Opposite Forces in You / February 10, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Femininity and masculinity are ambivalent. Each holds the potential for both creation and destruction.

That’s why myths, religions, and folklore give us:

Dionysus, the wild passion and irrationality, and Apollo, the reason and purity.
Hecate, the mistress of shadows, and Demeter, the giver of harvests.
Kali, the goddess of death, and Lakshmi, the goddess of fertility.
Loki, the cunning trickster, and Thor, the noble protector.
Set, the god of chaos, and Horus, the god of order.
The Stepmother and the Good Fairy, and so on.

Praising one side of the coin while hiding the other is naïve. You can’t fool nature. In the end, she’ll turn even the noblest intention inside out like a sock.

Denying this duality fuels conflicts among people.

But the ultimate irony? The loudest voices in these debates fail to see the duality within themselves. Carl Jung believed every man and woman carries a corresponding Animus and Anima—the archetypes of masculinity and femininity. They are the bridge between your conscious and unconscious mind.

A weak connection to this spirit makes a person one-sided and vulnerable. A man like that will not spot danger in time, dismiss opportunities, and lack flexibility. A woman will struggle to stand her ground, take initiative, or firmly say, “No!”

But when a man connects well with his Anima, she inspires him, offers fresh solutions, and guides him toward the right path, much like the wise spirit guides in fairy tales.

Ignore this messenger from your unconscious, and disaster follows. Anima and Animus will retreat into the shadows and begin their revenge. Inside, there will be either chaos or stagnation.

Many struggles in business and personal life don’t stem from bad luck or bad people—they come from inner disharmony.

The ancient Greek philosopher Chilon expanded on the Delphic maxim:

“Know yourself, and you will know the gods and the universe.”

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.

Royal Decay / February 9, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Portrait of King Charles II by Juan Carreño de Miranda

King Charles II of Spain was called “The Bewitched” because, in the 17th century, people blamed witchcraft for physical and mental illness.

The real reason? Generations of inbreeding. While a typical fifth-generation person has 32 unique ancestors, Charles II had only 10. It was as if he had been born to a brother and sister.

His failing health and infertility marked the end of Spain’s Habsburg dynasty. The War of Spanish Succession followed, and a Bourbon prince took the throne. Spain’s Golden Age died with its king [1].

Inbreeding depression weakens a species. Close relatives pass on identical faulty genes, leading to weaker, sicker offspring, unfit for survival [2].

When sameness mates with sameness, the world becomes barren.

Why do people, businesses, or nations run out of ideas, opportunities or solutions? Because like a doomed royal bloodline, their ruling elite chooses self-fertilization—or incest.

Nature shows when the new is strong, adaptive, and healthy.

The key to true life is the synthesis of opposites:

Verticality and horizontality.
Resilience and acceptance.
Masculinity and femininity.
Tradition and innovation.
Positive and negative.
Motion and stillness.
Logic and intuition.
Spirit and matter.
Order and chaos.
Sky and earth.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Flow Unleashed / February 8, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

When my mood hits rock bottom, I listen to Harry Mack freestyle.

Strangers throw random words at him, and he weaves them into dazzling patterns on the spot. As he raps, he describes what he sees—their gestures, their clothes, the details of their room.

It’s raw, real co-creation, and it hits deep.

I enjoy the listeners’ reactions as much as the rap itself. The initial skepticism and doubt are gone in seconds, like fog in the sun. One stands frozen, mouth open. Another grins ear to ear. A third starts dancing, overcome with joy and gratitude.

Boredom and sadness melt into something unforgettable. It’s hard to move me, but this wild creativity gets me every time.

Narry has talent., no doubt But judging by interviews and old videos, he spent years refining the diamond that now rightfully shines in his crown. We see a true master.

There are clips where he can’t even stop the flow—it pours through him like a force of nature. Proof of an old truth: man is just an instrument in God’s hands. The point of self-work is to clear the stones from the path of the Flow.

One listener left a perfect comment on YouTube: "I’m fully convinced what Harry Mack does actually spreads love and makes the world a better place."

See for yourself:

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Play or Perish / February 7, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

If a child is rude, selfish, and arrogant, other kids won’t let him join their game.

A CEO can force an employee to follow procedures, but not to invent.

You can’t force yourself to care. You can’t make yourself engage with life.

