A Letter from Zaheer Whose Approval Are You Waiting For? (And Why It Holds You Back) ↓ Approval is a cage dressed as a safety net — and you've got the key. I’ve spent much of my life quietly waiting for permission. Yet, also afraid of irrelevance. Approval from family, nods from colleagues, praise from mentors. A green glow on the wealthmeter. Quietly but persistently, I'd outsourced my joy to external checkboxes, trading applause for authenticity. It felt safe. It felt known. But, it was...

A Letter from Zaheer How do you measure growth? ↓ This weekend we're celebrating a birthday (happy birthday Connie 🫶🏼). I got reflective. Birthdays are our earliest cultural ritual of accumulation. From childhood, they condition us to measure life incrementally: more years, more experience, more stuff. From our earliest moments, we're taught growth is about acquiring: another candle, another year, another accomplishment stacked high on life's shelf. But what if this focus on growth through...

A Letter from Zaheer What are you feeding? (And how it shapes the life only you can live) ↓ I wish I'd known this earlier. The deeper meaning. Not the superficial, intellectual 'knowing.' Everything you feed grows. Choose carefully. Every thought, every belief, every quiet act of attention is nourishment. It feeds two interconnected stories...: → the past you've lived and the future you're creating. And it shapes both...: → how you see yesterday determines the tomorrow you're building. I've...

A Letter from Zaheer What does your armour cost your soul? (And how you can reclaim it) ↓ There are roles that fit like skin and roles that cling like armour. The difference is this: one breathes, the other bleeds. We inherit these scripts before we learn to speak—provider, leader, martyr, saint, fixer, peacekeeper, ladder-climber—whispers from ancestors who mistook survival for living. We rehearse them in boardrooms, kitchens, and in the quiet desperation of “should” and “must,” until the...

A Letter from Zaheer Where is the current taking you? ↓ Ten years ago, a haircut and a crash reshaped my life. One cost $50 and lasted an hour. The other cost my identity and took a decade to recover. Both taught me the same truth: Life isn’t a spreadsheet of pros and cons. It’s a river—wild and patient, carving canyons from your cracks.And the question you need to ponder is whether you'll keep fighting the current or let it carry you forward. Serendipity: The Haircut That Wasn't About Hair...

A Letter from Zaheer What are you pretending not to know? ↓ The therapist’s office smelled like old books laced with bitter guilt. He slid the list back across the table. 17 ways I’d failed as a partner, father, and person. I’d rewritten it from memory - every word, every wound. A perfect replica of the indictment I’d heard. "When did you know?""3 years." My throat tightened around the lie as it slithered out.I’d known longer. “Can the child within my heart rise above…?” Stevie Nicks pierced...

A Letter from Zaheer What is love? (And why your answer is your secret to clarity) ↓ “What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me, Don’t hurt me, no more.” - Haddaway This track teleports me to 1993. There, 16-yr old me is dancing away in my room oblivious to everything but the music. But, the lyrics from Haddaway's iconic 90s hit are more than just a catchy hook. They pose a question as old as time itself. The artist himself once said, "'What is love' needs to be defined by everyone by his own...

A Letter from Zaheer What's your earliest memory of You? ↓ I remember it clearly.Pain, sharp and intense. I looked down at my right knee.A red river gushing from a cut that would heal, but I was scarred forever.My leg was stuck between two metal pipes.I screamed. That's it.My first memory of me. Me on my way to the rooftop When my parents recall this story, they tell me I was with my ayah (nanny), Hannah. I have a faint recollection of her. They show me pictures of a 3rd floor flat above a...

Zaheer Merali Clarity & Perspective: On the pursuit of happiness, success and desires ↓ Are we chasing to get what we already have? The innocent following the blind, herded by the wolves who want it all for themselves. We have been taught and programmed to believe that we are not enough, that we are not worthy and that we must constantly strive to achieve happiness and success. No single person can claim exclusive credit for this. Its roots lie in the repetition of human beliefs and...

Zaheer Merali Clarity & Perspective:Attention is like a zoom lens ↓ image: mymind inc. I never knew I could do this with my attention. Wish someone had told me earlier! For a long time, most of my attention was focused externally on getting somewhere in the world - work, money, family, friends, etc. On the outside I looked successful by society’s standards. Inside I was playing a losing battle… I just didn’t know it then. Trying to do too much, too soon. You’ve probably heard this story...