Voices from Around the World
Welcome to Voices from Around the World — a soulful space where stories breathe, borders blur, and humanity speaks.
This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a gathering.
A circle of voices—intimate, courageous, and deeply personal—echoing from every corner of the globe.
Through heartfelt interviews and reflective solo episodes, we explore the lived experiences that shape our shared world:
The struggles that stretch us.
The triumphs that lift us.
The quiet moments that remind us we belong.
Each episode invites you into conversation with artists, healers, activists, educators, and everyday visionaries—people whose perspectives are rooted in culture, resilience, and truth.
And sometimes, your host steps into the silence alone, offering gentle reflections on global issues through the lens of compassion, curiosity, and care.
This is a space for listening deeply.
For honoring difference.
For finding connection in complexity.
Because in a world that often divides, Voices from Around the World dares to weave us together—one story at a time.
Voices from Around the World
The Future Self Letter: A Ceremony of Reflection, Release, and Becoming
What if a pause could change the way you meet the next year of your life? We open a quiet, grounded space to reflect on what the last season taught us and to turn those lessons into living guidance. The heart of this conversation is trust, faith, and belief—not as lofty ideas, but as daily practices that carry us when the map disappears and only breath remains.
We look squarely at the past year and name its teachers: storms that demanded courage, whispers that nudged honesty, and endings that made room for beginnings. You’ll hear how small rituals become anchors—morning stillness, honest pages, reaching out before isolation hardens—and how certain patterns reveal where trust needs tending. We explore values as living principles: integrity that speaks even when silence is easier, compassion that includes the self, and courage that steps without a guarantee. Along the way, we honor relationships as sacred mirrors, from the steady presence that says I am here to the gentle goodbyes that free us to grow.
Then we cross a threshold. Reflection becomes intention as we offer a letter to the future self, blessing the path ahead with clarity, boundaries that hold, and the resilience to keep choosing truth. Breath threads the experience together, reminding us that guidance often arrives as a quiet knowing. If you’re ready to transform reflection into motion and carry a calm, steady light into your next chapter, this is your invitation to begin.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a sacred pause, and leave a review to help more listeners find this space. Your voice helps this circle grow.
Welcome to Voices Around the World A soulful space where stories breathe, borders blur, and humanity speaks. This isn't just a podcast, it is a gathering, a circle of voices intimate, courageous, and deeply personal, echoing from every corner of the globe. I'm your host, Obadiah, and today we enter a space that asks for more than listening. It asks us for presence, it asks for honesty, it ask for the courage to meet ourselves exactly where we are. So wherever you find yourself in this moment, moving through the rhythm of your day, resting in a quiet corner, or simply breeding through whatever life has placed in your hands, I invite you to arise fully. Let your spirit settle, let your breath lengthen, let your body remember what ease feels like. This is not an ordinary episode. This is a sacred pause, a moment carved out of time to witness our own revolution and evolution. Today, we step into a kind of inner temple, one built from memory, intuition, and a quiet wisdom that lives beneath the noise of everyday life. Here we honor the journey behind us, we acknowledge the truth of the present, and we extend a blessing towards the self we are still growing into. In this space, we will speak across time, we will offer compassion to the versions of ourselves who carried us this far. We will send guidance to the selves who are waiting for us in the days ahead and a year ahead. And we will stand firmly with the self who is here now, breathing, evolving, and unfolding. This moment is a doorway, a threshold between what has been and what is yet to come. And as you cross it, may you feel supported, grounded, and deeply connected to your own inner wisdom. I invite you to take a breath. Let it be slow, let it be intentional, let it remind you that you are alive and that your life is worthy of reflection, reverence, and renewal. You are not just listening, you are participating in your own transformational journey. So before we move forward, I want to pause and turn inward to honor the journey that has shaped me over the past year. Not just the events, but the teachings hidden inside of them, the blessings disguised as detours, the quiet invitations to trust when certainty was nowhere in sight. When I look back at the person I was at the beginning of last year, I see someone standing at the edge of a vast unknown. Someone who wanted clarity but was handed mystery, someone who prayed for direction and instead received opportunities to practice faith, someone who longed for ease but was given the sacred work of evolving. And yet, every step, every challenge, every moment of doubt carried a lesson that can only be