According to psychologist Jean Piaget, certain conditions make a game a game:

Voluntary participation.
Emotional involvement.
Repetition and variation.
Independence from utilitarian goals.
A system of implicit or explicit rules.
Imagination and transformation of reality.

This applies to games with others—and to the games we play with ourselves. Maybe depression begins when the Self refuses to play with the Ego.

Ideally, the Self (your deep, instinctive “I”) and the Ego (your conscious mind) act as partners in a game. From within, a pull emerges—passion, curiosity, a craving for something new. The Ego tries to digest this novelty through awareness, action, and adaptation.

But sometimes, the Ego decides:

“I already know everything.”
“I need quick, guaranteed results.”
“We don’t have time for childish games.”
“I need to control what confuses or scares me.”
“I make the rules because no one outranks me.”
“Only what can be measured or touched has value.”
“You’ll want to join in—I just have to push you a little.”

Then the Self retreats underground and starts plotting revenge. The person feels mechanical, like he’s just going through the motions. Meaning, excitement and simple joys fade. Routine and boredom take over. The Ego is left alone, sadly watching the pulsation of being.

The way out? Learn to play again—with the unknown part of yourself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Be Ashamed to Understand / February 6, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The art of therapy is helping a person grow. When change happens inside, it reshapes his world outside.

But here's the catch: the therapist himself can become the obstacle. Neither the client nor the therapist will understand why they’re stuck in place.

The reason? A false assumption by the therapist: “I already know everything.”

I remember a story about a professor scolding psychoanalysts: “You should be ashamed to understand at your age. Your ‘understanding’ blocks your client’s growth. Now, try not understanding him again.”

It’s like sealing a plant inside an airtight box with a label. Sure, it’s easier to store and move around. But inside that box, there’s no water, no air, no sunlight—nothing it needs to grow.

A therapist must hold uncertainty and stay open. Open to what?

To the primal essence of personality that can emerge at any moment. No clever template can predict the divine spark.

Psychoanalyst Marie-Louise von Franz warned about the danger of “nothing but”:

“If something is in the process of growing and I say, ‘This is that,’ then it can still change. But if I say, ‘This is only that,’ I’m locking it in place, cutting off transformation and the chance for further growth. When the intellect doesn’t say, ‘So this is how it seems,’ but instead clamps down with, ‘I know—this is only that and nothing more,’ this subtle shift invites a kind of Luciferian destruction, especially devastating to anything still in the process of becoming.” (my rough translation)

Therapy heals when it describes things as they truly are.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Mother Nature’s Shadow / February 5, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The modern city dweller has a romantic view of nature. To him, it’s a warm bath, a nurturing womb, Mother Earth. He takes pride in his “progressive” rejection of traditional religion, yet in reality, he has regressed—rebuilding a neo-pagan eco-cult 2.0.

One problem: the cult is lopsided. Mother Nature kept all her gentle traits, while the cruel ones were cast aside. The new priests went so far as to declare all of humanity “a cancer on the planet.”

No surprise—primitive gods are the most bloodthirsty of all.

Ancient pagans were wiser than modern ones. Their gods were ambivalent, both kind and cruel. That made them a more accurate symbol of the brutal reality where man had to survive.

Sipping an aromatic latte in a cozy café, scrolling through TikTok on the latest iPhone, the city dweller doesn’t realize how fragile his world is. Generations built the infrastructure that shields him from the wild, like castle walls.

And infrastructure isn’t just energy, roads, or Wi-Fi. It’s culture, too.

Chaos surrounds us—outside and within. Arrogantly declaring 'God is dead,' people flung open the gates to the hordes lurking in their subconscious. The hordes stormed in and took their minds hostage.

The only way out is to grow up and see life for what it is. Nature—of the earth, society, or the individual—can just as easily burn everything to ash as create a greater world.

In the human realm, everything casts a shadow—best not to forget it.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Where Opposites Meet / February 4, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Johann Daniel Mylius: Anatomia Auri , 1628

Holding onto a single viewpoint feels good. It flattens a complex phenomenon into a 2D outline on paper. The world becomes simple, understandable, and therefore safe.

But sooner or later, this illusion will bring pain. The phenomenon will reveal its opposite side, and that will hurt.

You can get angry. You can punish those who voice a different view. But you can't argue with the force of reality — it always wins.

A child will cover his eyes to block out an unpleasant truth. An adult will face it and accept it. Resisting reality is not only pointless—it’s foolish.

