i don't think anyone can disagree that we need more kindness. we need it more than ever. and i believe the best way to be kinder is to first understand the impact kindness has had on us. so i've brought to life kinded, a place where i invite you to write and share a kind thing someone did to you. every note is anonymous and joins the others. through kinded i hope we can realize that kindness, just like us, doesn't belong to an algorithm. it is still ours to choose, and it is free.🌹https://kinded.thehiddeni.com/

one of the problems i have with the feed is that it is designed in a way that you never stay with anything. the consequence of having a lot of content fed all at once is that we forget most of it the second we see it. so we learned to let go of each thing to get to the next one, and after enough time of that i think we forget we even know how to hold onto something.so i brought to life a wall that runs the opposite way. it asks you for one thing, which is the answer to, if everything digital vanished tomorrow, what's the one thing you'd keep, and why?there are no names, no likes, nothing that rises to the top. it's anonymous the whole way through, so the only reason to leave something is that it meant something to you.i've already left mine there. come add yours!!🌹https://thethingsidsave.thehiddeni.com/

i always tried to lean on myself or on other people for solutions, and i never found them. but in these past few months, since i started following God and His way, i realized that He’s in charge of everything, and leaning on Him is the only thing i must do from now on. a couple of months ago, i was almost at $0 in my bank account, but the events in my life were aligned in such a way that i was blessed with enough for my needs. before, i would’ve gone straight to my father for help, but this time God helped me and showed me i don’t need to rely on anyone else. of course, this happened because i’m trying to obey Him as much as possible, not just ask Him for something. it doesn’t work like that. leaning on yourself will be worthless in the long term, because any relief you find will be temporary. but God can truly help you. just seek Him with an open heart. what do you have to lose?🌹

to me, freedom was always a picture of doing what i wanted, whenever i wanted, without having to worry about anything but the freedom itself. but i realized i was wrong, because when God freed me from smoking, i felt such a release in my heart that i cannot even put it into words. i’m not even sure what to compare it with. it’s something i have never felt in my entire life.🌹

if all that you care about is seeking God’s path, everything you will ever need will be added to you. in the past few months, i haven’t been focusing on much else but His path alone, and i haven’t missed anything. i’ve been blessed with exactly what i needed, all the time. i’m talking about food, water, clothing, even money, and all the other things that are necessary to survive. i don’t have to worry about anything.🌹

i was really obsessed with the time i spent on social media. i always wanted to be on multiple platforms at once. i wanted to engage with everyone, i did all the stuff that we are “supposed to do” in order to have a chance of surviving the algorithm. and i was so, so stressed. i don’t think i had a day when i wasn’t stressed about this. it truly started to control my life, and for what? i got no real success out of it, and my mind was affected. despite these realizations, i still couldn’t get myself freed from it. but once i started to understand that everything is in God’s hands and that as long as i am faithful and obedient, He’s taking care of me, my relationship with social media completely changed. i barely spend time on it now, and i know that it’s not within my power to fight with the algorithm. i know that He is doing things for my own good, and whatever post is worth great metrics will get them.🌹

in the last few months i haven't wanted anything else but to understand the Bible and to take steps forward in living and understanding it, while putting everything else i used to give attention to on a secondary plan.and as a "reward", on many days, and in more moments than i can count, i've seen how God is with me: whether i was "saved" from various accidents, or people around me were "protected", or i received answers to things i've been seeking, or i was freed from things i wanted to be free from but couldn't, such as smoking.a lot of things have happened that proved to me that God is truly with me all the time. more than this, i've never lacked absolutely anything on any single day. absolutely nothing.and my experience is found in the verse i shared in the previous story: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." – Revelation 3:20"I stand at the door and knock"what i've come to understand in these past months is that it's not us who seek God first, but God who seeks us first. and all we can do when we "hear His voice" is to "open the door", welcome Him into our heart, and follow Him. God's voice can be heard either through someone (for example, even through these words), or in our mind as a living word that penetrates deeply inside you, or through other ways known only to Him.i, for example, heard His voice in my mind as a question, saying: "where are you going, Edi, when everything comes to an end?"and if we "open the door" and let God come in, "He will dine" with us, and "we with Him".the only way we can let the Lord come in to us is to love God, to keep His Word, and to walk in His Way.if we do these things with all our heart, then we can be sure that God will always be with us and "will always sit at our table". i know this because He sits at mine.🌹

i used to believe that the only time i felt at peace was when i was at music festivals or at the cabin or on holiday with friends. i was disconnecting myself from everyone and everything and just spending time enjoying myself there. and i truly believed that i was at peace. but as soon as the last day came, the sorrow started kicking in as well. i started feeling bad, stressed, and depressed again. after 27 years of life, and more than a decade of feeding myself with that idea of peace, i finally felt peace in my heart. this year i got closer to God, and now i’ve reached a point where i feel a little of what real peace is. and i don’t have a word to explain this peace. i simply feel that it’s there. idk what your relationship is with God, but i know that a lot of people are dealing with many things they are not talking about, and i know the single Way to actually get to peace.🌹

one of the biggest issues i have with social media right now is that "it forces us" to make everything and anything about content. we always have to think in "posts", because if we don't we might get left behind. but are we really? i've written more about the contentification of everything in this essay.🌹 https://thehiddeni.substack.com/p/weve-become-content

i have no idea how many books i’ve read in my life (it could’ve definitely been more) but what i know for sure is that none of those books really changed my life. i’m mostly talking about the non‑literary ones that i read with the purpose of learning something that could eventually change my life, like think and grow rich for example, and not lotr. it might be the way i acted, or it might be that those books simply didn’t help me. idk what it is, but what i know is that no book truly changed my life. but 7 months ago i started reading the Bible, and well, today my life is completely changed. both visibly (what people see) and invisibly (within myself). i am a totally different person. i’ve changed my relationship with so many things, received so much light and wisdom on so many aspects of life, and so, so, so many other shifts have happened for good in my life. it’s definitely the only book i recommend everyone to start reading because it truly, truly changes lives.🌹