How will you choose to play your day today?
008 | Hue's Cues: your weekly dose of inspiration and insights for your brain, mind, body, and soul.
Every second is a new opportunity to do what you want, how you’d like. But there’s a million voices telling you otherwise.
The miracle is that at any given moment, you can choose the direction of your life. Right now, right this second—or perhaps, even the next.
Many of us are inhibited by routine, fear, and external pressures. I find myself wrestling with each often. But these mental barriers don’t carry the same weight as gravity. They can only stop us if we let them.
The moment you see the fluidity of reality is the moment you liberate yourself from self-limiting patterns. Expectations, people-pleasing, the tyranny of “shoulds”—they’re constructs. Powerful conditioning, yes, but never permanent, especially if you don’t want them to be.
The invitation is always available. Even if you weren’t brave enough to leap then—blink, breathe, sleep, wake up again. A new opportunity is always waiting on the other side.
Since learning about neuroplasticity and a growth mindset, I’ve held this close: the moment you believe this truth, every second becomes a fresh chance to choose exactly how you want your life to unfold. Given this choice, how will you play your day today?
Though I learned English and Bahasa simultaneously, global circumstances pushed preferential treatment to one. English has been my primary language since I was a child—the words I think, dream, and express in, despite growing up in Jakarta. Reengaging with Bahasa through these interviews, I’ve been nourishing my brain on connection it didn’t know it was craving. I can feel something happening in myself, like my brain remapping itself in real time. Neural pathways awakening to expressions unique to Bahasa, opening new perspectives into how I sense the world. It feels like bumping into an old friend. I’m not just relearning vocabulary, I’m resurfacing entire structures of thought I didn’t know needed finding. Especially through language, there’s something profound about rekindling this relationship with my heritage—its revealing dimensions of self understanding and the world like a series of revelations that I am finding hard to fully articulate. But, friend, all I can say is it’s a beautiful experience.
You know how much I love podcasts! They’re my preferred way to learn and stimulate my mind—partly because listening to a good episode feels like eavesdropping on an insightful conversation. Like two friends on the same wave length, I absorb information well when it’s intertwined with anecdotes around topics I am curious about. You know the saying: you’re the sum of the five people you interact with most? Podcasts make up one of my five. They’re my number one medium for entertainment as well, more than TV. Friend, you’d be surprised by how many hours I get through in a week! But perhaps, you already know that, and why you’re reading these editions each week. I am grateful, as always, to have your attention.
There are days I wake up knowing my body needs rest and recovery, like on Tuesday. On such days I do what I am practicing is to also relieve myself of the guilt and shame that often creeps in. Because processing these emotions takes work and a lot of energy. Like how shame, can increase blood pressure: shifting the body into flight-or-fight mode. Arteries narrow. Function impaired. Researchers speculate this heightens cardiovascular risks too. Womp womp! So if I want to give my body proper rest, I need to learn to allow myself to immerse, by staying proactive about the emotions I hold on to too. It’s hard to reverse the conditioning of hustle culture. I know. But, on days like this, my mantra is simple: “I am allowed to rest. Rest is good for me,” then I breathe in to pause and try to fully inhabit it.
I’ve been training my soul to notice the people who make me feel calm and safe to be myself. Growing older makes you more discerning about these subtle differences because who wants to waste time on people who make us feel ick or some how less than. It’s the souls who put me at ease, to be myself, without fear, neither needing to perform or try—who are the special ones I keep close. Because time is limited. Part of living intentionally is being deliberate about who you keep close. I’m in a season of seeking depth: in people and in relationships too. What about you?
If you’re into indie bands like Khruangbin, Glass Beams, or Salut, and prefer eclectic strums and melodies, off the radars of mainstream, then you’re in for a treat this week. I am excited to share with you a special selection of my current favorites from 21st century Indonesian indie bands. Enjoy!
I am a lover of classic cars. But, simply for it’s aesthetic and design. You’ve lost me if you ever try to ask me about engines or torque, but I light up when I see the soft curves of a 1965 Ford Shelby Cobra, or the oblong stretch of a 1950 Buick Roadmaster Convertible. There’s a charm to classic cars, perhaps it’s beauty is reflected in the handmade craftsmanship that’s no longer in fashion. So, it was a real pleasant surprise to find this Bali based Indonesian car manufacturer, Tuksedo Studio, who’s remaking every detail of classic models from scratch by hand. Their mission to reimagine Indonesia’s car industry is also an audacious ambition I can get behind.
No Fuss Japanese Beef Bowl