learnt by living through it. Last year taught me that trust is not a feeling, it is a practice, a daily choosing, a steady leaning into what I cannot yet see. It taught me that faith grows in the dark, and the moments when the path disappears and all I have left is the sound of my own breath and the whisper of something greater saying, Keep going. It taught me that belief is a muscle, strengthened by every moment I dared to hope, even when hope felt fragile, and threaded through all of it were blessings, some obvious, some subtle, some that only revealed themselves long after the moment had passed. Blessings is the people who showed up with kindness, blessings in the boundaries I finally honored, blessings in the ending that clear space for beginnings I didn't know I needed, blessings in the quiet mornings when my spirit felt held, blessings in the nights when tears became prayers and prayers became clarity. Last year reminded me that I am guided, fully protected, that I am fully supported, that I am never walking alone. It reminded me that every challenge carries wisdom, every pause carries purpose, and every season carry its own sacred assignment. And perhaps the greatest lesson of all was this, that I can trust myself, I can trust my voice, I can trust my intuition, I can trust the unfolding of my life, even when I don't understand it. Because belief, real belief, is not about knowing what comes next, is about knowing who I am becoming as I walk forward in faith. So as I sit down to reflect on a year behind me, I honor the lessons that shaped me, the blessings that sustained me, the trust that steadied me, the faith that carried me, and the belief that kept my heart open. These are the gifts I bring with me into this new chapter and year. These are the truths that will guide me as I continue to grow along my journey. As I look back on a landscape of last year, I see not just moments of memories, I see teachings, I see sacred assignments, I see the quiet ways life was shaping me even when I didn't understand the purpose of the moment I was standing in. Last year asked me to grow in ways I didn't anticipate. It placed me in situations that stretched my patience, my courage, and my capacity to trust. It revealed truths I had avoided, and it illuminated truths I didn't know I carried. Some challenges arrived unexpected, like storms, loud, disruptive, impossible to ignore. And others came softly like whispers in the night, nudging me towards deeper honesty with myself. But each one carried a lesson. Each one held a blessing. Each one invited me to practice faith, not as an idea, but as lived experience. Last year taught me that faith faith is not the absence of fear, it is the willingness to move with fear my pocket and hope in my trust. It taught me that trust is not passive. It is not it is an act of surrender to holding the unfolding of my life. It taught me that belief is not something I hold, it is something that holds me when everything else feels uncertain. There were moments when I questioned my path, moments when I wondered if I was strong enough, wise enough, or brave enough to keep going. But every time I reached the edge of my own understanding, something greater met me there. Guidance, intuition, grace, or a reminder that I was never ever walking alone. The blessings of last year were not always wrapped in joy. Some came disguised as endings, some arrived through discomfort, some revealed themselves only after I had the courage to fully let go. But there were blessings nevertheless, each one shaping me, refining me, preparing me for the next chapter of becoming. Last year taught me to trust the timing of my life, to trust the pauses as much as the progress, to trust the detours as much as the destinations, to trust that every experience, whether gentle or challenging, was part of a larger journey I cannot yet see. And through it all, I learned to believe in myself more deeply, to believe in my resilience, to believe in my voice, to believe in the quiet wisdom that rises when I slow down enough to listen. So as I honor the challenges I face, I also honor the strength that carried me through them. I honor the blessings that sustained me. I honor the faith that anchored me. I honor the trust that guided me. I honor the belief that kept my heart open. These are the gifts last year placed in my hands, and I carry them forward with gratitude into this new year. As I reflect of the rhythm of last year, I find myself drawn to the patterns that shaped me, the habits that nourished me, my s that nourished my spirit, and the ones that quietly drained my energy. Each habit, whether uplifting or limiting, carried its own message. Each one revealed something about who I was becoming and what I still needed to learn. These were habits that felt like blessings, small, steady rituals that anchored me when life felt uncertain. Moments of stillness in the morning when I placed my hand over my heart and remembered that breath itself is a prayer. Moments of writing when my truth spilt onto the page before my mind had time to censor it. Moments of choosing rest, not as an escape, but as an act of devotion to my own well-being. Moments of reaching out to people who felt like home. Allowing myself to be supported instead of carrying everything alone in silence. These habits were not grand or dramatic. They were simple, sacred gestures, reminders that I am worthy of