Philosophy – Page 2 – The Border of a Mind

the overlooked ordinary

December 5, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

Some of the most important days of our lives don’t feel special while we’re living them. There is no grand moment, no sign telling us pay attention, this will matter later. They pass like any other, unnoticed, unmarked, until we look back and realize everything changed somewhere in the middle of them. A conversation that seemed casual but planted a seed in our mind. A decision so small it felt meaningless, yet it led us somewhere we never expected. A quiet afternoon spent with someone who, years later, we would give anything to sit beside again. We think of life as a collection of big moments, but the truth is, most of it happens in between. In the everyday routines, in the laughter that wasn’t supposed to be memorable, in the unnoticed pauses where something shifts without us realizing. Maybe today is one of those days. Maybe something seemingly ordinary is happening now that, years from now, we will look back on and see differently. And maybe that is reason enough to be present, to pay attention, to cherish even the simplest moments, because we never really know which ones will stay with us forever.

axing the wait

November 28, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

So much of life is spent waiting, for the right moment, for the right conditions, for someone to tell us it’s okay to begin. We wait for permission to take up space, to chase a dream, to change direction, to finally say what we have been holding inside. But permission rarely comes the way we expect it to. No one will show up and say, Now is the time. Now you are ready. Now you are allowed. The doors we are waiting to be opened are often ones we could have walked through all along. We wait because we are afraid, of being wrong, of failing, of stepping outside of what is familiar. But in the end, the waiting itself becomes the thing that holds us back, not the thing we are waiting for. What if we stopped waiting? What if we acted before we felt fully prepared? What if we gave ourselves the permission we’ve been waiting for from others? Because the truth is, no one else gets to decide when we are ready. No one else can give us the life we want. At some point, we must decide to step forward, not because we are certain, not because we are fearless, but because waiting will never be what moves us forward. Only action will.

a quiet kind of immortality

November 21, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

Without realizing it, we carry pieces of the people we have known. A phrase we picked up from a friend. A song an old love introduced us to. A way of laughing, a habit, a favorite food, all borrowed, all absorbed, all woven into who we are. We are not just ourselves; we are a mosaic of everyone who has ever left a mark on us. The way we fold our laundry, the books we reach for, the small superstitions we never questioned. We inherit these things, sometimes consciously, sometimes without even noticing. And just as we collect pieces of others, we leave parts of ourselves behind, too. A joke someone still tells because we once made them laugh. A recommendation someone now swears by. A kindness we barely remember giving, but that someone else never forgot. It is a quiet kind of immortality, proof that we live on in ways we never see. That even after time and distance have pulled us apart, something of us still lingers in the people we have known. And maybe, when we feel lost, when we feel like we don’t know who we are anymore, we can remember this: we are made up of love given, lessons learned, moments shared. We are never just one thing. We are everyone we have ever met.

saying without words

November 14, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

Not everything we communicate is spoken. There are words we never say, yet they echo in the things we do. In the way we linger in a hug just a little longer. In the way we show up without being asked. In the way our eyes soften when we look at someone we love. Silence carries meaning. A glance can say I’m sorry. A small gesture can say I care. The absence of words is not always emptiness, it is often a language of its own, subtle and profound. Sometimes, what we feel is too deep for words, and so it slips through in other ways, in a shared laugh, in a hand placed gently on a shoulder, in simply being there when it matters most. But we forget how much we say without speaking. We forget that love can be in the way we listen. That forgiveness can be in a simple nod. That understanding can be in the silence that asks for nothing but presence. So pay attention to what isn’t said. Listen to the quiet. Notice the gestures, the pauses, the unspoken truths that pass between people. Because often, the deepest conversations happen without a single word, in a language older and softer than speech.

allowing to unfold

October 31, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

We spend much of life searching. For meaning, for love, for a sense of belonging. We chase answers, direction, certainty, believing that if we just look hard enough, if we just keep moving, we will finally find what has been missing. But some things do not arrive through effort. Some things are not found in pursuit, but in stillness. The best conversations often happen when we stop trying to force them. The deepest realizations come when we stop thinking so hard. Love appears not when we go looking for it, but when we are simply living, unguarded, open. There is beauty in the unexpected, in the moments we stumble upon when we are no longer trying to control the outcome. The best days are often the ones unplanned. The most important lessons come when we least expect them. The things we need often find us when we are not searching for them at all. So let go. Just for a little while. Allow life to unfold without demanding answers. Trust that not everything must be hunted down, some things are meant to arrive softly, in their own time, when we are finally ready to receive them.

