wondering between the invisible and the essential and the forces quietly shaping our beliefs: who we are, how we feel, and how we’re becoming.

073 | ANEWWITHHUE: A monthly Saturday listicle to spark joy, creativity, and curiosity.

I can’t pinpoint the first day I started chasing purpose.

Whether it was seeded by a religious upbringing or an overindulgence in Hollywood’s cool-aid of the American dream, something rooted in me early. Finding my purpose has become my compass. It’s how I’ve navigated every pivot, every reinvention, and every crisis of redirection.

But the more I’ve come to understand about the power of our beliefs, the more I’ve started to really question my own. What if I’ve been wrong all along? What frameworks have I never considered? What if the architecture of how I’ve been living is based on a premise that is mistaken?

Our thoughts shape our reality, no debate here. But what happens when you turn that lens on yourself? In the spirit of aligning more honestly with objective truth, grounded in my belief that a life well-lived is one oriented towards something greater than myself, a question that’s been lingering is: what if finding my singular purpose isn’t actually what life is about?

What if “find your purpose” is simply a brilliantly packaged false premise? What if self-help got it wrong? A framework so convincing, millions of us have adopted it as universal law. Unquestioned, rarely challenged, so what if it’s misleading?

To be continued.

Discombobulating. 2026. Digital photography + graphics.

I write about the small things that compound into a life well-lived: brain, mind, body, and soul. I love to nerd out about all things human. It’s free to join, but if something speaks to you, becoming a patron is the best way to keep what’s being built here going.

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This month’s highlights:

• how Michael Pollan spent five years chasing humanity’s oldest unsolved mystery and what he has to say about it in his new book

• James Nestor asks what if we’ve been breathing wrong our entire lives?

• how to find your HARD YES with Yara Shahidi

• the belonging industrial complex, decoded

• why you’re a lover, not a thinker, nor a feeler

Podcast. The Next Big Idea. What if the greatest mystery of our time isn’t artificial intelligence, but how you’re experiencing this sentence right now? Michael Pollan, the science journalist behind How To Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (fascinating read!), spent five years tackling a new question: how does three pounds of brain matter produce a felt, subjective you? Nobody knows the origins of consciousness (yet), and Pollan insists, this mystery is humanity’s most thrilling. From plant neurobiology (no plants don’t have neurons, yet they apparently can have 20 senses and a month-long memory—go apologize to your monstera), to a solo meditation retreat in a pitch-dark cave, all while reckoning with one of humanity’s oldest unsolvable questions. Pollan isn’t worried about AI becoming conscious, but he does believe the next decade will bring a profound reevaluation of what being human means. His conclusion: consciousness isn’t a feature, it’s an enduring miracle. And in the age where algorithms compete for every flicker of our attention, protecting it may be our greatest responsibility; what he calls “consciousness hygiene.” Friends, I stand corrected, consciousness before agency, is our greatest currency.

Three things I found fascinating:

• The “Hard Problem” is still unsolved; and what if that’s the point? Pollan asks what if not knowing isn’t a failure of science but a window into the most thrilling frontier.

• The brain-as-computer metaphor is broken. Pollan reminds us that every memory is a physical pattern of connections between neurons, entirely subjective and inherently irreplaceable. Every experience uniquely rewires your brain. You cannot swap the substrate and expect consciousness to run the same way as software can run on a different machines.

• Plants may be sentient. Humbling. Highly debated, but the evidence is showing: some plants can hear, see, navigate mazes, and move their roots towards nutrient sources. Which raises the more fundamental question: what else don’t we yet understand about plant networks, communication, and the bioelectrical fields connecting them?