Maturity is the ability to withstand the ambivalence of life. A person carries the cross of perpendicular perspectives, ideas, and positions.

It's hard to bear this conflict within yourself, let alone seek it out instead of clinging to one-sided comfort.

But a mature person knows why it's worth it.

First, the clash of contrasting viewpoints allows you to see a situation in its entirety. This means choosing the best position to capitalize on it.

Second, the place where opposites intersect is the origin point. Here, conflict transforms into synthesis, creating new meaning.

And most importantly, at this crossroads, it’s not just ideas that evolve—you do too. In alchemy, the container and the contained become one. Holding the heat and pressure needed to refine ideas, you end up distilling your true essence as well.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Your Sacred Space / February 3, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Holy Trinity Church, Slovenia, 12th Century

Temenos (Ancient Greek: τέμενος) is a sacred, enclosed space—a sanctuary or temple. In ancient Greek colonies, the center of a polis held both an agora and a temenos. The marketplace fueled human interaction, while the sacred grove nurtured solitude with the gods.

Both kinds of exchange matter—outward and inward.

In alchemical texts, a symmetrical rose garden with a fountain at its heart appears, where two opposing forces bathe together. The paradoxical synthesis required special conditions.

For Carl Jung, temenos was the "magic circle" within the psyche, where meaningful encounters with the unconscious were possible. The circle protected sorcerers from the very forces they sought to summon. Without it, Chaos could swallow them whole.

But when the space is safe, something new emerges at the threshold. Transformation—of a person, an organization, even a society—begins here, on this small sacred ground.

If you seek great change, start by building a small temenos.

I’ll explain how one day, but if your business needs transformation now, reach out—I’d be happy to help.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Talk to the Creator / February 2, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Who is the best person to deal with in business and other areas? Especially when failure isn’t an option, time is scarce, and the stakes are high.

All else being equal, go higher up the chain.

If you’re dealing with a clerk, ask for his manager. If it’s a department head, push for a meeting with the GM. And beyond the CEO, talk to the founder directly.

This isn’t about ego or power plays.

Hierarchy signals vision, maturity, and intelligence. If the organization values realism, competence, and integrity over illusions, nepotism, and corruption, then the right person—the one who embodies that DNA—is at the top.

It’s always easier to deal with a Creator than an Executor. The one who built or rebooted the business can change it with a snap of his fingers.

What matters is that the Creator cares about potential, not just the current form. If your deal brings his vision closer to reality, he’ll clear every obstacle—formal or fundamental—to make it happen.

That said, in a big corporation, the most entrepreneurial mind might not be the CEO yet. It could be the leader of a fast-growing division or the COO. But such a person is bound to become a founder or CEO soon enough.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Peristalsis of Mind / February 1, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

A gripping book makes you want to devour it all at once. But if it’s not a novel, but something educational, you run into a problem. Sure, you can read faster, but unfortunately, “peristalsis” sets a limit.

Peristalsis is the rhythmic, wave-like motion of an organ’s walls (esophagus, stomach, intestines, etc.), pushing food from entry to exit. The walls have two layers of smooth muscle. Unlike skeletal muscles, they don’t obey conscious control.

Once you swallow, food moves slowly through your system, breaking down and mixing at its own pace. You don’t control the process—it happens on its own. Magic, isn’t it?

The same goes for knowledge. You can cram as much as you want, but real understanding takes time. That’s why it’s funny when people brag online: “I read N books in a week!” The real question isn’t how many ideas you can plant—it’s how many will take root.

Besides, new ideas are unpredictable.

It’s a cross-pollination of potential—between the idea and your own mind. In venture capital, a single deal can make or break an entire portfolio. But if a fund is greedy and indiscriminate, it loses.

The takeaway? Trust the flow of the wise river inside you.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Bite of Reality / January 31, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

When I was about five, I saw a pigeon on the ground. It sat quietly by the fence, facing away from me. I was thrilled, so I walked up to it and gently cupped it in my hands.

The pigeon squeaked, turned its head, and bit my finger.

At dinner, I casually told the adults about my adventure. Suddenly, everyone panicked. A short while later, I was in the hospital, getting twenty rabies shots in the stomach.

As you might have guessed, the pigeon was actually a rat. Yet even now, I still remember that sweet little gray bird, as my hands reach for it. I suppose Sasha had never seen a rat before—only pigeons.