care, worthy of slowness, worthy of gentleness. They taught me that consistency is a form of faith and that tend into my own inner world as a way of honoring the blessings already present in my life. But there are other habits too. Patterns that revealed where I was still learning to trust myself. There were moments when I hesitated to speak my truth, choose in silence over discomfort. Moments when I overextended myself, believing that my worth was tied to how much I can give. Moments when I clung to old fears, even as life invited me to step into something bigger, larger, and greater. Moments when I doubted my own intuition, forgetting that it has never ever led me astray. These habits were not failures. They were teachers. They showed me where my faith needed strengthening. They revealed places where belief in myself was still fragile. They illuminated the parts of me that were asking for healing, compassion, and patience. Last year taught me that every habit, whether nourishing or draining, holds wisdom. The habits that uplifted me taught me how to trust the quiet blessings of daily life. The habits that hindered me taught me how to release what no longer aligns with who I am becoming. And through it all, I learned that transformation is not a single moment. It is a series of choices. Choices to return to myself, choices to honor my boundaries, choices to believe in my own voice, choices to walk with faith even when a path is dimly lit. So as I step forward, as I carry with me the habits that strengthen my spirit, and I bless the ones I am ready to release. Both have shaped me, both have taught me, and both have prepared me for the next chapter of this journey. As I turn inward and reflect on last year, I feel called to examine not just what I did, but who I was, the choices I made, the energy I carried, the values I claim to honor, and the moments when life tested my commitment to them. Core values are not simply words we write down or ideals we admire from a distance. They are living principles. They breathe with us, they guide us, they challenge us, they reveal who we are when no one is watching. Last year invited me, sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully, to return to my values and faith in God again and again. There were moments when integrity asked me to speak with truth, even when silence felt safer. Moments when compassion asked me to soften my heart towards myself, not just towards others. Moments when courage asked me to step forward without a map, trusting that the ground would rise to meet my feet. Moments when my authenticity asked me to stop performing and start living from the center of my being. And in each of these moments, I learned something about myself. I learned that living my values requires faith. Faith that choose an alignment will always lead me where I am meant to be, even if the path feels uncertain and unknown. I learned that trust is a value too. Trust in my intuition, trust in my boundaries, trust in a quiet wisdom that rises when I listen deeply. I learned that belief is not passive. It is an act of devotion to the truth of who I am, even when old patterns try to pull me back into smaller versions of myself. And guided through all of this were blessings. Subtle, powerful, transformative. Blessings in a moment I honored my values and felt my spirit expand. Blessings in the moments when I strayed from them and learned what needed healing. Blessings in the clarity that came each time I returned to myself. Last year taught me that living in my values is not about perfection. It is about presence. It is about noticing when I drift and choosing to come home again. It is about honoring the lessons arise when I fall short and celebrating the growth that emerges when I rise. So I asked myself, did I live my values last year? Not flawlessly, not always easily, but sincerely, intentionally, with a heart that was trying, truly trying to align with what matters most. And that sincerity, it is its own blessing. That intention, it is his own form of faith. That willingness to return, it is his own act of trust. So as I move forward, I carry with me a deeper understanding of what my values require of me and a deeper belief in my ability to embody them. As I continue to reflect on a tapestry of last year, I feel called to the relationships that touched my life, the souls who crossed my path, the ones who stayed, the ones who drifted, and the ones whose presence became a quiet blessing I didn't know I needed. Relationships are sacred mirrors. They reveal our tenderness, our shadows, our capacity for love and the places where healing still calls our name. Last year, every connection, whether fleeting or enduring, carried a lesson. Every interaction held a blessing. Every bond invited me to deepen my trust, to strengthen my faith, and expand my belief in the power of human connection. There were people who showed up with gentleness, offering support without being asked. People who listened with their whole presence reminded me that being seen is a form of grace. People who spoke truth into my life when I was tempted to shrink. People who held space for my awakening, even when I didn't yet have the language for who I was becoming. These relationships, I believe, were blessings, living reminders that love is not always loud. Sometimes it arrives quietly, in a form of consistency, compassion, or simply, I am here. There were