Hi, I'm Marlon.
I was born in Goa, raised in Abu Dhabi and Toronto, and currently live in Lisbon.
I believe that "specialization is for insects", so this site is like a box of receipts of my curiosities tracked over time.
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The science on burnout
I burned out so completely building my last startup that hitting full-eject from my work, partnership and home seemed like the only sane action. After finding peace of mind again, I became curious about the experience because I had witnessed versions of it in my career but never really understood
Bali Cheat Sheet
I've been in Bali for almost a year now and have privately shared the notes below with friends planning their visits. About 80% of Bali's economy is tied to tourism, which was devastated during the pandemic. The island has now reopened and getting more people to
No offence
It’s so easy to get offended these days. We’re increasingly exposed to subcultures of people with varying contexts, viewpoints, and value systems - all with the potential to cause harm. Further, our media consumption is tilted by algorithms optimized to evoke outrage; a profitable trick that takes advantage
The head, the hands, and the heart
In a surprise 2022 twist, I teach a regular yoga class in Bali. My home for most of the last year - Ubud - is a world center of yoga; where people come from around the world to learn from some of the world’s best yoga teachers. In the
Fuck you money
I used to think that $10 million in the bank would set me free. At that level, I could safely live off the interest for a lifetime. That safety meant I could do anything I wanted for the rest of my life without fear of failure. When I left Canada
A groove, a rut, and a grave
I moved houses this week in Bali, going from the spiritual centre in the middle of the island to the surf center on the southern tip. After 9 months in the same, beautiful home, I felt a sense of forward motion when I recalled wisdom a friend shared with me
What I learned by studying math
It has been 15 years since I left math school for the wider world. Though I have never been asked to integrate by parts, my decision to study math at the university level has been a useful one. The idea of studying math after high school was not a longstanding
Is Love just Flow?
My essence is consciousness though I am prone to forget it. That repeated realization - the reunification with the present moment - offers me a sense of peace that I experience as bliss. I've found it in other moments in my life too. My yoga asana practice gets
In shala
On my travels through the Americas and Asia last year, I realized that I intuited a checklist of all the things that made a particular place a viable home. Platforms like Nomadlist list do a thorough job of assessing the surface necessities but one thing stood out as a shorthand
Shit, I'm drowning
One day, we will be visited by our last breath. What is unknown is whether we’ll be lucid for that moment. The thought is so harrowing that many wish to die in their sleep rather than witness their one-way slip from lucidity. The Tibetans wrote a whole manual on
"Did you eat?"
Of all the expressions of love, this is the line I heard most growing up. I grew up surrounded by matriarchs who put their whole souls into caring for their families, especially through their bellies. If food is medicine, these women were our doctors, regularly preparing delicious, fortifying meals and
Anoint yourself with good oil
In an entropic universe You exist Bring ceremony To your being Lavish care On the part of creation That is temporarily yours Honour your skin With sensual caress So that your hands may be practiced For countless other creations Human and not Animate and not Creation bowing to creation Like
Cigarettes and Ceremonies
A surprising feature of my time in Bali is my smoking habit. I grew up in a household that adamantly rejects smoking, of any kind, and witnessed the pressures that surrounded my grandfather's smoking habits. I remember watching my Avo flawlessly roll skin-thin papers around slivers of amber
What kind of uncle
I was in Mexico when my sister announced to the family that she was pregnant with her first child and in Indonesia when she delivered. Our parents become grandparents, the siblings become uncles and aunts, and the family dog lost his position as the apple of everyone's eye.
My syllabus for doing "the work"
It is said that people are only able to meet you at the depth they’ve met themselves. Another way - they are only going to the depth to which they are doing "the work". But “the work” is such a broad term that probably leaves many confused.
I want to become you
Not long ago, I was asked to emcee the weddings of two couples close to me, and both times my friends who heard about the invitations laughed and laughed.. and laughed. Jokes of evaporating holy water aside, I was the wedding industry’s most “committed” detractor and not intuitively a
There's no going back
When I left Canada last year, in the midst of personal burnout and uncertainty about the progression of the handling of the pandemic, I thought I was going to the beaches of Costa Rica for two, maybe three months. I packed 30 lbs of beachwear and a yoga mat, saying
Sabbaticals and the rule of 7
I'm not a professor and taking extended time off from working life seemed like an absurdity at-first. Now, a few months into it, I’m convinced that all of us need to introduce sabbaticals into our lives. At this point, most people feel like they need a break
Marlon | Noticing Newsletter
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