story shapers

October 24, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

We never fully know the role we play in someone else’s life. To us, an ordinary moment might be forgotten by tomorrow, but to someone else, it might linger for years. A kindness we barely remember might be a turning point for another. A passing word might be something they carry long after we have moved on. We assume we are the main characters of our own story, but in reality, we are also side characters, background figures, fleeting presences in the lives of others. The stranger who smiled at just the right time. The friend who unknowingly said exactly what we needed to hear. The person who walked away, teaching us something we didn’t understand at the time. It is humbling to think about, the ways we leave fingerprints on stories we will never get to read. The ways we become someone’s memory, without ever knowing how or why. So perhaps the best thing we can do is move through the world gently. Speak words that lift. Offer kindness without expectation. Be mindful of the fact that, at any given moment, we are shaping someone’s story, whether we realize it or not.

the life we forget to notice

October 17, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

There is a version of life happening around us that we often forget to see. It exists in the small, unremarkable moments, the way the leaves shift in the wind, the way light spills through a window, the way laughter drifts from a nearby table. These are the things that fill our days, yet we rush past them, lost in thoughts of what’s next, what’s missing, what’s undone. We think of life as the big moments, the milestones, the achievements, the turning points. But real life happens in between. In the pauses. In the way someone looks at you when they think you aren’t watching. In the rhythm of your own breath as you sit quietly, doing nothing at all. How much have we missed in our hurry to get somewhere else? How many sunsets have gone unwatched, how many conversations only half-heard, how many days passed by without ever being truly lived? Maybe life is not something to chase. Maybe it’s something to notice. Maybe the magic is not in waiting for something extraordinary, but in realizing that the ordinary was always enough. So pause. Breathe. Look around. Life is not in the next moment. it’s in this one. And if we are not careful, we will spend our whole lives waiting for something that has been here all along.

there is only now

October 10, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

We are always waiting for something. The right moment. The perfect words. A sign that we are ready. We tell ourselves that someday, when things fall into place, when we feel more prepared, when life slows down, then we will start, then we will choose, then we will finally live the way we’ve been meaning to. But life does not wait for us to be ready. The days pass whether we feel prepared or not. The opportunities come and go, indifferent to our hesitation. The version of ourselves we are waiting to become is already in motion, already forming in the choices we make today. What if we stopped waiting? What if we did the thing now, without certainty, without perfect timing, without the reassurance that everything will go as planned? What if we spoke the words instead of waiting for the right conversation? Took the risk instead of waiting for permission? Allowed ourselves to feel joy instead of waiting for a reason? Because the truth is, there is no perfect moment. There is only now. And if we are not careful, we will spend our whole lives waiting for a future that was always meant to begin today.

life beyond line of sight

October 3, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

So much of life happens just beyond our usual line of sight. Above the screens we hold, above the paths we walk without thinking, above the distractions that pull us away from the present. Look up, and you might see the way tree branches tangle like old friends. The way the sky shifts from deep blue to burning gold in the span of a few quiet minutes. The way someone, somewhere, is pausing at the same moment as you, noticing the same fleeting beauty. We live so much of our lives looking down, at tasks, at worries, at endless streams of information. We forget that the world is still happening above us, beyond us, in ways we were never meant to control. Clouds move without our permission. Birds take flight whether we see them or not. The moon waxes and wanes, indifferent to our hurried footsteps below. Perhaps the simplest way to feel more alive is to lift our gaze. To catch the movement of the world beyond our own thoughts. To remember that life is not just what is in front of us, but also what has been happening all along, just waiting to be noticed. So, look up. Just for a moment. You might be surprised by what you’ve been missing.

invisible kindnesses

September 26, 2025June 21, 2025 by Ajmal

Not all kindness is visible. Some of it is quiet, unnoticed, given without expectation. The door held open for a stranger. The message sent just to say, I’m thinking of you. The moment when you choose to listen, even though there is nothing for you to say. We are taught to celebrate the grand gestures, the visible acts of generosity. But there is another kind of kindness, softer and smaller, that passes between people without ceremony. A glance that says I understand. A silence that says I am here. A small act done not for recognition, but because it felt like the right thing to do. And sometimes, the greatest kindness is the one no one will ever know about. Forgiving someone in your heart and asking for nothing in return. Choosing not to speak a harsh word, even when it feels deserved. Giving someone space, time, or grace, without announcing it. These are the kindnesses that shape the world quietly. They leave no trace, no credit, no applause. But they stay with the people who receive them. They become part of someone’s story in ways that might never be shared. So be kind in ways no one will see. Let your kindness be silent and soft, the kind that asks for nothing but gives everything. Because sometimes, it is the unseen kindness that carries the deepest weight.