Scroll Long Enough and You’ll Forget You Were Ever Awake.
11 years of your life. Gone to a glow you barely remember touching you.
Hey brothers and sisters,
“Whoever does not cultivate mindfulness,
No matter who he is, a rich man, a millionaire,
A billionaire, a nobleman,
A great king or an emperor.
No matter what high position he enjoys,
Without mindfulness, he is not able
To be free from suffering.”
— Out of the Free Mind, Phra Ajahn Yantra
We are being mind fucked and hardwired every second we spend on our mobile devices.
We aren’t just distracted — we are literally asleep.
If you have a quiet knowing inside that you no longer want to live life asleep, wearing a mask, just going through the motions, doom-scrolling at late hours of the night — then it’s time to wake up.
The big question is: what are we really running away from when we can’t stop scrolling?
I’ve spent this year returning to my Buddhist roots.
I’m spending extended periods of time meditating and made a promise to myself that I would remove all the hacks, routines, supplements — and simply focus on one thing.
Breathing consciously as much as possible.
And let me tell you — waking up is one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever felt.
The smallest tasks, the smallest moments become full of life.
It feels like you are actually really here. Really living. Not just going through the motions and waiting to die.
However, the only way to reach this bulletproof inner peace is through death.
Let me explain.
According to the 2024 Global Digital Report by DataReportal, the average person now spends 6 hours and 37 minutes per day on their phone. In Australia, that figure sits just above 6 hours, while countries like the Philippines and Brazil report over 9 hours of daily screen time. Social media alone takes up around 2.5 hours per day. What’s more alarming is that most people check their phones nearly 100 times a day, often without realising it. That means a third of our waking lives are spent on screens, and over the span of a lifetime, that adds up to more than 11 years.
The question isn't if we're distracted — it's how long we've been asleep without knowing it.
The more time we spend unconsciously on our screens, the more opportunity content has to brainwash you into believing your life is not good enough, that you are not worthy, that you need a product, a hack, a course, a new routine, cold baths, journals, and all the other crap being fed into our minds.
No wonder we hate ourselves. No wonder we hate our lives. No wonder we feel like we lack purpose.
Content is literally impregnating your subconscious mind with beliefs, ideas, and fears — without your permission.
It’s time for a quiet rebellion.
“I’m a rebel, soul rebel.”
— Bob Marley
I’m not here to convince you of what faith you should worship. There are a million streams that inevitably lead back to the same source.
Let’s not have wars over the paths that lead back to the same home.
I’m simply here to show you a road back home — to a place called now.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
— Psalm 46
I dare say that a year of conscious breathing is more powerful than any other spiritual tool you can get your hands on.
The breath will take you deep down the rabbit hole of presence — and it can go as deep as you allow it to.
This is how you are going to build your own roads back home. Eventually you’re going to realise that the roads were always there to begin with, but this digital brainwashing has fogged up the journey.
Sometimes I feel like I’m at war with my mind.
There are days where my mind pumps negative thoughts, feelings, and scenarios into my head that don’t actually have any logical sense. It can affect my relationships with people, with myself, and my ability to work on the things I love most.
I’ve spent years reading spiritual books and texts, watching videos, and doing the practices. All of this created progress, deeper insight, and understanding — but it didn’t give me a way to deal with the battles in my head.
There was one night where I was in such a loop inside my head that I wanted to shut it all off. Travelling and isolation for an extended period of time forced me to face my own inner demons constantly, and I was ready to give up.
Give up.
That was the fucking key.
I had this deep realisation in the midst of all that chaos: almost all my problems came from the labels and stories my mind would feed.
But who was it feeding them to?
That one question changed everything.
Because if I could ask it, that meant I wasn’t my thoughts.
I was something greater.
More simple.
More present.
More aligned with source.
If I could find out the true nature of who I am — could that mean I could rise above all the bullshit online telling me what to believe, what I should like, who I should find attractive, and why I’m not good enough?
I knew the answer was yes.
This is how you can create a bulletproof sense of presence — a road back home that doesn’t require anything but the beautiful rising and falling of your breath.
“Buddha was asked: ‘What have you gained from meditation?’
He replied: ‘Nothing.’‘However,’ Buddha said, ‘let me tell you what I lost:
Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Insecurity,
Fear of Old Age and Death.’”
— Brian Tracy, What You Seek Is Seeking You
Why have I decided to dedicate so much of my (precious) time writing long articles about coming back home to presence?
I actually don’t know.
What I can tell you is this:
One who learns to be more present — to be here, to look through the eyes of the body they’re in with intention, to feel their surroundings — will find a sense of peace that beats scrolling, drugs, and faking happiness for followers and validation.
It’s time to remove your mask.
It’s time to stop letting your subconscious be impregnated with things you don’t even support.
The solution is simple:
Spend the next 90 days covering your breath with your awareness.
Every time you come back to it, you’re building stronger and stronger pathways back home — back to your true nature.
And your true nature, as you’ll find out, is unconditional.
It’s light.
It’s presence.
It’s love.
Your mind will try to make war out of this.
But as many times as you can throughout the day, return to your breath.
Cover it with your full awareness. Try to feel all the little parts of it:
How it enters through the nose
The temperature of the air
The feeling in your nostrils
How it travels down into your belly
How your body rises and falls with each inhale and exhale
Enlightened monks have used this one beautiful tool to reach Nirvana — so I’m sure if you use it, it will benefit you too.
It’s so simple that many won’t stick with it.
I’m not asking you to go meditate in a forest for the rest of your life.
I’m asking you to take control by letting go of control.
Relinquishing control is the greatest form of control.
Every thought — good or bad — has one solution:
Return to the breath.
Clinging to the good or the bad will only lead to more suffering.
If you’d like, you can do sitting meditation where you set aside time to be still in the traditional sense. But what I’ve found is that turning your entire life — your day and week — into a meditation will create a sense of presence that is untouchable by outside forces.
One conscious breath at a time.
I write to bring people back to presence
to remind you of the quiet place you’ve been aching for.
The place that’s already inside you.
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I’ll meet you in the stillness.
— Matt Rintranulux