Our brain recognizes patterns instantly—but only from what we already know. If there’s no exact match, it grabs the closest thing that makes sense. Anything is better than just 'What the hell is that?!'"

Reality bites hard when we get the pattern wrong.

Something in business or life went sideways, and now you’re angry? Chances are, you thought you had a bird in your hands—but it turned out to be a rat.

Maybe the reason was naivety, pride, or the itch to get what you wanted right now. The right antidote depends on the cause:

Expand your library of patterns—knowledge and experience.
Stay humble—remember the limits of your own mind.
Reflect—why did impulse win over long-term vision?

It seems that nature is attacking us from the inside and the outside. No, it's trying to wake us from our childish dreams.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Invisible Doing / January 30, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Starting something new is pure agony. It feels like pulling off a miracle—pouring wine from a vessel that's bone dry. And the stranger your product, the higher the cliff you must step off in faith.

It's much easier to copy, tweak, or upgrade something already existing. The thing is real. The wild uncertainty is gone—no need to wonder if it’s possible, or how difficult, expensive, or time-consuming it might be.

Only creators - architects, scientists, comedians, writers, entrepreneurs - know the chasm between zero and one.

Most people live in a world where “one” is all they ever see. It gives them the illusion that it’s always been there. The transformation of “zero” was in childhood games and fairy tales — now, maybe just in movies.

Life rarely demands of a person: "Well, pull a rabbit out of a hat!” When it does, it’s a shock. People don’t rush to relive the experience, let alone seek it out on purpose.

I’ve always admired those who move at a moment’s notice. Like gypsies, they bolt from their comfort zones the second a rare opportunity winks at them. I freeze when I hear a spontaneous rap, a founder’s slam-dunk move, or freestyle stand-up.

One day, it hit me: zero isn’t really zero. Something—a solution, a joke, an insight, a concept, a product—already exists, even when your eyes insist there’s empty space.

The ostrich egg, for example, looks the same on day one as it does on day 45. But just before the shell cracks, the chick is fully formed. All along, a great work has been unfolding inside him - his magnum opus.

“It takes an ostrich chick about an hour—sometimes longer—to break free. It presses one foot against the blunt end of the egg, the other against the sharp end, and pecks at a single spot until a tiny hole appears. Then it makes a few more. Finally, to break out, it slams the shell with the back of its head. That’s why newly hatched ostriches often have bruises on their skulls—they heal fast.” /Wikipedia/

Perhaps an acorn is sprouting inside you, and soon we’ll see its first shoot.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Creator’s Paradox / January 29, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The Creator acts with both confidence and humility at once.

A paradox? After all, these qualities seem to contradict each other.

Imagine perpendicular axes, X and Y. Their intersection is the self. On the horizontal X axis, we find the spectrum of relationships with society: from an infantile merging with the crowd to a firm resolve to stand alone.

At the bottom of the Y axis lies the person who sees himself as the highest authority. The top of the Y axis represents the individual who acknowledges that above him is Another—God, the First Cause, the Higher Mind, the Life Energy, the Dao, or the Absolute.

In the lower left quadrant, the individual ceases to exist. He becomes a Shadow—an indistinguishable element in the monolith of the collective archetype. Here, cynics, consumers, and conformists thrive.

In the lower right, the Titan stands—an embodiment of elemental force. He recognizes no one above him, scorns the submissive crowd, and relies only on his own reason, strength, and will. A rebel, conqueror, and hedonist.

The Slave lives in the upper left quadrant. He recognizes the higher power but lacks freedom. A compliant cog in the system, he blindly follows the dogmas of society, having shut down his heart and mind. His strength lies in solidarity, but his weakness is in refusing to take responsibility.

In the upper right, the Pilgrim strides. He doesn't run into solitude, nor does he dissolve into the crowd. He walks toward God on his own path, not along the tracks laid before him. From above, he receives not orders but an invitation to the Game as a co-author. Here, sages, mystics, and entrepreneurs are born. Like a catalyst, their very participation in life changes the world around them.

To society, the Pilgrim may seem confident, strange, even crazy—simply because his gaze is always directed upward.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Logic vs. Magic / January 28, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

In business, there are two modes of creating value: “Logic” and “Magic.”

Logic means understanding how a phenomenon works, controlling its scale, and eliminating all risks. Any surprise is a deviation from the standard—and thus, an evil.

Obviously, any kind of novelty will be crushed, and harshly so.

