Fellow
Current Country
Japan 🇯🇵
Current City
Beppu
Intuition
Cultivating inner knowing
A question currently animating me about the inner life/spirit is:
How do I direct my attention, time, and focus towards what I choose to prioritize? Further, how do I know for sure what to prioritize?
December 3, 2025
A question currently animating me about the outer world/universe/multiverse is:
Does the universe actually rewards us back when we care for and nurture what we care for?
December 3, 2025
The practices I’m finding most helpful at the moment are:
Time in Nature
December 3, 2025
A moment I noticed my inner light kindled this month was:
There are 3 little girls that I often encounter in my neighbourhood. We have had many conversations in broken Japanese and English, and I am always filled with joy seeing them. They pronounce my name as Dzeeyaa, but I do not have the heart nor the desire to correct them :)
December 3, 2025
A moment I noticed my inner light dwindled this month was:
In my retreat, I struggled with not recording moments and sending them to friends immediately. I was more in-the-moment, but felt like that was missing. I've built a habit of never sharing moments with just myself, but time spent alone is still time spent with the universe.
December 3, 2025
Courage
Aligning action
Assumptions I'm examining right now are:
Time/Attention
December 3, 2025
I originally assumed:
I have always struggled with choosing what to direct my attention and time towards. I have always had plenty of things that i care about and many projects I've wanted to work on, but I'd most times stay still in a constant and awfully enduring cycle of inaction.
December 3, 2025
These assumptions are changing:
Now I sense that slowness could be key. Taking the time, which could be hours or even days, to unwind, relax, and actually rest is apparently not easy at all. Having finished my retreat, I feel like I am in a much clearer and a much more capable state of mind than ever before.
December 3, 2025
A moment I stepped out of my comfort zone this month was:
HITCHHIKING! It is absolutely not common or feasible in Japan, and I was told not to waste my time even trying. Unfortunately, those who told me not to attempt it were correct; I had an awful success rate and had to walk tens of kilometres, but I did end up getting one ride!
December 3, 2025
Compassion
Engaged Empathy
Something that is helping me build trusting relationships here is:
December 3, 2025
Digital Detox Retreat
11
Being intentionally away from technology and distractions has taught me:
Patience. Prescence. Perception. November might have just been one of the best months of my life. I have dedicated hours of my time to walking, riding a bike, being in nature, being with new people, and I feel very new, and that I owe to directing my focus elsewhere!
December 3, 2025
Gratitude
Peers I'm grateful for:
Tristan Herrero Picard
MY ABSOLUTE GOAT!!! Thank you for being so friendly and open all the time, just genuinely good vibes. I am so happy I am getting to know you <3
November 1, 2025
Owen Dornan
Hi Owen! We haven't interacted much, but I wanted to lyk that I always look forward to the questions you ask in Courageous Conversations! They're intuitive and genuinely help me think the lessons through, I'd say you've definitely mastered the lost art of question-asking ahahah!
October 19, 2025
Anna Ufaeva
Hi Anna!
It's genuinely amazing to see you show up in so many spaces in The Flight School, even as you navigate loads of transition and uncertainty in your own personal life. You seem so grounded and ambitious, and it's always genuinely heartwarming to see! Keep being Anna :D
October 2, 2025
Zawadi Rangala
Hi Zawadi!! Thank you for being genuinely proactive and interested in getting to know me through co-creation. I will definitely be taking a page out of your book as I found it quite admirable and kind! I genuinely look forward to creating alongside you :)
September 10, 2025
Kashimani Simasiku
Your proactivity thus far in being steps ahead of the program in planning for Japan, but also checking in on me and helping me when I miss a session, has genuinely meant a lot and is inspiring me to push myself to do more. Always a pleasure and always grateful <3
August 1, 2025
Peers who have expressed gratitude for me:
Naomi Løvstad Wettstein
Zeiad. I appreciate your attention, your presence, your love. I wish to chat with you soon. I see so much light in you. I wonder what may be under this light. What animates you and how can I support you. Call me soon<3
December 1, 2025
Nana Adwoa Agyemang
It's been so awesome getting to know you more in our Friday Sessions and learning more about you and your journey :)
November 28, 2025
Meirav Roisman
Hey man, thank you so much for responding and putting time into our friendship. I know it's hard, but I feel like we think kind of the same, and just like I feel like I need someone to keep reaching out and bugging me, when I bug you, you always respond, so thank you.