also relationships that shifted, stretched, or dissolved, not out of malice, but out of evolution. Some connections completed their assignment, and some revealed misalignment. Some taught me the sacred art of letting go. With love. And these two were blessings. Teachers in disguise as endings. They taught me to trust the natural ebb and flow of connection. They taught me to have faith that release creates room for what is meant to arrive. They taught me to believe that I am worthy of relationships that honor my spirit, not just my presence. This past year I learned that nurturing relationships requires intentionality. It requires showing up with honesty, not performance. It requires listening with the heart, not just the ears. It requires honoring boundaries, mine and theirs, with reverence. It requires celebrating the growth of others without dimming my own light. And perhaps the greatest lesson was this: that relationships are that are meant for me will always support me in my growth. So as I move forward, I bless the relationships that uplifted me. I bless the ones that challenged me. I bless the ones that taught me to trust more deeply, to love more consciously, and to believe more fully in the sacredness of human connection. I carry their lessons with gratitude. I carry their blessings with humility. I carry their impact with reverence. And as I step into the new chapter, ready to nurture these relationships with presence, with intention, with faith, with trust, and with a heart open to the blessings still on their way. As I stand here, reflecting on a year that has shaped me, I feel a quiet shift within me, a soft turning of the inner compass. It is the sensation that comes when one season has completed its sacred work and another begins to whisper its name. This is the moment where reflection becomes intention, where remembrance becomes vision, where the lessons of the past year together gather themselves like the wise elders ready to guide the journey ahead. Everything in the past year has truly taught me. Every blessing, every challenge, every moment of trust, every act of faith, every fragile thread of belief has brought me to this new beginning. A beginning where the past self, the present self, and a future self all meet in the same breath. I can truly feel the presence of the self I am becoming, not distant, not unreachable, but standing just beyond the veil, waiting with open hands and patient eyes. This future self carries the wisdom of every lesson I've learned. They carry the blessings I've received and the ones still on the way. They carry the trust I've cultivated, the faith I've strengthened, and the belief I've reclaimed. And now I feel called to speak to them, to honor them, to acknowledge the path they are walking, a path I am preparing with every choice I make today and every day moving forward. This is not just a letter, it is a blessing, a prayer, a declaration of who I am becoming and who I am choosing to be. So as we cross this threshold together, I invite you to soften your breath, to open your heart, to allow your spirit to lean forward just a little. Because the words that follow are not just simply spoken, they are offered, they are carried, they are received by the self who awaits who awaits us on the other side of this moment. Let us step into that sacred space now. Let us meet the future with reverence. Let us speak across the time with intention, trust, faith, and belief. And so with a steady breath and an open heart, I begin this letter. Dear future me, I reach for you from this moment, this tender, holy crossroads where the past has led down its final lesson, and a future is just beginning to breathe. I write to you with a heart shaped by everything the past year has taught me, the blessings that softened me, the challenges that strengthened me, the trust that steadied me, the faith that carried me, and a belief that kept me moving, even when the way forward was unclear and unknown. I imagine you standing somewhere brighter, somewhere wider, somewhere that feels like the natural continuation of the healing I am doing now. I imagine your shoulders relaxed, your breath unhurried, your spirit grounded in a deeper truth than I can yet comprehend. Wherever you are, I pray you feel the love I am sending you through these words. Before I speak to who you are becoming, I want to honor the version of me standing here now, the one who has walked through the past year with trembling courage. If I can sit with her, I will take her hands and gently say, You will face challenges this year, some expected, some arriving like storms without warning. You will question your path. You will outgrow people, places, and versions of yourself you once clung to. You will be stretched in ways that feel uncomfortable but necessary, and yet you will handle it with grace, not polished grace, not performative grace, but real human, trembling grace. You will cry, he will pray, you will pause, you will rise, you will learn that strength is not the absence of struggle, it is the willingness to keep choosing life, love, and truth, even when the path is unclear and unknown. And I will tell her, trust your intuition, it will not fail you. Trust your boundaries, they are sacred. Trust your voice, it is wiser than you know. And I will whisper, you are becoming someone your future self will be proud of. It taught me that faith is not a destination, it is a