Long story short:

I grew up in Chengdu, China, and came to the U.S. at 17 to attend college. I then got a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT, where my thesis studied the career choices and inventive output of MIT alumni. After that, I became an assistant professor, first at Harvard Business School and then at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was a straightforward path: college, grad school, tenure track, with tenure being the clear destination. But I started having more and more doubts about whether that was the path for me.

In May 2019, I had a mysterious shift in my awareness, a breakthrough of sorts after years of practicing meditation. One night while in a half-asleep, half-awake state, after sleeping for a few hours, I found myself in a state where I was surrounded by (or rather, dissolved into) light, and my thoughts were completely still. I was in this state for an unknown amount of time, and then I observed a thought (as a question asking “what is happening?”) appeared out of the blue, after which I woke up. I woke up to an abnormally fast-beating heart and energy swirling in my abdomen, which caused some panic but eventually I calmed myself down and fell back asleep. The next morning, I started experiencing a heightened sensitivity that lasted for days. For instance, a bird’s chirping would capture my attention and create a moment of stillness. I also could not get enough of nature, trees, and greenery.