Rent Byliv: A Cleaner Copenhagen

I think we’ve all agreed by now that Copenhagen is one of the most beautiful capital cities in Europe. From historical towers & churches, to modern Nordic architecture – you’ll find some of the most photogenic and cozy streets in here.

However if you actually live in Copenhagen, you’re probably also familiar with the littering problem (…let’s all picture Nørreport on a Friday night). Despite having bins literally around each corner on the street (did you know there are more trash cans than 7-elevens in the city?), you still see trash being dumped everywhere.

It is especially plastic waste and cigarette butts that creates problems. Plastic waste often ends up in the ocean, where it interferes with the ocean’s ecosystem and poses a danger to marine wildlife. Cigarettes are a big problem because the large number of cigarette butts, that a left around Copenhagen every day, just look around any Copenhagen bus stop. The cigarette butts take up to 5 years to decompose in nature.

On Breaking Habits and Enjoying Inconsistency

Indulgence vs. Restriction #seesawtalk

In society, we link ‘indulgence’ with a slight sense of ‘guilt’ or simply, ‘lack of control’. We see indulging as an excessive amount of time is being spent on a certain activity, a guilty pleasure, a wrong act of lavishness – whether it’s an item of food, a bubble bath, a shopping spree, or simply time doing absolutely nothing productive.

The concept of indulgence in everyday life is so tied up with doing something ‘extra’ or the idea of ’treating yourself’, to a point where ‘restriction’ becomes a lot of peoples’ default mindset. Everyday you hear people say they limit themselves to consuming a certain amount of something / time, that they won’t ‘go over the limit’. That they exercise self control because you’re not supposed to do what you want, spend your time on what you want to do, eat what you desire…

Yet if restriction is the way to go, why don’t we intrinsically feel happy when we stop ourselves from doing what we want?

If indulgence means excessiveness or going overboard, why do we always get a sense of satisfaction and gratification after indulging?

I suspect we’re underestimating the liberating power that indulgence in life can bring us, and that we’ve been so obsessed with restriction that it has fogged up our view on treating ourselves well.

As mindful as we all hope to be, why not redefine indulgence and restriction in our lives?

The Dangers of Positive Thinking

When you hear the phrase ‘don’t worry, be happy’ – how does it make you feel?

When I started planning for INTENT, I began the brainstorming process with a few keywords. I knew clearly this has to be a platform that promotes self-improvement in an active, mindful way, through simplifying everyday life and omitting unnecessary ‘mental chores’. And now that I reflect on the whole planning process, I noticed that no where have I included the word ‘positivity’.

I’m someone who has never thought of whether it’s a half full or half empty glass in front of me. Instead it simply goes like this:

The Miracle of Mindfulness

5 signs you might have Imposter Syndrome & how you can overcome it

How are you all? 🙂

I started my semester at university and I can already tell that it’s gonna be several hectic months ahead. With few more projects on hand at the moment I haven’t been writing as often as I want. I’ll hopefully be able to get back on track with at least one post per week on here! 🙂

Have you ever heard of ‘imposter syndrome’? I first came across this term on a Youtube video on The School of Life ’s channel (if you don’t know about it you should definitely subscribe to them) In short, Imposter Syndrome is the phenomenon (particularly among high-achieving individuals) when you’re convinced that you’re a ‘fraud’ in what you do, and do not deserve the success you’ve achieved.

8 (ridiculously) easy ways to declutter your smartphone

How are you all? 😃 It’s the beginning of Chinese new year on the 28th! In the year of the rooster I wish you happiness, health, luck and prosperity. ❤️  (In Chinese: 祝你新年快樂，萬事如意，身體健康，生活常樂。 ❤️)

I want to talk about digital decluttering this week – I recently got a new micro SD card for my phone (a long needed upgrade from an 8GB external SD card to a 32GB. I know.) and I’ve taken some time to organise and delete a lot of things in my phone. When it comes to a minimalist approach in lifestyle, I really believe virtual space is just as important as the physical one. In fact, your phone or other digital device is the ‘space’ you stare at throughout the day where ever you go, so putting priority in decluttering them probably makes more sense.

Becoming a ‘multilayered’ person: why it’s good for you

How are you all? 🙂

The last few weeks have been crazy but exciting for me – I went on a solo trip to the freezing cold Russia in mid-January; came back, took my cousin around Copenhagen and had a long over-due catch up on life. I’ve had the chance to talk to so many interesting people lately – long and fruitful talks about my outlook on life, culture, self-discovery, religion, politics; but also on ridiculous jokes, borderline politically incorrect (but hilarious) discussions about stereotypes, countless memes and excessive tagging, you name it.

Hygge is not only just another aesthetic trend. It’s an outlook on life, and here’s why

Hygge. A concept that I have never heard of before arriving at Copenhagen, yet has taken the internet by storm lately. Countless blogpost, articles and even books have been published about it, teaching people how they can implement a bit of this Danish sense of ‘cosyness’ to everyday living. If you don’t already know what hygge is, read this article and it might give you a basic idea of what this current internet craze is all about.

People seemed to have found many ways to display hygge. Good friends, loved ones –  20+ candles, dim lights! A warm cup of tea, a good book, and of course, a home cooked meal from our 40+ recipes! – What a way to monetise people’s longing for this Scandinavian way of quality living! Capital H hygge to capital P perfection. Sadly I see it as very ironic that, the essence of hygge (at least from the POV of an outsider living in Denmark) is being misunderstood, or worse, even twisted gradually into yet another aesthetic trend.

I was unsure of my life goal. Then I asked myself these questions instead

How are you doing? 🙂 This week I’m hoping to write something more personal. Spilling out thoughts and stories of myself entering adulthood as a twenty something – how risky but exciting at the same time! Twenty years of age is truly a special period of time where you go through probably some of the most important transitions, or even transformations in life. You were told that opportunities are everywhere for you to grab – reach for what you want, seek something new, ‘go live your dream’.