daily devotion. It taught me that belief is a flame I must tend to, especially when the winds of doubt rise. I hope you have carried these teachings with you. I hope they have become the foundation beneath your feet. I hope you have continued to honor the blessings that arrived last year, the unexpected kindness, the moments of clarity, the relationships that nourished your spirit, the opportunities that aligned with your purpose, the quiet mornings when you remembered who you are. I hope you have allowed yourself to grow without apology, to expand without shrinking, to rest without guilt, to love without abandoning yourself. And if you are reading this in a moment of uncertainty, let me remind you of what the past year revealed. It revealed that you are capable, you are capable of more than what you once believed. You are wiser than your fears, you are stronger than your doubts, you are softer than your wounds, you are guided by something greater than your circumstance. You learn to trust your intuition, even when it whispered. You learn to have faith and timing even when it felt slow. You learn to believe in your own voice even when it trembled. And I pray you have continued to honor that inner knowing. I hope you are surrounded by people who see you clearly, who celebrate your growth, who speak life into your dreams, who honor your boundaries, who love you in ways that feel like freedom. I hope you have released what no longer resonates, the habits that drained you, the fears that limited you, the relationships that dimmed your light, the narratives that kept you small. And I hope you have stepped boldly into the fullness of who you are becoming and who you have been called to be. And if the path ahead still feels uncertain, let this letter be your anchor, and know that you are not alone, you are not behind, you are not lost, you are transforming and evolving. You are walking a path shaped by blessings you have earned, lessons you have integrated, trust you have cultivated, and faith you have strengthened, and belief you have reclaimed. I am proud of you, not for what you have achieved, but for you, but for who you continue to be. With reverence, with gratitude, with unwavering belief in your transformation, love me. As we gently close this sacred space we've created together, I invite you to return once more to your breath, the quiet, faithful companion that has carried you through every moment of this year. Let your inhale be slow. Let your exhale be intentional. Let your body soften into the truth that you have done enough, learnt enough, become enough for this moment. You have walked through memory and meaning. You have honored lessons that shaped you, blessings that sustained you, trust that steadied you, the faith that carried you, and a belief that kept your spirit open even when life felt heavy. This is not small work, this is soul work. This is the work of someone committed to their own transformation and journey. So as you breathe, feel the wisdom of the past settling gently into your spirit, not as weight, but as grounding, not as pressure, but as presence. Feel the blessings that met you along the way, the ones you recognized immediately, and the ones that revealed themselves slowly, like dawn stretching across a quiet horizon. Feel the trust you cultivated, trust in your intuition, trust in your timing, trust in the unfolding of your life. Feel the faith that carried you, feel the faith that held you in a darkness, faith that whispered fear when fear grew louder, faith that reminds you that you are guided always. Feel the belief that rose within you, belief in your voice, belief in your word, belief in your capacity to rise again and again. Let all of it gather inside of you now, the lessons, the blessings, the truth, the faith, the belief. Let them form a quiet light at the center of your being. And as you step into this new year, may this light go with you, may it illuminate your path, may it soften your heart, may it steady your spirit, may it remind you that you are never ever walking alone, that you are held by the wisdom of your path, you are supported by the strength of your presence, you are guided by the promise of your future. Take one more breath, deep, slow, intentional. And as you exhale, release anything that does not belong to the next chapter of your journey. May you walk forward with clarity. May you walk forward with courage. May you walk forward with grace. May you walk forward with a heart open to the blessings waiting for you. I thank you for spending this moment in communion with me. Your presence, your willingness to listen, and your openness are the threads that hold this space together. Every minute you choose to be here is a blessing, and I honor it with deep appreciation. Thank you for listening with your whole being, not only with your ears. Thank you for choosing pause, reflection, healing, and renewal. And if you know someone in your life who feels called to share this journey of voices around the world, or if you feel the stirring within yourself, I warmly welcome you to reach out. This offering grows through the wisdom of many paths, many stories, and many truths. With tenderness, with gratitude, and with a heart full, this is your host, Obadiah. Until next time, may you be held in protection, may you be guided with clarity, may you be restored in spirit, and may you be free in every way that matters. Thank you.