November 4, 2025
Tristan Herrero Picard
I'm very happy to have talked to you more this month!! Our conversations were fun and helped me reflect on my experience and get excited about my next travel! You're a cool guy. Let's keep calling from time to time.
October 31, 2025
Douglas Teixeira de Queiroz Santos
Our call was such a highlight of my week. It so great finally get to know you better - and I was so happy we set the challenge of the no-yapping galery post! I am always grateful for your contributions in the session, all the best and lots of love!
October 29, 2025
Zawadi Rangala
Thank you so much for your warmth and openness, and for leading the Courageous Conversations with me. I’m really inspired by the way you speak/carry yourself and how you bring that same depth/heart into your art. Keep exploring, keep creating, keep being unapologetically YOU!
October 6, 2025
Kashimani Simasiku
Thank you so much for being an amazing friend during the month of September. I have come to find you a confidant, and I have been able to share my struggles during my visa process, and you have been a huge support during that time, and I am truly grateful.
September 29, 2025
Magical Moments
Tea & Talk !
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Aug 23, 2025
I spent a week in Oman with my father in the month of August. Not having much to do whatsoever throughout the week, we unintentionally spent almost 4 hours in this beautiful tea shop we had visited. We got to talk about everything from his work and my gap year to favorite movies and politics. It is not often I get the opportunity or space to connect with my dad so it was quite wholesome and I was grateful afterwards :D
The fourth photo was on the morning of the day before and it's definitely my favorite capture from the month :P
unexpectedly left behind a legacy, had more of an impact than I had thought...
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Sep 20, 2025
It's fulfilling knowing you're still remembered when you leave a place important to you.
ALA wasn't the easiest of times for me; it had its ups and downs, but since grad, I have repeatedly tried distancing myself from it.
A week-ish ago, I received a message with a Google Doc from one of my juniors, whom I was always close to. A draft of an assignment to write a letter to HIS juniors to give them advice, as they are at the very dawn of a two-year journey.
Lo and behold, right there, as the very opening words of the letter he wrote, my words. A quote from a short film I had made about my anxieties before graduation, yet apparently, it touched one more heart than I knew. <3.
Shrines & Metros, Fireworks & Nature,
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Oct 18, 2025
This feels like cheating, but I cannot pinpoint one magical moment, so I am choosing photography and capturing many moments. In the spirit of trying new things and being bad at them, I have been trying to do mixed media collages purely for fun and to practice something creative that's not too time-consuming, and it has been quite neat.
The chaos of the image above is from three of the most magical moments I've had in Osaka thus far. Visiting the Fushimi-Inari Taisho shrine in Kyoto, attending the annual Yodogawa fireworks festival, and an ode to my love for public transportation here in Japan. My plan is to create and post a lot more in November, sooo fingers are thoroughly crossed :)
How Zeiad Stole Christmas
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Nov 22, 2025
I have never spent a December in a country that celebrates Christmas. Luckily for me, Japan has started decorating everything merrily since October, and I have loved all of it.
The music everywhere. The red and green color scheme. People stopping in many random places to take pictures, it is just warm and awesome!
I got my host an Advent calendar as a gift, and one of my housemates/friends pointed out that it is a Muslim giving a Buddhist a Christian holiday gift, which is quite neat :D
Overall, I have genuinely felt like Peter Quill in The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special when he gets to witness Christmas for the very first time. I did tear up hearing jingle bells live ahahah