The Myth of Letting Go of the Past: How We Moralize Time and Identity
There seems to be a judgment surrounding the “past” in contemporary culture. In another article, I deconstructed the myth of the “present”: namely, how the seemingly absolute experience of linear, causal, and discrete temporal bubbles of “past”, “present”, and “future” is but one way of experiencing time. From an existential perspective, though, in any given […]
The Myth of Staying Present: How We Live Time
It seems that, alongside and perhaps partly in response to the traditional psychoanalytic emphasis on the past, contemporary mainstream therapeutic culture increasingly foregrounds the present. When modern psychotherapy was in its initial theoretical development, more emphasis was placed on digging into the past: the answer to our present distress can be traced, with assumed direct […]
How to Deal With an Existential Crisis?
An existential crisis happens when you start questioning life’s big picture, meaning, purpose, values, or even your own identity. It can feel unsettling, but you’re not alone if you’re wrestling with these thoughts. This guide explores what an existential crisis really is, why it happens, how it shows up in your life, and practical steps […]
Finding Meaning in Life: When the Rat Race Makes Us Lose Ourselves
A session with a client I had recently brought up some reflections about finding the meaning in life that stayed with me long after our time ended. She was reflecting on her year and was feeling like she didn’t achieve anything, no tangible outputs or accomplishments to show for it. When I pointed out that […]
What Are the Existential Therapy Techniques?
Existential therapy techniques are ways therapists help people tackle the big, sometimes uncomfortable questions in life. Instead of focusing on symptoms or step-by-step fixes like some popular therapies do, existential therapy is all about exploring what it means to be alive. Think of it as working together to examine meaning, responsibility, freedom, and dealing with […]
What Is Marriage Counselling? Understanding How It Helps Couples Reconnect Authentically
Marriage counseling is all about helping couples find their way back to one another when life gets tangled. It’s a process where partners come together with a professional to examine what’s really going on, whether that’s constant arguments, cold silences, or simply a sense that something’s shifted. At its heart, marriage counseling invites honest conversation […]
My Therapist Passed Away — What I’m Learning About Endings
Endings are tricky. When does something actually end? Is it when we stop showing up? When conversations fade? Or only when we realize—deep down—that it won’t begin again? These are questions I’ve long sat with in therapy spaces. Lately, though, I’ve been sitting with them more personally. In 2025, I received the news that my […]
Understanding ‘Otherness’: Phenomenological Practice in Cross-Cultural Encounters
Being positioned as different. I am a psychologist and I work on a doctoral programme in the UK. I have found the world to be far more complex than most psychological theorists suggest, and that is why I have taken up an approach which we refer to as ‘phenomenological.’ Phenomenology is a practice that is […]
Working with Stuckness in the Room
I stare at the clock as the minutes crawl by, feeling trapped in a groundhog day. No matter what doors I try to open, each one leads to a dead end or resistance. I want to do something yet feel powerless, any momentum halted by a wall I cannot seem to break through. Self-doubt creeps […]
What Does an Existential Crisis Look Like?
Existential crisis is like a call from our soul. It is calling out to us to live more meaningfully. As long as we are humans, we can’t avoid going through an existential crisis. Even psychotherapists do. In fact, I went through one myself in 2020. Let’s walk down memory lane. Lockdown in Singapore 2 weeks […]