Podcast. ZOE Science & Nutrition. What if the most radical health upgrade available to you right now is completely free? No equipment, no subscription, no waiting period. Investigative journalist and author of the bestseller Breath: The New Science of a A Lost Art (another great read), James Nestor joins the ZOE pod for a conversation everyone needs to hear! It’ll make you very aware of how you’re breathing too. For good or for worse. His message is simple: most of us, are unknowingly and likely breathing wrong; and it’s quietly wrecking not only our sleep, but spiking stress hormones, aging us faster, and causing a whole host of other unintended health issues that we might not be aware of. Yes, friends, apparently there’s a right and wrong way to breathe. In his first book, Nestor shares how he volunteered himself to a mouth-only breathing regimen for ten days. The results shocked him: blood pressure rose, cognition dropped, and physiology declining to resemble someone decades older. Less than two weeks was all it took. Though sadly, Nestor notes this is how millions breathe every single night. Unknowingly damaging themselves. The fix? Do all you can to become a nasal breather. Slow your breath rate down (because there’s also such a thing as breathing too much), and consider sleeping with a low-adhesive mouth tape. Nothing crazy. But, like with anything, Nestor reminds, preference matters; find what works for you. In an age of optimization theater and elaborate biohacking, his work is straightforward. What if the most powerful intervention for nervous system regulation, focus, and long-term wellbeing has been right under your nose? Literally. Fix your breathing, fix your health, is his message.

I switched to nose breathing in my runs, after reading his first book. At first it felt like suffocating. But once I adjusted, five years on, I’ve never looked back since. Honestly, the performance and endurance gains are unmatched.

Podcast. How to Be a Better Human. What if your so-called “distractions” are actually the whole point? That’s the revolutionary idea at the heart of actress, Harvard graduate, Hollywood writer and resident optimist Yara Shahidi’s conversation with Chris Duffy. It’s the kind of question that has a way of rewiring everything. Shahidi, who somehow managed to star in two network sitcoms while earning a Harvard degree without losing herself in the process, goes on record to share some of her frameworks: namely her “HARD YES!” list. Honestly, brilliantly simple. To help you cut through the noise of things to do and opportunities to pick from, her wisdom: only commit to what genuinely sets your whole nervous system firing in agreement for a HARD YES! But the bigger the idea is her reminder: purpose isn’t something you find, it’s something that unfolds, like breadcrumbs you follow and find along the way. Because the moment you commit to paying attention to what you’re most curious about, is the moment you’ll find your way: “chasing curiosity means that my purpose is constantly unfolding in front of me.” Not an inspiration mantra, but a lived operating system. What’s on your HARD YES list? Share with me in the comments. I’d love to know!

Book. Currently Reading: A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan. I won’t repeat myself about what this book is about. Scroll up, if you missed it. But, between devouring his interviews promoting the book and about halfway reading it—friends, it’s wow. I am honestly a little speechless. It’s one of those rare books that’s left me in awe of our world, and the many things we still might not know. What can be a better gift than that? I hope this intrigues you enough to read it, because like I said earlier this week: some of the most powerful forces in existence are invisible to us; and what if we’re not the only conscious being around? Intriguing, am I right?!

Substack. Essay. as seen on the belonging industrial complex. Community, as it exists in the zeitgeist today, according to Ochuko Akpovbovbo, was invented in 2020. The essay by the former global membership of planning at Adidas decodes how the marriage between community, marketing, and belonging came to be. She breaks down the architecture: the branded run clubs, the sponsored dinners, the social activations, designed for loyalty programs but disguised as belonging. Essential reading, especially for the critique on her (mine too) blooming fatigue: “saturation is the beginning of the end,” with all the socializing for content. I like that she’s also honest about how she’s still participating and benefiting from these models. With her outfit for her next event ready, she’s highlighting the exhaustion, from the inside.

Substack. Essay. You are what you love by Sherry Ning. What if the self-help industry has the whole thing backwards? An intriguing premise, for someone who’s all in on all things self-help like me. This essay lit a spark in me. Thank you Sherry. Because “You are what you love—what you practice, what you pay the most attention to, what you worship, what you desire. Before you are a thinker and a feeler, you are, first and foremost, a LOVER.” Because: “there is a longing deeper than knowing or believing, a desire that defines you because it points you toward where you are going. It’s our mission, our direction of growth. We are human becomings as much as we are human beings.” Beautifully and thoughtfully written. Friends, make time for this essay, if you’re a living, breathing human—which I assume you are ;).

Substack. Interview-series by mymind with Rose Florence: Rose Florence can’t stop thinking about miniatures, ceramics & that one documentary. A great series to enjoy for you taste-seekers out there. I especially love how unconventional the recommendations are. Can’t wait to read more of these.

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Side note: is anyone using the mymind tool? How does it differ or how is it superior or inferior to what Sublime app offers? Message me or leave your comments. I’d love to know.

Time with nature anyone?