Unlearning — Kunal Gupta

What gives energy today might ask for it tomorrow.

Environments have a silent authority.

The pull to return to what is known can be strong.

There’s something seductive about having a plan.

I used to think there needed to be a blueprint, a tradition to hold on to.

I would host my own funeral.

When it came to writing my living obituary, my page stayed blank

Being a beginner takes effort.

Most things aren’t that important.

Nothing matched the map in my mind.

The expectation of perfection, it turns out, doesn’t retire peacefully.

There’s a difference between visiting a place and being somewhere.

For as long as I can remember, silence has been my default.

There’s a particular kind of joy that comes from doing something well.

I found myself caring deeply about a combination lock that guarded a fake treasure chest.

In a world obsessed with permanence, emotion remains beautifully fleeting.

I was in New York last week for the first time in five years.

I’ve been turning to AI more often than I care to admit.

It is more about how I feel around them

Sometimes, distance creates clarity.

Disconnection, it turns out, is not the opposite of connection.

Resistance grows in imagination, but shrinks in the doing

When everything matters, it becomes hard to tell what really does.

Not the kind of question meant to impress, but the kind that carries the weight of genuine curiosity.

"How do you write so much?"

It is a deep question that requires first going inwards before going outwards

This past week marked five years since that collective pause.

I realized I was staring at a part of the world rarely seen by anyone.

What feels most striking about Bali isn't any single aspect but rather the ease with which apparent opposites coexist.

I recently asked ChatGPT today to tell me three things about myself that I didn’t know.

It’s strange how the body can feel perfectly safe while the mind insists otherwise.

It’s easy to forget that love can exist without being returned.

When something doesn’t go as I want, where does my attention go?

I wasn’t searching for it but felt it found me.

The answer was simple, true, and, unfortunately, often forgotten.

The first time I played the game, I was seven.

Inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of sources

Experimentation has been the lifeblood of my philosophy as an adult.

I start each year with a simple ritual that has really shaped my journey.

The waiter had just taken our order.

This is a sacred time of the year for me, holding more meaning than even my birthday.

I used to live a life ruled by plans.

“What brings you to town?”

The other day while sitting at a cafe, I found myself staring at a laptop on the table next to mine while the person had stepped away for a moment.

There’s something magical about being tucked away in the mountains of Chile, surrounded by friends both old & new.

I can still picture my first bike.

My four year old nephew adores planes.

When my candle is used to help light yours, mine doesn’t get any less dim but rather there is now more brightness in our world

The longer you hold the pose, the more it reveals your weaknesses.

I had a long conversation with a close friend recently.