of well-structured simplicities. It sounds like a paradox, and yet two very different contexts showed it to me: structured video games like Soviet Republic, where I learned to focus on one system at a time instead of trying to master everything at once, and an unexpected video call with Marco, thrilled after trying a rough game I had built with AI.

Simplicity applied well creates great things.

Simplicity as a superpower: when less becomes more Read Post »

Scroll to Top