Zaheer sitting barefoot by a beach bonfire at night, smiling gently while gazing sideways. A quiet fire glows in the sand nearby, surrounded by darkness and ocean waves in the background. His posture is relaxed, legs folded, holding a walking stick — at p

A letter from Zaheer: The final one

A Letter from Zaheer The final one ↓ You’ve been on this path for a while now, unknowingly or not. Searching, uncovering, dismantling illusions one by one. You’ve seen through the lies of the world, the deception of external validation, the hollowness of chasing more. You’ve observed your inner game enough to see that the mind is both a tool and a trap. But now, we stand at the edge of something deeper. You asked for the final layer. The truth beneath all truths. So here it is, raw and...
Black-and-white photo of a young child sitting still in a toy car, eyes wide with open, unfiltered presence — before language, before self-image.

A letter from Zaheer: Who is experiencing this?

A Letter from Zaheer Who is experiencing this? ↓ We care too much for words and their meanings, the images and emotions they evoke. We're all familiar with them: The hurt and anger. The guilt, shame, embarrassment. The pride and desire. The greed, lust, envy. We fuel each with rich golden attention as we remember or dream about experiences. To repeat or never to repeat, that is the objective. From a young age, we do it so much, so often, and so frequently that we don't realize the...
Man smiling on a sunny boardwalk, wearing a “Birthday Weekend” tank top and captain’s hat with a blindfold covering his eyes.

A letter from Zaheer: Happy Birthday to... no one?

A Letter from Zaheer The Birthday of No One ↓ Friday was my birthday. America’s birthday too.Both equally made up. Celebrations of images that never stay still. Nostalgic handcuffs. Historic illusions. Imaginary lines. The past needs releasing. Because what we call memory is mostly a story kept alive by repetition: images, ideas, names, nations, narratives. And birthdays? One of the most powerful anchors of identity. We light candles for someone who was never born.Sing songs to a story that...
Zaheer standing with his parents and partner beneath the CN Tower in Toronto, all smiling under a bright blue sky.

A letter from Zaheer: Nothing to become. Just be

A Letter from Zaheer Nothing to become. Just be ↓ I used to think the work was to become. A better man.A kinder partner.A more successful version of me. But now I see: that story was never real.And the chase was never mine. Becoming was always a detour from being. ⸻ This weekend, my parents celebrate fifty years of marriage.And the city celebrates Pride. My parents first visited Toronto in 1977, a city still finding its shape. Nearly 50 years later, its skyline has transformed... but the...

A letter from Zaheer: You’re not broken. You’re being broken.

A Letter from Zaheer You’re not broken. You’re being broken. ↓ You are not broken. You are being broken. By a culture that profits from your doubt. There's a big difference. You're being led to feel lack and need... by an entire culture built to sell you back to yourself. A better you. A happier you.A more optimized, upgraded, more loveable version of you.The idealized self.Someday in the future.With enough work. And the cost?Let's come back to that in a bit. ⸻ You were taught to chase.But...
A lion resting calmly in the shade of green forest brush, gazing forward with still awareness — present, powerful, and unbothered.

A letter from Zaheer: Hold the mirror. Not the ache.

A Letter from Zaheer Hold the mirror. Not the ache. ↓ Today is Father’s Day here in Canada. And like many days that carry emotional weight, it stirs up more than celebration. It brings reflection. Sometimes with a little ache. Always with grace.Here's what came up for me today. He doesn't need to prove strength. Or protect. Or perform. He just is. I took this photo in Botswana in 2020. The lion had just woken up from slumber in the hot afternoon sun. I didn’t come into this world aching for a...
Elephant half-submerged in water, calm and still under a soft sky — a portrait of effortless presence, undisturbed by thought.

A letter from Zaheer: Nothing needs fixing. Especially not you.

A Letter from Zaheer Nothing needs fixing. Especially not you. ↓ If nothing needs fixing, then what am I here for? An elephant at ease... not broken, not fixing... just being. I took this picture from our boat on the Chobe River in Botswana. We’ve been trained to scan for problems.In ourselves.In others.In the world. A constant loop:What’s wrong?How do I fix it? We call it growth.We call it responsibility.But it's just the veneer we applyto mask our intuitive sense of misalignment. ⸻ From the...
A photo of a natural rock arch on turquoise water, framed by puzzle piece outlines. The scene remains whole beneath the illusion of separation.

A letter from Zaheer: You’re not a piece... You’re the whole.

A Letter from Zaheer You’re not a piece... You’re the whole. ↓ Take a single sheet of printed cardboard. Now imagine cutting it into a thousand pieces. Suddenly, a puzzle appears.Edges. Shapes. Separation.And with it, a problem to solve. But in truth, it is quietly whole.Nothing broken.Only outlined. Only imagined. The picture was always intact.The image never changed...Only your attention did. Wholeness beneath the illusion of separation. A view of the Sea Lion rock formation at Sleeping...
Still water stretches toward the horizon under a pale morning sky, mirroring clouds and trees without distortion. The scene is silent, empty, and whole... evoking a sense of presence beyond movement or form.

A letter from Zaheer: There was never a you.

A Letter from Zaheer There Was Never a You ↓ There was never a you. Only the echo of attention, curving back on itself and mistaking the loop for a person. Like a microphone placed too close to a speaker, awareness feeds itself into itself, until the clean signal of being becomes a howl of identity. We hear the noise and call it “me.”But it was never personal. Just feedback. Just distortion.Just the sound of source, caught in a loop. And even that loop?It’s seen. Already. Silently.By...
Golden sun sits low over a dark tree-lined horizon, casting a soft vertical reflection across still rippled water. The moment feels suspended — neither beginning nor end — just presence

A letter from Zaheer: You think you have time

A Letter from Zaheer You think you have time ↓ You think you have time.But you don’t know when this body will fall away. And yet we act like there will always be a better moment... to finally return to ourselves. ⸻ A friend of mine died this week.We worked together over a decade ago — back when urgency meant timelines, targets, tech launches. He was part of a transformation we delivered together.Smart. Kind. Quietly capable. He found his way back into my life last year through something I’d...