BRAZEN contributor Chloe Sim reflects on how a broken relationship and a trip to Japan redefined her entire relationship with desire — and herself.

Photos by Ian Dooley via Unsplash.

BRAZEN recommends our editor-in-chief’s favourite song ever, by a band whose music was one of the biggest inspirations behind the very creation of this magazine.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”

Quote by Marianne Williamson. Illustrated by Shanita Lyn Kumar.

BRAZEN recommends this beautiful article from Brain Pickings, which celebrates E.E. Cummings’ timeless and inspiring advice to young poets.

Illustration from Enormous Smallness by Matthew Burgess via Brain Pickings.

What are you most afraid of?

BRAZEN highly recommends this beautiful interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on fear, authenticity, creativity, play and everything in between. So inspiring!

In this BRAZEN experiment, we dive deeper into what confronting our fears looks like in practice. Spoiler: it’s not quite as aggressive as you may think.

BRAZEN highly recommends this article from Brain Pickings which explains the four (incredibly simple, yet deeply powerful) mantras shared by Thich Nhat Hanh which transform fear into love. The perfect remedy for these crazy times, when we need love more than ever.

Maybe fear isn’t such a bad thing after all — and maybe the key to living fully isn’t about overcoming fear, or shutting it down, but simply learning to have a good relationship with it.

Written by Shanita Lyn.

BRAZEN recommends this video by Einzelgänger detailing the Stoic approach to dealing with panic, so relevant and much needed in this era of doom and gloom.

BRAZEN sits down for an inspiring chat with Yante Ismail, a humanitarian worker and feminist artist whose bold, powerful work brazenly challenges patriarchy, and the damaging societal, religious, cultural and social norms that dictate how women exist in society.

BRAZEN recommends Mark Manson’s interview on Impact Theory, in which he discusses some of the key philosophies from his bestselling book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (which we also highly recommend!).

In this experiment, which is Tim Ferriss’ spin on a classic Stoic exercise, we put our fears under a microscope to figure out whether they’re really worth having — or worth taking a leap of faith to overcome.

BRAZEN recommends this good old-fashioned spooky story reading Neil Gaiman did for Hallowe’en this year, complete with the ambient sounds of a storm raging in the background.

Cover photo by Sarah Stacke/The New York Public Library via Vulture.

Ashvinder Kaur reflects on the relativity of fear in the face of a rapidly-changing world, and the hope for which she was named by a woman she never got to know.

Cover image by Jesper Aggergaard via Unsplash.

BRAZEN recommends the album trailer for MARINA’s album Love + Fear, in which she recites lyrics from her own songs to moving and poetic effect.

Often, the best way to overcome a fear is to face it head-on. And while you’re at it, why not do it in style? ;)

Written by Carissa Morais.

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will; indeed, it has led many people into dangers which mere physical courage would shudder away from, for hunger and love and curiosity are the great impelling forces of life.” - James Stephens

A young Asian woman in a Western country muses on the fluidity of identity and figuring out what home means in an ever-changing world.

Written by Chloe Sim.