It took me some time to realise that meditation was not rumination. I sat down and deeply considered the way that I breathe, wondering whether it was too shallow or slow. I became so conscious of each breath that I almost forgot how to breathe at all – when considering them at such great length, each one became a great weight. These are the thought spirals I tend to exist in, often returning to the same knowledge. Rumination produces the most endless helixes of thought. I needed an entry point,

You may know Damon as one half of ‘Damon and Jo’, a popular travel channel on YouTube, filled with quirky and creative videos in English, French and Portuguese. He is now better known as Damon Dominique, with a channel of his own. He is a fun, lively and relatable guy who creates vlogs about his life in Paris and his trips abroad, capturing the beauty and the challenges of different parts of the globe – with a Hunter S. Thompson-esque style and retro edits. My mother grew up in a tiny town that

I imagine the first people to exist; their heads skywards, watching the glistening specks that illuminate the dark. I imagine it must have been an overwhelming sensory experience. Astounded by nature, we have imitated it. Modelling boats after sea creatures, aeroplanes after birds, the list is endless. We have also imitated its input. Nature, even when still, fills our senses - there is always something to listen to or observe and, once noticed, it disappears. We cannot hold on to any one stimu

America likes to declare war. These declarations do not necessarily result in invasions. Instead, they have the habit of declaring war on issues, in this case a ‘War on Terror’. George W. Bush first announced the ‘war on terror’ in a speech to Congress, identifying groups and countries associated with al-Qaeda to be the enemy. This itself drew on Regan’s ‘war on terrorism’, which was used to support legislation against terrorist groups. Just like the ‘War on Drugs’, a public danger is framed; a

Fake news. It was 2017’s word of the year, with its presence dominating the end of the previous decade. Now that the world is preparing to head into a new decade, it’s time to refocus our attention upon dangers to democracy that may go unchallenged if politicians keep our frustrations centred around the threat of “fake news”. Viewing it as a new problem leads to it dominating headlines, ignoring the fact it is a deeply historical challenge – one that may be changing in form, but threatens societ

Structural adjustment is not a part of our daily discourse. Yet it should be, as it is fundamental in shaping the future of developing countries. The term was coined by Robert McNamara, the World Bank president in the 1970s, and is the idea of producing loans, mainly for developing countries, so they can improve infrastructure and thus economic growth. Countries seek help from the IMF when they are in too much economic trouble to borrow at acceptable rates from private banks. Due to greater stab

I had existed in the grip of the in-between. I found myself in-between lectures, in-between supervisions, in-between messages and in-between social events. I spent too many of the gaps in my term time schedule mindless of the present moment. The in-between was a nasty illusion; those moments in-between the next notable occurrence were cast aside as waste. By focusing on the in-between as a state to overcome I failed to be truly present in my life. I always knew mindfulness was important. I had

Thoughts, transpired by the tapping of keys, from libraries, bedrooms and coffee shops. These are the moments essays and calculations are completed, in between the manic rush of students attempting not to spill their coffee on the way to lectures. In the world of academia, this paints a glamorous image. You listen to the ideas of intellectuals before settling into a comfortable solitude to consider your own. However, an undiscussed side effect of Cambridge, can be a certain loneliness that creep