Magic is the Wow result that can’t be explained. Objectively, there’s a real increase in value. It can be resold, reinvested, or paid out as dividends.

Can the creator repeat the trick? No one—not even he—knows the answer.

The only certainty is this: the creator will offer God a generous sacrifice. Whether it’s accepted or rejected depends on His will. The creator's task is to be open to any novelty, even if it appears dirty, mad, repulsive, and terrifying.

In the world of Magic, nothing is more sacred than the primal originality of ideas. Do you see how these two modes are in irreconcilable conflict, like darkness and light? What’s sacred to one is dangerous heresy to the other.

Do you want to “merge” them inside a corporation? Try mixing oil and water and see for yourself.

Yet, both modes are crucial if your goal is the stable prosperity of your business. The ultimate question is how to organize the interaction of opposites so that harmony can reign.

Fortunately, it’s possible. Just look to nature. I’ll explain this later.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Opening the Flow / January 27, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

When it comes to personality, there are no universal formulas. Even the most insightful theories and methods must be set aside so you can truly see the eyes in front of you.

It’s like an interviewer’s rule: you have to create a plan, but the moment the microphone turns on, you must forget it entirely.

Otherwise, all you’ll capture is a pawprint in the sand, an abandoned nest, or the shell of a shrimp. Not the person—just a stencil of who they are.

But if your goal is to help someone, make peace, or start a business together, you need to find the starting point—the source from which his or her life, willpower, and purpose flow.

This is both simple and difficult.

Simple because if you approach it this way, you’ll achieve more than you ever dreamed. When people feel heard, they’ll tell you themselves how to meet their needs, comfort them, or offer support.

The difficulty doesn’t lie in lacking skills or patience. To seek the source of life in the other person, you must first discover that source within yourself.

Some may be puzzled right now, wondering, “What? How come?”

This isn’t some cute metaphor borrowed from a myth, parable, or fairy tale. No, lived experience must convince you that within you flows a fountain of life’s elixir. It governs everything:

The sudden alignment of scattered elements into a pattern.
A sense of opportunity invisible to everyone else.
A persistent warning about approaching danger.
Certainty in “A” when the crowd chants “Not A.”
The strength to let go of a cherished past.
Openness to what’s new and yet to come.
A nudge when deciding, “Is it or isn’t it?”
Clarity about what’s really happening.
A clever way out of a dead end.
A sense of personal meaning, and so on.

When the origins of two or more people connect, harmony restores itself. All you need to do is observe this mysterious process with awe.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Sprout in the Dirt / January 26, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Are you aware that people constantly lie—to themselves and others? They say one thing but do another. Even when people are sure of their motives and goals, they often admit years later that they truly wanted something else.

Does that mean their words, gestures, and actions are just illusions, appearances, maya?

On one hand, what happens to people is real because their behavior leaves tangible marks on the world. On the other hand, it’s a brilliant performance—actors living in a theater that runs 24/7, year-round.

There’s a clear mismatch between a noble function and a pitiful form.

Carl Jung, for example, believed the Animus and Anima represented the masculine and feminine aspects of a woman’s and a man’s psyche, respectively. When these archetypes of masculinity and femininity aren’t integrated, it leads to shallow relationships: for women, romanticizing partners; for men, addiction to porn.

Everyone meant well, but things turned out the usual way—poorly. It’s like trying to quench thirst with soda or satisfy hunger with fries.

But if you look closely, behind something insane, repulsive, or horrifying, you can often find a healthy sprout. Sadly, for one reason or another, that potential was squandered in a foolish way.

Most of us don’t have the time, skill, or desire to dig into this mess.

Fine, let others figure themselves out. But what about you? Are you ready to explore your oddities, eccentricities, and quirks? Perhaps your sprout is eagerly waiting for the water of life, that is your attention.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Digesting Your Past / January 25, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Manly Palmer Hall alchemical manuscripts

Want to watch the Chaos Dragon devour its own tail in real life?

This video shows that ancient myths weren’t just made up—they were a distillation of knowledge about the living world.

This is how everything renews—societies, businesses, and individuals alike.

Here’s the wisdom this particular Serpent offers us:

1. You have to do the work yourself. Therapists, spouses, and friends can only offer guidance, support, and comfort.

2. You must chew, swallow, and digest your old self. It’s disgusting, painful, and a blow to your ego. But you can’t deny your past, no matter how ugly it is—it holds the essential amino acids for your growth.

