Sasja van der Merwe Clinical Psychologist

25/01/2026

16/01/2026

Sobriety is a daily reprieve from my addiction. - Anthony Hopkins

10/01/2026

“One night, since I couldn’t sleep, I went up to the meditation hall, and sat all through the night. I was just sitting with raw pain with almost no thoughts about it. Then something happened: I had a completely clear insight that my whole personality, my whole ego-structure, was based on not wanting to go to this groundless place. Everything I did, the way I smiled, the way I talked to people, the way I tried to please everybody—it was all to avoid feeling this way. I realized that our whole façade, the little song and dance we all do, is based on trying to avoid the groundlessness that permeates our lives. By learning to stay, we become very familiar with this place, and gradually, gradually, it loses its threat. Instead of scratching, we stay present. We’re no longer invested in constantly trying to move away from insecurity.
We think that facing our demons is reliving some traumatic event or discovering for sure that we’re worthless. But, in fact, it is just abiding with the uneasy, disquieting sensation of nowhere-to-run and finding that—guess what?—we don’t die; we don’t collapse. In fact, we feel profound relief and freedom.” ~Pema Chödrön

05/01/2026

Wings with Roots: Where neuroscience meets real-life.

05/01/2026

"If you can recognize illusion as illusion, it dissolves. The recognition of illusion is also its ending. It's survival depends on your mistaking it for reality. In the seeing of who you are not, the reality of who you are emerges by itself."

~Eckhart Tolle

(Art by Boris Pelcer titled "Ego Death")

30/12/2025

I found this short reflection on ritual, working on yourself, being present, and a how rushed time has become in our modern experience. Well worth the watch, and also a good link to a number of helpful resources. My takeaway, and reminder to myself: To take time to linger, to be present, to take time to relinquish the need to "work" and "do", and to become a bit more mindful of gentle and kind rituals in my life.

15/10/2025

When you are surrounded by infinite, majestic mountains that have known for millennia who the Source is that holds all together…
When you stand beneath skies scattered with countless stars, walk alongside the grace and wisdom of horses, and are held by kind, open human hearts, you cannot not be moved. You cannot not be changed.
When you meet majesty, beauty, kindness and grace with an open heart, the trajectory of your life shifts. Mine has.
Julie Hobson, Sean Hobson, Jen and Mads, thank you for the love, for the safety you created, for the way you served us in love.
Beautiful Brutus, again you carried me deeper into myself, holding the space with strength and gentleness.
Words are clumsy and insufficient, but Mads’ pictures say it better than I ever could.
Maddie M Photography, KAROO RANCHING