This was a tranquil week as I had done a major chunk of this week’s ‘to-do’ list before the week began. This meant I had time to do a lot of reflection this week. So I spent time in mindful contemplation, read a bit, spent time on social media, and had some (not all) answers. Maybe I will do the same next week too, and then, hopefully, I will have a clearer picture of what I want and need to do in the next six months of the year.

Today’s profound quote by Joseph Goldstein, a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society who has studied and taught Buddhist meditation for over 50 years, reframes humility not as a behaviour we adopt but as a natural state that arises when the ego dissolves. Often, humility is misunderstood as modesty or self-deprecation, something we consciously perform. But Goldstein, drawing from Buddhist insight, suggests that true humility isn’t about downplaying oneself; it’s about the absence of fixation on the self altogether.

When the sense of “I, me, mine” fades, what remains is not arrogance or pride, but a quiet openness and presence. In that state, we’re no longer comparing, competing, or needing validation. We act with compassion and clarity, not from a place of ego but from connection and awareness. Thus, humility isn’t a deliberate “stance” we take; it arises naturally when we stop centring everything around the self. In spiritual practice, this is often the essence of awakening: freedom from the illusion of a separate, fixed identity.

Other than my quiet solitude this week, life went on as usual. The children were busy with their work, as was S. So that’s my update for this week. Stay positive and keep smiling!