3. Transformation is natural. It’s a process meant to happen again and again. Don’t fear it—study it, master it. Just look at the vibrant colors of the new skin!

Aren’t you feeling cramped in your beloved yet limiting form?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Harmony in Imperfection / January 24, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

I love potato chips, but I don’t eat them because they’re not exactly healthy.

For New Year’s, I decided to treat myself and... barely managed half a bag. It turned out, in my imagination, they were much more desired and delicious than in reality.

I wondered why that was. Then I remembered a family ritual.

In the evenings, my wife, daughter, and I would cozy up on the couch, watch a fun show, and crunch our hearts out on crisps. I wouldn't buy them more than once a week to avoid gaining weight.

Chips became entwined with a sense of peace, love, and harmony.

My wife and daughter have lived in England for the past few years while I’ve been in Ukraine. Paradoxically, this experience has brought us closer together, as if invisible threads have compensated for the distance, strengthening what miles tried to tear apart.

But the warm memories haven’t gone anywhere. It was never really about the chips; it was about the longing to reclaim my lost paradise. Back then, I took it all for granted and didn’t fully appreciate what I had.

So I probably don’t appreciate what I have right now.

It’s so easy to notice the flaws in the present. It is everywhere—in the air, in your hands, and beneath your feet. It crumbles, flows, and transforms right before our eyes.

The contrast is striking between what is and what could be.

But what if, here and now, your world suddenly became perfect? Life would stop because the longing, 'What for?' would disappear.

That’s why you need an ideal—to strive for but never reach.

Moreover, a sense of harmony isn’t about chasing perfection. In that imperfect past, life felt wonderful. I knew it with my body and soul, but my mind refused to accept it. The same is true now.

I hope reflections like these will help me change that. In essence, it’s a personal rediscovery of ancient wisdom:

“For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Decoding Dreams / January 23, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

For years, I’ve been recording dreams that amazed me. I must have written down 200 or 300 by now. Carl Jung might have called some of them numinous—moments when you sense the presence of something 'utterly Other,' both terrifying and awe-inspiring.

Dreams, like encrypted messages, seemed to be trying to reveal some hidden meaning to me.

Sometimes, I could decode them right away, especially with the help of my psychotherapist. But most of the time, I felt like a detective, pinning clues to the wall, hoping to one day find the thread that ties them all together.

Only now, from this oversaturated solution of salt, a crystal begins to form. I reread dreams from 2020 and gasp: “So that’s what you were saying! How could I have missed it?”

I marvel at the patience, ingenuity, and care my subconscious has shown toward my mind, even when it was arrogant, clumsy, and dense. The only explanation is that my epiphany is worth the effort.

Not for humanity, but for me—the one I barely know.

My future self guides, protects, and teaches my present self, like a wise master guiding a careless apprentice. Knowledge flows each night in the form of strange dreams, and each day in vague sensations.

But sadly, the student skips classes as if there will be no final exam.

For more than 2,500 years, the Delphic maxim has been: “Know thyself.” Although 147 inscriptions are carved into the temple walls, this one remains central.

Why? Because everything we so deeply need has always been within us.

Let’s stop looking for keys to a lock that doesn’t even exist.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Hunter’s Vision / January 22, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Peña de Candamo cave, some 18,000 years ago

Sometimes, a task stands before you that takes your breath away.

It doesn’t matter how others see it. If the mere thought of tackling it overwhelms you, that’s all you feel. It’s like food poisoning, a malaria attack, or a nightmare—in that moment, all that matters is what you feel, not them.

So, what do you do with a problem like this? One option is to live through it symbolically.

Have you ever seen Paleolithic cave drawings? They show hunters chasing mammoths, deer, and bison. Often, the animals are shown wounded, with arrows sticking out of them.

The hunter-artist lived out his desired future while he painted.

If that sounds absurd, consider the advantages:

A foggy future took on a clear, tangible shape.
Anxiety decreased, and the hunter felt more in control.
Imagination spun out scenarios, letting reason choose the best one.

It’s as if the problem has found a solution that hasn’t yet materialized.

When you face a simple problem, there’s no need to draw on the cave wall. Your subconscious has templates ready to go, and you use them without even noticing.

But what if the problem feels unsolvable and impossible to ignore? That’s a sign of immense value hidden within — for you.

What matters most to you today—stability, creativity, growth, meaning, freedom, or perhaps all of the above?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.